#like not only does sam immediately dispell them

[aliusfrater]

prev post begging you guys to stop uncritically adopting dean's (pretty surface level) irrational interpretations of sam's intent and actually ascribing it to your ideas of sam's motivations despite sam's succeeding expressed intent🙏

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Can you do Bachelors reacting to using the Farmer’s Return Scepter/any of their Warp Obelisks on the farm for the first time? I wanna know which ones would love it and which ones would get motion sickness up the wazoo lmao.

Get ready, anon. The post turned out to be a little larger than I expected 😅

Thank you for your ask) Enjoy!

Bachelors react to Farmer using Return scepter/warp obelisks for the first time:

Elliott:

Oh, what a wonderful morning for Elliott! Beautiful sunrise, pleasant sea breeze, magnificent! Elliott is also happy because yesterday he finally finished the last chapter of his new novel. He went out to the sandy shore to get some fresh air, and noticed the Farmer on the shore. Perfect, they were the ones he wanted to talk to about his book.

"Farmer, my dear friend, good morning! I would like to invite you to a screening of my new novel, which will be in..."

Before Elliott could finish speaking, Farmer's figure vanished from his field of vision in the blink of an eye.

...

Excuse me, what?

Then the Farmer appeared as quickly as they disappeared. They set crab traps on the seashore and disappeared again. And they appeared again, and disappeared again, and again...

Poor Elliott was already beginning to get motion sick at the sight of this picture, so he quickly ran up to the Farmer as they teleported back to the shore and asked him to stop for a moment.

"My friend, please dispel my doubts and tell me that you really just disappeared several times, otherwise I will think that I have lost my mind."

The Farmer reassured Elliott and pointed to their magical scepter, also mentioned for the obelisks, one of which transports the Farmer straight to the shore.

Elliott overcame his strong desire to try the magic scepter for new sensations. Maybe next time, because he recently had breakfast, and would not want his vestibular apparatus to withstand such attractions due to chaotic teleportation.

Shane:

...

What the fuck just happened?

......

Looks like he shouldn't have drunk that expired beer from JojaMart. Not only did he recently have indigestion, but he also began to hallucinate. Teleporting people, bluh...

Unfortunately to him, the incident with the Farmer's teleport right in front of his face happened again, but this time - Shane is sober.

...............

Is he out of his mind?

The next day, he quickly catches up with the Farmer and asks them to step aside so they can talk in private. Asking about those cases with teleportation, Shane expected a mockery from the young Farmer and advice to stop drinking so much alcohol.

Except the Farmer does not taunt him, but nods their head, showing Shane the golden scepter and thus confirming their words.

Shane has... mixed emotions about this.

Because he was convinced that there was nothing in the world that science could not prove.

And now, here we fucking go - magic and crap, for fuck's sakes.

Give him goddamn break.

Sam:

Wow! Amazing!

Sam wanted to invite them to hang out together on the beach, but before he could even say a word, the Farmer raised the golden scepter into the air and disappeared somewhere.

The next day, he immediately finds them and asks what was that.

Return scepter? Can he try it too?

The Farmer gave him the scepter to use once, and Sam was completely shocked by what was happening. They were near his house, and now they are on the porch of the farm. That is so cool!

Now Sam doesn't stop talking about the magic scepter.

How does it work? Were they drifted from the dimensional holes, or did they get stuck in the wall? Does the scepter only transfer to the farm? Can he teleport to Zuzu City? There's a great eatery that serves the best pizza in the world and..

Oh Yoba, Sam, please...

He begs them to let him use this magic item to prank Lewis.

If the Farmer refuses, explaining that this is not a toy, then Sam will be cool with that, although he will still grumble a little about such a lost opportunity to poke the mayor.

But If the Farmer agrees... Oh ho ho, Lewis will only dream of peace now...

Harvey:

Unfortunately, there was so much work accumulated over the past week that Harvey had to sit with documents until late in the night. The Farmer, seeing how tired the doctor is even on weekends, offer him some help, to which he politely refuses, not wanting to pile work on an already very busy friend.

And yet, when Harvey almost fell asleep right on his desk on another weekday, the Farmer entered the clinic door, with a homemade pickles and a cup of hot coffee as a gift for a workaholic.

Harvey said they shouldn't have done it, but the Farmer insisted that at least a strong coffee would keep him on his toes.

"Oh, I forgot the truffle oil at home! I'll be back in one moment."

"Really, Farmer, you shouldn't..."

The Farmer lifted up the strange staff and vanished out of the blue.

....

That's it, congratulations Harv. He's finally went cuckoo, they told him many times not to overwork, but who did he listen to, what kind of doctor is he after that.

The Farmer appeared before Harvey's gaze with a bottle of the promised truffle oil.

And at that moment, Harvey chuckled softly... and fainted.

The Farmer has a very long time to bring the feeling of Harvey, to apologize to the doctor for such a sudden disappearance, to scold him for bringing himself to such a state, and to explain how the obelisks and the return scepter work.

Yeah, Harvey will have to drink something stronger than coffee after this...

Alex:

Alex noticed the Farmer near the strange cylindrical buildings on the farm, and before he could call out to them, he saw how they touched one of the pillars and... disappeared!?

What????

Surprised Pikachu face :O

Alex, forgetting everything in the world, immediately ran towards the obelisks, looking at each of them for a minute.

He decided to touch the very obelisk that they touched and... Wow! Where is he? Oh, it's Ginger Island! And the Farmer is here too.

Alex at first, excitedly, asks them what the buildings are that brought them both to the island. Not understanding Farmer's explanation, he heard one word explaining it all: magic.

Ah, ok

...

So, the Farmer has the ability to arrive at Ginger Island even if Willy can't bring them by boat for some reason, right? 😏

Hey, don't look at him like that, it's a boring winter in the valley and he'd love to hang out on a tropical beach.

Okay, Farmer gave him permission to use this obelisk.

"Cool, thanks! By the way, how are we going to get back to the Valley without Willy's boat?"

"Oh, I'm just using my return scepter and..."

The Farmer left the scepter at home on the farm. Oops...

Sebastian:

Sebby went out for a smoke near a mountain lake until he heard the Farmer running straight to the door of his house. Huh, they must have gone to his mom's to buy furniture or order new farm building. Five minutes later they went outside again.

"I understand Robin, give me a minute I will come and bring the wood you needed!"

So they decide to build something, a shed or another coop? Still, Sebastian is not sure that they will have time to bring so much wood in just a one minute, before the shop is closed. Although the farm is nearby, it's not close to walk to it, and...

The Farmer has disappeared with a magical pop. Out of the blue. Like poof - and gone. Then returned a minute later, as promised, with wood for the order, and went inside the house to give Robin the necessary resources.

Sebastian was so shocked by what had happened that he dropped the cigarette from his mouth.

They went outside again and were about to raise the Return scepter into the air when Sebastian called out to them in a low voice.

"Return scepter? Cool. Can I look at it? If you don't mind, of course."

The Farmer suggested that Sebastian try using the artifact. The sensations were indescribable. The Farmer and Sebastian were enveloped in a light magical haze, he felt a pleasant tingling, and in a moment they were both at the farm.

They invited Sebastian home to talk about this artifact that interested him and drink a cup of coffee. Sebby accepted the invitation, there's nothing to do in the evening anyway.

[angelsndragons]

*sing* it's been ~a while~

and i have been watching vm vs the nein a lot so let's talk about it. as always with me, this is a very long word vomit.

i said over on my mechanics post that the vm playbook requires urgency while the nein's playbook requires setup. here's what i mean. if the nein can make it to round 3-4 intact, that is if all of them are up, they are going to win. period. the nein simply have too many ways to steal turns from their enemies or to maximize their own effectiveness for things to go any other way.

if you want to see this in action even with a reduced roster, go watch the fire elemental fight in episode 129 and count the rounds. between caduceus' mass cure wounds and spirit guardians, caleb's slow, veth's sneak attacks, and jester's guiding bolts, the nein were able to scrape out a win thanks more to their bag of tricks than the damage output. veth only got sneak attack because of guiding bolt's secondary effects, slow kept veth safe from an opportunity attack and jester from a multi-attack, mass cure wounds gave caleb that round to cast slow, and the spirit guardians passively whittled down the enemies into KO range. the accumulated secondary effects were too much for the enemies to withstand and they fell hard. notice how everything built on one another here. that's what cockroach parties learn to do well. it was sloppier than a normal nein fight but they did it with a reduced roster AND with nearly all of their high level spell slots spent before the fight. yeah, they're fucking scary.

vm, however, is a whole different kind of scary. this team can put you down before you even know what's happening. it's harder to target the group's biggest damage dealers because you have a hulking barbarian and often an elemental up front locking down combatants. the dagger rogue can teleport and fly. oh, and give himself an extra action each round. the ranger and the gunslinger can stand back and just go to town. the freaking bear can maul you. the bard can make your life a living joke in your final moments. the cleric is a wildcard because the group is built to fight without her; if she's around, good luck because that's another round of attacks you have to take and an extra round vm can take. their DCs are ridiculous, as are their overall ACs.

but the thing to know about vm is that they have to put you down fast. they don't have the hit points for longer fights and they definitely don't have the utility for longer fights. their druid is offensively oriented, their cleric is often absent, and their bard is mostly support. he's often the only one running that bag of tricks. he can and will fuck up an opposing team given the chance and bolster his own, the problem is that he has almost no backup here. it's a giant hole that is begging to be exploited. it's an even bigger hole when that bard can only cast one spell per round.

so, going into the battle royale, the vm side had to down one member of the nein as fast as possible preferably in two rounds or fewer. it almost doesn't matter who, because if you down beau or fjord, that forces jester or fjord to spend their action or spell getting the downed member back up. if jester goes down, fjord has to do something about it. well, i say it almost doesn't matter but beau's deflect missiles makes her the worst target of the trio and yes, i'm including fjord's half-orc bounce back in that calculation. that gives you one round where the person healing isn't fucking up your team. vm's secondary objective was to monitor and control beau. her movement is nothing to compared to a hasted vax but her stunning strike is the most lethal weapon the nein brought into this fight. vm overall is not a melee group to begin with and their con saves are all garbage. vm has to find a way to keep her off their tails if they want a chance. we also know that vm's plan was to try to take out jester first so throw that objective into the mix as well.

all the nein have to do is survive the first couple rounds, monitor scanlan and pike, and get into position. that's basically it. the nein can absolutely withstand vax and percy's damage output for the first two rounds. pike and scanlan's damage output can be scary but pike in particular has to decide whether she wants to hold high level slots for healing. and she would need those higher level slots to get close to percy and vax's damage output. the nein know from experience that the support caster is where the real trouble will begin.

but before we kick things off, remember that matt specifically designed this battlefield to take turns away from the teams. the chests are an action to search and are located far out of the way in the field. the gem requires an action to activate, which basically means sacrificing your action for someone else's, and shifts between six designated points on the field. matt, who has a deep understanding of how both teams operate, decided to play on the nein's insecurities that they were at a severe item disadvantage and see if he could get them to bite. high risk, high reward. granted, this is me speculating but it does look like matt saw the fight very differently from the players and readjusted the field accordingly.

so we kick off and immediately scanlan proves why he is the top priority on the nein's list. he gets the gem, gets fjord prone on the ground, and comes within a hair's breadth of turning the fight into a five on two potential slaughter. travis brilliantly responds to these circumstances in the best of ways. see, fjord isn't the nein's utility magician for this fight; fjord's the bait. travis makes a very big spectacle of himself and fjord's predicament. and vm buys it hook, line, and sinker. ashley tries to continue with the original plan of gunning for jester only to discover that jester is who knows where.

vax, percy and scanlan? immediately take their shots at fjord. but fjord's on the ground which puts percy's awful misfire mechanic into reasonable play. so fjord gets lucky and doesn't take anywhere near the amount of damage he could have from percy. scanlan, after percy is removed from the field, decides he's better off trying to finish fjord but only hits a 3rd level thunder wave instead of a higher level one, which sam was probably saving for some counterspells or such. i don't think a higher level would have made that much of a difference but it is important to note.

more importantly, vax gets greedy. he got two good hits on fjord with his two actions, he could have left and hidden for the next turn. yes, vm has to down fjord as fast as possible. however that haste is going to be more effective over the long term if vax can keep it. but fjord's easy prey and he thinks vm can down him before jester can get over there to do anything about it. so he goes for the bonus action attack. pike eventually joins this mad dash scramble and like scanlan, she absolutely needed to throw something huge at fjord to get past his half-orc racial trait to have a prayer at downing him. but she did not because ashley seems to have been saving all her high levels for healing so fjord survives the round in honestly a very good position. vax can't target him from range with the cloud up, scanlan now has bigger problems than fjord with molly right up on him, and pike ran, taking damage and healing fjord in the process.

meanwhile, the nein's ladies are free to run and play the field as they see fit. jester has a big opening round flame strike. beau decides she can hold off on her round 2 blitz run to vm in favor of bringing molly onto the field. remember kids, never let a monk with 55ft of movement have the run of the place, it's bad for business. jester then makes a great play with her dispel magic at vax's haste. hashtag thanks, fjord. remember, kids, cockroach parties excel at taking turns and actions away from their opponents. in round 2 alone, the nein successfully remove percy from the field and remove vax's extra attack. that's both big damage dealers hobbled in one round. they also gave themselves an extra turn, adding molly onto the field. and oh boy, molly.

here we see the utility martial fighter molly could have been. sam's confused by the low damage that molly's doing his first round but the damage isn't really the point of the attacks. that brand of tethering is far more important, as are taliesin keeping an eye on which reactions will support the nein and molly's second attack wasting scanlan's reaction. counterspell is off the table for the back half of round 2-beginning of round 3, which is important if fjord wants to get the heck out of dodge.

in case it wasn't obvious earlier in the match that the nein are absolutely gunning for scanlan, round 3 begins with beau's blitz against scanlan. fjord's luck against the dominate person balances out with scanlan's save against the stun and beau missing one attack. here, vm starts to get distracted. they chose their focus fire target, fjord, but now do not, arguably cannot, follow through on it. we'll never know what could have happened had vm said to hell with beau and molly in our faces, we have to finish fjord.

vax tries to retaliate against beau but here's where the cockroach starts to come into play. molly blood curses vax, which saves beau a full sneak attack+ worth of damage. it also utterly wastes vax's turn. fjord manages to escape (and damage pike while he's at it) and regroup where it's safe. scanlan tries to dimension door but fails due to the brand. literally any other move scanlan could try on the pair of them had a better chance of success. instead, another vm turn is lost. taliesin recognizes the importance of getting beau advantage and supports her at the cost of two of his attacks missing, but not before scanlan is forced to cutting words one of them. another potential counterspell and cutting words lost. neither jester or pike contribute significantly to this round; the nein have done so much damage to pike in three rounds that she is forced to heal herself while jester chooses to dimension door herself to the gem and only a low damage roll lets it evade her.

beau takes molly's setup and gets the critical scanlan stun. he loses his full round. fjord takes the opportunity molly provided him to polymorph into a t-rex, bringing him fully back into the fight. vm is really going to have a time and a half trying to finish him now unless they can put up a big single damage attack. jester builds on beau's setup by casting flame strike, whose dex save scanlan automatically fails. he goes down. if you're the nein, this is exactly where you want pike focused, on her team and not on yours. she has access to most of the same spells that jester has and the more you pressure her to focus on her team, the better. it's not wasting her turn, precisely, but it is controlling what she can reasonably do with it.

now we come to percy versus beau. i don't want to diminish the insane good luck beau had to take only 26 points of damage from six shots because what matters here is that percy absolutely could not down beau. period. her hit points were too high and after she took almost nothing from the first two shots, it should have been clear that she was going to get her turn and she would absolutely attempt to stun and down pike and scanlan. i'm not going to monday morning quarterback this fight but i will point out that the more rolls travis has to make to maintain concentration, the greater the chance he fails and you get to hit fjord's actual hit point pool and trade fjord for scanlan. and if you can get him before he can get back into the fray, even better.

beau stuns the gnomes and drops scanlan again. her inner cockroach rears its head once more as she negates more than half the damage on vax's critical hit sneak attack. fjord-rex downs scanlan and grapples pike. the stun on pike here really helps negate that high AC of hers. after scanlan's death, it's a long slow death spiral. vax abandons the fight in the next critical round in favor of keeping the gem instead of targeting fjord. percy attacks beau once more instead of fjord due to fjord dangling pike over lava. he starts to focus on fjord only to get distracted by jester. pike goes down but vax gets caught by beau before he can get her back up. and so it goes with vm losing turn after turn after turn until finally the nein poof percy out of existence and bring molly back. a fitting end for the team who started their final boss fight with eight and came out nine.

bottom line here, the vm team played like they had way more time than they actually did. they had to commit to a target and see it dead as fast as possible. they had to control the battlefield quickly and keep it. they didn't so they couldn't. aside from building on damage dealt, they couldn't create advantages or opportunities for each other nearly as effectively as nein did. all of these factors meant that the nein did what they always do: grind their enemies under heel.

[thesunshinebunny]

Hello! I've seen two asks with the first reaction of a Fem!Reader dancing in an erotic/sexy way. (One with the dorm heads and one with the vice dorm heads-)

So I thought I could ask the same thing, but with Cater, Jack, Floyd, Epel, Sebek and Silver. It's okay if it's breaking the rules or you're not comfortable with writing it! But thanks in advance anyways! Stay peachy!! ^^

I never thought I'd end up making a whole series of requests for this style, and to think that the dorm heads was my first order for Twst, what a great start.

Dorm Leaders reaction

Vice Dorm Leaders reaction

As always, all characters are +18 Enjoyyyyyy

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Cater

Montero – Lil Nas X

I imagine Cater as a person who follows trends and is aware of the new music that comes out every single day, so I don't think it is weird to find him listening to the new of Lil Nas x (hiding it from Riddle obviously, knowing him that kind of songs would be strictly prohibited in the halls of Heartslabyul)

But as smart as Cater could get with social media and internet fashions, he didn't notice how you had gotten into music so much that you were mentally creating a choreography.

One specifically for him.

So, when you asked him to spend some private time in the comfort of his bedroom, he didn't expect at all that you would sit him in the middle of his bed just passing the threshold.

For a moment he thought you were going to give him a massage or a handjob, but when you told him to wait patiently, that you were going to change, his impure thoughts were dispelled, thinking that you were going to get more comfortable to snuggle with him.

How wrong he was. It was seeing you come out of the bathroom with a hoodie (that warm and purposeful had nothing), which barely covered your sports bra and shorts, half covering your butt, when all unseemly thoughts returned to his mind.

He stretched out his hands to pull you to him, but you stayed in place, saying you had another surprise.

Cater automatically took out his cell phone to record and take some occasionals photos.

Watching you dance so freely, doing a private show and personally for him made his heart race to a thousand an hour. Even his pants were starting to tighten.

It was seeing your ass and automatically biting his lips. In his mind he was wanting to place each palm on each of your cheeks and squeeze them as he held you against him, preventing you from moving, and his cock buried well deep inside you.

"Are you happy to see me?" your question brought him out of his reverie, realizing that your choreography was over.

He put the cell phone aside and pounced on you, wrapping his arms around you, capturing your lips and throwing you on the bed. Perhaps, among all the ruffle, he put his phone in recording mode and captured ... the entire subsequent session.

Don't worry, Cater would never divulge a video like that and if you want it delete it, he will do it immediately. If not, he will keep it in a folder with a password.

Jack

Solo – Demi Lovato

Jack tried multiple times to convince you to go train with him around the Savannaclaw arena, but each time you refused, stating that you liked being more in the comfort of the bed, covered up to your head, rather than get up at five in the morning to run.

He didn’t take it the wrong way, the way he trained was not for everyone, but he did advise you not to stay still and fall into a sedentary lifestyle, claiming that it would be harmful to your health.

Therefore, you decided to start training on your own, with your own time and doing a little of what you liked most; because remember: to be able to dance like divine goddesses, you need to train ... and a lot.

While he went out for a run, you stayed asleep, when classes ended it was your turn to train.

One day classes ended quite early in your case, allowing you to go to Jack's room to rest and wait for him; But the minutes grew long and what seemed like an hour of waiting turned into two.

So… loud music, more comfortable clothes and practice.

And what does Jack like more than training? See you give your best while doing what you like.

Finding you in his room dancing in sportswear was an image that he would like to print and keep in his mind.

He didn’t care that you were sweating or that the clothes weren’t the tightest to mark your figure, just seeing you move your hips was what he needed to have a smile from ear to ear.

Finish your dance calmly, that your gray wolf will be waiting for you at the door, smiling at you and with open arms to give you a big hug for the effort.

He would eat you with kisses and bites to show you how happy he was to see you happy. If this leads to more… spicy things, that's up to you.

What if I recommend you not to dance this same choreography in the training field in broad daylight, where everyone can see you. The results could be a bit possessive.

But, if you're brave enough, don't complain later if you end up with bites and marks all over your body.

Floyd

My oh My – Camilla Cabello

You walked into the gym expecting to find the basketball team training as usual, but there was no one in their place. Absolute silence.

You took the opportunity to place your backpack next to the roadways, change into comfortable sportswear and put on some music to improve the atmosphere.

When this song started to play, you elatedly stood in the middle of the gym, a sly smile on your face, completely ignoring the sound of rumbling footsteps and slowly approaching the gym.

You were in the middle of the choreography when you felt two arms gripping you tightly, leaving you gasping for air. You screeched as Floyd began to squeeze you more and more, making it impossible for you to move.

"My my, nobody taught you to pay attention to your surroundings when you're alone, koebi-chan?" that sceared the shit out of you.

"Can I dance with you?"

He pulled you closer to him, pressing your back against his torso and your hips against his, lifting you off the floor, and began to spin and sway to the rhythm of the music.

The situation made you laugh until you felt his hand pass over your chest and touch your breast. He settled you against the wall, now your pussy positioned on his erect dick, grinding it thanks to his arms that held you in the air.

At no point did either of you stop the music, letting the playlist roll on and cover the sweet moans coming out of your mouth.

Some freshman ventured into the gym when they heard faint groans creep through the large metal doors.

They got the scare of their lives when they saw Floyd pounding from behind you, staring straight at the entrance and throwing death threats with just his eyes.

Epel

Do it like a dude – Jessie J

Listen to me... you can't tell the only woman at NRC that she can't participate in a dance competition because "it's only for guys"

Uhhhhhhhhh, if I was in that situation how would break their teeth.

Buuuut, you were able to defend yourself in a better way… going to the middle of the training ground where the competition (led by Professor Vargas) was taking place.

I have to say that you left all the participants with icy skin? Other than making them feel like they have a small dick. Straight to the ego.

And Epel was no different. He wasn’t embarrassed by the fact that a girl had beaten him in steps that were recognized later is another matter not ashamed at all, not at all.

Which did bring his ego to the ground and his self-esteem was to see you give your all to overthrow sexism, while he could barely stand in the same line as those of Savannaclaw.

Either way, he enjoyed watching you dance, you seemed re-empowered and that gave you an aura of a strong and powerful woman.

If those who refused to let you participate didn’t give you the prize, rest assured that Epel will leave them in their place, perhaps with the help of Deuce.

He asked you how you could have so much confidence in yourself and that may have caused a butterfly effect ... he wanted to know, well you will teach him in bed.

Two or three tricks may have taken effect and in the next competition (or anything) Epel will give his best, even if he has you as an opponent.

Victory sex for whoever wins? Victory sex.

Sebek

Play with Fire – Sam Tinnesz

You were calm in the comfort of your bedroom, going over some class assignments, some background music, Grimm sleeping next to the bed. A normal day.

But quite boring.

You decided to go down to do a little stretching, so much time hunched over in bed looking at the notes it makes your back very bad. You took your cell phone and left the little cat sleeping comfortably.

Between those stretches you got the idea of ​​practicing a little choreography, nothing too complicated or time consuming; maybe half an hour, forty minutes and that's it.

Well, it ended up being a two hour workout, doing one choreography more complicated than the other. Night had fallen and you were supposed to have a little "date" with Sebek right in your bedroom.

There were knocks on the door, but with the volume of the music you couldn't hear them, nor did you hear the creak of the door opening and closing.

Sebek found you in the middle of the living room, moving your arms around your body. He’s not stupid, he knew you were doing a choreography and he would have enough patience to let you finish it and show up.

What he didn’t expect was to see your figure fall to the floor and move in those ... eccentric movements

Indecent thoughts get out of this mind.

You finished dancing and Sebek was still standing in the middle of the hall, not knowing what to do, where to look, and if he was allowed to speak.

"Sebek are you ok? When did you came in?"

Completely taken out of his reverie, ready to continue the evening as if nothing had happened.

Inwardly he was dying of excitement.

Without telling you anything, with the "date" half finished, having a good and sweet dinner, he just ... slamed you against the wall and took you right there and there.

You both ended up scaring poor Grimm. He just wanted to come down to eat his tuna.

Silver

Maria - 화사 (Hwasa)  

It wasn’t unusual to hear multiple and different songs in the corridors of Diasomnia, especially with Lilia as a member of the light music club; it was normal to hear all kinds of rhythms, even different languages.

Therefore, Silver didn’t find it unusual to hear Korean lyrics as he walked through the lounge of his dorm.

What he did think was strange was hearing footsteps and blows, which had a very peculiar resemblance to the rhythm of music.

In a corridor somewhat away from the common area, which led to a small meeting room and greater tranquility, you were there with the music blasting and dancing as if you were the owner of the place.

Don't get me wrong, Silver was 1000% okay with you dancing in his dorm, even if you wanted to do it on a table in the middle of the lounge room… be his guest.

What he couldn’t allow was his roommates seeing you so… free, sure of yourself, indisputably if you were wearing sports clothes or little clothes, leaving nothing to the imagination.

And if Malleus was among those people… ufff, a big no from our silver boy.

He would go to where you were and lift you by the legs, placing you on his shoulder and commenting that you could continue your dance in a more private place.

That place was his room.

"The way you dance is ... intoxicating"

If at any time the brilliant idea of ​​approaching Silver occurs to you while you dance, take it for granted that he will grab you in his arms and throw you on the bed.

Nope, he's not going to let you finish the choreography. He has another type of choreography in mind.

Lilia put up a do not disturb sign on the other side of the door, proud to see his son a grown-up… apart from the fact that he would have a little “chat” with him immediately after the deed it doesn't matter if you’re still naked and pathetically covered with sheet, he would just *pufff*

[going-dead]

Phic Phight:Ghostly Inconvenience

Words:1672

@currentlylurking Team Human My First 2021 phic phight phic 

Prompt from @Slyph-feather :Would love to see Danny dealing with some of the minor inconveniences/differences in being a ghost; slower heartbeat, sickly pallor, maybe not showing up correctly in photographs, etc... bonus points if this is like in the school setting (because I think that would be funny)

Danny thought he had all his ghost problems figured out, or at least was aware of all of them, at this point. Afterall he’s had his powers for almost a year now. He was wrong, oh was he wrong. 

It was the first day of his sophomore year, no longer at the bottom of the high school food chain. He stood in line to get his picture taken for his school ID. Sam and Tucker had different classes for first period so they were off getting their pictures somewhere else. After a few minutes of board waiting it was his turn. Paulina skipped past him to get her ID and look at the picture she just took. 

Danny told the photographer his name and she entered a few things into her computer before gesturing for him to stand in front of the camera. Danny tried to make a few last second adjustments to his hair. “Okay smile!” The camera woman called out as he was blinded by a flash of light.

Danny started walking over to the ID station but was stopped. “Oh hold on dear the photo came out pretty blurry I’ll have to retake it. It’s no big deal don’t worry you probably just moved too quickly after the flash went off, stay still after the picture is taken okay?” 

Danny sighed but did what he was told. After another blinding flash and staying as still as possible Danny looked towards the woman. The camera woman bit her thumb staring at the computer in front of her. “Okay it still was blurry stay there I’m going to take a few at once one of them will turn out good.”

Danny was pretty sure at this point he was going to go blind as he blunk the spots out of his vision from the repeated flashes. Honestly this was getting pretty tiresome already. He walked up to the woman silently praying at least one picture turned out fine. She clicked through the photos face growing more and more confused with each one. “Uh is something wrong?” He asked.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. Almost all of the photos turned out blurry and the ones that didn’t are weird.” She saw his questioning face. “You’ve heard of red eye right? What happens when you take a picture and sometimes the eyes of the people in the picture show up red? Well I can’t say I’ve seen this version of it in all my years of photography.” She turned the computer to face him more. On the screen it was a photo of him. The area around him was blurred, the only thing in focus was him, almost too in focus, and what really shocked him was his eyes in the photo. His eyes were glowing green in the picture, almost like when you took a picture of a cat in the dark. 

Danny felt like a deer in headlights, what were the chances that she would make the connection of him not being human? The woman just shrugged. “Well it looks like we won’t be able to get a proper photo today. You can use your school photo from last year for your ID for now until retakes in a week.” He let out a sigh, it wasn’t too bad though he didn’t really look much different from the year before. At most he grew two inches. Though it was weird that it happened. He wondered  if it was because of his ghostly half. He didn’t exactly take many or really any photos of himself. Danny walked over to the ID station to explain his situation and hoped that this wasn’t how the rest of the day would go.

During second period it was time for the sophomores to get their health checks done. Though most students were pretty sure it was mostly just an excuse for the local college’s medical students to get some more patient contact hours and hands on practice. This time he did share a class with his friends which was nice. Though it wasn't like they could go into an exam booth together. Calling them booths was a bit of a stretch though really they were just four curtains with equipment to take vitals and a chair inside. There were about a dozen or so lined up in the gym. 

“Daniel Fenton come to booth five please.” A man called stepping out of one of the booths as he pulled a pair of gloves on. 

Danny walked over to said booth and pulled the curtain shut behind him. The man motioned for him to sit down in the chair. Danny obliged and sat down he bounced his leg as he watched the man prepare the equipment. “Alright good morning Danny. I’m Josh, I'll be doing your check up today. It’s just a simple overview of your health no need to be nervous. All I’ll be doing is taking your vitals and checking your reflexes and the sort. Any questions?” 

Danny shook his head. He was nervous though, he couldn’t help it. He had tried his best to avoid any type of medical setting ever since the accident. It would be the first time since then that someone actually took a close look at him. But it would probably be fine right? Not like he would be giving a blood sample here or anything. 

It went fine at first as the man -Josh- checked his reflexes, checked his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. He then affixed a blood pressure cuff to Danny’s arm and stuck a temperature probe in his mouth. Once the results appeared on the machines screen his head tilted a bit. “You usually run a bit cold? Hm your pulse is a bit slower than average than normal too.”

Danny silently cursed. “Uh yeah that's normal for me.”

“Well as long as it’s within your baseline there’s nothing really to worry about. I’m going to listen to your heart and lungs now okay? The stethoscope is a bit cold so be prepared.” Josh warned. When he started to listen to Danny’s heart he seemed at a loss again. “Give me one second okay? I’ll be right back.” He stood up and walked out through the curtain. Well that probably wasn't a good sign. 

Josh returned a minute later with an older man in tow. “Danny, this is Dr. Bears he’s just going to double check something for me.” 

Danny nodded his head giving the doctor an awkward smile. The doctor pulled out a stethoscope of his own and placed it over Danny’s chest. He seemed to listen for a few seconds before moving onto a different region. He gave a small grunt before motioning Josh over. “It’s faint but he does have a heartbeat.”

“Well I know that. He’s clearly alive, he's going to have a heartbeat Doc.”

Danny laughed awkwardly as he continued to watch the two interact. “Try listening again. You’ll probably have issues with the mitral and tricuspid regions though, even I could barely hear it.” The doctor motioned towards Danny before walking out of the booth.

A few minutes later a bunch of other medical students filled into the tent to try to listen to his heart beat. Danny wasn’t sure how he felt about being a case study for a bunch of med students but as long as they didn’t figure out his secret he wouldn’t worry about it too much. 

By the time the bell rang to signal the end of the period half the college students there had listened to Danny’s chest. After emerging from the booth he was met with confused looks from his friends he waved them off promising to explain it to them later.

By the pattern that was emerging Danny was dreading third period. It was english with Mr. Lancer. After everyone took their seats Mr. Lancer stood in front of the class and clapped his hands to bring the classes attention to him. “Alright  class I hope you all enjoyed your summer break. I have exciting news for this school year. Due to the grant given to our school we now have laptops for you all to use during class.” 

The class broke out in whispers and Danny started to have a bit of hope for the rest of the day. Once the laptop cart was wheeled in and each was assigned and passed out to each student they were instructed to make accounts for them. The moment Danny turned the laptop on it gave him a shock. He let out a yelp and barely managed to restrain himself from knocking the thing off of his desk. He shook his hand trying to dispel the pain. He gave the laptop a hesitant poke, no shock. He started on his task of making an account, but was quickly interrupted by the screen glitching out. Danny groaned, occasionally electronics would bug out around him if he was in a particularly sour mood, of course it had to happen today. He waited for the screen to return to normal before trying to continue. 

He just managed to get the account created when it gave him another shock. He yelled in shock once more. Immediately after the lights flickered and all the laptops in the room shut off and the one in front of him started to smoke. The whole class was staring at him and he shrunk under their gaze. They all had bigger problems though as his laptop caught fire and set off the fire alarms. 

“Great Gatsby! Everyone out of the building now!” Mr. Lancer yelled ushering the teens out and leading them to the parking lot. 

Once Mr. Lancer made sure they were all accounted for Sam elbowed Danny in the ribs. “Nice going Danny.” Danny just put his head in his hands and groaned while Tucker pat him on the back. Why couldn’t he just have a normal life? Or just a normal day for once in his half life.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021)

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 is a near-enough miss that I'm tempted to call it a hit. While it fails to answer some major questions, features a predictable twist, and ends with a whimper, it does tie this trilogy up nicely.

When Deena (Kiana Madeira) bleeds onto the bones of Sarah Fier, she sees the events that led to her execution in 1666. This history lesson is exactly what she, her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), and C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs) need to end the Shadyside curse and save the possessed Sam (Olivia Scott Welch).

1666 makes a major misstep out of the gate by using actors we saw in the previous films to tell Sarah Fier's story. We already have sympathy towards Kiana Madeira’s Deena, Olvia Scott Welch’s Sam, Sadie Sink’s Ziggy, and Benjamin Flores Jr.’s Josh so casting them again is an easy way to ensure an attachment to the new set of characters. It also choreographs what will happen immediately. The series isn’t going to suddenly show us a villainous lesbian when it spent so much time making us hate homophobic characters. This of course tells us what we've previously learned about Sarah Fier will be wrong and dispels any mystery. It's engaging to a point because you get to learn the truth but I was distracted for a moment by an unintentionally hilarious scene. We meet Fier’s father (played by Randy Havens) and your jaw drops. We never actually see the dad in 1994 but is it possible they're played by the same actor off-screen? I have a hard enough time believing the actors playing the kids are related. Related to him? Impossible.

With the truth fully revealed, we jump back to the present (and its glorious nostalgia-fuelled musical choices). It’s the big showdown with the villain and it's time for some payback centuries in the making. The plan is pretty ingenious all things considered but you want that final note to pack more of a punch than it does.

The disappointment we feel isn’t only from the same killers returning once more (300+ year’s worth of monsters, and we only see two new ones?); it's from the un-answered questions. What have Mrs. Lane (Jordana Spiro) and Ms. Berman been doing for 16 years? They haven't solved the mystery or even attempted to leave Shadyside. If you thought it was because a sinister force poisoned their minds and trapped them in the town - as Pennywise did in It - you’re wrong. With the masked killers and psychos showing up on what appears to be a weekly basis and the tragedies ONLY falling upon Shadyside, we still don’t know why people haven’t just up and left the cursed place. They're small gripes but they add up, particularly when the conclusion proves everyone - both heroic and villainous - is dumb as a blood-soaked bag of rocks. If all it takes to turn someone as normal as Tommy Slater into a mass murderer, why didn’t the one responsible for everything just transform Deena, Josh, and Berman’s to get rid of them? It isn’t a plot hole but no one in the movie even acknowledges this as a possibility and when the movie’s not as smart as its audience, it’s frustrating.

I’m coming down harshly upon Fear Street Part Three: 1666 because the good stuff proves it could've been a game-changer like Scream or Cabin in the Woods. Instead, it's merely a reminder of other movies you will revisit before this one. Then again, a post credit scene hints at more to come, so who knows. (July 18, 2021)

[storyteller-inn]

Ok, so. This is just an example on how to use the Inn's Hosts, dear Wanderers. Let's try and ask something to Caratra, shall we? Like, for example, how would the original Avengers team react when meeting a new person that they, somehow, find themselves fancying straight away?

And if that is your request, then I, Caratra, shall answer in the best of my knowledge. You see, I have noticed, throughout the years, that by sitting aside and let life unravel before your own eyes, you begin to see people for who they really are. So let’s throw away all the masks and the prejudices, and see to the matter at hand.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

PART I

The relationship that Tony had with conferences was, to be honest, mixed. Especially when they were masked as a cocktail party. A part of him did enjoy the mingling, the chatting, the chance to talk to that particular big shot long enough to get on his nerves... The other, however, could definitely do without it all, as he found very difficult for the people in those big rooms to fully understand him and his work. Nothing was different in this particular occasion and, at the mercy of the rising boredom and impatience, he was sure about to find a way to sneak out of the place, when something caught his attention. A voice, strong and confident, the kind that does not accept “no” as an answer. Your voice. That was the first time he ever laid eye on you and, for Tony Stark, seeing someone barking orders right left and centre was positively a valid reason to get more interested. And so his eyes never really stopped following you around the room, watching with honest interest as he absent-mindedly carried on the conversation with one journalist or the next. He had plenty of time to notice how strict you were – clearly, you were a part of the team that organized this event – but, at the same time, how you were also trying to help your subordinates, always saving an encouraging smile for each one of them. Strength, compassion, kindness … definitely a kind of mix he was not used to find in these places. «In case you are wondering,» Happy chimed in, suddenly appearing at his side «that person you’ve been staring at, is today’s event coordinator. This is her first big soiree, but I’d dare say she’s doing a brilliant job». «And, tell me, Happy…» Tony replied not missing a beat, «…do you also happen to know her name?». «I’m afraid not, sir» the bodyguard noted apologetically. However, Tony’s spirit was everything but damped, as a grin slowly stretched on his face. «Then, my friend, I suggest I go and find out immediately» he said confidently, not even waiting for Happy to reply as he started making his way towards you.

Steve was worried. It didn't really matter how many times he tried to repeat to himself that it was probably nothing serious, or that he did everything he could. There was something wrong, and the doubt of what it could actually be was slowly gnawing away his confidence. Swallowing hard, he mustered up all of his courage and looked down at the little ball curled up on his lap. Roscoe was only a couple of months old and in Steve’s care since Bucky and Sam decided to surprise him with a German Shepherd’s puppy for his birthday. And despite his initial complaints – where could he find the time to take care of a dog? – he soon fell in love with the little fluffy critter. Hence his extreme worries when Roscoe started to lack his usual energy and enthusiasm, all of a sudden. «Mister Rogers?» a voice shook him from his thoughts. A young woman was standing in front of him, wearing a white coat and a radiant smile. That is, at least, the first two details he noticed and that, somehow, made him feel slightly less anxious. Was it the fact that the vet was finally going to take a look at Roscoe, or that warm smile would have worked even without her professional attire? «Yes» he muttered shoving those thoughts aside and scooping up the puppy in his arms as he got on his feet. «This way, please» you invited, showing him to the nearest available examination room. Reluctantly, Steve laid down Roscoe on the metal table. «So, mister Rogers,» you started, visually assessing the dog as you were putting on a pair of gloves, «I see you are pretty worried. What does it seem to be the problem with the little one here?». Did he look indeed that worried? «Well, this is Roscoe. I got him about a week ago and everything was fine, until one day he started to act… strange. Sadder, less energetic» he explained, scratching the back of his head. You simply nodded, answering with a quick hu-uh as you started to examine the puppy. «I don’t know what happened» Steve continued, «I honestly don’t think he ate anything odd, I was with him at all times. And it’s not like he stopped eating, or drinking, or sleeping». He noticed the careful and gentle way you were passing your hands on Roscoe’s body, the extreme care you took when testing his legs, tummy and back. Something about it put him at ease, and helped stopping the flow of words that threatened to flood out of his mouth. But he still found himself holding his breath as you finally straightened up and looked at him. «Mister Rogers…» you said, contemplating your next words, «…there is no external sign that would suggest Roscoe is not well. Apart from one». Steve’s heart sank at those words, but before he could utter anything at all, a swift movement of your hand unbuckled the collar on the dog’s neck. And, as if by magic, the puppy perked up with a joyful bark and started to jump on the examination table. Saying that Steve was gobsmacked would be an understatement. «But… How…» he barely managed to whisper. «He is still not used to the collar» you laughed, playfully stroking the now very active Roscoe on the head, «And he’s probably been a bit overdramatic about it. It happens more often than you would think, don’t worry». Only then, Steve finally lifted his gaze and, with all of his fears gone, he finally noticed your glittering eyes and your cheerful expression… and that warm, reassuring smile. It did take him a while. A lot of overthinking to do, doubts to dispel and courage to muster. And a couple of nervous walks in and out the clinic. But he finally did asked you out, on that same day, as a way too happy puppy barked his consent and jumped all around the two of you.

The Warbling Bard could be considered somewhat of a rarity here on Midgard, especially for the God of Thunder. The medieval-inspired furniture, the authentic two meters long fireplace, the catchy tavern-like music... He would never admit it out loud, but Thor did miss Asgard when forced to remain on Earth to help the Avengers, and this this cozy pub in the suburbs was the only place where he could try and breathe an atmosphere similar to home. The beer, also, was pretty fantastic. «Are you actually looking for an opponent, or that cue in your hands serves more like a cane?» a voice suddenly brought him back from his nostalgia-filled thoughts. But he did not act as if he was caught unaware: he simply took another gulp from his beer, put down the tankard on the green felt table and turned... only to find a woman, with a knowing grin painted on her face and another cue gripped in her hand. Thor raised his eyebrows, surprised by how the stranger approached him, but he would have lied if he said that the first impression she made was a bad one. Quite on the contrary, to be honest. «Oh, if you're too drunk, forget playing» you continued, sarcastically hinting at his lack of verbal response, «I do not pick on people that cannot defend themselves». The Asgardian erupted in a booming laugh. «Drunk? My lady, it will take way more than a couple of beers to render me useless» he replied confidently, «And even then, I could easily crush my adversary». You smirked. «Is that a challenge?». Thor mimicked your expression, the spark of competition glittering in his eyes. He was certainly not expecting to meet someone like you that evening, but there was something... fresh about you, and fiery, like a spring gale swinging the windows open and flooding the room. An invigorating and well-welcomed change of pace, compared to what the God of Thunder had been used to in the past few days. He quickly turned around, slid two fingers in his mouth and whistled to the barman. «Jeffrey, I need two tankards here!» he called out to the friend, «Large ones, please». By the end of the evening - and after countless drinks - Thor was very much surprised to see that you had managed to keep up with both his playful banter and the game. You might have also won, if a gentleman that had one too many did not trip and spill half of his beer on you, forcing you to take your leave a bit too early - for Thor's taste, at least. But even if he thought that that had been the best evening he had had in a long while, none of his cheerful expressions could have matched his smile when, repositioning the balls in the centre of the table, he found a quickly scribbled note... with your name and the date and time for a rematch.

The gym was quiet that day. Most of the agents were probably out anyway, trying to sort the mess that was New York City after the Chitauri's attack. Natasha had already done her part, when it came to that particular problem. Teaming up with a group of incredibly gifted people – and super humans. And gods – was not exactly part of her initial plan. She always preferred to work alone after all. But she did find something in that group of people, something she had missed for so long that she was not even certain she was still capable of experiencing. Opening up to others, trusting others was always something that exposed her to risks, and that was definitely not part of her job. That feeling, however… Natasha sprang forward, twirling on herself to deliver a powerful kick to the sand bag. She didn’t want to think about it now. Not when she basically had this S.H.I.E.L.D. facility’s gym all to herself. Or at least, so she thought. The agent felt you entering the room even without turning around. And either you failed to recognize her or you were keeping to yourself, avoiding congratulating her or expressing your admiration for her – like at least ten other operatives did on her way to the gym. That, in Natasha’s eyes, was definitely worth points. She returned to her training, but instinctively kept an eye on your movements - after all, the two of you were the only people in the room. And it was exactly by monitoring you that, ten minutes after, Natasha noticed that you were watching her. She shrugged, returning to hit the bag in front of her. But even after another few moments, she still couldn’t help but feel your eyes on her. You were not even trying to hide it: you were staring at her, plain and simple. The agent finally stopped her array of kicks, sighed loudly and turned towards you. «May I help you?» she asked, letting a tinge of irritation color her question. «Uh, sorry» you quickly apologized, realizing your gaze might actually have been slightly intrusive, «It’s just… your form. It’s very peculiar». «Peculiar? It’s simple combat training. Like the one you probably went through yourself» she merely commented, stretching one leg. You shook your head. «Not really. The way you fight is definitely more accurate and lethal than what I normally see around here. It’s also more… angry». Natasha quirked an eyebrow. «Angry, as if there is something troubling you, deep down» you clarified. The red-haired spy was confused, but she recovered quickly enough to object. «This pretty psychological analysis is interesting, but I can assure you are only seeing what you want to see». With a confidence that surprised both Natasha and yourself, you stood up from the bench you had been sitting on and approached the other woman. «I can prove it to you». And just like that, without any sort of warning, you lunged at her, throwing a turning kick that she readily parried with a gesture of her arm. Natasha would have probably complained, but you did not give her the time to voice her thoughts, so she simply focused her frustration and retaliated. But time after time, kick after kick, her disciplined form started to change and, despite being precise and deadly, the spy began to resembled more of a storm than the precise, lethal weapon she had been trained to be. A tempestuous sea of wild waves, that seemed to have little to no effect against the calm and precise technique her opponent was using. Until the spy had enough, and managed to catch you by surprise with a low kick that made you fall flat on the floor. She was Natasha Romanoff, after all. The two of you looked at each other for a couple of moment, panting from the intense sparring. And before you could say anything, Natasha extended a hand towards you, helping you back on your feet. «That was fun» you smiled, combing a loose strand of hair behind your ear. «Yeah» the other woman simply replied, her shoulders not so tense as before. Satisfied, you went back to collect the gym bag you left by the bench and made your way towards the door. «Hey» you called out, turning towards her one last

time. «It's ok to be angry. Or confused. But we don't always have to deal with it on our own». And just like that, you flipped the bag back on your shoulder and flashed Natasha a kind smile before leaving the room. The spy stood there for a few more minutes, unmoving, still focused on that spot in front of the door where you had been just a moment before. Somehow, she felt lighter, as if the weight of those storming doubts was lifted, giving her the space to breathe more freely. And, somehow, a smile began to stretch on her face. Maybe, after all, she could be ready to start letting some people in.

[doomonfilm]

Review : The Tomorrow War (2021)

HBOMax and Netflix both had entries for the weekend of July 4, so it only makes sense that Amazon Prime would make sure that their presence was felt as well.  After the swing at big budget glory that was Infinite, Amazon Prime’s recent science-fiction offering starring Mark Wahlberg, another big box office presence finds himself as the face of an Amazon production in the form of Chris Pratt, the household name whose fame grew after a stint in Parks & Rec and a star-making role as Peter Quill in the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.  Based on the trailers, the film has all the trappings of a big budget, special effects and action-driven popcorn flick, so I decided to give it a shot.   

If it weren’t for the deep science-fiction premise, The Tomorrow War could almost be mistaken as a commentary on the Military Industrial Complex, like an inverse take on the Starship Troopers approach.  Watching Dan Forestor instantly transform from a teacher and family man into his former war-hardened soldier form feels noble in terms of its intent, and maybe it’s just the cynic in me, but it immediately puts a coldness on the entire future war affair, as if pure detachment is needed to survive a threat that draftees are given zero time to comprehend.  The fact that a worldwide draft is implemented to subdue a universal threat is oddly timely for the conspiracy theorist in me, especially in light of the fact that there seems to be an interesting sea change on the horizon in regard to the political stance on public knowledge of extraterrestrial existence.  Even with this otherworldly threat standing as antagonist, the film doesn’t hesitate to play on the beat that having the enemy emerge from within is a strong possibility.  Despite the way that I’ve rambled about this particular spectrum of The Tomorrow War, Chris McKay and company balance these threads quite well, and all while ramping up the energy and momentum of the film from story beat to story beat.

With Infinite standing as Amazon Prime’s other attempt at rolling out a blockbuster (as previously mentioned), one can garner that a fascination with time-based narratives is becoming a common thread.  The Tomorrow War borrows the best aspects of the Terminator franchise and Shane Carouth’s Primer approach to build its framework, which allows the logic needed for this particular suspension of belief to be sold due to concepts that seems easy to explain at face value, but above the head of standard comprehension upon reflection.  For example, the acknowledgement of the generational gap that would exist between the young military force from 30 years in the future and the middle-aged draftees helps us dispel the worry for potential time paradoxes due to meeting yourself in the future, but it also sets up a slight John Connor mythos once you realize the Forestor father and daughter relationship will boomerang back and forth through time, at least from Dan’s point of view.  Positioning time as fluid and always moving allows McKay and company to implement the fixed point theory of time travel, which instantly raises the stakes of the story due to the built-in ticking clock that comes from making sure you don’t miss your return window.  With these two foundational points strongly set, a sort of narrative tuned mass damper is built which allows you to stack all types of realistic and imaginary science on top of what the audience has already accepted.

There seems to always be some sort of indistinguishable gap between the historic big budget releases in theaters and the small sample serving of streaming service attempts, but The Tomorrow War is a huge step in closing that gap when it comes to production value.  Viewers will immediately notice the impressive use of effects for both the time travel and the Whitespikes, and when we are given moments to view the post-apocalyptic world, it is stylized enough to have an emotional impact.  The combat is appealing to watch, much like the previously mentioned Starship Troopers, as a good mix of novice, survivalist and pure military approaches are mixed in among our characters, with as much adaptive learning being present as there are unfortunate casualties.  There are a number of powerful allusions to Vietnam present in the film, such as the use of choppers and air strikes, the post-traumatic stress and shattered worldview of returning soldiers, deserters, and much more.  The overall tone of despair and danger weighs heavily on the film, and using unconditional familial love as the driving force of hope rather than traditional romantic love is a nice change of pace.

Chris Pratt does what he does best, mixing his natural charm, humor and ability to symbolically and literally gather the troops in his role as the leading man of The Tomorrow War, while also being one of the most believable members of the combat force.  Edwin Hodge matches Pratt’s intensity in terms of combat while providing an edge that stands in opposition to Pratt’s warmth, which makes them a formidable dynamic duo.  Yvonne Strahovski manages to present a façade of military leadership to mask a clearly volatile presence of love that must be held in check in order to make sure her mission is successful, which echoes the adoration shown by Ryan Kiera Armstrong in her role as the younger Muri Forestor.  Betty Gilpin remains hopeful (and even mentally sharp) in the face of a threat that would cause many similar characters to go to pieces and play their characters as fragile, one-note worried housewives.  Sam Richardson provides a solid mixture of comic relief and scientific knowledge, which is welcome within the midst of a very heavy soldier presence that dominates the film, giving the average viewer someone they can latch on to.  J.K. Simmons makes a couple of notable appearances (I wouldn’t mind seeing him work with Chris Pratt again in the future), while Jasmine Mathews, Keith Powers, an interestingly cast Mary Lynn Rajskub, Mike Mitchell and Seth Scenall round out the supporting cast.

The Tomorrow War reminds me of my time working at the movie theater back when I was in high school, specifically the summer that Independence Day was released.  I’m not saying that McKay has found that Roland Emmerich magic, but he has managed to match the spectacle of Independence Day in a way that modern day audiences can relate to.  If streaming services can match the quality of films like The Tomorrow War moving forward, I may have to stop mentioning the movies in a light that makes them sound lower tier. 

[highpriestofpalkism]

Darkness between Two Worlds -

Prologue

Please, reblog if you like!

"Darkness between Two Worlds: A king isn't enough, we need a god. Cover by: Paolo Bagnato, Made by: Arceus92 (me)"

Rick was looking particularly worried at the computer monitor. There were some rather notable anomalies regarding Titanus Gojira's journey into the North Atlantic Ocean, a few hundred kilometers from their outpost at Castle Bravo, in Bermuda, and he could not understand their nature. Godzilla had been reported in the same place for the past five minutes, and was frantically stirring in the water: his signal dot continued to shake, while the patches of colour around him, which indicated the radioactivity of the area, only became more vivid every second.

«What the fuck does that mean there is a higher level of radiation? And to say that until recently he was swimming calmly! He is moving as fast as he can! I think he is...»

«Rick! You have to calm down, I don't think it's something dangerous...maybe he's taking a tunnel to Hollow Earth...?», Chen replied, starting a list of possible rational solutions to that unusual problem.

«And since when does he become more radioactive if it moves? It only happens when he fires a nuclear beams or is under particular stress... »

«Consider that there is a very strong force five hurricane going near his location, he may have used it to clear the fog or dispel the clouds.»

«But why stand still on the spot wagging your tail? It looks like he's struggling with nothing!»

«It is impossible that he is fighting! There is no known titan nearby, and I don't think he would use atomic rays for simple preys...»

«Whatever. I'm not understanding anything!»

«What do you mean Godzilla is emitting more radiation?!»

Mark intruded into the discussion inside that small computer room: the events of 2019 had shaken him a lot, and, despite having managed to recognize the role of Godzilla within the ecosystem, he had become slightly paranoid after them, and when the titan began to make strange or unusual movements, he immediately panicked.

«Oh well, the hysterical has come...»

«I'm not hysterical! I just want to prevent that...thing from causing other problems!»

«You have to blame the yellow dragon and that ecoterrorist if the other half of the family almost died.»

«...»

Doctor Russel clenched his fists with bitterness.

«Come on, Rick, don't provoke him like this! We have far more important things to deal with.»

«Well, you're not wrong, but this one goes crazy as soon as Goji breathes!»

«"This one"?»

«Rick!»

«Okay okay...»

«Let me see.» Mark moved the chair Rick was sitting on to see the monitor. There was the dot that indicated Godzilla, the radiation around it, and the huge storm marked in yellow that was raging around him.

«Well...apparently that Gonorrhea resurrected»

«You like Sam's expression, huh, Mark?»

«For what he did, a nickname like that deserves it, don't you think?»

«It doesn't seem appropriate to me, actually...», said Dr. Chen, once she got up and moved closer to the two, to better observe the movements of the titan who had already saved the world twice.

«We're just kidding, Ilene!», Mark replied, «Three storms of a death song, the One who is Many, Gonorrhea...all synonyms-»

«Look here!»

The doctor pointed to the screen to signal a sudden movement of Godzilla, who had started moving again with energy after that sudden arrest of a short while ago. Apparently, the furious hurricane seemed to follow him, as the levels of radioactivity rose dramatically. They were proceeding to the outpost. Everyone in the room sweated cold. «I-it can't be...», Mark stammered.

«Ah, shit, here we go again...» «Ghidorah can't be seriously alive!» «Evidently Godzilla forgot a few pieces of Ichi on the street...», Dr. Stanton tried to play down, failing miserably.

«It generates storms in which it hides, it has been fighting with Godzilla for at least ten minutes, it increases the radiation levels...it's obviously him!» «Here I have to correct you, Mark.», replied the doctor. She was rather skeptical about any return of Ghidorah, which seemed impossible given her obvious death in the Battle of Boston. She wanted to find an explanation for that absurd riddle. «This unidentified entity does not emit any type of radiation, unlike the One who is Many or the King himself. We don't even know if it exists or not, if it was a coincidence that the hurricane followed Godzilla...»

«I propose to send a drone there, or even to go there to see what it is. It's all too strange...»

«With a force five hurricane that seems to get stronger with every passing second? No, thanks!», Mark exclaimed, rather agitated by the situation.

«Well, we have to somehow find a solution! All this could become dangerous if we do not intervene!» «Er...Doctor Chen ...»

Rick made a long line of concern mixed with discomfort and doubt, putting a finger on the screen and turning to Ilene.

«...He are approaching...»

«What?»

«The hurricane...is approaching...together with Godzilla...»

«Fantastic! Now let's die in here too!», Mark said desperately, putting a hand on his forehead, massaging it.

«The outpost is storm and hurricane-proof...we are in an area at risk, it is natural that this is the case, otherwise we would not have even built it!»

«Thanks for the story lesson, Dr. Chen, but as you said earlier, we have more important things to think about!»

Doctor Chen looked at Mark a little annoyed by his statements.

«Russel, maybe it's better if we go check it out...»

«We don't talk about i-»

The three jumped into air with fright, when the room was suddenly pervaded by a red light and assailed by a deafening din: it was the alarm. The hurricane was getting closer, and with him, a probably furious Godzilla.

«...Maybe it was better to be more careful with the monitor.» Rick complained sarcastically.

«Ah, everything goes perfectly as you said!»

«I never said that things are going perfectly, Russel...»

«Godzilla will kick our asses, he won't be as kind as he was two years ago!» «Oh, for God's sake, Mark, you're breaking-»

Dr. Stanton's voice was interrupted at the end by the sudden opening of the door of the room in which they were. It was Sam, pale, with immense fear in his face (as usual, I would say), as if a close relative had died, to bring bad news.

«Gentlemen...and madam, I believe you already know what I am going to tell you. G-Godzilla and a force five hurricane are approaching the base-»

«LYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!»

A very high-pitched and bursting scream, which in a few decibels would have broken glass, seemed to pierce the air at full volume, penetrating the ears of the unfortunate listeners. A scream never heard before, which placed fear in the souls of all the present ones.

«W-what the fuck was that?!», Mark exclaimed with his mouth open. «Certainly not Godzilla.»

Dr. Chen imposed herself with her voice, almost reassuringly typical of her. She was the only one who seemed not to be worried about that screaming throat thrown by who knows what: it was curiosity that moved her soul.

«We must go and see. Put on a jacket and let's go upstairs. I am alredy convinced he is fighting.»

«Ehm ... do we have to go?»

«Come on, Sam! We certainly can't sit with our hands!»

«... Ilene is right.»

The mythographer turned her gaze to Mark, almost surprised by his statement; after all, they had been in conflict for a few minutes.

«Can't I stay here?»

«No, Rick, you can't stay here. You will come with us.»

«And-what about me, Dr. Russel?»

«You too, Sam. Put your coat on and let's go.»

Rick got up from his chair, sighing heavily, rather annoyed. He swore in his mind that if it was yet another planetary threat, he would have thrown himself into the ocean. They all did as ordered, some with his times, some with others, and went out, taking the elevator, with the huge head of FeM.U.T.O. which watched them silently from above, attached to the wall of the base, beheaded by Godzilla in the battle of San Francisco in 2014. They arrived upstairs, with the saline ocean water around and the rain that beat wildly and uncontrollably against their clothes and their faces, as well as against the entire structure, against which the waves caused by that immense storm also clashed. Everyone, apart from Sam, who remained in the rear just before them, looked out at the metallic railing facing the gigantic whirlwind, still far but more than visible. The sky was obscured by gray and black clouds, while the turret continued to play the alarm signal.

A beam of blue light came out of the waters, pushing them by force and piercing the sky.

«...Well, there was no doubt that Godzilla was there, I think?», said Mark, in a mixture of fear, sarcasm and surprise.

«That was obvious...but I don't think he became a psychopath, you know! He must be fighting something!»

«Yes, Rick, but what?», Ilene asked rhetorically.

«We'll see-»

Everyone covered their ears again. That majestic and unknown cry, recognized as a battle by now, was issued again: the King of the Monsters came out of the waters violently with something white between the claws. It seemed to have fingers, and as the whole body emerged, thanks to the just dragged back covered with blue scales, it was understood that this was actually a wing. The colossal figure of Godzilla, almost entirely out of the sea by that time, answered the cry of struggle, more than supremely:

«SKREEEEEEOOOOOOOOOONGK!»

Everyone looked with open mouth, more or less terrified, at the titan and that unknown being who moved and rebelled against his grasp, still more than half submerged in the waves.

«What ... what the fuck is that?!»

Rick screamed, to say the least in amazement.

«I-it doesn't look like any of the titans we've identified so far!», Sam allowed himself to scream in the, who had now positioned himself with them on the fence.

Doctor Russel thought, and in this he was not even wrong: «{I have a bad feeling about all this ...}»

-Notes-

I'm not a native English speaker, so forgive me if you find mistakes!

[flightyrock]

The House Knows

My fill for the Fall Multifandom Challenge hosted by @sporadic-fics and @helplessly-nonstop . Thank you both, this was a lot of fun!

Prompt: They were roommates

Rating: T

Words: 3k

Pairing: Steve Rogers / Bucky Barnes

Other Characters: Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff

Tags: minor injury, stitches, swearing, questioning sexuality, no powers au, there’s no plot, cuddling, cute, roommates au

The place is perfect.

Too perfect.

Enough that Steve Rogers--a guy known for more bad luck than good, who habitually drags himself back to his feet after being kicked down by life and circumstance over and over again, a guy who can’t help but think the best of people--is suspicious. By all rights, he never should have responded to the Craigslist ad. The location, the interior, the number of rooms, even the profession of his potential roommates is the very definition of too good to be true, especially for the listed rent. And it’s in one of the better neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Except it was so nice, that he couldn’t resist responding. A guy could dream, after all. No one was more surprised than he was when he got a response from a real human being. Or when that same human being answers the door of the gorgeous brownstone that matches the pictures online almost immediately after Steve knocks.

“Hey there, I’m Sam. The landlord,” the guy says, then shakes his hand with a friendly grin.

“Oh,” Steve says stupidly, blinking, willing it all to sink in. Someone actually answered the door. Then he realizes he’s still holding Sam’s hand. He releases it quickly, and rubs the back of his neck, trying and failing to dispel his embarrassment. “Sorry, it’s just. I didn’t think this was actually real. It is real, right? You sure you didn’t mean to throw a zero on the end of that rent?”

Sam throws back his head and laughs. “Oh, it’s real. Don’t worry, we get that a lot.” He steps away from the door. “Come on in. Don’t worry about taking your shoes off, it’s Clint’s week to clean.”

Steve snorts in spite of himself, but takes Sam’s word for it. He follows Sam through the house, and his disbelief grows with every feature. Washer and dryer included. Each tenant has a private bedroom. Landlord pays all utilities. “Even Wi-Fi?” he asks, mouth agape.

Sam clutches his chest like Steve has gravely offended him. “What do you take me for, Rogers? A monster?”

A terrible thought strikes him, and he’s certain his face goes white, because Sam gives him a funny look. “You’re not involved with the mob or something, are you?” Steve whisper-asks.

Sam laughs so hard, he has to bend over to catch his breath. When he’s recovered a bit, he claps a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I like you. You’re going to fit right in here. If you want it, that is.”

Steve gapes. “If I want it? Are you kidding?”

Sam’s face falls. “Yeah, I get it,” he sighs. “Look, if it’s the bathroom thing, Barnes and Clint have offered to share. You can take the upstairs one.”

“What? Why would you think. No,” Steve sputters. “No, I mean, of course I want it, it’s perfect. I love it, just. Why me? I’m sure you’ve gotten tons of applicants.”

Sam looks at him, his eyes piercing. Steve shifts in place. “You have an honest face,” he says eventually. “And you’re safe. I can tell. At the risk of sounding crazy, I’m particularly good at reading people. The other tenants will love you.”

“Wow,” Steve says. Because how do you respond to that. “So that’s it? That easy?”

“Well, almost,” Sam says.

Steve shouldn’t feel as disappointed as he does. He knows better. There’s always a catch.

“Clint and Barnes have to approve,” Sam clarifies. “They’re both vets, and gay to boot. Last thing I’m going to do is make this kind of decision without their input. They deserve to feel safe in their own homes.”

Steve’s not sure why he’s so surprised that Sam is as considerate as he is. The man has been nothing but friendly, but that kind of empathy isn’t something you see everyday anymore. “Wow, that’s. That’s amazing of you.”

“I admit that I have ulterior motives,” Sam smiles at him. “We gay military types have to stick together, you know?” Then he sobers. “That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Oh no, not at all!” Steve says quickly. Maybe a little too quickly, because Sam eyes him suspiciously. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t have any problem with any of that, I swear! Let people be who they are. It’s just. I know I’m fit, but I never actually served, and I’m straight, so I don’t know if I’m what you’re looking for? I don’t want to make anyone feel unsafe,” he says earnestly.

Sam’s staring at him. Steve feels himself shrinking unconsciously under that scrutinizing gaze. Steve’s fumbling for an apology for wasting Sam’s time, because why would he ever accept Steve now, when Sam says.

“Huh. Well, shit. I could have sworn...”

“What?” says Steve, bracing himself for rejection, already resigning himself to another late-night stroll through the housing and roommate pages.

Sam shakes his head. “Nothing, don’t worry about it. Just, you’re probably going to be the first straight person to live here, ever. It’s actually pretty weird; it’s like the place knows. But yeah, the offer stands.”

“Wait, really?” Steve asks him. “You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Sam grins at him. “I may have guessed your sexuality wrong, but I know I’m not wrong about you getting along with the other guys. You’ll like them, I know it.”

“Wow, uh, great! When can I meet them?” Steve asks.

“How about in twenty?” Sam grins at him. “It is about dinner time. I’ll order pizza.”

Sam is an excellent host. He doesn't even blink when Steve politely declines wine and beer, getting him a fancy bottle of mint-infused ginger ale instead. Sam waves off his stuttered thanks. “Don’t worry about it. Barnes doesn’t drink, either.”

Barnes, amazingly, also doesn’t mind when Steve stares at his prosthetic. The man had dropped heavily into an armchair after shaking Steve’s hand and introducing himself as something that starts with a B, but Steve doesn’t quite catch because holy hell, the guy is gorgeous. He has soft-looking dark hair that falls in gentle waves past his shoulders, a jawline perfectly highlighted by five o’clock shadow, and grey blue eyes that shimmer in the light. Steve can’t take his eyes off of him. It only gets worse when he pulls off his baggy sweatshirt, revealing a broad frame and the shiny, intricate limb. The guy clears his throat, and Steve’s eyes shoot back to his face, embarrassment setting his face aflame.

Steve stammers out an apology. “I’m so sorry, Barnes,” Steve says miserably. “It’s rude of me to stare. It’s just that I’m an artist, and the design is stunning.” It probably makes him a terrible person, but Steve’s glad the prosthetic gives him such a good excuse for staring.

The guy just laughs, grinning at Steve. “Don’t worry about it, pal. Everyone does.”

“Doesn’t make it right,” Steve says.

“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Barnes says amicably. “But I’m more offended you’re calling me Barnes, to be honest.”

Steve flushes. Can’t he do anything right? “Sorry. Sam calls you Barnes.”

“That’s because Wilson’s an asshole!” Bucky yells into the kitchen. He cackles at the disembodied profane gesture he receives in response. “Nah, but Sam’s the best,” he grins at Steve. “He’s never in town for very long, but it’s a great time when he is.”

“Aw, shucks,” Sam grins at him when he reenters the room, setting a stack of plates and a roll of paper towels on the coffee table. “I guess you’re pretty okay too, Barnes.” Bucky lets out a dramatic wounded sound, and Steve laughs along with Sam. Sam pats Bucky on the shoulder apologetically. He looks around. “Where’s Clint? At this rate, the pizza will get here before he does.”

Bucky shrugs. “Who knows? Don’t worry, he’ll be here. There’s pizza, and you’re buying.”

“True,” Sam chuckles.

At Steve’s questioning eyebrow, Bucky explains with a smirk. “Clint has a sixth sense for pizza. It’s wild. Just you wait; he’ll be here between the time we pay and the time the pie gets cold.”

The pizza comes, Sam pays, and a guy with short blond hair and chunky hearing aids comes strolling in the door a minute later. “Hey, Sam. Bucky. Ooh, pizza!” he grins, and makes a beeline to the box, rubbing his hands together.

Steve laughs, and Bucky winks at him, a mischievous spark in his pale eyes. Steve blushes in spite of himself.

“What?” Clint says, looking around. His eyes land on Steve. “Oh, hey,” he waves, then goes straight for the food.

Sam laughs. “Barton, put the pizza down for a second and meet Steve!”

“What? Oh, hi, Steve,” the guy smiles at him, then takes a bite of the slice he’s holding. “Ow! Hot!” He makes a grab for his burnt tongue, fumbling the slice. It lands on the throw rug, cheese side down. “Aw, pizza.”

Sam shakes his head long-sufferingly, and Bucky rolls his eyes.

Steve grabs the roll of paper towels and starts to pick it up. Clint shoos him away with a grin. “Don’t worry about it, man. I’ve got it. Happens all the time.”

Steve carries the messed up paper towel into the kitchen to throw it away. “Isn’t he sweet?” Sam’s saying to Bucky when he comes out, and Steve flushes.

“Oh yeah,” Bucky says, turning to face Steve with a grin. “He’s perfect.”

Bucky, as it turns out, is the bane of Steve’s existence. The man’s always smiling at Steve, inviting him to go grab some tea, or come watch a movie. They often stay up later than they should talking about everything and anything. Steve feels like he’s known Bucky forever. So why does the man make him so anxious? At least, that’s what he thinks the fluttering in his chest is. It can’t be anything else. It is distracting, though. Steve catches himself thinking about the guy and that strange anxiety at all hours. It’s really cutting into his drawing time.

Anyone else would have guessed that if any of Steve’s roomates would be the bane of his existence, it would be Clint. The guy is always tripping on the last couple of stairs, or spilling soup on the carpet. Not to mention he’s probably broken more dishes in the time it’s taken fall to turn to winter than Steve has owned in his life.

“You’re the physical manifestation of the term ‘gay disaster,’” Bucky complains at Clint as he helps Steve pick up the shards of the latest casualty, a nonsensical ‘World’s Best Best” etched clumsily on a cheap wineglass.

“I resent that!” Clint pouts. “If anything, I’m the physical manifestation of ‘bi disaster.’” Clint, of course, is banished to the couch. Bucky explained that the last time the guy helped clean up broken dishware, their last roommate had to take him to the local Urgent Care for stitches. “That’s bi erasure!”

“You can hardly blame me. It’s so long that you’ve taken anyone home that I forgot,” Bucky’s saying to Clint, a grin in his voice. Steve’s studiously ignoring them, concentrating on the shards in front of him to try to stop the blush that wants to creep up his neck at Bucky’s smile. It’s just as gorgeous as he is. Steve’s never seen a person so beautiful before, and it’s a daily battle to keep him from humiliating himself. The man was funny, and charming, and Steve has never felt this way about another person before. But they’re roommates, so Bucky’s off limits. And, after all, Steve’s straight. Isn’t he?

The glass, he reminds himself. God, it really had scattered everywhere. Steve has no idea how Clint managed it. Bucky’s laughing. Then something soft but firm hits his face hard, and he’s falling. He sticks a hand out instinctively to catch himself, and is hit with deep regret a moment before a sharp, burning pain.

Clint’s yelling a belated warning.

“Oh fuck, Steve,” Bucky’s voice is saying, and hands are helping him to his feet, guiding him carefully around the glass. Steve chances a glance down, and his stomach lurches at the piece of material he sees sticking out. He fights the haze that’s creeping into his brain, and tries to concentrate on Bucky’s voice, murmuring comforting things as he gets Steve settled onto a kitchen chair. Steve’s mortified at the way his eyes burn as Bucky gently works the shard out, then holds a kitchen towel to the wound, applying firm pressure.

“Oh, Stevie, I’m so sorry,” he says, bringing a spare towel up to dab at Steve’s tears. Steve lets him, still frozen from the event. It’s kind of nice, actually, underneath the embarrassment. “I shouldn’t have been teasing Clint while we were cleaning. Or ducked that pillow.”

“Sorry,” Steve echoes, feeling very small. “I shouldn’t be crying.”

“Sure you should,” Bucky says, putting down the towel and patting his arm. “It was a shock. Completely normal.”

“God, Steve, I’m so sorry,” Clint says miserably from the doorway. “Anything I can do?”

“Grab the first aid kit?” Bucky requests, and Clint nods.

“I can take care of it,” Steve says, embarrassed.

“With one hand?” Bucky raises a skeptical eyebrow. “Just let us help.” The man frowns suddenly, and lifts the edge of the towel. Then his face goes carefully blank.

“Clint?” he calls.

“Yeah?” the man calls back, voice muffled.

“Call a Lyft please!” Then he turns to Steve, and smiles reassuringly. He guides Steve’s free hand to grasp the towel. “Can you hold pressure for a minute, Stevie? I’m going to go grab your shoes.”

“What’s going on?” Steve says, afraid of the answer. But Bucky’s already hurried out of the room. He braces himself, then lifts the towel. Oh, shit.

He ends up getting stitches, Bucky never leaving his side. Underneath the humiliation, Steve feels something warm ballooning in his chest. It’s amazing. It scares him. That feeling only swells when Bucky guides him firmly to the couch when they get back, and settles a throw over him before pulling up Joy of Painting on the TV. They sit together, shoulder to shoulder, and listen to Bob Ross calmly walk them through blocking out sky and ground, then making the space come to life.

They’re three episodes in when Bucky pulls him into a hug. “It’s alright, Steve,” he murmurs, and Steve realizes he’s shaking. “Let it all out.” And Steve does. He’s not sure if he imagines Bucky kissing his temple, but he hopes not. He really hopes not.

He wakes up alone on the couch, eyes sticky, and hand aching. He stares at the ceiling blankly for a minute, before it all comes rushing back to him. God, why is he such an idiot! What was he thinking, crying all over Bucky like that? Now Bucky would never want to go out with him!

Steve’s eyes shoot open. Wait, what?

As he normally does in a crisis, his first instinct is to call Natasha. He hurries to his room, and dials her number.

“Are you in danger?” Natasha asks him, voice tense.

“What? Why would you--no!” he says.

She lets out an exasperated sigh. “What the hell, Steve! It’s almost 2 AM!”

“This is important! I think I like guys,” he says hisses.

“Yeah, I know. So what?”

“You know?” Steve sputters. “What’s that supposed to mean? I didn’t even know!”

“Oh Steve,” Natasha says, fond amusement in her voice. “I’ve known for years. Remember that TA in our Gen Chem Lab?”

Steve does remember. His name had been Brian, and Steve had wanted to impress him so bad. But that was only because Steve wanted to pass, right? He’d conveniently forgotten that he’d lost all interest in the subject as soon as the guy transferred to a new school halfway through the semester. And oh, that would probably explain a lot.

“Oh,” he says faintly. “I never realized.”

Natasha snorts. “Of course you didn’t. So why the call?”

“I’m pretty sure I like this guy, but I just ruined everything,” Steve says miserably.

“Why, what happened?”

“I cut my hand on some glass, and Bucky cleaned me up and took me to get stitches. But then he sat with me on the couch afterward and I cried all over him like an idiot. There’s no way he’s going to want to go out with me now. Not that it matters; there’s no way he feels the same way, he was just being nice,” Steve says in a rush.

“Steve—” Natasha starts to say, but then the door swings open, and Steve jumps, dropping the phone to the floor with a bang.

Bucky’s standing there, face faintly pink and a small smile on his face.

“Buck,” Steve says stupidly. He wishes he could sink straight through the floor. How much did Bucky hear!? “Um. How long were you out there?”

Bucky walks over to him slowly. “Long enough.”

Steve feels himself turn red. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’ll move out, the last thing I want you to do is feel like you’re being oggled in your own home and I—”

Bucky pulls him into a firm hug, and Steve falters. “I like you too, Stevie,” Bucky murmurs in his ear. “I have for a while.” He presses a gentle kiss to Steve’s cheek and releases him. He smiles. “Want to go cuddle on the couch? We can talk about it over boba tomorrow.”

Steve’s cheeks ache with the force of his responding grin. “Please.”

They’re so wrapped up in each other that neither of them hear the exasperated yelling echoing from the phone with a freshly-cracked screen laying forgotten on the ground.

~~~

Natasha forgives Steve eventually, especially once he introduces her to Bucky. The two of them bond over classic Russian Literature, and Steve couldn’t be happier. Clint teases them relentlessly, and takes credit for getting them together. Of course, he also pays for pizza the next month as an apology for Steve’s hand. And as for Sam…

“I called it!” their landlord crows during his next visit, pointing at the two of them where they’re cuddled together on the couch watching a movie, neither of them wanting to move to let them in. Steve and Bucky look at each other in confusion. “The streak is still alive! I’m telling you, no straight person has ever lived here. The house knows.”

“Maybe,” Steve concedes, with a grin. “I’m really glad to be here, all-knowing house or not.”

Bucky pulls him closer. “Yeah?”

Steve pecks him on the cheek. “Yeah.”

[thecreaturecodex]

Demon, Cerebrilith

Image © Wizards of the Coast, by Sam Wood. Accessed at the Expanded Psionics Handbook Art Gallery here

[This conversion hews decently close to the D&D 3.5 version, but it does include some adjustments to make the statistics more closely match the flavor-text. Why include a line that it tears out and examines the brains of its victims if that doesn’t do anything?]

Demon, Cerebrilith CR 10 CE Outsider This vaguely humanoid horror walks stooped on its knuckles, its body weighed down by its immense brain, which extends down its spinal column and is covered in a bladed exoskeleton. Its body oozes a thin slime.

A cerebrilith, or brain demon, is a fiend created from the soul of a chaotic evil psychic spellcaster. They are obsessed with power, both physical and mental, and tune their bodies and minds into killing machines in order to battle against outsiders and mortals alike. They rarely get along with demons other than their fellow cerebriliths, as they look down on creatures without psychic powers as their inferiors.

The braincases of a cerebrilith are not filled with their own brains, but instead those they have stolen from other creatures. A cerebrilith can scan the memories and thoughts of a stolen brain long after its owner has died, and cerebriliths hunt for particularly insightful or experienced victims in order to have the best “libraries”. In combat, a cerebrilith combines mental and physical attacks in a furious assault, focusing their attention on whoever they believe would make a fine addition to their collection.

A cerebrilith would stand ten feet tall if it ever stood upright, but their hunched postures keep them around 8 feet in height.

Cerebrilith          CR 10 XP 9,600 CE Large outsider (chaos, demon, evil, extraplanar) Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +26 Defense AC 24, touch 10, flat-footed 23 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +10 natural, +4 armor) hp 126 (11d10+77) Fort +14, Ref +8, Will +7 DR 10/good; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 21 Defensive Qualities defensive slime Offense Speed 40 ft. Melee bite +16 (1d8+6), 2 claws +16 (1d6+6/19-20) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks phasing strike Psychic Magic CL 11th, concentration +16 (+20 casting defensively) 20 PE—detect magic (1 PE), dominate person (5 PE, DC 20), ego whip II (4 PE, DC 19), id insinuation III (5 PE, DC 20), mental block (3 PE, DC 18), mind probe (2 PE, DC 17), mind thrust IV (4 PE, DC 19) Spell-like Abilities CL 11th, concentration +16 (+20 casting defensively) At will—greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only) 3/day—darkness, unholy blight (DC 19) 1/day—dispel good, summon (5th level, 1 nabasu, 50%) Statistics Str 22, Dex 13, Con 25, Int 17, Wis 18, Cha 20 Base Atk +11; CMB +18; CMD 29 Feats Blind-fight, Combat Casting, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +15 (+19 jumping), Bluff +19, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Knowledge (planes) +17, Perception +26, Sense Motive +18, Spellcraft +17, Stealth +11; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, telepathy 100 ft. SQ preserve brain Ecology Environment any land or underground (Abyss) Organization solitary or pack (2-6) Treasure standard Special Abilities Defensive Slime (Ex) The slime that covers a cerebrilith grants it a +4 armor bonus to Armor Class. This does not stack with worn armor. Phasing Strike (Su) Three times per day as an immediate action, a cerebrilith can charge its natural weapons with psychic energy. It treats all natural attacks made that round as touch attacks. Preserve Brain (Su) A cerebrilith can remove the brain of a recently deceased creature (no more than 24 hours dead) and insert it into its own braincase. While in the braincase, the brain is preserved as per a gentle repose spell, and the cerebrilith can use mind probe to read that creature’s thoughts and memories. A cerebrilith can preserve a number of brains at a time equal to its Constitution modifier (7 brains for a typical specimen).

[pokibal2001]

3. Surprise Kiss with Older!Manny/Frida

Hi, @mygardenofmuses?! It’s good to see you again! And thanks for the ask but…  Actually, despite my avid reading in romance books, I’m not that well-experienced in writing kissing scenes but regardless, I’ll do the short story with the best I can! ^_^

This short one-short takes place a few years after the events of C: TATD. and there might slight spoilers here and there… Don’t worry too much about it, just enjoy the ride!

—

“C’mon, you slowpoke! The cafe’s right there!” Frida exclaimed impatiently, pointing her finger wildly at the front entrance of said cafe.

“You know I’m right ahead of you, right?” Manny deadpanned bemusedly, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face.

The blue-haired gal snorted in amusement as she fastened her walking pace, “Of course I do. Just saying we should hurry a little.”

“Right… Is it because you can’t skipping?” jested the curly-haired teen, the smirk on his face growing bigger.

Frida huffed, “I can be patient! I’m just super excited, that’s all.”

Manny chuckled humorously, shaking his head. Frida had always been a super energetic girl, regardless of having powers or no powers. Granted, she has a really good reason to be quite excited about this particular occasion.

The cafe they were about to visit was a branch belonging to one of the most successful companies in the world that specializes in hipster-themed food and drinks that are both tasty and popular.

Manny couldn’t blame Frida for stirring in such pure excitement, because this cafe was exactly the type of place that served the blue-haired teen’s favourite types of meals. It helps that the cafe also allowed a venue opened for any local bands to perform.

For Frida, this was a dream come true for an aspiring rock star like her. Not only does she get to enjoy delicious meal that catered to her tastes, she also gets the chance for her band to organize a concert there!

She just has to scout out the place first, just so that it wasn’t a case of ‘too good to be true’ type of situation.

They had been burned by those cases before, especially during their stint in the the Ghost Zone. A realm of the afterlife so different from the Lands of the Dead.

(Frida and Sam still kept close contact with each other, despite what had happen. And Manny was too grateful for what Danny had done to help them when they were lost in those shadowy green depths)

Nonetheless, Frida was radiating optimism all over. If she’s happy, Manny was also happy and that was good enough for him. It helps that the curly-haired superhero was also thrilled about the occasion, but for completely different reasons.

Frida swung the glass doors opened, causing them to bang loudly against the brick wall so hard that Manny was surprised they hadn’t cracked from the force yet.

Multiple irked glances were sent their way but Manny, who was used to these type of stares in regards to their respective eccentricities, merely shrugged them off nonchalantly as he accompanied Frida towards the nearest table.

Since he was the first to reach the table, Manny was quick to pull out a chair for Frida before he quickly plopped down on his own seat. The blue-haired musician raised a curious eyebrow at her best friend’s odd sense of courtesy but simply shrugged and sat down on her chair.

“Oooh, look at the food!” Frida squealed as she licked her lips, “Manny, do you want chicken taquitos or steak burritos?”

Manny squinted his eyes at his own menu with wide smile, looking just as interested, “Hmm, they look pretty good! I think I’ll choose-” 

“AAHHH, MONSTER!”

“Muahahahaha! Kneel before my knees, Miracle City!” A annoyingly familiar voice of a mad scientist gloated.

There were numerous screams from the outside, the open windows of the cafe revealing several terrified civilians running for their lives from what seems to be a monster made of guacamole. 

Manny immediately smacked his face against the cloth-covered table, his chocolate brown eyes twitching as he moaned in pure vexation.

“Ai… Why now…?” The superhero-on-break groaned aloud. 

Frida simply huffed, crossing her arms as a flash of frustration crossed her narrowed blue eyes. 

“Dr. Chipotle Jr. again?” The rock star snorted, “You got to be kidding me, of all the rotten luck-”

“El Tigre! Come out, come out wherever you are!”

“Is he still sore about that?” Manny grumbled, peering up at Frida. 

The blue-haired gal hummed in contemplation as she rubbed her chin, “Well… He stopped sending me love letters, so that’s a plus.”

Reluctantly standing up from his seat, Manny sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.”

‘Now I know how Danny feels when ghosts barged into his personal time. Mine are freaking supervillains!’ Manny thought to himself in sympathy.

—

Half an hour later, with the screaming Dr Chipotle Jr. and his defeated Guacamole monster sent flying off into the air…

—

Unfortunately, the ensuring altercation between Manny and Frida’s heroic alter-egos with Dr Chipotle Jr. caused a lot more collateral damage than either hero had expected. 

Frida, having dispelled the magic of her super suit, ran in front of the rubble from the destroyed cafe. Slamming both of her hands against her cheeks as she kneeled down and wailed, “NOOOOOO! Not the cafe!”

El Tigre walk towards the distraught musician and crouched down beside her, a sympathetic grimace on his face as he unsheathed his right claw and rubbed her back soothingly. 

“Don’t worry, Frida,” He reassured her, “The cafe will get repaired soon enough!”

Frida’s lips trembled for a bit when all of a sudden, her bluebelle eyes brightened. The expression on her face suddenly lit up in such a manner that made the tiger superhero wary, wearing a specific type of expression that he recognized all too well. 

It was her crafty face, the kind Frida normally showed when they schemed together their usual array of pranks during their younger years. 

Not that they stopped playing pranks since then, but growing older also came with a lot of priority juggling in their lives. They’re still bonafide pranksters at their peak of their youth, but it’s just… They don’t do it as often as they used to.

Shaking the negative thoughts away from his head (It seems even he got the ‘Ghost Zone’ angst crawling in his head, as jokingly dubbed by his fellow Nicktoons), El Tigre stared pointedly at the devious-looking rock star. 

Normally, he’d happily go along with any scheme Frida makes up in her head just like how she also go along with his cunning plans of mischief for the sake of fun and giggles. 

However, considering how excited she was to have a day of their own spending time at the cafe that she wants to visit…

“Frida…” the tiger superhero spoke slowly, “What are you planning?”

The blue-haired musician turned to him with a wide, mischievous smile on her face as she said, “How about we invite Timmy here and ask him to make wish for us?”

“No,” El Tigre’s reply was swift and she deflated in reply, which causes him to quickly say, “If it was any other day, I wouldn’t mind! But I don’t feel like doing clean up duty to today if any of Timmy’s wishes went wrong.” 

Frida puffed her cheeks in dismay as she protested, “Aww, I wanted the cafe to be fixed quickly! What about Tak? His magic can fix this too!”

Flicking his belt, Manny’s super suit dissolved away as he shrugged at her, “We can ask Ladybug or the Winx for help. Their restoration magic are way more reliable than both Timmy’s and Tak’s.” 

Both of them stood up, settling in walking towards whatever direction opposite of the ruined cafe. Frida playfully narrowed her eyes at Manny as she faux-punched his shoulder, “Since when did you get so sensible?”

Manny chuckled bemusedly, “Well… Who else have to be the responsible boyfriend in this relationship?”

Frida’s eyes widened, “Responsi-”

Her boyfriend swiftly leaned forward, stopping just right in front of her face before planting a quick peck on her lips and Frida was too dumbfounded to react.

Manny smirked as he backed away, “That’s revenge for stealing my first kiss, Frida.”

His girlfriend blinked owlishly, before shaking her head and laughed, “You silly! If you want a kiss so much, just ask!”

Manny spread his arms wide in invitation with a shit-eating grin, “Then I humbly ask you, Frida Suarez, to kiss me senseless.”

“The answer is YES!” Frida exulted, jumping straight into Manny’s arms and passionately made out with him in the middle of the streets, uncaring of the horrified glances other people gave them from across the road. 

“I love you, Frida,” Manny whispered softly between his breaths. 

Frida smiled joyously in reply, “Love you too, silly.”

—

Omake time!

“Do I even want to know?” Marinette deadpanned, easily noticing the obnoxious-looking kiss marks on both Manny and Frida’s blushing faces. 

“Yep!” “Sure!” The two teenaged lovers exclaimed together, with Manny’s arm around Frida’s waist as he pulled her closer to him.

The French-Asian woman shook her head and smiled bemusedly as she replied, “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“Ladybug!” Bloom called out from above, the guardian fairy of the Dragon Fire having finished her inspection of the ruined cafe, “I think we can do a simple two-person Convergence Resonance for the Restoration spell!” 

“Oh right, the Miraculous Ladybug?” Manny smirked while Frida snorted beside him. 

The spotted heroine stumbled and stammered, “I was only thirteen that time! How am I supposed to know it was too long!?” 

“But it’s so mouthy,” jested Frida loudly, as Manny burst out in boisterous laughter, “Why not just call it, the fix-it-up-all spell?”

Marinette covered her face with her hands, “Where’s Chat when I need him to dig me a hole.”

Bloom fluttered beside the heroine of Creation, a sympathetic smile on the princess of Domino’s face, “You’re not the only one with embarrassing spell names.”

Marinette just groaned. 

—

I hope you’ll enjoy reading this kissing prompt, @mygardenofmuses! I bet you’ll know full well who are the new characters that will appear in C:TATD!

[briangroth27]

Avengers Infinity War Review

I went into Avengers: Infinity War completely bored with the drawn-out Infinity Stones plot (it’s been going on for 6 or 7 years—since First Avenger or Avengers—depending on how you want to call it and Guardians of the Galaxy devalued the Stones by calling them meaningless McGuffins), uninterested in Thanos (Josh Brolin) as a villain, and not at all ready to say goodbye to original Avengers like Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). However, the movie definitely dispelled the vast majority of my doubts! It was very well-made, expertly wove a huge amount of characters together, and absolutely felt like an epic event movie. That said, while I didn't dislike it by any means, there also weren't any moments that really wowed me; I liked it a lot, but didn’t love it.

However, it’s obvious the creators did. It’s clear this movie isn’t a cash grab, but a celebration of the universe Kevin Feige and his numerous writers, directors, and actors have crafted over the past 10 years (which is a bit odd to say, given this movie gets dark). Infinity War never feels cynical or forgets to treat its heroes as heroes, despite their imperfections. Gone are the days of severe hero infighting; when a universe-threatening enemy shows up, everyone puts their differences aside to save the day (even if they bicker from time to time). I love that writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely changed the source material (Infinity Gauntlet) to make the Avengers the main characters out to stop Thanos instead of cosmic characters we haven’t met in the movies. It would’ve been extremely disappointing to have an entirely new group of characters come out of nowhere to steal our heroes’ thunder. Script-wise, this movie feels like meeting old friends again, as the writers captured the various heroes' voices well. While less-skilled writers might have washed out nuances between characters due to the similarity of trademark MCU snark, everyone still felt distinct here and there were plenty of standout comedy moments balancing the dramatic beats perfectly. Even though I haven’t previously been invested in some of these characters, everyone came off as likable. I do wish we’d gotten more character moments out of more of the heroes: all of them (somewhat necessarily, given the scope) come in as we left them in their last adventure, even though for about half of them, two years (or more, in the case of the Guardians) have passed since we last saw them. This lack of development wouldn’t be as much a problem for me if there were more solo films coming, but given we know whose contracts are expiring, it seems several Avengers have run their course in the MCU and are leaving interesting stories on the table. I have no problem with a universe-threatening villain in a sprawling adventure, but given the choice between that and digging into the characters more, I’d prefer solo films. Still, there’s only so much screentime the acting was strong across the board; even when the script didn’t give some actors a lot to work with, they were able to play to their characters’ iconic true north really well. The writers and the Russo Brothers brought everyone together seamlessly, creating several fun new dynamics. Tony (Robert Downey, Jr.), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) similar attitudes irked each other perfectly while Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Teen Groot (Vin Diesel) came together organically and Captain America’s crew mixing with the heroes of Wakanda felt totally natural.

Full Spoilers...

There are a lot of character beats I loved. Black Widow consistently being the deadliest of the Avengers was great (and I’d love to see these skills put to the test as her enemies come after her in a solo film, allowing her to finally clear her Red Ledger), and her kickass team-up with Okoye (Danai Gurira) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) was a great (if brief) showcase of the MCU’s heroic women. Likewise, I loved that Shuri (Letitia Wright) was the obvious person to turn to when it came to super-science, and her reaction to Stark and Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) construction of Vision (Paul Bettany) made it absolutely clear that her tech abilities far outstrip theirs. I’ll take any Shuri appearance I can get and I wonder if she'll get to be the Black Panther in her brother's (Chadwick Boseman) absence like in the comics. I do wish she could’ve met Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and that they could’ve become science besties. Spidey’s enthusiasm for superheroics and his drive to protect his neighborhood was a breath of fresh air, particularly when played against the more cynical characters. I do think his willingness to come up with a plan to kill a villain was a little alarming morally, but otherwise I love his youthful energy. I wish we could’ve seen the fallout of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) discovering Peter is Spider-man at the end of Homecoming as part of Peter’s introduction here, because that certainly needs to be dealt with onscreen. Maybe he could’ve finally said “with great power comes great responsibility” and mentioned Ben in that moment, which would also fuel his decision not to leave when Tony tells him to get off the ship. I get the urgency of giving Peter the Iron Spider suit (which looks much better than in the comics), but I was kinda bummed that we’re yet again having Tony hand all these toys to Peter instead of Peter developing them himself (I prefer a self-sufficient Spidey using homemade tech). Speaking of Tony, it was great to see him come up against egos as big as his, particularly when Star-Lord threw his plan away outright and came up with a better one. His reaction to Strange’s magic was what you’d expect from Stark encountering the supernatural and I wish they’d had time to dig into a science/mysticism dichotomy between them a bit more. Tony’s arc of telling Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) about wanting to have kids to losing his surrogate son Peter at the end was much more emotional than the “last man standing” fear vision he had in Age of Ultron. I thought his reluctance to call Steve as the crisis started was a fine—if underwhelming—continuation of their rift from Civil War, though I think it’s worth noting that he kept the flip phone on him for use at a moment’s notice (even if he didn’t end up calling Rogers personally).

Steve's "We don't trade lives" is a great motto and, like others have noted, it’s the answer to Thanos’ argument. I just hope it's not reversed in the next installment by the original Avengers sacrificing themselves for Thanos' victims. I also liked that they dealt with the potential dissonance with Cap sacrificing himself at the end of First Avenger, though Banner's justification was essentially that Steve didn't have a choice. I worry that Cap and the others will be forced into a place where they don't have a choice in Avengers 4. It would’ve been nice to dig into Cap’s thoughts on having become a nomadic vigilante after the events of Civil War and to at least hear what he and his crew have been facing in that time. I’m glad he hasn’t lost his upstanding personality, but he, Nat, and Sam (Anthony Mackie) don’t seem very changed by their time on the run, which felt like a missed opportunity: you’d think losing the Avengers’ insulation would be the perfect time to expose Steve to how the common people’s ideals and dreams have changed, which would be a fantastic conflict for him. I really wish we were getting one more solo Cap film to deal with just that: are his ideals outdated? What kind of symbol does America want now, and does he need to remind us of what we should be aiming for? What of citizens who spout hate and call it patriotism? Maybe they can persuade Evans to come back for a Logan-scale solo film set before Infinity War to explore this kind of thing. Still, it was good to see Steve and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) reunite, but I wish we (and Rogers) had gotten an idea of Bucky's newfound peace. I like the idea of Bucky finding his place as White Wolf in Wakanda instead of taking over as Captain America, so some idea of what he's been doing beyond recovering would've been nice. I wish that Cap's other bestie, Sam, had gotten more than an extended cameo here; at the very least, both he and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) should've have something to say upon seeing Wakanda for the first time (as pointed out here). I guess the writers wanted to focus on the characters who'd be vanishing so their loss would hit harder—and the original heroes are said to get the spotlight in the next film before we say goodbye—but small moments like that would've added a lot (especially as Sam vanished). However, I was glad to hear Rhodey had turned on the Sokovia Accords in the time since Civil War; it seems all the heroes on Tony’s side have realized how bad an idea it is, which is a nice vindication for Cap (Spidey hasn't signed or commented on them at all, perhaps because he's a minor and isn't thinking about the big picture).

It would've been nice to see more of how Wakanda had begun opening itself to the world beyond staging the final battle there. Does T’Challa have a specific plan for his outreach centers? Okoye's comment about imagining Wakanda taking part in the Olympics or getting a Starbucks was funny, but I wanted more. More pointedly, how do the people view T'Challa's decision? Is there any dissension, especially when his choice immediately brings a war to their doorstep? I really would’ve liked to see T’Challa convincing the people to take on this struggle (at the very least, Black Panther 2 needs to discuss this). If nothing else, his role as King could’ve made him a starker contrast to the other heroes. It seems T’Challa and Cap’s strategy held off Thanos’ forces long enough for Shuri to copy Vision’s AI, so even though his body was destroyed he could come back though honestly I'm not sure he's necessary. I don't really get Vision, so it could just be me, but his story seems to have come to an end. I appreciate that he isn't written like a cliché robot seeking humanity (or seeking to eliminate it), but his purely analytical outlook from Age of Ultron and Civil War seems to have largely faded, he isn't protecting the world like Stark created him to at all (as a friend of mine pointed out), he seems potentially too powerful to fully use his abilities, and I don't really see what he adds to the overall universe at this point. I do buy his love for Wanda (and hers for him) as well as their connection over the mysteriousness of their origins, though. Given all she's been through and the incident that sparked the Sokovia Accords, I don't blame Wanda for wanting a normal life with Vision. However, it would've been nice to get a glimpse of her view on the world post-Civil War and how she felt about being tied to a cosmic force like the Infinity Stones that already mutated her and her brother and now threatened her love. I liked the twist that Wanda could destroy the Mind Stone since it was used to create her powers and that she was perhaps the most powerful Avenger. One of the other most powerful, Hulk, got an unexpected arc that didn't fully land for me. I'm all for Hulk having his own character development, but if his refusal to show himself really was fear after his beating from Thanos (as fans have speculated), that wasn't clear. Instead, it felt like they played Banner's inability to transform as a joke. I was also underwhelmed by the moment touching on the Bruce/Nat relationship. I'm not a fan of that relationship in general—she doesn't need to date anyone, but if she were going to, she and Cap had the best chemistry and "opposites attract" spark—but this is what we've got and they need to deal with it. The awkwardness of their reunion didn't cut it for me.

As far as reunions go, it was a bummer that Thor and Loki’s (Tom HIddleston) peace after Ragnarok was immediately cut short here. While I felt it was time for Loki’s death—too many wishy-washy alliances and betrayals over the years wore out his welcome for me and Ragnarok established that he was aiming to be a lazy king, defanging his villainy—I’m glad he finished his arc and found real peace with Thor. I thought telling Thanos to kill his brother felt a little off at first, but I suppose making it seem like he’d put up a fight to keep the Tesseract was part of his elaborate plan to try to kill Thanos (as was bringing up that he’d worked for him before). It was also a little disappointing that the Asgardians took another huge hit to their population here and are apparently just left floating in space. I certainly hope Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) survived and can join the fight to get revenge on Thanos; losing so many of her people again has got to have an impact and I'd love to see the lessons about heroism Thor imparted to her inspire her to stand up rather than run away this time. Maybe she could become something of a queen of Asgard and lead the survivors to a new home! Even beyond losing half of his people, Thor going over all the family and friends he’d lost with Rocket was a somber moment and Rocket’s attempts at consolation were a nice gesture. I felt like Infinity War found a perfect balance of Thor’s humorous and serious sides, and I hope it sticks around. The bond Thor and Rocket developed was a highlight of the film, even if their quest to get Thor a new weapon a movie after establishing he didn’t need one was a little odd (as others have noted). I can’t wait to see how Rocket grows after losing all his family, especially now that we know Teen Groot’s last word to him was “Dad…” That’s heartbreaking! Moody Teen Groot was a very entertaining addition to the Guardians and they got a lot of mileage out of making the Guardians his “parents.” Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is another strong addition who gelled well with the rest of her crew thanks to her enthusiasm for “kicking names and taking ass!” I’m glad she stuck around after Guardians 2. I was impressed that she got to play such an important and powerful role against Thanos when they tried getting his glove off. I still prefer Drax’s (Dave Bautista) original “takes everything literally” personality from the first Guardians, but I liked his humor here a lot better than in the second film (where it seemed to settle on “states the obvious” instead). “Perfecting” invisibility by standing totally still was hilarious! I’m glad he got a chance to avenge his family, even if it didn’t work out and nearly cost them everything. If only Quill had learned a lesson from that failure! I don't think the movies should follow the comics in having Thanos see the error of his ways while Nebula (Karen Gillan) becomes the real villain. It's a cliché that a woman achieves ultimate power only to become evil, so I’d be much more interested in seeing her interact with Tony (maybe they make something of their biology-infused tech similarities?) than going off the deep end. True Thanos' torture of her was horrific, but I'd like to see her take a healthier path instead of spiraling into insanity after all the pain she's had to endure.

I was wary of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) making Quill promise to kill her if things went bad in their attempt to stop Thanos from collecting all the Stones because she knew where the Soul Stone was hidden, as it seemed like that could lead to fridging her. Ultimately, though, that request being her choice and the fact that she was killed for more than fueling Quill's angst avoided that (though she does fuel Thanos’). I don't have a problem with him getting emotional and punching Thanos when he found out about Gamora, but I wish that scene had been staged differently. I thought we got a good amount of range from Pratt in the film, from that sadness to his romance with Gamora to bickering with Stark to the comedy surrounding his confidence issues around Thor. Star-Lord copying Thor's accent was unexpectedly fun and it was great to see Stark's dismissive attitude thrown back in his face. The similarities between Stark and Strange were also fun, and I enjoyed Strange's completely different point of view from everyone else when it came to saving the day: he had no problem sacrificing anyone. That perspective is one I would've thought would belong to someone with universal experience like Thor or who’s coldly calculating like Vision, but it was nice to see a human thinking beyond their planet, even if I agree with Cap's "we don't trade lives" philosophy and not Strange's "sacrifice whoever it takes" outlook. I thought he'd given Thanos something other than the Time Stone when he traded it "to save Tony," and like a friend of mine suggested, he probably rigged it in some way to give the heroes a chance.

I thought it was incredible that, despite some iffy CGI in a couple of wide shots, Josh Brolin was able to emote so clearly as Thanos. I'm not sure I've seen a CGI villain in a live-action movie done this well technically, and it certainly helped that the writers let Thanos experience loss and remorse. I was impressed they included his emotional side and gave him an arc, but I do have an issue with that remorse: despite Brolin selling the feeling of a man who thought he was giving up what he loved most, Gamora is right and what he's framed as love is anything but. It's abuse and as others have pointed out, I'm not sure why he loved Gamora in the first place. His "adoption"/kidnapping of her felt a little random and turning her face away from the murder of half her people did nothing to convince me he was a caring parent (I'm also unclear as to why she was so transfixed by a knife he gave her that she forgot about her missing mom), nor do the facts that he turned her into an assassin and later killed her. As a friend pointed out, I wish we’d seen more focus on Gamora's view of being raised by Thanos in Guardians 2 to increase the complexity of their relationship. Even if we had (and her laughing in his face when she finds out he has to sacrifice something he loves gives us a good indication of it), I still wouldn’t sympathize with Thanos…if he really loved her, he would’ve let her live and would’ve abandoned his plan when it came down to choosing between them. The more I think about it, the more troubled I am by the implications of the Soul Stone trade. Since Thanos' task is to sacrifice something he loves and he's successful, it implies that whatever cosmic judgment holds the Stone agrees that what he felt for Gamora is love. Unless the Young Gamora (Ariana Greenblatt) in the Stone at the end is a punishment to torture him for an impure trade (which I'd be fine with)—I imagine she’s actually adult Gamora using a form that will turn the screws on Thanos harder, and her Soul enduring there will allow her to come back to life—this is a pretty messed-up message and it’s my biggest issue with the movie. 

I would've preferred keeping Thanos' comic motivation of becoming the universe's greatest killer to impress the physical embodiment of Death by showing what an awesome guy he is (to which she shrugs, having done better herself); playing the galaxy's greatest scourge as a Nice Guy would've been an unexpected way to make him relatable and of the moment without really having to modernize him at all. That said, trying to kill half the universe to save it from overpopulation is a fine egomaniacal supervillain motivation (no, internet thinkpieces, he is not a hero), even if I wish the heroes had pointed out the flaws in his logic (as others have pointed out online) and how foolish this plan is. For example, unless he also makes the survivors immortal and sterile, people will still breed and kill each other, throwing his precious balance out of whack within a generation or two (and his sunset retirement at the end doesn't imply he thinks he’ll have to conduct regular cullings). He also gives no consideration to how the resources he's "saved" will be used on each planet, leading me to think that things are going to immediately descend into chaos as the survivors try to take all they can (especially if the majority of any given people's governments survived to maintain their status quo). And as I've seen elsewhere, what if a people were already using resources responsibly and he killed them without bothering to check? Better yet, why doesn't he just create an infinite set of resources with his all-powerful glove? Forcing him to confront flaws in his plan would give us more insight into his thought process, or at least the justification he's sold himself. If the Gauntlet can only destroy and not create for some reason, explaining that would've served to make Thanos seem more backed into a corner and desperate, making his thought process seem slightly more "necessary." Instead, he comes off as a lunatic (yes, he’s known as the Mad Titan) who couldn't get over his one terrible idea because he confused the mismanagement of Titan's resources with proof he was right and not crazy. I've seen comments suggesting he be seen as a conservative politician, only concerned with fawning over his ideology instead of seeing the detrimental effects it has on the people, and that's not a bad take: looking at him as an outdated fringe "visionary" who won't learn/evolve his thinking or question his way of doing things helps quite a bit. I feel like these questions and the sheer outlandishness of his plot ranks him far below the best MCU villains like Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), Vulture (Michael Keaton), and Hela (Cate Blanchett), who all went to terrible extremes, but at least had motivations that were somewhat understandable and tethered to reality. He was still a powerful threat who truly required all the heroes working together, though.

Thanos' "children" (Terry Notary, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Carrie Coon, Michael James Shaw, Monique Ganderton) were fine as lackeys, which is all they needed to be. I wish X-men Apocalypse had taken a similar tack with the Horsemen instead of using famous mutants: we don't need to know characters who are essentially zealot thugs. I did appreciate how warped they were to Thanos' way of thinking, though. They also proved to be worthy matches for the heroes before facing the Mad Titan himself.

Infinity War has an incredible sense of scope, giving the impression that the Marvel cosmos are vast, but it was odd they were largely devoid of people (even on Earth). Showing more than just wreckage would've upped the stakes and impact of Thanos' climactic actions while also showing the overpopulation “problem” he seeks to solve. The pacing moves the film along really well, even with the film being as packed as it is (though it doesn’t feel overstuffed). I loved that they were willing to have imaginative fun with the Infinity Gauntlet's powers, like turning laser blasts into bubbles, throwing a moon at our heroes, literally unraveling Mantis, and turning Drax into blocks. I’m all for more weirdness like that! The action is thrilling and moves very well for the vast majority of the film, with one major exception. A pivotal battle with Thanos on Titan has Iron Man, Spidey, Strange, and several Guardians struggling to hold him long enough to steal his Gauntlet. They almost succeed, but Star-Lord messes up his own plan (when it's revealed Gamora is dead) by punching Thanos in the face, knocking Mantis (who's psychically subduing him) away and freeing Thanos. I don't have a problem with Quill reacting to the news emotionally, but the staging of the scene offers at least two ways the heroes could've won right there: Nebula does nothing when she could've been stabbing Thanos in the face, and either she or Strange could’ve cut off his arm to free the Gauntlet. I know the movie can't end there, so knock Nebula out or otherwise busy her and Strange before writing yourself into a situation that raises these questions. Or they could've let Thanos lose his arm, yet still regain the glove through brute force or cunning before the heroes could get a handle on how to use it: showing him as a scrappy underdog for a moment would make him look more dangerous (and more appealing to the audience). 

Despite an ad campaign suggesting a culmination of the MCU, Infinity War feels more like a seamless continuation of it. I'm glad they hit the ground running and didn't take the time to re-introduce everyone, except when it made sense, like the Guardians and Thor meeting for the first time. This will be detrimental for anyone coming into the film having missed earlier entries, but I think it works for this series. Reveals of familiar characters and locations, like Cap and Wakanda, made me smile. It was also great to finally get an answer to a dangling question about Red Skull's (recast with Ross Marquand) whereabouts in a completely unexpected way! I understand why they ended the movie on the beat they did, but part of me wishes this hadn't been a two-parter: I'd like there to be more adventures than just Thanos Round Two. I don't have a problem with the MCU going on indefinitely, but I do want them to take the time to continually develop and change the characters, and disparate threats would be a great way to challenge them differently. Between changes, we also need to spend time in their status quos to see how they react to each new normal. That's the weakness of movies vs. shows, though, and it seems highly unlikely the MCU is willing to give that much time to its movie heroes.

Infinity War felt like a true comic book crossover and that's the direction I want the Avengers films to take: they should be the crossovers with MCU-altering events while the solo franchises are just that, exploring the worlds of each character while focusing on character development. However, like the revolving door of death in the comics, a lot of the impact of this finale is going to come down to how the fallout is handled. I feel there are three necessary components to making the ending of Infinity War matter: the survivors need to be changed by losing their friends and half the general populace, the victims need to be changed by their experience as well, and we need to see what happened to the world in the wake of Thanos' Snap. Regardless of how the Snap is undone, everyone should remember what happened to give the events weight. Since I don't think Infinity War 2 will have time to deal with (and say a final goodbye to) the original Avengers, let everyone have a moment to shine, chase down Thanos, undo what he did, and really explore the state of the post-Snap world (one scene of Cap and Co. stopping a riot or something and saying "it's gotten crazy out here" would be deeply unsatisfying IMO), the world-building should be mostly left to the MCU offerings that are coming out next. Ant-Man & the Wasp and Captain Marvel are coming out before Infinity War 2, but Ant-Man is supposedly happening concurrently with/just before Infinity War and Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s. However, Luke Cage Season 2, Cloak & Dagger, and possibly The Runaways Season 2 would all fall into this range and could explore the world from several different angles. I thought the mass vanishing would've been the perfect chance to finally let the TV characters join the Avengers in a unified universe, but I'll settle for the shows handling the fallout.

There's so much potential with this scenario that it would be a massive wasted opportunity not to do anything with it. With the world losing half its population, there are plenty of opportunities for supervillains (or just regular people) to exploit the problem. Do people stop caring about values and basic decency in a world where half the planet can vanish? Are they all hoarding resources and killing each other over them, fearing another culling? Are there others who find their inner, everyday hero and help their fellow people? Maybe superheroes are forced to take extreme measures to defend their local turf. What happens to religion? Do some people think this is the Rapture (a critic referred to it as "the Snapture," which might be perfect)? Are there new religious beliefs rising out of this; perhaps a cult that believes in what the Snap "accomplished?" Society as we know it could crumble and every nation could be in danger of falling. This is the perfect time for superheroes to step up and for SHIELD to finally reclaim its position as a global force for good. It’s a shame Agents of SHIELD isn’t coming back until the summer after Infinity War 2, since it would’ve been the ideal vehicle to explore this world. Even when Infinity War 2 undoes this, it'll only have weight if everyone remembers what happened, so SHIELD and other heroes working to save everyone from themselves wouldn't be in vain even if the Avengers are the ones who actually save the world. No matter what happens, half the population vanishing is a fascinating premise fraught with drama, and something in the MCU needs to explore it; if they gloss over all that, this will have been truly empty.

That emptiness is a problem I had with a lot of the deaths. It's not just that it's clear these heroes will be brought back—if they remember what happened and it changes them, it won't be pointless—but they didn't die for anything. They were slaughtered for nothing, which left a bad taste in my mouth; if they'd at least chosen to go out fighting or if Thanos cared about who he was killing instead of being randomly "fair" about it, I feel like I would've felt them more. I was disappointed to see a few of them go, like T'Challa, but it was Tom Holland who really got me with his "I don't wanna go." That was heartbreaking and nearly made me cry!

It would be nice if the Defenders who survived the Snap got promoted to Avengers status in the interim, but I doubt that will happen. I've seen suggestions elsewhere that the heroes who got Snapped could form a "New Avengers" within the Soul Stone to fight their way out and that could be cool, but I hope the focus of Infinity War 2 is on the original six Avengers since it will probably be their last mission. They can deal with what the Snapped heroes went through in their future solo films.

I think it'd be cool if Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) beeper actually contacted Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in the 90s (just chalk the time zone difference up to Kree or Skrull tech). This could be why he chose to summon her for help: being in the past, she wouldn't be affected by the disintegration wave.

In terms of the longer-term plans, I don't want another long build-up to something; I hope Infinity War 2 is the end of long-form plotting in the MCU, at least for the next few phases. We don't need a years-long build-up to Secret Wars or something, and not every threat has to spring from the previous one in some manner.

 Infinity War is big, fun, and action-packed with plenty of crowd-pleasing moments (and some that truly pull at your heartstrings), but it's not one of my favorite MCU films. I think it falls somewhere in the middle, but in terms of spectacle it's one of their finest outings. It's definitely worth a trip to the theater!

  Check out more of my reviews, opinions, theories, and original short stories here!

[comic-watch]

The young X-Men-in-training must deal with a demon who is hell bent on killing one of their own.  And when he nearly succeeds and returns to finish off the job, the mutants are up to their necks in demonic magic.  How can they possibly escape unscathed?

“DEMON BEAR SAGA” NEW MUTANTS #18-20 Released:  October 1984 – November 1984 Authors:  Chris Claremont Artists:  Bill Sienkiewicz Colors:  Glynis Wein Letters:  Tom Orzechowski Publisher:  Marvel Comics

What You Need to Know:

Professor Xavier had gathered a handful of mutants to train:  Cannonball, Sunspot, Mirage, and Wolfsbane.  Two more would join the team shortly after:  Magma and the demon sorceress sister of Colossus, Magik.  During an encounter with their counterparts at the Massachusetts Academy, the Hellions, Magik and Mirage teleport into the future to find their teammates members of the Hellions.  This encounter has left Mirage with little faith in her friends.

When Mirage was younger, her parents disappeared, but before then she had heard stories of a demon bear.  This bear had supposedly killed her parents and she was always looking over her shoulder.

What You’ll Find Out: 

Mirage watches over three of her teammates, Cannonball, Sunspot, and Magma, training in the Danger Room.  As always, Cannonball is having difficulties controlling his powers.  Still, the mutants win against the robots as Mirage confides in Magik her concerns over trusting her team.  But it’s not just that…Professor X isn’t around and lately, Mirage has been having dreams about the Demon Bear, the one that killed her parents.

A little while later, Mirage fights a rather large bear.  She lodges an arrow in its throat, killing it.  The image fades as the Danger Room program ends.  She’s been at this for days and passes it off to Magik as just making sure she can defend against something her powers won’t affect.

That night, Magik puts on her war makeup and goes out into the cold with nothing but a bow and quiver of arrows.  He calls out for the Demon Bear, demanding that it reveal itself.  She’s been able to feel its presence for days now.  And show itself the bear does, towering over her.  Mirage uses her powers to find out what the bear fears only to discover it’s her!  She fires a single shot into the bear’s neck.  It should have killed it, but the bear seems unfazed.  The two fight, with Mirage barely escaping the heavy blows.  Finally, she shoots an arrow into the bear’s mouth.  The bear falls to the ground.  Mirage is exhilarated.  Finally, the bear is dead.

But as she approaches, the bear’s eyes open.

Through their psychic link, Wolfsbane wakes up.  She rouses the other mutants who rush out to find Mirage, bleeding in the snow.

Mirage is rushed into a local Emergency Room, the doctors and nurses frantically working to save her life.  Her fellow New Mutants watch on in a waiting room, helpless to do anything.  A police officer, Detective Corsi, questions them about what happened.  The mutants stick to their story about it being a bear mauling.  Sunspot, as always, is quick to anger, but his friends, along with a nurse (Sharon Friedlander) manage to calm him down.

Sunspot is anxious for the storm to calm down so they can begin hunting the bear themselves, but Sam points out it will most likely find them at the hospital.  This makes it pretty clear that Mirage’s Demon Bear was not a myth or a figment of her imagination, but was a real danger.  Sam gets out the team’s school uniforms, with Wolfsbane asking to wear Mirage’s belt.

At Cannonball’s command, Wolfsbane transforms to her half-wolf form so that she can mentally communicate with Mirage.  Mirage, though in pain and unconscious while doctors operate, struggles to explain to Wolfsbane how to beat the Demon Bear.  But the effort is straining her already severely wounded body and she begins to wake up on the operating table.  She is fading fast.

Some time later, Thomas has decided now is a good time to flirt with Sharon.  They don’t notice the shadow creeping up on them until it’s too late.  They both scream and Thomas fires his gun.  This wakes up the New Mutants (I’m not sure why it wouldn’t have everybody in the hospital running, but oh well).  They run to the sound and find nothing but a stain of blood on the floor.

Magik decides to place a magical ward around the operating room, hoping for it to protect Mirage from the Demon Bear.  Sunspot is with her and as soon as she is done, the Bear attacks!  Sunspot is knocked aside.  Magik faces the Bear with her Soulsword.  A swipe of the Bear slices her arm but instead of finding torn skin, Magik finds a shiny silver armor, much to her surprise.  Magik retaliates by driving her sword into the Bear’s head.  It screams in pain and vanished.

The rest of the New Mutants show up just in time for the power to go out.  The outside lines were cut.  The girls on the team head to the generator room.  They don’t find anything, but Magik can feel the Bear attacking her wards.  Above, Cannonball and Sunspot are battling in vain until the Bear teleports both of them to where the girls are.  The Bear strikes out at Magik again, causing more of the mysterious armor to appear on her back.  Finally, the Bear teleports again, taking all five of the mutants with it.

The mutants and the Bear appear in the daytime, in the middle of a desert.  The Bear is towering over them with both Thomas and Sharon held in some sort of stasis.  Through a bubble, the mutants can see the inside of the operating room.

Magik is ready to try some of her magic, but before she can, the Bear pierces Tom and Sharon with its claws.  In their place are demonic Native Americans.  Cannonball springs into action, but the Bear knocks him back.  The possessed civilians lash out now, distracting the New Mutants long enough for the Bear to once again attempt to break through Magik’s wards surrounding the operating room.

Tom and Sharon begin to overpower the mutants, tossing Sunspot into the shadowy part of the land where his power is immediately exhausted.  Wolfsbane and Magma rush to his aid, missing that the Demon Bear is looming overhead.  He thrusts his claws through Magma, turning her into a demon.

Magik draws her Soulsword, hurting the Bear and giving her time to tend to Magma.  She drives her Soulsword through her teammate’s chest.  Cannonball reacts instinctively, slamming into Magik, revealing more of her armor.  Magma then scolds Cannonball for acting so rashly.  Whatever Magik did, it saved her from the enchantment.

The mutants regroup, trying to figure out their next move.  Magik tells Wolfsbane to once again try and communicate with Mirage.  As she does so, Tom and Sharon once again attack.  This time, Magik drives her Soulsword through Tom’s chest.  The demonic nature dissipates, leaving a man who resembles Tom, but not quite him, unconscious on the ground.  Wolfsbane reveals that the key to defeating the Demon Bear is the New Mutants, working as a team.  Magik’s Soulsword was able to destroy the enchantment, maybe it could work on the Bear itself.

With Magma providing a distraction, Cannonball flies Magik into the air.  She cuts down with her Soulsword, from the head down to the ground.  The Bear vanishes into thin air, the darkness falling away, revealing a man and a woman.

And suddenly, the mutants are back in the hospital on the floor.  Sharon and Tom are there as well, unconscious, both no longer Caucasians, but are now red skinned.  The man and woman freed from the Demon Bear when it collapsed explain that there’s nothing to be done.  The Demon Bear fundamentally changed their bodies.  One of the surgeons comes out, asking what’s going on.  The man introduces himself and the woman as William and Peg Lonestar:  Mirage’s parents.

The doctor reveals that Mirage will live, but she will be paralyzed.  The New Mutants are shocked and horrified that their friend will never fully recovered, but a telepathic message from Professor Xavier explains otherwise.  He has arrived with the Morlock Healer who is able to mend Mirage’s body.  Mirage is finally greeted by her parents whom she thought dead.  The battle is over, the demon bear dead, and while Tom and Sharon may never be the same again, Xavier declares that the New Mutants did well and he couldn’t be more proud.

What Just Happened? 

When I think of vintage New Mutants, two particular eras come to mind.

There’s the Liefeld/Simonson era (and towards the end, it was just Liefeld) that led up to New Mutants #100.

And then there’s the Claremont/Sienkiewicz era.

I mean sure, there have been plenty of other artists to tackle the series.  Jackson Guice.  Bret Blevins.  Bob McLeod.

But none of them left me with the lasting impression that these two eras did.

Ironically, when I first read the Sienkiewicz books, I couldn’t stand it.  Coming from someone who first experienced the flashiness of Rob Liefeld, Sienkiewicz’s style was difficult to look at.  And so when I first read this book, I never cared for it.  I couldn’t appreciate it.  I’ve talked to others who still can’t.  Sienkiewicz is definitely an unusual style.

But for a story that is essentially a horror-themed book, Sienkiewicz fits perfectly.

Looking back, this book is the epitome of a classic.  So much of what we attributed to the New Mutants started here.  Remember Illyana’s silver armor?  Yup, this was the first appearance (her Eldritch armor).

Her Soulsword that is known for dispelling enchantments?  The first time her team sees it in action.

First appearance of some key characters too.  Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander would go on to be key supporting characters throughout most of the book and even small roles in later Uncanny X-Men issues.  Warlock has long been one of my favorite characters.  This story included the first appearance of all of them (although Warlock was more of Claremont’s typical planning of plotlines several issues in advance).

We also see a lot of Claremont’s tropes in here.  It’s very wordy, with either dialogue boxes or characters explaining everything in-universe.  We get a lot of little hints of longer stories to come (as mentioned earlier).  We, once again, get reminded how Sunspot isn’t invulnerable.  I mean how many times does Sunspot need to be reminded of this?  I think he knows by now.

But as with many of Claremont’s stories, these are very human characters.  They feel like real teenagers.  Cannonball has a crush.  Wolfsbane is distrustful of those different.  Sunspot scoffs at authority.  They are all real.  Which makes this so much more of an enjoyable read because you actually feel for them.  You actually care for them.

There were some iconic scenes as well:  Mirage lying bloody in the snow, Warlock’s daddy tearing apart a star, Magik’s sword plunging into Magma…  All so many images that have been burned into my brain over the years came from this story.

With everything that’s happened throughout the New Mutants, from the formation of the team to the death of Warlock, to the transformation of the New Mutants into X-Force, this arc still remains one of my favorites.  And it’s an essential to any New Mutants fan.

Claremont and Sienkiewicz definitely wrote a gem with this book.  So yes.  I do believe in magic.  This story is absolutely it.

Rating: 10/10.

Final Thoughts:  Take a trip back to the 80’s with about as perfect a story as you can find.  The characterization and storytelling from Claremont mixes wonderfully with the dark, brooding pencils and inks from Bill Sienkiewicz.

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#SundayClassics is taking you back to the mid-80's for one of the best #NewMutants stories by @SinKEVitch and @I_Will_Use_My (Claremont)! This was storytelling at its finest! #Iamawatcher The young X-Men-in-training must deal with a demon who is hell bent on killing one of their own. 

[builder051]

#57 for mind-reader anon

So, in case you haven’t heard the story, this person asked for pretty much exactly this prompt before the prompt list was even posted.  So here you have it, Steve taking care of Bucky on a bad day and running himself down to the point where he’s ill as well.

Powers/no powers.

Steve’s sleeping hard when he’s suddenly awoken by a sharp kick to the shins.  “Huh?  What?” he mumbles, body jolting with panic while his mind stays in the sleepy brush of time and date uncertainty.

Bucky’s arm flails across the bed and slaps the skin of Steve’s chest before shoving upward over his throat.  The situation is blatantly apparent now; he’s having a nightmare, and an especially violent one, it seems.

“Buck,” Steve rasps, shaking sleep from his voice.  He throws Bucky’s arm off him as gently as he can.  “Wake up.  You’re ok.  You’re safe.”

Bucky mumbles something unintelligible.  He thrashes against the mattress, and Steve struggles to get ahold of him.  “Hey.  It’s Steve.  It’s me.  It’s ok,” he says a little louder.  “Wake up, ok?”  He places one hand on Bucky’s shoulder and the other on his cheek.

Bucky jerks and his eyes snap open.  His hand catches the side of Steve’s head as he thrashes again, confused and breathing heavily.  “Get off me,” He grunts.

“Yeah, ok.  I’m sorry,” Steve says, hurriedly moving his hands.  “You ok?  You know where you are?”

“Stop…I want to go home,” Bucky exhales.  He’s conscious, but not yet truly awake.

“You are home,” Steve says, reaching out a hand and hovering it an inch from Bucky’s stump arm.  “I’m here.  You’re home.”

Bucky’s breath hitches, and he curls onto his side away from Steve.  His body quivers and his shoulders contract up and down.  At first Steve thinks he’s crying, but then the sound of strangled retching starts.  Steve can’t help himself; he places his palm on Bucky’s upper arm.  “Alright, you’re alright,” he intones.

Bucky coughs and struggles for breath.  Steve slaps him on the back and positions him to lean over the edge of the bed.  “It’s ok.  Just let it up.”  Vomit splatters onto the floor.

Finally awareness seems to set in.  “Stevie?”  It’s hardly a whisper.

“Yeah, Buck, I’m here,” Steve murmurs, smoothing Bucky’s sweaty hair back from his face.

“God, I’m sorry,” he breathes.  He trembles up on his arm and his hip and turns himself around to burrow into Steve’s chest.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Steve soothes.  He wraps his arms around Bucky’s trembling body and drops the side of his cheek to the top of Bucky’s head, wondering if the radiating heat he’s feeling is leftover sleep warmth or a fever.  “It’s over now.  You’re ok.”

“But…God.  Stevie, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for having a nightmare,” Steve says.  He looks across at the alarm clock on Bucky’s bedside table; the glowing red numbers show it to be just after one in the morning.  It’s earlier than usual for Bucky to be up.  But if the whims of fate aren’t going to let him sleep tonight, then god knows Steve won’t be sleeping either.

The front of Steve’s shirt feels damp, and Bucky heaves a congested-sounding, tear-filled breath.  “It’s gonna be ok,” Steve whispers.

It takes ten minutes or so for the tears to die down to just tremors, and another five for Bucky to uncurl himself slightly from under Steve’s arms. “Feel a little better?” Steve asks, wiping a glistening tear track from Bucky’s cheek.

Bucky shrugs.

“Do you still feel sick?” Steve knows the nausea tends to linger, even though Bucky’s usually careful not to tell him.

“God…I don’t know.”  Bucky digs the heel of his hand into the furrow between his brows, the uncontrollable shake in his fingers visible even in the dim moonlight.

Steve takes that as a yes, and pulls Bucky into the ensuite to sit on the closed toilet and stare into the depths of the trash can while he sees to the sheets and the carpet.

When the chores are done, Steve steps back across the cold tile and reaches for Bucky’s hand.  His forehead comes to meet Steve’s ribcage, and Steve pets his hair down the back of his neck.  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asks quietly.

“I don’t know,” Bucky mumbles.  “I’m…confused.”

“Confused how?” Steve asks.

“Like…sometimes I…don’t remember you.  Or I remember you all wrong.”  His voice is raw with emotion and illness.

Steve sighs.  He hates the nightmares.  Hates the war, hates goddamn fuckers that did god-knows-what to Bucky, the only person that’s ever mattered so much to him.  He hates that their actions have reached this far, getting him up at one in the morning to dispel tremors and clean up puke.  But mostly he hates seeing Bucky so worn down.

“It’s ok, Buck,” Steve breathes.  “It’ll come back once you wake up a little.  And you can ask me questions.  Whatever you want.  I’m…I’m here for you.”

“I don’t know what I want.”

The weakness in his voice breaks Steve’s heart.  “It’s alright, ok?” he says.  “Just…just come back to bed.”  It’s too early for everything.  Steve knows neither of them are going to sleep, but neither of them are going to do anything else, either.  All their usual activities like the gym, board games, and early breakfast seem inappropriate and distasteful.

The fresh sheets are cold when they crawl back into bed.  Bucky tucks his feet under Steve’s leg and buries his face in his chest.  His breaths are uneven, sending puffs of warm air through the thin fabric of Steve’s shirt.

They lie there for hours.  The light of dawn is creeping through the closed curtains, and Steve’s almost drifting back to a state of soft unawareness when Bucky whispers, “Why’re you doing this, Stevie?”

It takes him a moment to process the words, then form his lips into an answer.  “’Cause I…’cause I just love you.”

By 8:30 in the morning, Bucky’s cowering in an odd position, laying his chest over his knees and curling under the covers with his head in Steve’s lap. He’s not sleeping, but his eyes flick back and forth beneath closed lids.  Steve’s asked him four times how he’s feeling, twice if he’s hungry, and once if he wants to get up.  It’s getting to the point where they need to get up, or at least Steve does so he can call them both in sick to work and get a glass of water so he and Bucky don’t die of dehydration, but the non-committal sounds Bucky makes in response to the questions seem to indicate a mixture of no and I don’t know.

At 9:00 Steve’s phone rings.  He scrambles to answer it before the loud tone carries on too long, and he does his best not to move the lower half of his body as he reaches backward to get the device off his bedside table.

“Hello?” he says, trying to keep his dry throat from making his voice overly gravelly.

“You coming in today?”  It’s Nat, forgoing a greeting in favor of business.

“No, I was about to call.  It was a pretty rough night.  Buck needs a sick day.”

“You sure you’re not the one who’s sick?” Nat asks.  “You sound awful.”

“Well…” Steve considers the fact that he barely got two hours sleep, and now he’s been awake for the equivalent of a full workday.  Sitting upright is making his head throb.  “I’m ok.”

“Take care of him,” Nat says.  “And of yourself, Mr. I’m-always-fine.”

“Sure,” Steve says.  Then, “Can you text Sam?  Pass on the message?”

Nat agrees, then abruptly hangs up.  Steve switches his phone to vibrate and sets it on the bedside table.  He collapses back onto the pillows, letting the mild reverberations of vertigo play over his forehead.

“Buck.  We should get up.  Get something to eat,” Steve suggests.  He shifts just enough to slide his thigh out from cushioning Bucky’s head.

“No,” Bucky whispers.  “Stay.”

“I know you don’t feel good,” Steve soothes, “But you should come downstairs.  You can sleep on the couch.”

“No, I…I want you to stay real…” Bucky murmurs, an edge of tears coming back to his voice.

The emotion hits Steve first, and he’s immediately crouched at Bucky’s side, hugging every inch of him he can reach, kissing the side of his face, and softly saying, “This is real.  I’m not gonna disappear.”  Bucky entwines his fingers with Steve’s and holds on tightly.

They make it to noon before Steve begins to feel like he’s dying.  Bucky’s possibly asleep now, still clutching Steve’s hand, and breathing evenly and deeply.  However small, it seems like an improvement.

Steve’s condition is deteriorating in comparison, though.  The slight ache to his head has become a crushing boulder of pain between his temples. The back of his neck and the palms of his hands prickle with sweat, and his bones seem to have been turned to jelly.  His body’s surpassed hunger and gone straight to illness.

He does his best to roll face-down so at least the bright daylight seeping through the edges of the window doesn’t burn up his eyeballs.  Steve carefully works his fingers out of Bucky’s lax grip, cold perspiration making his skin tacky.  It seems cruel to leave Bucky there with the possibility of waking up lost and alone, but Steve will be useless if he stays put.

Dizziness hits when Steve puts his feet on the ground, and he traces his path against the wall with his fingertips as he makes his way to the hall and trips down the stairs.  Stars are starting to encroach on the corners of his vision.

His first stop is the junk drawer where they keep painkillers, and Steve drops a double dose of Excedrin onto his tongue.  He uses the random coffee mug beside the sink to swallow down a quart and a half of water in eight-ounce increments.  He’s on his seventh refill when a swallow gets lost halfway down his throat and comes back as a gag.  A little water forces back up and splashes into the sink, but Steve’s pretty sure the pills he took are staying down.  He crosses his arms on the edge of the countertop and drops his forehead, desperately hoping the throb stays at its current level and doesn’t morph into more urgent nausea.

After he’s breathed for a moment, Steve stumbles to the pantry.  He inhales a protein bar, then dumps most of a box of banana nut granola into a plastic salad bowl.  He’s pouring milk over the mound of cereal when vertigo catches him off guard and sends him stumbling sideways under an invisible pressure around his left ear.

The gallon of milk hits the floor first, making a sick glugging sound as it dispenses white liquid all over the floor.  Then, the bowl falls off the counter in slow motion as Steve loses his balance.  His hip hits the tile at the same moment the cereal does.  The resulting clattering crash is loud enough to make Steve’s brain shake in his skull.  And to carry a stirring sound from upstairs.

Steve presses his eyes shut in an attempt to block out at least one of his senses.  Guilt would be overwhelming were it not for the intense pain in his head blocking out practically every other feeling.  Footsteps slap down the stairs, and Steve’s heart palpates with the same beat.

“What’s…what’s going on?”  Bucky’s voice has the heavy, almost drugged quality it tends to carry when he’s stuck in memories, unsure of how to interpret what’s in front of him.

“Sorry,” Steve mumbles, finding a sitting position and scrubbing, wet, milky hands over his face.  “Didn’t mean to…wake you up.”

“What happened?”

“Was…trying to get something to eat.  I, uh…have a headache.”

“Yeah, you…look sick,” Bucky says.  “You look like a kid.”

“Yeah, I was sick a lot as a kid,” Steve slurs, proud of Bucky for remembering, but also so finished with talking.

“Hm,” Bucky ponders.  Then, “You’re, you should…I mean, I’ll clean this up.”  He gestures down at the ocean of milk and cereal.

“Oh, no, if you’re still not feeling good,” Steve starts, using the countertop to haul himself to his feet.

“I’m kinda back to normal,” Bucky says.  “A little…I don’t know, foggy, maybe?  But you’re…you need to lie down.”

“No, I’m…”  Steve’s about to say ok, but stomach growls and sickening vertigo assaults him at the same time and he just groans, “Oh, geez.”

“Go back upstairs.  I’ll bring you up something,” Bucky says, already tearing paper towels from the roll.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.  Go.”  He squeezes Steve’s shoulder as he passes, leaving damp footprints through the entryway on his way to the staircase.

Steve nearly passes out when he bends to get a washcloth out of the cabinet under the sink.  Hardly a day with too little sleep and too little food and too much anxiety is taking such a toll on him, and he’s suddenly struck with how strong Bucky has to be in comparison.

Once he’s in clean clothes, Steve falls on top of the rumpled bedclothes, leaving his feet behind on the floor.  He folds his hands over his face and breathes deeply until the door swings open and the yeasty scent of toast fills the room.  It’s comforting, and just breathing it in pushes down the lingering nausea.

“Here,” Bucky pokes Steve’s cheek with the corner of a toast triangle.

“Be gentle,” Steve teases him, reaching out blindly for the food.  He takes a bite.  “Sorry I woke you up like that.  I just, thought I’d get some painkillers and something to eat and run back up here.”

“It’s ok,” Bucky says.  He sprawls on his stomach and cards his fingers through Steve’s hair.  “I think…I kind of knew you weren’t going away.  It was just…hard to believe it.”

“I’m gonna be ok,” Steve tells him.  “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Yeah, I do.” Bucky says around a bite of his own toast.  “Same reason you worry about me.  I guess I just love you.”

[shakespearesglobeblog]

Why does Shakespeare matter?

Kiernan Ryan argues that it’s time to reclaim the idea of Shakespeare’s universality from reactionary and radical misconceptions.

The source of Shakespeare’s enduring appeal, and the reason why he still matters so much, not just in his native land but all over the world, has been widely regarded for centuries as his genius for dramatizing the timeless truths of the universal human condition. The grip of this explanation on students, performers and lovers of Shakespeare across the globe remains tenacious, despite recent attempts to reject the idea of Shakespeare’s universality as a politically pernicious myth.

For the past 30 years the very idea has been taboo in academic circles. The overriding aim of modern Shakespeare scholars has been to demonstrate that his drama was not ‘for all time’, as Ben Jonson famously claimed, but ‘of an age’, and that only by embedding it as deeply as possible in that vanished age can it be properly understood. This aim is indivisible from their desire to dethrone a conception of Shakespeare rightly seen as complicit in masking -- and thus perpetuating -- social, sexual and racial injustice.

Nor has that desire remained confined to the academy. The World Shakespeare Festival staged at the Globe in 2012 provoked an angry article by Emer O’Toole in The Guardian, headed ‘Shakespeare, universal? No, it’s cultural imperialism’. ‘Shakespeare is full of classism, sexism, racism and defunct social mores’, fumed O’Toole. ‘The Taming of the Shrew is about as universally relevant as the chastity belt’, while ‘The Merchant of Venice is about as universal as the Nuremberg laws.’ ‘So where’, O’Toole asked, ‘has the idea that Shakespeare is “universal” come from? Why do people the world over study and perform Shakespeare? Colonialism. That’s why. Shakespeare was a powerful tool of empire, transported to foreign climes along with the doctrine of European cultural superiority.’  

The strident tone of O’Toole’s tirade may grate, but her assault on the notion that his plays still matter because there’s something universal about the stories they tell is as justified as her charge that their alleged universality played a key role in making Shakespeare ‘a powerful tool of empire’. The contention that The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, or any play by Shakespeare is sure to enthral people in all times and places, whatever their nationality, race, gender, language, creed or sexual orientation, because it reflects a universal experience everyone can identify with, won’t stand up to scrutiny for a moment.

Shakespeare’s drama plainly doesn’t hold a mirror up to the lives of everybody everywhere, not least because the subject matter it dramatizes, the forms it takes, and the language it uses stamp it immediately as the product of the place and period in which it was written. In this respect, the campaign to historicize Shakespeare and dispel the reactionary myth that’s clouded the perception of his plays deserves to be applauded. The only problem with anti-universalist Bard-buffs and Bard-bashers like O’Toole is that they haven’t stopped to wonder whether the extraordinary persistence of Shakespeare’s international appeal is due to his drama’s being ‘universal’ in a quite different, progressive sense ─ a sense perfectly compatible with its anchorage in the age of Shakespeare.

As a result, they’re incapable of explaining why the glove-maker’s lad from Stratford still captivates audiences on every continent of the planet, while even the most dazzling of his fellow dramatists do not. And that’s because they’re blind to what empowers Shakespeare’s plays to dramatize his time from a standpoint that’s still far ahead of our time: their profound commitment to the future emancipation of humanity. What’s universal about Shakespeare’s drama is not the plights and fates of his characters, but the visionary, egalitarian perspective from which they are portrayed and we are invited to view them.

None of the plays is more fiercely possessed by ‘the prophetic soul / Of the wide world dreaming on things to come’ (Sonnet 107) than King Lear. In his supreme tragedy Shakespeare forces an omnipotent monarch to feel what the ‘Poor naked wretches’ of his kingdom feel, and to realise that beneath his royal robes and a beggar’s rags beats the heart of the same ‘bare, forked animal’. Through Lear’s traumatic ordeal, the play demolishes the assumptions on which social division and inequality depend. It climaxes in Lear’s snarl of contempt for all who claim the right to impose their will on others: ‘there thou mightst behold the great image of authority. A dog’s obeyed in office’. And in place of the drive to divide, oppress and impoverish that destroys its protagonists, and that threatens our kind with destruction today, King Lear demands economic justice rooted in the fundamental kinship of all human creatures: ‘So distribution should undo excess, / And each man have enough.’

To grasp the true source of Shakespeare’s universality is to grasp the real reason why the plays still move the heart and fire the imagination four centuries after they were penned. Shakespeare matters because his drama keeps the dream of revolutionary transformation alive.

Kiernan Ryan will be giving the next talk in our series of Sam Conversations, titled Shakespeare and Social Justice, in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Thursday 6 July. Find out more and buy tickets.

Kiernan Ryan is Professor of English Language & Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London and an Emeritus Fellow of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. His most recent books are Shakespeare’s Comedies and Shakespeare’s Universality: Here’s Fine Revolution. His next book, Shakespearean Tragedy, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2018.