#metaaa

[idristardis]

SUPER Late Thoughts on S9 of NCIS: LA

Ok. So.

Just finished S9 and have started on S10 (I'm caught up through the cold open of S10 E6 - Asesinos), and I have....thoughts. Thoughts that were likely already thought and said and dissected on here literal years ago, but still. I has them.

Under the cut because they'll be a ramble and this way you can save yourselves if you want to!

This really focuses on S9 E16 - Warrior of Peace through S10 E1 - To Live and Die in Mexico with a few notes from S10 E 4 - Hit List and S10 E6 - Asesinos).

Moseley

Okay. I know that she was brought in as an antagonist figure - someone who was there until Hetty could be retrieved from Vietnam but who could never be Hetty. But man....they made her really hard to empathize with. Like, at all. And for a character who was a mother who would do anything for her son, it's kind of stunning that the writers made her so unlikeable. Like, there is not much there to latch on to.

Perhaps it's the fact that I binged most of the back half of the season in quick succession rather than waiting for it week to week, but seeing her trajectory of vengeance play out made it clear that she wanted what she wanted and she was going to get it - and she either didn't think about or didn't care about the consequences until it was too late. Perhaps she was arrogant and thought she could beat the odds and nothing bad would happen to her or her team, but...boy did she misjudge.

In S10 E1 when Killbride tells her "you got everything you wanted" and her retort is that that makes it sound "like a wish list off Amazon," I found it hard to disagree with him. The fact that Moseley couldn't answer him when he asked her if it was worth the price was incredibly telling - she couldn't say no, because that would devalue Hidoko's sacrifice, and she couldn't say yes because then that would make her seem monstrous.

But she did bulldoze over everyone and everything that stood in her way to get what she wanted. And she got it...but at the cost of Hidoko's life and nearly Deeks' and Callen's. Sam wasn't in that great shape either by the time all was said and done. She wanted to rescue her son from his father because she saw Spencer Williams as a monster (and he was no angel) but she sacrificed a lot of her moral high ground by the time she got Derek back.

Hetty, for all her machinations and behind the scenes dealings does understand the value of cultivating contacts and trust and working with a team when it's beneficial. Then, when you need them, the team will work with you and trust and follow you. Moseley showed why the lone wolf/smartest in the room/dictatorial leadership mindset has huge flaws.

I wrote everything above before I watched S10 E4 and S10 E6 (granted, only up to the cold open of the latter) and now that I have seen those as well...my impression still hasn't changed. Moseley's first instinct is to not trust Callen and the team, not rely on NCIS as an agency at all, but just go pick up Derek herself after hearing about the cartel hit list. This is AFTER everything the team did to get him back in Mexico...sheesh!

Rather than coming off as protective Mamabear, it still has a ring of high-handed, imperious, "only I know best" attitude - and other characters notice it, as evidenced when Ochoa tells her that she "started a personal war" to get Derek back in Mexico and she can't do that all over again. Yet...the opener of S10 E6 has her going lone wolf and killing a cartel hit man, then going off the grid. I'm not sure, maybe Hetty's mysterious disappearance is tied up in what's going on with Moseley, but to this point, it seems like Moseley is just continuing on a path of doing whatever she wants/thinks is best and damn the consequences. Perhaps at this point, it's fueled by fear over what being on the hit list means for Derek, but still...it seems very "it's my way or no way," and it makes it hard to sympathize with her.

I think the writers wasted an opportunity here with the character to give her more to work with and be more fully rounded. It's a shame.

Hidoko

One of the things I had been spoiled on prior to viewing this season was the fact that Hidoko died, and died in rather horrible and unfair circumstances. But nothing really prepared me for how it actually happened. The character and actress deserved far FAR better than that send off.

Sam and Callen

Callen first, actually. Starting with S9 E16 - Warrior of Peace and moving through the back end of the season, Callen experienced a profound shift in personal circumstances (letting his father go through with the exchange for the American photographers in S9 E16), but he never let it shake his cool as team leader.

Chris O'Donnell did a lovely job of expressing Callen's anger and grief in the silent final beats of S9 E16 as he watched his father go. The camera lingers on his face and he used every minute change of expression to mean so much. It was very well done...and though he never explicitly says it, I think that going through that experience is part of why he agrees to help Moseley (other than his sense of duty as team leader - i.e. if anyone from his team is getting involved, it's him). Having experienced the unjust loss of a family member to circumstances beyond his control, he doesn't want anyone else to have to go through that.

Sam does explicitly express that sentiment, when he notes that the loss of Michelle is what's driving him to go to Mexico despite his injury - he doesn't want to see another parent (i.e. Moseley) endure grief and pain when they don't have to.

The bantering between them...bickering, really...over whether or not Sam is able to go and able to keep up, is spot on classic Sallen. I particularly enjoyed the moment when they were already in Mexico and Callen snarked something about Sam's cane and Sam just threw it into the underbrush. Oh boys....

But for all of that, the moment when they thought they might die, and Callen tells Sam he can't talk anymore because of his collapsed lung was really powerful and moving. We knew as viewers they'd be okay since the show clearly had been picked up again by the time S10 E1 aired, but the scene was still done really well.

It's interesting that after they returned from Mexico, Sam appeared to be neutral/positive towards Moseley - reassuring her in S10 E4 that she'd find a way to be a good mother again, and offering to keep Derek on his boat for awhile for protection - but privately in conversations with Callen, Sam said that Moseley hadn't cared what happened to them in Mexico and implied distrust/dissatisfaction with her actions. In response, it was Callen who pointed out that she also hadn't asked any of them to actively go there either. Clearly, her actions are still affecting other team members' relationships even after the mission.

Densi

Oh gosh, where do I start?

This was a painful half season for them, but the writers telegraphed it so well and ECO and Dani played it so beautifully. It was clear that they needed to go through a crisis and have some Big Relationship Talks before they could fully get on the same page and really be ready to be married.

I feel like S8 ended with the engagement and they were just riding the buzz of that for the first half of S9, then there was Hetty and Vietnam and by the time the second half of S9 rolled around, Deeks had started having doubts about NCIS as a career path. This started off in S9 E16 when the plan to just offer up Kirkin instead of Callen's father was proposed.

Sam and Kensi were in without a moment's hesitation, but Deeks raised the ethical question of whether consigning Kirkin to the torturous existence that was surely waiting back in Russia, when he wasn't the one that had been requested in the trade, was really what NCIS was supposed to do. He knows Kirkin is no angel and doesn't care for him personally (though Kirkin clearly likes Deeks a lot), but it's still worth asking. But because it's Callen's Dad's freedom at stake and everyone else is in so easily, his objections are minimal and he tucks them away quickly.

But this is where the cracks really start to form...the back half of the season is peppered with commentary in the Densi scenes showing that they are on very different pages about what they want for their wedding. Most of these things are played for humor (they have different ideas about the ceremony and reception, the location, who to invite, haha haha) and are quickly resolved, usually with Deeks just saying he only wants what Kensi wants (which actually just means he's not really participating in the decision-making process). But there are other, bigger, things too.

S9 E17 - The Monster gives us that horrible case with the stitched together people, and at the heart of it, a victim who'd fallen in love with his partner while they were on the job, something that definitely resonates with Deeks...and soon after that, we first start hearing about him wanting to buy a bar. He's so serious about it over the next few episodes that he actually broaches it with Callen before talking to Kensi. Kensi, to her credit, does jump on board with the idea after her initial shock and surprise, and does so pretty quickly. I think she sees that having some sort of post-NCIS plan is important to him, but I think she misjudges/doesn't realize how soon he wants to make post-NCIS life a reality.

By the time S9 E23 - A Line in the Sand rolls around, these things have been weighing on Deeks for awhile, I think, but they keep getting shoved aside in favor of cases and more pressing concerns. I have to think, though, that seeing Sam get shot didn't help his line of thinking at all. And so we get to the point where he can't just follow along with the rest of the team when they insist on going to Mexico. He raises logical points about this being Moseley's custody battle that they should have no real part in. It may be a little cold, but it's not untrue - and unlike Hetty, unlike Callen, Moseley's done nothing to win their trust or allegiance (see her section above).

So. The Conversation. After Moseley's fired him and had him escorted from the building - she really had to rub that in, didn't she? That awful conversation in the parking garage. They're clearly talking past each other - Deeks wasn't trying to tell Kensi "don't be who you are" or "don't believe in what you believe in," and he knows how much the job is a part of her identity. But I think that's what she was hearing - an ultimatum. "We can't be married if you don't give up your job." But I think that what Deeks was really saying was that he wasn't sure that HE could do this anymore, actually, he's pretty sure he can't, and he's trying to remind her that while the job is part of each of them, and part of who they are together, it's not ALL of who they are as a couple.

Hard as it was for Kensi (and the audience) to hear, I think that the "I think we shouldn't be getting married" needed to be said...because they weren't facing up to the different things they wanted before that point. She had to then make him confront the fact she may never want to leave this job, she may never want to have kids (or she might want to and they might be unable), and he was trying to say not "quit this job or I won't marry you" but "we shouldn't be getting married when we're this far apart on some pretty big issues, so let's get that sorted out." Then, of course, there were goons (ahem, Moseley's escort officers) waiting and no time to finish the conversation so they left things in a horrible muddle...

...but of course Deeks showed up for the flight to Mexico anyway because he's "still your partner" and the team is, as Sam ironically put it, "one big happy family."

There was some resolution to the Densi issues in S10 E1, though not quite as explicitly stated as I would have wished. Deeks is unconscious for much of the episode...which gives Kensi a chance to contemplate the fear of losing him for quite a good chunk of time as she's hauling him through the desert. I think that prior to this, even up through their argument in S9 E23, there's a part of her that can't imagine living life any other way - she wants to do this job, and she wants to do it with him. Things have been (mostly) fine despite some of their near misses and scrapes before...they'll always find a way to get out of it, so why shouldn't she keep doing what she loves? But she has a looong time in this episode to think about what it would mean to keep doing that job without Deeks and what losing him would really be like. It's a long, slow, slog through the desert where she contemplates what she really values in life.

She doesn't get much dialogue to support her emotional journey here, but Dani's face said quite a lot in many of those scenes, and there was a piece of dialogue that I think spoke to her state of mind - where she tells him she'd carry him forever if he'd just wake up. This, and their episode closing exchange of vows to each give the other everything in this life, support a shift towards greater unity of purpose and being on the same page/ready to finally be married. They've figured out that each other comes first and they're not willing to put anything - jobs, kids, etc. - ahead of the other. It's just that the show allowed Deeks the dialogue to show this evolution - at the end, he says "I was wrong, I want to marry you." Kensi is not given any dialogue to show that she feels differently except vowing to give him everything. As is usually the case with this show, I want more Densi dialogue!!

---------

Okay...that was really tl; dr...but it feels good to be back!!

[leonardalphachurch]

i come back and they’ve made tucker the meta. what the hell has this world come to

[secajo]

Atualizando vocês🥹

Falta pouco pra metaaa

[itsfuckingrollcake]

hop on cookie run for kakao

THEYRE METAAA FIRST 2 BREAK 200M IN CURRENT SZN !!!! (fs is the relay now but who cares kiwirolling 5ever

[mmmmmmky]

response to tags time this got pretty long but if you reblogged my limbus status poll i answered here :)

mhm lmaoooo. idk i somewhattt enjoy charge they are cool but it is kindaaaaa gets boring sometimes. i am honestly not too sure. i thinkkk i recall seeing a team built around suncliff i thinkkk it was rupture sinking but idk i havent looked at his kit. BURNNNNN real asffff burn is fun i did a silly run with them. i wish i had the liu 000 ids. ooo liu yisang sound cool. @melonisopod

real asf! mhmhm real i love sinking, boat trio is fun.

FUCKKK YEAHHH real asf. tremor is cool, i havent gotten the chance to use the silly tremors but i liked tremor before it was cool. idk i like the silly bursting and raising stagger is neat. "oh oh just do damageee you will stagger them faster" :( it is fun (silly). cant fucking wait to build the tremor team of my dreams when the event drops. rip charge lmaoo, it is kinda just base doesnt stand out. @gachabastard

real as fuck i also rotate when doing md but idk i enjoy some more than others plus i cant build them all

FUCKK YEAHHHH WOOO SINKINGGG. this is true! the linton gregor is very nice in sinking teams too but yeah that is the core. g greg and nclair is kinda silly slots lmao but real asf. @wavesofstatic07

Real as fuckkkk. true! yeah maybe i was harsh on charge it is pretty fun and i like w ryo and don a lot. ONFGGGG i honestly cant wait for the charge renaissance (and the intervalio in general i am so curious what they are cooking)(no fucking way we go ON a w train right?). @runn1ngn0se

[this one was later but moved up bc it is relevent to above]

mhmhm sinking is very nice i love regular skills doing 100+ dmg a coin andddd sinking deluge getting 9000. but hmhmhmhm charge tremor is big? very neat hmhmhmhm see above but rose meur hmhmhm realrealreallll. burn is also cool! mhm!

Very fucking real sameee, got 9431 dmg just the other day. killed shock centipede in 2 turns and one turn sign of roses on mdh floor 5.

oooo? interestinggg hmhmhm. dungeon only is fair yeah mhm. hmhmhmmmmmmmm. this is very fucking cool. i see hmhmhm. we have a chef in out midst bc you are COOKING. mhmhmmmm very neat. id personally maybe hmm actually honglu still in for tremor hmmm. maybe more tremor units for w meur? (regret faust maybe) idk i just havent heard much good things about w meur. very fucking cool @rumekfuria

real as fuck! i love pirate greg

real asf!!!! id count it as dps bc it doesnt have a real through line its is just what works ykyk? very real.

lmao very real. yeahhh idk if it bc it is metaaa bc other teams totally preform better in there element i think but it is just very simple to use imo which is why. also it got fleshed out early so it has kinda dried up in recent interest. it still is very fun though and i like it it just doesnt stand out as a favorite imo. very fucking true. coolness > meta the animations are some of the coolest. beeg number :) @freiflies

onfgggg i love poise bl is very quite good. i wish i had nelly ryo, i have more then enough to shard her but what if i pull her rolling for others! i need to wait until i spend my lunacy pile (7000). mhmhm yeah the ego gifts make any status really fun. poise pops off normally but guh with everything else on top?? mhmhmh, i regularly get core ego gifts by like floor 3 and the rest of the mdh is swept. @sveta-karelia

WHEW i think that is all of them with text. thank you everyone who responded :):):):):):)

[istherewifiinhell]

okay attempt two. masterforce posting. pretenders are tfs who can also look like humans. headmasters juniors are children in tf mechs and godmasters are...

[ID: Tranformers Super-God Masterforce (88 anime) screencaps, of the villian characters Giga and Mega. They face two other characters. Subtitles "they are the offspring of myself and Mega." Giga is a man with dark long hair in a braid, and a widows peak. He wears spikey armour, notably with claw like forms that wrap around his shoulders. Mega is a is a woman with close croped green hair. Her fashion is somewhere between princess and witch. A pointed black hat with a trail of yellow fabric from the top. A large stiff collar that doesn't actually attach to her wide necked dress. END]

okay but actually??? in the most literal sense [aka the toy gimick] if there are "headmasters" where a smaller bot/human turns into the head of the mech. or "targetmasters" where a smaller partner turn into A Gun. its like. and "Enginemaster" The smaller partner is a... blocky shape that attaches to the large body.

in the. lore sense. they are when a tf bodies, [like the headmaster kind]... soul bond?? with a humans. Which sounds like there alive but they dont seem to act outside the will of the human host. hard to say if theres a personality to that.

Oh and one of them looks exactly like optimus prime and their not. mentioning that... anyway. ginrai is a japanese man who moved to the usa to persue his trucking career! and comes to posess a very Particular truck

hes not over keen on the very silly genre direction his life is turning until uh. the bad guys start killing all his trucker friends.

[ID: 1. Ginrai, a young japanese man with short hair, laying on a bed, looking saidly at a photograph he holds in his hands. He says the names of his friends "Billy... Dan... Cougar..." 2. Same shot but with more pronounced lighting, rim lit from lightening pouring in past the blinds on the window. Saying "Why was it you guys...?]

[ID: Ginrai's truck/tf vehicle [the iconic flat face red semi], in road combat with a much larger black/purple truck with an offset engine compartment. Ginrai's truck ramming into the larger one. Ginrai yelling "You bastard!" END]

[complete bonus things i look up cause of tf] Cab-over, also known as cab over engine (COE), cab forward or flat face (U.S.), flat nose (Canada), or forward control (UK), is a body style of truck, bus, or van that has a vertical front, "flat face" or a semi-hood, with the cab of the truck sitting above (or forward of) the front axle.This contrasts with a conventional truck where the engine is mounted in front of the driver.

anyway. the trucks. etcetc

[ID: Hydra, a human man with purple hair pink tinted glasses, dress shirt and tie complete with sleeve guards, and no eyebrows. He learns out of the largers truck's window, elbow out, looking back with a smug look "Don't be making this difficult, now" END]

^ pin point creation of insufferable dude.

[ID: Ginrai, with his wrists crossed above his head [to have the two gold braclets he wears touch, somewhat obsured by text]. He yells "Let's go, Destron! METAAA-MORPH!" The fansubber note up top reads "Ginrai uses a Japanese word for transform, henshin, which isn't used by actual Transformers in Masterforce or G1, although it was used in Beast Wars. END]

^[blogger translation note: destron means decepticon] normal man who didnt realise hes gotta operate by super sentai rules now. u gotta speak in english ig... dfbgdf. good gag.

[ID: Ginrai in the full Godmaster transformer body mode [Which just looks like G1 Optimus], tackling one of the decepticon godmasters around the waist. The Decepticon is a grey, purple, and red mech with the wing portions on the back of a jet. END ID]

^yeah idk which one

[shevee-the-word-wielder]

Creature of Soul Matter: The Emotion in Heart

Chapter 3: Mysterious Artifact

<- Prev | Next ->

I apologize for any awkward spacing, it's normally good but Tumblr has some weird spacing in of itself.

Creature of Soul Matter: The Emotion in Heart AO3

"So, where do you want to start?" Elfilin asks me, resting on my horn.

"Hmm…" I start thinking to myself. "I guess I might know where one of them is… kinda."

"Who is it? And how?"

"If I remember correctly… he was sealed away in a crystal of barriers and vanished… he's the one I couldn't save…"

"What was his name?" Meta Knight asks.

"Galacta Knight."

Meta Knight stares at me with surprised eyes. "The Galacta Knight? The Galacta Knight that was the greatest warrior in the universe? The one that could destroy planets? The Galacta Knight from the ancient texts?"

I squint at him. "He was depicted… as all that?" I think about him, "He was an amazing fighter, yes, often refused to use jabbing." I chuckle at the memory of him failing to break barrier after barrier. "And he only half destroyed one planet… and he didn't even mean to, they just attacked us and he was defending them…" my smile fades.

"Well, there are legends on how to summon him." Meta Knight explains.

When he notices the weird looks he explains, "I wanted to try to summon him and fight 'The Strongest Warrior' some time ago, so I spent some time studying the foretold methods."

Dedede rolls his eyes, face palms and shakes his head.

Kirby sneaks up on him, "Was it all about sword duals with you?" He teases.

"Old you was quite the doozy!" Dedede pipes in.

Meta Knight sighs, dropping his hands down. "Can we please move along and just get to finding Galacta Knight?" He begs.

Bandee chuckles, "Come on guys, let's stop bullying Metaaa"

Meta Knight snaps his wings out and flies up. He turns to look down on everyone, "From what I have studied, there are power spots located in some ancient structures and locations that can be used to bring him back... Keep in mind, this is what I've seen most of, it may be false!"

"Got it!" Kirby yells, a Warpstar flying up behind him.

"Oh, you all have Warpstars?" I softly ask, basically to myself.

They all hope onto it. Their speed of getting on, even with their different ways of holding on, shows how many times they've done this before.

Elfilin decides to continue to hang onto my head. "I can make portals to a few places that I remember, but I want to know what it's like for you." He explains.

"If you say so." I tell him, "I won't stop you."

Kirby flies his Warpstar up and I follow. Meta Knight thinks for a second before pointing his sword in a direction.

Kirby has his star zip off. I would be struggling to keep up if I didn't have my vortices. I fly through one after the other, keeping my eyes on Kirby.

We fly through space for a while, then Kirby picks up speed, he joyously laughs in the process.

Watching them all like this, I just can't help but to smile.

Something catches my eye, a dark floating structure with basically nothing around. We've been flying for a while and I wasn't expecting a break in the constant space that isn't a planet or star. I portal in front of Kirby and get him to stop.

I point to the ominous structure. "This feels important." I tell them.

Kirby looks at Dedede and Dedede nods.

As we approach the structure, the pieces floating around it become more obvious and the purple crystals lacing it's walls are more prominent.

As we enter its first arch, gravity seems to work again, everyone hops off the Warpstar and Elfilin flies down to them. I drape down my wings as to not scrape the ceiling.

Everyone with a weapon draws it. Kirby wanders to some nearby debris and uncovers a piece of a spear. He swallows it and gets a spear and headband.

"Oh, I got one of those as well." I say, summoning my own.

Meta Knight looks me up and down, "That's not a spear." He says, "That's a halberd."

"O-... Oh okay…?" I say, surprised by the sudden correction.

We all silently start walking down the halls, Elfilin following not far behind.

There's pieces of spears and arrows scattered everywhere. "This place seems like it was once riddled with traps." Meta Knight observes.

"Well thank you mister obvious!" Dedede retorts.

Everyone stops and looks at him.

"Err, uh… sorry, I'm really stressed right now. This place is rubbing me the wrong way." He apologies, clearly a bit embarrassed.

"D- don't worry sire, I'm spooked by this place as well!" Bandee reassures him.

Dedede pats him on the head a few times while we start to go again.

We travel a few more halls. Weapons, debris and set off traps everywhere; I've spotted multiple skeletons and somewhat shutter at the sight of each, many creatures of different species have died in here.

I look back down on everyone to make sure we're all still here, then I look back up, but not in time to react to a low hanging arch. I ram headfirst into it and step back, holding my head and yelling in pain.

I suddenly trip, a pile of debris is behind me, and I fall into a mass of broken weapons and building.

I groan as Elfilin rushes over, closely followed by Kirby. Bandee and Dedede soon come over and Meta Knight follows.

"Are you okay!?" Elfilin panicky questions.

I pull out a spearhead that rested like a thorn from my shoulder. "Kinda." I wince as I pull piece of wood out of my wing.

I look back up to where I hit my head, I can see strange markings in it. I let my eyes drift down to the hall that follows.

"That's not… right…" I mutter, the hall has debris but no weapons or evidence of set off traps.

I look back up at the markings, it's written in Halgraw text. I rise up to take a better look at it.

"You can read that?" Elfilin asks.

I put my hand on it and look back down at the group, "I can, mostly, it's Halgraw text." I try to explain.

I look back to the words and read them, "they seem to be instructions on the different traps…" I continue to read.

"Is that why so many have gone off?" Dedede figures out, "because none were able to read these instructions?"

He's probably right… what could they be wanting to guard that they would make so many traps and so that only Halgraws can make it through? "That could be right." I answer.

I look back down onto the ground behind me and see the markings and shapes for a trap trigger point.

I look into the next hall and see the line of scratches. I pick up a rock and toss it onto the marks. Immediately fireballs shoot out from either wall.

I walk up and look into the holes. Orbs with little shapes at the center rest in each. Sparking some sort of memory in me.

Kirby walks up as well.

"Oh hey! I recognize these!"

Meta Knight flies up and looks as well.

"Ah yes, these are Energy Spheres if I recall correctly, they were used in the Lor Starcutter."

I recognize part of that… "A Lor?" I question.

"A Lor?" Meta Knight repeats, "no, the Lor Starcutter."

"A Lor is a type of ship used for intergalactic travel… it can open portals and travel at light breaking speed."

"Sure sounds like the Lor Starcutter." Dedede says, now next to me. "Are they also legended to be sentient?"

"Uhhh, no?" I say, confused. "I've never heard of a sentient one…"

Meta Knight suddenly backs up, "Let us not stray too far from our goal, whatever that might be."

'I guess you're right, ' Dedede says, stretching. "Let's get going."

"I should try something first." I say. "Now that we know traps are active past this point, I want to see if I can open a vortex."

Everyone turns to me as I attempt to open a portal to no avail. "That's what I thought…" I sigh. "Magic from us doesn't work here."

Now I'm glad I summoned my spear earlier.

We slowly make our way through the increasingly darkening halls, preemptively setting off trap after trap. We eventually need to light a few arrows, that are shot at us, on fire, using another one of the traps to do so.

I see a light coming from the next turn, a cool purple glow flowing from it. "Oh finally." I sigh.

We set off the last trap and rush down. I turn and walk into a room riddled with stone carvings and crystals.

At the center, on a pedestal, rests an Energy Sphere that at the center appeared to have the yellow color drained. It's also the thing that the glow comes from.

I approach cautiously, looking for any more potential traps.

"I did not expect this to turn into a relic expedition." I remark, "But here we are…" I snatch the orb and hold it to my chest, where it grows to fit my hand… for some reason... I expect something terrific and life altering to happen, but instead the roof slowly starts to open up, exposing the stars again.

Everyone slowly walks up to me, looking up and admiring the view of the nearby galaxy.

I look back down at the sphere and it's light seems to have all concentrated in a cone shape, acting like an arrow and pointing up.

"I… I think we need to go that way…" I say  pointing in the same direction.

"Maybe… but that's for another time. We still need to go find that hotspot. We've spent enough time here already." Meta Knight responds. "If you give me the orb, I have a place we can put it."

I semi-reluctantly put the sphere on the ground where it shrinks and Meta Knight grabs it and puts it in his cape.

He must see my confused face, "Dimensional Cape." He elaborates.

It barely helps, but at least I now know that it's special and can be good storage.

Kirby's Warpstar comes in through the roof and the four all hop on it again, Elfilin grabs back onto my head.

We all take off and start going back in the direction we were going prior.

While warping through space I ask Elfilin, "Hey, you've been quiet for the past while, are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh ya, I'm okay. It's just, that place creeped me out…"

"If you say so..."

[catatanmeta]

Mamah bilang, "yang penting semangat ya nduk, kalau ada apa apa bilang". Semangat kuliah metaaa

[wingamy24]

im working laaaaaaaatee... cause i have to answer 9 asks about community nbc metaaa!!!!!!!

(i promise i'll give you your troy x britta essay, guys)

[dnaarb]

Es q solo quiero q me la metaaa

[floofsnoot]

I am so normal about Pony Island's coding on the fly themed puzzles. Like. Ur in a puter. In a puter game. Coding the game to work properly as you adventure around. To fight like glitches and sentient demon virus trying to keep you in purgatory. That's so fucking metaaa ;;;

[rafaahsblog]

Jamais subestime o poder de alguém que sabe onde quer chegar.

Metaaa🙌🏻❤️

[idristardis]

NCIS: New Orleans - Thoughts on S5 Thus Far....

So, I’ve been juuuuust a bit behind on several of my regular TV shows this year...including, well, pretty much everything. I’m still working my way through NCIS: LA, but it’s going at a slower pace because I’m trying to write at least a brief recap of every episode for that as I watch, and because I’m also further behind with that show to start with...but I actually managed to catch up on all of the current season of NCIS: NOLA over the last couple of weeks. (That was 19 episodes in about 14 days, if you’re counting...).

Though I’d gathered from spoilers prior to watching any episodes that Pride had made a miraculous recovery from his S4-ending shooting, I hadn’t heard much else, so I was able to approach the season with a pretty open mind. It’s not a completely comprehensive hashing through, but some Scratch that...this got long. A lot of my thoughts are below the cut....

The Good

-The shift for Pride to Belle Chasse and the regional SAC position. It’s the kind of change shows like this often tease having their lead actor make, and then don’t follow through on...kudos to NOLA for actually having him do it. (Though, they do seem find the flimsiest of reasons some weeks to bring him back to the team’s regular HQ). It makes sense that in the wake of his shooting he’d at least attempt to find something more stable - also it was great that they didn’t have him immediately win everybody in his new office over to his methods with a grin and some kouign amann. The change of pace, and the chance to grow into a new role, is actually good for him.

-The episode Tick Tock was incredibly strong from start to finish. Tight, suspenseful storytelling with an ending that was only just a bit predictable - but still pretty effective and emotional for all that.

-Jimmy - In the Blood, the episode where he was introduced, was solid, and I really like that they’ve kept him around.

-Hannah - the actress is a really great addition to the show, and I like that they’ve given her character a bit of a complicated history. They’ve developed it pretty thoroughly too and it’s refreshing that they have her and her husband really struggling with how their marriage works in light of the dangers of her career. It would have been simpler (perhaps) for the show to have them make a clean break, at least after Victor Zelko was dealt with - but it feels more real, and more interesting, that they are continuing to try to work things out.

-Rufus Nero - a delightfully aggravating match for Doc Wade. Whether he becomes a love interest or not, it would be great to have him recur - LeVar Burton is always wonderful and he made a great sparring partner for Loretta. The episode that introduced him, X, was also really strong and well-paced.

-Sebastian has proved to be surprisingly resourceful this season and has really developed as an agent. From cozying up to spies to translating rich-kid speak for Gregorio and geeking out with Oliver Crane - not to mention buying a house! - it’s been a good season for him so far.

-Isler! I had the epiphany that it would be him tailing Pride just a few seconds before he showed his face. I hope we’ll see more of him by the end of the season - and I’m sure with his tie-in to the Apollion plot, that we will - but it’s great that they brought him back now.

The Not So Good

-It would be great if they found more of a use for Jimmy plot-wise, other than just turning the Tru Tone into the place to be any night of the week. There is potential in his relationship to Pride and their respective memories of Cassius that has yet to be tapped. They got into it a bit shortly after they introduced the character, but then it was buried and hasn’t really come up again. Jimmy seems to have accepted a lot of things that bothered him earlier, and Pride had some things it seemed he wanted to say to Jimmy as well...and I would’ve liked to see some on-screen resolution of all of that.

-Kinda regret that they killed Cassius off. He spent so many of his other appearances on the show incarcerated that it seemed like the chance to do some really interesting things with him now that he was out and that Jimmy was in the picture was wasted. I mean, when you have Stacy Keach, you should really make the most of him!

-Avner - his motives in Survivor were shoved into the narrative out of nowhere, and that uninvited shoulder rub he gave Hannah in the episode’s flashback was a bit creepy. She certainly didn’t seem to welcome it, and it made me wonder if we were meant to think there was more to their relationship than just the collegial - or if Avner only wished there were.

-The Gregorio and Sebastian as roomies thing. Not sure it really develops either character in any way, and was only mentioned once for humor after they started living together and then has been largely dropped.

-Gregorio in general just feels like she’s “idling” a bit this season. Other than Desperate Navy Wives she hasn’t really been the anchor of any episode so far, and we haven’t seen much non-work life development for her in quite awhile. She deserves better!

-The episode set in the tiny town of Bovis - that the entire town would be in on that meth operation seemed like just a biiiiiit of a stretch.

The Puzzling And/Or Meh

-LaSalle has been a bit of an “idler” this season too...but the one centric episode he had, where he was trying to clear up his father’s tax issues, brought in a character (the accountant for his father’s company) that I thought we’d see/hear more of, probably as a love interest for LaSalle, but she’s disappeared. Why not weave her in more? (I’m not saying I want the show to replace Percy as his love interest...but if they’re going to tease this other character, why not follow through?).

-The Patton-centric felt a bit flat to me this season, probably because they spent so much time that episode with that NOPD cop. I thought that actor overplayed that role quite a bit - everything was too hammed up.

-Sutter/The Angel - started off as a cool concept, got ragingly irritating after awhile (since the audience could just tell that Pride was never going to take her hand), but then became heartbreaking when it turned out that she was sticking around for Cassius after all. Can’t really figure out what I feel about her in the end.

-The woeful underuse of the terrific Reggie Lee as ASAC Thompson - I’ve loved his work since he was the snarky, Sergeant Wu on Grimm. He’s barely been a presence, and didn’t have much to do other than scold pride when he has been around. The fact that the Apollion mission file was found in his office makes me think that there might be something we haven’t yet unraveled about Thompson and his connection to all of that...but we’ll see!!

The Upshot

-Most things have been good this season: additions of new lead, secondary, and guest characters (Hannah, Jimmy, Rufus, etc) who are interesting; old connections resurfacing for good or dubious purposes (Oliver Crane, Isler, this coming week, Elvis Bertrand); personal/life growth for Pride, and, to a lesser extent, Sebastian.

-But...though I think it was a good (and totally understandable) move for the character given the trauma he endured at the end of S4...moving Pride to Belle Chasse and into the SAC position has fundamentally changed the nature of the show. The past seasons have thrived on the tension between Pride’s out-of-the-box leadership style and his team’s varying levels of willingness to go along with his ideas (LaSalle usually was on board, Percy often questioned him, and Gregorio could go either way), as well as how all of that clashed with the much more straitlaced, protocol-driven directives out of Washington.

That kind of thing couldn’t go on forever, or every season would hinge on the same type of major conflict (i.e. Pride-vs-team, and Pride-and-team-vs-DC) and get repetitive...but remove Pride from the day to day life of the squad, and give him a position of much greater authority, and it makes it less necessary for the team to question him or disagree with him and less probable that they will. He’s no longer their direct boss - they’re having those conversations where everyone’s arguing their points on a more equal footing with Hannah (and several episodes have shown Pride looking thoughtful over having been displaced from this and other aspects of the team’s life). They then look to him for support or a new bit of perspective, but he’s less likely to be the source of conflict with the team. (Side note: he comes to the squad more than any other SAC we’ve ever seen...have we even seen another SAC on the show? But where that type of character would usually be an opponent, he’s usually there as a supportive force, meaning no/little conflict).

He’s also less likely to be the source of conflict with the DC brass - though he doesn’t fully conform to Belle Chasse’s expected norms, he is on their management-level team now...and it has only made sense for him to adapt to that role and get better at it, meaning that the more he fits in, the less there is to mine for conflict in the dynamic with DC. It’s realistic, but it minimizes the potential for drama.

It’s all good development for the characters - and exactly what they should be doing. Growing, evolving, expanding...but while it’s felt like a season of personal, individual growth for Pride, Khoury, and Sebastian...as a team, it feels like they’re in sort of a holding pattern...and Gregorio and LaSalle (and to some extent Patton and Wade) feel like they’re not really moving forward at all. I don’t know what I’d do differently...just that for all the good that the new structure with Pride in Belle Chasse has brought, it has leeched some of the dramatic tension out of the squad room.

What I’d Hope To See

-Further exploration of Pride and Jimmy’s dynamic and their respective histories with Cassius.

-A satisfying end to the Appollion storyline.

-Some meaty, fully fleshed out development for LaSalle and Gregorio (as individuals and/or as friends) outside of the casework.

-More Jimmy, more Rufus, perhaps a bit more of Sebastian’s spy flame Carmen.

-Definitive progress between Hannah and her husband.

-A new love interest for Gregorio (and/or some more non-work friends...she could actually reconnect with some of those ladies from Desperate Navy Wives).

-A season ender with a satisfying cliffhanger that doesn’t involve Pride’s life hanging in the balance.

What I know I Won’t See, But Can’t Help But Hope For

-A guest spot for Shalita Grant (I miss Percy - and PerSalle - so much!!)

[elecmon]

Question 10?

(HI THIS IS THE LAST QUESTION I WILL ANSWER BEFORE GOING OFFLINE FOR THE NEXT 27 HOURS BC END GAME)

(I might still be on, but I will literally only be posting stupid personal posts and staying away from my dash LOL)

10. What would be the reason for not being able to activate your Crest?

My crest is the crest of love, feels right everytime I sit down and think about it. And I think my biggest problem with it would be me being emotional stunted. I feel like I would get too caught up with the word love and be all “shit I have to love myself. SHIT I have to love others. SHIT DO I HAVE TO BE IN LOVE?!”

just circling back and forth until I get at the same conclusion I’ve always been in where (much like Sora and her mother!) It always felt like my mom never loved/tolerated me as a kid. And it’s thanks to that, that I can’t say that I know what love is supposed to feel like half the time lol. 

BUT ANYWAY YEA LMAO, I’d spend way too much time doubting myself and questioning Why that ended up being my crest. So much so that it just wouldn’t activate half the time.

[noirpussy]

Note to self: go in depth on what t'challa meant by "revealing themselves" to the world.

Wakanda is not a secretless nation. In issues / panels avengers have commented on as to how sharing their technology / research is "not Black Panther's" way and T'challa just flashes a little smile like damn right it's not.

I see fanon tresting T'challa like a sugar daddy that'll fun the avenger expeditions, their projects, buy them 8 quinjets, upgrade their tech and. . . unless Thanos hmu's them that's doubly ever goijg to happen.

All that needs to happen is for that tech to be studied, reverse engineered, and (given other countries have the resources to make some 2nd hand copy) and then you have a problem. Domeone can plant evidence that looks MIGHTY similar to something a Wakandan would leave behind.

Or countries advancing too quickly -- yes, T'challa wants to branch out to share their advancements with the world to help prevent the exact reasons that Kill//monger went so far as to commit 87 felonies, attempted-regicide, and WWIII. He wants to help the world progress, not surpass hid own nation.

T'challa doesn't want that, he'd laugh in your face if you try. After revealing Wakanda as the worlds True Superpower, everyone wants to see them burn, they just can't say it outloud.

[specialinterestoftheday]

special interest of the day: making special interest jokes