#when khan can finally do LESS

[kelpiemomma]

The screaming had lasted for hours.

Not screaming like someone was dying; Ingo would have intervened if that were the case.

In some ways, the argument he could almost hear was worse.

The twins had come round with Cori and Razz, picking up Akari and Rei and taking them out for ice cream when it had started. Ingo had asked Davis about it who had, reasonably, looked uncomfortable.

"Dizzy loves our brother, she really, really does. But she... takes his lifestyle personally. They're very similar like that." Davis had responded quietly. "It's an old argument with no end. This happens- not normally in front of the kids, so Khan had us take them out of the house when she started winding up, and Cor asked if we could grab Akari for ice cream and..."

Ingo had let them go, sitting at home and listening. He couldn't hear the words but he could hear the tone. How angry Dizzy was, how it would go quiet and then there would be another outburst. Only a handful of times did Khan raise his voice in return at his sister, but never for very long. Ingo couldn't remember having any arguments like that with Emmet. He didn't remember their childhood, but the memories he had recovered of their teenage years and before his accident... he didn't think he and his twin had ever been quite so volatile.

Then again, there had been no signs of this sort of conflict between the oldest siblings either. If he wasn't hearing it, he'd never have thought they'd fight like this. Given the lack of interference from the rest of the neighborhood he wagered Davis was right, and that the best way to deal with this storm was simply to ride it out.

When the argument finally ended he was standing by his window that looked into his neighbor's front yard, worried. Dizzy stormed out with Khan following quickly behind. Ingo had never seen him look so... small. It was hardly a word one would associate with the young man, given his height and stature, and yet it was the only word Ingo could think of to describe him.

He watched as Khan reached for his sister, only for her to turn and slap his hand away.

“Why can’t you even try, you self-sacrificing bastard? You never even try!”

She stomped down the sidewalk, slamming the door to her car shut before turning it on and pulling out at a decidedly unsafe speed. Ingo watched as Khan stared after her, shoulders still slumped, before he put a hand up to his face and turned to walk back into his home.

Maybe it would be better to leave well enough alone, to pretend he hadn’t overheard… _that,_ but Khan was… well. Khan was his friend. Things may have been shaky to start with between them, but they had smoothed out. Khan knew about Ingo’s amnesia and never once judged him for it. Now, Ingo knew about… this.

Still. He hesitated before walking out of his own home and down the sidewalk to his neighbor’s, glancing around at the rest of the homes on the street. Blinds were slowly opening, curious eyes peeking through to see what still stood in the wake of the hurricane argument. The door to Khan’s home was unlocked when he tried the handle and Ingo slowly opened the door.

“Khan?” He called out.

There was a sniffling sound, a familiar hitch of breath.

“Yeah?” Khan’s voice was thick and low when he replied. “What’s up, need something fixed?”

“No, I…” Ingo shut the door behind him. The house was in one piece. For all the screaming and noise it appeared that nothing had been broken. The argument may have sounded violent but nobody had gotten physical. “I heard what happened and I was wondering if you were… alright.”

“Oh, you… you heard that?” Khan hadn’t come out to find him and so Ingo continued towards his voice instead. “Well,  yeah. They could probably hear that on the moon.”

“Possibly. I was unaware that Dizzy’s volume could rival my own.”

Khan was sat in the kitchen, slouched down in one of the chairs he’d built by hand. A byproduct of one of the many jobs he’d taken to keep his siblings fed, homed, and safe. He still looked, to Ingo’s dismay, small. Defeated. Deflated of all life.

“Yeah, she’s got some pipes on her. Always has. About burst my eardrums when she was a toddler, the way she’d howl when she threw a fit.”

One hand was rubbing at his face and his shoulders were still shaking intermittently. Ingo paused, uncertain, before he rested a hand on Khan’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what happened, but if you’d like to talk about it… or if you’d prefer, I can leave?”

Khan was silent long enough that Ingo prepared to straighten up, head out the door, and pretend this had never happened.

Khan leaned forward, rubbed his eyes again, and shook his head.

“You can stay,” he said quietly, and Ingo pretended he didn’t see the tears falling onto the floor, “it’s fine. You can stay.”

[nightscythe]

dark sides of the primarchs' relationships

some of these are very dark (esp lorgar, angron, ferrus I guess) but I wanted to represent some of the less enjoyable themes in their relationships. some are kind of obvious, but I wanted to expand a little. again, it's how I write them, so you may not necessarily agree!!

now has a light sides vers ૮₍ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ₎ა

18+ below the cut pls, it's sfw but some themes of death, obsession, etc, mostly pre-heresy

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

the lion: struggles to interpret his feelings and often mistakes them as needs - namely, sexual need, but really any physical need. the heavy feeling in his heart because he hasn't seen you for weeks? must be because he had become used to your presence and his body must adapt to being without you. the burning in his chest when someone else dares to speak to you with a more suggestive tone? well, its not jealousy, it is his body telling him he needs you. overtime this would start to go, he would learn to interpret feelings in a more emotional way, but realistically he would need to care enough to want to try in the first place. he would always struggle though, turning every single one of his feelings about love into his duty. you're his responsibility, everyone else is a threat.

fulgrim: whilst it is obvious that his desire for perfection may have an impact on you, it has an equal burden on him. he always doubts himself, always taking a pessimistic view of both himself as a lover and to relationships as a whole. and your reassurance may never be enough, even if you do mean it and he seeks it out. he will always make each gift, each speech, each act of love bigger to meet his own desire to be better. and really? it can become more exhausting than anything. especially if he is always trying to prove himself and it sometimes starts to feel artificial. there would be a breaking point though where he finally realises to you, he is perfect, and there is nothing else he needs to do. but there is always that little, teeny doubt.

perty: trust issues will get to him more than anything. he'd need someone who has so much patience that it wears you down, but ultimately it would be worth it. the worst part is that he wouldn't often share how he feels, he keeps it to himself and sits brewing thoughts in his own head that you may just be like everyone else and not truly care. he'd keep it from you, never uttering a word, silently letting it all fester until it gets too much. and breaking down that wall he builds from his own thoughts would take a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of letting him work things out on his own. that's probably the biggest issue - he has a lot of time, something you may not as easily afford.

the khan: his idea of love is different. in a good way, maybe, but different to others. love for him is choice, and he will not restrict you to it. if you want to leave him, then go. if you want to spend a day without him, then do so. he'd really need someone who can deal with his laid back approach (or more so, his promotion of freedom above all other things) to love. that can be tough. his free spirit may just be too free to some people, and that's just what life is like. don't expect reassurance or speeches of his feelings, they are not happening. he's quick to make his decisions, his conclusions, and he's quick to temper. in the right conditions, this can make a storm. if anything ever goes bad.. good luck.

leman: it flips with him, very sudden, very easily. one day he's so enamoured, so utterly floored by everything you do that he's got massive heart eyes and following you around like a puppy. other times he's in his own world, following his own free spirit, that it can make you feel neglected. all of this just ends up causing more and more anxiety, unknowingly to him, and obviously to you. its all unintentional of course, he loves you so deeply. and his love itself? it's raw. he's so set on being stoic and strong but he is fragile too. he fears the worst, his emotions are never waste. everything he feels he shows directly to you. that can be overwhelming; all of this is overwhelming. especially when you could wake up one day and he's gone to do something without any warning, not evening thinking that you notice.

dorn: he's cold. he's so cold that it burns. or... is that the raging fire inside just reaching through the cracks? words mean nothing to him, and it can be difficult to truly know where you stand. he would never say he loves you, he would make you feel like he didn't ever need you, but should you ever leave? he'd tear the imperium down brick by brick until he had you back with him. it's unknowing to him. a duty. an unspoken loyalty. he doesn't believe in anything being temporary, so you're with him for life now. even if he never says it. and its the fact it's just actions, ones which may not mean anything to you, that makes it so hard. the door he gifted you with a heavy duty lock may be strange to you, but you did tell him you were worried about someone breaking in...

curze: does not feel he can be loved. he thinks he deserves it, but he never thinks anyone would dare. he thinks any affection shown to his is out of selfish fear and the second an opportunity presents itself, that love and affection would be gone. so he worries. he worries you are just like everyone else. makes assumptions, accusations, tells you that he thinks you're lying. probably because in the past he felt he should be loved and forced it out of people. he never once stops to think that maybe you lay beside him, you hold his hand, you take care of him, because you want to. it doesn't make sense to him, not without proof, or time, or anything to support your case. he'd get it eventually, he'd stop spending nights awake convinced you'll leave him when you sleep peacefully beside him with no intention of going.

sanguinius: his foresight is a burden, knowing what will happen to him means his guards are up. he would always be devoted, and he would carry the burden of fate to know he had shown you love in a way that mattered. but the sleepless nights would come, knowing the heartbreak would follow. especially at first, he'd try so hard, he'd want to protect others, you, from the fallout of fate. he'd never wanted you to see him in a way as more than a guardian, protector even, but it was inevitable. especially being who he is. and he would keep it to himself, and it would eat him up inside. he'd want to give you an easier way out, a ending where his death was the lesser of two evils, but he could never bring himself to leave. not before fate forced his hand.

ferrus: he has to make you better. you though fulgrim was obsessed with perfection? imagine that, but reversed, and intensified by a thousand. ferrus can make you better. he can make you stronger, he can make you everything you ever wanted. and over time, as he improves you, makes you need to know that he's impressed with you, it changes you. he's unrelenting. and it's not that he doesn't love you. oh, he loves you so so much. but there's a part of him that thinks his encouragement, his desire for your perfection, it helps you. together you can be the perfect couple, but not because of beauty or looks. then it feels like you're a project to him, little more than a toy for him to work on each and every day. and he'd let you go. he'd give you the choice, be free of him, but you'd hesitate. could you ever really be without him again?

angron: he only knows war. pain. death. love is so... small to him. he doesn't understand how to be gentle, how to replicate the love some of his brothers will. but he doesn't want to hurt you, either. and it shows. he will not hurt you, he will not make you feel pain, but he would die for you. and would you die for him? well. if you wouldn't, he would make you. love for him is a reflection of the strongest emotions he feels. the words he associates with it are different. violence. he'd kill anyone who stood between you. desperation. it's a feeling he can't describe as anything other than need. consuming. it grinds on him, wears him down, until he treats it the exact same way as everything else he feels. you're his, and you will become a part of him, whether you want to or not.

rob: it should be easy to him, but its not, and that makes him feel worse. he's not stupid, he can process love and emotion. yet... why does it feel so hard? he always feels like he is doing something wrong, always expression too little in case he reveals too much, whilst always trying to make up for something he fumbled already. its a vicious cycle. the reality of the situation is he's torn in every direction, he's needed by so many people, that he doesn't have time for love. yet he would fight to the very end of time to show it to you. and it exhausts him to no end. he'd just need a little patience, he'd very much enjoy if instead of something require brain or body power, he could just rest with you in his arms, enjoy the peace, but when that's every single evening, it could become a little hard

morty: he carries around a lot of anger and it's not always easy to hide. like a bitter old woman who sneers at kids for stepping on her lawn, but deep down she has a heart bigger than anyone - she just doesn't like it when he things are messed up. probably a bad analogy. the smallest things annoy him and he's got a quick temper. he constantly has to remind himself to check his own feelings, assess if he's reacting appropriately, then actually respond. so sometimes, it can feel artificial, like it's a brave face he puts on, and eventually you'll just want to know the real him. and you can, but it may not be as easily heard or understood. with time he would get better, he'd balance his emotions with your help, but until then it may never feel 100% real.

magnus: the poor guy, he just doesn't think (how obvious, I know). his actions are well intended but the way he comes across is a mixed bag. you're proud of something you've done or learned and in the spirit of sharing your achievement he does it in one try... or he tells you a more advance version of a spell with the intention of helping you but... it just comes across as him belittling you. like you were never good enough for him, that he is so so much better than you and his standard is so far above you. in reality, he's just happy, he's sharing those things because he thinks it will help you. he's worried that he's not good enough for you. he feels like he has to prove himself, to show you just everything he's capable of, elevate the two of you, together. aww :(

horus: he knows about his charisma. like a beacon that sits on his head and forces everyone to like him. and that makes him question the reality of everyone around him. are you nice to him because he's Horus, or because you want to be nice to him? are you kissing him because he's Horus, or because you want to kiss him? it's a guessing game that he is losing. he truly believes that those closest to him do not care, and overtime he has developed trust issues beyond saving. he'd never show it though, but inside everything can feel like a lie. he'd have a way to work it out though - he's not stupid - but his way is long and extended, tests and games which may not be appreciated, and it may feel like you need to prove to him why you care about him. was your love not enough? it was. but he just needed to know it wasn't manufactured by that damn beacon.

lorgar: love... its something different for him. it's not love. it's reverence. you become everything to him, his faith, his truth, his gospel. you become divine to him in every way, perfection incarnate, holy as the gods around him. and for that reason, it is all written in fate for him. you are meant to be with him, you are meant to stand by his side. he would build temples in your name, he would burn planets to the ground if it meant you were happy. he would destroy worlds to bring you what you wanted. but, if you are unhappy with that? if you do not accept his love and devotion? that's heresy. that's denying the truth. and escaping him, it can only come through death. his one is quite dark, i'm very sorry about that. unless you like it, then happy to help.

vulkan: he wouldn't have many faults, aside from obvious primarch things, but I think he's full of worry. not insecurity, but concern, always worried about you, always thinking he may hurt you, worried that the feats he puts himself through may have an unnecessary effect on you. he knows that he puts himself in danger but he can't stop himself, he know your concern that maybe just one time, he won't come back - but he will still test the limits anyway. he'd never show you every part of him, afraid it may just be too much for you, and though he's never hiding anything sinister, he'd always be hiding something. and you know it. and he'd smile, assuring you its nothing. it's literally just something like he's never tried kissing you in a certain way in case he hurts you. or he was wounded fatally again but he's okay. probably better if he just tells you... but secrets in the name of happiness, I guess.

corax: sometimes he goes, for days. for weeks, months even. some may even question whether you've just made it up in your own head. it's not that he doesn't care, or he doesn't love you, but... he got lost in his own head. what he needed to do. and it doesn't help that when you are together, he's cold, he's reserved, and its like you've never even met before sometimes. he can handle all of this, he's secure in his feelings and is loyal to you beyond anyone else, but can you? it's not that he would abandon you, or betray you, but when you've waited for him to come him for months and there's still no sign of him, your thoughts may start to go somewhere less pleasant. you can ask him to stop, but it's never permanent, even when he's fully opened to you emotionally - he'd unintentionally fill you with doubt.

alpharius: oh its a bit of a mindfuck. one loves you, one doesn't. one whispers sweetly in your ear, one just whispers. one touches your shoulder and catches the tips of his fingers on the curve of your neck, the other one just touches your shoulder. it's little things. barely noticeable at first. something the everyday person would have just shrugged off. but after time, you do notice. that's not Alpharius. and it makes you mad. to think he sent someone else in his place? he had to, and you'd never understand, but he hates it as much as you. do you know how badly he wants it to be him that is with you each day? how insulting it is to know that he was sharing you? it drives him to the brink of insanity. it's truly the worst feeling in the world. but there's nothing you can do about it, and you'll have to live with knowing that maybe the man next to you isn't the alpharius you love.

˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗

[st4r-th0ughts]

Mk11 characters x Shinnok’s spawn! GN reader intros.

masterlist

>pt.1 pt.2 pt.3 pt.4

tw/cw: possible ooc, I’ve been watching mk11 intros and binging the story lol, reader here is by technically, a young adult/ just pushing adulthood in immortal? years (that’s why Raiden and Kitana will refer to them as child) so all intros are strictly platonic, not proofread so may have spelling mistakes!

Character list (part 1): Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana, Jade, Raiden. (Most of these characters are the pre time merged ones, basically non revenant, and no dark Raiden)

Reader’s background: Reader is Liu Kang’s adopted child, a young one he found between Netherealm and Earthrealm. Kung Lao absolutely adored Liu Kang’s child, his very own nibling. As did almost everyone else when they met you.

It is revealed in Mkx, reader was the spawn of Shinnok, made to take his place should he ever perish. Raiden, who was now so obsessed with Earthrealm’s safety, even if it means attacking and shunning all those he deemed a threat, he banished reader from Earthrealm, demanding all those who ally with him to kill reader upon sight.

Now, in Mk11 after the time merger, reader can’t bring themselves to trust anyone. Not after being betrayed, left behind, and hunted. Living in an abandoned mansion, alone, in the dark.

Liu Kang- Your father. A man who loves you to pieces.

���₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (1)

LK- Come back to your family, NAME.

R- I am your child no longer, Chosen One.

LK- Please, it is breaking my heart seeing you like this.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (2)

R- You side with Raiden? After all he’s done to us?

LK- The Lord Raiden you know is not the one I know, NAME.

R- Yet he’s the one who will send us to our demise.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (3)

LK- Your fate is a tragic one.

R- One Raiden’s mistakes caused.

LK- One that he regrets deeply, child.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (4)

R- Remember those times you’d bring me for those sneaks of sweet treats?

LK- Of course. Your smile always made me indescribably happy.

R- It’s a shame, the only sweets I eat now are in silence.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (5)

R- Uncle Kung Lao. How is he?

LK- He’s doing well, but he misses you dearly, NAME.

R- I don’t see the need to come back if he is doing fine.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (6)

LK- It’s just so… odd, seeing my child all grown up.

R- It has been decades since I last saw you as the man I once respected.

LK- I am here now, NAME. I shall not be going anywhere.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (7)

LK- You neutralized Shao Khan with practiced ease.

R- Having to fend for yourself for decades does that.

LK- I regret not having to have been there to keep you shielded.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (8)

R- I never thought I’d see you alive, much less not look at me with malice.

LK- My revenant counterpart is a warped version of me.

R- The people I loved have either left me or have become shadows of themselves.

⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩ (Revenant Liu Kang)

R- My hate for you goes beyond the realms.

R! LK- Is that any way to speak to your father, child?

R- I am not your child. I have stopped being anyone’s child decades ago.

Kung Lao- The greatest and funnest uncle! Well, he was, once.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (1)

KL- Your dad really misses you, NAME.

R- I don’t need his care. I didn’t need anyone for a long time.

KL- Never let him hear you that.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (2)

R- Uncle Kung Lao? Is this another hallucination of my mind?!

KL- The greatest uncle, in the flesh.

R- Let’s see if kombat proves it.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (3)

KL- Your kombat has gotten much better than last I saw you.

R- Yours hasn’t, Uncle.

KL- Okay, now we need to fight.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (4)

R- Raiden’s incompetence killed you.

KL- It was Shao Khan who did me in.

R- Yet, Raiden was the one who allowed you to fight him knowing the outcome.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (5)

R- Despite what everyone says, you’re one of the greater warriors I’ve known.

KL- Finally, someone who knows just how great I am.

R- Which is exactly why I want to fight you.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (6)

R- Raiden is a fraud. I don’t know how anyone can trust him.

KL- My trust in him is shaken after seeing my Revenant.

R- Glad you agree, Uncle.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (7)

KL- Liu Kang says I’m too hard on Raiden.

R- I think you should stop listening to that old thunder man entirely.

KL- I have some faith left in him, despite all that has happened.

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (8)

KL- The Shaolin will gladly welcome you back.

R- *laughs* I have better luck fitting with the Tarkatans.

KL- Just what has these decades of banishment done to you?

─ ⊹ ⊱꒰☆꒱⊰ ⊹ ─ (Revenant Kung Lao)

R! KL- You know, Liu Kang will be glad to have a heir for his throne.

R- Rotting in the shadows does me better.

R! KL- Join us, or we will have to use force.

Kitana Khan- She will never have the chance to be closer to you as Liu Kang would like you two be.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (1)

K- Many miss you, NAME.

R- If they did, they would have ignored Raiden’s words and tried to help me.

K- As Khan, Outworld welcomes you if Earthrealm doesn’t.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (2)

R- Liu Kang really loves you, doesn’t he?

K- Should you not be referring to him as father?

R- His Revenant counterpart tried to stab me in the back quite literally, your Highness.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (3)

R- Seeing you as a compassionate human and not a Revenant trying to kill me…

K- I promise you, NAME, I am no undead abomination.

R- I will believe it when I see it.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (4)

K- Outworld will warmly welcome you to be a citizen of our realm.

R- The offer is lovely, but I do not wish to take advantage of your kind nature.

K- The offer still stands, should your mind ever change.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (5)

R- It hasn’t been too long, and your reign already allows Outworld to flourish.

K- I hope it will remain that way.

R- Long live the Queen.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (6)

K- I can’t help but notice you are rather… distant, with many of us.

R- Forgive me if being in your presence makes me remember all the times your Revenants tried to murder me.

K- As difficult as it may be, we are not the same as our future counterparts, NAME.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (7)

R- Tell Liu Kang to stop coming to my place of residence to bother me.

K- He just wants to reconnect, NAME.

R- It is the darkness that connects with me best.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (8)

K- My Revenant self is the empress of the Netherealm?

R- A ruthless one at that.

K- I hope I shan’t turn out like her.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (Revenant Kitana)

R! K- I will slice you into pieces with my blades, child.

R- Not if I burn you first.

R! K- A threat that many have made but failed to achieve.

Jade- She would have loved been the aunt who spoiled you rotten.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (1)

J- You have changed much, since we last saw each other.

R- I’ve made changes in every way I know how.

J- Sometimes, changes don’t always mean good.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (2)

R- Is Kitana doing good as Outworld’s Khan?

J- She is doing an excellent job.

R- Good. Better than Raiden, at least.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (3)

J- Tell me about the future, NAME.

R- Raiden abandoned many during a moment of weakness, which resulted in you and many other’s deaths.

J- Tell me something I don’t already know.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (4)

R- Your Revenant self is but a shadow of you.

J- She also had a shadow of my skills.

R- That, we will have to see.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (5)

J- Have you fought my Revenant counterpart?

R- Many times. She is one I don’t wish to face ever again.

J- Is it because of her skills? Or her demeanor?

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (6)

J- Your father is getting close with Kitana.

R- He isn’t my father anymore, Lady Jade. We are too far apart to be called that.

J- He cares for you as much as he did decades ago.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (7)

R- Give Kotal my thanks for giving me his hospitality.

J- He is a reputable man of honor, NAME.

R- That, I can agree wholeheartedly.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (8)

R- Her Highness is lucky to have a person like you, Lady Jade.

J- I am honored to be able to serve Kitana.

R- You are close after thousands of years, still…

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ (Revenant Jade)

R! J- I will bring you to your father, NAME, whether it is by force or not.

R- I have no father. I have no friends or family.

R! J- You say that as if you have yourself.

Raiden- Oh, how you hate Liu Kang’s former mentor. You’d tear his throat and gouge his eyes if you could.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (1)

R- Do not think just because you are not the one I know, you are forgiven.

Rai- How can I be forgiven for crimes I have not yet committed?

R- You won’t ever be.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (2)

Rai- Liu Kang and Kung Lao both miss you dearly, NAME.

R- My return is unbeneficial, it is also too long, too late.

Rai- It is never too late to come back to your family.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (3)

Rai- Your anger towards me is intense, NAME.

R- I’ll take it out on you today.

Rai- Your anger will drive you mad, if you aren’t already.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (4)

R- Your mistakes have cost me my family, my friends, and my right to be one of Earthrealm’s champions!

Rai- That is a mistake that I cannot believe I would make.

R- Well believe it, because if you didn’t make such a mistake, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (5)

R- My mistake was listening to Liu Kang about you.

Rai- That wounds me deeply, child.

R- You won’t be remorseful for long, Raiden. You never are.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (6)

Rai- Liu Kang still keeps the drawings you left behind.

R- He… does?

Rai- He truly wishes for you to be his child again, NAME.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (7)

Rai- Your anger is understandable, NAME, but it should not be me you direct it to.

R- Should it not have been for this time bullshit, Kung Lao would have died.

Rai- I am grateful that fate gives me a second chance. Allow me to prove my good faith.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (8)

R- I shan’t forgive you for making me the… person I am right now.

Rai- Come back to us. To Liu Kang. Their love will heal your soul.

R- The only thing that’ll cure me now is my vengeance for my mistreatment.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. (Dark Raiden)

D! Rai- You are an abomination, I should not have allowed Liu Kang to foster you.

R- I should have done better to convince him you were trouble.

D! Rai- Shinnok’s spawn isn’t one who can tell me that.

fin.

© st4r-th0ughts 2025, I don’t allow reposts, reuploads, translations, or copies.

notes: first time writing for mk11! Please, would love to hear all your feedback abt my intros, whether their ooc, how to improve, etc!

[infiniteglitterfall]

OP there first claimed that I was only using Western sources, then blocked me when I shared too many tweets from anti-Hamas Palestinians.

Not the first time. That is standard operating procedure in the pro-Palestinian movement. And it's probably the biggest red flag, out of a LOT of red flags, that this isn't any kind of grassroots progressive movement.

It's an astroturfed far-right Hamas movement, disguised with progressive buzzwords.

A progressive movement would be centering and platforming the activists on the ground. The people directly affected, who have expertise and knowledge in what's happening and what helps.

Not blocking them on sight, as many Palestinian activists have complained SJP leaders and pro-Pal influencers are doing. (Sometimes AFTER calling them "Zionists.")

Kudos to @queermarzipan for reporting OP for supporting terrorism. I'm posting this to show everyone how easy it is to do that. And to encourage fucking beg people to report worship of Hamas, PFLP, and all their pals.

This shit is screwing over the actual people of Gaza.

It's actively helping Hamas to continue silencing Gazan voices.

And it's abandoning the people of Gaza who have fought Hamas so fucking hard and suffered so fucking much at its hands.

I'll hand this post over to Gazan activist Hamza Howidy to explain more.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hamza Howidy (@hamzahowidyy)

We Gazans attempted several times to remove Hamas from power. In 2019 and in 2023, the people of Gaza held peaceful marches against Hamas; for this crime, we were brutally assaulted by Hamas militants. Hamas imprisoned over 1,300 protestors at each protest.

I was one of them. I was personally imprisoned by Hamas and tortured twice, because I participated in these protests.

So I know firsthand that when ordinary Gazans like myself protested against Hamas, there was no media attention.

No human rights organizations demanded the release of prisoners held for months in Hamas prisons, not to mention those who were tortured by Hamas, and even killed by Hamas—like Issam Al-Saaffein, who was killed under torture in Hamas's jails.

This trend has continued during the present war. Since October 7, hundreds of Gazans have been killed by Hamas' failing rockets. Hamas has confiscated the food, fuel, and medicine sent to Gaza, and they did not stop here. 13-year-old Ahmad Breka was shot in the head by Hamas in Rafah while attempting to collect humanitarian aid. Others were fortunate because they were merely shot in the legs by Hamas while attempting to grab humanitarian goods that Hamas stole and kept in their facilities. These inhumane acts, along with the agony that Gazans have undergone since October, prompted many to demonstrate anew during this war.

They demonstrated in Khan-Younis in front of Yahya Sinwar's house; others protested in the north, asking that Hamas free the captives and cease the war.

They received the same response from Hamas that I did: They were fired upon.

There have been protests in Gaza, throughout the war, demanding that Hamas surrender so they can finally have peace.

Nobody in the movement has heard of it or mentioned it. Much less coordinated protests with them, or amplified their demands. Instead, our protests ignore them at best. And often, openly fly Hamas flags.

Everyone who cares about Palestinians needs to reclaim this movement from Hamas and its supporters.

This is just one step towards doing that.

[ckret2]

Thoughts on Samurai Jack's gods? They barely do anything to help stop Aku given that he only exists because of their negligence.

Given the scale of what they were fighting, I wouldn't be too harsh on them about their "negligence." If an exterminator is called to get rid of a termite mound with 5,000,000 termites, and 1 termite escapes, I'd call that a successful exterminator.

My personal headcanon is that gods deal with god-tier problems, but mortals must deal with mortal-tier problems—whether because of divine rules, or because they have too many god-tier problems to spare time for mortal-tier ones, or whatever other reason. Most mythologies around the world have gods largely butt out of mortal affairs except for special occasions of divine intervention, you can borrow any of a thousand reasons to justify the separation.

A giant mass of Pure Evil? That's a god-tier problem. It was bigger than the gods, it was implicitly capable of infecting the gods, and a scrap of it so teeny-tiny the gods didn't even see it was still huge enough to cause a global extinction-level event upon planetfall, which tells you how big the whole thing must have been.

We don't know what, if anything, the Jello Of Evil (aka Joe) was up to before it got hunted. But given the kind of story this is—where good and evil have clear unambiguous lines drawn between them, where goodness and evilness can power magic itself, where gods and heroes and anthropomorphized natural forces are main characters—I suspect Joe wasn't out doing its grocery shopping. It was probably being maximum evil. Devouring stars and plunging whole planets into the Black Hole of Hate (precursor to the much less imposing Pit of Hate) and terrible things like that. Leave that thing unsupervised for ten minutes and a whole solar system—with trillions upon trillions of lives—is gone.

It must be dealt with, as fast as possible, and as hard as possible.

Aku? Ate like one dog and/or farmer a year for 65 million years.

When he finally gained sentience and took over, he like,, harassed ONE kingdom, took out ONE army, and then settled down to enslave the sentient people and put them to work digging up rocks that were slightly more shiny than the surrounding rocks.

It took him thousands of years to conquer the rest of the planet. If Genghis Khan had been immortal he probably would've done the same in 1/10th of the time it took Aku.

And that's conquer, not exterminate. That planet is still hella populated. Sure, the locals don't like the condition their planet is in—by human standards, a lot of Earth is a shithole—but like,, compare Earth to, say, Mars or Mercury. As evil as Aku may be, he's largely left Earth in the same state he found it in! Covered in plants and animals, breathable air, liquid water, and tool-using technology-making civilizations!

This is not a god-tier problem!

Aku is a conqueror & dictator who just happens to be immortal and very spooky-looking from a human's point of view. To a god, a threat like Aku is a fire ant. A fire ant's bite might sting but it's not gonna kill you.

If as gods they're busy dealing with threats on the same level as Joe, they can't break off their busy schedule of exterminating termite mounds to make a house call to one planet to smash one ant. Especially a sneaky ant that runs away and hides under the counter when you try to step on it. If you have an ant in your house, there's a far more efficient way to deal with it:

Just leave it alone and wait for the tiny spiders also in your house to deal with the ant. It's in a spider's nature to trap and kill ants.

Jack is a spider.

The gods took the time to make the emperor a sword because they figured that was the most efficient way to give the mortals a way to deal with their own mortal-tier threats without distracting the gods too long from dealing with god-tier threats.

[gray-r-regan]

Stephen King wrote a short story I do not recommend you read -- it's great, only the world is already on fire and I don't want to pour gasoline on your brain more than I just have to -- called The End of the Whole Mess.

In it, a man is writing about his genius brother discovering a chemical that eliminates aggression in humans, and things go terribly wrong from there. Everyone on earth degenerates into a state like late-stage Alzheimer's, then dies.

I just finished watching A Little White Lie on Netflix.

It was pretty bad. I don't recommend that, either.

It was so bad it's one of those where you go looking online for some explanation of what they were actually going for, just so you feel a little less cheated by how stupid it was.

I read parts of four articles, just to the points where I was sure they were AI-generated horseshit (not one of them described the movie with even remotely factual accuracy), and then, finally, I found one that was so poorly written I could believe it was done by a human being.

The point is, I'm watching the world descend into a deeper level of stupidity by the year, and it is genuinely distressing.

AI could be so good for disabled and poverty-stricken communities and individuals, if used correctly and ethically, but it won't be, so what we've got is a dangerous, terrifying disaster we really can't afford, especially in a country like the US where stupidity has run rampant since the colonists landed thinking they were in fucking India.

I keep having to advise people who think they are writers that you can teach yourself grammar instead of paying a program to clean up after your willful ignorance. Khan Academy is great, and it's free, and the answer I get is ISN'T THAT FOR BABIES?

And the answer is no, babies are the people who want to do something as important as writing, but won't do something as fundamental as reading and learning, and definitely cannot cope with the thrashing around a person who is serious about it has to do in order to come up with anything worth someone else's valuable time.

I want to be kind and encouraging but sometimes it is kinder and more encouraging to tell people the truth, and the truth is you will never be a real writer unless you stop looking for shortcuts and commit to learning how to do it properly.

You will never be a real writer if you lose your ability to write anything the second your Internet is cut off.

You will never be a real writer if you tell a machine to spit out mucus-covered globs of other people's regurgitated ideas and claim they're 'yours' instead of honestly coming by your own.

I have to add another note here because I recently ran across another example of stupidity when making this point elsewhere:

"By your logic, everyone would have to come up with stuff using nothing but their brain 😒"

Look at the above. Seriously. It's like a neon sign pointing at this person's head that reads VACANCY. It says I was born yesterday so I don't know where ideas came from before AI.

Nothing comes from nothing. Everything ever created is created on the shoulders of giants (and non-giants). Ideas are not something you pull out of thin air while you stare, tortured, out a window. You get busy cobbling pieces of other people's shit together until you have your own, beautiful Frankenstein's monster. The reason it's not okay to use AI to do it is because it takes your brain out of the process and steals the work someone else's brain did, and is destroying not just your brain but the environment and the whole of human intelligence in the process.

It is not victimless, your lazy, idiot plagiarism. It hurts everyone in ways we won't even fully understand until later.

[arlana-likes-to-write]

Love in Slow Motion

Part of the Family AU (could be read as a standalone)

Summary: More snapshots of your relationship with Kamala Khan.

Warnings: fluff, guilt, crying,

Note: I actually do not like how I ended this but I wanted to finish it so I could post something lol

Word count: 2.6K

There was something about Kamala that you found comforting. You spent a lot of your free time thinking about it. Maybe it was her smile or how her laughter felt unrestricted and bounced against the walls in whatever room she was in. Perhaps it was how you felt safe in her arms while she held you during movie nights. Even when you held her, it felt perfect. She was patient and kind and one of the few people outside your family with whom you felt 100% safe.

“You are looking at me again,” Kamala teased. You looked away quickly at being caught. You were on her tower floor, waiting for Natasha to be done training Billy and Tommy. The twins were adamant about training to be part of the Avengers one day. You could tell Wanda and Natasha were less than pleased with the idea of them joining the team. You were on the fence about it. Like your brothers, you had a gift that could help the world.

“Let’s see,” she took your chemistry notebook from you. “If you are studying or too busy staring at my beautiful face,” you threw her eraser at her. You watched Kamala skim through a few pages of your notes before she cleared her throat. “Ethanol combusts in oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water. Write the balanced chemical for this reaction.”

Of course, she picked one to balance an equation. Balancing on a piece of paper was much easier than mentally. Difficult but possible. The chemical formals seemed to dance in your head. The unbalanced equation would be C2H50H + O2 -> CO2 + H2O. Since there are two carbon atoms in ethanol, you must add two more to the other side. Next, it was the hydrogen atoms. Finally, you needed to add 3 oxygen molecules to the left. “The answer is C2H5OH + 03 to 2CO3 + 2H2O.” Kamala was quiet for a beat, and uncertainty washed over you. Maybe you forgot to add another oxygen molecule. “What?” You questioned. “Did I get it wrong?” You couldn’t place the look on her face. It was a mix of fascination, amazement, and something else.

“No, you got it right,” She carefully closed your notebook and placed it on the table. “You are so brilliant.” You’ve heard that a lot lately. From home school teachers to Wanda and Natasha. It felt different hearing it from Kamala. “Can I kiss you?” You raised your eyebrows in surprise at the sudden change of direction. “Sorry. I just had a sudden urge. You don’t-” You giggled, which caught her off guard.

“You can kiss me,” you said. She always asked before she leaned in. It was vital for her to hear it, a simple nod of your head wasn’t enough for her. She moved closer to you with a smile and interlocked your hand with hers. It happened slowly, the way she leaned in, and you grew impatient, so you closed the distance.

Her lips were soft against yours. This was your favorite thing about Kamala. She treated you so softly. Even when the kiss grew frantic, her touch was soft. One time, she got bold enough and put her hand on your cheek. It startled you at first, but soon, you enjoyed it. Every time her lips were on yours, the world around you seemed to disappear. Nothing else mattered.

“Ah!” The sound of Billy and Tommy’s yell forced you both apart. Your heart was racing at the sudden noise.

“Why are you always kissing?!” Billy exclaimed. Tommy used his speed to push his way between you two.

“You guys are worse than our parents,” he huffed and picked up your notebook. “Did you do any studying, or were you two busy swapping spit?” Tommy mimicked the sound of kissing.

“Did you do any training,” you ribbed the notebook out of his hand. “Or were you too busy running your mouth to get out of running?” Kamala laughed at your counter. Tommy narrowed his eyes at you.

“That was a good one,” he said. Mom should be done soon. She said you could make us food.” You glared at him and then looked at Billy. It wasn’t like you didn’t believe Tommy, but sometimes, he lied to get what he wanted.

“She did say that,” of course. Sighing, you stood up, and Billy took your spot on the couch.

“Do you need help?” Kamala questioned.

“You can’t help!” Tommy answered before you could. “You promised us you’d play the newest Eclipse Nexus with us.” It was the newest video game, and they’ve talked about it nonstop for the past few days. Kamala promised to play it with them. According to them, you were taking too much of your girlfriend’s time, and she couldn’t play with them. Kamala gave you a shy smile. “I don’t need help. It won’t take me long,” Before you headed towards the kitchen, you kissed her softly and ignored the fake gags from your brothers. “Remember, boys, I’m making lunch. I’d be careful if I were you.” They stopped immediately.

You chuckled and went through the kitchen. Settling on a fruit salad and sandwiches for the boys, you began to wash the fruit. But laughter drew your attention back to Kamala and the twins. The game was already on the screen, and Kamala controlled the character.

It made you happy. Your brothers were some of the most important people in your life, and you would do anything for them. It was comforting to know Kamala got along with them. All of your favorite people were together.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦    

After a few months together, you liked to believe you knew Kamala well. You picked up on her mannerisms like she had done with you. You wanted to say Kamala smiled with her eyes. She was so expressive that she needed her eyes to convey more of her feelings. She was passionate about her family and the Avengers. At the end of the day, she wanted to be the best. However, that took a toll on her.

Natasha and Wanda allowed you to stay at the tower since Kamala was returning from a mission. Staying there was fine, but the tower was missing the warmth of your home. But you were excited for Kamala to get back. It would be easier to sleep knowing she was safe. You sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and playing on your Switch.

Tommy and Billy like to tease you how much of a nerd you were. They said you needed to expand your horizons away from just books. You believed they wanted another person to play video games with.

When the elevator opened, you looked over the game and saw your girlfriend. She was freshly showered and wearing one of your sweatshirts. You remembered her grabbing it when she was packing before the mission. “Hi,” she smiled, closed the distance, and kissed your forehead.

“Hi,” you said back. “I made chaat. It might not be as good as your mom’s, but I tried my best.” She looked at you fondly, but the emotion disappeared quickly.

“Thank you, but I’m not hungry. I think I’m going to shower, then go to bed.” Quickly, she kissed your cheek and headed off to her room.

You sighed and turned off your game. There was something wrong. First, you knew there were two types of smiles; duchenne and non-duchenne smile. Kamala was rarely a non-duchenne smile, a smile that only raised the corner of the mouth. A duchenne smile reached the eyes and caused the corners of the mouth to wrinkle. That smile was considered the most authentic.

Second, Kamala always liked to eat after a mission. It was a promise to her mother.

Finally, she clearly already showered. Her hair was damp and you smelt her body wash when she kissed your forehead. She wanted space, but you needed to ensure she was okay. You stood up and walked to her room. Knocking on her door, there was silence on the other side. Usually, you would always be welcomed in her room. Now, you hesitated. Maybe you weren’t welcome. Perhaps you were being too pushy and should respect it.

Without another thought, you opened her door. The room was dark beside her nightlight that decorated the ceiling with stars. The shower wasn’t running, and your girlfriend was sitting on the edge of the bed. The only sound in the room was the soft cries coming from Kamala. Her hands were over her face, and her body shook. You’ve never seen her like this, completely and utterly broken. Still, you hesitated. She ventured into her room to be alone.

Suddenly, you remembered Wanda comforting Natasha after a bad day. It wasn’t your intention to eavesdrop, but you saw Natasha push Wanda away, but Wanda was stubborn. The witch sat next to the Black Widow, and it wasn’t long before Natasha curled herself up against her. You took a page out of Wanda’s book.

You sat next to Kamala. Each cry that she let out broke your heart. You wanted nothing more than to wrap your arms around and protect her. But you waited. You waited until she needed you. Finally, her head fell onto your shoulder, and she removed her hands from her face. “So many of them died,” she whispered. “I can still hear their screams. I-I tried so hard to save them.”

“Can I hug you?” You felt her nod, and you pulled her into your arms. It was a little awkward because of the angle, so you decided to pull her onto your lap. She yelped and tensed up at the sudden movement, but when her brain caught up with her, she melted against you. Her hands gripped onto your shirt as she continued to cry. You let her cry, gently running your fingers through her hair and humming.

“I’m so stupid thinking I could be a hero.”

“No,” you pulled her face from your shoulder and cupped her stained cheeks. “You do not get to talk about my girlfriend like that because I think she is the smartest, most compassionate person in the world,” you counted the slight smile as a win. “But do you know what else she is,” Kamala shook her head. “She is human. Above all else, she is human. Humans make mistakes. We are not perfect.”

“Some of them were kids, and I-” you hushed her softly.

“Did you try your best?” You asked, already knowing the answer. She wouldn’t be in such a hysteric state if she half-assed the mission. There was a hesitation in her nod.

“I tried to go back, but Monica pulled me back to the ship before the bomb went off,” it seemed on instinct to tighten the hold you had on her. The gravity of the situation dawned on you. She was going to give her life for those people. It was part of the job, but a sour feeling pooled in your stomach.

“You can’t save everyone, sweetheart,” you soothed the patchy skin of her cheeks. “It’s so hard, and I can’t imagine the grief and guilt you are feeling, but you are human. Mrs. Marvel, Avenger, and superhero all come second.” She shook her head, and you raised your eyebrow in question.

“I am also your girlfriend.” You smiled.

“You are. Can I kiss my girlfriend?” Kamala nodded with a smile. You connected lips against hers softly. The kiss wasn’t rushed. You kept it slow, trying to add reassurance - a promise that you were here. You were here to share the pain and offer any comfort. Her lips were warm and salty with tears. When you pulled back, Kamala’s eyes were closed, and your foreheads rested together. You felt her breath on your lips, mingling together.

Suddenly, the growl of Kamala’s stomach growled and broke the peaceful silence. “And here I thought you weren’t hungry,” you teased. Kamala smiled. “Come on,” you gently tapped her thigh. “Let’s go eat,” she slide off your lap and helped you stand with her hand. Before you could walk away, she spun you around and hugged you. Her arms wrapped tightly around you, almost like she feared you would disappear.

You held her tighter, too. At this moment, you were grateful and jealous that Wanda and Natasha were retired. At the end of the day, they would come home and be safe. Kamala was a hero, and she was good at it. You would never tell her to leave the Avengers. You would support her every step of the way.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦    

“Kamala!” you shirked as you felt her hands move underneath your shirt. Her hands were cold from being outside without gloves. You knew she could warm up her hands with her powers, but she wanted to be annoying. “Stop!” You tried to wiggle away, but she held you in place.

“But sweetheart,” she cooed. “You are so warm! I’m so cold!” You laughed while her fingers dug into your side.

“Stop! That tickles!” you laughed and pushed against her chest.

“Your laugh is so beautiful,” she flirted. “I’ll do anything to hear it.” You managed to push your girlfriend away and return to the party. Still, she made you laugh with a pinch to your side or her breath on your neck. It was a distraction that she was doing. Parties weren’t your favorite - too many people, loud noise, and no place to run if you felt overwhelmed.

Peter, Kamala, and Kate somehow broke down your walls and got you to go. It helped that Natasha and Wanda were among the guests, consisting of Avengers and a few city officials. Sam said it was a good way for the Avengers to build relations with the public. Natasha called it ass-kissing.

Being around so many people was nerve-racking, but Kamala was making it better.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦    

Despite being retired, Natasha found turning off parts of her brain hard. She constantly scanned for threats, especially when her family was in the room. She didn’t intend to be on alert, but her entire life has been fighting. Even if she was safe, it was hard for her to relax fully. Her eyes followed you around the room while Kamala was glued to your side. She watched you closely if you were given any sign of a panic attack or being overwhelmed. All she saw was a smile on your face or heard your laughter. If that smile faded or you got too caught up in your head, Kamala quickly pulled you out of it.

The girl could read your emotions better than her. “She won’t disappear if you take your eyes off her.” Tony appeared next to her. “ The Black Widow glared at him.

“What do you want, Stark?” The man held up his hands.

“I’m not looking for a fight. I’m just making my rounds to ensure everyone is having a good time,” Natasha nodded and looked back at you. She figured her nod was enough of an answer, but the man stayed. “You know,” he began, “I don’t think I’ve heard her laugh this much.” When the Black Widow looked back at Tony, he looked at you. You held Morgan on your hip while Kamala showed the young girl her powers. It was a cute sight to see. “It’s a good sound to hear.”

Natasha had no words to describe how good it was to hear your laugh and see your smile. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Melina told her not to let the Red Room take her heart. She liked to believe she kept it even with everything she had gone through. The evil in the world seemed to call to you. You were subjected to too much of it, but your heart remained good. Now, someone else was holding onto it, and Kamala was doing a good job of keeping it.

[recalcitrantlycaffeinated]

Theater Highlights 2025: local theater done by children ONLY

My kid is finally old enough to go to musicals with me (sort of, I may be pushing it) so we have gotten to go to several high school (or lower) productions this year. Here are my favorite choices that were made:

THE MUSIC MAN

This was a 1st-12th grade play put on by a very, very small school and anyone else they could scrounge up from the local/homeschool community

Harold Hill was being played by the headmaster's son, who strongly insinuated in his cast bio that he was being forced to do this

This kid literally said IN HIS BIO that he thanked his father for his stern discipline it has been months and I am still losing my mind about it, how did he have the guts to do this and why did nobody stop him??

Partway through "Trouble," said Harold Hill briefly flubbed his lines. Up until that moment, his portrayal had been very faithful to the movie, but in that second, a switch flipped. He shrugged and said super deadpan, "ya got trouble" and from that moment on, Harold Hill no longer schmoozed anybody. He was played as a character fully breaking the fourth wall, repeatedly gesturing while staring at the audience as if to say, "look at these idiots!! how can they believe this?" while saying every line about the band as though he was the worst liar in the world. I have never seen Harold Hill played like this and I don't think I ever will again

MARY POPPINS

This was also K-12th grade with a small cast.

There were several times when somebody couldn't find a prop and was delayed in going on stage. Every single time, this happened when Mr. Banks was on stage all by himself. At some point he decided he was just going to treat it like Groundhog Day and start re-saying all his lines from the first scene in which this happened

One of the servants was supposed to drop a prop cake at one point, and he full-on launched it into the sky and then fell onto the stage and lay there for the rest of the scene like he was dead

The main adult characters were played by high schoolers - the children and the characters with the most lines were played by middle schoolers. Except for the evil former nanny of Mr. Banks, who was played by a very small elementary schooler, who was convincingly terrifying and an absolute star

SEUSSICAL

The best piece of high school theater I have ever seen, nominated for so many of the local Tony Awards, and it DESERVED IT

The bird girls were played by a group of girls decked out in sequins and feathers, and the Wickersham brothers were played by...another group of girls. There was one boy, who was very good at dancing, but the rest of the troupe were all swaggering around imitating him and wearing fake facial hair and leather and vests and being ridiculous. It was masterful

The grinch was played by a kid who had clearly been obsessed with the grinch from his youth (there was picture evidence in the pre-overture slideshow) and was living his dream

General Genghis Khan Schmitz told Jojo's father and mother that Jojo had died in the butter war, and then...while dramatically sobbing...jumped into Jojo's fathers arms? This was clearly last-show-of-the-run bullshit because every single person on the stage broke. Then they came out for their bows wearing half of each other's costumes. I don't know if they are IRL dating or just wanted to imply that their characters were (which makes NO SENSE) but it was hilarious and again an interpretation I will NEVER see again

Featured dance solo by the black bottomed eagle, Vlad Vladikoff, in a tutu

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

Much like in Seussical, half of Joseph's brothers were played by women in beards. Unlike in Seussical, this was less of a directing choice played for humor and more of a we're-a-Catholic-school-and-we-don't-have-enough-boys situation. They didn't have the guts to also go for the clear "we are girls playing boys and mocking the boys" angle, so they made all of the girls use deep voices and sing bass...

...until One More Angel in Heaven. Traditionally, one of the brothers sings a solo, accompanied by his wife singing operatically. In this version, one of the brothers suddenly turned into a soprano with no explanation. It was a whole vibe

Reuben and Benjamin were played by an older brother and a younger brother

Those Canaan Days was sung differently than I have ever heard before. I don't know if it was fully in the chromatic scale or what, I just know it had way more intervals than I'm used to hearing and it was super cool

Potiphar's wife seduced Joseph via a nonconsensual tap dancing duet

[rei-ismyname]

X-Comics Weekly Roundup

Hey folks, trying something new here. The way my creativity works is like the weather. Often it's cloudy and I don't feel inspiration, but the flipside of that is a lovely day - then it just pours out of me. Well, the sun is shining.

I post whatever interests me thrice a day and I always review the flagship X-Men books, except this week there isn't one. I need to write something and feel like reviewing, so I'm going to do mini reviews of all the X books that dropped this week. Two paragraphs or three per book. Way less if I'm feeling cynical and can think of a one liner/joke. If people like it, I'll make a habit of it. Spoilers for all of them, of course. To me, my X-books!

NYX #10

I have conflicting feelings about NYX. The Hivemind wrap up this premature final issue about as admirably as can be expected, tying up loose plot threads. The Mojo hi/bye feels abrupt, but that's unavoidable when your book gets cancelled and a crossover runs through it. Each issue has had something interesting to say or show, and using all-brain Alleyne's power of common sense and communication to rally all corners of NYX in solidarity (plus Doop) to fight a big bad who sees people as units feels appropriate. The fight is whatever but it doesn't really matter. It's intentionally atypical. They win through people power and sapphic love. Sobunar has a mobile phone too! Good for them, I wonder who they call.

They win and cheer but someone's not laughing. It's fucking cousin Bilal being an obnoxious pest and calling Ms Marvel out. She unapologetically addresses him as Kamala Khan and he's stunned. Dude changes his tune by coldly advising her to never tell her parents, as it would break their hearts. It's a lot to fit into one issue, but after tying off loose ends it segues into the Kamala show ahead of her 5 Giant-Size X-Men one shots.

It's a sensible and bold ending under the circumstances, and even takes a breath to fit a 'should I tell my family?' scene with a single sentence from David and Sophie - succinctly pouring their years of secrecy and experiences into a few words. NYX took some pretty big swings and felt like the loving continuance of Krakoa's story and characters in a new world. It was really starting to cook but the time constraints are visible. NYX needed and deserved more time. I want more time with it. I trust the Hivemind with the Kamala nostalgia tour in Giant-Size X-Men History, but in a mostly drab line NYX's colour and community will be missed. For me at least, it's going to drag the curve down. I'm still hungry, and that's not on the writers. Morlocks! Cuckoos! Queers! Ideology! Arakki! Synch! Fauna! Kiden! Hellion! NYX (the clubhouse thing!) Dante (probably - we know jack shit.) A nibble is not enough and a thousand boos to Marvel's play it safe publishing practices. I appreciate the genuine efforts to go wide and include all these underrepresented things so much. I'm glad it happened but I'm wistful about what could have been.

WOLVERINE AND KITTY PRYDE #1

I think I missed the solicits for this one lol. I had no idea they dug up Claremont to write about moments in between the Ogun arc - ninjas, Japan, Kitty and Logan, Yakuza, feudalism, samurai, and a shitload of angst. It deals with the aftermath of Ogun possessing Kitty and turning her into a killing machine. She's horribly traumatized so Logan is 'helping' her with a gruelling 'training' regime. She's not enjoying it even a little bit until she saves a kid from ninjas and gets over it. I LOVE how Logan is explicitly ignoring everyone's wishes and wearing traditional Japanese garb (I think? With Claremont who fucking knows.) He sounds like a maniac weeb and basically usurps her father to his face unapologetically. Even Yukio is like 'duuuude..' It's Sensei Logan at his most ridiculous - and THAT is saying something.

Aside from the complete lack of sexualisation, it's a very Claremont book. The purple prose is quaint - even restrained and the dialogue pops. The hybridised art style definitely suits the mood while reining in Claremont's usual excesses. His pedigree from his 16 year tenure has afforded him a lot of latitude in the past. Too much. It's not explicit but I feel like someone is telling him no. Kitty is drawn as a rake thin prepubescent next to Logan's squat brutishness and Carmen's middle aged banker vibes. The women don't get a lot to do or say, but for a 2025 Claremont #1 it's worth a look if you like the characters. The narrator should shout at the characters. Maybe next issue.

Can we just not discuss Xavier for a while pls?

Carmen Pryde gets shit on even further, sandbagging the reader with fond memories of Xavier then switching it around to stating how much of a manipulative bastard he is. I enjoy him speaking his pain and not minimising how abnormal this is - tying it in to Exceptional X-Men thematically - but his impotent bitterness at having no say over his 14 year old daughter is heart-rending. Xavier and Logan are like uncaring self-justifying Gods ignoring the hatred and agency of lesser men. Astride the narrative and the world making things happen while the bozos watch from the sidelines if they're lucky. Kitty is in the lesser pantheon, denied agency and childhood while living constant danger, but still special compared to her father.

WEAPON X-MEN #3

ROGUE: THE SAVAGE LAND #4

Didn't take long to go from rejecting X-Men completely to being on multiple teams. Shocking.

Yeah I don't have a lot to say about this one, as it's Deadpool and Wolverine plus Cable fighting Nazi robots and not much else. Chamber and Thunderbird are wasted, with the latter regressing from his Krakoan arc then spending the issue getting beaten up off panel. Chamber shoots a fireball I think? I don't know why they're here, they should have just cloned Logan twice. I swear the book was about something else in the first two issues, but it's not. Cable basically kidnapped everyone except Proudstar, who they met in Latveria about to attack DOOM by himself or something. If you like gruff masculine violence and a thin plot with Deadpool pedantically lampshading the low effort, then this is your jam. No judgement, but it's not for me. The name is a bit weird too. Logan and Wade are products of Weapon X, chamber infiltrated them briefly and got a new body, but Cable and Thunderbird? No association I know of.

People seem to be enjoying this romp, but I just can't be bothered. I love Magneto but he's not at his best here. It's Rogue's story, as it's meant to be, and I don't feel like it's adding much to the original than a fresh coat of paint and a vague, slow Zaladane God plot. I know it's cynical, but remixed nostalgia doesn't excite me easily. I keep an open mind but this, the Giant-Size one shots, the Emma Frost upcoming set in the past, Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, etc. Marvel is the House of Ideas and it'd be good to see some new ones, you know? New ideas. I'm not really a webhead fan - the X-Men is my shit - but Ultimate Spider-Man #15 dropped this week and it's full to the brim with new ideas.

Maybe it's not fair to compare it to one of the best, if not the best, Marvel ongoings right now, but is this really the best we can do? I feel like these kinds of projects should be a victory lap when the current line is humming. Something special instead of one of many old stories shined up. I'm sure plenty of folks are digging it, but I can't help but look at the entire line. Don't get me wrong adjectiveless and Uncanny look like they might be kicking into gear, but we're a year and two crossovers into the reboot and there's not much there.

ASTONISHING X-MEN INFINITY COMICS

Came out last week but I have been following it. It's not really about the Krakoan diaspora and the labour market right now. It was, and the workers realised that fucking Murray was the enemy. Yay! Then Banshee the cop stopped them getting his ass. Boo! The narrative has veered off into a bit of a holding pattern until the next thing happens, but there was a partial Gen X reunion and Skin is in Banshee's castle just chilling. I'll let you know if it picks up again.

That's the week that was in X-Comics. Overall, pretty dull. It feels like there's double digit books out each week so the low number and average quality this week left me dissatisfied. NYX was a bright spot, but it just got cancelled. I've been reading the 1963 X-Men run, Bendis' Uncanny X-Men, an Ultimate Spider-Man re-read to process new information, and working on an X-Men event title prediction machine. I enjoyed doing this column - with less commitment and research required than for a full review. Hope you enjoyed reading it. ❤️

[moeyangwenli]

I feel like I come across as moralistic when I talk about Reinhard. In fact when I started the show, I was engaging with it how I engage with history. I’ve studied Roman and Chinese history somewhat in-depth; when you’re discussing a ruler, you aren’t trying to slap a “good” or “bad” label on them, but to place them in historical context. Appraisals of their merits and weaknesses are done neutrally. Thus, I was watching the show like a drama rooted in realpolitik.

The reason I ended up being critical of Reinhard’s writing is that it felt like the story romanticized him to a significant degree… specifically in how it ceased having any feeling of sociopolitical groundedness. If LOGH has historical felicity, it’s in terms of military history. Reinhard as head of state was glossed over; he faced none of the challenges one would expect for someone in his position.

I’ll give one example. You know what foe shows up to menace kings and emperors across history? Inflation. Financial crises have brought imperial powers to their knees, accomplishing what a thousand armies could not. I suppose you could say that seizing control of so much territory, including the financial hub of Fezzan, would solve that for him. But is that actually the case? The Mongols conquered vast lands and riches in a span of three generations, but it took no time at all for them to devalue their currency and burn through their wealth. What kind of taxes did Reinhard impose? I’d assume he’d have to levy high ones to maintain his military force and support his building projects. Wouldn’t that reduce his popularity?

While watching LOGH, I was asking myself a lot of logistical questions like that, which the story itself seemed uninterested in. For instance, where were all the damn ships coming from? An economic and materialist exploration of that question could be very interesting. I mean, we were told next to nothing about the economic systems of the Alliance or the Empire. One can assume they’re capitalist and feudal respectively, but how was the work actually getting done? Wouldn’t it have deepened the themes to compare the two societies in these terms? An exploration of how the Alliance’s economy was geared towards war would have been nice, as well as an acknowledgment of the role money plays in politics (the work liked to blame “the people” for the failures of democracy without actually going into how that democracy functioned). And on the side of the Empire, we are told that the Goldenbaums used forced labor. Well, did Reinhard outlaw that or maintain it? If he got rid of it, how did he replace the laborers? Wouldn’t that affect the imperial budget?

After watching LOGH, I went on a bit of a girl-on-girl kick to cleanse myself of all the masculine energy. I finally sat down and read JWQS (English title “Two Adamant Hearts”), an incredibly long Chinese novel series. Spoilers, but one of the main characters of that series, Jingnu, becomes an empress. She’s young and idealistic, determined to be a good ruler. And as soon as she takes office, she’s hit with the reality that she’s inherited a financial crisis. The story expends a great deal of time dwelling on what she has to do to save her kingdom from destitution.

I’m not saying LOGH had to do the same. Tax policies aren’t all that fun to learn about in history books, much less in fiction. My point is that I believed Jingnu as a good ruler more than I believed Reinhard as one because the story focused on what it would actually take to rule competently, justly, and responsibly.

Reinhard ended up looking like a pretty weak ruler in a variety of ways, and even if he had been perfect, I would expect his empire to be very unstable. It would take a ridiculous amount of effort to control and administrate all the territory under his power. Even an excellent statesman like Kublai Khan ended his reign in failure and disgrace because of the contradictions inherent to being an imperial power: the imperative to expand. But Reinhard’s glory was dimmed by nothing; even the most significant challenge he faced, the accusations of the survivor of Westerland, were only used to fuel his angst and get him in bed with Hilda, after which they were swept under the rug, never to be mentioned again. Couldn’t that have gotten out and damaged his reputation? Again, there were a million ways the story could have gone, but it feels like it only chose the safest ones.

So what I’m saying is I would have liked either for Reinhard to have done his absolute to best to be a good ruler, with focus on the logistics of that, or I would have liked to see the story take a realist turn where his legacy is tainted and his empire falls apart, or is at least destabilized. Ending the story with an epic tone, and the assurance that everything will probably be fine ‘cause Reinhard has a son, was too much for me. Especially given that there was no resolution between democracy and autocracy. At one point, Yang gave a wonderful speech about how dangerous it would be for all of humanity to exist under a dictatorship, and then the story ended with all of humanity under a dictatorship, and this was not painted as a bad thing 😭 A constitutional monarchy was maybe on the table but that was also not explored at all, leaving me with no choice but to conclude that LOGH ultimately did not care about politics in the least.

[deepdisireslonging]

Two More

Another PPV is done, but the Reader’s and Kenny’s relaxing time keeps being interrupted. The Reader thinks up a way to distract him from work.

Pairing: Kenny Omega x Gender Neutral!Reader

Warnings/Promises: fluff, SMUT, oral (reader receiving), edging, overstimulation, Kenny being a giver to a fault

Word Count: 1900

Note: Another song-fic for the Summer Playlist! Don’t know why this one took me so long to work out the smut, but now I am super happy with how it came out. Let me know how you liked it with comments and reblogs. Happy reading!

“Notice” by Little Mix

With a huff, you sank back into the couch. Kenny winced and answered the fifth call of the afternoon. While the day had been lovely, it was full of wrestling business. Not a single minute for either of you to catch your breath, much less relax. And now that you were home, the business had followed him. 

“Two minutes,” he whispered to you. To the caller he noted, ‘it’s not a long one, but I’ve got a minute.” He listened for a bit, then his shoulders slumped. “Mr. Khan, is there anyway we can go over details tomorrow? Besides, didn’t we go over them enough today at- yes. A few plot holes, but-“ With an apologetic look, he slipped out onto the back porch. 

You listened to the one-sided conversation through the screen door. Being married to athletic and creative brilliance had its shortcomings, for sure. But you always had a way of bringing you both back to a calm center. 

While he was on the balcony, you sliced cucumbers and put them in water for a refreshing drink later. You made sure the travel clothes made it at least to the laundry room; the floor counted, right? And you went ahead and laid out some games you could play together on the coffee table. When Kenny came back in with the weight of AEW on his shoulders, you handed him the refreshing glass and sat him in front of the gaming system. 

“You’ve been busy. What happened to relaxing?” He smiled as you handed him a controller. 

“It's hard to relax if I know you’re up to your eyeballs in Khan’s strategizing. C’mon.” You bumped your shoulders together. “Let’s unwind for a little bit.” 

It didn’t take long for the ’easy’ game to turn heated. Just when you were finally getting the upper hand, Kenny’s phone rang again. He paused the game.

“Hey-“

“Two minutes.”

“Fine.” Again, you slumped against the couch as he walked out of the room. Earlier when you had arrived, Kenny had cranked up the AC to get the air circulating. Now the temperature had evened out and you were no longer freezing. You shed your jacket. And caught an idea. If this afternoon continued in the morning's pattern, Kenny would need something to drive him to distraction until the phone calls stopped. 

Your husband came back in with one of the most apologetic faces you’d seen. “Sorry about that. Matt and Nick needed-“

“Don’t worry about it. Now sit down so I can finish kicking your ass!”

The pause was too much for you to regain your momentum that round. No worries. You had a better enterprise in mind. It became more tantalizing with each incoming call. At first, Kenny didn’t notice. It wasn’t unusual for you to lounge about in a tank top and your shorts. But when he saw your clothes piling up, his brow would scrunch, trying to figure out your plan. But you would drag him back into the game, or another call would drag him back out. 

Impatience set in. 

“That’s the last one,” he said, tossing his phone onto the coffee table. “I promise-“ 

You sat calm as a church mouse as his mouth dropped. While waiting for him in the nude had technically been a few more calls away, you didn’t want to wait that long. 

“What’s wrong baby?” You crooned. Tugging your knees up, you covered your chest. “Are you tired of video games? Would you like to do something… else?”

His head was nodding before he managed words. “Y-yes. No more video games. Uh- did you have something in mind?”

“Mhmm.” You didn’t bother with grace or sha-shaying. Kenny followed you like a parched man to a fresh, cool spring. The bed hit the back of your legs when you turned. His eyes fought to watch your eyes or… everything else. “See something you like?” 

As you sat down, leaning back on your arms to arch out your chest, Kenny’s breath stuttered. “Oh yes. I’m trying to figure out where to start.”

He was just beginning to lean over you when his phone began to ring again. With a hiss, he buried his head into the crook of your neck. You tried to hold him there, but he quickly untangled your fingers from his hair. 

“Boy, you have seriously lost your focus.”

Holding up the screen, Kenny’s earlier delight evaporated. “It’s one of the TNT producers. I can’t-“

“They can leave a message and call Khan instead.” You spread your legs, showing off what you knew would break him. “So, are you going to answer the phone or come fuck me?”

Kenny looked between you and the phone once. He chose correctly and tossed the phone into the living room, slamming the door shut. Then he pounced on you. Here was your passionate lover. 

As he kissed from one shoulder to the next across your collarbone, you purred and dug your fingers into his hair. You helped guide him down to travel from one side of your chest to the other. All the while you softly asked him, “what do you need, baby? Do you want to get behind it? Flip me over and recline us? Undress me just the way you like it?” 

“You’re killing me, sweetheart.” His forceful kisses pushed you back onto the mattress. “I knew what you were doing. Tried to resist. But I can never resist you. Especially when you play games like this.”

You laughed, “I know you always see through my tricks. But what’s the fun of wearing nothing if you never notice? Had to get you away somehow.”

“I’m glad you did.” Kenny stopped ravishing you with kisses long enough to take a long look at your face. Beaming. Waiting for his next move. He loved that you could match his energy in the ring and in production, and that you knew just what he needed to revive him. He lightly gripped your chin, guiding you close for a slow, sensual thank you. “What would I do without you?”

“Be a nervous wreck?” You touched your foreheads together. “Stop thinking about today. Open challenge, right here. Take me, baby. Don’t make me wait-“

He silenced you with a sucking kiss to the hollow of your throat. While your fingers re-curled into his hair, his hips thrust at the edge of the bed between your legs. You tried to drag him up so those thrusts would pass to you, but he began to kiss down your body instead. He nuzzled your stomach on the way down, trailing his fingers down to your undulating hips. His lips murmured things against your skin that you couldn’t hear. But it made your arousal buzz all the same. He continued moving down, around where you wanted him. Nipping at your skin, then tugging your legs further apart just so he could kiss your inner thighs.

You whined and tried to roll your heat into his face.

Kenny tutted at you. “I thought you were trying to help me? If I wanted you to sit on my face, you’d be there already.” He glanced up at you, barely visible over your stomach with how low he was kneeling. “But today has been stressful for you too, huh?” It startled you when his fingers gently smoothed over your sex. “And we both know that helping you will help me too.”

Again, you whined. For such an impatient man, he picked the worst moments to take his time. Your mutual impatience was why you worked so well together. “Kenny, please! Just fuck-“

He cupped his palm under you, teasing with one finger. After only a few passes, his finger was squelching in your slick. He watched, enraptured, when he added a second next to the first. Together they curled, scissored, and made you quake and shiver. He glanced over at your hands, watching them helplessly claw at the sheets. When your toes began to curl, he pulled back. Kenny chuckled at your cry of dismay. Resting his chin on his hands on your lower stomach, he waited for your breathing to even out. Then he took his low position again.

“You’ve been edging me with all the calls already,” you panted, “please, baby-“

He kissed over your mound. “Had to get one in. Make sure you were ready for me.”

“As if I’m not ready for you every second of the day?”

With an agreeing grunt, Kenny dove in to eating you out. His arms wrapped tight around your thighs to hold you in place as you arched. As you screamed. As you pleaded. And as your body wriggled, trying to move your sex impossibly close to his face. But he was a master at swallowing you down to your soul, he liked to joke.

“Gonna give it to me, baby?” he asked between noisy slurps. “Gonna flood my mouth? Come on. I thought you issued me a challenge.”

You tried to hold off. You really did. But then he began to suck hard in that way and- you fell apart on his tongue. Kenny rushed to drink every drop. It set a chill zinging across your skin.

The shivering that overtook your body wasn’t just from the impending orgasm. It heightened as Kenny crawled over your body before settling himself between your legs.

His eyes gleamed. “I should reward you for every call you had to wait through.”

You shook your head. There was no way you’d survive that many. And you warned as much.

Kenny leaned down to press his forehead against your feverish one. “Perhaps. But you were so patient. Can you at least give me two more?”

As you gasped with the sensation, he slowly worked his length into your heat. His mouth fell open, lax against your cheek. He nuzzled into the crook of your neck. But when you tried to roll your hips, he didn’t start. Instead, his hands spread wide against your chest. One to the next, he toyed with your nipples. Squeezed and kneaded your flesh. Pinched and massaged. Thrusting only when your whines caught him off guard. But as your need amplified, and your voice caught in your throat, Kenny’s thrusts became erratic. Your body quaked with one release. Kenny stilled, reveling in how you clamped down on him.

He waited for your breathing to even. Then he began to thrust in earnest. You cried out his name, gripping his shoulders. Did you want him to stop and give you a break? Or did you want him to keep going? He felt so good. Between whimpers of delight, you hummed similar pleasantries into his skin. How well he filled you up. To keep going, right there. How only he could make you shake like that. Could he feel how desperate you were to cum?

Your voice cracked under the pleasure. He kissed you deeply, stealing air out of your breathless lungs. As you came, your nails clawed down his back. With a shout that filled your mouth, he spilt into you.

After few panting minutes, he gingerly rotated until he was on his back, with you on top and securely hugged to his chest. He held you, matching your racing heartbeats with his. With a wisp of a laugh, he smiled against your forehead. You whimpered, exhausted and terrified, as he dragged you over his upper chest. With the crook of his finger, he brought you to hover over his face.

“Two more.”

***

***

Masterlist 

Other Kenny Fics: 

Troublemaker (Smut)

Breathless Brat (Smut, Ficlet)

A Cumedy of Errors (Crack!Fic, Smut, Fluff)

[odditycircus-2002]

MK11 Medusa!Reader: The Sea Sorceress

I’ve been listening to Scylla from Epic the Musical on repeat, which made me think of how fitting the song is for Pre-MK1 Medusa!Reader. For those who may or may not know, I headcanon Medusa!Reader hanging out in a cove or a cave that can only be accessed by sea after Shang Tsung died, thus needing to go into hiding when Kotal became Khan. Cause he wasn’t easily going to forgive one of the people who had him imprisoned and tortured😅

(From Adobe Stock)

Of course, with some listening to Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid, I imagine Medusa!Reader still being someone with great power that can offer miracles for a price. But, on top of that, her place is a secret passage between Earthrealm and Outworld. So, what if you want to pass through Medusa!Reader’s territory safely, you have to make a deal with her one way or another? Either go to her yourself if you want safe passage or a miracle, OR pay the automatic toll of passing through her lair. That toll is six people.

Imagine it, you and your crew are drifting slowly through the dark tunnel, where there's barely any light save for the low glow of the algae and the torches you have. Out of the corner of your eyes, there appears to be movement, but given the poor lighting, it's hard to tell if it was just a small wave or something else.

Finally, halfway through the dark passage, where you can see the light from the other end, there stands a woman with green hair wearing a red and gold yukata with a black veil covering her face, standing barefoot and perfectly still in the middle of the water. She gives you a single greeting in a calm tone devoid of any emotion or warmth, which echoes throughout the cave.

"Greetings."

Then the water around her starts to ripple, with the waves becoming stronger and stronger. Then, out of the water, three scaly necks rise to their full height of about two stories each, with feline-like heads at the top of their necks. Those heads all look down at you and your crew, who may as well be mice for those monstrous felines, whose forked tongues flicker in the air to taste the fear that permeates it. At the center of these felines stood the woman you initially encountered, only now she was raising her veil to reveal the fanged grin on her serpentine face, her hair a nest of writhing snakes. You and your crew did not come prepared to fight these creatures, much less the Sorceress who commands them. There's only thing you can do.

"🎶ROW FOR YOUR LIVES!🎶"

Even as you or your crew are torn to pieces and fought over by these monstrous sea beasts, it's much more preferable than what would happen if they were to capture you alive. If either of those beasts brings you to their mistress, she'll use every part of you in her horrid experiments. Where your screams echo throughout the cave, but no one but the fish and vultures will be able to hear them. That’s when death becomes far more preferable…

Either way, Medusa!Reader hasn’t lived as long as she did alongside her late husband Shang Tsung, without doing what she needs to survive. She has no ambitions to conquer or rule (not without Shang Tsung), but has designs that see to Outworld flooded with the blood of its denizens. Yet, if she has the option of causing others like Kotal Khan’s men or his allies to drown in their sorrow and fears, she’ll gladly take it. But could others like the Kombat Kids or the Special Forces sacrifice six others to be ripped apart and devoured by Medusa!Reader's pets, or suffer a fate worse than death, all for passage through Medusa!Reader's lair?

"🎶There is no price we won't pay, we must do what it takes to survive...🎶"

(In case you want a reference for what I'm talking about)

[definesanity]

The Weird Ones

Uzi Doorman was not your typical teenage girl. In fact, she was the farthest thing from it.

Her mom had managed to get her into college, bless her, and in Copper City, no less, but people STILL knew she was the daughter of Khan.

Greeeeeeeeeat.

Thankfully, there is someone who doesn't mind. Actually, a few.

First, Lizzy and Russian Doll. No, that is genuinely her name, and isn't bullied for it due to Lizzy. Lizzy is the atypical mean girl, and Doll is... well, a friend of her's, and a Russian transfer student.

Thad is cool. Not much to say other than, minus the ones he hangs out with, he's decent enough.

And, then, there are the last three. Who are, by far, the strangest.

Nathaniel, Victoria, and Jessica Elliot. Or, more commonly, for some reason, N, V, and J.

They're the adopted siblings of Tessa James(who calls their daughter James???) Elliot, a girl who is preeeeetty high up on the social ladder. N, as much as the guy is a golden retriever, is a nice guy at the end of the day.

Which then led her to meeting V and J, and then realising that she was gay as fuck.

She means. Come on! V walks around with that coat showing off her honkers and J is. Well she definitely awakened some things!

So, it came to Uzi. Alone. Groaning that she's single. Again. For like. The. Fifth time that day.

Her phone buzzed and her arm nearly dislocated at the speed at which she grabbed it.

It was a text from N:

Golden_Retrievers_Have_Gentl: Hey! Busy? Just wanna hang out and chat about something! :D

Uzi's reply was simple, but effective:

DarkXWolf17: pls holy shit i am so fucking bored rn. where u wanna meet

Golden_Retrieves_Have_Gentl: Outside of campus! I'll wait for ya! ;3

Finally, something to do.

---------------

Eh, it's not bad.

It is just. Chatting. But, to be honest, Uzi likes N's stories. They're pretty funny at times, especially when it's concerned over Tessa and her less-than-posh ways.

Still, N eventually paused, oddly enough, and made a thinking pose.

"Yo, Thinker, you doing okay?" Uzi was gonna kill herself later for caring.

"Eh? Oh, right, sorry! Just thinking, is all... so, um. Can I ask for a favour?"

"...What is it." Uzi didn't look amused.

"Hey, I'm not asking you to win the Election! It's just, you're single, right?"

"Thanks for the reminder." Uzi didn't look impressed, and N sucked in a whince.

"Yeeeeeah... well, not related, can you... keep an eye on my sister, please? I got a call from Tessa who happily reminded me I'm needed for something, soooooooo..."

"Oh, sure, yeah. Who is it? V? J?"

"Cyn!" N replied happily.

"Who." Uzi's flat expression could be framed in a museum. Or, heck, give her a record for "Most Flat Expression" so she can be famous for something *other* than being the spawn of Khan Fucking Doorman.

"...Oh, right, yeah! Um. She's the youngest, although we're all about the same age anyways, she's pretty short, has yellow eyes, and is really sweet!"

Uzi raised an eyebrow. "...Then how come I haven't seen her before, then?"

"She's homeschooled! She's a little, uh..."

"I heard you were. Talking shit. Big Brother."

"OH JESUS CHRISTMAS--" N jumped five feet into the air, and to the side, revealing to Uzi the most autistic girl she's ever seen in her entire life.

Cargo shorts. Fucking. Cargo. Shorts.

Cyn was, put simply, kinda cute. And also heavily autistic, from what Uzi can tell.

N whispered to her, *"Hey, just so you know, she's not doing that on purpose! She has a speech problem!"*

"Annoyed Expression. I can, hear you. Dickhead."

"OHLOOKATTHETIMEIGOTTAGOANDDASHNOWBYYYYYYYE!" N ran away, leaving behind a goth in a hoodie and beanie with an autistic college(???) girl with a t-shirt with Jenny Wakeman on it and cargo shorts.

"...'Annoyed Expression'?" Uzi quoted. It definitely was strange. But Uzi herself had scoured a 97% of of 100% for an autism test so she can't say shit.

"Mm. I heard that my, facial expressions are hard to, read." Cyn's voice was slightly deep, and her words were slowly spoken. Kinda like a robot. Neat.

"Therefore. Neutral Expression. I announce my, current expression." Cyn finished with a shrug.

"...Yeah, that's fair I guess. Still, does it get tiring?"

"Bemused Look. Does it not get hot, wearing black clothes?"

"Bite me." Uzi said by reflex. A habit she developed when she was younger that sticked with her even now.

"Fair."

-------------

From there, Uzi learnt three things:

Thing One: Cyn is highly autistic, yes, but underneath the 'tism was a pretty intelligent gal. Although most that knowledge was in robotics.

(I know you're reading this Archie, and I didn't say it at the time, but 'the 'tism' was the best thing I'd heard all day /gen --Ryuusei.)

Thing Two: 'Criss-Cross Applesauce' is now the funniest thing Uzi has ever heard.

Thing Three: Um.

...She was cute, okay??? Don't blame her! Bite her!

Which led to about a few months later. Wherein she was sitting down near some statue and N was looking at her patiently.

"...So I might be dating you sister." Uzi croaked out. She didn't look dead inside, but she has a feeling she will be dead on the outside sooner than later.

N, so far, took it well. "Oh! Um. Okay! I don't mind at all! Who is it? V? J?"

Uzi made a pained noise that sounded like that of a quiet banshee scream.

N then had his two braincells knock together.

At the same time Cyn leaned over Uzi, and waved, smiling.

N had a dial-up moment. "Wah???"

"Amused Expression. You look, surprised, Big Brother, N."

"Whajiah--YEAH???"

He gestured to Uzi. Uzi went near him, and he leaned next to her ear.

"Okay, I mean, I'm not mad, really! Just a little surprised! I mean, like. The claws???"

Uzi looked at Cyn. Her 'claws' are moreso just sharp nails.

"Spicy." Uzi replied with a smile.

N looked very confused.

Cyn went '^_^'

[lemotmo]

I am in the minority because I kind of liked the baby plot of the ep - mostly because it shows how in denial Athena is about Bobby's death. And Chim is in the anger stage with survivor's guilt. Eddie and Hen are in the depression. Buck is in acceptance (right now - I think he's holding it together because Bobby told him to be there for the others, but once he starts processing his grief, he'll be the one in need of support). I'm not sure who is in the bargaining stage (well fans I guess). The point is - each of the characters was experiencing one of the stages of grief and I actually think that was a really interesting writing choice I appreciated.

I said while watching - if the kid actually is alive, then Bobby is alive. So when the kid wasn't alive, when Bobby was laid to rest with his children, when there was no 911 call from the grave at the very end - I think I've given up on Bobby being alive. I think we'll see him as ghost/hallucination Bobby from now on, where people think about what advice he would give or whatever and "see" him. I mean, I AM deeply suspicious of the 2 weeks the gov had his body, but I kind of think it was to cover the 2 weeks between episodes maybe? It wouldn't shock me if in the finale we see Bobby as a lab rat for the gov - but honestly that's more X-Files than 911. So I haven't entirely given up hope but... I'm moving toward acceptance and thinking about the interesting storylines they can do because of the grief this season and into next.

I still believe Buddie is happening - eps 9-13 cemented that for me, but I feel like Tim got distracted again by his vision of Bobby dying (and doing the Wrath of Khan good bye) just like last season he got distracted after watching Vertigo and thinking OH YEAH about that (someone take away his movie watching privileges) so now I'm less sure we'll get much forward movement until S9 - and that makes me nervous he could change his mind. I think he's intended to do it since S7, just keeps getting distracted - but we're a lot closer than we've ever been so now we just... keep the faith I guess.

Well, it isn't that I hated the baby-plot Nonny, but I just think it was waaaaay too drawn out. We got more scenes of the mom than we got of some of the other characters. It just didn't sit right I suppose.

But I do understand what they were trying to do with it for Athena's character.

Different stages of grief? I never looked at it that way. You might be onto something here. 🤔 Food for thought.

As for Bobby? I am still convinced he's alive. There is just too much evidence that he is. I've given myself until the end of 8x18. If we don't get any sign of 'Bobby alive' by then? Only then will I truly believe he is dead and then I will have to come to terms with losing him during hiatus. It'll suck, but I'll manage just fine.

Yeah, I'm still very much convinced that Buddie is a go. There was too much foreshadowing. I still believe we'll get something big in 17 or 18. It is perfectly possible. After all, they had Buck realise he was bi in one single episode. 🤷‍♀️

I fully agree that we have never been closer to Buddie than now. So yep! Keeping the faith! 🤞🤞🤞

[travistee34]

Just a random Disney AU idea

Deep in the Indian jungle, Shere Khan, the mighty tiger, strides through the undergrowth. His mind, as ever, is focused on getting his hands on the man-cub Mowgli. He has proven elusive so far... but Shere Khan is a hunter. He knows how to bide his time... All he needs is a trail to follow, and then-

His musings are interrupted by rustling in the bushes. He turns to the sudden sound... and sees Bagheera, the Panther, leap out between the trees, with a weirdly panicked look in his eyes. Shere Khan prepares to pounce, when Bagheera notices him, and stops, catching his breath.

"Shere Khan! You..." He's panting heavily "You need to get out of here!" "Oho" the tiger chuckles "You mean to order me around, Bagheera? How quaint. Now, as tempted as I am to agree, how about you instead tell me where that man-cub has gone, and I promise I'll let you leave in more or less one piece" He punctuates his threat by baring his teeth in a sinister grin.

Bagheera just stares at him, and then slowly moves closer "No, Shere Khan. You don't get it. I'm not trying to order you, I'm actually trying to warn you. you need to leave. You have NO idea what's coming! There's a ship down at the beach." "HA!" Shere Khan throws his head back in a scornful laugh "A ship, you say? Some measly humans come for a pleasure cruise? Then maybe I should give them a proper welcome!" He saunters away, flicking his tail in mockery at the still panicked Bagheera.

"No! You don't understand!" The panthers protestations trail off as Shere Khan moves swiftly towards the beach. First the man-cub dares to intrude, and now a bunch of tourists think the jungle will be their playground? No, this will not stand. It's time for the humans to learn to respect the lord of the jungle. Finally, he arrives at at the edge of the forest, his mind swirling with deliciously sinister ways to make these tourists pay for intruding. It doesn't take him long to see the ship Bagheera talked about. A handsomely sized pleasure cruise. Not even a packing ship or something. And on deck, a couple of figures are sitting around. Easy prey to a hunter of his caliber. All he needs to do is wait for nightfall, and they will become his...

Meanwhile, aboard the ship, one of the figures, a tall, middle aged woman in a burgundy summer dress, is sitting in a deck chair, sipping on a glass of sherry.

"For the love of God, Mim, would you stop hiding under that parasol like a child. A little sun won't hurt you." Her voice is sharp and with the slightest hint of an accent to it, and she's turns to look at a short stocky woman, with an unruly mop lavender hair, is sitting in underneath a big umbrella, her arms folded and her snub nosed face contorted in a frustrated scowl. The stocky woman glares at her.

"That's easy for you to say Tremaine. You know I hate the sun! I'm used to nice overcast skies!" Her voice is surprisingly high for her size. "Are you sure I can't make just one little rain cloud? A bit of thunder and-"

"Don't you dare!" they both turn to look at another figure, a woman with sickly complexion and a face covered in wrinkles, lying in a deck chair, dressed in a flamboyant headress and wearing a thin, purple one piece bathing suit. She pulls down her oversized sunglasses, and looks at Mim "This is the first decent weather we've had all week, and I'm finally starting to feel at home." Mim gives them both a weary sigh "Well, I was told we would go to the deepest darkest jungles, Yzma! I was expecting snakes and salamanders and all kinds of lovely creepy crawlies! Had I known this is what we'd be doing, I never would have agreed to come!" She looks to the sky, scowling again. "Oooh, if only I was back in my nice, damp, muggy cabin, instead of here on this... sunny pleasant tropical beach! I can almost feel my sinuses clear up! It's awful!"

Tremaine rolls her eyes "Well, if you're lucky, there might be some horrible parasites in the waters here, or some flying pests with rabies..."

Mim looks at her with an almost wistful look "You really think so?"

Suddenly, the doors to the cabin open, and a thick, noxious cloud of cigarette smoke billows out.

"Come on, Mim, cheer up. I've talked to the captain, and he tells us we're finally here!" The woman struts out onto the deck, revealing a tall, almost skeletally skinny figure, holding a foul smelling cigarette in a long mouthpiece. Her hair is parted in the middle, one side black and the other white, and she's wearing a black-and-white two piece bikini, underneath a zebra-themed bathrobe, hanging loosely over her gaunt frame. She takes a deep breath, taking in the smell of the jungle, and walks over to the railing, looking at greenery in front of her.

"I've been looking forward to this for over two months, girls. We've travelled halfway across the world to get here, and now we're so close to our goal!"

Tremaine gets up and strolls up to the woman. "Your goal, you mean? I just came for the chance of a tropical vacation, myself. I still think we should have gone to the riviera, myself. Though I guess this is a more rational choice than that coat made of dog fur you were talking about"

The skinny woman waves her hand, dismissingly "Yes, yes, that was just a passing whim. I thought it might be the next big thing, but fashion is a fickle world, it seems. I forgot the cardinal rule of high fashion: Unusual is good. Exclusive is better."

Tremaine leans onto the railing, gazing at the jungle. "So you decided to bring us all across the world, just for the sake of you getting a new fur coat? Look, Cruella, I don't mind the vacation, but it seems a bit... excessive, don't you think?"

"Well, what's the fun in just buying a pelt in from a supplier? No, I want the most exclusive, and money is no object here"

Shere Khan listens intently, and chuckles to himself. A bunch of pampered socialites, coming all this way, just to get themselves a pelt? Well, if it's a wild beast they want, that's what they'll get. He gives the stocky woman a hungry smile. The others are all a bit too lean, but he'll savor that one. Should he save her for last, or maybe take her first, just to see the others scream in terror? He smiles to himself as he turns back into the jungle, to find a place to wait. Just you wait, ladies. Soon, you'll get what you're after and more. Just you-

Suddenly the air is pierced by Cruella putting two fingers in her mouth and giving out a sharp whistle. Yzma sits up with a start, and Mim falls off her chair, clasping her hands over her ears. Shere Khan turns around as well at the sudden noise.

The next moment, the door on the side of the ship is kicked open with a loud metallic klank. Three figures emerge from the ship and walk out onto the beach. One of them, apparently the leader, turns around and looks up at Cruella from under the brim of his large slouch hat. He gives her a toothy grin.

"Gentlemen! I've hired you because I wanted the three best hunters money could buy, and from what I've hear, that's you. Now, I'm paying you handsomely to get me what I want, and I expect to get my moneys worth. Do I make myself clear?"

"It's clear as rain, Lady!" The man's voice is hoarse and gravely, but also filled with excitement. "Me and the boys'll get ya what ya want, so long as the moolah's good!"

The second man, a broadchested man in a pale safari suit, surveys the jungle in front of him, ponderingly stroking his thin black moustache. "Agreed. I had my fair share of experience with jungles. This shouldn't be much of a problem at all."

The third man, equally muscular, with a large blunderbuss slung over his shoulders, stretches his muscles, which strain under the shor sleeved red shirt he's wearing. he strokes back his long black hair and adjusts the band keeping it in a ponytail. "Of course not, Clayton. Why would it be a problem? I'm here, aren't I?"

Cruella gives them a satisfied smile, as Yzma and Mim walk over to the railing, next to Tremaine and Cruella, staring at the three men in awe.

"Perfect! In that case, Mr. McLeach, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Gaston, You've got a job to do. Get to work! First person to find it gets a 20% bonus to their pay" Cruella points at the jungle with a sinister smile, which sends a cold chill down Shere Khans spine, even at that distance.

"Right you are, Ma'am!" McLeach turns around, loading up his rifle. "You heard that, mates? Boss lady's given us the go ahead... You know what that means?"

Clayton and Gaston also load up their weapons, grinning in agreement.

"Then let's get going, gentlemen..." McCleach racks the rifle "We got us a tiger to kill..."

[ghoulinfuschia]

Hi there, follower since your Amphibia themed days. May I ask, are there any connections you could make between Amphibia and Murder Drones in plot, structure, characters, etc. that you love?

I think a common thread that appeals to me in both stories has to be the element of finding love when you feel lost. And I don’t mean romantic love. Uzi and Anne as characters are both incredibly flawed. Anne started off as selfish, dismissive, pushy, and overall rude. Uzi starts off being abrasive, standoffish, and it’s made very clear that she has zero friends. While both shows have very different storylines and plots, both have a protagonist who has a lot of growing to do and a lack of bonds.

Anne’s a bit better off since she had Sasha and Marcy. She wasn’t straight up alone, and she had family that loved her, but her friendship was very toxic. It felt like it wasn’t until she landed in Amphibia that she was able to find a community to flourish in. She became kind and understanding because of that, and she learned to stand up for herself. She found family when she was scared and struggling to find herself.

Uzi’s case is like on the complete opposite end of the spectrum in regards of severity. Though we don’t know much about her life before the beginning of the series, we can infer that she’s been isolated for a long time. She doesn’t have a friend group, her teacher doesn’t want to deal with her, her mom died but not really, and her dad might as well not even be there. Khan tries, but with his track record he could be categorized as an absent father. The show plays up her angsty teen bit for comedy, but in reality she’s kind of a tragic character. She doesn’t know how to make connections because no one bothered to give her the time of day. She’s also awful with dealing with her emotions since she was never taught how. Once again this is all speculation but I’m pretty confident that p much everyone in her life failed her in one way or another.

It wasn’t until Uzi became friends with the disassembly drones that she found people to connect with. I mean, moreso N than V since V seems to have her own walls up (which she wouldn’t fucking explain because HHHHHHH LIAAAAAAAAM).

N seems like one of, if not THE ONLY person in Uzi’s life who’s genuine and actually gives a shit about her. He’s patient with her and incredibly caring. In turn he was the key to helping her make a real connection and open up. She’s still um. Kind of emotionally janked but she’s getting better WAHAHA

Also this is less of a “I can fix her” situation and more of a “finally I’m not alone” sorta thing I feel.

I think overall what hooked me into these series was how both of the protags fall under the category of “People who seem insufferable but really just needed a hug”. Watching someone become a better person is just v tasty to me.