#not everything needs a sequel or a show continuation for goodness sake!

[corazon-calaveras]

The Crow Reboot Rant

NAH NAH NAH, WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO MAKE ERIC DRAVEN LOOK LIKE A DISCOUNT VERSION OF JARED LETTO'S JOKER?!? IMMA THROW HANDS!!! 💀🔪

There's just so much wrong about this reboot and as a fan of the original crow movie and graphic novel I cannot even begin to express how much this disappoints me.

More to rant ahead, just know it's hella long.

I recently saw and heard more news about the crow reboot and upon seeing what to expect I no longer have any interest in watching the reboot, in fact I wish the fans continue to roast the hell out of it to show the people in charge of this reboot that this is NOT what the people want or need.

Now I just want to go on and say that I have no problems with Bill Skarsgard as Eric Draven. I think he's a hella great actor with lots of potential of doing a great job at being the next crow actor, but my issue is with the writers and the people who made the overall decision to make this cult classic "appeal to modern audiences" which that quote alone was enough for me to completely abandon all hope of this movie being any good. I was already skeptical enough about the reboot and my expectations were low but THIS...this definitely made my expectations drop even lower than they already were and that's surprising to me. Honestly at this point the three crow sequels were a lot better and that's saying a lot because if y'all have seen those you'll know they weren't that good either but at least they were entertaining. 😭 (In my opinion at least, feel free to disagree on that).

It gets even better when you find out that the inspiration for reboot crow was Post Malone and Lil Peep. 💀

Like...is that what appeals to modern audiences nowadays? Was that really necessary for modern day Eric Draven? Absolutely not! The original movie and comic took place in the 90's so LEAVE IT IN THE 90's! Not everything has to be modernized for the sake of appealing to modern audiences. What modern audiences need right now are original stories with good and compelling writing (which probably won't happen any time soon since Hollywood proved to be in the middle of an imagination drought).

Sure, one can argue that the original movie wasn't completely faithful to the source material, that being the graphic novel. However, Due to the unfortunate passing of Brandon Lee during the making of the film, James O 'Barr has stated that he had finished the film as a tribute to Brandon who was a sweet and caring man and so decided to write Eric Draven to have some resemblance to Brandon in the film as a way to honor him. With that in mind, it's no wonder people are much harsher about the reboot, myself included, and find that this reboot would be an insult to not only James O 'Barr but also to Brandon. (Those who know the tragic history of The Crow graphic novel would understand why that's the case but in short it was a way for James to deal with grief).

In my opinion, the original crow film does not need a reboot or a remake. It may not be the best or perfect movie in the world but it is a cult classic and is one of the most beloved movies that holds a dear place in people's hearts. Mine included. Which is why instead of making another movie based on Brandon Lee's crow, that the other crow characters get a shot at the big screen since Eric Draven isn't the only one who gets brought back to life by a crow. I can understand how this might potentially not gain enough traction because it's not the iconic Eric Draven, but I do believe that with good writing and loyalty to the source materials, that it can be very possible to make a good and fresh crow movie without piggy backing off of an already beloved and successful film with the help of the fans who most likely have read the other comics.

In my opinion, I don't think this reboot is worth anyone's time (at least for those who are hardcore fans of the Crow franchise) and I have no hope for this whatsoever. In fact, I'm gonna go rewatch the original movie for the millionth time and reread the original graphic novel because I've already accepted the fact that any potential of getting a good crow movie is officially out the window. Not only that but the book and film are my comfort watch and reads so there's that.

For anyone who wants to hear more details about the reboot I recommend looking up articles or watch videos about it on youtube since that's where I heard the majority of the news.

Brandon Lee will forever be the best Eric Draven out there, may he rest in peace.

[davekat-sucks]

That Minvol video was so good. It has everything, a character analysis of Dirk Strider and his massive flaws and self-antagonism, then not even halfway through the video jumps basically to postcanon to examine not only Dirk Strider as the main antagonist, but also as a metanarrative writer.

The way he critiques the epilogues is what I’ve always wanted, not calling out the ideas in of itself as bad, but how sloppily the epilogues can try to articulate the world and conflicts of Earth C. He can see the narrative is trying to say how people can change foe the worse and how isolation can alienate you from your friends and maybe how we need to take care of our community as our community cares for us, but that tangles with the actual setting examining the existence of canon as the fabric of reality’s existence, and how the reason these characters feel so “out of character” is a conglomerate of “it was foreshadowed” theories from HS1, the candy timeline being corrupted (even though many meat timeline characters were also OOC) and a general desire for to make social commentary or political allegory, maybe a hint of inserting headcanons with a dash of “for the sake of continuing Homestuck”

And then Minvol dunks on Homestuck^2 and James Roach’s remake, Beyond Canon. Basically Dirk sucks as a villain, gets jack shit done and has nothing compelling to say or show for his plan, no symbolism or analogy to the characters or their philosophies just silly random animals. Also more characters being really flat and stiff.

Then it’s all set up for the grand finale: Eridan’s Bizarre Adventure, or Homestuck if it had the balls to be good.

10/10 Minvol, FunkMcLovin and OptimisticDuelist weep at your creation.

The true Prince has arrived. Even the Meat timeline that was suppose to be the correct choice, it still is fucked up in its own ways. It may not have the overbloated drama and bullshit Candy has, but the mess it left behind is just as bad and will likely get just as worse when James Roach and HICU does continue it. It's sort of funny that Dirk was another self insert for Hussie and he still sucks as a villain in the sequels as said antagonist and metanarrative. They clearly wanted Ultimate Dirk to represent as the 'bad side of the fandom'. Just like how they did for Caliborn. But Ultimate Dirk doesn't even capture that kind of charm or likeability that Caliborn had. Even his beef against Ultimate Calliope is dull. I hope he can still be sane if he does continue to read or just moves on for his mental health. Until then, Mivnol is awesome and everyone should subscribe to him and check out his vids. Model by nozomii12 Throne by (ロ_ロ)ゞ Pose by etsumi-bm

[lothiriel84]

Think Only Upon the Present

Margaret looked very pale and agitated, a fine tremor running through her entire frame; before Mrs Shaw could do so much as utter a single word, he was at her side, guiding her to sit down with such tender solicitude that earned him a tremulous smile from his intended. 

A North and South ficlet. John/Margaret. Sequel to Some Strange Presumptuous Way.

Mr Thornton endured Mrs Shaw’s hour-long denunciation of his ungentlemanly conduct and his shocking want of morals with remarkable composure; he had come prepared to face the harshest of censures, and was determined to make no attempt to justify himself, standing before his accuser with his head bowed in silent acknowledgment of the gravity of his sin. However, when the affronted matron began casting aspersions on Margaret’s character alongside his, he felt compelled to speak up against the unfairness of said accusations.  

“I won’t have Miss Hale held responsible for my own actions, madam,” he stated in the same decisive manner that had won him the respect of his fellow mill masters. “It was unconscionable of me to impose upon your niece at such a time as that, and I deeply regret my unpardonable lapse of control in the face of her vulnerability. You may rest assured I fully intend to right my wrong, and to henceforth show Miss Hale all the care and respect she is owed.” 

“Let me be very frank, Mr Thornton,” came Mrs Shaw’s icy reply. “If there was a way to save Margaret from the impending scandal without condemning her to everything a future with such a man as yourself entails, I certainly would not give my consent to this marriage. As it is, I would be a fool to deny her the only chance at salvaging however little of her reputation we can still hope to preserve; but if were ever to hear a word of my poor girl being treated with anything less than the consideration she deserves, I will not hesitate to come and take her back to London, where she shall always have a home waiting for her, if she wishes.” 

Calling upon every last reserve of patience he possessed, Mr Thornton just about managed to rein back his temper; as despicable as his conduct had been, it had come from a place of deep love and affection rather than the sort of malicious intents Mrs Shaw seemed determined to ascribe to him. “I am well aware I was never a gentleman in your eyes, even less so now; but I hope you will at least do me the justice to allow the bare minimum of human decency to persevere among my many faults.” 

Of the strength of his abiding love for Margaret, he hesitated to speak openly in front of her aunt; and yet, when Mrs Shaw finally instructed a servant to fetch Miss Hale, so that she might get confirmation of her niece’s wishes from her own lips, he could not bring himself to leave the room. Margaret looked very pale and agitated, a fine tremor running through her entire frame; before Mrs Shaw could do so much as utter a single word, he was at her side, guiding her to sit down with such tender solicitude that earned him a tremulous smile from his intended.  

No sooner had Miss Hale confirmed her willingness for this marriage to take place with as much haste as could be managed that she burst into overwrought tears, begging her aunt’s forgiveness for tarnishing the good name of the family as well as the memory of her beloved mother and father. It could not be expected of Mr Thornton to allow this state of affairs to continue, and he did not think twice before braving the brunt of Mrs Shaw’s disapproval by kneeling beside her niece and once more offering his shoulder for Margaret to cry upon.  

“For heaven’s sake, child, you ought not to distress yourself so in your condition,” Mrs Shaw exclaimed at length, and for the first time he could detect the very real concern behind her words. “You shall marry tomorrow, or the day after that, if a special licence cannot be obtained sooner. Now I will take you upstairs myself if I need to, for I cannot have you risking your health in such an unconscionable manner as this.” 

Relinquishing his precious charge to the capable hands of Mrs Shaw and Miss Dixon, Mr Thornton took his leave from Harley Street and went about making the necessary arrangements for the wedding. He did not care it would perforce have to be a hasty one, with very little in the way of pomp and ceremony; all he longed for was to be allowed to call Margaret his own, and to bring her home to Milton at last, where she belonged.  

---

Despite Margaret’s insistence, neither her aunt nor Mr Thornton had been of a mind to allow her wish to walk to the church on the day of her wedding. It was for the best, as she was soon to learn; for the exertions of the past few days, combined with the strain of several weeks’ worth of anxiety and the heat of a very fine summer day in London had her feeling very faint and weak throughout the ceremony.  

Captain Lennox had offered to stand up with Mr Thornton, while Mr Lennox had abruptly departed for Scotland as soon as he had been informed that this marriage was to take place. Edith, on her part, had been inconsolable that she was forbidden from attending due to the lateness of her confinement, and had gone so far as to call her cousin selfish for making it so that she could not postpone the ceremony to a more convenient date, thus earning a half-hearted scolding from her mother for her unkind words; in her emotional state, Margaret had fled to her room where she had proceeded to cry all over Dixon’s shoulder for a good half hour, while the old servant attempted to calm her by recounting tales of Mrs Hale’s confinements – how much quicker to tears and bout of tempers alike her mistress was wont to be when with child.  

As exhausted as she felt in body and mind, Margaret could not stand the thought of spending another night in Harley Street, and had therefore insisted that they journeyed to Milton immediately after the ceremony; out of concern for her health as well as that of the babe, Mr Thornton had attempted to dissuade her from such notion, but even his well-meant remonstrations had only sought to distress her further, and in the end he had bowed to her request, though very reluctantly.  

What Margaret had failed to consider was the probability that a long train ride might not agree with her condition; by the time they reached Milton, she was in such a bad way she had to rely entirely on her husband to hand her down from the train carriage, then into a hired cab that would take them to her new home. When they reached Marlborough Street, John paid no heed to her protestations that she was well enough to walk; instead, he picked her up as one would a child and carried her inside, would not rest until she was safely ensconced in his bedchamber, with Doctor Donaldson sent for despite the lateness of the hour. 

Amidst her dizziness and bone-deep tiredness, Margaret was vaguely aware of Mrs Thornton’s displeasure at the unfolding events, and the servants’ whispers that would invariably lead to more tittle-tattle come the morrow; nothing felt real to her, save for the warm anchor of John’s hand around her own, which he did not relinquish even when Doctor Donaldson came in to examine her. In his quiet, professional manner, he asked few questions of her, did not appear to dwell overmuch on the circumstances of her condition in relation to their hasty marriage; he merely recommended bed rest for a few days, and did his best to put Mr Thornton’s mind at ease as to the unlikeliness of any permanent harm to come to either his wife or the child she was carrying.  

Margaret was asleep before Doctor Donaldson had finished taking his leave; her husband’s hand never once leaving hers throughout, nor for the entirety of the night to follow.  

---

“It has all been done properly, John,” Mrs Thornton informed him, disapproval apparent in her tone. “It is the second-best bedchamber, and she shall be much more comfortable in there, especially in her condition.” 

Mr Thornton pinched the bridge of his nose in a desperate attempt to keep his composure in the face of his mother’s most recent attempts to undermine his authority pertaining the household matters. “My wife has expressed her wish to share my bedchamber. I see no problem in that, Mother.” 

“It is not proper for a man in your position, son. We have room enough for each of you to have separate bedchambers, and the servants are already talking.” 

He gave a short, sharp bark of laughter at that. “I think we have given the servants enough to talk about regardless our sleeping arrangements. You need not concern yourself, Mother – should Margaret wish to remove to a different bedchamber, I am sure she will let you know immediately.” 

The stony silence that followed was just as tinged with disapprobation as her previous words were. Still, he waited for he to speak her mind, as he was sure she would.  

“How could you, John?” she demanded after a lengthy pause. “I did not raise you to be the kind of man to behave so dishonourably towards any woman, let alone one who was ever so determined not to have you.” 

“Mother! You cannot be suggesting – I own that I conducted myself as no gentleman would, but you must know I would never – not in the manner you are thinking of.” 

“I was speaking of the prideful manner in which she spurned your first offer,” his mother replied haughtily. “And how I presume she refused you a second time – for I pray to God you did the honourable thing and offered for her, afterwards.” 

John sighed, the distant echo of his past misery weighing on his chest for just a moment. “I did. It is no matter – she’s my wife now, that is all I ever asked for.” 

“We'll see if you still feel the same way once the scandal has lost you the mill,” Mrs Thornton prophesised gloomily, turning her gaze out of the window. “Were that she had never come to Milton – we would be carrying on as we always did, you and I, without all the upheaval she has caused in our lives.” 

That proved to be the last straw for Mr Thornton’s already strained patience. “Mother, I will not have you speak about my wife in such a manner. If you cannot find it in yourself to be gracious to her for my sake, then you shall remove to Fanny’s home – this is my final word.” 

“No.” 

They both turned around to find Margaret standing there – her cheeks as pale as the lace trimmings of her gown, yet her eyes were glowing with renewed purpose.  

“I will not have you drive your mother away from her home for my sake,” she stated very firmly, despite the lingering weakness in her voice. John was at her side at once, and insisted she took his place in the armchair, arranging the pillows for her comfort.  

“You ought to be resting, lass,” the elder Mrs Thornton pointed out, not unkindly. “There will be time to discuss these matters once you’re feeling better. And do not think I will stand for you to risk the wellbeing of my grandchild over such trivial a matter as a disagreement between myself and my son.” 

Mr Thornton acknowledged his mother’s implicit concession with an imperceptible bow of his head, and rang the bell for the tea to be brought imminently.  

---

By the time Mr Bell came to visit his goddaughter, Margaret was much recovered, and had taken up such portion of the household duties that had been deemed appropriate in her condition. The timing of his arrival could have been better, as she had had to sit through one of Fanny's interminable calls already; the new Mrs Watson had looked torn between the disapproval she felt she ought to express at the evident proof of her new sister-in-law's unmaidenly conduct, and her positive envy for Margaret’s condition while she herself could not boast any such luck on that front just yet.  

However, Margaret Thornton was even less one to put off an unpleasant duty than Margaret Hale had been; she was only thankful that her husband was occupied with the mill at this time of the day, and she could face whatever reprimand her godfather had come to deliver on her own.  

“Are you quite well, my dear?” Mr Bell enquired after the initial pleasantries had been exchanged, his pointed gaze resting on her increasing figure slightly longer than would have been deemed appropriate. “I am sorry, exceedingly sorry that you did not feel you could confide in me – I promised your father I would look after you, and I have failed spectacularly to do so at the very first opportunity.” 

“Oh, Mr Bell, you need not trouble yourself on my account. My sin was mine alone, and it is a small comfort that my poor Papa was spared the disappointment of knowing his daughter for the undutiful creature she has proved herself to be.” 

“Do not speak so of yourself, my poor child. Clearly you have been misguided, and by one whom you considered a friend no less. Margaret, if you are unhappy – if you feel like you have been forced into this marriage, then I shall make arrangements immediately, take you wherever you wish to go.” 

Margaret stood up in her agitation, and began pacing as if her very life depended on it. “Oh, but you have it all wrong! Mr Thornton and I – in short, I could not bear to be parted from him, and the same is true for him, I know it. What we did, it was very wrong – but I cannot, I will not regret it, because that is what brought us here, together.” Again, she took her place beside him, raised her clear gaze to meet his own. “Despise me now, if you like. I shall not repent before anyone but God himself, and He has been so good as to show me his mercy where I least deserved it.” 

Mr Bell waved his hand as if to dispel the absurdity of such a notion. “Despise you? I may be an old fool, but never as big a one as that, I hope. I have come here to make certain you were well looked after, and as you assure me you are, there is nothing left for me to do but to obtain your signature on certain legal documents I have been carrying around for this exact purpose.” 

“If you wish it,” Margaret replied somewhat cautiously. “I understand very little of legal matters, you see, and I cannot – rely upon Mr Lennox, as I used to.” 

“Oh, it is nothing to trouble yourself over, my dear. I merely intend for a portion of my assets to be transferred to you at once, relieving you of the anxiety of having to wait for my demise, however – imminent that might be. Come, come, there’s no need to distress yourself so, my child – I am only happy to be of service, that is all.” 

That night Margaret wept in her husband’s arms in anticipation of this new grief that was soon to come; she cried also in relief that the mill would be safe, and John need never know the indignity of failing in the business he had worked so hard to create and maintain. And when he had finished drying her tears with the soft press of his lips, she begged him for the very same kind of comfort he had once offered her on a gloomy April night so many lifetimes ago; and so he did, then held her close to him when she fell asleep immediately after, a contented smile on her face. 

[bluescarabguy]

Man ULTRASEVEN looks good on Blu-ray.

I already bought Mill Creek's old DVD release of the 1966 Ultraman, from way before they did the full-franchise deal with Tsuburaya. But I'm strongly considering buying their current Blu-ray release just for completion's sake. I already own the new blus of Ultra Q and UltraSeven (along with X, and my copies of Nexus, Mebius, and Tiga are on their way). While I've already watched all the way through the 1966 series, it'd be nice to have the fancy current releases for everything. I'm only 18 episodes into UltraSeven, and I'm gonna have to circle back to Ultra Q at some point. But I'm really thinking I might just make my way through all of the Showa Ultra series in order.

I say as if my Black Friday purchases weren't three Heisei series, one of which I've already seen (but which I maybe plan on showing to other people because it's the serious, less toyetic one you can use to convince adult skeptics).

That said, I'm debating whether Shin Ultraman would actually be a better introduction point than Ultraman: The Next (the prequel film to Nexus)? The Next is great in that it's an entirely self-contained film experience and uses that early Heisei grit and realism to be a good entry point. Nexus comes after it but you don't need to see it to appreciate the film, unlike most spinoff films of toku hero TV shows. But at the same time, does The Next, on its own, exclude a lot of the tropes you'd want a starter film to introduce a potential new fan to? Ultraman only really fights one villain force, and there's not a Science Patrol equivalent or hints at wider M87 lore. Nexus of course fixes most of these things, but again, that's a TV show, and we're looking for a single film to show people to make them interested in potentially watching an Ultra show next (and not necessarily the one it's a direct sequel to, just the general franchise).

And Shin might be that film? As an abridged and modernized retelling of the original 66 series, it contains multiple monster threats, a Science Patrol, and stuff about Ultraman's species and home. It's not just a single episode stuffed out to feature length. But at the same time, it doesn't directly connect to any other specific Ultra show or continuity outside of the one it's directly remaking. And its conclusion leaves room for more but is entirely cathartic and satisfying on its own. So as a test case to woo potential fans, it might be the better call for giving those viewers a more accurate picture of the franchise in general, with the major and obvious exception being the lack of practical suitmation and miniature effects. But unlike SHIN GODZILLA, where the CG was striving for a kind of realism, SHIN ULTRAMAN was really all about coming up with modern and unique artistic takes on classic Ultra kaiju/seijin. So I don't think an audience prepped by SHIN ULTRAMAN's CG is gonna be disappointed by Tsuburaya's TV-budget practical effects. The design quality is still the same.

Anyway, big rant over. Go watch SHIN ULTRAMAN if you have access to it. Or any Ultraman at all. It's a very consistently good franchise.

[blueflyingturtleontheway]

You know, I think we should all take a step back and remember that a good, finished, singular piece of media can actually be. Just that. A finished piece of media.

A good book or movie doesn't need tons of sequels or a whole series or show based on it.

Honestly I think we lost something when everything had started to be made with thought about how much you can make out of something instead of how good you can make it. I mean, many pieces of classical cultural works are exactly this, oneshots, singular novels, one single movie that this director did well.

And I don't mean it as some kind of attack on fanfiction, because I love fanfiction, I write fanfiction myself and I have committed a few "fan continuations" of stories. But well, we should remember that sometimes, fanfiction is best left to be just fanfiction. And it's not like this is a completely made up compliant, I mean think about how many times a sequel or a spin off ruined something? Or have a series started to get worse and worse with every season? Or when a sequel/spin off/continuation completely didn't meet the hype and expectations? If a story leaves you wanting more then, perhaps, this is what it was meant to do, it was meant to make your brain work, get you imagination running. An open ending is still an ending! Even if it leaves you unsatisfied, sometimes this is what the author wanted.

Really, the whole point of fanfiction is that it's not made by the original creators, that it's something that fits you. So if what you want is to see the story go a specific way, see a specific scenario isn't it better to just write/read fanfiction than ask for an official continuation?

[munohlow]

Ok real quick gonna propose an idea for that powerpuff girls reboot:

Don’t

But it if they really must (they shouldn’t!), there’s some better ways I think they could go about it, as well as what I’ve seen floating around (like don’t).

Pretty much all of these are assuming they’ll go the gritty reboot route because that’s pretty popular atm. A dark gritty take on anything is getting a bit tired, I think people are more open to weird and sincere stories, whether they’re adaptations or original. But recently a lot of comics (good comics!) 10+ years old are getting faithful adaptations (good adaptations!) and reviving that early/mid 2000’s taste for “what if Superman, but bastard?”

Aright one route they could go would be like that of Samurai Jack season 5 on Adult Swim. Written and animated by the original team and keeping to its truest nature while maturing it a bit along with the original fan base and maybe have an overarching plotline. The difference being that keeping it like the original ppg would create a stronger contrast with more mature and brutal violence, similar to Invincible’s friendly neighborhood Spider-man vibes and use of graphic violence.

This would be the second best way to adapt besides not doing it at all..... but that would also take more money and might not last beyond a season, ending with a solid conclusion like Samurai Jack did. Plus I’m semi doubtful the original team would be on board to drag out the girls’ story, especially like this.

Addressing the leaked script, a common comparison made was to the Netflix adaptation of The Umbrella Academy. Both are loose adaptations about child superhero siblings coming together after years of being apart, dealing with childhood trauma and their parent’s wrecklessness as adults.

And talking monkey.

Where Umbrella Academy made changes for the sake of depth and character development amidst the sci-fi madness, the CW Powerpuff Girls script attempted to be edgy and gross for the sake of being edgy and gross. They just want to be mature and topical while ignoring everything enjoyable about the original. It also just straight up sucks. I’m no writer but it seems like a lot of people who are writers are pretty pissed about paid professionals pushing this to the point of post-production. Well not post production, it was being filmed, but I enjoy alliteration. That’s also pretty far into development for something this bad, while it was rejected and is being reworked, it still got approved by enough people to shoot a pilot. If the leaked script itself isn’t a marketing ploy, I imagine that’s the real reason it was shut down. CW probably would’ve went through with it, otherwise. Maybe just keep it cancelled, yeah? Yeah.

This idea isn’t mine either but instead of the child star allegory, it could be more interesting to sort of see it carry on from where it left off, as the continued adventures of the powerpuff girls. Similar to the The Venture Bros. (a show I have not watched but know vaguely about, again this is someone else’s thought, I just think it sounds good) the girls can be grown up but start to realize they want to explore their lives and goals as individuals outside of heroism.

This at least appeals to me because you can keep the show’s status quo, keep the characters together, and have them grow into better more interesting characters as opposed to starting with a dour world where everyone is dead or just worse insufferable people. Instead, begin where audiences are comfortable and open to a new interpretation then let the characters realize there’s more to life and explore what kind of people they can become. (Or just don’t do it.)

Also just hear me out, but maybe, possibly? perhaps the professor was a good dad in the original cartoon? And let’s keep that? Let him remain a wholesome father figure? Is that okay? Don’t make this reboot? But if they do, keep him a nice loving parent?

Since this is the CW/ Warner bros who own DC comics, the best case scenario (cancelled) would be to make it more like the MANY SUPERHERO SHOWS THEY ALREADY MAKE. The good ones, anyway. I’m pretty sure the girls have crossed over with some DC characters in the cartoon already, why not make them canon DC characters? Maybe not. Could be cool! Better not, though. But they could still model the show after some of their better shows. Flash, Arrow, Supergirl are all not bad depending who you ask. I just finished Gotham, that was neat. Superman and Lois sounds like it’s pretty good so far. Powerpuff girls would better suit an earnest, straightforward, lighthearted take. Keep the humor, idk maybe up the violence to keep it dark and cool if that’s what people want (we don’t) and have it contrast with family drama like Invincible. All that to say that a darker, comical, well-written, DC-ish superhero thing they should look to for reference should be Doom Patrol.

This show fuckin litty. It’s like the better parts of Legends of Tommorow and Titans put together, as in it’s super weird and dumb but in a way that’s fun and moving. I recently rewatched season one as refresher before getting into season two and dammit if it didn’t get me in my feels amidst the quarantine. It’s about broken people working through their issues and pulling themselves together to help one another. Admittedly, it doesn’t have the best representation of those with disassociative identity disorder, as one character sometimes referred to as “Crazy” Jane has a different superpower with each of her alters. The character is very much a product of the 80’s but the writers of the show do their best to show that Jane respects the alters and their free will. But it also deals with topics of abuse, self-image, trauma, disabilities, homophobia, discrimination, and more in a way that gave me some catharsis while watching after all that’s been going on the past couple of years. Aside from all the comedy and action, it all flows together naturally, which is what you want in any series, not just your gritty superhero show. Doom Patrol is also batshit weird, every episode feels almost self contained/ freak-of-the-week while still following the main overarching plot, and Powerpuff Girls is very much like that, without the bigger plot or mature themes (as it should remain, let it be). Many will find it vaguely similar to The Umbrella Academy because GERARD WAY WAS INSPIRED BY DOOM PATROL TO WRITE THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY. The og comics, not the show, but still.

Also let’s address this

The hell was this about?

Anyway Idk maybe I sound like “Old Man Yells at Cloud,” but this really isn’t the way to go. Don’t do it, CW. Leave it alone, CW. Just don’t do it. We don’t need more sequels and reboot cash grabs, there’s plenty of up and coming writers with good original ideas waiting for their shot. And even with all those new edgy shows and movies, some of which are actually not bad, not everything needs to be so grim. Like sure Teen Titans Go! is a goofy reboot but it’s still just a fun dumb cartoon, it’s not bad, I bet that other ppg show was also just fine. Maybe YOU are “Old Man Yells at Cloud.” But what do I know?

And all THAT to say you should go watch all those other things I mentioned and some old ppg episodes back to back, instead. Don’t fuckin do it, CW

[insufferablelust]

Hi!! I have a fic request if you’re still taking them. Reader has always been really flirtatious with spencer but he’s never taken it seriously because she’s younger than him. Reader calls spencer daddy or sir kind of jokingly but spencer get’s really turned on. This would be post-prison so he won’t hold back. He’s all like you don’t know who you’re playing with😡 you act so tough but can’t even take it !! And she is obviously exited and her bratty ass eggs him on.

Holy shit, this fic is 3,7k words long and i’m so proud of it like fuck, i’m so tempted on making a series based on this cause i got the plot line figured out, tell me if you would like a sequel or continuation of this because honestly i have some ideas gshsj! anyway its filthy.

Warnings : Dom!Spencer x Sub!Reader, post prison spencer, filthy smut, rough sex, daddy kink, rough spencer, pain kink, masochism, spit play, pet names (bunny, little girl, princess etc), big age gap (but reader is NOT UNDER AGE/A MINOR), degradation by name calling, slight exhibitionism, just filthy rough smut with fluffy after care! please read at your own risk.

MASTERLIST.

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If there’s one word that could describe your relationship with Spencer Reid, that would be playful. Playful as in you’ll try to be flirtatious just to watch the deep pink warmth spreading over the doctor’s cheeks. You always considered yourself to be playful maybe it was fitting for your age seeing that you both have a pretty noticeable age gap but, anyone who knows you would know that too.

It started as a small competition between the two of you, finding each other’s quirks and similarities just for the sake of teasing and taunting each other— enjoying your effects on one another. But for you, it was so much more, despite being playful you’re also prone to falling in love quickly, even more so when it’s someone like Spencer Reid; how could you not? from the way his lip twitched whenever he���s thinking, or the way his demeanor changes whenever he interrogated an unsub, or just how he simply himself. You are falling for Spencer Reid, and you’re falling hard.

Imagine your surprise after a couple of drinks at the bar with your teammates, that you let it slip, of course it was mainly the buzz talking, but you know what they said about a drunk man who tells the tell tale truth. The moment you let the seemingly innocent word past your lip, your drunken haze could see how his jaw twitched, feel how his breathing changed, and most definitely, feeling the tension grew thicker and thicker— excitement and nervousness seeped into your skin that has you writhing inside.

“I’m sure you knew that much, given your age, daddy.”

You swear you didn’t do it on purpose, it was just one of those slip ups that for you, coincidentally saying daddy in front of someone you— not only admire but have a major crush on, and for sure would call daddy, if you were together. But you weren’t, you both were only teammates, and flirtatious friends that somehow ended up in this awkward yet exciting situation because your mouth couldn’t let your fuzzy brain to think it through.

“Oh, god. I’m really really sorry i was just— i was truly just indicating that.. that you know! um i think i’ve had too much drinks tonight— maybe i should find em-“ before you could finish your messy apology and an excuse to find Emily, you felt the tender burning sensation across your throat.

It was his palm, pressed ever so delicately yet alarmingly on your throat, his thumb grazing along your pulse as if its telling you to stop talking or he will press against your windpipe. Your surroundings became blurry as you focused on the only thing that matters; him. His breath so close to you, his warmth electrocuted your veins, and his touch— god his touch on your throat burns and melts you.

“Shut up for once, little girl. Have you got any idea how much trouble this pretty lips of yours would get you?”

His voice was venomous as it rang up your ears, spreading over your core like you were an open flame to sacrifice. You tried to speak, tried to reply with a snarky reply or something to save your dignity, but the only thing your mouth could let out was a, “sorry..” that caused him to chuckle with amusement, gripping your jaw tightly,

“I think you’re missing something there,” He whispered lowly, eyes sharp on yours. You shuddered at the gesture, feeling your knees buckled as you answered; voice barely a whisper, “Sorry, daddy.”

“What was that, bunny? didn’t quite catch that.” He pressed his thumb tighter on your skin that were sure would leave some nice deep purplish marks. So you replied louder, though your voice were shaky and pathetic, “Sorry, daddy!” earning yourself a soft graze across your lips and a hum from Spencer.

“I would say that you’re a good girl but you aren’t, aren’t you?” He tilted your chin then, making sure your eyes locked with his as he scoffed, “No, you’ve been so bratty. Teasing me, all this time huh? thinking you could just push every button? slutty minx like you get nothing.”

You let out an obscenely loud mewl, and stomp your feet, causing him to growl possessively against your neck, biting the soft skin lightly, “Quiet, you want the team to know how insatiable you are?” He grunts, the back of his palm went to slap your cheek softly causing you to gasp, “No, daddy.”

“Good. Now, go tell Emily that you’re coming home with me.” He patted your reddened cheeks before tilting his head.

———

the drive back to your place had been quiet, you were too nervous and buzzed to say anything, and he was enjoying it— the way you squirmed in anticipation and the way you keep stealing glances at him.

You jumped suddenly when you feel the electrifying warmth on your thigh, noticing that it was in fact Spencer’s palm gripping the soft supple skin, tender whimpers escaped your lips as you feel his fingers crept up your thighs slowly up and down.

“Choose a word,” He said simply, eyes stilled on the road ahead as his palm knead the inside of your thigh, leaving crescent marks at it’s wake. “What? i-Oh! don’t understand..” You whined as you feel his fingers grazing against your panties.

“For your safe-word pet, choose a word, or i swear to god i will do more than just making your ass purple, i’ll make sure you can’t walk.”

———

The word you chose was lilac, having no idea your favorite shade of purple could mean so much to you now.

After the tense 20 minute drive, you both arrived at your place, you were almost fully sober then left for the lingering buzz behind your neck that might just be from the fact that you were turned on. The way your fingers trembled as you tried to open your front door sets the idea of just how nervous you are, especially with Spencer’s looming figure behind you, watching your every move— imprinting them inside his mind with his touch ghosting above your skin as if he’s dancing on top of them.

When you finally get the door open, you let out a deep breath and let him in muttering a small, “welcome to my palace!” jokingly. Yet, when you looked behind you, you could see just how mad he was but most importantly— just how much he wanted to hurt you in the most pleasurable way, pleasure through pain. His curls were all over the place, his lip half bitten, and his eyes, god his eyes could tell you just about everything that was racing on his mind.

You noticed it of course, before all of this, right when he got out of prison, you’ve noticed it clearly. Something inside him shifted, something more primal rather than the fact that he becomes way more bold yet private at the same time. Maybe it was because you were the only one who paid that much attention, but you could just see how much he wanted to take control in every situation he was in.

Spencer before prison was a very complicated man yet he was also someone who wouldn’t mind not being in control, he wasn’t your typical alpha male if you could put it that way— and that’s one of the things you love about him, its the fact that he’s not scared to be himself and show his vulnerability at times. But Spencer Reid after prison, is someone you hadn’t expected to meet, the moment he hugged you first; the moment he snapped at everyone for not taking him seriously about a case; the moment he took down an entire mission by himself; the moment he does everything screamed one thing to you, and that is yearning for control.

You couldn’t say you could possibly understand the horror that the prison imprinted on him, but you could understand just how much it affected his need over power— over owning something, over the situation, over someone. And if he needs to own you tonight, then you would willingly give your soul and body to him.

Y/N took a deep breath as his tucked hands reached to grasp her soft neck, already covered in small red marks from earlier ministrations. He hummed at the sight, somewhat pleased, but somewhat disappointed. Disappointed that it’s not deep enough to noticed from the end of the room. Then, his eyes met yours— sending shocking waves of heat inside your body that surely had you clenching your thighs tightly.

“You’ve been so...careless, so out of your place, pet.” He muttered, tracing his thumb just above your pulse up to your jaw and up your blushing cheeks, “I’ve tried so hard to.. hold back, hold back every time you acted like a brat, every time you teased me, you must thought you were so cute huh?” His grip got tighter then, shoving you backwards towards your bed, before releasing your jaw almost in an attempt to not push himself further— he hesitated.

“You surely know better don’t you, bunny? know better than to just carelessly... make a prey out of yourself.” His thumb graze over your bottom lip, tracing side to side slowly as he chuckles, “But i see now that my cute fierce little coworker, is not as innocent as she seemed.” He mused, lips twitched in endearment as he watched you suckle on the tip of his thumb.

“You got everyone fooled by your charming witty self, believing just how bright and good you are. But not me, i’ve seen through your acts pet, i’ve seen just how much you wanted me to just...take control of you, to own you, to.. hurt you just how you like it, isn’t that right bunny?”

You whined through your lips, sucking harder on his thumb with your hands gripping wrist. You were so dazed out, fuzzy with need, and turned on beyond belief that you fluttered your eyes shut, afraid that if you looked at his eyes one more time, you would lit on fire. But like he said, he always sees right through you, he pulled your hair back with his unoccupied hands causing you to gasp- mouth agape and eyes trained to his.

Spencer could swear that he felt his palm twitched at the sight of your face, the desperation dripping from you metaphorically and literally, the hand that was on your jaw moved to your cheeks, caressing the soft skin before suddenly you felt it. Felt the burning sensation of his palm on your cheeks, the pain arouses you to no end, and the aftershock made you moan, out loud.

“Please...” were the only thing that you could let out as you craved for more, you craved him just as much as he craved you, you could care less about the marks— you loved it even and you know now that he loves it too.

Spencer inhaled sharply at her plea before dangerously pressing their foreheads together and warned, “If i start, best believe i’m not going to go easy on you, not a chance. I’m a changed man Y/N, i won’t be gentle, and i definitely will hurt you, you have your safe word but if you don’t want this, or you expected me to go soft, say the word and i’ll leave and we can pretend that this doesn’t happen—“

“I want this..” Your broken voice rang through his ears like music, it was so heavenly that he closed his eyes for awhile as if to made sure that this isn’t a dream, that the woman he love yet been desperately trying to be away from because he was scared to hurt her, is here asking him to.. own her.

“Say it again.” He growled, hands coming back down to her neck as he pushed her down onto the bed, “Please.. daddy, own me, hurt me, fuck me, i don’t care! just do something!”

“Put your hands up, don’t move if you move them even an inch, i won’t let you cum tonight.” He grunted against the skin of your neck, teeth sinking onto them— marking you up in various different spots. He then trail down his kissed to the juncture of your collarbones, fingers trailing down to take off your dress.

You squirmed at the sight of him practically drooling over the image that is your wonderful body, his hand caressed the taunt covered nipples before tugging your bra off and immediately sucking onto one of the sensitive buds, and pinch and twirl the other one.

The mewls and whimpers that left your mouth was lewd and loud, getting louder with each lick and suck he delivered, sending thousands of electric shock-like waves through your veins, you let out a trail of uh’s as Spencer tug your panties down and stared up at you.

“Pretty baby just wants to get fucked, ‘s a shame that you’ve been a bad girl, would’ve wanted to eat you out for hours but i have to punish you now instead.” He mumbled, with an exaggerated sigh, mocking you in his tone, leaving you desperate and soaked through the sheets at the thought of him eating you out. “But-“

“Shh, bratty whores aren’t allowed to talk. so shut up and bend over my lap.” He growled, ending his sentence with a slap to your delicate wet pussy— earning a loud yelp from you as you scrambled to your feet and bent over his lap on the edge of the bed.

“How many do you think you deserve, baby?” The names he called you warmed your heart, you’ve been under his spell long enough to know that this is a trick question, no- you can’t say the exact numbers, the only correct answer is, “As many as you think i deserve, daddy.” He smiled at your obedience, whispering a “good girl” as he caressed your ass. Daddy always knows better after all.

Then you felt it, the first slap felt like fire against your skin, you yelped out a loud mewl as he growled, “Count.” So you did, letting out the shaky numbers as his hand collided with the soft supple skin of your ass cheeks— bruising them on his wake. “T-Ten! god daddy!” You screamed, thigh clenching, cunt fluttering around nothing, and your hands gripped the sheets on for dear life.

“Oh don’t whine now, you asked me to hurt you remember? i’m just giving you what you want little girl.” He chuckled, each words that left his mouth made you even wetter. His palm came down again and again, marking each and every untainted skin of your bum, painting them with his handprints and his crescent nail indents. Your ass was definitely on fire, tears streaming down your face in pleasure and pain, you were dripping down your thighs as Spencer delivered the final slap.

“Twenty! please daddy! i’m sorry!” you cried out, feeling his palm caressing your skin as he coo’d at you, “What are you sorry for bunny... is it for being a slut? for teasing me all this time? for being a damn brat? for being reckless on that mission last week? hm which one is it?” He taunted, bringing more tears to your eyes, lips quivering as you answer him shakily, “All daddy! i’m sorry for being bad! please!”

“Apology can only get you so far, lay on the bed, and spread your leg. I’ll ruin you so next time you want to get under daddy’s skin, you’ll know what happens to slutty bratty whores like you.”

——

You were spread out, hands above your head, tied with his tie, and there he was between you, slowly rubbing your swollen clit trailing your wetness all over your folds. He had taken off his clothes, on his knees bare in front of you with his— beautiful cock, you have no idea one could be so pretty and perfect yet there he is.

His thumb move faster on your clit causing you to buck up against his touches, mouth agape as the lewd sounds kept on spilling from your mouth, he slapped your clit when you bucked your hips again, causing you to gasp in shock and pleasure, “Stop being a greedy, minx.” He muttered lowly, before continuing his ministrations, your moans only grew louder with soft uh’s and “daddy!’s”

Spencer couldn’t even hold himself back, feeling the urge to just take you then and there because you’re here, fucking perfect and spread out for him. Like a damn peach ripe for the taking, your moans was music to his ears, fueling his need— his ego satisfaction as he sped up, “Open your mouth.” he demanded, and you obeyed so happily and eagerly, awaiting for anything he was about to do.

You couldn’t believe yourself when you felt it at first, feeling the warmth of his saliva down your throat as one of his unoccupied hand gripped your waist tightly and pushed himself inside you— letting you feel every veins and the stretch of his cock— pulsing with need.

“Fuck! oh fuck daddy!” You screamed out loud, your breathing as labored as his, you could feel how deep his cock was seated inside you, nudging the soft spongy spot that has you seeing stars, that has you tightening your walls around his length, causing him to let out a deep guttural groan, “Fuck Y/N, so fucking perfect and tight.”

“Please harder daddy!” You begged him, eyes doe like with tears as you looked up to him and egging him on some more, “Please ruin me, Spencer.”

“You want harder? fine i’ll give you harder.” At that, he gripped your waist tightly before pounding inside you relentlessly, each thrust overpowering your whole being, making the room grew smaller as the both of you relinquished the feeling you have for each other.

“Yes! yes yes! o-oh!” Your moans were choked out this time, as his hand went from gripping your waist to gripping your neck tightly, pounding your cunt over and over again, with double the pace and intensity each time harder. “Feel so fucking good, bunny.” The praise that left his mouth only fuels you up, clenching your walls tightly as he let out string of curses and your name.

“Look at me,” He ordered, yet you whined instead, not having the ability to open your eyes. Spencer slowed his pace down as he gripped your jaw and slap your cheek one time causing you to gasp, “Look at me, Y/N. I want you to look at me as you cum, i want you to scream my name when you do, cause i own you. You hear me? you’re mine.” He growled, the words that left his lips sending electrifying feelings on your heart and of course your cunt, pulsing around his cock.

“Yes yes yes! i’m yours Spencer all yours!” You were in commando as you spew out everything you’ve been holding onto for the past few months, “please show me i’m yours.”

Spencer sees red flashes across his eyes, his primal need to mark you and to make you his overshadowed everything, so he picked up the pace again and thrust in and out of your pussy with brutal pace, “Good slut, that’s it my good little girl you are— fuck!” He grunted as he feel you tightening around him, knowing damn well you were about to cum.

“Don’t you dare cum without my permission.” He warned dangerously as you looked up at him tearily, his hands tightening their grip on your waist and neck as he went faster, “D-Daddy! May i- oh uh! cum please!” He chuckled darkly as he faux a pout, leaning closer so your noses brush, “No. Bratty girls waits for their daddy to cum first.” He rasped suddenly, as he drilled his cock inside you and his thumb was on your clit.

This is torture, and you loved every bit of it.

“N-No! can’t hold it! daddy please!” Your were squirming, arms tugging against the tie, as he moaned out loud, feeling himself getting closer and closer to his climax, “Please daddy! Inside me!” You moaned loudly, holding onto your own orgasm as tightly as possible.

“Fucking- fuck! Y/N fuck, cum now.” His commands were deep guttural and shaky as he reach his high, still thrusting inside you with his thumb on your clit. You followed shortly after, feeling the wall burst and you came with a silent scream and toe curling hardest orgasm you’ve ever felt.

Spencer’s controlled his breathing rather quickly, whilst you still squirming and panted under him. He quickly untied your arms kissing your bruised wrist softly before letting it fall beside you. “Shh so good, such a good girl.” He keeps on whispering as you’ were coming down from your high, fingers clutching to his arm.

“D-Don’t leave..” You mumbled weakly, feeling the fuzziness inside your head as he pulled out, and watched the mixture of you and him slip past your wall. “No princess, i’m going to go grab a wet cloth so i can wipe both of us and then we can get some rest okay..?” You mumbled a silent okay, before he leaned down to softly kiss your lips and then goes to grab the cloth.

When he comes back, the first thing he did was cleaning you up, your skin tingles at the gentle touch of the cloth and him— mainly him, you hummed happily as he sat the bucket of water down after he cleaned himself and then grabbing a water bottle.

“Come love tilt your head— there you go pretty girl.” He cooed, as you took sip a few sip before laying back down. He goes to take some sips too, then proceed to laid next to you, and pressing your body close to him, fingers playing with your hair.

“Spencer..” You mumbled tiredly, using the rest of your energy to look up at him and smile, which he returned and mumbled a small, “hm?” whilst playing with your hair gently.

“I have a crush on you..” You weren’t sure whether you were orgasm drunk or whatever but it just feels right to say it— so you said it.

“I know, and i..” He chuckled in shyness, something you used to see on pre prison Reid, your heart flutters when you saw him smile and became nervous.

“I feel the same way.” He continued, making sure he holds you tight and kissed your forehead gently, “We’ll talk about it over coffee and croissants tomorrow okay? for now lets just sleep first.” He smiled gently, pulling the covers on top of the both of you.

“Good night, spencer.”

“Night, Princess.”

—————

Although, cute the ending still kinda suck lmao. Anyways, again if you want a continuation of this fic, or me possibly making it into a series, please let me know!

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Aredhel, Reborn

This is a fragment that I started putting together a long time ago, and it stops in the middle, but my writing isn’t cooperating right now so I’m posting it as-is for @tolkiengenweek . It’s a sequel to my two previous Aredhel pieces (but not my Aredhel and Eöl one, which isn’t in continuity with it). Hopefully I’ll manage to follow up on it.

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

Aredhel leaves the Halls, permitted to return to life for no reason that she can comprehend. She has not sought mercy for herself, though she has asked it a thousand times for her son and been met with a deafening silence. She chooses to return because Fingon is doing so, and he might not be able to bring himself to go if he left behind both of his siblings as well as his dearest friend. Turgon should have returned - would have been permitted to return, yeni ago, not tainted by kinslaying as his siblings are - but he is being stubborn, out of some mix of reluctance to face the survivors of Gondolin and reluctance to face the Lord of the Waters.

They reenter life to be almost immediately caught in their father’s embrace. Through all that follows - returning to Tirion, reunion with their mother and cousins, an apology to the Lady Eärwen that clearly terrifies Fingon more than any battle he’s ever fought in - the world seems faded and distant to Aredhel, as though some part of her fëa had never left the Halls. She cannot stay in Tirion, she cannot seem to hold the thread of a conversation with anyone, even her parents and brother. She knows, distantly, that she loves them, but it all seems so far away.

Her aimless feet take her to Valmar, and she find herself at the one place in the Blessed Realm that is shunned by Eldar and Ainur alike, climbing from the foot of Ezellohar to the two broken skeletons that were once the purest light in the universe, and as she collapses to the grass she feels, for the first time, a connection with the world. How did you do it? she whispers. How do you continue when what you hold dearest has been turned to darkness and ruin and ash? And something connects within her mind, something that never did through all the years in the Halls, never did during her return to Tirion, though all the reunions and necessary, distant apologies. Her feet carry her south and east, to the seashore and the white city, the city of pearls.

She does not go to the throne room of the king and queen, but to the docks, cloaked and hooded and unnoticed, seeking for faces she remembers. She finds one, working, holding a small curved knife in her hand that she uses to shell oysters.

Aredhel raises her hood, sees the Telerin woman start at the sight of her, and falls to her knees. The knife stops its work, poised in midair.

“What are you doing here?”

“I…I wished to apologize. To say that I was wrong.”

“So? What does that mean? What will that mend?” The woman lays down the shelling-knife, goes to a ship, and picks up another meant for carving wood. She lays the blade to a piece of wood lying nearby and the hands, their movements so smooth and deft when shelling oysters, begin to shake, leaving jagged, uneven cuts, leaving it useless. “I built the ships your people so wantonly destroyed, shaped them as you Noldor shape steel, and now I live again, but that which gave me life has left me. We did not hoard them and hide them in vaults, we sailed them and lived aboard them until they were more our home than the shore, and all you left to us were blood and ash and tainted memories.” The tremors through her body come in waves now, and her voice is choked. “My life was the least of what you stole from me. And now you seek what? Absolution? Resolution? This does not end for me. Why should it end for you?”

Aredhel hunches in on herself. “I surrender. What would you have of me?”

“Why come here, and not to the king?”

Olwë wouldn’t do anything to me - for Uncle Finarfin’s sake, if not for my own. He wasn’t who I attacked. He wasn’t who I killed.

“I thought you had more right. I…I know what it is to be betrayed by one whom you trusted. I know what it it is to see what you love dearest cast into ruin. And if I had - him - apologizing to me, truly and sincerely, as I am to you” - her voice breaks - “I would bury a knife in his guts.” She is shaking. “I came here because I didn’t know what else to do. Only that I needed to do something. I surrender. Say what you want from me, and you will have it.”

The Telerin woman just looks tired. “I don’t want your blood. What use would that be? I don’t want you locked up. What good would that do anyone? You cannot give back what you have taken. You cannot restore what is destroyed.

“Leave us in peace. Go.”

Aredhel goes.

....

She flees to the wild lands she once loved, which no longer feel so narrow as they did in the years of her youth, before Gondolin and Nan Elmoth and the Halls, before she knew that duty was a chain and love was a chain. Fear, too, is a chain, as she find when she wanders into the woods of Oromë where she once hunted with her cousins and stops, trembling, as the treetops cut off the sky, frozen, her thought a thousand miles away in drowned lands where the forest went from wonder to horror to prison. She works her way stumbling back to the light, her arms clutching at branches and tree-trunks to pull her onwards, until she emerges again into the free air.

She goes, instead, to the open plains, where she can run and ride and hunt, and take joy in feeling alive again, with a heart that beats and mouth that tastes and limbs that ache. In time she returns to the forest, first to edges and sun-dappled clearings, later to the denser woods in autumn when the leaves turn yellow and brown and fall to create openings where light and warmth enters, and nuts and fruits and berries surround her at every turn. Regaining the woods in summertime takes longer, where leaves create deep pools of shadow, and it is longer still before she wishes to be in the woods after nightfall, looking up at the stars.

(She no longer wears white. She dresses in greys and browns and tans, and in plain or woodland she might be mistaken for part of the landscape.)

She cannot say, for certain, how much of her escape is driven by avoiding walls, and how much by avoiding people, avoiding the need to hear or speak of (or hear people deliberately and delicately not speak of) a son she cannot defend and will not condemn. Did she shun the woods because they felt a cage, or because it felt that at any moment a pale-skinned, black-haired boy might step out of them with a present for his mother of hazlenuts or newly-caught game or skillfully-carved wood? A boy who is gone, who is become something she cannot and will not name.

Fingon finds her, from time to time, with uncanny ability, though he was never her equal as a woodsman. They share meals, wanderings, conversations light or serious. He does not tell her to return, though he speaks often of their parents and at times ventures to say how much they miss her. She does not know how to explain. Fingon can feel that their positions, failing and pardoned and returned and grieving for the lost, are the same, but it does not feel so to her. He fell in battle, and with a host of heroic deeds to his name. Her father fell in combat, the greatest one in the history of Arda. She died because she trusted the wrong person, loved the wrong person, ran off, was irresponsible and impetuous as always, led an enemy back to the one safe home she still had; her place in the First Age’s history is the dislodged rock or careless shout that starts an avalanche. Turgon has never blamed her for Gondolin’s fall, but that is because she never spoke to him while they were in the Halls, never knowing what to say. I am sorry that my son existed? She isn’t. She isn’t. She isn’t. She is only sorry that his father orphaned him, left him alone among strangers in a strange city with no parent to guide him.

One morning she awakes at her campsite to find her father there, tending the embers of her fire. She does not know how he has found her; he is gifted in scholarship, in diplomacy, in governance, in craftwork, in all the arts of war, but not in woodcraft or tracking or the arts of the wildnerness (save, by necessity, of keeping thousands of people alive in bone-chilling, soul-numbing temperatures).

They speak a little of other things, of her life in the woods and his in Tirion, but he cannot long restrain the question he has come to ask. “Aredhel, can you not come home?”

She offers the easier explanation first, the other being too painful to place in words. “I don’t want to go back to be pitied as a failure.”

“We all failed, dearest. Every one of us.”

“You did not. Not like me. You died fighting Morgoth and every Elda and I expect every Vala respects you for that. Fingon died fighting a balrog. My younger cousins died in battle. Even the philosopher did better than me! I was one of the most eager to go, I killed people in order to go, atta, and I have nothing to show for it, no achievements, nothing to boast of, and I will not go back to be petted and pitied and patronized, I won’t -” and she knows she still sounds like a spoiled child even now, when the others have grown wise and thoughtful and penitent.

Her father simply looks at her, long and quiet, as if trying to perceive all the words she has left unspoken, and they finally struggle to her lips.

“I don’t want to know what they all think of him. I do know what they think of him. I don’t want to be consoled for what my son did or became by people who didn’t know him and can’t understand him, and to know they are thinking of it every time they look at me, I’ll hate them for it and it will break out and I’ll cause trouble for everyone again - ” she’s stopped looking at her father, not wanting to see in his eyes his opinion of such a grandson, not wanting to feel the wrath against him that would come from it. “Why does everything I love fall to evil? My son, Tyelko, Curvo, my - ” she cannot bring herself to say husband, “- him? Do I have no judgement, no discernment? Am I being punished? I loved him when he killed me, I love my son and my cousins yet, and I don’t want to explain or to justify or to live among people that hate them -”

She is weeping now, and her father pulls her into an embrace. “You did not deserve this, Aredhel. Not what happened to you, or what happened to your son.”

“I don’t know.” Her voice is quiet now. “I think, sometimes, it is all of a piece. If you do evil to gain something, whether it be ill in itself or not, it will burn you when you find it. As with my cousins and the gemstones. I killed to gain freedom from limitations or constraint, and when I took it it burned me.”

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 79 Review

i said i would and i will. i did like this issue! not as striking and attention grabbing as 78, but i think this issue was meant to be a foundation one, laying out the groundwork for the future. overall, pretty good. also there wasn't enough bitewing. as promised, overly extensive metaphors and me reading too much into things under the cut

i know i've talked about this cover before, but this particular thing is oddly important to me, so i'll talk about it again

this is me, once again screaming about how artists put nightwing in traditionally feminine poses and how every time i see it i just get whiplash. i mean, true, the main reason why is because nightwing is a so often sexualized character, and putting him in these poses just increases the objectification, which is a goal that dc producers have. but there are very few popular male characters that do this. the only one i can think of off the top of my head is deadpool, but that was so obviously a critique and a way to make fun of the media industry. when they draw dick like this, they’re being serious. they’re putting him in appealing poses meant to show him off, and that’s something that’s traditionally only been done to women.

it's a very direct and very loud breaking of traditional gender roles in media, especially for a character as high-profile and historic as dick grayson. colour also plays a factor in this. the entire background is pink. i was absolutely shocked when i first saw it, when the teaser came out, because i cannot think of any comic book covers of male comic heroes this high-profile where pink is even just prevalent in the cover, let alone the majority of the cover. the pink does look beautiful: it offsets and highlights the black and blue of dick's suit gorgeously, but does it with more finesse than orange or red. but the fact that the stylistic choice was made to accent and draw this cover with aesthetic and beauty in mind, completely ignoring traditional hard-set gender rules in art, was a conscious choice and one i wholeheartedly support.

just another example of the sexualization i was talking about. i remember seeing harley quinn in this exact pose in suicide squad.

so far, taylor's been pretty dead-set on bringing alfred to the forefront of importance in this series. he wants people to know how much he loves alfred's character, and how much the butler meant to dick growing up. he was dick's father too. but what i adore is how taylor managed to stress alfred's importance in a way that didn't insult or belittle bruce.

this is one of the best bruce and dick interactions i've seen, and it's done in one simple interaction. in this, bruce is tough and harsh. he knocked dick down hard, but then he reached a hand down and helped pull dick back up. let me analyze their dialogue for a minute

on your feet: this is bruce telling dick to get up. he's trained dick, he knows what the younger boy is capable of, he knows his limits, and he knows what dick can do. this is bruce telling dick i know you're strong enough to get up, so get up and prove me right

are you just going to knock me down again?: surface-level, it looks like dick's complaining. he doesn't like bruce's rough training, and he's tired of bruce knocking him down. but look at his face in this. he's smiling up at bruce, knowledgeable and a little hopeful. he knows that bruce is doing this to help dick better himself, he's completely on board with the rough training, because they both know the rewards are incredible. also, he's teasing. he's bantering with bruce. there's an ease in that joking statement, one that belies affection and intimacy. they've only known each other for a little bit, but they're already slipping into a close familial relationship.

it depends on how fast you learn: this is bruce bantering back. this is bruce not being a stoic, unfeeling asshole. instead, he's shown with the dry humor that a good batman writer knows is a staple of the character. he's teasing dick, telling him he'll basically whoop his ass if dick doesn't learn fast enough. it's incentive for dick to train harder, while also being lighthearted enough to tell dick that believes in dick and doesn't want him to push himself too hard.

gosh i love the titans. also it looks like wally's staring at dick's ass.

this was cute. a prod at dick's silly and playful sense of humor, while not dumbing him down for the sake of a laugh. instead, he's joking about food, which is stuff everyone jokes about. this is the kind of stuff that'll actually make me laugh, instead of just making me vaguely uncomfortable.

bludhaven's almost always portrayed as a cesspool of a city. and to be honest, it really is. but this panel gives the city a meaningful history, while also giving us a reason for why dick moved there.

it talks of a time when people still thought they could beat the monsters. that if they fought hard enough, they could win the fight. it was a tentative hope that you could always overcome hardship.

dick's little "i like that it's still standing" shows how he still believes that, despite what the rest of the world thinks. despite everything that he's been through, dick is still tentatively an optimist, and believes he can fight the monsters of the world and win. it's a beautiful testament to his character, and i'm like that they added his signature element of hope back in. it used to be what he symbolized as robin, and despite his growth and character arc from robin to nightwing, this is one aspect of robin that i'm glad nightwing still has.

remember when i said "things that make me vaguely uncomfortable??" yeahhhh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Shooketh Dick: A Sequel

(the expressions in this series are just,,,,on point)

this was an incredibly sweet and kindhearted thing for dick to do, but i found it kind of,,,,,,,,desperate? maybe that's just me, but let me explain.

dick's suddenly a billionaire, and he has entirely too much money that he knows what to do with. it's also alfred's money, what the man left to him, so dick forever links it with alfred. in addition to that, he's back and bludhaven and looking at it with "fresh" eyes. (at least, from a different point of view since he got shot in the head. then mind controlled.) he's desperate to do something with the money and he's desperate to help the people around him that so obviously needs up, so he comes up with an on-the-fly solution that's a little impractical and a little crazy, but it still helps and still does some good.

to me, dick seems a little lost. he hasn't completely found his balance yet, and he's trying to do things that will. he tries charity, because that's what bruce did and it's what he knows, even though he admitted that he always thought bruce could have done more as bruce wayne than batman.

they have a family group chat guys yall were right.

also, do i think that dick would ever actually get his wallet stolen?? no way in hell, he’d notice someone getting ready to pickpocket him a mile away. but i suppose it’s important to the Plot. 

okay this is getting interesting. first blockbuster, now maroni (+ the weird heart stealer guy). i can officially say that i am intruiged

this particular artistic quirk is shown a lot in this issue, and from this art team in general, but i feel like this panel is one of the best examples of it. it was stunning enough to take up a full page, and it’s well deserved.

the way they show dick moving is absolutely brilliant. as a reader, i like seeing these smaller versions of dick getting clearer and in more detail as they come closer to the screen. not only do they show depth in the picture beyond what a simple 3 dimensional piece of art does, it also shows the passage of time.

in addition, it showcases dick’s skill. dick spots these mobsters running after a group of petty thieves. he then, and follow me here, leaps off the roof of one building feet first, springboards backwards off the side of the adjacent building with his feet, gracefully continues his backflip, rights himself, shoots a line with perfect timing: just in time to soften his landing but not slow him down, execute said landing on top of a moving bus, keep running on the moving bus without missing a beat, shoot his grapple, use the grapple to swing, use the swing to build up momentum, then use the momentum to deliver a powerful blow to the mobsters. and he did all that fast enough to catch up with the mobsters, even though he was a ROOFTOP OVER. 

d a m n  s o n

this panel, the very first in the issue, is also another example of that art style, but a little more distinctive. i love the way they showed dick’s different costumes through the ages, along with him simply growing up. it’s a little heartbreaking, but a lot uplifting to see how far he’s come. thank god he got rid of the red. now all we need is the fingerstripes, and we’ll be golden

discowing my beloved. also i can’t clearly see discowing’s hair but it definitely looks like it’s pulled back. it looks like he put it in a ponytail. guys. guys. dick had a ponytail omg. 

he’s having a Hero Moment

are you talking about the city, dick, or are you talking about you? the kgbeast, the court, the joker. dick fell to each one of them, no matter how hard he fought. he won in the end, eventually and with his family’s help. but i think he’s feeling a little low, a little defeated right now. it’s almost like he needs a win, he needs to feel victorious, he needs to feel like he helped someone (hence the food and the hotel room), just because he needs to remember what it feels like.

these lines were supposed to resonate with you, and goddamn they did.

i looked at it from two ways. first, it’s the girl asking, begging nightwing not to hurt them. bludhaven doesn’t know dick the way gotham does, they’re still a little frightened of him. this child was brave enough to step in front of all of the other hurt and homeless kids and ask, to a strange man in a mask, if he was going to hurt them like the other men had. it’s heartbreaking, but commendable, and an echo of the city itself that dick’s decided to protect. they’re bloody and broken and terrified, but still gritty and brave enough to stare what they fear in the eye and ask it not to hurt them.

second, it’s dick seeing the question reflected in himself. recently, he got shot in the head and lost all his memories. while i think that the way ric reacted was a perfectly valid and human response to the situation, i think dick still regrets how callously and rudely he treated his family. then, he was manipulated by the court of owls, then he was brainwashed with a magic crystal by the joker. dick does have a guilt complex. it’s not a big as bruce’s, but it’s there. and right now, with this girl begging her not to hurt them, dick is probably thinking about all the times he hurt people, in control of his own actions or not, bc he “didn’t have a heart.” 

little ambitious don’t you think, dick?

also just look at the sunset colours loOK at the they could not make this any more obvious oh my godddddddddddddddddddddddd

in conclusion, i need more of her

[bigskydreaming]

Doing some writing today off and on between errands and work, and jumping around various Kings of the Sky installments, specifically Dick, Jason and Cass stuff, so probably gonna post snippets from a bunch of them as I go. 

(Kings of the Sky is an AU that goes canon divergent from the point of Jason calling Dick for advice for dealing with Bruce after the Garzonas case and where things end up going dramatically different from that point on. Including Jason not dying, being part of his own lineup of Titans between Dick and Tim’s, Dick being adopted not long after the Church of Blood incident, Cass being the third Wayne kid to be taken in and adopted and with Tim and Duke being next and then Damian coming along later once they find out about him. This is basically my ‘the family’s alright’ AU with largely ‘Good Dad Bruce’ except for Dick and then Jason yelling some sense into him about the other, respectively, in the first two installments, just FYI).

Anyway, this bit is from a story called “In Their Shadows Grow Trees Of Good and Evil,” set about a year after Cass has been adopted, when she and Jason are both sixteen and Dick’s twenty-one. Also just FYI, because canon has never been specific about what ways Cass is neurodivergent due to the comic-book style ‘rewiring’ of her brain so that she could learn to speak later in life, I tend to go with her being dyslexic and having aphasia. She sticks exclusively to sign language and being a silent presence in her costumed personas, so that there’s no chance of people connecting the dots between Black Bat and Cassandra Wayne, as she mostly speaks verbally in her civilian persona and doesn’t hide her aphasia. The reason there’s not likely to be any obvious signs of aphasia in the snippets of her I post is because I wait until I complete something to choose words at random to replace with aphasia-born mixups, so its more realistic and I’m not gearing her dialogue towards deliberately placed moments. Just in case you were wondering.

In Their Shadows Grow Trees of Good and Evil

“Hey Todd,” sneered an exquisitely obnoxious voice. “Why’s your sister so fucking weird?”

Jason sighed the sigh of a soul a mere century into its eternity of damnation as he rose from the lunch table he’d been studying at and crammed the rest of his books into his backpack. Then he pasted a cheerfully bland smile on his face and turned around, geared for academia warfare (teenage prep school edition).

“Hey Craig,” he said brightly. “Why’d you come out of the womb so ugly your parents had to tie a piece of steak around your neck just to get the family dog to go near you? Mysteries abound.”

The advancing junior slowed a step, momentarily rocked by his truly impressive return volley. The grimace Craig’s already gargoyle-esque features twisted into made his face even more unpleasant to look at than usual, which was quite the feat. Jason would have applauded if just looking at it hadn’t already turned him to stone.

But the bargain basement basilisk kept on towards him rather than turn tail and skulk off to pop his emotional blisters, so Jason sighed a sequel to his first one. Looked like it was one of those days where Craig felt up to powering through. Guess someone had eaten their self-esteem Wheaties that morning. Joy.

“You think you’re pretty hot shit, don’t you, Todd?”

Jason shrugged. “I mean, to be honest I kinda have a one track mind, so right now I’m mostly just thinking about punching you in your mistake.”

“My what?”

“Your face,” Jason elaborated with exaggerated patience.

“Huh?”

“Oh my god, I’m saying your face is a mistake. See, its not as fun when I have to stop and explain it to you. Ugh, you ruin everything.”

He neatly sidestepped the older boy as R2-Dumbass stayed frozen, smoke coming off of his internal CPU while trying to catch up. For a second Jason thought he was home free, but then he remembered the universe fucking hated him so haha, sucks to suck. Also, a small crowd had gathered to witness the verbal jousting match, and nothing invigorated an asshole like Craig more than an audience of like-minded peers. So there was that too.

“Whatever. Laugh it up all you want, you little shit,” the junior rallied. “But just remember, mocking your betters will never change the fact that you were born street trash and you’ll be street trash until the day you die.”

Honestly? Not his best effort. Jason almost felt bad using any of his good material. Seemed like overkill at this point. But he did have a strict Scorched Earth policy to maintain, so.....

“Yeah but my dad could buy out and ruin your dad so that means I still win, right?”

He smirked as the barb landed and Craig’s face set into a sunset vista of strangled purple and furious red. Bam. Direct hit.

“Listen, you - “

“Oh for fuck’s sake, it was rhetorical,” Jason interrupted. “I don’t actually care what you think even a little bit. Nobody does. You don’t matter. Please go be irrelevant elsewhere, you’re fucking dismissed, you loser.”

“Speak for yourself, charity case.” Oh goodie, Craig’s backup singers had finally arrived. Now if only he could remember to care enough to learn their names in the first place. Seriously, who told the extras they could have lines? “All the jokes in the world can’t change who and what you are.”

Jason shrugged and continued nonchalantly up the hill to where his sister was standing with arms crossed, staring down at something on the other side.

“True genius is never appreciated in its own time,” he tossed back over his shoulder. “I’m sure I’ll be immortalized in song eventually.”

The mob of morons deigned to let him go without further incident. Though he suspected that had less to do with his scathing wit and more to do with him being headed towards Cass. She was immaculately presented as always, wearing the Gotham Academy uniform like she was born to it despite hating its uncomfortable stiffness every bit as much as he did. But that was just Cass for you. 

For all that she still struggled at times to engage verbally or speak up in social settings, her mastery of body language remained without peer. She could chameleon-camouflage her way into matching poise and posture with anyone - a skill that had allowed her to walk into school on her very first day with her head held high as though she owned everything in her sight. Exuding so much Queen Bee Intimidation Factor even the other hive queens were afraid to approach her  themselves. Sending forth their drones to try and woo her into an alliance, only to see her remain oh-so-casually above it all, a slightly contemptuous smile adorning her lips.

Basically, she scared the shit out of their classmates without them having anywhere close to a true understanding of why, and Jason was outrageously jealous. Rude. Unfair. Why did his siblings always get all the cool toys when all he had was his rakish charm, scintillating intellect and debonair.....nah, who was he kidding. He was fucking awesome. 

“Sup, sis,” he said, cresting the hill to stand beside Cass. “Just FYI, I just took a popularity bullet for you, which means you owe me your dessert tonight. Its a family rule that’s totally a real thing and definitely not something I just made up right now because Alf is making chocolate soufflé.”

She made no acknowledgment and remained stock still, a Colossus at Rhodes peering down into the shifting shadows of the parking lot below.

He peered down as well, though with absolutely no idea what they were looking at. Solidarity, yo.

“So are we staring fixedly at anything in particular, or should I just pick my own spot and commit?”

His humor was totally wasted on her as always. Instead of laughing and telling him what a lovable goof he was, she just inclined her head in the direction of a blonde girl where she was standing next to the driver’s side door of a Mercedes-Benz, dictating final commandments to her peons before departing. Well, probably. Jason was just guessing, based on his own body language reads, and like, general disdain for literally everyone at this school that wasn’t related to him.

He made a face. An extra special one reserved just for this classmate in particular. “Ugh, Madison Dunleavy? She’s the worst.”

Cass raised a cool eyebrow. “I thought Craig Hendricks was the worst.”

“He is. They’re both the worst. Its a hotly contested position here at Gotham Academy.”

She rolled her eyes and nodded back down at the Queen of Air and Darkness. “So. You know her?”

“Nope,” Jason said. “Come to think of it, I’ve actually never seen her in my life. No idea who that is. Can’t help you, sorry. Shall we go home?”

The Eyebrow of Inquisition speared him with clear intent. Who the fuck needed words when you could pack the Encyclopedia Britannica into a single facial expression?

Jason sighed gustily. 

“I had a slight altercation with her freshman year that led to her declaring her undying enmity for me until the end of time. The word nemesis may or may not have been thrown around once or twice. I can’t recall.”

The Eyebrow of Inquisition lowered nary an inch. Ugh, she wanted more? Why did everyone in his family hate privacy, with the obvious exclusion of himself when snooping through Cass and Dick’s rooms for blackmail material, which was actually intel-gathering and thus another matter entirely.

“Okay so basically what happened was my first week here I overheard her talking shit about me and not even twenty minutes later she was pretending to kiss my ass in homeroom, like probably because of Bruce, y’know? So I just busted out laughing and told her to fuck off and die and she has inexplicably loathed me ever since.”

Avoiding further Eyebrow Inquisition-ing, he made a show of peering around aimlessly. When the silence extended and it was clear Cass was absolutely not going to break first, Jason waved a hand in dismissal and took to peering oh so casually at his fingernails. "I suppose I was less tactful back in those days.”

He chanced a look up, finally, and saw his sister’s eyebrow had somehow managed to mighty morphin power ranger its way into a configuration evoking both judgment and disbelief, with the latter perhaps aimed at the idea he was significantly differing in the tact department these days either.

“I don’t love the implications your face is making right now,” he told her.

She ignored him, because of course she did. 

“Does she know Dick?” She asked instead. Jason shrugged.

“I mean, maybe? She’s probably seen him around at one of those stupid galas we have to go to, and actually I think maybe she has an older brother who was either in Dick’s grade or like, one above or below it? I don’t know.”

Now both eyebrows were doing the dance of disbelief. Okay, so maybe that was poor situational awareness on his part, since it wasn’t like Gotham Academy was a big school with a ton of other kids and also he’d only been in the same class as Madison for like over two whole years, but whatever. There were extingent circumstances.

“Look, she’s a total snob who’s always looked down on me and in return I willfully ignore both her existence and that of everyone and everything even tangentially related to her. Its called equality, Cass.”

She pursed her lips and went back to the peering, because of course in the mind of Cass it made total sense that the Grand Inquisition didn’t need to be followed up by any explanation on her part, what the hell. Like was he supposed to have inferred it?

“What’s this all about anyway?”

“I heard her talking about Dick earlier,” she said without peeling her eyes away from her personal recon mission. “I don’t know what she said though, I just heard her say Grayson, and then I was busy looking at what her body was saying. I know it was about Dick because she shut down when she saw me. And I didn’t like the way she....looked....before that happened. The way she was talking. It was.....”

Jason frowned but held back any follow-up questions while he waited - with total patience because he wasn’t an absolute cad, thank you very much - for his sister to find the word she was hunting for. It was a major source of frustration for her, that whatever neural map her brain followed put body language and spoken language in totally different regions of her brain, separated by a fairly great divide. Meaning she usually had to make a conscious choice to focus on body language or conventional languages - whether verbal or sign. But it tended to be one or the other; she’d yet to master taking in and comprehending both forms of ‘language’ at the same time. And none of them had quite figured out how to convince her that she wasn’t actually missing anything when she chose to focus on one specific form of communication - that she was still observing far more than most people ever would.

“Proprietary,” Cass settled on at last. She nodded her satisfaction with her choice of word, and Jason waited a whole two point five seconds before sticking  his whole foot in his mouth.

“Proprietary?” He asked with a scrunched nose as he weighed that for possible context and implications. “You sure?”

She glared. He winced. It was a whole thing.

“Yeah, I know, sorry, sorry, I heard it the second it was out of my mouth. We don’t actually have to experiment with the legitimacy of if looks could kill.”

Cass rolled her eyes, but eh. That could’ve gone worse.

Jason swiftly redirected attention anyway. Discretion is the better part of valor, after all.

“So. The Queen of Air and Darkness was talking about our big bro, and her mood was.....proprietary, huh?” He recapped while digesting the info like a boss. “Well. Definitely not loving that, I gotta say. Hold please.”

Pulling out his phone and pulling up his most recent texts, he began typing furiously.

“What are you doing?” Cass asked.

“Texting Tom,” he replied, because duh. Hah, now it was his chance to have the answers that should be patently obvious and thus make with the ‘are you kidding me’ when she asked obvious questions she should know the answer to! How do you like them apples, sis?

“Why are you texting your boyfriend right now?”

Jason rolled his eyes, because fair is fair, but never ceased texting for a moment. Time was of the essence here, probably. Well, maybe. Okay probably not. But it’d still been like half an hour since he and Tom had last texted and that’s a very fucking long time in teenage years.

“To be our getaway driver tonight, obviously.”

She stared at him. He didn’t look up, but he could feel it anyway. He was very intuitive like that.

“What?”

Jason heaved another sigh, one keyed to tones of ‘oh my god, do I really have to spell this out,” exasperation. He was just racking up the bonus points here. It was really too bad this wasn’t an actual competition he could actually win and this was all just pettiness taking place wholly in his own head. Lame. 

“Well, clearly we now have to go snoop in Madison’s house aka lair to see if its actually a house or a full on lair. Because she’s either a creeper or like, legit evil, and its important to know which one before we proceed, because obviously we can only bust her for being a weird creeper about our brother as Jason and Cass, whereas if she’s legit evil, that’s gotta go down as Robin and Black Bat. I’ll handle the snooping, you’ll take look-out, but we still need a wheelman and that’s why I’m texting Tom. This is all very mission-oriented, okay. I’m a professional.”

“Right,” she affirmed, while sounding anything but convinced. “Why don’t we just tell Bruce?”

Without looking up or breaking stride, he said: “I’m going to give you til I finish typing this sentence to figure out what was wrong with what you just said. Remember that we are talking about hypothetical danger to our brother, and also Bruce’s idea of a proportionate response to any of his children being in even hypothetical danger. And also our brother’s idea of a proportionate response to Bruce’s idea of a proportionate response. Look, you’re still new so I’m gonna need you to just trust me on this one. Its gonna be a no on telling Bruce without further intel.”

Cass said nothing in response to that, which meant that she was conceding the point and recognized the wisdom of his words. Or maybe that she was just gonna go ahead and do what she wanted anyway and just wasn’t bothering to fight about it, but it was probably that first thing.

“Well you better not just make out with your boyfriend all night,” is what she said at last, and that got his attention reeeeeal quick like.

“Umm. Wow. Okay. So, first off, you’re not the boss of me and who I make out with and when, so jot that down. And second, now I’m definitely going to make out with my boyfriend extra hard, with the exception of when we are actually on our recon mission because as previously established, I am a professional. And also, again, you’re not the boss of me.”

Jason ignored her Eye Roll With Extra Emphasis, and instead just held up his phone to Text With Extra Emphasis, as he read along with what he was typing.

“By the way babe, we have to make out extra hard tonight,” he said, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth while he dragged out his dictation with the kind of focus that usually led to Bruce asking why he couldn’t apply as much intensity to training as he did to pettiness. “Cass has suddenly decided she can dictate terms to me and I need to shut that shit down ASAP, so thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter. Smoochies and other gay stuff to the best boyfriend ever.”

Jason frowned as a response pinged back seconds later. 

TheCatsMeow: ....the things I put up with for the sake of your weird family dynamics.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: Yeah, yeah. You’re a saint among were-panthers. Must you mock? Why can’t you just tell me I’m pretty instead?

TheCatsMeow: Sorry. Let me try again. OMG you’re so pretty Jase how did I get so lucky xoxo.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: No. Its too late. It feels forced and unbelievable now. You’ve ruined it forever.

TheCatsMeow: Got it. From now on I will only tell you that you’re repulsive and hideous.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: I’m breaking up with you.

TheCatsMeow: But after I help you with your mission tonight.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: Obvsly. I’m a professional. Why do people keep forgetting this?

TheCatsMeow: And also the making out to spite your sister.

TheOnlyRobinThatRocks: Yeah we should do that first too. I mean we already penciled it in.

[stuckasmain]

The crow : Wicked Prayer review

I have been making this for four days (things keep coming up finally posting this)

It may be a unpopular opinion but I honestly believe that this is the best out of the three sequels. I completely mean that. It has its problems as they all do, a lot of them I can chalk up to “it’s 2005” just like with salvation. This movie introduces a LOT of interesting lore bits and concepts that it expands on a little bit, some of its lost for sake of aesthetic or a bad writing point but most of this is genuinely good. I like that it plays into the aspect that the whole Concept of the crow is inspired by Native American legends… even if they do it in a very um… “2005” way. However it’s not as bad as getting the core idea of Dia de Los mertos wrong.

My central “2005” problem is the films opening. They begin two paragraphs of text MID OPENING CREDITS. Imagine you’re watching the Star Wars title crawl and instead of starting it just “Bob the camera man” and continues. As well as when introducing our main bad guys it does a smash cut style video game esc character screen- pausing and showing their names and things we get basic info we learn about them naturally in the movie? Also the fact their names are ALREADY ON THEIR FUCKING CARS. This is never done again and only for these four characters. The opening itself is also plainly confusing despite their paragraph explaining it- i understood none of the central conflict it actually hinges on because it looks like the miners were protesting themselves. This is never done better though the whole movie. Anyways, onto the good stuff

A new beginning/leaving it all behind-

A wonderful aspect of this film is the central romance, Jimmy and his girlfriend Lily ignites the dawn. Unlike salvation’s problem of failing to make me care for Lauren besides the mystery around her death, lily feels like a real character. They’re actually quite cute to watch. Her impact is marked on the rest of the story… you get to see how losing her effects everything. Similarly to Shelly.

The movie actually has a unique beginning in that the first 20 minutes are spent with Jimmy while he’s alive. (Salvation somewhat does this but it’s 2 and directly up to his death). We get to learn a lot about him and his troubles but still have a level of mystery that slowly gets revealed as the story goes on. Jimmy is a ex con, on parole on the Rez side of the road, he’s a ‘white trash’ sort living in a horribly run down trailer with his dog and is dating the daughter of the chief . What we see is his plans to skip town once his parole is up, head to the coast and hopefully with Lily. Unfortunately- the proposal is given to a empty shop, and ends with Him and Lily getting killed.

Turns out, the local “satanic Cult” which- is more of a club …. There’s five of you shut up you’re a club. No cult calls itself a cult. Needs them for a ritual.

They’re ambushed and hung up in the middle of the shop. They take Lily’s eyes and his heart. It’The dead is watched in real time, the full thing plays out straight right up to their bodies being dumped into a fridge at a junkyard. It’s ‘nothing personal’ except it seems that Jimmy knows Luc.. and begs.. unfortunately on death ears. From this point , the ‘actual’ plot starts and we get the expected flashbacks and so on.

Rebirth-

I expressed before and I’ll say again how I think the effect is dampened by a nearly instant revival from the dead. Ashe was a few weeks - Alex and Jimmy only a few hours which creates a lot of problems later on but in this? It works beautifully.

This entire scene is so tragically beautiful and honestly the best part of the movie. Jimmy launches out of the fridge into the water - barely able to breathe (has no heart + noose) struggling to figure out what’s going on, he barely has a second to process. He keeps feeling at his chest panting and crying before completely losing it- … and then he sees Lily. “Oh my god… what have I done?!” Is the most hitting line. The fact Jimmy thought he had done it- and was capable of hurting the woman he loves is such a raw line. I just wished they kept up this feeling the whole film. He brings her body back to the store and rests her in her bed, getting flashes of what actually happened (in this situation it actually works for a instant revival and flashback to what we saw just happen. It’s like whiplash and it works). It also ends up being a plot line with the amounts of times he takes her body- not quite important but I just wanted to add it.

Jimmy’s makeup is a design Lily would draw on his face, sometimes for fun but this one specifically ties back to Rave-N- Fest along with his outfit. It’s a sweet flashback (I adore more then most as it makes me feel. It gives me a sense of character and love that most sequel flashbacks lack).

Also! Comic references .. His makeup actually has no white facepaint only the black (which is sharpie). The white is the fact he’s extremely pale do to being dead. He also torches his trailer in the same way Eric burns his house.

Jimmy-

Jimmy is the best part of this movie and he’s shafted in what should be his story. The movie focus is more on the villains because David’s got the star power at the time. The villians have very shotty motivation and a horrible plan and aren’t much to watch struggle about or make jokes when they mow down groups of people…

Jimmy is different from the others. He doesn’t have the same manic highs the others do when in a fight or angry.. he’s made up of the somber, sadder moments in between. He’s much more … done. Sarcastic and snappy then scream and yell. Depressive > bipolar. He doesn’t have the same drive instead he has the longing for death… he has a resentment towards the crow for bringing him back, the fact he now has to do the one thing that scared him about himself.(his ability to kill) “what have you done to me?” “You turned me into a fucking monster” and it’s great. He reminds me a lot of Comic Eric’s calmer moments, where he can quip but he’ll sit down and say some word of peace with a dying man.. while longing for it all to end. But the movie never places a focus on this or him as they should!! (The movies misguided focus on the bad guys and hard lean into comedy in certain parts greatly ruins what could be phenomenal.)

Another particular moment I love takes place in the quick Marry chapel place on the edge of town. Jimmy isn’t as directly violent as his formers- more defensive (except the movie would rather have his ass kicked then properly able to defend himself or clear fighting style). He rights a wrong by keeping someone alive- I like that it expanded beyond the hunt kill aspects and the mental of the comic and first movie. He is making amends- not being forgiven but doing right by the parents of the man he killed /was on parole do to(which was more defense/good reason but made the entire town hate him despite seeing what happened???) and it’s a wonderful moment.

“Are you a Angel or another devil?” “I don’t know. Both.”

“Who are you.” “Maybe a ghost”

“I’m sorry”

And just “but don’t expect me to forgive you” is hhhhhh yes.

I love this moment as it’s righting wrongs and it’s doing what he needs to do, what he needs to settle before he moves on. It’s not all killing.

Lore-

This review is getting a bit long so I’m going to jump straight into lore. Stuff introduced or expanded on that I liked or disliked and a brief thing at the end. Most of the things I didn’t like were touched on in what I loved. Some of this will include quotes I like to save time!

So … don’t even ask me why Lilly is talking about Legends at the casino proposal/announcement but she is. She goes over the legend of the crow and instead of a new or more detailed way she rips Sarah’s monologue almost directly? (Movie logic but just- how she says it the exact same almost..) except it is expanded on a bit more. Lilly mentions the souls burden+ expressed idea at funerals.

Expressly states the Crows power comes from his love. (Which has always been true but it’s nice for it to be stated)

According to legend without your eyes you’re lost in the spirit world forever (I guess they really are the window to the soul, ha) which makes it all the more pressing that Jimmy puts a end to this. He doesn’t care what happens to himself, but if he fails- he damns her too. “You owe me two lifetimes and a pair of perfect blue eyes.”

Uses a in between state/mental purgatory (like og comic) more often. There’s a part right after their deaths and at the end. This is the first time there’s more then a few seconds where we get to see them reunite and I’m 💕

Different death effect then usual. All have leftover effects from their deaths , scars etc Eric particularly with head damage, Alex with having his brain literally fried. I like that, Jimmy differs in that it’s his breathing and being slower? At least at the beginning.(the man doesn’t have a heart and was choked/hung)

“What happens to a Angel who loses his wings?”

“Killing is easy. Forgetting his hard.” Great quote and another use of memory transfer and not just receiving.

“Why not? She did.” (Jimmy referring to having faith in him)

The movie opens up much more ? Power? It’s on a way larger scale then it should be. Fighting literal satan (as it does happen) then a personal conflict between ex friends. I sort of like the “Angel” concept in the bit that it’s a “avenging Angel” like tale and also clear they’re a good person but not in how it opens some gates. It did give this great shot though;

You have to let go. This is another aspect that’s always been there but has been drilled into this movie specifically. It’s not enough to have killed everyone off- you have to be ready to go. You may be released of your burden but if your still clinging to earth, it’s not much better. They get onto this several times in the movie where Lilly tells him to “let it all go” before leaving for the day/if he wants her to go with him. A few other times but there’s also a analogy with a angry dog on a chain hurting itself in its struggle “all it has to do is let go”.

Crows are Apparently considered “Minor angels”

In the end this movie has a lot going for it. A detailed backstory, a solid concept but it shoots itself in the foot midway into the marathon. The movie’s antagonist’s have bad motivation- like “Tony stark pushed me once” level bad. It could be used effectively but “we’re racist and everyone hates us” is not a excuse to summon satan and have the absolute lack of mental ability to be shocked when it turns out he’s bad. Their plan is also just- a massacre and it’s weak. Falling onto them more then the main character added to its main switch to comedy is what prevents it from being as good as I know it could have been. 2005 man. 2005.

[bronyinabottle]

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.

[trellanyx]

Dark!Stolas AU

I started to send a prompt to @vizowrites​ after reading the latest installment of her Dark!Stolas AU, then realized I wanted to write it instead. lol This is meant to be a direct sequel to Where You Belong. Thanks for letting me play in the sandbox for a bit bb!

Fic Warnings: This is an AU where Blitzo does not want to have sex with Stolas, and only does so in order to have continued access to the grimoire. Stolas has no qualms about using this leverage to keep Blitzo in line, or ignoring Blitzo’s boundaries. Nothing sexual happens in this fic, but if you don’t like reading fics based off this premise, this isn’t for you. Like the title says, Stolas is not a good person here.

“And you,” Stolas said, his gaze flashing back to Striker with a near break-neck speed, flashing in a surge of barely contained power that still seemed to simmer just beneath the surface. “While I admire that terribly forceful nature of yours, I highly suggest that you remember just to whom you are speaking. And just to whom you owe your continued opportunities that keep your schedules oh so busy. Which reminds me, darling Blitzy….bring the book with you to our next meeting.”

“Blitzy! There you are, darling.”

Regrettably, Blitzo thought. He placed the book on its usual place on the nightstand and shucked off his coat. Stolas loved it when his favorite toy showed such ‘enthusiasm’, not noticing, or perhaps not caring, that Blitzo’s only motivation was to get the night over with as quickly as possible.

He didn’t know which option was worse.

“Look, can we skip the roleplay tonight? My back has been bitching at me all day.”

Stolas giggled. “Ah yes. Isn’t that post-coital ache just delightful? I know my best mornings always happen when I can’t walk straight.”

Blitzo rolled his eyes. In the beginning, he’d respond to comments like that with something along the lines of, “I hear a good ass whooping produces the same result”, but Stolas always interpreted those retorts as encouragement, and Blitzo eventually stopped bothering. He nodded to where Stolas was decadently sprawled along a twilight-violet chaise. “That the spot you’ve decided on?”

“As thrilling as it is to be the center of such undivided attention,” purred Stolas, “I’d actually prefer we take things slower tonight. It feels like ages since we’ve had the chance to simply…talk.” Stolas’s eyes gleamed scarlet, all four of them pinned directly on Blitzo. “Given both of our busy schedules, after all.”

Blitzo stiffened, feeling his stomach shrivel with a sudden chill of terror.

“Stolas--”

“Sit, please,” said the prince, waving a hand at a matching armchair Blitzo knew hadn’t been there a moment ago. “I’m as eager to receive your glorious cock as you are to give it to me, but another need must be satisfied first.”

The words tumbled out of Blitzo so quickly they nearly slurred together. “If this is about what happened at the office, I swear--”

“I said sit.”

Blitzo’s jaw snapped shut with an audible click. He power-walked to the chair, unwilling to risk finding out what Stolas might do if he thought Blitzo was taking too long. But Stolas only giggled again, as if seeing Blitzo so flustered was cute.

“Though since you bring it up, I would like to discuss what happened when I last tried to visit you. I fear there may be some…misunderstanding among your employees about just what our relationship is like, Blitzy.”

“We don’t have a relationship, Stolas,” snapped Blitzo. “We have an arrangement. I fuck you, you don’t fuck over my business. Cut and fucking dry.”

Stolas clucked his tongue. “Blitzy, we are lovers. You could at least try to put in a little romantic effort outside the bedroom.”

Blitzo bared his teeth. “I’m plenty romantic,” he said, in a moment of reckless defiance. “Just not with you.”

Stolas blinked, and Blitzo nearly bit through his own tongue. He did not, however, take back the words. He was engaged now, for fuck’s sake. And the memory of his fiancé almost spitting in the eyes of demon royalty was enough to give Blitzo just enough courage to wipe out his remaining fucks.

You wanna talk, bitch? Fine. Let’s talk.

Stolas tapped a claw against his thigh. “Are you now?” he asked, terribly soft. Blitzo opened his mouth to snarl back, but it hung open when Stolas suddenly beamed and said, “Why Blitzy, that’s wonderful!”

“….It is?”

“Of course!” trilled Stolas. “I’m so happy to hear there are other paramours in your life! Not surprised, of course, my dear little imp. Who could possibly resist such a beautiful and wickedly talented creature like yourself?” He laughed gaily. “I wondered why that fiery little fellow seemed so testy last we met. Jealousy, hm?” Stolas gave a sage little hoot. “I understand, Blitzy. Love makes fools of us all.”

Blitzo couldn’t help but laugh incredulously. “Striker, jealous of you? Listen bitch--”

“Blitzy, darling, it’s alright,” Stolas soothed. “I understand.”

Blitzo raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Do ya now?

“It’s not the first time I’ve been threatened over our little courtship,” said Stolas, still smiling. “At least he didn’t throw something at me! Poor Seymour,” he sighed. “Two centuries of care, gone in a blink and a crash. Fortunately my reflexes are better than my wife’s aim!”

“…Am I on drugs?” Blitzo wondered. “Is Verosika about to pop out with a horse head or somethin’? ‘Cause I’m not gonna lie, that’d actually be a pretty sweet upgrade for her.”

“Silly imp,” giggled Stolas. “Well! Now that that little bit of unpleasantness has been cleared up, I say we move on to more enjoyable activities. How about some refreshments before we start?”

Blitzo withheld a groan. Feeding each other was one of Stolas’s favorite forms of foreplay. He’d constantly nip at or suck on Blitzo’s fingers, to say nothing of how often he’d pretend to feed Blitzo a strawberry or something before replacing it with his mouth at the last second. But if it got Stolas to stop asking questions about his and Striker’s relationship, Blitzo was up for anything.

“Just no strawberries, okay? Last time they made me break out in hives.”

“Alas, tonight I’m simply thirsty.” Stolas pulled a silver bell from his robe and gave it a dainty ring. Then he winked at Blitzo and added, “Of course, that’s always my mood when you’re on my mind.”

A servant imp appeared almost instantaneously, carrying a tray with two shimmering glasses of wine.

“I really do feel much better now,” said Stolas, taking his glass.

“Good for you,” deadpanned Blitzo as the servant turned his way. “Now can we get on with--”

CRASH!

“FUCK!” Blitzo scrambled backward, tripping over the arm of the chair and falling onto the floor. His claws scratched the tile as he scooted backwards on his ass, away from the servant who was now a solid block of stone. Blitzo’s wineglass was shattered on the ground. Why…why did it look like the exact shade of blood?

Stolas took a long, indulgent sip of his own wine. “Wiggles, this is Blitzy. Blitzy, Wiggles.”

“Stolas, what the fuck?!”

“Wiggles hasn’t been with me as long as Seymour was,” Stolas continued, not needing to raise his voice to talk over Blitzo’s panicked yelling. “I daresay Wiggles isn’t even his name, but that’s neither here nor there.”

The prince unfolded his unnaturally long legs and walked around the statue of Wiggles. “He’s a good servant, as far as imps go. Obedient, polite, deferential…he knows his place in the world and is content with it. Like Seymour was.” Stolas placed a hand on the top of Wiggles’s stone head. “And like Seymour…”

Blitzo realized what was coming a split second too late. “DON’T--!”

Stolas lightly pushed, and Wiggles fell forward. There was a sick crack when the statue hit the ground, and Blitzo watched in horror as Wiggles’s now detached head lay face-first in the puddle of wine. Stolas waved his hand, and the rest of the body crumbled into dust and rubble.

“Gone in a blink and a crash,” finished Stolas.

There was no flirting or good-natured silliness to Stolas now. He stared down at Blitzo with cold disappointment. Blitzo barely dared to breathe, let alone move.

“Let’s not forget what our actual roles are, my precious little imp,” murmured Stolas. “You are exceedingly good at what you can do with your body, and because of that, I allow your little family venture to succeed. Every time you rendezvous with the world above, you pay your way with my magic. Your daughter sleeps under a roof built from my generosity. Your lover fucks you in a bed gifted by my mercy. I could rip everything away from you, Blitzo. Everything you’ve ever touched. I wouldn’t even have to leave this room.”

Stolas knelt down, ignoring the way Blitzo flinched back. “But I don’t do that, darling. Because I love you. You’ve brought excitement and joy back into my world the likes of which I haven’t felt since my daughter was born. Of all my collections and all of my toys, you are my favorite.”

A crimson glow slowly bled into existence until it outlined Stolas’s entire body. Blitzo couldn’t look away from him, and wasn’t entirely sure that Stolas wasn’t making that possible. The air seemed to constrict around him, making his temples pound and his nose bleed.

“What you do with your time is your own business, Blitzo. But when I call on you, full moon or not, I expect you to answer,” whispered Stolas. The use of Blitzo’s full name stung him like a brand. “When I ask for privacy, I expect to not be interrupted. Above all, I expect you to make sure your associates know their place around us – and mind it. Do you understand?”

Blitzo jerked his head in as much of a nod as he could manage.

“They may hiss and spit all they like, but they will stay out of our way. Else I will remove them myself, and I will make you watch. Do you understand?”

Another nod.

“Say it, Blitzy.”

“…I understand,” said Blitzo through gritted teeth. The moment he did, the air returned to normal, leaving Blitzo gasping for air like a drowning man. Stolas finished his wine, and looked out the balcony window behind Blitzo.

“Ah! And there’s the moon. What a beautiful sight – not as lovely as you, of course.” Stolas cupped Blitzo’s cheek, looking at him with a familiar expression of lust. “Come darling,” he purred. “The night is still young, after all.”

[themattgirl]

Hiii, I was wondering if you could please do another part to breathless? I would like to see where she confronts the friend please?

Hii, I‘m sorry that this came so late. The past year has been shit and I just couldn’t motivate myself to write anything because i knew it’d be something depressing and I didn’t want to do that because that would result in me being even more depressed sooo anyway... I‘m finally back and ready to deliver. Enjoy, my lovelies! ✨

Please read Breathless first to understand this if you haven’t already.

Relentless

Sequel to Breathless

Right in front of the door a white Tesla is waiting for Y/N. The guy sitting behind the steering wheel is looking out of the rolled down window with a cigarette between his index and middle finger, facing the street opposite Y/N’s and her boyfriend’s living place. He jumps in shock when he turns his head to face the person who cleared their throat only to find Harry standing there bent down and looking down at the smoker.

“This spot isn’t for you to park your car in, sorry.” Harry speaks after the boy’s face doesn’t look like he just saw a ghost anymore.

“I was waiting for her actually,” he tells him a little nervous and points to Y/N behind Harry. “We’ll get lost in a sec, c’mon babe, get in.”

Harry turns around and looks at her just so the guy doesn’t see the smirk he can’t keep at bay. Y/N hides hers by licking her lips. Harry faces forward again, but points over his shoulder with his thumb. “Oh, you mean Y/N? Why would she get in your car? How do you know her?” he asks questions he knows the answers well enough to.

“We’ve been friends since forever. We were gonna hang out today, but I don’t understand how that would be any of your business.”

“Ah, sorry, yes. You don’t know me. Let me introduce myself.”

Harry walks around the front of the car to the passenger side, Y/N right on his heels. He opens the car door and slides himself into the seat, not shutting the door yet, but holding his hand out for the boy to shake. “I’m Harry Styles,” he puts on a smile that shows his dimples while Y/N climbs onto his lap, now straddling him.

She cups Harry’s face and turns it so he faces her and leans down to lock their lips. It was just a simple kiss, lips meeting lips.

“I’m Y/N’s boyfriend,” Harry tells him, the smile turning into a mischievous smirk when he feels his girlfriend’s lips on his neck. “Who are you?” he keeps talking as if Y/N isn’t sucking a hickey right below his ear.

“I-I didn’t... uhh. Woah, s-sorry I–” the boy stammers with wide eyes, his cigarette long fallen from between his fingers to the ground out of the window. Y/N doesn’t seem to care about anything he has to say, because after kissing the dark red spot on Harry’s jaw better, she grabs his face and turns his head to her again so she can connect their lips again. This time she uses her tongue, too. It’s not a simple kiss anymore, they are full on making out in the car of someone who only came because he expected to have his dick sucked in the next 20 minutes.

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, I was told you give head for free,” the poor boy seems very confused.

Y/N separates herself from Harry and faces the third wheeler, “I do, but that deal only applies to that one here, I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Harry laughs.

“He’s right, I’m really not sorry at all.”

“Wait, so–” The guy starts but cuts himself off to think before deciding to speak again. “So, does that mean I’d have to pay? How much–”

This time it’s Harry who interrupts his talking, “No, you prick. It means the only dick she swallows is mine.”

He has been friendly throughout this whole exchange, but this is the moment he was waiting for so patiently. The moment this scumbag proves he is a scumbag. How dare he assume that precious Y/N would seriously do anything with him, that she would want to do it with him? How does he translate her sitting on Harry Styles’ lap, making out with him, giving him hickeys and even saying she doesn’t do whatever he heard she does into it meaning she’d suck his little thing for a ridiculous amount of money?

His stupid question got Y/N just as mad, he can see it in her face and hear it through the way her breathing changed. And as much as Harry wants to just punch that wanker in the face and cut the top of his head off to check if there’s a brain inside, he promised Y/N he’d let her handle it herself. She didn’t tell him what she was thinking of doing though, so he’s curious to see what her crazy mind came up with this time. He is also kind of apprehensive because he knows when Y/N gets mad, she gets mad mad. And to see the put on guilty look on her face already meant trouble for the tosser in the driver’s seat.

“The only person whose dick I take into my mouth is Harry’s and honestly it’s more than enough for me. He’s quite big, you know? He fills me out completely and not only my mouth, you should see us fuck. Oof. Look, I don’t usually have to gag from anything but sometimes when he’s fucking my mouth it just happens. I gag around him and I can’t help it, it’s just too much sometimes. Do you think your little friend would make me gag?” She speaks lowly, but somehow still sounds innocent in a way. Harry squeezes her hips in question after that last sentence but Y/N rubs his cheek with her thumb as a way of telling him she knows what she’s doing. He trusts her enough to relax again. She continues.

“Hm, we can’t check that obviously. But do you think I’d be overwhelmed if we tried? Imagine my lips wrapped around your cock, my hands gripping your thighs-” she places one hand on his thigh, “-because I can’t keep my balance from how hard you’d fuck my mouth. And tears starting to make my vision swimmy because you keep hitting the back of my throat with the head of your dick. Would I gag? Oh gosh, the imagination is starting to make me wet.” She starts rubbing his thigh, very close to his crotch but not quite where he needs her hand to be.

“I wish I was in a bed right now, getting fucked. Sex with Harry is incredible, he’s very good in bed. Are you? Do you think you’d hit all my right spots? Well, Harry knows everything about me already so I guess it’d be unfair to compare, right? In fact, he knows me so well he can make me cum with his fingers in only fife minutes. Oh and one time – actually, it was more than once – it took him only seven minutes with his tongue on my pussy to get me there. It was phenomenal. God, I remember how hard I came. I doubt you could do that to me but I bet I could bring you to cloud nine really fast.” She hears his breath picking up and getting heavier.

“I won’t do anything with you obviously, but still. I know I could. Oh my God, maybe you could watch? Wouldn’t that be nice too? Me and The Harry Styles getting each other to cum multiple times? Do you like it soft or rough? You look like someone who likes rough sex. Maybe you could watch Harry tie me up and fuck me until I’m screaming. Or would you rather enjoy it if we’d tie you to a chair and make you watch us doing all the things you wish you could do. Yeah, you’d like that, huh?”

Finally, when Y/N looks down on his lap she sees the bulge in his jeans and retrieves her hand from his thigh. She leans more into him and notices his eyes fluttering shut. When her mouth hovers in front of his ear she whispers, “Go get yourself someone else to take care of your little problem here because I surely won’t.”

She pulls back, pecks Harry’s lips once and gets off his lap and out of the car. Harry throws in a quick “It was nice meeting you” and hurries after Y/N who is already walking in the direction of her own car.

Once he catches up to her and they both get in the car, he waits until she drives off before he speaks.

“What the fuck was that?”

Y/N knows he isn’t mad, but she can hear how thrown off he is. He certainly did not expect this.

“Got him hard and left him to go home with blue balls. Good, huh?” she smiles, but doesn’t take her eyes off of the road.

Harry is silent for a few long seconds, which worries her a little, but then he laughs out loud, even throwing his head back and clapping his hands twice. “Amazing!”

Y/N relaxes and chuckles along with him.

“You said you were getting wet, though. Were you?” he asks when the laughter dies down.

“Ew, no. Are you crazy? I probably would have if it wasn’t for him being there and me bringing up his dick throughout the whole... story.”

“Yeah, same.” Harry agrees.

“You would’ve been hard from what I said?” Y/N smirks and glances at him for only a second before watching the road again.

“Shut up,” he laughs. “Where’re we going?”

“Kickin’ ass.”

Once in Y/N’s ex-best-friend’s dorm room, their mood changes completely. The first thing they see is a poster on the wall next to the small single bed with a shirtless Harry Styles on it.

“Oh God,” Harry murmurs behind his girlfriend.

“What are you doing here?” Jade, the owner of the room asks.

“You hang up a poster of my boyfriend right after I move out?” Y/N ignores her question and throws in one of her own instead.

“Not a poster of your boyfriend. A poster of Harry Styles, the singer I have liked ever since I discovered music.” Jade tries to explain.

“The singer who happens to be my boyfriend. And it’s a shirtless picture, for fuck’s sake. If it was anyone else’s room I wouldn’t care to look twice and laugh about it. But the facts it’s you just makes it weird.”

“It’s not weird, it–” Y/N cuts off whatever bullshit Jade was about to say.

“It is weird and you know it. Or else you wouldn’t have waited until I was gone to hang it up.”

“Why are you here anyway?” She asks when she fails to think of something to say to Y/N’s fact.

“Get the rumours out of the world,” Y/N crosses her arms over her chest while demanding it, Harry doing the same behind her.

“Or what?” Jade has the audacity to ask.

“You don’t want to risk finding it out. Do what I said.”

“I’m not scared of you, princess. And how would I even do that anyway?”

“The same way you started it, princess. I don’t care how you do it. Go on, I’ll wait here until it’s done.” she leans back against Harry who is quick to wrap his arms around her from behind.

“If so then you can move back in, ‘cause I won’t be doing shit. It’s your problem, not mine.”

“Oh, is that so?” Y/N smiles devilishly. That’s exactly how she expected this conversation to go. Honestly, she hoped it would.

She walks further into the room and sits down on the chair by the desk, Harry behind her with his hands on her shoulders and Jade’s open laptop in front of her. She closes all the open tabs – and if there was an unsaved 28k word document then oops – before opening Twitter. Luckily Jade was logged in, just like she expected.

“I wanted to give you the chance to choose what you want to say to clear things up, but it looks like I’m gonna have to do it myself. And it’s gonna end up bad. For you, obviously.” she chuckles quietly before she starts typing away on the keyboard of the laptop in front of her and reads word for word out loud for Jade to hear.

“Get your hands off my stuff!” Jade steps forward to try and stop Y/N but Harry quickly gets in the way. He doesn’t even have to touch her, all he does is block her way to Y/N.

Y/N types and reads, “Hello dear twitties.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ridiculous, right? That’s how she starts off every single one of her Tweets,” Y/N laughs with him. “Anyway, how should I start this?”

Jade tries to get a word in but Harry speaks over her. “Make her admit she’s a liar and make her sound like a crazy bitch.”

“Mmh, I like that,” Y/N turns her head and smiles up at him, “Gimme a kiss.”

Harry leans down with a smile and does so.

Y/N faces the laptop again and starts typing, “I’m sure you all remember my post about Y/N giving BJs on campus for free. This is embarrassing to admit, but it was a lie. So I would like to apologise to her and to all of the guys who got turned down by her because of that lie. I have some good news for you, though. I did it because I wanted to see if there would actually be people contacting her and now that I’ve seen it work, I’d like to announce that I’m taking her place. I’ll be the one to suck you off. Please leave her alone and call me instead.”

“Wait, I’ll give you her phone number,” Harry suggests and fishes Y/N’s phone out of her jeans. Once the number is typed beneath the text she clicks the Tweet button so it’s for everyone to see. Then she closes everything again, but before she can shut the laptop, the picture Jade has saved as her screen wallpaper catches her eye. Not only is it a picture of Harry, but one where she herself is edited into it so it looks like he is kissing her cheek.

“Alright, this is getting too weird. C’mon babe, let’s get outta here.” Harry pulls Y/N up off the chair and leads her out of the room.

“This is a joke, right? She can’t be that sick,” Y/N murmurs more to herself than to anyone else.

“Let’s just go get you a new phone number, please.”

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep1 and 2

After what’s felt like an eternity, we’re finally back to our good old fashioned anime about trauma and murder :)

Like with my posts about Gou, this will contain spoilers for all of the original series.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

Continuing on from how the second half of Gou went back in time to show Satoko’s descent into villainy, Sotsu is starting off by going back to Onidamashi and showing what was happening from Rena’s point of view, as a way of basically doing it’s own version of the answer arcs from the VN.

This isn’t 100% the same as either Onikakushi or Tsumihoroboshi, but effectively these two episodes were still almost entirely taken from material in the VN, which reminds me of how I still think that this show is more of a reboot than people would like to admit. Even if in practice it’s probably still better to just read the VN first and then watch all of this. I just feel like a lot of VN readers are going to end up kinda bored with this because of how much of it is just retreading stuff from the VN, like with the first half of Gou.

Anyway, I’m entirely on board with this being a new take on the answer arcs, and thus far I think the execution has been done really well. Rena ended up getting kinda sidelined in Gou, so I like how they’re really focusing on her perspective in this. It’s obviously not quite as in-depth as the VN, especially if this arc is just going to be one more episode long, but like with Gou I think they’re doing a great job of getting across the characterization and development without many internal monologues or anything.

Although this ended up basically playing out the same way as Rena killing Rina in Tsumihoroboshi, it turns out that this version of Rina has gone through the same sort of character development as Teppei did, and now she’s way more sympathetic than she was in the VN, with her wanting to cut ties with Rena’s father out of sympathy instead of just being out to extort all of his money no matter what. The way that this new series has been going about ‘redeeming’ it’s more evil characters has been kinda polarizing with people, but I think it worked out really well here. Partly because they don’t really spell out whether or not Rina has gone through the same process as Teppei with getting traumatized by nightmares of previous loops, and we just see her being a more sympathetic person instead. I think it also makes Rena’s actions here even more tragic, since in this timeline Rina would have left them alone if she’d done nothing, and by the time she found out about that she was already past the point of no return. It doesn’t exactly erase or make up for all of the shit that had already happened between Rina and Rena’s dad, though. It still makes sense why Rena ended up snapping like she did.

Which gets into the whole topic of Satoko injecting her with the syringe, which basically sealed the deal on Rena irreversibly going insane in this arc. In practice she ended up just going down the same path that she already did in Tsumihoroboshi without needing to be injected with anything, but it still raises the possibility that she might have been more willing to abandon her plans if she hadn’t been injected.

Sorta like how the VN was already about the inherent tragedy of how in a perfect world none of these things should have happened and nobody should have resorted to murder, this adds an extra layer of dramatic irony with how Satoko’s looping has caused a situation where the external forces triggering people’s insanity have been slowly going away, but because she’s so intent on keeping Rika in the village by mentally breaking her through continued tragedy, she’s having to go out of her way to force all these things to happen, when otherwise all of these loops might have ended up being ‘perfect’ if she’d just left it alone.

And just for the record, a lot of people seem confused by it, but I think Gou already made it clear enough why Satoko is trying to convince Rika to stay in the village by subjecting her to repeated torture. From a meta perspective, it’s all just about setting up the premise of Rika going through the original arcs again so we can have a part-sequel/part-reboot, but in general her whole plan with this seems to be to traumatize Rika enough that she’ll accept the idea that she’s being punished by Oyashiro-sama for wanting to leave the village. Obviously it’s a pretty extreme and convoluted way to try and convince her to stay, but Satokowashi went to great lengths to show how Satoko tried basically everything else she could think of to stop her without resorting to violence.

And yes, the point of ‘she should be able to just talk to Rika directly and work things out that way’ is an intentional part of the whole tragedy of the situation, lol. If this was a story where people were willing to calmly open up about all of their problems and achieve peaceful resolutions, basically none of this entire story would have happened. And honestly, at least on an abstract level, I can totally relate to that feeling of being willing to do literally anything instead of just talking to people openly, no matter how much extra time and effort it takes.

I also just don’t even think that ‘just talking about it’ would even be enough. Partly because Rika is really dead-set on leaving the village and would prefer to take Satoko with her instead of staying in the village just for her sake [which is the entire premise of what happened in Satokowashi], but also partly because in the long run this is more about Satoko’s personal trauma and her inability to accept leaving her childhood behind. No matter what she does, she’d have to eventually contend with the idea of her friends moving on in their lives, or the village itself changing.

She doesn’t just want Rika to stay with her, she wants to keep everything the same forever because this is where she feels safe and in control. And that’s just not something that you can actually achieve without, well, the ability to loop through time, lol. That’s also why I don’t really think it’s ‘unreasonable’ that Satoko was so willing to sit through Rika’s loops, and to enact her own loops. The looping isn’t just something she has to put up with to achieve her goal, it IS her goal. She isn’t exactly aware of it since she’s so focused on the point of keeping Rika with her forever, but what she wants is to keep repeating this time period forever, and that’s what she’s doing. 

Funnily enough I wasn’t really onboard with the idea of Satoko being the villain for most of Gou, but I guess by this point I’m a Satoko apologist, lmao. I just think her whole character arc makes a lot of sense, with her doing everything she can to cling onto the present and avoid the future, but obviously I also get why people think she’s irredeemable.

Either way, I’m kinda curious to see how the next episode goes, since it seems like there’s just going to be one more episode to this arc. It feels like there’s a lot still left to be covered, but maybe I’m over-estimating it. I think they still have to cover the flashbacks with Rena after she moved, her getting more paranoid about Keiichi until finally killing him, and then whatever happened with Rika and Satoko at the end of the arc, so hopefully that’ll fit nicely into one more episode.

I’m still curious to see what happens when we see Rena’s perspective on her fight with Keiichi, though, since there’s been so much speculation about it partly being a hallucination from Keiichi as he rapidly descended into L5 when Rena attacked him. There’s also still the possibility that they’ll reveal that this is an entirely separate timeline to Onidamashi, but I think that’d be a bit convoluted for no good reason. It’s be enough of a twist to just show that the fight scene went differently to how it was originally presented.

Other than that, I think that Rika probably ended up killing herself in despair at the end of this arc, and Satoko kills herself to jump to the next loop. I think that’ll all be pretty straightforward, but hopefully it’ll lead to an epilogue scene with Satoko and Eua.

After this, I guess the next three episodes will be the answer arc for Watadamashi, going by the Sotsu blu-rays being split into sets of 3, 3, 5, and 4 episodes. Unlike how this arc was very straightforward and predictable for people who’ve read the VN, I’m really excited to see what happens in the next arc, since Watadamashi was kinda confusing in a lot of ways, even after we found out about the Satoko stuff. But we’ll get to that when the time comes.

The third arc should then be an answer arc for Tataridamashi, but it’ll be interesting to see if they fit in Satoko’s perspective of Nekodamashi there as well, or if they push that to the final arc, or if the Nekodamashi arc will overlap both arcs. Either way, the fourth and final [unless they reveal more episodes or even another season later] arc will probably then continue on from the end of Nekodamashi and show however things manage to wrap up after that point. It’s really hard to tell how much time they’ll actually need after that to wrap things up, though, which is why I’m not sure if they’ll actually be able to finish things in these 15 episodes, or if we might get more later. Unless we get some major curve balls, I don’t really think it’d be that hard to wrap things up that quickly, but we’ll see.

Anyway, Sotsu is off to a great start, and I’m excited to see where it’s going to go, but mostly at the moment I’m just relieved that the last four months of my life are over now, and I can go back to live-blogging about anime where kids murder each other, lmao.

[dickspeightjrs]

Hope (2.2k words)

sequel to Despair (I’d recommend reading that first, it’s only short)

Chuck had been defeated.

Cas was still gone. 

Those were the thoughts going through Dean’s head since the day they managed to remove Chuck from the universe for good. 

As usual for Dean, he kept on a front for the sake of Sam and Jack. He showed his relief at Chuck finally being gone, but in the privacy of his own thoughts, he was overwhelmed with a fresh onslaught of despair. 

The day Chuck died, everyone who he had taken appeared outside the bunker. It seemed as if Chuck had been playing with them like toys and dropped them as he met his demise in the warded bunker dungeon. 

Dean, Sam and Jack had stepped outside the sheltered door of the bunker to find a sea of people going on for what seemed like miles. Many of them were strangers who were innocent to the reason for their disappearance. But peppered around were also their friends and family. 

Bobby. Charlie. Donna. So many more. 

Only, as he scanned through the array of faces, Dean couldn’t help but be more and more disappointed that Castiel wasn’t among them. Why would he be? His death wasn’t anything to do with Chuck. Though it didn’t stop Dean hoping. 

It was a few days until everything settled again. 

The boys helped people return to their homes and tried to give them an explanation that wouldn’t be too traumatising. Sam had led the way - he seemed born for it, being a leader. His soft demeanour despite his towering height made people warm to him. Especially compared to Dean’s stormy face and body language. 

Jack still stayed quiet most of the time. Poor kid was taking Castiel’s death hard. Dean honestly regretted being so tough on him at times. He regretted saying Jack wasn’t family. He was. Of course he was. Castiel loved Jack like a son and that made Dean love him now too. 

There were times during the busyness of the bunker that Dean and Jack’s eyes would meet and he’d give Dean a look that told him that he was thinking of Cas too. That he missed him too. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the people inhabiting the bunker were gone and it was left in a more calming silence. 

Donna and Charlie had just left together, both giving Dean an extra hard squeeze as they said goodbye. He knew what the hug was for and he was grateful neither of them had brought up Cas while they’d been there. Dean didn’t know how he would have reacted. 

Once the two women were out of sight, Dean hunched even further into himself and mumbled to Sam that he was going to bed. He didn’t care that it was the middle of the day. He was exhausted and needed refuge from his thoughts. 

Sam responded with a look of shock, which Dean wasn’t surprised by. Dean hadn’t slept properly - as properly as a hunter could anyway - since Cas died. Instead, he’d fall asleep in the library while he’d been looking through lore books. 

(Sam and Jack thought he’d been helping to look for ways to bring down Chuck but he’d actually been looking up anything that might even slightly mention the Empty. He’d thought he’d been secret about it until one day he woke up to find a new book on the table next to him, open to a chapter on a possible way to summon the Empty. Dean didn’t know who put it there, Sam or Jack, but he was grateful for their quiet support.) 

Dean trudged tiredly to his room. Truthfully, he’d been avoiding it ever since Cas died. It wasn’t even like they’d spent much time in there together but he couldn’t handle being alone in a space that was meant to bring him joy and comfort knowing that he’d never see Cas again. 

He’d never had the chance to feel the angel lying next to him and yet he missed it with his entire being. 

Dean’s head ached with a consistent, dull pain. It had been constant since he’d started visiting the woods to speak to Cas. He’d only been back there a couple of times but the night before they killed Chuck, Dean had vowed to Cas that he’d do it and get it right this time. He still looked around for any sign that Cas had heard him but there was nothing. Only the beginnings of a throbbing headache. 

Blinking slowly and shaking his head slightly to try to relieve the pain, Dean finally collapsed onto the bed and let sleep take him. 

Sleep started as a dreamless slumber but, at some point in the night, he felt that same pain again like a punch through his brain. It woke him up, panting and sweating, but when he sat up the pain was gone. And with no memory of what he could have been dreaming about, Dean lay there fighting the spindled fingers of sleep around his mind, determined that he’d never sleep again if it meant not having to feel that pain. 

Of course, it was impossible to maintain having no sleep, even for Dean Winchester - King of sleep deprivation. 

The minute Dean fell into a deep sleep he would be shocked back awake with a burning pain in his head. 

This continued for almost a week after Chuck’s death. Until one night, when Dean shot up in bed, sweat cooling on his skin, he remembered. 

He’d dreamt about the woodland clearing he’d been buried in when Cas had returned him from hell. The dream felt so real it was like he could smell, touch, taste the Earth around him as he ripped himself from the ground. 

Cursing his mind for adding to his never-ending torture, Dean left his room and got himself some coffee from the kitchen - determined not to let himself fall asleep again until he absolutely had to. 

Dean reached his breaking point a few days later. 

He’d been tired and irritable, snapping at Sam and Jack whenever they so much as looked at him. Knowing he couldn’t continue living like this, he let sleep take him once more, bracing himself for the inevitable pain. 

The pain came, but not before Dean saw fleeting images of the woodland again. Only this time, it was like he was a bird flying high above and he could see fallen tree trunks arranged in almost perfect circles. And in the centre was a figure, a person, hunched over on bent knees as if they were praying. 

The person moved to stand on their feet and as they were about to turn a white, burning heat coursed through Dean’s head. 

The pain didn’t shock Dean anymore but the recurring image of the hunched figure replayed in his mind. 

Dean thought what he’d been seeing in his dreams had been disjointed memories of the time he pulled himself out of that grave. But it couldn’t have been. There was never anyone else there when he’d risen to the surface. He’d walked for miles with no soul in sight. 

So who was this hunched figure? Why was Dean dreaming of them? 

And why was every fibre of Dean’s being telling him to get in his car and drive all night until he reached that very spot? 

Taking a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, Dean climbed out of bed and shuffled to the kitchen. 

When he arrived he was surprised to see Sam sitting at the table with a pot of coffee, freshly brewed if the rolling steam coming off it was anything to go by. 

“What’re you doing here, Sammy?” Dean asked, taking a seat opposite his brother. 

Sam pushed a cup of coffee towards Dean. “Waiting for you.” 

“Okay… trying not to be creeped out that you’re sat waiting for me in the kitchen at 3AM…” Dean replied. 

Sam rolled his eyes. “I wanted to talk to you. You’ve been avoiding me and Jack for weeks now. And I noticed you come in here at night sometimes. So I took a chance tonight.” 

Curse his brother for knowing him so well.  

“I don’t know what to tell you, man.” Dean shrugged.

“How about the truth?”

Ha. There was no way Dean was ever telling Sam the truth. If nothing else, Cas deserved to be the first person Dean told about his feelings. And if he never got the chance to do that, well, the secret would die with Dean. 

But Dean really did want Sam’s opinion on the dreams he’d been having. Telling Sam about the dreams didn’t count as telling him the whole truth, did it? 

Dean cleared his throat. “I’ve been having these… dreams, I guess.” He sighed. “I just keep seeing the forest where Cas left me when he raised me from hell. But it’s not a memory because it’s like I'm seeing it from above and there’s this person there.” 

Sam nodded, encouraging Dean to continue. 

“I don’t know if I’m just going crazy but it feels real. Like something deep inside me is telling me that this is important.” Dean avoided Sam’s gaze. “And I get these pains in my head, it’s fucking agony.” 

After a few moments of silence, Dean raised his head to meet Sam’s eyes. 

They held nothing but warmth for his older brother. 

“Look, Dean, I know you haven’t told me and Jack the whole truth of what happened when Cas d-, when he left, but I know more than anyone what it’s like to lose someone you love.” 

Dean felt all the blood in his body rush to his face.

“Come on, Dean. You can’t be surprised that I know how you feel about Cas. Anyone who has ever seen you two together knows that you’d tear apart the Earth for each other.” Sam stated, simply.

Suddenly, Dean felt like he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t deal with this knowledge that apparently everyone had known about his and Cas’ mutual feelings before they even did. 

He got up from the table and stalked to the door, trying to stop his hands from shaking. 

Sam just let him go but just as Dean was about to escape to the quiet of his room, he spoke up. 

“Dean?” Sam asked, waiting for Dean’s attention to turn back on him. “Those dreams you’ve been having? I don’t know if it’s the same but I just know that I thought the visions I had of Jess were just dreams and I’d hate for you to make the same mistakes I did.” 

Dean swallowed and nodded once at Sam before exiting to his bedroom. 

Within the hour he was hurtling along the highway in the Impala. 

*  *  * 

Dean’s skin tingled with electricity as he approached the clearing. He hadn’t been back here since that day all those years ago. 

He didn’t know what he hoped to find. For the entire journey there, he’d second guessed himself a million times but ultimately he had to know. 

He had to know if he was simply going crazy or if this was some kind of sign of something else at work. 

Finally, he made it to the large expanse of fallen trees. The electricity running through his veins increased as he spotted a figure sat in the dead centre, curled in on itself. 

His heart raced to a speed he would surely die from but Dean kept carefully placing one slow foot in front of the other. 

Until he heard a crack under his foot. 

He looked down to see that he’d stepped on a twig, which snapped under the pressure, sending a ripple of sound across the clearing. 

The hunched figure went ramrod straight where they were. 

Dean swallowed and continued walking ahead. 

Only, he was stopped in his tracks when the figure turned, a slow agonising turn. 

Dean felt sick. He’d come this far thinking, hoping, praying that this would somehow be something that led him back to Cas. But what if he had come all this way only to be disappointed? He didn’t think he could handle the heartbreak. 

Taking a deep breath, Dean closed his eyes and stayed rooted to the spot. 

“Dean?” 

Dean felt euphoria storm through his every atom. 

He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Castiel, angel of the lord, standing in the middle of fallen trees, staring back at Dean like he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing. 

Wasting no more time, Dean broke into a sprint, running faster than he was sure he’d ever done before. 

Self-doubt tried to battle its way through, telling him that this was a trick. Castiel couldn’t possibly be back. But he ignored it. 

Dean could have been running into the arms of a devil in disguise and he’d still do it just to have one second in Castiel’s embrace. 

When he reached Cas he pulled the angel as close to his body as could be physically possible. 

“Dean.” Castiel spoke again. And, god, Dean could have cried hearing his name come from the lips of his beloved once again. “Dean. I’m sorry.”

“Cas,” Dean interrupted, still holding Cas tight in his arms. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be sorry.” 

“I just didn’t know what else to do.” Castiel sobbed against Dean’s shoulder.

“I don’t care. I don’t care.” Dean said, sternly, gripping Castiel against him. “I could barely let myself hope that those dreams were you, Cas. You have no idea how fucking happy I am right now.” 

Castiel pulled away from Dean slightly to look him in the eyes. “I couldn’t find any other way to find you Dean. I wasn’t even sure you’d still be alive. I used the last of my powers to project myself into you. I didn’t truly know if it would work but I hoped.” Tears poured down his face. “Coming back here was the only place I knew that you’d recognise was ours.”

“It’s okay, Cas. It’s okay. I’m here now. And neither of us are going anywhere without the other again.”

Castiel nodded and smiled, placing a delicate hand to Dean’s cheek. “Is it too much to hope that this means I was wrong, and you do actually return my feelings?” 

A laugh ripped through Dean in a way that it hadn’t in years, even before Cas had been taken by the empty. “Castiel, angel of the lord, ever since you saved me from hell, I’ve never been the same. You changed me. And I am hopelessly and completely in love with you.” 

Not letting a second more go to waste, Dean didn’t wait for a response from Cas. He pulled the angel into a deep kiss that he hoped told Castiel everything that there weren’t enough words in the world to say. 

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