#the world is so big i refuse to believe that its only gonna take a year or so to travel by boat

[camembri]

every time I see people talking about post-canon one piece and about how the strawhats all go their separate ways it makes me want to start climbing walls and gnawing on the plaster!!!! what do you Mean the found family is going to split up... what do you mean they don't sail together forever... how else are they supposed to satisfy that itch under their skin... who else is meant to understand them... who else has seen their most agonizing moments and their best victories...

[wileys-russo]

Maya blurb based around the tiktok mary posted!!! Her little giggles are so cute

hotshot II m.le-tissier

"are you gonna have one babe?" maya asked as you lounged about on the sofa in mary's room, only laughing dryly at her question. "not a fucking chance." you smiled sweetly as there was a knock at the door and mary let alessia in.

"oh come on! don't be a wuss." maya teased with a grin, poking at you as you swatted her away and mary moved to set her phone up, grabbing the hotshots out of the fridge. "oh there's only three, such a shame." you pouted sarcastically.

"you can have mine?" alessia offered right away, mary quick to yank her back down on the bed as she tried to stand. "no! you're doin it less." the older girl remained firm as alessia groaned.

"may what are you giggling at? nobodies even said anything!" you laughed softly at the brunette who couldn't seem to contain her amusement, the girl only unable to shrug as her giggles became infectious and soon enough all four of you were struggling to catch your breath among laughing at one another.

"right settle down girls i'm clicking record!" mary announced, tapping her screen and settling between the two younger girls beside her as you watched on behind her phone on the sofa. she introduced the three of them and what they would be doing, handing both girls a hot shot drink.

your heart melted at your girlfriends repeated soft giggles at almost anything that was said, she truly made everyone around her feel like the funniest person in the world with her constant laughter and you adored her for it.

"wait what's in them?" you questioned, crossing your legs underneath you as mary was quick to joke that you were also here but refusing to participate. "there was only three of them and i said no first, snooze you lose!" you popped your head in frame to clarify, maya's giggles increasing as you did so.

"orange, lemon, ginger, turmeric and cayenne pepper." alessia read the ingredients out off the bottle as you grimaced. "i'm not kissing you after this until you thoroughly wash your mouth out." you warned your girlfriend who grinned and sent you a wink.

"right! i'll believe that when i see it, lovesick idiots the pair of you." mary scoffed, alessia humming in agreement as both of you rolled your eyes at their comments.

it wasn't hidden information that the two of you were dating but you kept your relationship quite private, repeatedly popping up in one anothers social media's, insta dumps and goofing around at training but when on the pitch together you were nothing but profressional.

"no mary that's too big to do in one." alessia immediately argued as the eldest girl ordered they all down it, maya furiously shaking hers on the end of the bed.

"oh god i can smell that from here." your girlfriend grimaced as mary cracked hers open with a chuckle. "no you can't say that cause alessia eats with her nose." mary warned with a grin, the blonde beside her taking a whiff and recoiling instantly with a look of disgust.

"she does that too!" maya accused you, cracking hers open and standing off the bed. "go on." she held it out for you to sniff as you shook your head. "babe you're not even drinking it the least you can do is smell it!" she groaned as you gave in with a huff, leaning in to give it a cautious sniff.

"may!" you smacked her leg unimpressed as she shoved it practically right up your nose, retreating to the bed with a giggle and a victorious smirk. "that is absolutely rank. nah im definitely not kissing you after that." you rubbed at your nose with the sleeve of your training top trying to get rid of the smell which refused to pass.

"shut up you're not even drinking it!" alessia scowled, mary starting to count them down and alessia and maya started arguing over if less was gonna drink half or just down it.

"the quicker its down the quicker its done less." you of course took your girlfriends side, holding your hands up in defense as the striker fixed you with a glare.

"right. go!" with that said you watched in horror, shock and awe as alessia and mary sipped at theirs and maya downed it in one. "you right baby?" you asked, mouth forming an o in shock as she paused for a moment as if contemplating.

then with a wordless shake of her head she lurched forward off the bed, tossing the empty bottle in your lap and staggering at you. "no maya if you're gonna throw up get away!" you whined as she burped loudly and clutched at her stomach, leaning over you as you shoved her away and she stumbled back to the bed.

"oi stop showing your bum to the camera." you laughed, kicking it softly as she turned around and sat back down still gagging and burping again as you collapsed into a fit of your own giggles to her reaction. "not funny!" she managed out among her hiccups, shooting you an annoyed look.

"go on, tell the camera what you think." mary grinned, gesturing to her phone as alessia struggled to drink her own, pulling all sorts of faces making you laugh harder. "you want the rest of mine?" the blonde offered as you furiously shook your head.

"not a chance after seeing your reactions." you refused, clutching at your stomach which was starting to ache from your repeated giggles at their expense, never more glad you'd opted out than watching them all struggle.

"here babe." you handed your bottle of juice to your girlfriend who'd sat back down on the bed, face flushed bright red as she accepted and chugged a large mouthful, handing it next to alessia who did the same.

"it went up my nose cause i started laughing-" maya struggled to speak, throat burning as she couldn't help but once again giggle and grin at marys expense, making fun of how loudly the older girl had gulped down her own shot.

"i think less is going through the five stages of grief." you laughed, head thrown back at the poor striker who was again pulling all sorts of horrific faces as the shot worked its way down her throat, and she hadn't even finished it yet.

"shut up." the blonde managed to get out among a mouthful of juice, kicking you. "less don't kick her!" maya reached over mary to shove her friends shoulder whose eyes rolled at the two of you, handing back the bottle of juice.

"i need some lip balm it's all tinglin." your girlfriend wiggled her fingers around her mouth as you grabbed your bag off the floor, rummaging around to see if you had any.

"you liked that? you're a psychopath maz." your eyes widened in disbelief at your friends words, the older girl shrugging and again stating she found it quite nice as alessia tried to hide her half drank shot.

but neither of the other girls were having that, right away pressuring her to finish it as you found your lip balm and watched on with an amused shake of your head as alessia took painfully small sips.

"just down it!" you laughed, not understanding why the girl was punishing herself more. "here may." you stood to hand her the lip balm as she finished practically holding the bottle up so alessia had to finish.

"lifesaver coming in clutch." maya accepted it, pulling you to sit down on the edge of the bed with her as she slathered her lips in the balm and sighed in relief, tugging your legs to drape over her lap as mary did her outro and clicked stop on the recording.

"nah i need to go and wash my mouth out! that was horrid mary." alessia stumbled to her feet and toward the bathroom. "oh my god is she bokin?" you heard sounds of retching as marys eyes widened and she raced off to check on the younger girl.

"how's your lips?" you grinned, pocketing the lip balm again as your girlfriend handed it back to you. "why don't you come here and find out." the defender balled your top in her fists trying to pull your mouth to meet hers.

"no! maya i was serious get away!" you tried to run but her longer limbs wrapped around you, the two of you struggling and pushing one another around with soft giggles and protests before eventually you found your body pinned beneath hers on the bed.

"no no no may please at least brush your teeth!" you begged as maya hovered over you with a wicked grin, shaking her head at your request.

"stop squirmin and just kiss me!" the girl giggled, cupping your face in her hands as your head thrashed left and right causing her to miss as she kissed your cheek and forehead.

your head held still in her gentle hold there was no avoiding her lips finally finding yours, as always soft and welcoming as they moved against your own, her tongue darting into your mouth and causing you to let out a small gasp.

though as you came down from the love-drunk high of kissing her, did the burning sensation start to whip through your mouth from her hot shot and you tugged your hands free from under her knees and pushed her off of you.

"thats the worst kiss i've ever had." you admitted as the two of you lay on the bed, sheltering your body as your girlfriend smacked you for the comment.

"oh you want me to kiss you again? of course i will gorgeous!" she sat up suddenly and cooed, launching back at you as you laughed and tried to roll away as she kissed all over your face your combined giggles filling the air.

"oi hot shots, stop making out on my fucking bed!"

[ao3cassandraic]

Angels, demons, language, and culture part 4: Literalism and metaphor

Part 1 (angels are never children, and that matters), Part 2 (written language is mostly coded human rather than ethereal/occult in Good Omens), Part 3 (human writings contain useful social rules, which is partly why Aziraphale values them)

It may be time to restate @thundercrackfic's original questions?

How good is Aziraphale’s reading comprehension? How much does he understand subtext and metaphor? Because his behavior this season struck me with the impression that he didn’t really understand the books he collects. He’s clever at puzzle solving, and contains vast knowledge; but he always seems to take things at face value (when he’s not willfully misunderstanding), and refuses to give up black-and-white thinking, which would make it very difficult to analyze texts.

I think there are definite reasons to believe that reading comprehension of human literature (as defined in the question) is difficult for Aziraphale. One of them, as stated in part 1, is that Aziraphale doesn't get the tremendous advantage of childhood and its brain plasticity, which (among other things) is known to help with learning language. I'm not surprised his French is pretty bad. Learning another language from the ground up as an adult can be a cast-iron PITA (yes, experience speaking).

Another is simply that Aziraphale is not human. He's an outsider to humanity. He's fairly empathetic, and he does learn (unlike almost all his fellow angels!), but that leaves him without much of a yardstick to gauge when human literature is being literal and when it's not. There also seems to be a general angelic tendency to believe what they're told? Muriel definitely has it, Michael seems to as well, and even s1!Gabriel can only (and barely) muster skepticism on one occasion that I recall (the photo incident). I can see this making Aziraphale's reading, especially early in his existence on Earth, a good bit harder for him than reading is for, say, me. I'm used to unreliable narrators and figurative language and other sorts of clever fun productive lying. Aziraphale's acquaintance with lying is -- well -- his lies don't usually involve much metaphor? I suppose one could argue that "big sharp cutty thing" is a kenning, but not really in the human way of kennings because he only uses it the once.

Moreover, it appears (based on the s1e3 cold open, mostly) that he bops around the world quite a bit until finally settling in London (with the occasional jaunt elsewhere when he gets peckish). Nothing at his creation other than the auto-polyglottism She bestows on Her angels seems to give him any tools for navigating the bewildering variety of human cultures and customs... and literary metaphor (along with lots of other literary things) is commonly culturally-bound, culturally-specific.

I mean, if you read something (maybe in high school (or analogue) or college) that was written A Long Time Ago and/or Very Far Away, didn't it probably have a ton of what lit-critters call "apparatus" in it? Explanatory introductions, bibliography, and above all footnotes/endnotes/margin notes, many of which explain figures of speech that otherwise wouldn't make sense? Not to mention stuff like (just as an example) which local then-current political morass Dante threw this particular historical person in this particular circle of Hell for. Stuff that if you're not there, not embedded in the culture and the time, you're just plain gonna whiff. Hell, even Shakespeare editions have a ton of apparatus, and Shakespeare's in Early Modern English for pity's sake!

(Which is not to say that something has to be ancient or not-from-here to benefit from some apparatus. What is The Annotated Pratchett File if not apparatus for Discworld?)

So our peripatetic angel reading literature of whatever time he's actually in (which mostly won't have apparatus he can rely on for help) will often find himself not clued-in enough to a given human culture to completely understand its literary figures, metaphors included. And sure, that's going to lead to some misreadings and misunderstandings and overliteral takes! I can't read Dante's Inferno and understand everything in it! It takes Italianists years, if not decades, to do that!

And to make the problem even more difficult, literature feeds on itself, and on other arts as well. (Hi hi hello, comparative literature major, I totally studied various flows of literary and artistic influence in college and wouldn't trade that major for anything ever, it was the best major.) Think about all the time and effort GO meta-ists have spent of late teasing out callbacks and allusions and references in GO s2. That kind of work is also part of what Aziraphale has to do to understand fully what he reads... and it's a lot of work, even for a reader as voracious and possibly sleepless as our angel.

So yeah, in sum, I don't think Aziraphale has a perfect -- or even good -- track record on understanding what he reads. I adore him because he reads anyway! He never gives up on trying to understand! That's absolutely praiseworthy! (Crowley has something of an analogue to this in his love for human inventions. He doesn't understand how anything actually works, for the most part, but he loves it all the same.)

I think there's also an outstanding question about what Aziraphale gains from reading, a sense of social rules (Part 3) aside? Well, it's known that reading (especially fiction, especially fiction about characters who are Not Like The Reader) increases empathy. I don't know if Aziraphale reads specifically for that reason, but I'm absolutely willing to believe that fiction works on him that way, just as it does on us, even if he doesn't fully understand everything he reads. Did you fully understand everything you read as a child? Or even as an adult? I would never claim that of myself. Yet I certainly will claim that I picked up a lot of what I suppose I will call my character -- it runs deeper than personality -- and my general understanding of life (insofar as I have one) from reading.

If I had to answer why Aziraphale reads, though? I'd think back to my own childhood, as a bullied child with somewhat neglectful parents who held outsized expectations of me. Reading for me was peace, was escape, was enjoyment, was something to think about that wasn't my own unhappiness, was -- now and then, honestly not often enough -- seeing myself reflected in a book and feeling less alone. I hope and believe that human literature and music served similar purposes for our poor angel.

[acidichcl]

My babies

Was playing around a lil with how i draw them

Anyways, im bored so below is just me rambling about my tmnt fan iteration. I also might change the name. Maybe

If ur gonna read it, be warned, it’s long 💀 i tend to yap alot. I’ll make a clearer post once i figure everything out lmao

I guess i’ll start by explaining this post first. Baxter stockman found a crystal near an alien crash site and he found it super pretty, he wanted to give it to april’s mom, who he fancied. At the time, he didnt think much of it. He just thought it was a regular pretty crystal that was probably formed because of the crash impact or something.

As baxter gives the crystal necklace to april for her to give to her mom, april ends up giving it to Leo instead because april doesnt like her mom and refuses to give any gifts to her. Leo wears the crystal necklace in gratitude for April and on that night, leo had something happen to him. It’s like something from the necklace is taking over his body. That something is basically the crystal’s energy getting embedded to his body, this includes a hologram being (like an AI i guess) that is part of that crystal

This hologram being is what u call a Chronix (im bad at naming, i just pulled that outta my ass😭), that mainly takes a dragon-like form, but it doesnt really have a set form. Theyre holograms after all. Chronix doesnt immediately show itself to Leo, as just like any other virtual assistant, it only shows up when needed. When the crystal’s energy was embedded to Leo, he just thought that it was somehow Donnie’s mischievous doing. Maybe he was experimenting with things and Leo got caught in the way. Weird things happen pretty often and the first suspicion has always been on Donnie due to his mysterious and mischievious nature so leo quickly dismissed it and went on with his day after Donnie gives Leo a device that would help tame the energy surge.

One day, a bunch of utroms have been spotted roaming around the town. While April was still sleeping, an utrom managed to get into april’s place through an open window and climbed onto leo, causing him to freak out and accidentally spawn a holographic whip that would break April’s shelf of her beloved figurines. Leo begged Donnie to fix everything and he also tells Donnie that the device he gave isnt working. Donnie agreed to fix the issues and he tells Raph and Mikey to somehow keep April stay in her room so that she wont see the mess. While Donnie is fixing up his device, Leo is sitting alone in his room, wondering what actually is happening to him.

Prompted by Leo’s question about what’s happening, Chronix appears and tells him that the energy surges he’s getting are because he’s not used to it yet. His body is not trained enough to be a container for the energy nor to gain better control of what he spawns. Chronix explains further about what it is and where it came from: The utroms have a very advanced living condition and what keeps their conditions alive is a big sun crystal that powers everything in their planet. It is linked to everything there and it casts virtual assistants to serve the utroms. As they were fleeing their planet that’s about to be taken over by shredder (i imagine him to be like Wander over yonder’s lord hater lol), the utroms took the big crystal with them as its huge energy source is believed to be able to form a new world and Shredder will have his own loyal army. Cuz virtual assistants cant think or feel for themselves, they just do what theyre prompted to do, theres no way for them to betray him. Shredder took over that planet because he wants that power in order to conquer the galaxy. When the utroms fled with the crystal, they crashed to earth, causing the huge crystal to shatter to multiple pieces. those who came to check out the crash site notice these crystal fragments and take them, either its for collection, or for profit purposes, or for research, whatever. Ppl like shiny things ok. The utroms are trying to gather all the pieces to form the crystal whole again, while shredder, and other alien invaders, are also actively trying to seek out for this crystal.

As Leo is one of those who is in possession of the crystal, he is now a target, hence why an utrom climbed up onto him that morning. Now knowing that he’s not supposed to be in possession of the crystal, he tries to take off the necklace but he is now bonded with the crystal so he physically can’t take it off. The crystals dont have the same effects on other living things tho. But I think i’ll not say the reason for that yet. I have an idea, i just gotta think more about it

To avoid any more accidents, he asks for chronix’s guidance on how to make his body stronger to contain and control the energy. Chronix tells him that he just needs to train n stuff. For better guidance, he tells his brothers. And then april, who then mentions that there’s a dojo nearby and thats where they meet casey jones and his grandpa who owns a pet rat, Splinter, who shortly gets in contact with an utrom and gets mutated. Also the grandpa’s pretty old so he passes away not very long after. Casey is still too young to continue his legacy, but splinter is now an old wise rat who knows of the grandpa’s techniques. So splinter takes the sensei role to initially train only leo and casey, but the other turtles and april also wanted to join in just to have something to do

Yeah

[casey-wont-eat-paste]

I’m gonna be talking about the finale of season three so if you don’t want spoilers scroll on

They all cleared out? Good.

Honestly, I felt kind of disappointed with the finale, the battle was great, the buildup and the resolution of the characters that we have grown to know and love throughout the series was great, but.

And this is a really big but.

The actual finale of the show, the last few minutes we got with these characters, not Nine or Thorn or Dread or Rebel but the characters we started out with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge felt bland. it made the entire series feel inconsequential, the way that everything was just better now, Sonic and Shadow were the only ones who learned anything, and we have no resolution to any of the other storylines. What happened in New York now that the egg are taken down? What adventures does captain Rose lead her crew on? How does the boscage maze grown to live in Harmony? Is nine just living in isolation now? And how do each of these universes function without their respective prism shards?

Of course, none of these questions take in the theory that each of the shatter spaces was a part of Greenhill, that each of the characters are a part of the ones that Sonic knows them as, but I feel like that theory would be better illustrated if we got a little more time with the og characters, If they could talk about this weird shared dream, Or contemplate the validity of their memories. Or if the characters themselves didn’t want to address it they could have the visual image of the shatter spaces colliding into each other.

I appreciate the hug that sonic gave Eggman, I think that was cute and funny but the fact that the battle proceeded with basically no consequences felt bland.

Overall the finale felt incomplete for me, but feel free to debate me on this, I’m actually really interested to see other people’s opinions of this finale.

Anyway here’s my interpretation of how I think an extra few minutes in the show could’ve gone.

We open up on New Yolk in shambles, robots are destroyed, the buses and trains that were used for transportation are powered off and the people are celebrating. The oppressive rule of the egg is no more and they are finally free. They establish a democracy or other political system, and their entire worlds technology is set back due to the absence of the prism shard, people are hopeful, there is a future for New Yolk, one that is safe for everyone.

Captain Rose collaboratively, with her pirate crew, decides to hunt for a new treasure, discovering other people, the mainland, and the giant gemstone said to hold immense power.

The scavengers live at peace with the forest, taking what they need and learning to give back as well, protecting its life from the inside.

nine lives in isolation, but slowly realizes that if he looks far enough there are inhabitants in the grim (because I refuse to believe there’s just this incomplete universe) and he’s able to make friends, even if it’s difficult

And Sonic knows, he knows he made a huge mistake and that he was lucky to fix it. Shadow knows to. But sonic has his friends, he has his friends he knows he can rely on and that he needs to listen to. And together, nothing can stop them.

(Or yk nine could be a interdimensional superhero who makes sure that other universes don’t break like his almost did, whatever you want)

[gimmethosedaddymilkers]

Starving in The Dark

Okay another mini thing while I'm struggling to do the other responses rn, these ones I do while im laying down to go to bed lmao, but your requests will get done I promise!

Anyway! This is based on the thing I posted earlier today 😈 if you know you know.

Its very 18+ so minors DNI

WARNINGS!: NSFW, arthur literally devouring you, in general sexy things, chubby reader because I said so and theres not enough chubny reader and chubby arthur in this world

TAGS:@mrsarthurmorgan7 @photo1030 @kieropal @cantchoosejust1 @6kaja9

So lets get started!!!

You feel as though you're gonna loose a finger to the cold around you, even being bigger and retaining heat better than smaller people would, you felt frozen to the core.

After the gang had left the Amberino mountains on your run from the law you didn't figure you'd be back up here so soon, but here you were, shivering and shaking on your horse, even in your heavy coat, as you and Arthur trek through the snow the further you got into the mountains.

Granted the snow that you traveled through now was no where near as bad as it had been the first time the gang had come through here, but it still seemed to sink right into your bones, you could only imagine how cold your horses were.

But you refused to complain. Arthur had told you he wanted to take you somewhere out of camp, far away, just the two of you, so you could finally spend sometime together without being harassed by the others or being pulled apart to do other jobs.

Granted you would have appreciated it if he'd taken you somewhere warmer, but you weren't about to start whining when he was trying to do something sweet and thoughtful for you. It wasn't often the two of you got to sneak away like this.

"We're almost there Darlin' I swear, then I'll get the fire goin' and that cabin'll warm up quick."

Arthur looks over his shoulder at you, his face reflecting a mixture of guilt and apology.

He'd clearly recogonized your freezing state.

"I'm okay!" You lie through your teeth offering a smile, you hate seeing the big guy look so sad. "Just cold!"

"I know, I shoulda just had you ride in the same horse with me, woulda been warmer for ya." He sighs and then nudges his horses sides. "C'mon, pick up the pace, let's get there."

The two of you ride for just a little longer, snowflakes sticking to your eyelashes the further you go, until eventually the two of you come over a hill to see a rather small cabin on what would be a beautiful lake, had it not been frozen over.

You're quick to hitch the horses in a nearby area where they're slightly sheltered, and make your way into the cabin.

It's a little run down, but upon looking at it you realize someone's clearly cleaned it up, and as you look back at Arthur you realize he really has been planning this for a while. The bed is made and the floor's been decently cleaned, a stack of wood decently high is sat against one of the walls and the cuboards are stocked with food.

Arthur moves and closes the door behind him the moment the two of you step over the threshold, he gently kisses the side of your head before beginning to start a fire up for you.

You can't help but watch him as he works, crossing your arms in an attempt to retain your heat.

Even in the cold he keeps his demenor, which around you is a little softer, kinder.

There's a small smile on his face as he does his work and the cold air has caused his cheeks to bloom red.

"You look so cute in the snow." You mumble, taking note of his denim clad jacket, the collar lined with fur. It covers his cheeks a little, but not enough to cover the fact that his face gets slightly redder at your compliment.

"Now, I don't even believe you when you call me handsome," he chuckles and continues to throw wood into the stove settled in the center of the small cabin. "What makes you think I'll believe you when you say that?"

"Who says I need you to believe it grumpy?"

He simply offers another small chuckle to you before he starts to attempt to light the fire. Luckily it doesn't take long.

The fire blazes and you find yourself crowding in the front of the stove as soon as Arthur shuts the front of it and opens the vents to allow heat into the room.

He stands behind you, his hands gently grasping your shoulders and his chin resting on rhe crown of your head.

"Sorry it was such a long ride Darlin' and a cold one too." He mumbles under his breath, letting out a long sigh that you feel reverberate through your body.

"It's okay Arthur, really." You smile this time, to yourself, he needed this break more than you did, you were just happy he wanted to take it with you. You'd follow him anywhere he wanted to go, and this included anywhere.

"Hmm." He gives the hum in response and then another sigh before he lets go of you to move towards the bed placed against the wall across frkm where you stand.

You watch as he plops down and begins to take his boots off and his coat soon follows.

He himself is a big man, and even he seemed a little cold, that redness of his face, and the small chatter in his teeth that occasionally appeared, it was no surpise you were so cold.

"I know it's cold," he mutters. "But you should get that heavier stuff off and get under the covers body heat'll be better for the two of us then these cold jackets."

You offer a nod, and then move to meet him, taking your coat off as you move.

It was gonna be a cold night.

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

You wake up sweating, with the smallness of the cabin and the constant wood going into the stove to keep it that way, plus Arthur's body heat, you felt as though you were absolutely swimming.

The two of you together, both bigger bodies, the heat you both gave off, it was a wonder he wasn't sweating his ass off too.

It's completely dark in the cabin, other than a little bit of fire light from the stove.

You manage to get up out of the bed without waking Arthur, sliding out of his iron grip as quietly and as gently as possible.

You do the only thing you can think of to get to a comfortable temperature and strip out of your night clothes.

Tossing them to the side you feel much better, still warm, but without the extra cotton its a much more comfortable warmth.

You give a quiet sigh and clamber back into bed, getting back under Arthur's arm as quietly as possible.

"Y' good?" His words are slurred agains your neck as you settle back down, and after a moment his hand finds your waist and he seems to wake a little.

"The hell did your clothes go?"

"It's hot in here Arthur-" you hear the whine in your voice and feel awful for a moment, but you realize now laying back under the cover with arthur again that you'll most likely wake up covered in sweat once more.

Arthur's silent for a moment, but then you feel his hand travel over your stomach, going a little lower, reaching your thighs.

He's clearly not thinking about the words you just said.

"Arthur you are not listening-"

"Kinda stopped after I realized your tits were out if 'm honest." He sighs and you feel a hot kiss against your neck. "What I wouldn't give to feel these around my head...."

He squeezes your thigh gently, his fingers crawling towards your inner thigh.

"I'm already warm..." it's a feeble excuse, and you know it, yiu absolutely love it when he gets like this, so despite your discomfort you know that you're more than likely going to go along with him.

"Maybe if you got out from under these covers ...let those pretty tits of yours hit the air..."

"What the hell are you suggesting?"

"Mhmmm...." Arthur's voice comes out as a groan in your ear, and he places a small kiss there, right behind your ear.

"I'm sayin'," he mumbles. "I think you should sit on my face..."

"Arthur!"

You've never done such a thing. Of course you've had him between your legs before, and you'd never deny him that, as he got pleasure out of it just as you did, in fact it was one of his favorite things, but NEVER had you ever sat on his face.

"I'm too big." You mutter. "Too heavy, I sit on your face and I'll sufficate you-"

"Good, a fine way to die." He kisses your neck again.

"Arthur I'm serious!"

"I am too."

You sigh and he simply gets closer to your ear.

"Please Y/n...Please, I want you to do it so badly....please."

He's begging you. How could you tell him no.

"Okay..." You mumble the answer after a few moments of silence. "But you have to promise to stop me if you can't breathe, please?"

"Of course, you're My Girl."

You feel a heat in your cheeks and move, watching as he moves to lay on his back.

He keeps his hands to the sides, lazily awaiting you to sit on your throne.

He motions you towards him with his two middle fingers on each hand.

With just that you're compelled.

You manage to manuver yourself to the right place, and you begin to squat over his face, hovering if you will, and you feel Arthur's hands latch onto your thick thighs.

"I said sit." His voice comes out in a growl and then with a tight squeeze and a single rough pull on his end you find yourself completely sat on Arthur's face.

You can't move, he hold's you tightly against his face, buried in your pussy.

His hands massage your thighs, and you can feel his tongue moving in the best way you can think of.

It sends tingles through your body, the way he seems to nearly devour you, as though he'd never had a meal in his life.

His mouth is warm, and wet as he licks, and licks, and each flick of his tongue that seems expert you can't stop yourself from letting out lewd sounds that make you grateful he's taken you all the way into the mountains.

You reach between your thighs, gripping his hair tightly as he has his snack.

"Arthur...." You doubt he can even hear you from his position, but you hope that he gets the message when you begin to move your hips, riding his face.

His hands move from your thighs to your ass, and he helps guide each thrust of your hips.

You take a moment to look down, meeting his eyes between your thighs.

He's got a look there that you've seen many times, full and utter lust.

You can feel his nost brushing against sensitve areas of your heat, and his tongue still works away at you, lapping like a thirsty animal.

One of his hands moves from your ass, wrapping over your thigh and reaching between your legs, finding your clit easily, as it's nearly second nature for him.

Your breathing is ragged as he continues his assult of pleasure on you.

You know it isn't gonna take much longer for you to come undone, and your grip in his hair gets tighter, he can tell it won't be much longer.

The faster his tongue gets the faster his hand goes, he matches the circular motion just right with everything else until-

"Arthur!"

You feel yourself clench up and your thighs close instinctually against Arthur's head, and he continues to lick, doing his best to help ride out your orgasam.

When you're able to regain your composure he offers a few taps on your thigh and you manage to move off of him, catching the glint of your arousal on his face from the small firelight.

"Next time, when I say sit on my face I mean sit." He swallows and you watch as he licks his lips before placing his hands behind his head. "I want you to smother me."

You simply blink at him, your heart still racing from your high.

He'd just eaten you as though you were his last meal and that's all he could say.

You blink and then look towards his waist.

You had some giving to do.

[canyonkingdom]

love i share

(robocar poli oneshot)

(tw: illness, depression, assisted $u|c|d3)

It's the dawn of my creation. The moment I opened my eyes, the world felt otherworldly.

The first faces I saw were of shock,

but they were basking in unmasked love.

They were my family. Poli and Roy served as my older brothers full of responsibility dare they take up. Amber was my mentor, my undying platonic strewn over. (And whenever leaking spur, my mind was all about her uncontrollably.)

I had been the cheery little brother my team, my family, had grown to see. We were happy on our own, but felt happier ruling over the town. Superiority at its finest is when we plead our strength. We have arms and legs while the inept citizens have wheels to compensate.

We were cars, robots, robocars living until the day we rust hundreds of years later. And there was our leader, our stunning, intelligent, beloved leader. She was a human, unlike all of us superiors, but we grew to love her as part of our team.

"I promise," the sweet dripping from her voice, "I will never leave you." Her love bloomed.

She called me Helly. I was the most loved, yet most hated. Childlike and preserved I show, her tiny hands roaming my metal frame as she looked for imperfections.

She was a mother.

Only pure sweet I felt, none drenched in bitterness. A holding hand reaching me out, tenderness when I touch.

Us four do her every bidding. Independent we are, yet dependent on love. She nurtured us despite her lackings. Every rescue, a fresh coat of paint. Every accident, kisses goodnight. We were grown and we cherish a mother's love dearly.

One dawn in October, I scurried to the control room like a lost rat. My mind didn't fathom any activities yet I felt energetic. I was halted by a ear piercing scream.

Mother woke up. I snuck to the door, peeking slightly. Breathing so fast she did, her hair unkempt. Her hand wavered to the air, looked like she was touching something.

Or someone.

"Is it my time now?" she asked bewilderingly.

Slowly, she nodded, I could feel tears running through her. She sighed, yet a big grin flashed on her face. Light through the dusk basking in the headquarters. I felt confused.

I brushed it off soon after.

I should've come back to it.

It deeply hurt us when October came.

"Tuberculosis." I wish I could unhear the doctor's stern words.

How couldn't we notice? Her frequent coughs, fevers, tiredness; Smart us robots are, we aren't devoid of knowledge when in need.

"It has spread outside of her lungs." I forced a sob. "There's a chance she may survive, but I believe it's by a wide margin."

Doctor's appointments mother always missed, as she never came, seeing herself perfectly fine. She didn't care about her deteriorating immune system, even if she couldn't stand up no more. I should've suspected something when she always tightly gripped her chest, wheezing in clear out of breath state, yet I failed to see her pain amidst.

"How much is treatment gonna cost?" Amber asked. Her eyes glowed with hope despite the previous words.

"It's three thousand dollars for the medicine, and if the patient wishes to be confined, it's twenty three thousand."

"That's pocket money!" Roy bellowed a laugh to lighten the grueling mood. "We'll do it-"

"No."

She was smiling.

"I refuse to take the treatment." She repeated in a longer statement.

The doctor was impaled with sympathy.

Arguing aroused at home. Once a happy household drowned in bickering.

"Why would you refuse treatment, Jin?" Amber asked devastatingly. Her voice cracked every cry and her anger chilled me inside. Laidback once now fuming.

Comfortable in her orange pajamas, "I would still die in a few years even if i take the treatment." her voice was small, weaker than of Ambers.

"But you would still live longer..." my voice quivered when I said that statement. I wanted her to live yet I wished for her death.

"My decision." she simply said. A small smile she wore. Her tired eyes extenuated her frail body.

Poli and Roy didn't talk to her out of anger, only when there are rescue missions. Amber frequently tried to get her to reconsider, yet she stayed true to her word. Mourning was pain in their vocabulary.

But I only wished her best.

She still ran the rescue station beneath her crumbling health. Rescue missions continued, the town blissfully unaware of her sickness. Her pain left ignored. Countless pleas made; yet she never complied.

"Please, Jin. Poli and Roy only want you to get better." Amber tried hard, downward spiral ensues.

"They should respect my dying wish." her lips were chapped as forced a smile.

Nothing was the same.

Arguments erupted about her illness I tend to stay sway from. I cower every shout, I fly away when glass breaks. My fingers touch the outskirts of town, where I banter with the inferior townsfolk.

"Wanna play ball, Helly?" Annoying voice Bruner used, I refused instantly. I'm weeping in my own sadness.

I stood at the edge of the cliff, admiring the stars above. I saw her eyes glowing in the stars. Her smile a million stars I felt.

I felt her love.

Yet I can never feel it.

The undying pleasure where love once shined basked in underlying darkness. Depressing environment I flew in, blooming flowers wilting.

Poli and Roy became distant. Sad glares chipped up their frames, dipped in hatred. They didn't speak with her (I didn't understand how they could leave her love untouched.) and came to the headquarters less and less. I worried for them, but I didn't care.

They left her.

Amber stayed, health deteriorated. Her tears made her rust, bright paint once ladled in sad rustic orange. I kept her bright, painting over the scars. Yet they still persisted. Her pain leveled with the tuberculosis.

They couldn't take care of themselves no more.

Thankfully, the missions died down. I became Amber's nurse, ironically. (Mother didn't want a caretaker watching her every move.) Calm her premature tears, engine oil leaking, I become despondent seeing everyone lose hope in my eyes.

I was in the repair center, she looked me dead in the eyes. I didn't feel love pulsating from her veins.

It's sad.

It's been months. Mother's health is down the drain. Amber was getting better, her mental state didn't. Her days spent by looking over the port, finessing the sea. She shouted at me when I disrupted her peace of mind (which it wasn't, she went insane). Amber long ago stopped convincing mother to take treatment.

I have been on her side since illness shown. Making small talk, and didn't rush her need to get treatment. I only wished her wish to come true, live her best life as I serve her day and night. But her love never bloomed once again, like a wilting flower, bits chopped.

It was a cold October night, I finished my patrol immediately going back to her side. I'm greeted by Amber in the door, her eyes sunk, her metal rusting once more. I smile at her dearly, and she smiles back. I make my way to her room.

"Helly," she says bluntly.

I open my mouth to speak, yet interrupted. "Meet me at the garden, strictly midnight." her frail voice reminds me.

This was going down a dark path, but I trust my guts, trust her mind. Her body was of thin breadsticks and a orange bonnet she wore, lost of all her hair. Yet one sweet smile still remained on her face, though pale and wrinkled.

Midnight came by. I spot Amber in the race track. She was sobbing. She was always like this and I leave her be. I fly to the garden solemnly, spotting her amongst the array of flowers.

I retract my propeller as I land. It was so peaceful. She was looking at the sky above, twinkling stars and the glowing moon. I love seeing mother happy.

She looks at me. She smiles. "You came."

"I always will." I reply.

"Helly, do you know why I didn't want treatment?"

I sigh. "Why?"

"I wanted to die, Helly."

My eyes widen with that answer. Never did I see her as suicidal, she showered us with her affection and never showed herself her own. I felt terrible, rust crawling through my metal frame.

"Don't think about it the wrong way," she sighs heavily, "I love all of you, Poli, Roy, Amber, and especially you. But-" she paused.

"Why?" I blurt out painfully.

"They're calling me, Helly. Heaven." angelic tears, "My dad, he's calling me. I've got to leave this world."

Her dad has been a controversial topic. Like her, he had gave her love, looking up to him. Yet he died, sadly.

"Why?" I repeat, more sincerely.

"I miss his love, Helly."

Her painfully stupid but passionate decision shot daggers through my running engine. Death called her attention and was willing to sacrifice it just to feel love.

I forgot she was a real human, one that was amazing.

"I'm sorry," I say,

"I love you," I mutter.

She died, her glow fading in my arms. Her skin as pale as snow. Amber wailed so hard, cursing the world. I felt tears streak my frame.

Mother was a joy.

"I promise," the sweet dripping from her voice, "I will never leave you." Her love bloomed.

Lies.

For once, I hated her love. Selfishness engulfed her being. We wanted her to be okay, and she didn't consider our feelings in the matter. All she wanted was to feel love.

Love.

Poli and Roy returned for the funeral. Awkwardness ensued when we sat together. Though they were deeply cracked inside, they found a way to smile. All of us. Amber's rust didn't show.

"How are you?" Roy asks, his voice husky from crying.

"You left us." Amber mutters harshly.

"I'm sorry." Roy sobs, "I- i'm sorry, I was angry a- and I didn't- I didn't fucking- fuck!"

Poli kept his cool, weeping in silence.

Her dark umbre casket lowered down and covered in dirt. Flowers dumped at the grave. Poli on his knees, begging for forgiveness. I stood there blankly.

Life never returned to normal, for me. Poli and Roy wiggled themselves into Amber's forgiveness, yet I enver forgave them further. They were stupid for even returning after leaving her for a simple misunderstanding of decisions.

Yet the only reason they returned was because of,

me.

Their stupid asses will never know. Never further looking at the autopsy report. They will never know her smile when I wrapped my arms around her neck, the crack of her bones, how I sobbed on her body throughout the night. When Amber found it, she was speechless. Thought she died of her illness.

I hid the autopsy safe in my room, none suspecting a single thing.

That night, she was persistent.

"Kill me, Helly."

Her love blinded me.

I felt it.

Her love, shining once more.

I watched Poli, Roy, and Amber hug each other goodbye. I watched the consequences of my decision thrive.

-///-

I cried a little while making this and that says a lot

pls don't cancel me /j

[pinkhairandpokemon]

OFFSCREEN POST

———

(( OOC: uhhhHHH I dunno what to specifically tag this as but SOMEONE GETS FUCKED UP SO. BE AWARE ))

———

Yesterday, Blake’s frustration had been running high, and they’d been more than ready to execute this plan. Put an end to their organization’s schemes once and for all, before any more damage could be done. Throughout the course of the day, though, that sureness had all but completely fiddled out. Especially following that small argument they’d had with N only a few hours prior.

When they saw Cole come up those steps, though, they knew there wasn’t any turning back now. For better or worse, they had to follow through.

“You managed to find your way up here, I see.” N remarked, his gaze on the trainer several paces away cold and calculating. Waiting patiently for the other’s response. Blake stood at the king’s side, looking at nothing, while their heart pounded beneath the fabric of their uniform.

“Yeah, believe it or not, I’m not really all for the idea of you Plasma bastards waking up a Legendary Dragon in order to take control of the region,” Cole scoffed, crossing his arms and keeping that defiant stance he always held when facing off N. Or anyone who tried to stand in his way, for that matter. A Samurott stood at the ready by his side, fur bristled on end and the jagged point on its helmet glinting in the sunlight.

The king didn’t reply for a moment. Rather, he looked down at the Dark Stone nestled safely in his left palm, eyes tracing the lines of light reflecting off its smooth, dark surface.

“You’re definitely brave. That’s something I’ve always admired in you, you know.” N mumbled, gaze trailing back up to his opponent, though he showed no sign of amusement. “Your tenacity, your unrelenting will to do what you think it’s right. It’s a true shame that determination is so… misplaced.”

“Yeah, yeah, haven’t heard that one before,” Cole brushed him off with an eye roll. “Look, I’ve tried time and time again to just talk things out with you. To sort out our differences without a fight. But time and time again, you’ve refused. So here’s how this is going to go- you’re going to surrender the Dark Stone, not awaken an ancient power that’ll release hell upon Unova, and we’re all gonna go home happy! Okay? Please?”

N laughed at that, like he’d just been told a joke. Cole shot him a glare to affirm he wasn’t joking, but the king ignored it. “You’re sorely mistaken if you think unleashing chaos onto Unova and forcing Zekrom to bend to my will is my goal here. I’m not like the monsters who brought destruction down onto places like Galar and Unova. I plan to befriend Zekrom- earn her favor so she’ll help me pave the way for a better world.”

He clutches the Dark Stone tighter. “Once I do, I’ll defeat Alder, then stand at the top of the Pokémon League as its champion and issue out an order to all of Unova’s trainers- to release their Pokémon.”

“How exactly do you expect people to listen to you, then?” Cole argued. “Just because you’ll be champion and have a big scary dragon on your side doesn’t mean people aren’t going to resist… Believe it or not, there’s plenty of people in Unova who aren’t going to crack and give up on their Pokémon that easily.”

“Maybe not,” N concurred with a shrug. “But they will over time. One way or another, I will free the Pokémon of this world-”

“Look, are you just gonna keep monologuing at me, or are we gonna get this over with?” Cole cut him off, balling his fists in impatience. His Samurott gave a snort beside him. “I’m getting really sick of hearing this over and over again. I don’t wanna fight you- but if you won’t stop and listen to reason for even a second, then I’ll put an end to this myself.”

“You think you’re up to the task?” N challenged. Shadows around him began to warp and distort, before a Zoroark emerged at his side. The black and red fox carried a menacing aura, blue eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. “You might’ve beaten me in our previous disputes, but I was holding back for the safety of my friends. Don’t expect me to do so now.”

“So you’ve finally decided to stop being a wet blanket, huh?” Cole huffed, quirking a brow in doubt. He flicked his gaze towards his Samurott. “Looks like we’re doing this, then. Calder, battle ready!”

Without a beat of hesitation, Samurott responded and jumped into action, stomping out onto the stone floor that would serve as their battlefield and unsheathing one of its long scallop blades from the slot on its arm.

Nox didn’t even need a vocal command. He stalked forwards on all fours, red mane bristled up like spines and eyes trained on the Samurott meters away as he awaited N’s command.

The two trainers exchanged a few more words across the field, Cole murmured some words of encouragement to his Pokémon, N and Nox shared an affirmative nod. It all went by in a bit of a blur for Blake, words flying over their head until the first crack of claws and blades colliding together snapped the grunt out of the nervous daze they’d fallen into.

They jolted, alert and present now. Their eyes flicked back and forth between Nox and Calder, the two Pokémon becoming blurs of red, blue, black and yellow as they clashed, leaping here and there across the floor. Then their gaze fixed on Cole, who shot them a knowing look across the room. Then, they shifted to N- and the Dark Stone huddled securely under his left arm. Just barely in Blake’s field of reach from where they stood.

Was this it? Was this supposed to be their chance? The expectant glances from Cole in the corner of their eye didn’t go unnoticed. Their mind raced with questions and second guesses on whether or not they should really go through with this, bouncing back and forth between “Just grab it!” and “Don’t! Not yet!”. Dragons, they wish they had talked this out more with Cole beforehand. They wished they’d thought this through, instead of running off their reckless anger alone.

They froze. They waited. And waited. And waited. They could tell from here that Cole was growing anxious with their hesitation by the second, without even needing to look at him. They waited, watching the Pokémon exchange blow after blow until they both looked like they were at their wits’ end.

Nox, although bruised and battered with his fur sticking out every which way, made another jump at Calder. The Samurott faltered on its paws, but looked up just at the right moment to see the Zoroark closing it. With a mighty roar, Cole’s valiant and loyal starter swung its arm upward and snatched Nox in mid-air, claws digging into the collar of fuzz around his throat. With a just as lethal amount of force, he then slammed his opponent into the floor, cracking the marble underneath.

“NOX!” N shouted, panic bulging in his eyes at the sight of his best friend being crushed under the weight of the armored behemoth.

The Zoroark hissed and pried at the Samurott’s claws, but to no avail. Blake knew he’d be fine, though- Nox had survived way worse. The only reason Cole wasn’t claiming victory now was because this was it. N was distracted. Nox was pinned down. Blake could practically hear the younger trainer screaming “Now!” at them in his mind.

Not a second to lose. Blake’s arms shot forwards, almost like they were moving on their own. The second they felt the Dark Stone’s cool, smooth surface under the fabric of their gloves, they knew it was time to run. The artifact slipped seamlessly out of the king’s grasp in his distracted state, not even giving him a second to realize what was going on before Blake had turned heel and bolted.

“BLAKE!” The sound of N exclaiming their name was almost drowned out by the sound of their footsteps thundering up the steps, and the sound of their own heart practically reverberating in their ears. Fuck, I should’ve went down, the thought quickly brushed past their mind, realizing not only that going up was a ticket to a dead end, but they would’ve had Cole’s protection if only they’d ran the other way.

Too late now. For all they knew, the Shadow Triad could have been right behind them, and turning to stop and look back for even a blink could spell a sword cutting through them.

So, they ran. As fast as their feet could take them, and as swiftly as these narrow spiraling steps would allow. Up, around, up, around, faster, faster, up, around, they repeated the course of their movements over and over again to themself in their mind, if anything as a distraction from the immense strain on their body. Frigid cold stung their throat, turning it as dry as sand, and their lungs heaved violently with every shallow intake of the quickly thinning air the higher they climbed.

Why are there so many stairs? They wanted to choke out and collapse right then and there, but they didn’t. Practically wobbling and rocking from side to side, they continued their frantic ascent to the next floor, the final floor, where there wouldn’t be anywhere to run after that. Hopefully they could come up with something before then. Not likely, but they hoped.

The sky above was cloudy and dark, but there was still enough light out here compared to inside for Blake to be blinded as they erupted through the final passageway and emerged onto the tower’s peak. Squeezing their eyes shut, they stumbled across the flat ground, putting so much focus into not dropping the Dark Stone that they forgot about keeping themself upright. They lurched forwards and landed on the cold, scratchy ground with a thump, Zekrom’s slumbering form still clutched tightly to their chest.

Rolling over to their back, they gasped desperately up at the sky for oxygen, ragged breath almost coming out as pained cries. The wish of having an inhaler briefly crossed their thoughts, until they remembered they were still in the middle of a chase, and were in even deeper water now that they’d reached the top of Dragonspiral. No where else to go but down, and that was where some unpleasant fate- most likely immediate assassination by the Triad- awaited them.

Their best bet was to wait until everyone caught up, try to avoid whatever was bound to be thrown at them and make their escape downwards. Not a very sound plan, but the only one they had. Hopefully their body would hold out until then.

As the grunt stumbled back onto their feet, the screeching wind and their still heavy panting blocked out the sound of footsteps approaching, until a familiar voice rang out from behind-

“Blake! Stop!”

They looked back to catch a glimpse of tea green hair rise from the stairway, and took off like a frightened prey animal. They sprinted clumsily across the tower’s roof, tripping over themself and almost teetering smack-dab into a pillar at one point, miraculously managing to keep themself from getting a second face-plant full of rock.

The edge came up on them sooner than they would’ve liked. Blake skidded to an abrupt halt, scrambling away from the ledge like a newborn Deerling trying to walk. It was a long, long way down. The cloud cover up here was so thick, they could hardly see the expanse of ocean stretching out below the tower. Echoes of thunder crackled everywhere around them, and there was the occasional flash in the dark misty skies looming above. Any moment now, and a burst of rainfall could come crashing down on them all.

“Blake!” They whirled at the sound of his voice, almost knocking themself over with the amount of friction they used to turn. N stood barely a yard away, hair messy and wind blown under his now crooked hat. There were a thousand emotions flooding behind his storm cloud colored eyes, all wanting to burst out, but couldn’t- like they were clogged up in a drain pipe. Confusion. Hurt. Anger. Betrayal. The desperate, dwindling hope that this was all just a misunderstanding.

Nox dashed to his side. Blake noticed Cole and the Shadow Triad appear from the stairs over his shoulder.

It wasn’t until now that they felt the burning of hot tears flooding down their puffy, sweat-stained face. When had they started crying?

“Blake, what are you doing?” N croaked out, eyes searching them for an answer. “Give me the stone back-”

“No,” they sputtered out, taking a step back. Their voice wavered, but still held strong.

N paused, and looked at them with surprise. Then, his brows furrowed, and his tone became more stern. “Blake, give it back-”

“No!”

The wind whistled past. Silence.

“What are you doing?” N rasped out, his voice cracking. He looked ready to either cry or scream at them. Maybe both. It was such a stark contrast to his usual collected demeanor.

For a moment, Blake’s words caught in their throat. They knew exactly why they were doing this. But they knew trying to blubber out an explanation for themself again would be as pointless as it had been before.

“I… I can’t let you do this,” they declared.

There was nothing left to be said.

N clenched his fist, then unclenched again. All sorts of conflicting feelings were rising up in his chest. Reluctance burned behind his eyes, but still, he gave the command.

“…Nox,” his Zoroark’s ears perked up. “Take the stone back.”

Nox stood up on his hind legs, and crept forwards, like a predator closing in on its chase. Blake’s shoulders tensed, and they sucked in a sharp inhale as they took another step backwards. They felt their heel hover over an absence of ground, which caused their heart to do another leap in their ribcage.

Nowhere else to go.

Nox lunged. From the way he moved, Blake could tell he wasn’t aiming to hurt them. He was most likely planning to yank them away from the ledge, while snatching the Dark Stone back at the same time.

But that wasn’t what happened.

A burst of light exploded from the single Pokéball dangling on Blake’s belt. The form of an Axew appeared, but the light didn’t fizzle away like it was supposed to. Encased in a white glow, Petra threw herself onto Nox and tackled him to the ground. Once she was on his chest, her silhouette began stretch and grow. Her rounded tusks grew into sharp points, and new, stronger muscles began to materialize in her arms, legs, and tail.

Soon enough, the light dimmed out, and a Fraxure took her place. Petra’s sudden evolution left everyone around her with a gaping jaw, but the Dragon-type didn’t take a moment to stop and revel in her newfound strength and appearance. Instead, she hauled Nox over her head with a grunt, before throwing him into a nearby pillar without so much as a twitch of struggle.

“FRAAAAAAAA!” She bellowed in triumph, exposing her red-tipped tusks to everyone as a display of power. A warning not to mess with her. Or her trainer, for that matter.

“Petra-?” Blake sputtered out in shock, eyes sparkling at their Pokémon in awe. Of all the times she finally chose to evolve, she couldn’t have picked better.

It didn’t take long though for it to click that now wasn’t the time to stop and gawk, though. Blake felt the Dark Stone buzz under their arm, and gritted their teeth when they realized they couldn’t stay up here for long. The approaching storm was calling to the stone, slowly lulling Zekrom out of her centuries-long slumber.

Petra turned to them and understood- almost like she could sense the draconic energy thrumming inside the orb herself. She gazed at the artifact like a subject would at a ruler- but also with same the sense of urgency to get it out of here as her trainer.

Blake gave her a nod. “Come on!”

In a heartbeat, the Fraxure was at their side, acting as a barricade between them and N before they shoved past the king together. He stumbled around after them, but didn’t break into a pursuit just yet.

Instead, the first thing he noticed was the blue energy pulsing and building up beneath the surface of the Dark Stone. His breath hitched when he realized what was about to happen.

“BLAKE, DROP THE STONE-!”

Blake didn’t listen. They only read his shout as a desperate last attempt to get them to surrender, not as a warning like they should have. Everything happened in a blur around them as they made a beeline back for the staircase- Cole had sent out half his party to hold off the Shadow Triad, clearing a safe path for them. Petra had made it there first, and waited right at the first step for her trainer.

Blake was just seconds away from the stairs. Seconds away from getting away. Seconds away from saving Unova, possibly the world, from putting an end to all of this-

The sky flashed. There was a deafening, crackling boom, and Blake barely knew what was happening before an agonizing, indescribable burning shot down the length of their left arm.

It felt like it had been torn clean off, or maybe fizzled away into cinders like a sheet of paper. But, it was very much still there, reduced to a sizzling black chunk of flesh as Blake’s body hit the floor like a sandbag.

Not everything went black right away. They stayed conscious long enough to hear a scream of their name. Someone rushed to their side to hold them. They couldn’t tell who. They figured Cole, but the voice sounded a pitch too deep.

Raising their eyes to look up took the same amount of effort it would to lift a mountain, but they did anyway. Perhaps they were hallucinating, but their gaze met N’s. Everything was so blurry, they couldn’t discern his expression. But fragments of his voice cut through the haze and reached their ears.

“No no no no, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please- don’t-” They’d heard him sad before. They’d heard him cry before. They’d never heard him so broken before. “Stay with me, don’t close your eyes, just st-”

“…ay…”

“…with…”

“…m…”

…

…

Were they in a dream?

They were on the floor. Their arm felt numb, the edges still simmering with pain. Cole and Petra hovered over them, the former shouting things at them they couldn’t hear while occasionally glancing up at something.

Blake turned their head. More accurately, it tilted off to the side by itself, from the lack of strength to keep it upright.

They saw something. A shadow. No- claws. Scales. Sparks of electricity dancing under jet black hide.

Their gaze trailed up. A towering, dark figure, casting a menacing silhouette against the sky with the membrane of its wings. Rumbling with an ancient, newly reawakened power.

Zekrom.

N was on its back. His hair swayed to and fro in the wind. His hat was nowhere to be seen.

They extended a trembling hand out towards him. He was so far away. But they reached for him anyway. Please, don’t go-

He didn’t even look back.

Zekrom took to the skies.

He was gone.

———

[bassettmemes]

GIRL MEETS THE ASK MEME ↳ quotes from the disney channel show girl meets world.

"it only makes sense to me when I can get in trouble for it."

"we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

"we're here to make somebody else happy."

"i think life puts people in front of us, so that we can be prepared for what happens next."

"hope looks great on you."

"don’t let your history be one of missed opportunities."

"if something that’s important to us today is so easily replaced by something else tomorrow, we have to wonder if it ever really had any value at all."

"it seems to me this isn’t a distraction at all. it’s a lifestyle."

"i’m not in control of anything. that’s what makes life so easy for me. when you think about it, nothing’s really my fault yet."

"as much as we think we show everybody who we are when we’re completely in charge of what happens, we find out who we really are when we’re not."

"the truith is, when you try to control life, life does its best to teach you not to."

"it's not intruding if you really want to hear."

"the best thing about being alive is to feel part of something."

"it’s funny about these things we hold on to and how life lets us know when it’s time to let it go."

"we have this one little life and for a lot of it, we just blow around in the wind. but if we’re lucky and we believe that life knows what’s best for us, sometimes we land on the right someone to talk to."

"the lives we’ve led until now have made us both wonder if life knows what it’s doing with us at all."

"learn from pompeii. as you live next to each other, understand that every once in a while, things explode."

"i have faith that in a new place you can learn from the people who have already been there."

"change fills my pockets with pennies of uncertainty."

"the truth is, people get comfortable with what’s familiar and when you get too comfortable, you don’t allow yourself room to grow."

"the worst thing you can do is fold your arms and refuse to accept what’s gonna come anyway."

"when you know you’re not good for people, you start not showing up, and then you don’t show up enough times, and it begins to feel like leaving until you do."

"only you get to decide when you quit."

"you had to take it out on somebody, i’m glad you felt safe enough to take it out on me."

"everyone has great gifts, and everyone has the potential to impact our world."

"don’t live under a label, it just gets in the way of who you are."

"what I think of myself is that it really bothers me what other people think of me."

"when you become someone else, even though you’re just acting, it’s impossible not to discover something you didn’t know before."

"when you have strong emotions for someone, it’s like you’re too close to see straight."

"maybe if you don’t hope for too much, but let yourself hope for one thing, it might actually happen."

"it’s not the big gestures that we do for other people that help us grow up, but the small choices you make for yourself."

"friends talk to each other, but real friends listen."

"being what other people want you to be is just a sword hanging over your head."

"i am a continuation. that's what history is about."

"ladies and gentlemen, i have achieved time travel!"

"being good at sports is just a matter of physics."

"don't you mess up america's most favorite thing with america's least favorite thing!"

"not everyone lives for theories and numbers."

"that's right, i lied right in yo face!"

"oh, yeah, we don't have walls... i told you we needed walls!"

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

It's Reaping Day! May the odds be ever in your favor.

Do you think it’s significant that the Reaping is on USA's Independence Day?

Do you think Reaping of 74th Hunger Games is rigged? Yes/No? Why?

If the reaping could be rigged. Who do you think participate in this collaboration?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

Don't mind me. Just answering asks from months ago, @curiousnonny.

OF COURSE IT'S SIGNIFICANT. If we've learned anything about Suzanne Collins by reading and dissecting her books, it should be that she loves a good symbol. And whoop. There's a big freaking symbol. Other than the sheer irony of taking a day known as INDEPENDENCE day in the USA and turning it into a spectacle of oppression, there's the reason that Independence Day even exists when it does. It doesn't celebrate any significant battle or law. It commemorates the signing of... A protest document. A protest document that begins:

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for the people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Law's of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The Declaration of Independence goes on, but the basic gist of it is the idea that a government exists to ensure the rights of its people, not to abuse its power by denying them their rights, and it boldly claims that when all else fails, when the government refuses to listen and repeatedly ignores those rights or abuses its power, then the people living under that government had both the Right and the Responsibility to change things. So yes, it is very significant that Collins chose the date commemorating the signing of this document to be the single most significant date in the world of Panem. She's telling us, unequivocally, that the people of Panem have every right and responsibility to overthrow and rebel against their Capitol... now here's a ridiculously heartbreaking story to explain why it's still gonna suck and be difficult, and you may lose more than you think you can bear, but in the end, it will be worth it if you've made your world better.

Is the 74th Reaping rigged? No. Nope nope noooooope. I am firmly in the camp of people who refuse to believe that the Reaping of the 74th Hunger Games is rigged. At least not in District 12. I have no doubt that, like Katniss tells us in Catching Fire, there are Reapings that are rigged, especially to put the kids of Victors who may be causing problems, into the arena. That sounds like something Snow would do.

But see, 12 isn't really causing Snow and the Capitol a lot of trouble until Katniss volunteers. I mean sure, Katniss breaks the law by hunting all the time, but there's an entire black market in 12. She's not the only one hunting in the woods or going over the fence to get the resources just at the tree line. She's not visible outside of 12. I don't see Snow concerning himself with one pesky child until she actually starts causing trouble across Panem.

And in a lot of ways, Snow leaves 12 alone until after the Victory Tour. It isn't until Thread shows up to start cracking down, and Gale is whipped and Mrs. Everdeen says to Haymitch. "It's starting again then. Like before." Which suggests that for the six months between the Games and the Tour, it's been relatively business as usual in 12.

So no, I don't think 12's reaping is rigged for the 74th Games. Besides that, the real reason it doesn't sit well in my brain is because if it is rigged, that subverts the cruelty of the odds game that Collins has set up for her characters to play. Based on the odds, it SHOULDN'T be Prim and Peeta's names who are drawn. But the point is... even if your name is only in there once, or five times, compared to Katniss's 20 and Gale's 42, your name is still in there. The odds only make you THINK you have a chance at making it through. It's that tiny little bit of hope that the odds will be in your favor, so why risk the far more dangerous and likely to get you killed act of, oh I don't know, rebelling against and overthrowing your government.

The randomness of it makes it more meaningful to have Prim and Peeta's names drawn, so I choose to believe that Collins meant for that significance and meaning out of the randomness, to highlight just how unjust it really is, rather than some conspiracy plot against Katniss/Prim/the Everdeens, what have you.

[stupidspidey]

AJR - Living Room

if you told me in 2013 that this was the absolute pinnacle of music and that it would get no better than this, chances are i would’ve told you “that’s nice, leave me alone creep” and went to go kick the shit out of my brother at Mario on the DS. Now if you told me now that these guys ended up being my favourite band, i’d probably give you the same response but i’d go play a Spider-Man game instead. Regardless, Living Room by AJR is just… not good, by any sense of the word realistically, don’t get me wrong it’s got its merits but holy fuck, it’s really hard to listen to. Now, i don’t want to be too unfair about this, believe it or not sitting here for a good 5 minute read yelling about how bad something is is REALLY undesirable in a review, and it’s even more undesirable since my girlfriend refuses to sleep with me because of it. (jk rose ily) So, i’m gonna take their advice from one of their next albums that came after this and well, skip to The Good Part, which unfortunately should only take me like, 20 lines, maximum, before i start either repeating myself or talking about how a line in “The World is a Marble Heart” is was reused as a backing vocal in “I Won’t” like, 10 years later.

The Good

My GOD, do these guys know how to write a decent line or few. Sure there’s a few “Thirsty, Thirsty, Thursdays!” in there but, every one of those is definitely made up for by the honestly-adorable Infinity or the surprisingly-hopeful My Calling, each lyric will either strike you as cheesy in a really cute way, or inspiring in a really dumb way, the album could honestly be mistaken as written about someone with how directed and loving each line feels from the start to the end and briefly sidestepping around at least 49.2% of each song. Big White Bed especially, but as i wrote that down all i could think to describe the song was “I love you… BITCH. I ain’t ever gonna stop loving you… BITCH.” from a vine like 10-or-so years ago. So, really, pretty appropriate for their timing on the albums release realistically. A really specific praise for the album but, i think the art itself is really pretty? something about it feels so real. Like, if you made an album with two of your brothers and basically pro-tools, a mic and a big idea (yeah, that’s a quote from one of the songs, Big Idea.) would you not just make the album art you all sat on the comfy family sofa in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere with your band name splattered on the wall in a nice deep red? I know i would if i could fit all 5 of my brothers onto one tiny-ass couch. Now unfortunately i can only realistically think of these two points for the positive part but, i will say this: Every track on this album, has thought behind it. It sometimes comes across as them just lobbing the entire processing power of a Windows 7 computer running pro-tools at you, but if you listen to the audio-commentary edition of the album (because, for some reason they made that?) it really is easy to tell the three of them had passion for the thing, especially seen in Jack’s (the J in AJR) enthusiasm about finally making it out of slummin’ it in the streets while his two way-fucking-taller brothers tap danced and sang, outside of his appearance in Pink Panther 2 and Sesame Street of course. (seriously, i’m deadass, look it up, he even has an iMDB page.) Now, unfortunately, on that point, i can’t realistically stay on the positives forever on this without ending up on some TikTok calling me a brainrotted liberal or some slur that hasn’t been unsealed since some crusty fucking 4channer woke up from his food comatose over a reddit girl with fat tits so, with that point.

The Bad

Ok right so, you know how i mentioned this was considered some sort of principle of music back then in 2013? Well guess what, motherfucker. I wasn’t even joking, the way people view Bruno Mars now is the way people viewed Living Room in 2013, though it was hard not to when their brain cells rubbed together and they decided the best way to promote their album was to tag every artist under the sun on gods green-motherfucking-earth and tell them to listen to it. Even then, the only one who listened really was Sia, and realistically what the fuck have you actually seen Sia do in the past like 5 years? This is a real question seriously please for the love of GOD tell me i have no idea past *Chandelier*. Anyway, enough of throwing Sia some strays (i’m sorry ma’am i’m sure there’s a grammy somewhere i didn’t bother googling), back onto Twenty-One Pilo— Coldplay— I mean, AJR. The album had passion behind it, don’t get me wrong here, but it is completely misplaced. The only way i can describe this is that, if this was the latest release around the time of E.T. for the Atari 2600? Music probably wouldn’t have survived past that either. Though realistically it was probably one of the better albums of that era since by then every other song was the most bassy-pile of “please dance to this” you’d ever seen, but i’m sure there’s someone still out there hitting the dab to fuckin’ The World is a Marble Heart, surely. The album itself had some pretty… interesting, approaches, but really you can only get around 30 seconds into the first song before that fucker starts yodelling? why the fuck is he yodelling? Regardless, no matter how many times you make a sequel to Turning Out or how many times you make some good shit like The DJ is Crying for Help, to those guys at TikTok? you’ll allwwaayyss be the guys who made Thirsty. You could get a treaty and a vulcan salute from half of space, but all those motherfuckers will still only know you for Thirsty. Personally? i’d be so fucking mad. I mean, you look to your left and Kanye has just dropped Yeezus, and what do you have to compete against that? a new national holiday celebrated exclusively by kids who get bullied at school, Thirsty Thursday, if i were them i wouldn’t have even made it to The Click without some sort of apology statement.

The Ending

Now, if i’m being completely real here. I can’t entirely slander Living Room, it’s got ideas, it’s got (marble) heart, and most importantly… It let Neotheater exist so… some good out of the bad right? Sure, for anyone else, unless you’re subconsciously subscribed to every single opinion on r/Music like some sort of absorption sponge. And just… in future, for anyone reading this, Include yodelling in your song and i will fucking SLICE you, not for poor mixing choices, not even for poor taste, but for reminding me that i sat here for an hour, and reviewed an album. Worst part? one out of five baby, i’m not down until i hear the fat lady sing, i’ve still gotta drop my useless thoughts for The Click, Neotheater, OK ORCHESTRA and *The Maybe Man. So, i’m gonna go out with a BANG! and by that? i mean get gunned down by the mexican cartel for even daring to include a good section in this slice of piss.

4/10 - Not enough yodelling really.

[azuisreading]

Born of Scourge by S. Jean

Legends say when the skies grow dark and scourge starves the land, a star will fall in order to save humanity. Only when the star is sacrificed at the end of their journey will light return. It's a cycle—one humanity refuses to break because stars are plentiful and their sacrifices easier than learning the true nature of the scourge. When Sol finally falls, it's not because of humanity. It's because he's had enough of watching his brethren be sacrificed. He has one goal: end humanity and end the cycle. Unfortunately, he has to pretend he cares before humans get wise. It doesn't matter how soft the princess who catches him is—Celena will be dead by the time his journey ends. Nor how kind his assigned companions are—the outgoing Mira with her ballads, the brave Nebora with her axe, and the hero Loren with his soft voice and friendly smile. For centuries, humanity has lied and their kindness is a ruse to bring about Sol's own destruction at the end of his tale. He will not be fooled. No one cares about the cries of the stars they've destroyed over and over again and Sol will make sure this time, humanity is the one sacrificed. At least, that's the plan until his traitorous heart begins to care for the humans he sought to eradicate.

Review

Following S. Jean from their web novel series «The Magician and The Bard» brought me this greatness. I was able to apply to join their ARC team to read this gem, even though I was a bit unconvinced about their writing, but this ended up being an amazing decision. I’m in love with Born of Scourge and their storytelling skills, and I’m already in for whatever she wants to tell in the future (and for what I’ve already missed in the past).

So, what are you gonna encounter here? A lot of angst. And a pretty dark theme. This isn’t a light reading, everyone knows the world is ending, but all of us rather play dumb. That doesn’t stop the passing of time and we’re unfortunately aware. Which I believe makes things worse. There wasn’t a moment in which I believed the story would end in a happy or positive ending, and I’m pretty good at leaning toward this stuff.

Why read it, then? Because it’s amazing. You can feel the bond between the characters and how, even when everything has an end and sooner or later it will come, things have meaning. What you do it’s important. How you decide to act will always be the key. You can help someone to have a better or a worse journey just with a few, usually not significant to you, words. Just by staying for a moment. Just being you.

You can go through the world wanting to end it and still spread hope. The world could not deserve you, but what you do will always be more than enough.

I think that if a book can make me this philosophical and positive about our existence and the way our world is working right now, then it deserves a shot. I never expected to find a book with such dark tones on my comfort shelf. I never expected to have fun delving into such themes. The prose is magnificent, incredibly beautiful. I took out a few phrases just because it was going to be a big spoiler (and highly illegal, hahah) to take the whole book.

I’ll keep its love story, because I believe that’s what is about. Even this dark, is a beacon of light and hope. You know how it goes: you only can appreciate the beauty of life when you have seen its ugly side.

Phrases that I liked so much that I marked them while reading

«She held the star as close to her heart as possible because he would bring back the light. She was sure of it.» — Prologue.

«All of it was rote, normal, and helped her ignore the fact the world was ending around them. Sol didn’t mind helping her forget. He liked the way she smiled.» — Chapter I.

«And besides, she harbored the belief the world wouldn’t end because Sol was there. He hadn’t the heart to tell her otherwise or about the promise he’d made as he’d fallen through the skies. Let her believe he’d save the world if it made her smile so.» — Chapter I.

«Early on, Celena had told Sol the names of every single plant they grew here, but only these two stood out because Celena absolutely loved them.» — Chapter I.

«It was calm simply existing together like this, arms entwined, and Sol wouldn’t have minded staying like this the entire day.» — Chapter I.

«For some reason, when she spoke his name, it made him want to smile.» — Chapter I.

«The smiles she graced him with were bright and dazzling and made him forget what he was.» — Chapter I.

«When he opened his eyes again, Celena had returned. Still radiated a softness in the world Sol couldn’t help but want to hold.» — Chapter I.

«Celena was so resplendent when she smiled. Sol wanted to memorize it and sought to trace it with his fingers, so he’d never forget. Even when darkness claimed everything that was and ever would be, he’d hold onto this smile. This afternoon as they swept each other through the gardens, their soft laughter mixing together amongst the whispers in the wind.» — Chapter I.

«“Part of me actually hoped they wouldn’t come. So then I’d have more time with you.”» — Chapter II.

«“Are you ready?” “As long as I am with you,” Sol said.» — Chapter II.

«Sol drifted off, simply listening to her breathe and the way her blood hummed against him, and part of him hoped morning never came because deep down buried in his heart, he didn’t want to leave her.» — Chapter III.

«Gareth looked between Nebora and Loren, silent with his eyebrows high in amusement. For once, he wasn’t the one being yelled at.» — Chapter IX.

«As much as he wanted it to be true, these were not those he’d once been nestled beside in the cosmos. They were echoes of who they’d been, hardened into scourge and then left behind when the light returned. They would never again be who they once were.» — Chapter X.

[blanket-fish]

Ironman 2 rewatch time:

- I usually skip this one on rewatches so like. I barely remember the plot.

- oooooh this is the one with the lightning guy (not Thor)

- oh so his dad worked on the reactor with Howard? Sick

- wait is this the one with Justin hammer?

- 'Please, it's not about me' if it were anyone else the ego would be annoying. However, it's not.

- oh I've just remembered this is the one with Natasha

- 'Let the record show I observed Mr hammer entering the chamber, and am wondering if and when any actual expert will be in attendance' Brutal.

- 'God bless Ironman god bless america' He's so lame.

- 'Rhodey? What?' oof.

- 'You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context doesn't reflect the summary-' love this guy.

- ah this scene has it all. Justin being incompetent. Tony trolling everyone else and hacking the screens. Rhodey pretending to be annoyed but finding it endearing. Tony swinging people to his side and making Justin look bad at the same time. Efficiency.

- 'You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favour! I have successfully privatised world peace.'

'fuck you Mr stark'

- 'I'm trying to make you CEO. Why won't you let me?' maybe because you're incapable of clearly communicating idk

- 'Its you. It's always been you' Im totally normal about these two I swear

- NATASHA

- oh god Elon musk is in this movie

- 'What is the difference between hold and cancelled?' Yes, what is?' these two are too powerful of a combination I fear

- 'I was hoping the present something at your expo.' 'Well, if you invent something that works I'll make sure to get you a spot.' tony please he's already dead

- 'I love tony stark, I mean, we're not competitors' Justin! I have good news! You're actually right about that one.

It's just. Not for the reason you think.

- The iron man suitcase is still the coolest version actually

- Here comes Pepper and happy driving recklessly towards a guy with lightning whips. I fucking love them

- 'Were you headed for me or him?' 'I was trying to scare him-' 'Because I can't tell!'

- 'Are you put of your mind?!!!! Get in the car!'

- These three are an underrated trio honestly

- SUITCASE SUIT. SUITCASE SUIT.

- Not to beat a dead horse but it all mechanically clicking into place is so much cooler than nanotech.

- Guy got hit with a car at speed. Was fine. Got hit with a car several more times. Was fine. Tony flings him to the floor. Coughs up blood. ???

- 'All I have to do is sit here and watch, and the world will consume you.' damn that goes hard

- 'Not everybody runs on batteries, Tony' pepper that's so deep. How long have you been waiting to use it?

- oh Justin this is so fucking pretentious. Even for you.

- 'I think, if I may' Justin say that one single more time and see what happens

- 'I don't know if you've been understanding everything I'm saying?' can you fucking imagine if he didn't after that whole monologue lmao

- 'You don't gotta do this alone-' 'I wish I could believe that' that hurt

- 'Thats where the pilot goes. Having a tough time finding volunteers' yeah I wonder why justin

- "Hypothetically, if this were your last birthday, how would you celebrate it?" Tony you are not subtle

- can't help but empathise with rhodey in this film. When the American government wants something you do not want to be the person refusing them. Tony can step away. Rhodey kind of can't.

- 'This is ridiculous, I just stuck my neck out for this guy!' 'I know, I know, I'll handle it, just let me handle it.' 'Handle it. Or I'm gonna have to.' We don't see these two interact much huh.

- 'Im only gonna say this once. Get out' Damn, rhodey snapped

- 'Dont miss Potts me, I'm onto you!' well yes, but actually no

- 'You wanna be the war machine? Take the shot' the fact that rhodey actually does go by war machine. Somehow I think the writer of this line was not responsible for that decision

- The complete absence of dialogue when rhodey flies away with the suit. That's so effective

[lollytea]

miss lolly i never thought id say these words but. i want the young sheldon spoilers (if nothing else id expect fucking ATOMIC retconning/continuity issues)

So the whole point of this show was to wring all the comedy potential out of the premise of taking Sheldon and making him an 8 year old prodigy attending highschool in 1980s Texas. Unfortunately they forgot to add the comedy part. But. Yknow. It was standard television. I always get annoyed when I see people trashing on young sheldon when I know they've never actually watched it because they're not trashing it for the right reasons. Its not bad for the reasons you'd expect. Its bad because its boring. It is so SO boring. Its insane how boring and mundane it is. Its a show revolving around baby bazinga but they managed to make it so mild numbingly underwhelming.

But....I would say that the first few seasons were probably the strongest. it was never particularly outlandish. Just basic slice-of-life stuff yknow? Every episode just revolved around Sheldon having some miniscule problem and blowing it way out of proportion. His family were mostly supporting characters, written for the sake of dealing with how eccentric Sheldon is. He's got an overly religious mom, a surprisingly level-headed dad, a snarky grandma, a dumbass teenage brother and a sassy twin sister.

This was the era of it being Sheldon's world and we're all living in it.

However it is currently 6 seasons in and here's a run-down of what's currently happening.

So during season 4 (or maybe 5 I have forgotten the order of events) the family begins financially struggling, which is only made worse when Dad gets fired from his job. I think there was this gradual build of tension between Mom and Dad across the season until they eventually blow up at each other in a big nasty fight and Dad admits that he's deeply unsatisfied with the way his life has turned out, including his marriage and family. Then he storms off to the bar where he starts drinking with his recently divorced female next door neighbour.

The season ends on a cliffhanger to lead the audience to believe he's gonna cheat on his wife. He doesn't. But he and ms neighbour both consider it. Which leads to the most insufferable plot point that they refuse to let go of for two more seasons, so he's probably gonna sleep with her eventually. He feels guilty for considering it. She does too. Which leads to them avoiding each other, having secret little rendezvous where they talk about how guilty they feel for considering it, lots of awkward sexual tension undertones. I'm so sick of it I hope he hurries up and cheats on his wife so this shit can end.

MEANWHILE there's the other slow building infidelity subplot with Sheldon's uptight Christian mom who believes everything is a sin. So she works at her local church and they happen to hire a new pastor. And after a few episodes of becoming closer friends, Sheldon's mom starts having sex dreams about him. Also he is like over a decade younger than her. This is another subplot that has been dragging on for over a season I am so tired. I need her to know this pastor carnally already I can't take this anymore.

But the most utterly batshit morally reprehensible plotpoint that is currently happening is whatever Sheldon's dumbass teenage brother's got going on. So basically, he's currently 17. He met this 29 year old woman, lied to her and said he was in his 20s so he could fuck her. Which he did. Then his grandma found out and bullied him into telling her the truth. Which he did. And she was understandably horrified because why the fuck WOULDNT she be?? And she makes it very clear that she never wants to see his face again.

That's when she learns that she's pregnant. And considering she's working as a waitress, doesn't have a lot of money, eventually gets evicted from her apartment and is cut off from her parents, the show forces her into a position where she has to depend on Sheldon's Dumbass Brother and his family for support. They kinda make her situation and dynamic with him into a joke?? Like she hates him and wants nothing to do with him and is trying to keep him at arms length throughout the course of her pregnancy, while the narrative frames him as this sweet charming attentive boy who just wants to help her and be a good dad to their future baby, and he's still constantly treating her as his girlfriend, giving her cheek kisses and calling her pet names etc. Basically she's kinda roped into integrating into Sheldon's family unit. Like it's trying to play off her growing relationships with them as cute and wholesome, while not really acknowledging that she has no other option but to depend on these people and it's still very VERY nonchalant about the extremity of how Dumbass Teenage Brother has wronged her. She's gradually beginning to warm up to him again and it's. Ew.

Oh and also she's being constantly guilted and pressured into marrying him before the baby is born because Sheldon's mom, who wants to know the 25 year old pastor carnally, is very insistent about the baby not being born out of wedlock. Its a mess.

Oh and also Sheldon's grandma and dumbass teenage brother also run an illegal gambling den behind a laundermat. I forgot that part.

And Sheldon is....also there. He hasn't seemed to notice that his whole family is falling apart yet. Most of his subplots remain just as low stakes as they were 6 seasons ago. He gets a 98% on a test and beefs with the teacher about it. I think the writers are sick of him at this point.

AND, with all these deranged plot points in mind, the show STILL manages to be so so SO fucking boring. I don't know how but they manage it.

[partytime33]

Me ranting about the Mario Movie

MAJOR SPOILERS!!!! I just finished watching the movie and I'm gonna go on a massive rant, how could this not have spoilers. Also, "minor" swearing and Bowuigi shipping.

Lets start with the characters shall we?

Okay, first off, Chris Pratt wasn't as bad as he could've been, so no complaints there.

Luigi, purest bean who ever lived, SO WHERE IS HIS PLOT RELEVANCE??!??!?!

Peach is such a BAD-ASS! YOU GO GIRL!! YOU AIN'T NO PRINCESS YOU'RE A MOTHERTRUCKING QUEEN.

Toad, Good, really enjoyed his parts.

Donkey Kong, Funny at points but overall is just annoying.

Cranky Kong, Good! Considering how bad his son was.

That leader Para-trooper with the blue shell armour, excellent. Will talk about him later.

Now, to get to the big one, everyone already knows that Jack Black was amazing in the trailer, and Jack Black is. The problem is Bowser's motives. SPOILERS STARTING PROPERLY NOW.

Bowser's lines have changed slightly in the trailer. The biggest dip is when he's questioning Luigi, who takes half the movie to get to his castle, and Bowser says;

"I'm not sure if you know who I am. But I'm about to marry a princess, and rule the world."

Then Luigi replies with his typical unenthusiastic "yay" (which if you ask me is so monotone because he's disappointed that this beast is taken) with the chin tilt we know and love.

Basically, Bowser's entire reason for ruling the world is because he loves Peach and stole the super star just to impress her enough to ask for her hand in marriage.

This is redeemed slightly, because he plans to just use the star and destroy the mushroom kingdom if she refuses his marriage proposal. But it cannot make up for the cringe-fest that is shown for a good portion of Bowser's scenes.

There was a clip of Bowser playing a piano, which, further confirmed the rumor that Bowser would have a song. This rumor turned out to be true, with the most awful song in recent movie years. (Lyrically wise, Jack Black fricking killed those notes)

The song is like; ooh Peach, you're so cool, come live with me and rule. Ya da ya da, heterosexual love interest which no one could care anyless about. Then Kamek comes in and tells him about Mario, to which Bowser responds with, "is the princess into him?" And if that isn't enough, the next scene Luigi is FINALLY IN BOWSERS CASTLE!!! AND GUESS WHAT?? GUESS F*CKING WHAT?

ITS THE ONLY BLOODY SCENE THE TWO OF THEM INTERACT. ITS JUST THE INTEROGGATION AND THAT'S IT!!!!

Nothing else whatsoever!! Bowuigi Fandom, I'm sorry for the disappointment, there is the full body spin and the mustache rip and the chin tilt and then Bowser shoves the precious bean to the floor! That's it!

And you wanna know what we get instead? KAMEK DRESSING UP AS PEACH FOR BOWSER TO PRACTISE PROPOSING. WHAT IS EVEN THE POINT OF LIVING???

(I'd like to add here that the blue Lumalee has more lines and makes all the penguins depressed and insane)

NINTENDO WHERE DID KAMEK COME FROM? IF YOU'RE GONNA BE GAY ABOUT STUFF BE GAY WITH THE ACTUAL STUFF WE CARE ABOUT F***!!

And then, Nintendo, you have the AUDACITY to shove Luigi to the side? His whole plot relevance is just to give Mario an excuse to go on the big adventure with Peach! Sure he has that redemption bit at the end because he was "too scared".

There are SO many cliches in this movie, like family doesn't believe in start up company, slow-mo scream (there were FOUR of those.) And they use the phrase "Mamma mia!" SO TERRIBLY!

What really sucks is that the world building and animation style is GORGEOUS! It looks so good and is ruined by it's basic plot and cliche characters.

The Mario family is introduced, which adds physically nothing to the plot or the other characters. Foreman Spike is also in this, but is not used correctly. What I think should have been done, is that Spike actually sent the brothers down to the mega-pipe place after they left his company for the plumbing job and was hoping to get revenge on them for doing so!

But no, he's just used to make the brother's doubt themselves, which you know, THEIR FAMILY DOES MINUTES LATER.

On the plus side, my final note and my favorite part of the movie. The blue para-koopa who's incharge of the Koopa army. When the gang's on the rainbow road the para goes after Mario himself and tries to kill him. However, instead Mario and DK destroy his kart, it goes up in flames and the two celebrate. But then, out of the fire, he walks forward, an inch from death and yells, "You can't escape meee!" And get this;

You know how he's the only Koopa (seemingly) with a blue shell instead of green or red?

And you know how in the trailers we see when the Koopa get stomped they turn into shells?

"You can't escape me"...

He turns into, a blue shell, flies high above Mario's head and smashes down onto his kart, pretty much taken straight out of Mario Kart, sure it's a seemingly obvious gimmick, but that's what made it so worth it.

Right, felt good to spend an hour ranting about a movie made for kids! Didn't know what I expected from the company that made The Grinch, but thank you, for humouring me with your time and attention.

[carewyncromwell]

“And the big bad man and his big bad clan, Their hands are stained with red... Oh, how quickly they forget... They aren't gonna help us --  Too busy helping themselves! They aren't gonna change this:  We gotta do it ourselves... They think that it's over, but it's just begun!”

~“Only the Young” by Taylor Swift

x~x~x~x

“And so…esteemed members of the Wizengamot…based on the overwhelming evidence – the factually bankrupt, inflammatory anti-Muggle and Muggle-born leaflets sent out by the defendant’s Commission and promoted by the defendant herself; the transcripts of trials overseen by the defendant that spell out blatant corruption and unsanctioned cross-examination techniques, including having Dementors present during all trials and actively refusing to give any defendant proper legal representation; the testimony of over fifty Ministry employees, speaking to the defendant’s close working relationships with known Death Eaters and to her own willingness to overlook Wizarding Law to advance herself and her Commission’s political aims; the countless memos written in the defendant’s own hand condemning nearly a thousand people, including over a hundred children, to unjust captivity; and the defendant’s well-known reputation among her ex-students, her coworkers, and even her own family for enjoying the suffering of others and persecuting fellow wizards and witches not just for their blood, but also for suffering from medical conditions like lycanthropy and blood maledictions – all of which the defense has offered no suitable defense for, aside from incorrectly asserting that the defendant was ‘simply following orders’ from her superiors…I think there is no question as to her guilt, or to what justice would be appropriate.

Although I – as a private citizen of the Wizarding World – agree with Minister Shacklebolt’s measure to remove the Dementors from Azkaban prison…I must acknowledge that if there were ever a case for a criminal from our world deserving the Dementor’s Kiss…it would be Dolores Jane Umbridge. But because we – unlike the defendant – have a code of honor before us that we will not break just to achieve a political objective…I believe it’s our solemn duty to ensure this basilisk in human skin never walks free again.”

~Carewyn Cromwell, prosecutor for the trial of Dolores Umbridge // January 1999

x~x~x~x

About two-and-a-half years ago, I drew a concept for Carewyn as a lawyer for the Ministry of Magic, and...yeah, looking back at that concept, I knew I could improve on its visual, if I tried it again! 

Carewyn Cromwell was still a fresh-faced, idealistic young lawyer of twenty-five when she became the Chief Prosecutor behind the Ministry of Magic’s trials of ex-Death Eaters after the end of the Second Wizarding War in 1998. That very same year Carewyn also became the legal guardian of one of the Muggle-born children she defended in court (a drawing of whom is also coming soon!), even while unmarried and only living in a small flat in London. Despite her relatively short time with the Ministry, however, the fashionable young prosecutor left a strong impression, not only taking charge and putting Dolores Umbridge under citizens’ arrest when the Death-Eater-controlled Ministry fell, but also in fiercely advocating for those who had been most hurt during the War. The Daily Prophet was eager to spotlight the young Cromwell in their articles, both flatteringly and otherwise, simply because of how much fascination such a pretty and paragon, and yet stoic and ruthless woman evoked in both reporters and the paper’s readership. There were even several points, both during and after the trials, when Carewyn’s name was floated by the Prophet as some possible future replacement for Ministry Shacklebolt, or even just as a permanent member of the Minister for Magic’s support staff -- but Carewyn, thoroughly disinterested in working directly in politics, instead remained steadfast in her pursuit of legal justice.