#phoenix writes stuff sometimes

[eli-writes-sometimes]

Finding the Write Time - "I don't think it's even worth it"

I'm taking part in @did-i-do-this-write's monthly writing challenge, Finding the Write Time!

This month, the promt is "I don't think it's even worth it", and I managed to plan and write this story in about 35 minutes! (with the help of very fast music and caffeine!)

I love this challenge, and I managed to get a full story down about Riley and Niamh discussing needing to recruit a new taskforce member! (I wonder who "Pen Hunter" could be...)

---

It's never good when Jane Doe calls.

She's been hounding us for months now to try and get a new member, but always just in messages sent to Kai's computer, which he dutifully deletes, half the time without even telling us that she sent them.

Clearly, Jane's had enough - she called Riley twenty minutes ago and I can still hear his muffled side of the conversation through the walls of the lair.

Ash and Kai have run off to god knows where, so all that I've got left to do is try and guess what she wants - and I think there's only one easy answer. We're going to have to find a new member.

Riley is not going to be happy.

Obviously Carmen's death hit him the hardest out of all of us - he still can barely think about her, and it's been six months - so I can only imagine how he must be feeling as he tries to negotiate with Jane.

I sit on the couch in the main room of the lair for another few minutes before I hear the door open again.

"What did she want?" I ask, quickly turning to look around at Riley as he trudges towards me.

"You know what she wanted." He shakes his head and quickly wipes his eyes when he thinks I'm not looking.

"We need a new member?"

He nods, confirming the worst.

"She said that if we don't have at least an idea of some people that we could recruit in two weeks' time, then she's going to choose for us."

"Are you joking?"

"I wish I was." He sighs and wipes his eyes again, not even trying to hide it. 

I groan and lean back into the couch.

"But she's got no taste! She doesn't know how we work! Surely- surely she has to know that whoever she picks isn't going to work well with us? She has to!"

"She says that she doesn't want to have to, but we've given her no choice. We need to either have a new recruit or a list of potential members in two weeks, or we're not going to have any say in it at all."

He sighs and collapses onto the couch next to me.

"Fuck." I mutter

There's a moment of silence before he speaks again.

"I- I don't think it's even worth it."

"What?"

"All this - hunting down someone else, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack! How are we going to find someone who'll fit with us who's going to live up to- to- her. You know who."

"You'd rather let Jane decide?"

"I'd rather not have anyone decide! The four of us can do this together!"

I sigh.

"We can't, and you know it. We're too divided, me and you, Ash and Kai, we'd never work together properly without a fifth person to connect us. You know that as well as I do. You're the leader, you were the one that thought of the Band in the first place."

"Only because it's a literary trope."

"But you know what I mean! We need all five of us, and the Five Man Band is not going to function without a fifth person!"

He rests his head in his hands.

"I just can't do it. I can't think about her. Trying to look for someone else is going to mean explaining why we're down a person, and then I'd have to tell them- I can't do it."

"That's what you've got us for." I put a hand on his shoulder. "One of us can do it, try and explain the idea to someone, then you can talk to them and see how they fit with us."

He shakes his head.

"No, it has to be me. You said it yourself, I'm the leader."

"Well then lead!"

I can't take it anymore. I stand up and pull his head up to look at me.

"Right, I'm going to just say it because I know you're not going to come to your senses by yourself. We need you to lead, you say that you need to be the one to talk to a new member, then do it! Just do it! You're not going to get anywhere by sitting in here all day, wallowing in your grief - you need to do something with it."

He shakes his head and I see his mouth open to say something, but I cut him off. Lecturing him like this feels wrong, but I have to get through to him somehow, and clearly the gentler approach isn't going to work.

"You can still mourn her, I'm not trying to stop you from doing that, but Jesus Christ, we need to have someone else! We're going to be stuck like this forever unless you do something, so please! We need you. You know we do."

He sighs, and opens his mouth a couple of times, but no sound comes out.

Eventually, he wipes his eyes and looks up at me sadly. 

"I- I- I don't know how."

"Okay, how- how about this. Is there anyone that you can think of, anyone, that you might have knon that might be a good member of the band? Not to recruit them immediately, not even to talk to them, but just to consider? We don't have to do any more than that yet, but just to scope them out, see if they might work?"

He starts to shake his head, but I cut him off before he can deny it.

"Come on, man, anyone? You've never met anyone else in your life that's an Anomaly?"

"I- I- wait."

"There we go..." I hope that I sound encouraging enough.

I can tell that he doesn't want to think about it - I don't need to read his mind to tell that he'd rather lock himself in his room for another six months than talk to anyone new, but I press him.

"I- I think there might be someone."

"Go on..."

"I- I went to high school with her, she- she was a shapeshifter, I think. She was the only other anomaly in my English class, but I think she could control her ability enough for her to be a good fit... maybe? But I- I haven't talked to her in years, and she only knew me from before I transitioned, so I- I don't know..."

I feel him slipping, so I jump in to try and keep him going.

"Okay, so we start there. Just try and locate her, see if she's done anything that might make her recognizable to anyone else - not that it would matter if she's a shapeshifter, I guess... but still. Just look into her, and then see if you're up to talking to her?"

"I- okay. Fine." He sighs, wipes his eyes one more time, and pushes himself up.

"Great. Do you want me to find Kai, get him looking for her?"

"Y- yeah. Yeah, please."

"Great."

I'm about to walk away to find Kai when Riley reaches a hand up to stop me.

"Niamh-"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I- I needed that." Saying it clearly takes some effort, so I try and smile to return the favor.

"Any time."

I nod and walk to the door.

"Wait- RIley?" I call out, just before I leave.

"Yeah?"

"What was her name?"

"Uh- Pen. Pen Hunter. I don't remember what it was short for."

I nod.

"Hunter. Good."

The door hisses open, and I leave Riley to be alone. I can tell he needs it.

---

Five Man Band taglist - @meteorify (anyone who wants to be added, just ask!)

[guiltylovestar]

when will they be allowed to name pearl or maya in the games again 😭

[thewritingautisticat]

*Literally in the middle of a battle with Phoenix*

Jett: On a scale of 1-10, how bad do you think it would be if I called Phoenix "hot" right now?

Sophie: 10 out of 10. Horrible idea. Would not recommend.

Beck: *already pulling out camera to record the trainwreck*

[luxcuriousao3]

Obsessed!Ghost Part 1

WC: 1173

Warnings: smoking, implied stalking (kinda), animal injury, mentions of Ghost's comic backstory, mentions of Ghost's canonical SA nightmares, implied DID!Ghost, no smut/nsfw, not beta read

Notes: Since y'all voted that you wanted me to publish stuff from my drafts while I'm too busy to write new stuff. Here's the fic that inspired my most popular post, Mutt (Ghost's Version).

Simon knew he wasn't a good man.

He hadn’t been a good man in a long time. Not since Roba, certainly. But deep down, he thought that maybe he never was. That his father’s sickness was passed down to him like a cursed family heirloom he couldn’t get rid of. That the darkness that plagued him ever since his time in the Mexican desert was not created there, merely unearthed. That these urges had always been inside him, an evilness written in his genes, flowing through his blood, built into his very bones.

Simon wished that he had truly died in the fire that destroyed his old life, that the man that had emerged from the ashes like a dark phoenix wasn’t him. That Ghost was just that—a spectre of the man Simon used to be. That’s what he let everyone believe. What he tried to believe. But it wasn't true. Ghost had always been a part of him. The part that took his father’s beatings stoically when Simon couldn’t. The part that gunned down enemy soldiers without flinching, no matter how young and scared they looked. The part that didn’t question orders, even if he knew they were wrong. The part that sneered at the people around him and thought about how easy it would be to kill them, to hurt them, to subjugate them. To make them feel all the suffering that had forged him into the monster that he was.

The part Simon had spent so long denying and trying to repress.

But Roba had cracked him wide open, forced Ghost out for months on end, to endure the torture Simon wouldn’t have been able to alone. Ghost had dug them out of their grave, dragged them out of hell, and then retreated back inside, like he always did. He had never known anything but pain. His sole purpose was to suffer it in order to keep Simon alive. When his job was done, he got to go inside and cease to exist, for a little while. That was how he liked it.

And then the fire happened, and suddenly, Ghost was thrust into the driver’s seat for everyday life.

But Simon didn’t go dormant like Ghost did when he wasn’t in control, at least not usually. Not unless Ghost forced him to. No, he watched, and he listened, and sometimes he even told Ghost what to say to seem like a human being. It was Simon that MacTavish had a friendship with. It was Simon that called him Johnny. It was Simon that cracked the dryest, darkest jokes known to man. It was Simon that went out for the occasional drink with the lads. It was Simon that still had wants and desires. Ghost’s only desire was to survive.

Until you.

Ghost was taking a smoke when he saw you for the first time. You were pretty, very much so, but that wasn’t what had caught his eye. It was watching you approach the nasty, snarling dog that tended to linger around the base. He’d heard the jokes. The ones that claimed that the ill tempered, ferocious animal was actually him. It had never been seen in the same room as the Ghost, after all, and no other creature could be as foul as he was.

But you were cooing sweetly at the half rabid dog, unphased by its animosity. It had managed to get itself injured, and most of the boys thought they were finally rid of the wretched thing. But now here you were, a pretty little civilian that had no business being this close to an active military base, following the wounded dog down the road until it couldn’t walk any longer. You didn’t flinch when it snapped at you, didn’t fight back even when it bit your arm. You just sat with it like an idiot, feeding it bits of food from your purse and telling it how cute it was, unconcerned that the dirt and blood was making a mess of your nice dress.

And amazingly, the feral creature that terrorized everyone on the base and that they were all glad to see kick the bucket, climbed into your lap and began licking your face, tucked tail wagging.

You giggled, and Ghost, who’d long since finished his cigarette and was now openly lingering around the fence to watch you, thought it was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.

“Who’s a good boy?” You asked the mangy mutt in your arms, nuzzling your face against its snout, which was still covered in your own blood. You should have been terrified, should have been disgusted. But you weren’t. “It’s you! You’re a good boy, yes you are, yes you are!”

Ghost thought about going over to you and offering to bring you back to base to get your arm looked at. It was still bleeding sluggishly, after all. But before he could decide, you’d already scooped up the dog and begun to walk away. Ghost stared after you, dark eyes boring a hole into your back. And when you disappeared around the bend, he found himself pushing off the fence to follow.

He caught up quickly. You were moving slow, the dog whining and wiggling in your arms. It snapped at you whenever you accidentally jostled its hurt leg, but you never dropped it even though you trembled under its weight, and it never truly tried to bite you again. Why would it? You were probably the only person in its miserable existence to ever show it any kindness.

Ghost wondered what that would be like. For someone to look at him without flinching, to touch him without fear, the way you had the dog. Even MacTavish was still afraid of him, sometimes, though he tried not to show it. But when Ghost locked Simon out, when it was Ghost the sergeant was interacting with instead, he got all stiff and cautious. Like he was just waiting for him to snap.

Perhaps that's what this was. Ghost snapping.

Turn around.

Simon’s voice rang in his head, firm but with a nervous edge. He knew the things Ghost was capable of. The things he thought about. They were one, after all, if not quite the same.

I’m not going to touch her, he mentally replied. Simon was afraid for no reason. Ghost had never wanted to rape a woman before. He’d only had nightmares about it. About how he would do it. About what she would look like underneath him, crying and struggling and begging for mercy.

It wasn’t a pleasant image, even if he always woke up from those dreams with wet pants.

I’m not going to touch her, he thought again. And he wasn’t. He just wanted to watch you for a little longer. To make sure you got home before you passed out from blood loss. Why? He didn’t know. It was odd. But you’d peaked his interest, and not many things did. Certainly not people.

There was something about you. And for the first time, Ghost wanted.

[kyber-crystal]

red thread || jake “hangman” seresin

summary: fate has a funny way of bringing people together, and it’s made no exception for you and hangman. you’ve grown up together; there's not a day that goes by in which you aren't glued to each others' sides. as kids, you promised each other that if you were still single at 30 you'd get married. but when that day finally arrives, you wonder just how much things will change.

words: ~2.3k

warnings: nothing. unless you’re like me and commitment scares you, then yeah lmao. hangman is an absolute gentleman in this though :) biggest TW is my writing...sorry. idk what happened. some slight mentions of angst and injury but nothing graphic :)

a/n: mannn my writing has gone downhill idk how yall other talented writers do it. i wish i could write that well 😭but, i’m proud of this...plotwise, at least! (my fics are doing so bad for some reason while everyone else seems to be blowing up??? idk) btw, the first part of this fic takes place two years before tgm

It was 1:30 a.m, and you couldn’t fall asleep. 

It seemed that Hangman had the same idea as you as he told you to meet him outside the Hard Deck in five. The coastal air and Jake Seresin was the perfect combination to help you unwind, so of course you said yes. 

“There she is,” he grinned as he offered a helping hand. “My favorite fellow insomniac.”

“Nightmares keep you up, Jake?” you teased. “What’s the matter this time?”

“Same as you. Don’t feel like sleeping yet,” Hangman answered. “Can you believe it? We’re awake, and Fanboy and Payback aren’t.”

“Now that’s a first,” you laughed. “Thought I’d never live to see that day, but here we are.”

“We’re making history day by day.”

“You know…sometimes,” you breathed out as you rested your head on his shoulder, “I wonder what it’d be like if we never met.”

“Didn’t you ask that same question fifteen years ago?”

“We were much younger back then. It’s different now.”

“Well, then…I don’t like to imagine it.”

Your brows furrowed. “Why not?”

“It’d be weird. You’ve always been a big part of my life, so to think you almost could’ve not been in it…it’s weird. Uncomfortable, even.”

“Yeah, it is weird…” your voice trailed off as you lingered on the thought. You’ve always done everything together. How different would your lives be now if you hadn’t become friends; hadn’t stayed in touch through college? “But don’t be sad, because I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”

Hangman gave you a light punch in the arm. “I’m not complaining.”

“Good.”

“You know, Y/N…there’s one more thing.”

“Uh oh.”

“Hear me out,” he started. “Remember that deal we made when we were kids?”

“The one about helping each other bury a body if needed, or getting married?”

“The second one…I thought the first was a given since the day we met. That’s something all friends are supposed to do for each other, right? Bury bodies, hide their trails…all that good stuff.”

“What about the second one?”

“We’re turning 30 soon,” he recounted. Any and all traces of cockiness were completely wiped off his face. “And we said that if we’re both still single by the time our 30th birthdays roll around, we’d get married.”

You smiled as you revisited the memory: wide-eyed and curious, and so blissfully unaware with the only worry in the world was whether you’d grow up together or not. “You still remembered all that?”

“Of course I did. You still in, or what?”

“I guess so…I mean, what else do I have to lose?”

The two of you fall back into your comfortable silence, and he wraps you up into his arms. 

TWO YEARS LATER

As usual, the base is busy and rather chaotic: day after day you’re busy filing reports and training. This causes you to become prone to forgetting the littler things in your life, so you assign Bob to keep track of them for you. He had the best memory of anyone you knew—that man kept mental notes of everything. 

“What do I have to do today, Floyd? Any events…”

“Uhhh…” Bob thought for a moment as you took a long drink of water. “Dinner with Phoenix. Do laundry. Don’t get yelled at by Cyclone for the 19th time (You’re only one point behind Bradshaw, he’s at 20). Grocery shopping. And most importantly…yours’ and Hangman’s birthday.”

“Oh, shit, I completely forgot,” you swore under your breath. “How could I forget…”

“You have some time, so don’t worry. Five days.”

“Only five days?” your eyes widened. “I have to run through four more simulations over the next two. I can’t plan everything in the remaining three.”

“If you pay Garcia in Doordash deliveries, he’ll help out. You know he minored in art.”

“That’s…actually not a bad idea.”

After you finish your final exercise that week, you pass out, but luckily, Hangman’s right there to catch you so you don’t get a concussion. Bless that man—he always seemed to be around wherever you went and you were very grateful for it. 

You were delirious and couldn’t walk straight, so as much as you claimed you were okay, he wouldn’t believe you. 

“I’m taking you home because you’re in no condition to be wandering around by yourself. The birthday planning can wait. You’ve tired yourself out enough as it is and you don’t want to make things worse.” So you let him help you get into his car, then drive you home and lead you inside. Then, he forced you to go upstairs to take a hot shower and relax while he cooked up dinner for you. 

Though Hangman admired your determined spirit, it scared the hell out of him because you wouldn’t know when to stop yourself. 

“I got that from you though! Who’s the one I spend the most time around?” you’d claim in response to that  argument. You weren’t wrong—it was a quality you picked up from him many years ago.

You woke up the next morning to the smell of French toast and jam, which lessens the tension in your shoulders right away. Amidst the early morning light drifting through the windows he stands out like a priceless work of art in a museum. You struggle to tear your eyes off him. 

Rubbing the sleepiness from your eyes, you rested your chin on his shoulder and exhaled. “Hey.”

“Morning. You sleep okay? How’s that headache of yours?”

“I’m alright.” You closed your eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of cinnamon sugar. “This smells nice.”

If Hangman was tired, you couldn’t tell. “Woke up at 6:30 to relearn the recipe for you. It’s been a while, it took three burnt batches to get the hang of things.”

“You woke up an hour early to cook for me?” 

“Why else? Of course I did,” he stated matter-of-factly. 

You sat down at the kitchen island together and ate your breakfast in silence. Something about this moment feels more domestic than all the others you’ve shared in the past, and you can’t help but smile. You wouldn’t mind spending the rest of eternity like this...

“Y/N, there’s some honey on your chin.”

You blinked, trying to find it. “Where?”

“Hold on a sec.” Hangman took his napkin and rubbed gently at the corner of your lip to wipe it off. For a brief moment, you could feel his warm breath fanning across your face. You stayed as still as possible. “There.”

If anyone looked in from the outside, it was another simple day in the life of a longtime couple. But for you and Jake, it’s always been like this. Showing up at each others’ place wasn’t unusual for either of you; if anything, it was quite normal. 

“...Thanks.”

“Yeah. You got any ideas in mind? For the big day.”

“Whatever you want is what I want.”

“Funny enough, that’s what I was about to tell you,” he replied.” 

You locked eyes with each other and laughed. “We’ll figure it out. I’m sure we will.”

Less than three days until everything as you knew it would change forever...if you were being honest, you were absolutely terrified. What if he changed his mind and left you in the dust, all alone? You weren’t ready to face the cold truth. 

Hangman offered a simple celebration: food and drinks at the Hard Deck with the crew, then some karaoke if you were up for it after. He starts it off by serenading you at the bar, reaching a hand out to you as he sang your favorite Billy Joel track. You let him lead you out to the dance floor and spin you around, and he’s equal parts addicting as he is entertaining. 

Thirty candles, and you agree on blowing out fifteen each—somehow, by some miracle, you manage to do exactly that, and it’s perfect. Then Fanboy yells that he and Rooster want a rematch with you in Just Dance…so you go at it for two hours straight, until sweat is dripping down your face and your sweater grows hot. 

You’re burnt out, and he can see the look in your eyes as you step aside to let Phoenix play. “You want to head out? There’s something I want to show you.”

You nod. “Okay.”

He gives Maverick a look, and the captain shoots him a subtle nod in return. He takes this as his signal to put his hand on the small of your back and lead you out the door. 

You can’t help but laugh a little as you get outside. “Is this Mav’s motorcycle?”

“No…” Hangman shifts from foot to foot, feigning cluelessness. 

“Did you steal it?”

“Of course not.”

“It’s his, isn’t it.”

“Look, he let me borrow it for the night. It’s not stealing if he says it’s okay…besides, he never noticed when I did steal from him last week—”

“What did you—do you even have a motorcycle license?”

“Got it a year ago. I thought, ‘maybe I’ll take my best girl on a ride someday, so who knows if it’ll come in handy’. So here we are now.”

“That’s very sweet.”

“Alright, now come on.” He swung his leg over the side and motioned for you to sit behind him. The cushion was not in fact, cushiony, and you found yourself growing colder by the second.

The bike burst forward without warning. You let out a small yelp and immediately wrapped your arms around Hangman’s waist—which was ridiculously firm…had he been working out more lately?—as you went speeding down the road. 

“If I die, I’m gonna kill you and haunt you in your sleep,” you mumbled into the fabric of his jacket. “Even in death, I’ll stick to you always.”

“That sounds both morbid and weirdly romantic.”

“Shut up.”

Several minutes later you found yourselves by the cliffs, standing high over the ocean, and deja vu hits almost right away. After we go on this make up date, he had said, I’m going to find that guy who messed you up and mess him up. Then we’re going to go home, I’ll let you wear any of my sweatshirts you want, and we’ll watch true crime. One where someone like that jerk dies. Okay? Okay.

You’re miles away from Top Gun, miles away from your jet and your uniform and everything you’ve ever known, but you’ve never felt more at home than now. It’s in this moment in which you realize all you really need in the world is Jake, the sky above you, and the sea below you. 

Out of the corner of your eye you noticed that he’s getting fidgety. He can’t stop stuffing his hands in and out of his pockets or running them through his hair—he’s restless. The action takes you by surprise a bit. 

“Why are you all tensed up?” you questioned. “It’s just me and a nice sunset. We’ve done things like this many times.”

“But it’s not just you and a sunset,” he explained. “I’m supposed to be asking you the most important question of our lives. That’s a big deal, sweetheart.”

Your heart spluttered to a stop. “Are you…”

“Let me finish,” Jake cut in. “If you could be quiet for a few minutes…that would help. I’m nervous.”

“Jake Seresin, nervous?” you teased. “That’s a first.”

He smiled and shook his head. “Give me a break.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be nice…for now.”

“I haven’t slept at all in the past week. I went to eleven different jewelry stores around San Diego but nothing seemed to scream ‘Y/N’. So, I decided to take a trip out of state.” He cleared his throat, and reached into his jacket pocket. You saw his hand shake as he did so. “Out of the country. That mini mission I went on while you were training? I was in Canada. Victoria, to be specific. Maverick and Rooster came along to help out.”

Now in his hand was a small velvet box, and inside was the most breathtaking ring you’d ever seen. “Diamond and ruby. They don’t sell plain red strings for rings…so I had them design this. The red thread of fate…the one that brought you into my life. We were kids when we promised to spend our lives together, if circumstances permitted. And I know we might’ve been young, but I’d be lying if I said I could imagine myself with someone that wasn’t you. There was a part of me that wished you wouldn’t find anyone before this day came along. It’s you, Y/N. It always has been.

“I’m not going to get down on one knee. I’m not going to give you a long, cheesy speech about divine power and soulmates. But I’m going to tell you this: you’re my forever, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. It’s getting cold out so I’ll cut to the chase: what I’m saying here is that I’m asking you to marry me.”

The world fell silent as you replied with a shaky nod, holding out a trembling hand as Jake slid the golden band onto your ring finger. Neither of you made a sound, and you swore you felt time stop and the ground crack wide open beneath your feet.

tags, including those who may be interested: @callsignbarb @sarcastic-sourwolf @totomoshi @sebastianstangirl01 @dilfsandtherapy @purelyfiction @yeehawnana @lunamoonbby @hazelgirl355 @multifandom-fangirl4 @paintballkid711 @lyn-lc @spawn0fsatan @milestomaverick @teacactusworld @newlibrary @cherry-waved @ellabellabus07 @criminalyetminimal @whatlovegattado @thisismypointofview @ice-mans-world @burnedbrisket @fangirlinc @knowledgefulbutterfly @levis-butterfingers @lunamooncole @coastingline @chaoticassidy @hbstre @fantasias-creativebubble @light-the-moon @winteryoungie @aie1840 @midnightdevotion @julia-marshal @anya7802 @bittergomez @and-claudia @cosm1cfae @tallrock35 @uwiuwi @elenavampire21 @aerangi @hoedameronsworld @whotfatemywaffles @littlebadariell

[rageserenity]

It's 2024. Are you still thinking about movieverse!Cherik? Because I am.

For the past several months, there's only been a very slow trickle of posts/fics in the xmcu cherik tag. Let's try to breathe some life back into this incredible pairing!

With one clear winner of my poll, here's thirty prompts for the thirty days of April. (This is a super chill, laid-back event---do these in any order, interpret them as loosely as you like! Create in any medium! Fic, art, gifs, meta, incoherent screaming about the otp…all winners in my book.)

The only rule here is to cherik too close to the sun. Alright. Here are the prompts.

Mutual Pining

Doesn't really even need elaboration! Write that horrifically slow slow-burn. Gif every time McAvoy made insane fuck me eyes on screen. Make a playlist of songs about impossible love.

2. Alternate Meetings

There are endless quotes about how these two complete each other in a way no one they'd met before or after ever did. How else could they have met?

3. Erik Has A Telepathy Kink

This is basically canon. Let my boy get freaky!

4. Canon Fix-It

All the times Fox fucked it up. There are endless options.

5. Hurt/Comfort

Put them in that Situation. Put them in that Blender. Break them apart and put them back together ❤️‍🩹

6. Canon Compliant

Draw that missing scene! Gif your favourite cherik moment!

7. Beach Divorce

Make it worse. Make it better. Show it to us exactly how it was. Break it down in a 3,000 word meta. Go wild!

8. Domestics

Sometimes you just want to see them doing normal couple things. Erik put the gun down.

9. Found Family

The real heart of x-men!

10. Time Travel

There are SO many possibilities here. Stick them in a time loop. Give them a chance to change their past.

11. AU

Love a good AU!

12. There Is Only One Bed

Had to get this one in here. What better way to amp up the tension?

13. Genosha

By some miracle, cherik actually did end up together at the end of 2019s trash bag disaster Dark Phoenix. We aren’t making a big enough deal about this.

14. Declaration(s) of Love

Who says it first? How do they say it and when? Have they said it…without saying it?

15. Jealousy

Need I say more.

16. Reunion

These two have absolutely no chill.

17. Soulmates

Classic prompt, had to get this in here too.

18. The DOFP Aircraft

The TENSION here. Break it down for me. How does Charles feel about his injury? How does Erik feel about his injury?

19. Gay Mutant Road Trip

You already know.

20. Body Swap

SO fun when people have superpowers.

21. First Kiss

When? How? Who initiated it?

22. The Mansion

Mansion!content is a genre of its own.

23. Conflicting Ideology

Give me your theses. Who’s right? Can they ever reconcile completely? Write a fic where it drives them apart.

24. Sebastian Shaw

A trope unto himself.

25. Team As Matchmaker

They had to have known something was going on, didn’t they?

26. Cooking

Charles deserves a good meal. Also, imagine Erik using his powers in the kitchen. The sheer domesticity…

27. Hurt No Comfort

Plenty of scope with these two 🥲

28. Growing Old Together

Giving Sirs Ian Mckellan and Patrick Stewart their props as well!

29. Making Up

*pushes chess board across the table* sorry babe

30. Charles Xavier Did More For Mutants Than You'll Ever Know

Rising to each other’s defense. Only I can insult this man.

I will be tracking #revivecherik to reblog stuff! Here’s a fic collection for the same. Let’s get this ball rolling! Please feel free to send me an ask if you’ve got anything to say! And most importantly, let’s all have fun 😁

*I know a few of you preferred something like a gift exchange because of the commitment factor—I’m super down to organise a tiny one for the handful of us! If this promptathon doesn’t flop horribly, we can hopefully do a whole bunch of stuff :)

If you read this post all the way through, please reblog for reach! Thank you! Hoping you participate come April.

Shoutout to @inmymagnetoera for reaching out and helping with this!

[cripplecharacters]

Do you know any good sources for burn scar care?

I’m writing a character who was burned in a spaceship crash. The story is set several years after the fact, and I want to incorporate that detail into the story. What would a burn scar care routine look like?

Hey!

I generally recommend medical websites for this kind of stuff. There are tons of information readily available online, especially about things as common as a burn injury. Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors or MSKTC can be helpful for you.

While caring for a burn scar will be different for everyone (there's many types, degrees, plus just individual differences between burn survivors themselves) some of the things that you can include;

Burnt skin doesn't produce its own oils, so it gets dry. It needs to be moisturized, oil-based products (think coconut or grape seed oil) are often used. The heavier the lotion, the fewer times a day it needs to be applied.

Massaging a scar, especially when it's relatively new. It can be a massage, but stretching or just putting pressure on it is part of that too. It helps the skin from becoming extremely sensitive. Initially you do it delicately, but after the scars are matured it's fine (or recommended even) to put some force into it. This loosens them up.

Itching is a huge issue. Both massaging and moisturizing help with that, but if it's still causing problems then there are medications that could provide some relief.

Protecting the skin from the sun. All year, including cloudy weather. Sunblock, big hats, sunglasses if needed, all that. This applies to people with darker skin as well because the skin loses its pigment after a burn (it can sometimes come back but it's definitely not a guarantee).

Avoiding the heat. A lot of burn survivors will have problems with temperature regulation because burns damage the sweat glands, so they overheat faster. There's nothing burn-specific here, same protocol as for avoiding a heatstroke - drink water and keep out of the sun.

Wearing softer and looser clothing. Rough and tight clothes can cause blisters, and that is a Problem. Inappropriate materials could also induce more itching.

Taking pain meds. Chronic pain is common, so your character might need medication.

I definitely wouldn't say that this is an exhaustive list, but I think it's a good start. If you need more details, I think the resources linked above should work.

I'm glad to see people interested in burn scars being a disability that requires a lot of care rather than seeing it as a solely visual thing. Makes it much more authentic.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[xmencompletionistgirl]

Alright, I guess this is my "yap about the Fall of the Mutants" post? This is my first major milestone completed while I'm running this blog so I'll ramble for a bit. This isn't really an event in the traditional sense, like, none of the X-titles actually cross over in meaningful ways other than a member of one book learning about the goings-on of another book via the news or something. So there isn't a grand narrative to comment on, the connecting thread is thematic, I guess. It's really just a glorified status quo change-up, which all events are in theory, but it doesn't actually really have the crossover element of the event which is kind of the selling point, so??? either way I'll talk about each book one at a time

(Uncanny X-Men #225-227)

May as well start with Uncanny. Shockingly, I don't have a ton to say. I think it was fine, but not amazing. Tbh I feel like Claremont's writing falters a bit whenever he's writing about 'end of the world' type stuff on a cosmological scale. The Phoenix Saga is great, but beyond that when he does these 'end of the universe' things it's all very similar, like a mini-Phoenix Saga repackaged. He's in love with these sweeping concepts of the world being in balance, very New Age, and he gets sort of lost in it. I don't have a great way of articulating it, though, and I'll save some of my deeper thoughts on his writing for a big fat Claremont era post once I finish his run. Some cool visuals anyway, and I'm glad that Storm has her powers back. We'll see where the 'world thinks the X-Men are dead' stuff goes, but I'm guessing it's not going to last very long.

(Power Pack #33)

X-Factor, also fine. Also not a ton to say. It was probably the weakest of the 3 overall, but not for lack of trying. I just find these early Apocalypse stories kind of dry? They aren't really saying much with his character, at least not yet. Not a fan of the 'dumb Beast' stuff either, no idea how long that last. I hope this leads to a power reset with him and getting his blue fur back, I really don't like looking at hairless Silver Age Beast. That being said, thank GOD X-Factor as Mutant Hunters era is over. Jfc what a bad concept. Simonson did her best to salvage it but you can physically feel her grating against the concept with every issue she writes. I feel so bad for her for inheriting Bob Layton's mess.

Oh I almost forgot; I hate Caliban in this?? Like, I really don't buy his turn to Apocalypse at all :( Probably the only part of this event that made me a bit irritated.

Every non-X-book tie-in was related to X-Factor, for some reason, also. It's really the only part of all of this that feels like a big event, but it's downplayed. Power Pack and Daredevil all the clear standouts. Really good. Pictured above, the Power Pack issue does a phenomenal job of selling the scale of it from a kids' perspective. Everything is on this incomprehensible scale and watching this giant rectangle of a spaceship knock into stuff in New York really sells how big of a threat Apocalypse is. And Daredevil is an on-the-street version of that, moreso focused on how New Yorkers react to this battle and think that the end of the world is here. It's a very human story and I really should read Nocenti's Daredevil run sometime, it seems pretty good.

The Fantastic Four tie-in was painfully average and the Captain America one was awful. Avoid them lol, they are very mired in their own continuity. Luckily I was familiar enough with the F4's history that I caught on quick, but they are in a VERY weird era here. No Reed or Sue, the Thing is in his pointy rock-skin era, She-Thing just got made, Doctor Doom has been ousted from Latveria... just madness. As for Cap, it's more comprehensible but it's just not very good. They're in the John Walker era and Steve has been forced out of the role (and is wearing USAgent's future costume), but he and Falcon and... *checks notes* Demolition Man a.k.a. D-Man and Nomad-but-not-the-Steve-Rogers-one,-the-Jack-Munroe-one (alright?) go and stop Famine from destroying a fuckton of crops in Nebraska or something and that's it, that's the whole tie-in. No mention of X-Factor iirc. Really weird book.

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #60)

And now, the New Mutants. Once again the BEST X-Family book. I'm a New Mutants girlie, I will stan them until my dying breath and that is THAT. I have so much to say. The book is great, Sunspot and Warlock are back, and the falling out with Magneto and the death of Doug actually sells the event!! It really feels like only they go through a status quo change worthy of the name 'The Fall of the Mutants'. It's a fairly average adventure for them to start with, and there's a bit too much fixation on a fairly uncompelling villain for my liking, but at the end of #60, a switch flicks. Doug dies in a really brutal, unceremonious way. He's just shot by the villain of the arc and that's it. He's dead.

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #60)

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #61)

I love. LOVE. Watching Illyana go demon mode on these guys. No notes. Please more of this before she's uh, out of commission until like 2007 lol.

(New Mutants Vol. 1 #61)

And then #61 is mourning. Everyone lashing out at each other and Magneto... being Magneto, ultimately pushes everyone away out of fear. I don't think my screenshots can capture it, it's really great stuff. (Also, that panel of Illyana crying about pretending to be a normal kid while sitting next to the body of her dead friend? Art.)

(Uncanny X-Men #227)

I almost forgot about this, but in Uncanny #227 we get a checkup with Kitty and Kurt, who are back! The sigh of relief I let out omg. I didn't even realize how much I missed them or how long it's been. Excalibur soon!!!!

Overall, it was alright! I'd say it's a step up from Mutant Massacre at least, which I thought was a bit all over the place. Events were a new concept back then though, and very clearly an editorial mandate, so I guess that's to be expected. I'd say read it if you're a Claremont era fan or an event completionist, but otherwise, eh. Not terrible, not mindblowing.

Except for New Mutants. That was great. Did I turn my Fall of the Mutants post into a New Mutants shill post? Yes I did and I won't apologize

[periwinkla]

How Takumi writes romance - and narumitsu thoughts

I feel the way he writes it is.... dare I say realistic? If dramatic. Which is also very realistic honestly. To be fair all AA characters are kinda.. dramatic themselves so any couple that comes from that HAS to be dramatic. Anyway the point I want to make is that I honestly LOVE the way he writes romance, like come on LOOK at the canon ones: -the Delites (crazy in love and also in general <- perfect AA couple example) -Maggey and Gumshoe (not a canonical couple per-se but canonically down bad for each other and also both kinda wild, one in a way the other in another.... it's left to interpretation whether they get together after AA3, but it is fairly hinted) -Mia and Diego (very realistic? love can be tragic, also love leads you to make bad choices sometimes) -that one wild tgaa couple (don't wanna spoil) -actually multiple tgaa couples This is unironically peak romance to me. We never see the actual development of these couples here. Takumi shows they love each other, he doesn't simply tell you by making characters confess or have cute moments together. You see them do foolish things for each other, you see them care. You see them being illogical and that leads to them doing bad, messed up things sometimes. When I think about that one discussion going around Suekane telling Takumi he wasn't writing the narumitsu scene right so he better scrap the scene (which is honestly a bit of an ambiguous info to be taken with a pinch of salt imo, but let's analyze this anyway) I think the main problem is that that's just not how he writes. It's just not! He didn't write AA that way and it shouldn't be forced like that. It would feel out of place. Like, look at this (obviously just trilogy stuff because that's what Takumi wrote): -Miles' very odd conversation with Iris -generally every poetics Miles spews in the trilogy... -his agreeing to doing something so incredibly foolish at the drop of a hat such as donning a defense attorney badge? (after an harrowing hurried flight over in the middle of the night) He even suspends his disbelief and still resorts to using an artifact that reminds him of the ugliest event of his life? -Phoenix's depression after Miles disappears...? He already wasn't accepting any clients after 1-4 (Ema had to force him) which I think was a mix of things (Mia's death, Maya's departure, the fact that he had accomplished his goal with Miles but apparently they didn't keep in touch?) but then after Miles' note it just went even worse - if Maya wasn't there to basically drag him around, what would have happened? How was he paying rent? Groceries? He wasn't working. How was he planning to continue living exactly? -Phoenix's I-am-the-only-one-who-can-save-him obsession is similar to Godot's I-blame-myself-for-not-saving-her, who has it over someone he canonically loves... and they're both very pretentious about it as well. While these are definitely character flaws, they show as I said that love doesn't always lead to logical and healthy thoughts or choices and sometimes it leads to you doing very messed up things… This is all way more telling to me. And of course I don't believe in a million years the games will ever make it a canonical couple, but in my heart they care so much for the other that all I can discern from this is that at least they canonically love each other. Was it meant to come across that way? Who knows. But sometimes your own creation gets away from you (also it's not like Takumi made AA123 all by himself, other people were involved).

[wisteria-lodge]

hi, i just wanted to drop in and ask if you know of any other blogs that post hp meta/discussion that are also very jkr critical? i love everything you write, but many of the other blogs i find when perusing tags are... questionable. its kind of a requirement for me to know that the people posting hp on my timeline don't hate trans people so if you know of anyone else who meets that criteria, i'd love to be linked!

Okay. Now the last thing I want to do is write a callout post (or the opposite of a callout post? A call-in post?) BUT. I do also know that this site can be hard and frustrating to use before you've built up a good follower list for yourself. I know it was definitely rough for me there at the beginning, when I first exploring HP tumblr.

So, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list, this is me going through my recent reblogs and DMs, and if anyone feels they should be on the list (or wants to be taken off the list - people use their fandoms to have a good fun chill time, and I respect that. Having a good fun chill place to exist is unbelievably important.)

But I would say these are are blogs who regularly write meta about Harry Potter that is primarily rooted in the books, while remaining critical of the books in way that I enjoy, and are some combination of funny, earnest, and academic (and drama-free, that's a big one.) I haven't gone and background checked them all or anything, but these are people who I've either had good, meaty conversations with in the DMs, have publicly posted about disagreeing with JKR and her political views, or that I've just followed for a while without any problems. Or some combo of the above.

As I'm sure some of the people on this list will tell you, we *definitely* interpret the books differently and have different headcanons, but their style of interpretation is one that fits with the kind of experience I want to have.

***

@saintsenara - a new follow, but I'm in the process of reblogging their back catalog, and they've definitely written about how to be a HP fan in post JKR-swan-dive-off-the-deep-end world, in the context of their absolutely hysterical crack ship series.

@thistlecatfics - bio says "fuck jkr in a canon compliant way" which I rather like. Their last post was a link to their new Sirius/Fanon Sirius one-shot - which was so sweet, clever, and well-written. Which I think is very much their vibe. I massively enjoy their "Harry Potter Characters in Therapy" series.

@pangaeaseas - a really fun follow. They post a lot, they're funny and their ideas are unique, original, and sometimes totally off the wall. It's like they keep throwing out fun little bookclub prompts/discussion starters, and then we all have a really nice time.

@its-the-allure - lovely, and my intro into some really fun, chill fandom communities. @etl-echo-audiobooks is fantastic, they do live readings of fic of their discord and then turn them into audio books. Did one of my metas once! Also they're currently running a Drarry fest, I snagged a prompt but there are plenty left.

@the-phoenix-heart - has been a mutual for a while. Their original stuff is mostly art, when it comes to text-based stuff they're more of a commenter and reblogger. But they're a GREAT commenter and reblogger. They know their stuff, and I would feel weird leaving them off the list.

@blorger - always has an interesting take, especially when it comes to worldbuilding, and they always do their research and cite their sources. Their last post was all about debunking the popular fanon that the non-Snape teachers are really prejudiced against Slytherin as a whole. Also, great fic reccomender.

@360degreesasthecrowflies - probably the most political blog on this list, which they would definitely agree with. What I really love about them is the way they're willing to go into historian mode, and find and repost some really excellent HP Meta originally written for Livejournal. I was never on Livejounal, so all this stuff is new to me, and I feel like it also provides a really good perspective on fandom history.

@arkadijxpancakes - really well-written, well-thought out, well-supported meta. Great thoughts on worldbuilding. One of the only blogs I've found that really digs into the Weasleys, but they have great takes on everything. Has a very reasonable, focused, lets-get-to-the-heart-of-the-issue vibe that I really appreciate.

@riddlesmoon - followed me recently, and I know you don't post as much original content as you'd like, but I think your comments are hilarious and very insightful, and you *should* write more meta.

@hollowed-theory-hall - another person who can cite their sources really impressively. Tends to do very comprehensive deep dives into worldbuilding out things like the magic system and in-universe politics, or doing very in-depth text-based character analysis. I also love it when they post designs and art, because they went in a very different direction than the films did, but it still totally works.

@trothplighted - I know them from their main blog, which is about literature in general and not HP, but this post got them to resurrect their HP meta blog! I've had fun discussions with them, and they have good takes on other literature, so lets see how this goes :D

@regheart - A good, mellow follow (but with absolutely zero tolerance for JKR and her antics.) A good blend of art, fic recs, and fun good takes. Just read a post of their reccing fics that are pro-Jilly, but still willing to dig into their potential issues as a couple. Which I think is pretty representative.

I 100% expect to add to this list as I think of/find more people, but that should be enough to get you started.

[thecampfirescene]

In Monk Magazine, Van Sant commented that "the campfire scene was the last thing we shot in America before we went to Europe.

About three nights before we shot the scene, he showed me a lot of stuff he had written, and it was like sixteen pages of handwritten notes with arrows and things leading to other pages and circles around words. It was a big mess. He said he was rewriting the scene and wanted to know if he could do this.

I was scared. It looked like he was freaking out. It was out of control... Sometimes actors just want you to say "No!", I didn't think he was doing that [but] he was the type of guy that wanted you to say "No." So I asked Keanu if it was all right, if River was like, stepping on his turf, because when one actor starts to write another actors' lines, it can get into this bad scene. Keanu really loved River, and he just said, "Yeah, man. Yeah."

This is the best part in the film", insists Gus, "and was chosen by River to be his big scene. He chose it because his [other] big scene, the one with his brother, had shot early, and he didn't get what he wanted out of it. So, he asked me to save the campfire scene.

He was a prolific songwriter, and he rewrote the scene like a song. Although, besides putting everything he had into the scene, he didn't really change it much. As a matter of fact, one of the ways it was changed was for him to flat-out say that he is in love with Scott."

— In Search Of River Phoenix: The Truth Behind The Myth (2004) by Barry C. Lawrence

[n3felibata]

This is gonna be a hot take, but it bothers me when people say that Phoenix became an attorney JUST for Edgeworth.

Yes, Edgeworth is a big part of the reason he became a lawyer. Yes, Phoenix went to law school after finding out he's the "demon prosecutor" now. Hell, I'll even outright admit that Phoenix would not be an attorney if it weren't for Edgeworth.

But that's the only reason he stands in court. Goodness, no. It goes deeper than that, and it has a lot to do with Phoenix's depth and the overall message of Ace Attorney.

First of all, in the first few minutes of the very first game, Phoenix outright says that Larry is part of the reason he became a lawyer, too.

(Really, I feel like some of you are forgetting that Larry defended him that day as well...)

And second of all, there's the fact that he continues to be a lawyer in Justice for All despite thinking Edgeworth was dead for most of that game. And I have to admit it's been a while since I've played Justice For All, but I remember him defending his clients just as passionately as he does in any other game.

Edgeworth directly asks Phoenix in this same game why he stands in court, and Phoenix responds by saying this:

At least him saying in PWAA that he stood up for Maya because he "can't just abandon her" and "someone has to look out for people with no one on their side" is only one dialogue option out of three.

But telling Edgeworth he wants to save lives is the only answer the player can give to that question. Because it's the correct one. Phoenix Wright has a huge sense of justice, and it's a big part of his character.

This is why Phoenix hates prosecutors so much, or more specifically the ones that only stand in court to "win" rather than to actually seek the truth. And that's probably also why the writers continously make the antagonists of these games people who fit that exact description.

And yes, his backstory (or at least this specific part of it) may not be as traumatic as the other characters', but it doesn't need to be. This kind of stuff can seriously impact a child, especially when the teacher themselves in joining in on the bullying. His clients are going through worse, yes, but regardless, this experience taught him that people will assume the worst in you with little to no evidence and what it means to have someone believe in you when no one else will. He wants to be there for people going through worse than him, and that's valid. Not every character needs to be an orphan or rape victim or something to be an intriguing character with reasonable motivations and experiences that are meaningful to them.

Again, I'm not denying that Edgeworth is a huge part of why he went to law school (and thank goodness he did because I can't imagine what would've happened to Edgeworth if he never became an attorney...), but saying that Edgeworth is the ONLY factor feels like it's not only disacknowledging Phoenix's depth and reducing his character to just his relationship with Edgeworth, but also feels like it's disacknowledging the themes of justice in the writing of the game itself. Like no offense, but how did y'all manage to take what's clearly meant to be a satirical call out to Japan's flawed justice system and reduce it to just "yaoi"?

I LOVE wrightworth, but sometimes it feels like some people are so fixated on it that they forget that both Wright and Edgeworth are still their own complex individuals with depth outside of their relationship with each other.

[gh0stofstarman]

A Ramble about X-Men

I’m a pretty big Marvel comics fan. I’ve had a Marvel Unlimited Subscription since the pandemic and I’ve pretty much run the gamut of heroes. Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Fantastic Four, Peter Parker Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Quasar, Thor, Eternals, Hawkeye, Howard the Duck, What if?, Deadpool, I could go on forever. And I can pick a run for each of these characters that I specifically clicked with a certain author and the themes they chose.

Except X-Men.

Which is ironic, because I love the X-Men shows, the characters, their major themes, their designs, their movies. Heck it’s not like I haven’t read most of Claremont’s run and beyond.

But I’ve never had a run that actually fully clicked with me, and I kinda wanted to ramble about why. No idea if this will be a series or whatever.

Chris Claremont

Admittedly I’ve never really been one to seek out every single spinoff of a series so most of my experience with the “golden age” of X-Men is with the mainline Uncanny X-Men rather than stuff like the New Mutants. I know it’s sacrilege in some circles not to go in full chronological order with the spinoff series bouncing between but I’m just not that way.

Anyways while Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created the blueprint for what would define X-Men on a fundamental level, Chris Claremont would be the author who made the heroes popular. Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Banshee … Sunfire, Thunderbird … okay not all of them stuck. But Claremont would write iconic stories that are beloved and I love as well such as the OG Giant Size X-Men comic, Proteus, Days of Future Past, God Loves, Man Kills, and the Dark Phoenix Saga. Stuff that truly gets to the heart of the X-Men fighting against discrimination and hate, proving they deserve a chance to live as they want.

Then that should settle it! I like Chris Claremont, then! These are the most iconic storylines that means I love the most iconic incarnation of the X-Men.

Not really.

Chris Claremont founded a lot of good ideas that would be the springboard used by other authors in years to come. But it’s not as though his stint was as brief as Lee/Kirby or Roy Thomas.

16 years.

And most of what I mentioned is spread far across the first 8.

So what about the bits in-between?

Well, if I had to describe the majority of Claremont’s writing as X-Men outside of these storylines is that it’s kinda a roulette wheel.

This was back in the day where you had to have some bonkers concepts to hook the reader in. Vampires, sci-fi tech, aliens, gods, demons, etc. And most of the time Chris chose a random one to analyze the X-Men under and reevaluate how they can be used for the X-Men’s explicit purpose of fighting against discrimination and promoting equality and diversity.

Which often leads to those aforementioned storylines where they build on this very well. X-Men vs Televangelism does go out into creating weird devices to mind control people but it’s all in service to the team’s message. The bad future the sentinels create in Days of Future Past can easily be seen as a dystopian future where discrimination is normalized.

However sometimes Chris can’t help himself and adds more layers of insanity to the plot, to the point the message kinda gets lost in the mix.

Here’s an example.

X-Men go mysteriously missing, only for Beast to find them working at a circus freak show. Interesting. Leads back to the idea of them being demoralized and treated as freaks rather than real people.

Beast does some snooping around, finding that Magneto is the mastermind behind this. Perhaps he’s trying to humiliate the X-Men and get them to give up their hope for equality seeing how humanity makes fun of them while also getting revenge because he’s the bad guy.

They fight Magneto but are bested in combat. It’s then revealed that Magneto, after being turned into a baby in a previous comic did want revenge, so he took the X-Men to his Antarctic base to … mentally regress them into babies and torture them with a nanny bot.

Huh?

And I’d be lying if I said this sort of weird progression isn’t a repeating theme.

X-Men go to space to fight aliens; makes sense because all the other heroes were fighting aliens so they gotta prove they’re on the level. Alien fighting leads into them meeting Xenomorph-like aliens that slowly transform the X-Men into them; drama is created. X-Men escape but still are transforming, so Storm befriends a space whale and then becomes one to cure everyone; buh?!?!

Like I feel like some of these stories increase the insanity progressively but they go a little step too far. Sometimes it’s just out of nowhere like when demons kidnap the X-Men even though they were never hinted before to care about them, and somehow age up Magik to an adult. Or just Storm becomes a vampire suddenly even though last issue there was nothing even slightly referencing vampires.

It’s kind of a curse because X-Men is constantly trying to get bigger and bigger under Claremont but sometimes you’d prefer it just to take it slow and get back to the more straight forward connections to fighting oppression and discrimination.

Ironically it causes me to appreciate the more mundane moments that aren’t trying to be huge plot twists one on top of each other. Stuff like Kitty Pryde and Storm hanging out, going to Japan and getting to know Wolverine better, Nightcrawler trying to socialize more, and just Beast’s witty banter.

But even that can be a little fumbled at times because well,

Chris Claremont is a straight white guy.

And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. But you can tell he has hang-ups trying to write about race or women because he doesn’t really have those experiences. Therefore, sometimes when he tries to write soliloquies and romances (which is pretty common), sometimes it can fall flat because of his perspective.

There is a lot of romance and relationship drama in X-Men, which is understandable and needed for the narrative. But so much becomes either bland, unintentionally problematic, or just too brief to make any true impact.

I’d say the biggest exception is Jean/Cyclops because they’ve been established for years and it’s very clear they care about each other. However, Jean dies in Dark Phoenix (at least that was the intent of the time) so a lot of the time the series bounces between other couples.

He later meets and then marries Madelyne Pryor, who is noted to look nearly identical to Jean. However that just makes things awkward as Madelyne often plays the role of “Not-Jean.” It at least has an interesting through line of him working through his grief, but little time is actually given for Madelyne’s own agency to break out of “Not-Jean,” which makes it really awkward when it’s revealed she’s a clone of Jean and Jean was alive all this time. So … what was the point?

Charles Xavier has so many love interests but often times he comes off as a jerk. Moira MacTaggart, Liliandra … even at one point Jean herself but everyone buries this for good reason. He comes off as very manipulative both to his partner and the X-Men. Charles is very unsympathetic to Moira’s predicament in raising Proteus. Liliandra he’s willing to bend over backwards for even if it means that he’s breaking his own morals in the process. And we don’t talk about Jean. However this would mostly be used by other authors to analyze how good of a leader Charles is, and more of his flaws. Meanwhile, Chris Claremont normalizes his behavior and rarely calls him out on it.

Colossus and Kitty Pryde.

What can I say about them? Colossus is an adult, Kitty Pryde is still a kid. It’s gross, but Chris wants you to really know they love each other more than a brother-and-sister relationship would. And they even point out it’s creepy, yet they still do it anyways.

Wolverine is entirely a whole other can of worms that I could write about separately.

Ironically some of the relationships that aren’t confirmed because of the times but are implied like Mystique and Destiny or Storm and Stevie are actually a lot better and written with much more nuance. However again nothing is confirmed and could be left to interpretation such as with Storm and Stevie. After all they do try to pair up these characters in straight couples … problematically but still.

Ultimately I feel like Claremont does have a lot of good ideas but the execution of them is where the ball is dropped. I would never call his run bad but I’ve never really felt compelled to return to it. I can’t deny the impact it’s made by any measure. However, returning to the originals just makes you wonder, how did some of this lead to Claremont’s X-Men being held up as an absolute gold standard comic?

I don’t know this was a long rant and I dunno if I’ll do it again. If you liked this let me know

[thissongisawesome]

now, do i personally believe that maya and franziska would actively try to get phoenix and edgeworth together? not really. BUT. i don't see the harm in people writing scenarios in which they would? ik this sounds silly since maya and franziska wingmaning is one of the more popular ace attorney fic tropes, but i feel like recently i've seen a lot of hate towards and and i don't understand why!

think of it this way: maya is phoenix's best friend and like pseudo little sister, they're extremely close, and i'm pretty sure she teases him about his love life AT LEAST once in canon (it could be more, or i could've completely made this up, but i've played the trilogy enough where if i tried i could probably find an example but it's late and i'm tired). anyway with that said, why WOULDN'T she care about them getting together? she's shown in the first game to be pretty invested in "the deal with [nick] and edgeworth" her words, not mine. i'm not one to speak on later games because i honestly haven't touched them in over two years and even then they were a complete blur and i forgot everything except that edgeworth looked really ugly from the front. but. if my memory serves me i don't think their dynamic changed much? i can't see her caring AS much at 28 as she would at 17, because obviously she's grown and matured, but i don't think she'd be completely uninterested like some people say. maybe she wouldn't be wearing comical disguises to spy on them, but i could see her encouraging nick, or idk just telling trucy stuff about their old cases to stir something up.

i think the franziska side of things is where i'm a little more understanding, but also not really. on one hand, i get that she's very well put together and mature seeming. on the other hand, that's only how she SEEMS. i won't get into a whole franziska analysis because this post is already longer than i wanted and no one wants to hear me ramble about her, but she's not really as mature as she seems. anyway, would she care THAT much? the answer may surprise you!

now think of it THIS way: edgeworth is franziska's little brother. despite how she acts sometimes she obviously loves him dearly, and would (probably) just want him to be happy, with whatever foolishness it may endure. phoenix wright is franziska's sworn enemy. she can't stand him and feels as though he has personally wronged her before they even met. absolutely hates his guts (except for when they investigate together then they can be friends). franziska is incredibly smart, but she's clearly not the best emotionally. even with that, though, she seems to understand how important edgeworth is to phoenix ("earthquake blah blah blah" "are you thinking of miles edgeworth blah blah blah"). she kind of just accepts this, even though it implies that phoenix (a man he only recently reconnected with) would be on a similar level of emotional connection as his sister. maybe she doesn't think much about it though. she's just like sure whatever you're his most dear and indispensable friend i don't care anymore. do people really think that, if somehow she came to the conclusion that edgeworth had feelings for phoenix she wouldn't care in any way??? i'm not saying it'd necessarily be positive and all "you go girlfriend!", but to say she wouldn't CARE is so wild. she'd probably be furious, and so maybe she wouldn't wingman. but she does CARE about her brother, and honestly if it were presented to her on the right way she probably would wingman. one "hey franziska. i bet you can't make your brother get with phoenix wright. if they get together without your guidance then that basically means edgeworth beat you btw" and she's suddenly invested. (dramatized, but you get the point)

tldr; maya and franziska are not so nonchalant and cool that they wouldn't care about one of the most significant people in their lives having feelings for their courtroom rival of over a decade. that is all.

[lostintime-17]

Would you fall in love with me again but the Batfam 

Fic idea I might write later if I have the energy. So you all know the song Would You Fall in Love with Me again from Epic the Musical. Well, that, but it's with the Batfam in their very first life. Instead. The ages where they died in their first life are the ages where Bruce found them in their other lives. So they live in some type of utopia in their first life and let's say the Joker (but like in this utopia the world) breaks into like a type of palace or whatever they have and just straight up slaughters all of them, maybe because of what type of creature they were because I think Dick could be a harpy, Tim a siren, Jason a Phoenix, and Damian some type of have fe/half dragon. And either way, they're all slaughtered and Bruce comes home to his nest of children, and he just sees them lying dead in the place where they would all sleep together and pieces of them are missing, like Dick's wings, Tim's tail, Jason's claws and eyes, Damien's scales and wings, stuff like that. So he is so heartbroken by this that he seeks revenge, but because he's so distressed, and he's not taking care of himself, he ends up dying before he can avenge his children. But they end up getting reincarnated over and over and over again, finding each other becoming brothers and their ages all get mixed up eventually. Sometimes Tim is the oldest, then Jason and then Damien and then Dick just going down the line. Sometimes they're all brothers, sometimes their fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, sisters. Sometimes animals are sometimes humans, just anything and everything. Anytime they're about to die or die from anything, they're murdered or sickness or old age, when they're at the end of their life, they get bombarded with all of their past lives, and they get to know that they'll have their family again, and they'll be waiting.

[inglourious-imagines]

Are you still writing for BOB? I want to request for our favorite Nixon but no one seems to write anymore 😩

Scotch Whiskey (Lewis Nixon x F!Reader)

Summary: You are a spy and Nixon is completely enamoured by you.

Taglist: @alienoresimagines-archive @teenmagazines @meteora-fc @eugenesmorphine @band-of-brothers-cz @real-fans @not-john-watsons-blog @tealaquinn @ok-roemanov @mrseasycompany @punkgeekchic @wexhappyxfew @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant @rayofshanshine @mavysnavy @easynix @georgeluzwarmhugs @easy-company-tradition @immrsronaldspeirs @snafus-peckuh @curraheewestandalone @warrior-healer @justamadgirlinabox @happyveday @order-of-river-phoenix @whoahersheybars @nixoninc @iceman-kazansky

Warnings: mentions of blood, some flirting, allusions to sexy time but nothing specific

A/N: What is happening? Am I writing? It's been a while since I saw BoB last so be kind.

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He first met her when the unit was still in Toccoa, way back in 1942. She was the only female paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division and one of the best soldiers Easy Company has even seen. Hell, the US Army has ever seen. She got reassigned from God knows where just three weeks after the training in Toccoa began. Lewis Nixon tried everything in his power to figure out anything about her past and what was the reason that got her reassigned to the paratroopers – but in vain, the intelligence officer found nothing.

What infuriated him even more at that time, was that she disappeared for days on end sometimes and no one said a word about it. Not even Sobel mentioned it once, made fun of her when she got back, nothing from the high command. Everything was quiet and she just floated through the air and space with such elegant ease, not drawing any attention, that he barely realized she was gone until she came back.

It cost him many sleepless nights, many arguments with the HQ when he pressed about the matter, but never any answers. Everyone kept their mouth shut. Not even Richard Winters knew anything, at least not in 1942 or 1943.

It is only in the summer of 1944 when he realizes what it’s been going on right under his nose. Only few know about the many doings of Y/N Y/L/N, because in this branch of a job, the less you know, the better. Richard Winters has been in on it since D-Day, as the HQ informed him about her „additional assignments“ that are highly classified.

It is after the jump when he sees her with Liebgott and Luz, laughing at something, and his heart flutters – with something he does not recognize yet but also with the realization that she is in fact a spy. He chuckles at that, shaking his head at how he could have been so stupid.

“You finally got it?” Richard wakes him up from his daydreaming, hinting at Lewis’s long stare at the female paratrooper.

He somewhat frowns, “What are you on about?”

Winters gives him a rather long look, trying to figure out whether Nixon really knows what he is talking about or if he is really such an oblivious idiot. He leans toward the latter.

“The best intelligence officer I know and still so clueless about the stuff that actually matters,” he replays cryptically with a laugh.

Nixon smacks his arm playfully. “You’re a dick. Stop giving me that Sherlock Holmes shit and spill.”

“Nah, I might let you figure it out yourself. Plus you’re right about that job,” Winter hints at who he’s talking about and refuses to continue with the conversation.

Lewis frowns, his mind racing. He hears her laugh just then, his head instinctively turning to that melodic sound he would much rather get drunk on than his beloved whiskey. He would become an abstinent in a second, if it meant he would hear her laugh, even just once.

And then it hits him.

“No,” he says resolutely, shaking his head obsessively, as if he’s trying to shake that idea out of his system.

Richard just laughs, wholeheartedly, quite enjoying his best friend squirm. “Tell that to your flaming hot red cheeks, boy.”

“Oh, fuck you!” Lewis Nixon retorts, trying to ignore Dick’s knowing chuckles but failing miserably.

“I’m sure that’s what you would like to do to someone.”

He tries to smack Winters for that last comment, but he is already jogging to join his platoon, laughing, leaving Nixon with just his thoughts, red cheeks, and some rather tight pants.

Next time he sees her is in Carentan. That’s inaccurate – he sees her before the attack on the town of Carentan in the provisional headquarters, as she walks out of the general’s doors, passing by like wind and is gone before he blinks. He tries to follow her but loses her the second she turns around a corner and he is like a lost puppy, looking from left to right, trying to find his person.

Only then he sees her in Carentan. The battle is done, some men died, but she didn’t and strangely enough, that is all that matters to Nixon, as cruel as it sounds. He is already at peace with the fact that he is not the noblest of men, but he hopes that somewhere deep inside of him he still is a good man.

He watches her talk to his best friend, their heads together. She has scratches all over her face, one bigger just below her left eye that’s bleeding a little bit. He notices the bruised knuckles and the dried blood on her hands that presumably is not hers. Her left sleeve of the uniform is slightly torn, some leaves stick to her boots, small wooden stick is stuck in her right boot. A soldier simply wouldn’t be able to look like this after a battle like Carentan, he thinks, and smack himself internally right after for analysing her for so long.

He knows what she does and apparently, she is very good at it.

Winters is gesticulating for him to come over and Lewis Nixon, an intelligent officer, soldier in a war, is suddenly nervous, his palms sweating a bit, but his legs carry him over and he is standing in front of her for the first time in his life.

He tries to get himself together but no matter the inner monologue of commanding and insults can get his heart to beat any slower.

“Let me introduce you to my best friend, Cpt. Lewis Nixon,” Winters starts the conversation, as he notices how visibly twitchy the intelligence officer is.

Y/N smiles and extends her hand. “I know who he is.”

And just like that she completely has him, wrapped around her finger, him not trying to resist it one bit.

Lewis Nixon accepts her hand, shaking it, not minding the dried blood of their enemies. “And I know who you are,” he replies, and she laughs at the comment. She laughs and he is in heaven and not in a war-torn France because surely that sound just simply cannot belong in this cruel reality.

“He’s cheeky, I like that,” Y/N says more to Winters than him, and his friend smirks, “I thought you would. I don’t know why you’re meeting just now.”

His cheeks are red again.

“You know what, Dick? I don’t know either. It is a shame indeed,” she says and sends him a wink.

Fuck.

“Gotta run boys, have reports to file and all that crap. But I’ll find you both later and I’ll bring some of that booze you like to keep hidden in Richard’s footlocker, Lew.”

Fuuuuuuck. How does she know about that?

Y/N turns her head once more to him. “Oh and try not to get caught staring too long again, or those drinks might not be the only thing making your head spin, Nixon.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She does indeed find them in the evening, when the Company is given some time off, letting the new reinforcements mingle. She plops herself down next to Nixon, much closer for his breathing to come naturally, but still far away to keep his mind mad and sane at the same time. Lewis notices how she could have sat down next to Dick too, but she made the decision to choose his side, and he lets himself believe that it must have been on purpose and not some absentminded actions. Surely.

He is going crazy, he thinks. Lord, have mercy.

“Quite lively here,” she notes, while looking around the room that is filled with smoke, laughter and hope.

“Maybe too lively,” Richards answers and picks himself up from the floor. “I don’t drink anyway and have some paperwork to do too, I’m sure you’ll do fine without me.”

Lewis shoots him a what the fuck are you doing look but that doesn’t stop Winters from winking at him and walking away from a possible crime scene.

“See you in the morning, Dick,” she says and then, just like that, they are alone.

He is probably too much aware of how close she is to him; he can feel the warmth radiating from her body and he has to do everything in his power to restrain himself.

“So, where were we?” she smiles sweetly and pulls out a brand-new bottle of Teacher’s Highland Cream, a blended Scoth whisky he knows but haven’t tasted.

“You are evil,” he laughs.

She winks at him. “You recognize it?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t had it yet.”

“Oh, Lew,” she chuckles, “you are just so limited in your alcoholism, it’s honestly a bit sad.”

Lew. She calls him Lew, and he is sure he would forgive her everything.

“It is actually a bit like you,” her voice suddenly quieter than before.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” she smiles, her eyes looking directly at him as she turns to face him, “it has quite a strong character. It has sweet undertones with a touch of smoke,” her gaze drops for a second to his cigarette hanging from between his fingers, “and it has a warm, lingering finish.”

The last part of the sentence is said slowly, and in such a tone Lewis is sure he will lose his mind any second. He has to. No man can survive this.

“Let me try it,” he hears himself say but it feels like it is not even him saying those words.

She hands him the bottle and their fingers brush against each other for a fleeting moment.

“And I quite enjoy the name. I do like the Cream.”

When he hears her say that he immediately chokes on the alcohol and must take a break. His cheeks flushed and his pants tight, he quickly adjusts his seating position so she wouldn’t discover just how big of an effect she has on him.

Y/N laughs sweetly, patting him on the back.

“You enjoy making men fluster?” he says once he calms himself.

She thinks for a moment and then looks at him. “No, just you.”

His restraint is hanging by a thread at that point. And he knows she is very well aware of it.

“You are playing with fire,” Lewis whispers, not trusting himself to speak out loud.

Y/N moves a bit closer and he can feel her breath on his skin. “I’ve been playing with fire my whole life. You think I’ll get burned this time?”

“You might.”

She holds the eye contact and Lewis sees how she is contemplating something in her head, but then something changes, and he just knows she’s made up her mind in that moment.

“Why don’t we go into my room and find out?”

This sentence right there, that smile that followed, he would wage another war if it meant he could see her smile and talk like that again.

Little did they know they will have their entire lifetimes to tease each other like that one night somewhere in the middle of France.