#who would have thought i would gif owen wilson

[untroubledkiss]

"Oh, Mobius, come on!"

[hessa-and-oh]

Thoughts on Marry Me

It's been over a month since the release of Marry Me, and I must say that it's a truly delightful film about two individuals who fell in love in odd circumstances and decided to make their lifestyle differences work. The progression of Kat and Charlie's romance is believable because Owen Wilson and J. Lo's chemistry was so good that it worked well with the narrative structure.

As a Rom-Com, the film adheres to the genre's tropes as regards as to what to expect. Now, the film's premise is undeniably absurd, requiring the audience to suspend their disbelief like a lot; nonetheless, the film is still decent and genuinely seeks to convey the message of taking a leap of faith in love.

However, I believe the movie had missed some opportunities to explore the emotional depth of some pressing topics like pressures of fame, social media and looking young, which may have added some realism to an otherwise fantastical plot. I truly believe that with some minor changes in some scenes and the addition of a few more plot lines, this film could have been a fantastic film worthy of a sequel.

The first act of the movie begins with the media hyping up the upcoming wedding of two pop icons, Kat Valdez and Bastian,

but just moments before they were to wed in front of their fans, a video showing Bastian kissing Tyra, one of Kat's assistants, was leaked. When Kat saw the footage for herself, she got on stage and did something unexpected. She married a random guy in the crowd with a marry me sign who looked to be giving her his undivided attention while everyone else was busy with their phones.

It is unclear why a wedding had to take place at all, but other reviewers speculated that she married Charlie, to get back at Bastian for humiliating her.

After the wedding, Kat was confronted by Bastian, who tried to convince her that his affair with Tyra was a fling.

However, when Colin tried to find Tyra, he was told that she was in Bastian's dressing room, which may have implied that this fling was probably still on-going. This is just speculation on my part because the movie didn't go into detail about Bastian's affair with Tyra or other women that Kat was unaware of, which I believe would have spiced up the plot.

Flipping through TV channels reporting on her matter, the snarky comments of a certain TV personality, brought her to tears. Not long after her manager came to console her.

Now, I think the movie in this moment should have introduced a family member like a grannie who would have serve as a familial pillar of emotional support in her moment of vulnerability. This could have given us a bit more insight into her backstory and setup potential comedic scenes. Anyways, I believe this was a missed opportunity the movie could have used for J. Lo to deliver more outstanding performances.

Nonetheless, the following day she appears to have moved on because she is eager to stand by her decision to marry Charlie, primarily for publicity but also with a glimmer of hope that it could work between them.

Meanwhile, Bastian is off-screen in Puerto Rico, trying to 'clear his head,' but not long after, he's back on stage, relishing female attention, suggesting that their breakup hasn't had much of an impact on him.

I believe the movie should have developed Maluma's character, giving him more to do, like starting a social media feud with Kat, as some celebrities do in real life, or try to make Charlie, her new husband, look crazy in some way, or flaunting a relationship with some new chick on some two can play the game stuff. But, I suppose, the movie wasn't trying to be too serious being it’s a rom-com.

Another thing I would like to draw attention to is Mel’s attitude to Charlie which irritated Kat.

This was a nice touch because realistically there would people around Kat who would condescend Charlie.

Anyways, going ahead to the bits where Charlie and Kat get to know each other, which I thought was nice, but I couldn't help but feel that Kat was putting in more effort to fit in in his world than Charlie was in hers. Kat stays modest, rearranging her day to spend more time with him, visiting his workplace, assisting his students with their stage confidence, and even organizing a birthday surprise for him in Coney Island.

Charlie made no attempt to impress her. Throughout the film, he stays the same as if she’s not made an impact on his life. Although Charlie did ask her to the school dance, but the movie needed extra scenes where Charlie would be fussing over what to wear or show him planning a private dinner on the school’s rooftop, or something to show he is trying to impress her, trying to woe her. He stays unconfident about his feelings, doesn't make the first move until she does.

But I guess it did not matter because the night ended with them being intimate anyway.

Then there's the movie's comedy aspect, which I believed might have been much better had they explored the challenge Kat and Charlie agreed to undertake. They showed Kat trying to be independent as Charlie challenged her to do but what about Kat challenging Charlie to go on social media and do something on there?

His students created his social media account and web page, implying that he did not directly do the challenge. If the movie included moments of Charlie being active on social media, maybe doing a TikTok dance like Kat proposed, it would have added to the comedy and allowed Kat's social media fans to see another side of him.

After their relationship became serious, they could have done a sit-down video in which he and Kat respond to fan messages or comments or something of that nature that real-life couples do on social media, which would have proven why the world was rooting for their relationship to work as Colin claimed.

Somehow, if they had included some of these scenes, I believe there is a chance for this movie to have a sequel in which Charlie becomes obsessed with his looks and social media as a result of the attention and this changes him in a number of ways because he suddenly feels what Bastian feels with the female attention and other stuff attributed with being famous, thus affecting his relationship with Kat. Then also, this the movie could explore the topic of dealing with sudden fame and influence through Charlie, which are real life issues that don’t really get talked about as often.

Regardless guys, this is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. I truly enjoyed this film and hope that there may be a sequel in the future, although I doubt it.

[holewithinahole]

Careless | mobius m. mobius x gn!reader

Summary: You have a surprise for Mobius, you thought it’d be amusing but some feelings are brought up to the surface.

Warnings: angst, comfort/hurt (yes the other way around), overthinking, non-native writer, really annoying introspection, non-bêta'd

I highly recommend you listen to the song while reading (it's obv Careless Whisper by the one and only George Michael) because I’m not going to write down the lyrics (I kinda hate it). You can read this as a one-shot (although there is some backstory to it that I might post one day lmao). I'm not English native so pls forgive me for any mistake. Also I’m a bit obsessed with waltzing with Owen Wilson?

My friends, if you're reading this, don't judge me too hard for writing an imagine sdfghj

You make a grand gesture towards the beautiful, vintage vinyl player.

“And where did you get that?”

You smile mischievously. “The Anachronistic Objects Room.”

The open space is dimly lit and empty. Time doesn’t flow normally in the TVA, no daytime, no nighttime: the perfect work conditions for an omniscient, almighty company. Sadly, even if created by the most powerful beings in the universe - and its parallel worlds, humans remain humans so lights automatically switch off after 'eight o'clock', undirectly sending people off to get some sleep.

Today has been wild, to say the least, with everyone running all over the place to supervise the new Loki variant mission so, even the late-night workers have retired to their quarters. All except Mobius M. Mobius, of course.

Said Mobius sighs and rubs his eyes: “You’re not allowed to go there, I’m sure you know.” Despite his - empty - threat, he makes no move towards you. “How did you even get inside?”

“I asked.” You plug the device in. “You were all too busy with the Loki variant anyway.”

And you clearly didn’t want me to join, you think bitterly, making a face.

“I wouldn’t have taken you anyway, you’re not a field agent.”

You stick your tongue out to hide your embarrassment. Mobius just rolls his eyes. “I’m beat, we can't do that another time?” He says.

“Everyone is also beat so no one will bother us,” you argue. “You don’t want me to get pruned by Renslayer for borrowing a vinyl player, do you?”

“You’re not gonna get pruned for that.” Mobius scoffs. After another silence where he watches you testing out the device, he asks: “You know you need a vinyl for it to work?”

You 'haha' him before grabbing a 7” vinyl and proudly exhibiting it to Mobius. He raises an eyebrow.

“Wham, really?”

“Wham! With the exclamation point, if you may. Also no, it's George Michael only, despite being released in 1984.” You smirk. “It belonged to a fine gentleman. The guy went back in time hoping to make some profit - and he did, but he apparently couldn’t get used to a life without his favourite tunes.”

“He got caught because he wanted to listen to some vinyls? That’s some stupid reason.”

“Hey, respect the man. I, too, would have taken the classics.”

“Which are?”

You raise two fingers. “Two names: George Michael and Queen.”

Mobius laughs.

When the first notes begin, you increase the volume and turn dramatically to Mobius, showing off your best air-saxophone impression. He shakes his head, trying to keep a serious face but you could see the twinkle of amusement in his eyes as you get closer, holding out your hand and raising your eyebrows.

“Come on, old man, you obviously know this tune.”

“You just time stamped Careless Whisper to me, you don’t get to call me old, sunshine.”

Sunshine.

He takes your hand, tugging you closer in a waltzing posture that brings back some memories you quickly choose to ignore.

He leads you in between the desks, the back straight and the head high, you can't help but chuckle at his obviously grotesque mockery of ballroom dancing. For someone who claims to be the perfect corporate man - and he is mind you, working all the time without barely getting any sleep, analysing variants and going on the field to come back to his desk right after, it's very easy to have him back to his quirky self. Deep inside, you wish it's how comfortable he feels around you that makes him able to drop the barriers. You sadly don't see him enough to notice if he’s behaving like this with other people or only with you.

He cracks a joke and, as usual, you have trouble keeping a straight face when Mobius becomes this adorable goofball of a man.

But the more you twirl, the more serious it becomes. Past the iconic - and hilarious for anyone born in the 90s - sax solo, the tune is both soothing and heady. You calm down, settling in a swaying embrace but Mobius starts mumbling the lyrics and a dreadful feeling sits at the bottom of your stomach as you suddenly take notice of the words.

You stole the vinyl as a joke. You clearly didn’t think this through. You were just looking forward to the stupid sax line, the ‘you’re so old’ jokes and the teasing. And now, Mobius is singing softly to the chorus while you’re having a mental breakdown and desperately trying your best not to tense up in his arms, not to show how much the lyrics are conveying everything you have wanted to tell him. You pray for his obliviousness, you pray it's just overthinking.

Twice you’ve been in his arms and this feels like the last time.

“It’s way more serious than I’d remember it being,” Mobius says and your heart jumps as you have a small embarrassed laugh, avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah… ‘guess he was feeling like shit, uh?”

You cringe internally but Mobius only nods: “‘made a pretty damn good song out of it.”

If you were in a movie, it’d be a tragedy.

A feeling of inadequacy sinks down. A wall of questions stands tall in front of you and you look up, picturing every ledge, the ghost feeling of every blister and abrasion on your hands, unable to visualise the top. On the wall are drawn your scarce encounters, you can see the first day you met him, the first day you danced together.

Now, you sway again in each other’s arms and you close your eyes. As he holds you close, you feel that without his love, all of this is an end in itself.

So you focus on the music that suddenly gets louder, focus on it harder so your feet learn to cooperate to erase the guilt of having something that’s not meant for you. You mouth out the lyrics that remind you over and over of all the things you want to say. We could have been so good together? We could have lived this dance forever?

A joke to you and a joke for the TVA.

Mobius squeezes you tighter, you open your eyes in surprise and his gaze is on you. God, your lips are so close. The “please stay” gets stuck in your mouth.

Fuck.

Then it hits you.

He is the one and only reason why your timeline branched, why you have been apprehended by the TVA. Not because you realised that your life was meaningless, not because you decided to turn your back on a life all mapped out but because with one glance, with one dance, you decided that your life was revolving around this man.

You always knew deep down that your timeline had been altered by him, for him.

Was what I did so wrong that you had to leave me alone?

Him leaning towards you is probably wishful thinking. The look on his face is too hard to read when you put distance between the two of you.

“My mistake.” He says.

You nod and leave him behind with only the sound of the vinyl player’s stylus jumping at the end of the record. You rush to your quarters and picture the corridor of your apartment you missed terribly.

A mistake, yes. You should have been pruned, erased from an existence where he’s unreachable. This was the mistake.

But is it his?

[imagine-that]

Gone

Pairing: Alex Karev x reader

Warnings: ANGST! Mentions of abandonment, spoilers for season 16 episode 16

Your heart pounded against your chest as you opened the crisply folded letter with shaking fingers.

You could still remember the last time you spoke to him, the last words you shared. You were so scared he was hurt or dead or something in the past week. The letter was a relief but the idea of getting that instead of his typical lengths of communication like a text or phone call was unnerving.

“Dr y/l/n?” You heard Owen calling to you but your ears were ringing too strongly to focus on his words.

You were on his service for the day but this was immediately trumping any form of work you were supposed to be getting to.

“Y/n,

I’m not good with words. I never have been, as I know you know. So I’m just going to start out with it. I’m not beating around the bush on this one. I am in Kansas with Izzie. I know it may come as a shock or betrayal or something like that but it’s the truth. When I was reaching out to people for Mer’s hearing, I called her. A little girl answered and I had no idea why. It didn’t register at first. But then she gave Izzie the phone. Izzie was shocked to hear from me but she quickly told me about our kids. Ours. I’m a father. I never realized how much I wanted that until it was a reality. I went out here to meet them and I just can’t bring myself to leave them or to come back. The minute I looked at those big brown eyes of my little boy, I was a goner. I will always love you, more than you could possibly ever know. You’re the greatest love of my life and for that I will always thank you. I wish it didn’t have to go like this. It shouldn’t go like this. You’ve been there for me since the Dr Evil Spawn days and I’m a shit guy for not being able to say the same. I’ve left my share of the hospital and my seat on the board in your name. I know that can’t make up for this but it’s the best I’ve got. I love you. But I’m still in love with Izzie. I hope someday you’ll forgive me. I hope someday you’ll be happier than I ever could’ve possibly made you.

Alex.”

You drop the letter on the table, your eyes glistening with unshed tears, your hand covering your open mouth as a small sob escapes.

You felt more naive than ever, thinking he was just visiting his mom. Thinking he was coming back for you, coming back TO you. Your mind swirled with random things you might’ve missed, that he might’ve done or said that could tip you off.

“Y/l/n!” Hunt repeated louder, bringing you back to your senses.

“What?!” You snap, turning your tearful gaze to him.

“Are you ready to prep for our surgery or not goddamnit?” He demands. You jump out of your chair, no longer feeling like you can stay sitting down.

“No I’m not.” You mutter, running your hands through your hair.

“Did you just say you’re unprepared for a surgery we’ve had on the board since yesterday y/l/n?!” He asks, bewildered by your response.

“Yes, yes I did! And before you say anything more on the subject, it isn’t because I didn’t study long and hard or because I got drunk last night and am hungover because I’m not! It’s because I just found out my boyfriend, the absolute love of my fucking life is gone! He left me for his ex and her secret kids! I am officially alone and I can’t bear it, I can’t even breathe! The one person who matters to me is gone, without so much as a proper goodbye! So ask someone else to scrub in just this one time, for the patients sake and my own Hunt.” You cry out, your eyes stinging with tears.

He reaches over to comfort you, unsure what else to do but you hold out your hands to stop him.

“Focus on the patient Hunt. She needs you more than I do.” You instruct, blinking away the tears to try and lower his concern.

He takes a moment but finally he leaves, making sure the door shuts behind him for you.

As you hear the hinges settle, you fall the the floor in an emotional fit. Your hands rest on your head, running through your hair. The room is silent, all except for your loud sobbing.

You hiccup, trying to catch your breath, trying to find the will to get up and get back to anything.

Soon, the door opens and you gasp for air, trying to regain calmness for whoever it was.

“Save the acting job y/l/n, I just read a letter from Alex Karev handing in his resignation and came right down here. Get over here.” Bailey orders, holding her arms wide open.

You scramble to your feet, not wasting any time in getting into her hug. She holds you, rubbing your back soothingly as you cry into her shoulder.

“He-he said he’d never- never leave me.” You stammer between hiccups. “He- he promised me!” You sob, letting all your unsaid words fall out of your mouth for Bailey to hear.

“I know y/n, I know.” She says, patting down your hair.

You start to catch your breath a bit, pulling away from her and crossing your arms over your chest.

“I kind of made a mess of your sweater, I’m so sorry chief Bailey.” You mutter, staring down at your simple white shoes in shame.

“Oh please, it can be washed. You feel free to let it all out if you need to.” She dismisses, smiling sadly at you.

Suddenly your pager buzzed. With a sniffle, you checked it quickly and pulled your hair back, quickly blowing your nose and wiping your eyes afterwards.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Bailey asks, eyeing you.

“That was Dr Hunt, he needs me down in the pit while he’s in surgery.” You explain, sniffling a little more.

“Oh no. Nuh uh. You’ll send an intern for that. I’m calling Wilson up here and she’s going to take you home.” She orders.

“Bailey, I’m fine. Really.” You promise her but you both know you’re lying.

“No.” She says sternly. “Stay here!” She orders, walking out into the hallway.

It doesn’t take her long to spot Jo walking down the hall. She brings her in to the room and shuts the door.

“I trust you’ll be very, VERY discreet with this Wilson.” She warns, walking off to order someone else around.

“What’s happening?” Jo asks, obviously very confused.

Too tired and emotionally distraught to explain, you simply point at the letter laying on the table.

She skims it over and without a word, envelopes you in a strong hug.

“Wilson, I can’t breathe.” You sigh quietly.

“Sorry. It’s just- you two were perfect together. You were the perfect example of a healthy, happy couple. I thought- everyone thought you two were soulmates.” She rambles.

“Well everyone thought wrong, he loves someone else. Would you please drive me ho- to Avery’s? I just- I can’t be at home right now. I can hardly call that place home without him...” You plead, getting teary eyes all over again.

“Of course! Let’s go, I just have to change out of my scrubs. You probably should too.” She suggests but you shake your head.

The clothes you’d worn to work that day held memories. Alex had given you the shirt for your Christmas present a few years ago when he’d been too stupid to think of something meaningful. The shoes were ones you’d worn on your first official date. The jeans were the ones you’d worn the first day of intern year, the first day you’d met him.

There was no possible way you could put any of them on without your entire body aching and longing for his touch.

“Ok, ok. I’ll meet you in the lobby. Just one second.” She orders, leaving the room.

You stand there for a moment, hugging your arms around yourself.

When Jo returns, Avery’s with her.

“What is it y/n, I was about to head into a surgery.” He says impatiently.

You give Jo a tired warning look, to which she responds with a sympathetic, sad smile.

“Alex left. He isn’t coming back.” You sigh hoarsely.

He looks completely shocked, blinking at you for a second.

“Are- are you ok? What do you need?” He asks, rushing to your side.

“I’m fine just- is it ok if I stay at yours?” You ask, biting down on your thumbnail absentmindedly.

“Of course! Stay as long as you need, you have a key right?” He says, looking even more concerned than before. You simply nod.

“I’m gonna give y/n a ride over there then but could you go down to the lobby with him/her/them and just stay there while I change? No one should have to be alone if something like this happens.” Jo explains.

You numbly grab your pager off the table along with the letter and follow Avery down to the lockers where you quickly grab your things, barely glancing at them as you do so.

He leads the way to the lobby wearily, acting far over protective of you.

You stand in silence staring at your shoes, practically enough to burn holes into them. Few people try to stop and ask questions but when they do, Jackson puts a stop to it with a simple look.

Soon Jo rejoins you and takes your arm, leading you to her car in the parking lot. Avery says goodbye but you don’t respond, too scared to speak.

You sit in the passenger seat and stare out the window at the Seattle night scene, feeling more empty than you ever had in your entire life.

——————————————————

6 months later...

You wearily let your knuckle tap the door a few times, fidgeting with your bare right ring finger. Not long ago, a silver ring had a place there. Not long ago, the person who presented you with that ring had his arms around you, smiling softly at you. That smile continued to haunt your dreams, your mind, your everything.

Maybe what you were doing was a bad idea. You knew that. But you needed it. It was like an itch, you couldn’t not scratch it.

A perky looking blonde opened the door and you didn’t even have to look at her to know who it was. Her long hair was in a perfect ponytail, she wore an apron covered in flour and had a little girl attached to her leg.

“Hi, how can I help you?” She asked with a friendly smile.

“Izzie I presume?” You say, gritting your teeth and cursing yourself for your idiotic decision to come out here.

“Yes? Do I know you?” She asks, clearly puzzled.

“No I guess not. I uh... I started at Grey-Sloan the same year as you. As an intern.” You explain vaguely, feeling too cowardly to go any deeper into detail.

The little girl peers up at you, clearly very curious. It’s enough to make you want to run away, never look back.

“Alexis honey, go find daddy and tell him he has a visitor.” She tells the small girl. She nods up to her, running off with a big smile.

The blonde eyes you up and down and you nervously rub your hand up and down your arm, trying to figure out what to do with your hands.

“Izzie who’s at the do-.” A painfully familiar voice starts, his mouth agape as your eyes meet.

“Hi.” You say sheepishly.

“Y/n...” He says, more like a statement than anything else.

“Daddy who’s your friend? She’s/he’s/they’re real pretty.” The little girl says with a shy grin.

You smile at her a bit, trying to keep from crying again.

“Thank you. So are you.” You reply with a forced smile.

“Kids go with your mom and help her with the cookies. Daddy and his friend need to talk.” Alex says, his eyes never leaving your face.

Izzie watches you both for a moment, hesitant to leave you alone until Alex gives her a pleading look and she takes each kid into their extravagant kitchen.

“Let’s um... let’s go and talk outside.” He suggests, rubbing the back of his neck. You don’t say another word and you follow him out to the yard, sitting down with him.

“How did you even find out where I live?” He asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“Well, I first considered paying a PI to track you down. I wanted to make you feel even a fraction of what I felt.” You admit honestly.

He nods but completely avoids all eye contact.

“But then Meredith told me you gave her the address in your letter to her. That you invited her to meet your kids.” You add, kicking your feet around to distract yourself.

“Those letters must’ve arrived pretty late, I sent them over 6 months ago.” He mutters, biting at his index finger.

“No... they got there then. I just- I couldn’t bring myself to come out here and make a damn fool of myself.” You respond, biting your bottom lip. “Kind of like I’m doing now.” You add under your breath.

“Y/n, why are you here?” He asks, finally meeting your eyes with his own.

“Well evil spawn,” you start off and he does the half grin that makes your head spin every time, even now. “I had to see you. I had to see what it was you- you left me for.” You admit with a gulp.

“Y/n-“ he says but you shake your head.

“No. Let me finish. Please.” You whisper, your eyes watering again. He nods for you to proceed. “When I met you, that first day of intern year, you were a complete ass. Charming, funny but a complete ass. I got to know you and I fell for you, fell hard. My heart practically beat just for you. When you left... I was devastated. I didn’t know how I could live. I didn’t know how I could do what I love and work with all these kids, some of which you treated their entire lives.” You explain.

“Y/n I never meant to hurt you.” He promises, gulping down a lump in his throat.

“Don’t you think I know that?” You ask with a sad laugh. “God, I know you would never mean to. But I just- we have this... this story. I loved you. I loved you with everything I had and I just- your shares and your seat don’t make up for those years of love and memories I have. That WE have.” You say, tears streaming down your face.

“I remember the first time we were in the on call room together and you were already asleep and I came in and turned on the lights and you were so angry until you looked up and saw it was me. You started flirting, suggesting we share a bed to keep room for other Doctors. You actually fell off that bunk and said ‘guess I really fell for you huh’. That was the first day you made me smile the way you always did. It was the first time I took any kind of liking to you whatsoever.” You go on, smiling sadly at the past.

“I remember that. I had a bump on my damn head for weeks but it was worth the headache to see you smile like that at me. Because of me.” He chuckles.

“Yeah. I know, you kept trying to tell people it was because I was a freak in bed.” You roll your eyes at the thought that the man in front of you would ever say something like that.

“Anyway, my point is that I have all these great memories and experiences. But they’re all tainted with this one thing.” You sigh, staring at the gravel road.

“I’m not in love with Izzie.” He blurts, making your head shoot up to face him. “I don’t... I don’t know why I said I was in that letter. I think it was just to make it hurt so you wouldn’t hunt me down.” He continues.

“You always have liked keeping people at arms length.” You murmur.

“That’s not fair, you know it isn’t.” He exclaims in defence.

“I don’t even know what fair is anymore Alex! You took that from me too when you left!” You cry back. “You left me! You took off, taking everything of me with you. My dignity included. I cried, no I sobbed in front of Miranda Bailey, my boss! I cried in front of her and all over her scrubs! I can’t even enter my own home! It’s been 6 whole months but I can’t bring myself to go back in that loft because it will drown me and I won’t be able to come up for air Alex!” You shout.

He looks to the ground, keeping his distance and not speaking.

“And Alex? That feeling? It hurts. It hurts so damn much, I ache all over trying to control it, trying to stop it. My body, my heart, everything aches for you even now and I can’t do a thing about it.” You continue, too worked up to stop.

“You left me stranded with not so much as a proper goodbye. THAT is why I am here. I need at least some fraction of myself back.” You say quietly.

“I love you y/n. Like I said in the letter, I always will.” He says sheepishly, pursing his lips as he stares down the ground.

“What, you think that letter of all things helps me or even helps you? It doesn’t.” You mumble.

“What else do I say exactly. That I miss you? Because I do. I miss you like crazy. But I can’t- I cannot leave my kids.” He sighs.

“I’m not asking you to. I’m not asking you to come back either. I’m not asking for anything. I just needed to say SOMETHING to you. I needed this for myself. It might be selfish or stupid considering you didn’t give me permission to come here like you did for Mer but I honestly don’t care.” You rant.

“Y/n, you’re kidding me right? I’m the selfish one here! I’m the one who made an idiot of myself, leaving the people I know, the people I love for this.” He exclaims, hand running down his head. “I mean I love those kids with everything I’ve got but I don’t belong here. I’ve tried to make it work with her but it’s become even more abundantly clear that she and I never have and never will work.” He admits.

You look at him, wide eyes, taking in everything he just said. You could feel yourself trying to resist him, trying to ignore the way he still looked at you like you were the only person in the world.

“I should’ve never left.” He mutters, head in his hands.

“Alex-.” You start, not wanting to hear the words you knew he would say, that you know would make you weak in the knees.

“No y/n, for real. It was stupid of me to think I could just abandon everything I cared about to move here.” He mutters, running his hand down his jawline.

You sit in silence for a moment, trying to process.

“You’re right. It was stupid.” You agree, avoiding his eyes. “But it’s a little late now. You have kids Alex. They... they depend on you. You can’t just leave that.” You say with a sad smile his way.

“I wouldn’t have to! The kids, they would love Seattle. And everyone there would love them! Not to mention, they would absolutely adore you y/n. Just like I do.” He says excitedly.

“Alex... Something tells me that Izzie would never be ok with that. And we both know with your situation she would win a custody battle. Not to mention the fact that you shouldn’t put them through that in the first place.” You argue.

“God, you’re right. You’re always right y/n. It’s annoying how much you’re right about things.” He groans.

You laugh a bit, getting to your feet.

“And it’s funny how wrong but cocky you always are.” You counter, giving him a goofy smile.

“I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed seeing that smile until you were already thoroughly pissed at me.” He laughs.

“I was not THOROUGHLY pissed at you...” You say and he raises an eyebrow.

“That’s not what Mer told me.” He teases and you blush pink.

“Fine I was practically throwing darts at your picture. But I got over it. Eventually.” You grumble

He nods, clearly understanding why you would have been angry. You already knew him well enough to know he would be just as angry at himself as you were.

“You know the reason I didn’t give you the address right?” He asks suddenly, his head bolting up out of his hands. You shake your head no and he starts to chuckle a bit, the half grin spread across his face. “I uh... I already knew that if I did, you would storm your way down here to yell at me and I would’ve taken one look into those big, beautiful y/e/c eyes of yours, I would never be able to stay here. I should’ve known this was a bad idea from just that alone. I’m in love with YOU. Izzie may be the mother of my children but you are the love of my life. I wish I’d never left you.” He reveals.

“I really mean that much to you Karev?” You ask, biting at your lip unsurely.

He looks at you as if you’ve lost your mind. “Of course you do y/n. You always have and I already know you always will. You’re my world, even now. Just the idea of you moving on drives me insane, no matter how selfish it is for me to say.” He rants.

This time, you can’t control your emotions or your movements. You go up to him and grab him gently by the back of his neck, pulling him in and smashing your lips on his. He immediately gives in, grabbing at your back and pulling you even closer, as though he was scared to let go.

You pull away, stopping yourself and him from going any further.

“I’d say that was the most proper our kind of goodbye could get.” You say quietly, touching a finger to your lips as you slowly step backwards, moving away from Alex.

“Y/n!” He tries to stop you but you’re already on a sprint down the driveway, not wanting to mess things up for his family anymore than you felt you already had.

And with that, you ran from the love of your life, not even looking back to see if he was chasing you this time or not.

[theories-by-val]

Hey! Can you do a post on Lokius? I know you don't like the ship, neither do I, but can you just go over your thoughts on it?

Thanks for asking anonymous! I really appreciate it. And here's your requested post!

So... Lokius....

Loki and Mobius would make an interesting couple. I think the two are adorable as like a BROTP, but as a couple... ejhbcejh?

Let's go over their personalities. I'm starting a new segment here on this blog called compatibility check. So here's Lokius' compatibility check. I'll be basing the compatibility of a ship based purely off of differences and similarities, aka: Are they too similar? Are they too different? And do their personality traits affect the compatibility?

After making this I feel like Mobius and Loki are just.... too different. I'm really sorry, but let me break it down.

First! Mobius is a workaholic, which you can tell by his love for his work. It gives him purpose, and even after Loki and Sylvie take the TVA down (which they will, I'm sure) I think he'd want to keep working for the greater good. And if Loki and Mobius end up together, I feel like Loki's fun-loving and free-spirited personality would definitely clash with Mobius' workaholic nature.

Loki would definitely want to go out and have fun, but Mobius would be working and be busy. Usually, when such a couple gets together, they drift apart due to lack of time spent together. So they would definitely not work out on that spectrum.

Next, Loki being calm and Mobius being short-tempered. Ya love to see it. Someone short-tempered needs someone calm, to keep them cool, and I feel like Loki definitely would do that for Mobius.

Okay, next we have the sexuality clash. Loki is definitely bisexual, but Mobius' sexuality is unknown. I really don't think he gives off gay or bi vibes, but maybe my gaydar's broken. Or maybe it's just Owen Wilson's portrayal of the character. Not that he didn't do an amazing job. So, Mobius could be straight for all we know.

Lastly, the biggest clash of all! LOKI IS IN LOVE WITH SYLVIE. Don't pull any of that, "Oh it's selfcest!" or "He doesn't love her, he's just confused!" bullshit on me.

Saying that it's selfcest and that they have the same DNA is saying Loki has the same DNA as a fucking alligator.

And he doesn't really love her?! Like, open your fucking eyes. Sylvie and Loki have obvious chemistry and I really don't want to go through this again, but I will.

That kiss was not a distraction or a manipulation on Sylvie's part because she didn't NEED a distraction. Loki's guard was already down and she really could have skipped the kiss and pushed Loki straight into the TimeDoor if she really wanted to, but she CHOSE to accept her feelings first, because she knew that if she didn't, the guilt would haunt her.

This reasoning failed her, and she collapses to the floor with the weight of her mistakes after killing He Who Remains, the mistakes being pushing Loki away and killing He Who Remains.

Plus, every Loki is supposed to betray someone they love and Sylvie's was Loki, implying that she did, in fact, love him.

Heartbreaking notions aside, Lokius would simply not work out, if not for one reason, then the other.

Also, like I've said before, having Loki date a man straight after coming out as bisexual is a horrible decision from a business standpoint.

If Marvel had chosen to have Loki and Mobius get together, it would cause an outrage and they would lose approximately 50 percent of their customers, and Marvel would probably lose a lot of money. So when it comes to a big decision like this, companies like Marvel choose to break down a huge step into smaller steps, so they lose less customers and have time to pick up new ones to replace them, which sounds horrible, but hey! That's business for you.

Also, isn't it kind of weird that a 17 year old girl sitting in her room was able to figure that out and not grown-ass adults, many of which have probably done a business degree or whose majors are business?

Like actually, this whole thing just gives me less and less hope for humanity.

Anyway, it's time to end this post, if you enjoyed it, please consider following! I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

XOXO, Valentine

[missjaystone]

Familiar Faces

Summary: Sam sets out to find his soulmate after his dream life wound up being just that, a dream. He just wants to find his happy ever after. Word Count: 3,930 Pairing(s): Sam Wilson x Reader Warnings: Death (mentioned), Smut, Rough(ish) sex

(This is the sequel to ‘Old Faces’, please read that one first)

Sam didn't tell anyone what happened in his dream if you could call it that; now that he was awake and knew none of that ever happened, it felt like a nightmare or a cruel joke. He dug through old boxes for close to two hours before he found what he was looking for; a box with a handful of pictures from the time he spent with you and Riley before they shipped out. You'd sent the pictures to them not long after they left, he kept them along with the letters you wrote them in a little lockbox. He always kept the key for it on his keychain. He scrambled to look at different letters and pictures for your address, he knew it was on there somewhere.

Half an hour and a dozen groans of frustration and he finally found it! '3197 N 10th St, Washington DC', it was written clear as day and he could recognize your handwriting from a mile away; it was always a little slanted to the side and it was usually smudged in at least three places because your hand always ran across it when you wrote or went back to dot your i's and cross your t's. "FRIDAY, can you look up the owner of 3197 North 10th st in Washington, DC? And their contact information?" He called out to the AI. There was a confirmation sound before it answered in 20 seconds "it's owned by Richard and Owen Johnson." He frowned some "can you look up anyone named y/f/n y/l/n in DC?" Another sound before the AI answered him "there are two thousand four hundred thirteen people with that name." He groaned "how many of them went to the FBI academy in Quantico?" "None," the AI said almost immediately. "Open the search nationwide-no, global, then crosscheck it with anyone who served or actively serves as a special agent with the FBI or any of America's agencies," he ordered, he was getting nervous. His mind started to wander; what if something awful happened to you? The AI's voice broke him out of his thoughts "there is one person in the United States that fits that criteria."

"Where? Where is she?" Sam asked excitedly. "Records indicate she lived in New Haven, Connecticut the past year but a rental application for an apartment in Greenwich Village can be found as well, both dated within the past two weeks." Sam's hopes were quickly rising as he wrote the new address down. "Where's the closest VA office to her apartment?" Sam finally asked after debating. He couldn't just show up on your doorstep out of the blue, but showing up at the VA in the hope you'd go there like any other veteran wouldn't be so weird would it? He'd look the place up online and find a meeting schedule later, now he just wanted to go back to sleep for a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After visiting the VA for two weeks, and no sign of you, Sam was beginning to lose hope and get worried again. Steve encouraged him to go out for a drink with him and Bucky if only to distract him for a night. Bucky all but dragged him with them when Sam said he'd rather not. On the car ride to the bar, Sam figured a couple of drinks wouldn't hurt, what's the worst that could happen. He took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer, looking around the crowded bar curiously. He'd only been there for ten minutes when he decided to get out for some fresh air, slipping away from his friends while they were briefly distracted. He didn't know where it was taking him but he followed the part of his brain that told him to walk down the street. Maybe he followed his mind, hoping the pull would somehow lead to you. He wanted nothing more than to believe that soulmates had a special bond that pulled them together, maybe that's just what he needed to think to stay sane.

He needed to believe all the stories he heard growing up about soulmates being pulled together, about how nothing could keep them apart from one another. He may have denied it initially but he was well past that. No other woman he saw made him feel the way you did; he knew they never could. He started walking past a park but stopped, not giving it a second thought when his mind told him to go in. With it being almost 9 on a weeknight, he wasn't surprised the park was devoid of kids and adults. Then he saw the figure sitting on top of the monkey bars and he smiled to himself.

"Little late to be out isn't it?" He asked when he stopped a couple of feet behind the figure. "Says the man who's also out at this time," was the reply, accompanied by a quiet laugh. "I had a dream you were here, you know," Sam admitted sheepishly. If it wasn't so dark out and he wasn't behind you, you would've seen his blushing face "I mean, not here exactly, I had a dream you were in New York. I've been looking just about everywhere for you." "Work keeps me busy, I've technically lived here for two weeks but I've only spent about three days in town," you answered. "Understandable," he said with a quiet, nervous laugh. A silence filled the space around you both. Sam knew what he wanted to say, what he needed to say. He sighed quietly and bit his lip "I'm sorry I disappeared on you after we lost him. You needed someone to lean on and it should have been me. I shouldn't have let my own emotions consume me and leave you in the dust," he finally said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Sam, losing him was as huge for you as it was for me. I was never mad at you; your feelings were your own and you did what was best for yourself. I can't be mad at you for taking care of yourself," you told him, finally looking over at him. He started to argue but you knew what he'd say "I mean it, Sam. I don't ever want you to feel bad for taking care of yourself. You knew what you needed, I knew what I needed and that's that." "I thought you blamed me for his death though, I should've-" he started to argue. You shushed him "people always want to find someone to blame when things go wrong, even if that person is themselves, it's supposed to make it easier to accept I think, because if someone is to blame, then a bad thing didn't just happen, it had a reason behind it. There's nothing you could have done to save him, you were both doing your jobs. I know you think it's your fault but it isn't, Sam, and I never thought otherwise."

Sam smiled, he felt like a weight he didn't even know he carried had been lifted. He'd heard it before but it only ever took away part of the blame he felt. Hearing it from you made it feel true, you saying it made him believe it. He felt like he could breathe again. "You know, I didn't want you to be my soulmate," he said, eyes widening immediately in embarrassment. That's not how he wanted it to come out. "Ouch," you mumbled but held back a laugh. You'd seen him nervous before, it was usually a little entertaining. "I mean I did! Don't get me wrong, god I wanted it but I always worried I'd be too old for you, you know. I didn't want you to get stuck with someone old enough to be your young dad, I thought maybe you'd be able to find someone closer to your age, someone who wasn't friends with the guy who basically raised you," he rambled quickly.

You rolled your eyes and let out a laugh before leaning over the edge of the monkey bars until you were hanging upside down, face to face with him "why would I do that? I didn't have a bond with anyone else the way I did with you. Age be damned, I was an adult when we met, and I was and am more than capable of making my own choices." "Maybe I was just too scared of being rejected then. Do you know how much it's supposed to hurt when your soulmate rejects you?" He asked with a small hum, his hand gently coming up to cup your cheek.

"Oh please, who in their right mind could reject you?" You asked and flashed a small smirk. "God you're a pain," he said jokingly before stepping forward and planting his lips on yours in a gentle kiss. It had a passionate, longing feel to it, like it was something you'd both been waiting for ages for it. Your hanging upside down made it a little awkward but that didn't deter either of you. You tried to pull him closer, only to struggle; you lightly shoved his chest when he laughed. "So, I'm not getting rejected right?" Was the first thing he said when your lips separated. His tone was joking but even in the dark, you could see the nervous look on his face. "I'd never reject you, Sam; I love you," you told him, looking directly into his eyes so he knew you meant it.

He beamed a bright grin, rubbing his thumb over your cheekbone softly "I love you too, I wish it hadn't taken so long for this to happen, for us to finally end up together." "Me too, Sam," you were grinning from ear to ear as you looked at him. "Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow?" He asked happily. "I'd like that a lot, maybe you can tell me what you've been up to and why two men are staring at us," you stated with a grin. When he gave you a confused look, you nodded past him where two men were stood at the park's entrance, trying (and failing) to look nonchalant and acting like they weren't trying to eavesdrop. "Shoo!" Sam yelled when he looked back at them. He let out an exasperated sigh and an embarrassed chuckle "just a guy who ripped my steering wheel out of my car while I was in it and another guy who likes to show off by frequently running past me. Don't worry, they're just lonely old men, I promise they won't always be around to watch like that." You laughed and grinned "well I can't wait to hear those stories."

When the blood rushing to your head became too much, you finally got off the monkey bars and stretched. You didn't hesitate to kiss him, this time wrapping your arms around him. His own arms were around your waist in an instant, drawing you close until you were flush against his chest. This one was sweeter than before, it was calm and comforting. "How about we go grab a bite to eat right now? There's a pretty good burger place open until midnight a block and a half away," he offered. "Then what're we still doing standing here?" You asked sarcastically, a teasing smile on your face as you took his hand in yours and laced your fingers together. "That's my girl," he laughed to himself and begin walking with you. "By the way, was that Captain America watching us?" You asked after walking in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes. "Yup, unfortunately," Sam chuckled. "So you're either a superhero or some kind of terrorist now?" You teased. "Yeah, but if I tell which one I'd have to kill you," he said with a playful nudge to your side. "Right," you said sarcastically, both of you immediately bursting into laughter. Life felt right. You felt happy for the first time since your godfather's death.

The walk was quick and since it was almost 9:30 at night, almost nobody else was there so you got your food quickly. "So, we're fighting this guy in an airport, and I swear I don't think he's ever been in a fight before because he is so damn talkative. I mean it, he won't shut up. Anyway, he shoots this white substance at us, which in and of itself is unsettling and we're stuck on the ground. He's still talking and it's like a villain's monologue except it wasn't terrifying, it was annoying. I call in Redwing and he just launches this guy out the window and then Bucky says 'you couldn't have done that sooner' and I so badly wanted to smack him or at the very least send him flying through a window," Sam explains, rolling his eyes dramatically while you laughed, having to put down your burger so you didn't take a bite and choke. "And Bucky's the one who ripped your steering wheel out, right?" You asked, just to be sure. "Yup and every day with that dumbass is a test," Sam laughed and grinned. "Well, it's a good thing you have experience with dumbasses, huh?" You asked jokingly. "You know I do, baby."

You and Sam actually wound up staying at the place until they closed at midnight. Once you left, you two just began walking around, savoring each other's company and getting close again. "You wanna go back to my place? It's not that far from here," you offered with a smile. "Really? I thought you lived in Greenwich, I saw the apartment application online," he admitted before coughing and clearing his throat; he really didn't want to mention how much information he looked up online. "I applied to it but found a place here in Manhattan I liked better," you'd question him later about that little tidbit of information he had.

True to your word, the walk to your home was only fifteen minutes tops. "Sorry about all the boxes everywhere, I'm still unpacking everything," you apologized with a sheepish smile as you closed the front door behind you. "I've seen worse, baby, don't worry about it," he said with a casual shrug and a smile. Another silence fell upon you as you looked at each other. Even being together, there was still a pull and you both felt it. He gently pulled you to him and kissed you. This time, the kiss was desperate and hungry, consuming both of you. He held you by your hips, keeping you as close as physically possible. Your arm wrapped around his neck while your free hand cupped his cheeks as the kiss became more heated. It was like you suddenly couldn't get enough of each other.

When Sam finally broke away from the kiss, a small groan leaving his lips as he looked down at you with lust-darkened eyes "where's your bedroom?" "Down the hall, last door on the left," you mumbled, already dragging him down the hallway as you spoke. You'd taken two steps into the room when he picked you up and semi-gracefully tossed you onto the bed. He quickly moved to cover your body with his, caging you beneath him as he attacked your neck with kisses and a few soft bites. There was an urgency in both of your movements as you each hurried to undress the other while trying to keep as little space as possible between your bodies.

Soon, clothes were strewn across the bedroom; your bra was thrown over the lamp on your bedside table, his boxes landed in front of your dresser with his pants not far away. His fingers delved deep into your core and moved slowly, the little moans and gasps of pleasure spurring him on. The way his fingers repeatedly grazed over those spots you had trouble reaching even with your best toys had you melting underneath him. He watched with a proud, adoring smirk as he brought you right up to the edge before stopping and pulling his fingers out. He chuckled when you groaned in frustration, looking up at him pleadingly "Sam!"

"Hm?" He asked, a small teasing smirk on his face as he slowly licked them clean. You narrowed your eyes for a second before returning a teasing smirk of your own "either fuck me yourself or I'll use one of my toys while you sit in a corner." Sam tried to hide the way his eyes widened briefly "you wouldn't dare." You nodded with a smug smile on your face "well, my friend got me a new thrusting vibrator as a joke gift and I haven't had time to use it yet." You looked at each other in a silent staring contest, daring the other to do something. "God damn it, I can't tell if you're bluffing," he mumbled before crashing his lips to yours in a fervorous kiss which you were more than happy to return.

Sam haphazardly wrapped your legs around his waist and after impatiently lining his member at your entrance, he slowly thrust into you. You both let out groans of pleasure, your head falling back onto the pillow while he buried his face in the crook of your neck. He started dragging his hips slowly, just savoring the feeling of being with you in a way so intimate he thought he'd only dream it. Once he got more comfortable, he set a slow pace, savoring the feeling of each slow drag of his hips. Your soft moans were music to his ears, and knowing that he was the cause made his heart swell. "I love you so much," your voice was soft and breathy, he could tell you were right there with him on cloud 9. You looked so peaceful as he slowly fucked into you and if he could take a picture, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Your eyes closed and lips slightly parted from the pure bliss you felt. If only your eyes were open, you'd have seen the switch that flipped in his mind when you softly moaned his name.

When he got comfortable, he slowly pulled his hips back until the tip was just barely in before slamming back into the hilt, smirking at the loud moan you let out. He moved his hips fast now, making sure to reach the innermost depths of your cunt with each stroke of his cock. "F-fuck, S-sam!" You almost screamed when he started roughly playing with your clit. He smirked down at you, eyes completely dark now as he asked: "yeah, you think a toy can do this? Can a piece of plastic fuck you this way?" He pinched your clit when you took too long to answer him, making your words hitch in your throat, his hips pistoning into you brutally. You quickly shook your head while your nails dug into his shoulders, a quiet 'no' leaving your lips as you shook your head. "Louder, I want everyone to hear it, I wanna hear you tell everyone who fucks you this good," his voice was becoming husky and his thrusts came harder, punctuating every few words.

"You, Sam! No-no toy can fun me like this!" You shouted, body beginning to shake as your orgasm quickly crept closer. "Yeah? Who's girl are you, huh? Don't you dare cum until I say so," He demanded, grabbing your jaw and making you look directly into his eyes. "Yours, Sam! I'm yours!" You choked out, a low whine following your words while a few tears of pure pleasure ran down your cheeks. "Who owns your cunt, baby? Scream his name so all of New York knows and then you can cum all over my dick," he demanded again, squeezing your jaw slightly. His own hips were stuttering as he did everything he could to hold back. "Sam!" You screamed his name like a prayer before being blinded by white-hot pleasure as you came undone beneath him. A strangled groan escaped his throat as he came, his face falling to your chest as his hips rolled slowly. He could hear your heart pounding in your chest before he reluctantly pulled his softening member out of you and collapsed next to you.

He watched your panting form for a few moments before he got up and went to the bathroom. When he returned with a damp rag, he moved the covers away and gently cleaned your combined arousal from between your legs, frowning some at the way your body jolted at his touch. "I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked nervously. You shook your head, sending him a lazy smile "no, no I'm fine, Sam." "Are you sure? Because I know I got a little rough. I have no idea where that came from, I just-when you moaned my name it set something off I guess," he rambled with a nervous frown still on his face. With a quiet groan, you made yourself sit up so you could look at him. You cupped his cheeks and smiled "that was the best sex I've ever had, I'm fine, just a little sore because it's been a while." "How long?" He asked curiously before he could stop himself. You laughed some "three years, like I said work keeps me busy." He smiled and laid down, carefully pulling you with him "that makes both of us, baby."

The way he slowly rubbed your back made you melt in his embrace, sighing happily. He planted a soft kiss to your temple and yawned "I love you so much, (y/n). There's no place I'd rather be in this moment, or ever again." "I love you too, Sam, so damn much," you whispered, eyes falling shut as you snuggled close to him. A comfortable silence filled the room but only for a minute before Sam spoke again "wait, are you on anything?" You shook your head "we'll deal with that in the morning, I don't have the energy right now."

He fell silent but you could feel his eyes on you. When you opened your eyes again to look at him, you couldn't quite read the expression on his face "what?" He bit his lip in thought, debating on whether to say what was on his mind "well, what if we didn't deal with it?" "What?" You asked him, your confusion evident. "I'm just saying, what if we didn't deal with it, y'know. What if we just let whatever happens happen?" He suggested sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. "Sam, are you suggesting that we-?" You asked, your brain unwilling to find and utter the words. "Look, (y/n), I spent all these years without you and now I feel like I have to make up for lost time. Don't worry, I'll respect if you aren't ready or don't want that. I just want you to know that's where I'm at," he said softly, absentmindedly playing with your fingers.

You'd never given much thought to family life but thinking about it with Sam, having children and raising a family together, it sounded appealing. It suddenly felt like something you couldn't live without. You pecked his lips softly before resting your head back on his chest, closing your eyes "let's just go to sleep and see what happens in the weeks to come." You could hear the fondness in his voice when he spoke "if it's a boy, can we name him Paul after my dad?" "Obviously, now turn the light off and go to sleep," you mumbled tiredly, earning a tired, quiet laugh.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

If You’re a Robot and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

Fandom: Loki Characters: Sylvie, Ravonna, B-15, Mobius Rating: G Word Count: 1774

Summary: Sylvie faces off against Ravonna while Mobius hangs out in post-prune purgatory with... himself?

“You’re more stoic than he was,” Ravonna noted, nodding at the empty air between them where Loki had lately stood.

Why the taunting, Sylvie wondered. Who was there left for Ravonna to impress? Her subordinates were all dead or unconscious, Loki was gone, the animatronic lizards who were not in fact ruling rigidly over time sat slumped in their seats. There was only Sylvie. Even when she had been a child, thin arm in the grip of a stone-faced woman in black armour like the shell of a beetle, Sylvie had not felt so alone with Ravonna as she did in this moment. It made her very angry. She would much rather have been alone with herself.

“How do you know how stoic Loki looked?” Sylvie spat. “You pruned him in the back!”

Ravonna tilted her head, glowing baton still raised.

“I don’t mean in the face of his own erasure from existence, I mean watching someone he cared about disappear.”

Sylvie’s expression had been hard—more than once, to get by, she’d imagined herself protected by that beetle armour from her childhood, closing her vulnerable parts away behind a scowl—but it slackened slightly in confusion.

“Agent Mobius,” Ravonna explained impatiently. There was a twitch of her eyelid that Sylvie caught and homed in on.

“They were friends,” she said slowly. Then, she stared hard into the Judge’s eyes. “You were friends. You and Mobius. You killed him?”

“I didn’t! I—”

“You had someone else do it?” Sylvie narrowed her eyes scornfully.

With an irritated groan, Ravonna lunged for her, but Sylvie hopped backwards over the head of the fake Time Keeper. She looked down and Ravonna followed her gaze, distracted from her attack by the sight of rubbery faux-flesh and protruding, crackling wires.

“And this?” Sylvie asked quietly, trying not to spook the woman with the weapon. “Did you have a hand in this deception? I never sensed it in you.”

Ravonna scoffed and looked away from the head on the floor.

“You were a child.”

“I was a Loki,” Sylvie snapped back.

Saying that name—the name she’d rejected but never forgotten, the name that had also been his—jolted her into action once more. She wedged the toe of her boot beneath the Time Keeper’s decapitated head and flipped it up, striking Ravonna in the stomach. The Judge folded forward and defensively swept the baton in a wide arc. Sylvie stepped out of the weapon’s path, not anticipating the way Ravonna swung her arm quickly back to hit her with the non-pruning end of the rod; she hadn’t been a Hunter in who knew how long, but she clearly hadn’t lost her skill with the tools of the trade.

The blunt end thudded into Sylvie’s ribs.

She was knocked back, but when Ravonna advanced, Sylvie’s hand shot up to grab the baton, hauling the Judge forward. Unbalanced, Ravonna was no challenge to send sprawling at the foot of the stairs leading up to the Time Keepers’ dais. She landed awkwardly. Sylvie breathed hard as she wrenched the baton completely free of Ravonna’s hold and went to retrieve her sword as well.

As she then moved to assess B-15, who was rising shakily to her knees, Sylvie never put her back to Ravonna. Pruned in the back. What a Loki death.

“You alright?” she asked B-15 softly.

The Hunter grunted and allowed Sylvie to support her into standing.

“Better if I knew where to go from here.”

“Let me worry about that,” Sylvie said.

Ravonna struggled to her own feet and Sylvie held the baton at arm’s length between them, keeping the Judge at a distance while B-15 opened the door behind them.

“Ah ah ah,” Sylvie warned archly, chin and eyebrows raised in impish caution. “You stay here and play with your robots.”

“This is temporary,” Ravonna said as Sylvie edged back through the open door.

Sylvie performed her signature cocked head and smirk.

“Isn’t everything?”

The second they were out of the Time Keepers’ chamber, B-15 slammed the doors and leaned into them, as if Ravonna would imminently begin trying to break them down from the inside. Which Sylvie supposed she might. She really almost admired Ravonna—or would have if the Judge hadn’t ruined her entire life.

She stared at the door handles, then at each of the weapons she held in her hands. Sword or baton, sword or baton? With a deep breath, Sylvie jammed the blade of her sword through the handles to bar the door, electing to keep the baton close. Though it was a less familiar weapon, she was nothing if not highly adaptable. Besides, touching the glowing end of the rod to a person was certainly more efficient than dispatching them with a blade. She wasn’t sure how many TVA workers they would encounter before they were out of here. This place and this time. Keeping the baton was the right choice.

She stole a last glance at the sword. Another little piece of herself left behind.

At the sound of reinforcements headed towards them, she and B-15 hurried away from the chamber.

“She used to be a Hunter,” B-15 said, shaking her head as they strode down the corridor, “like me.”

“I suppose she might have been like you at some point,” Sylvie said. She was interpreting the words a little differently. “I wonder when she stopped.”

“Do you?”

“Not really. I can trust you but not her.” Sylvie shrugged as she walked. “That’s about all I need to know.”

“Do you trust me?”

“I have to.”

“Same for me. Though I can’t say my faith in allies hasn’t been shaken recently,” B-15 said sarcastically. “The Time Keepers aren’t real, Ravonna’s been helping to cover up the truth, and I wasn’t even created here! I probably had to go through that degrading process of having my clothes zapped off!”

“Probably. I didn’t think you’d want to see that as a prioritized memory,” Sylvie said, half-apologetic. While they’d stood in the torrential rain outside Roxxcart, she’d allowed a highlight reel of memories to flash through the Hunter’s mind.

“You know, I always found it kind of strange that one of the few tests we run in this department is to judge whether or not someone is secretly a robot. I guess whoever designed the Time Keepers got paranoid.”

“Whoever that person is, paranoia is the least of their worries.”

“True,” B-15 agreed as she produced a TemPad. “Now, they’re going to have to deal with us.”

“If they’re still out there somewhere and not dead like Loki and Mobius,” Sylvie said bitterly. She flipped the TemPad open and programmed their destination.

“Maybe they aren’t dead. We’ve been misled about everything else. Maybe everyone who’s ever been pruned just ends up someplace… else.”

“It’s no place I’ve ever been.”

“Yet,” B-15 said.

The Time Door appeared before them. Pounding footsteps raced against Sylvie’s accelerating heartbeat as she prepared to step through and leave this place behind. They had to go now, her and her one ally. She couldn’t get above one ally these days. It was better than none.

“Yet,” Sylvie agreed.

—

Meanwhile in Jet Ski Land…

“That’s why I always felt such an affinity for that Earth actor,” Mobius said. “I am Owen Wilson. Or was.”

He dug his bare toes deeper into the slightly rocky beach and watched the slow wash of trash along the shore. It was almost nice here, but not quite. Not a place to stay. Everything inside him had already been screaming that. A lifelong (in this life, anyway) bureaucrat, he’d never felt such restlessness.

“Am… was… what does it matter?” the man next to him asked rhetorically.

He was also Mobius. No, Mobius was him. No, that wasn’t right, they were both Owen Wilson. Variants of him. But this man had shaggy blond hair where Mobius had been grey for as long as he could remember. Also, he appeared to be the only Owen Wilson in sight who had a mustache and he was a little proud of that. Probably stupidly, but it was helping him hold on to his sense of identity in the presence of so many hims.

They were on the beach around him, sitting in the dunes behind him, swimming in the water in front of him. One of the Owens was freaking parasailing through the air up above while another Owen drove the boat that towed him.

“How long have you guys been here?” Mobius asked in awe.

“You know, it’s hard to say,” Owen said, folding his arms thoughtfully. “It’s tough to figure out exactly how time flows here. A little like what you were describing, with your experience at the TVA.”

“Have you gotten to know everybody?”

“Oh yeah, they’re good guys. And all of us Owens are naturally social.”

“What about that one?” Mobius asked, pointing. He could hear the raw admiration in his own voice as the geriatric Owen he’d indicated revved his jet ski, bouncing over the low swells of the turquoise water.

“One of our actors. He was in the middle of filming a movie in Indonesia before he ended up here. Played an international, jet ski-riding spy in sort of a buddy comedy. Eighty-three years old and still a star.”

“What? That sounds incredible! What the heck happened?”

“Well,” Owen told him with a grimace, “the tsunami of 2051.”

“Right,” Mobius said, recalling the list of 21st-century apocalyptic events he and Loki had so recently sifted through together.

“He wasn’t supposed to survive the wave. The film crew had tethered him to the jet ski for safety while they were shooting and, as far as Owen can guess, that should’ve been enough to kill him. That’s what the TVA was counting on. They had to bring him in when he didn’t drown.”

“What a story though! That old Owen is one tough nut!”

“I know!” Owen gushed proudly.

Mobius shook his head in amazement, scanning the water. His gaze landed on something he couldn’t immediately understand.

“And what’s that?” he asked.

“That’s jet-ski Owen.”

“I thought the old guy was jet-ski Owen.”

“Nah, that one’s Owen on a jet ski. This one’s Owen as a jet ski.”

The riderless craft surged across the water until the speed had its front end lifting high off the surface. With a glorious final burst, it escaped the water entirely, executing a barrel roll in midair before touching down once more.

Mobius felt the praise leave his own lips and heard it echoed up and down the beach by all other versions of Owen Wilson in attendance: “Wow.”

[ahalal-uralma]

As you so kindly, enthusiastically, and thoroughly answered my previous ask on film recommendations, expressing your thoughts and feelings on each one, I thought I'd send you some more suggestions for you to look through at your leisure...

Again, these span different genres and eras, and are all favourites of mine too... : )

- The Apartment (1960)

- Beauty and the Beast (1978)

- Branded to Kill (1967)

- The Cremator (1969)

- Dead of Night (1945)

- Delicatessen (1991)

- The Firemen's Ball (1967)

- The Haunting (1963)

- L'Immortelle (1963)

- The Iron Rose (1973)

- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

- Naked (1993)

- Repo Man (1984)

- Seconds (1966)

- Solyaris (1972)

- The Trial (1962)

- Vampyr (1932)

- The Vanishing (1988)

- The Wicker Man (1973)

- A Zed and Two Noughts (1985)

The Apartment (1960)

Yes! I am weak for any film with Jack Lemmon in it. I also really love him in "Some like it Hot," "Grumpy Old Men," "The Front Page," "The Odd Couple," etc. He was a gift to the earth. If you asked me for my top ten male film actors of all time, he definitely must be on that list.

Beauty and The Beast (1978)

Ok, I need to see it. I didn’t know this version even existed! I’ve seen so many like the 1946 release and the more recent French 2014 release of Belle et la Bete (I have watched both the English and French Dubs), but I have not seen this one! I need to remedy this and just looking at screencaps is blowing my mind. He’s a bird? Interesting, I wonder why they went with that choice. 

Branded To Kill (1967)

I have never seen this film. I have no opinion swaying in favor or against it. I might give it a shot one day out of curiosity. I really love how they shot the monochrome style of it. I am in love with that, actually.

The Cremator (1969)

I have not seen this, but looking between screencaps and the synopsis my thoughts are surfing around the film Harold and Maude (1971) if it was told in the style of Alfred Hitchcock. Am I thinking wrong here? 

Dead Of Night (1945)

Oh, God. Another film I remember watching with my father--that ventriloquist dummy. I still do not understand the obsession with those, but to each their own really. Definitely do not recommend it if they freak you out, because it’ll definitely freak someone out. 

Delicatessen (1991)

I am not familiar with this film, but screencaps tells me I want to keep it that way. I do not care for the imagery of the food. Or the suggestion of things I shall not begin to give name to. It seems a little too macabre for my liking...which is really saying something when I enjoy the Hannibal franchise. Or does it just mean I am contradicting myself? Fine. I am contradicting myself. 

The Firemen's Ball (1967)

Eh. Just Eh. 

The Haunting (1963)

I haven’t seen the original yet. I have only seen the 1999 remake with Owen Wilson, Catherine Zeta Jones, etc. It doesn’t really hold up well with the special effects, but it is still quite entertaining with beautiful sets. I swear I still have dreams about the carousel room. I have some really fond memories of watching this adaptation with my mom. No matter how many times we’ve watched the piano scene, we gasp. Seeing people lose their heads? Fine. Seeing a person lose their eye? No.

L'Immortelle (1963)

This movie feels like a bit of a fever dream for me. I’ve watched it once, but I can’t even remember under what circumstances or with who that would have been. I mean, they are trying to resolve the kidnapping of prostitutes. But damn, the lingerie was beautiful in this movie. I want it.

The Iron Rose (1973)

I can’t say I’ve seen this, but it looks interesting. I feel like I should have more familiarity with it since the title resonates. I have probably seen or shared a post about it before without fully knowing it was a film, I mean....it involves a beautiful cemetery and I’m kind of a weakling for cemeteries. It might sound a little odd, but I find them to be magical places. Not in the same way a castle or fairy woodland would be, but in a solemn and haunted way. It’s a place humans have chosen to preserve memories and protect them.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

I feel like I’m missing out on an important film. I really love the promotional posters and stills. This looks so gorgeous to me. I mean, this one for example. Reminds me of vintage victorian postcards a little:

Naked (1993)

It has David Thewlis?! I need to watch it just for him. Really. No other reason needed. That’s plenty reason. He can never be present enough in films if you want my two cents. He’s a gem. Kingdom of Heaven? Dragon heart? He will be forever one of my favorite fantasy film villains. He goes from perfect gentleman to the biggest bastard and I just love him. Talented man. He’s like one of those actor crushes that you get not for his looks, but for his mind and energy.

Also, who hasn’t gone feral watching him in a sword fight? He could kill me and I would thank.

Repo Man (1984)

Closest thing to seeing this film is the farthest with Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008). I have no idea about this, but know they are nothing alike.

God, now I’m wanting to watch the Genetic Opera again. I love everything..especially, the music. I have so many emotions about that movie. It has Sarah Brightman (goddess) and strangely somehow, Paris Hilton is there and she didn’t ruin the experience? She makes sense to the plot? Talk about a fever dream.

And then, we have Terrance Zdunich as Grave-Robber. In an alternate universe where I am single, he can honestly rail me in the cemetery so hard that I ricochet between the coffins till I’m singing about how he’s going to sedate my enemies before their surgery but I did not say that and you can’t prove it.

Seconds (1966)

I feel like I’ve seen this or part of this? I do not remember how it ends, but remember part of the plot. I remember the man returning from his faked death with a new identity or something like that.

Solyaris (1972)

I am familiar with Tarkovsky’s other works like Nostalgia and Andrei Rublev, but not this one. Not yet.

The Trial (1962)

Yes! Know this one. This is a mystery flick for deep thinkers for sure. Plot aside, those scenes and sets really do something to you. Everything is so intense in that “life is occurring in surreal and disturbing cycles” kind of way. It does great service to the writing of Franz Kafka without any doubt. It looks how I imagine the interior of his mind would have been like.

Vampyr (1932)

Love it. Well, I love any good cinema involving the mythos of vampires in general and all the more if they appear in black and white. Nosferatu (1922)? Dracula (1931)? *chefs kiss* Masterpieces.

The Vanishing (1988)

I haven’t seen this and I can’t say it speaks to me on any level. It just isn’t sparking my curiosity or anything.

The Wicker Man (1973)

Ah. The classic film Midsommar wish it was.

A Zed And Two Noughts (1973)

I have never heard of this movie, let alone seen it. But, can we just take a moment to appreciate the wild ride that is the start of the synopsis?

“Identical twins lose their wives in a car crash caused by a white swan. Both brothers are zoologists and become obsessed with the death and decay of animals.”

What in the absolute hell is this movie and how much will I regret investigating the plot?

All in all, I have to give you props for stumping me on some of these titles. There’s a good mix of classics in here that I know, but I feel like I just dissociated from a by-gone era (or two) hearing about the others.

[mobius-m-mobius]

i watched loki and i gotta say, out of all three mcu series (tf&tws and wandavision), loki is the one that really feels disney 😂in a non-complimentary way. i do like it! it's just not what i thought it was, you know? but anyway i didn't come here to point out flaws. gotta say i kind of love owen wilson as a tva agent and i can see why ppl ship lokius... but also... they really tried to make them buddies didn't they? joke's on you disney, we do what we do best, we ship. and especially when you don't want us to ship we ship😂 (i can see the tenderness of it, he keeps calling loki a "broken boy" and wants to help him ahhh, give me all the comfort fics give them to me.)

who would've known all these series were actually all about the traumatised and problematic children of the mcu. bucky? super fucked up, our poor killing machine. wanda? alone and definitely needs therapy omg give that girl some help. loki? it's time to face all of your daddy issues and have an existential crisis. like really existential (all this timey wimey stuff is making me existential)

that's it, that's the mcu/disney series plan.

anyway i just thought about one specific exchange you and i had abt owen wilson a while ago and i thought i could come rant for a bit. bye now (just so you know, i mistakenly sent this to another blog bf i remembered it was you whom i've sent that owen wilson ask a while ago)

Yoooooo so psyched you watched but also totally here if you wanna talk flaws because I absolutely made it through the series for Owen only and can't pretend otherwise 😂😂

Agree about the show ultimately feeling super "Disney" in the end which is a bummer because the first two eps started with ridiculous potential, like the monotonous, slightly eerie vibes in the TVA were just unsettling enough to be fucking fantastic and had that whole retro aesthetic that I love love love then there's the power shift back and forth in the Lokius relationship, don't get me started 😔 Mobius holding all the cards when they first meet but folding asap (taking Loki to Pompeii where he could've easily been overpowered by magic and / or left there to die, giving the daggers back yeah that's right love's a dagger and the Mouse™ is never gonna take that away) because of how much he cares about and respects Loki, the *chef's kiss* of the buddy cop vibes.

Obviously I'm biased because Mobius owns me but imo it would be hard to argue against his absence in ep 3 feeling like hitting pause on what was already going so well and from that point on the series felt purely like a setup for building the multiverse instead of the atmosphere of the TVA and the base of the Lokius relationship because honestly I'd rather watch the two of them talk jetskis and not so subtly gaze at each other with heart eyes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(and no worries I adore that some other Owen Wilson simp on your dash is likely reading the same message in their own box atm lmao 💖)

[pennylaneforthoughts]

I posted 1,958 times in 2021

36 posts created (2%)

1922 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 53.4 posts.

I added 2,141 tags in 2021

#mobius - 527 posts

#loki - 489 posts

#lokius - 432 posts

#owen wilson - 307 posts

#video - 173 posts

#loki 2021 - 76 posts

#mobius my beloved - 41 posts

#lmaooooo - 38 posts

#sylvie - 30 posts

#lmaooooooooo - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#look i've thought way too hard about this and i just need a slytherin mobius who subverts everyone's expectations about what a slytherin is

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Omg could you IMAGINE if in season 2 we get Mobius' backstory and he's like. a jet ski beach dude and here's the important part:

He's got the classic fluffy blond Owen Wilson hair

We see him coming out of the water all suntanned and gorgeous and he does the hair flip!!!! And Loki just immediately short circuits bc hes TOO HOT!

COULD YOU IMAGINE!!!!!!

185 notes • Posted 2021-08-31 15:20:08 GMT

#4

Wow after reading this Esquire article today, I am absolutely convinced that Owen Wilson is either:

a) an immortal born in 12th century Ireland

b) a fae being

c) actually, literally, just the real trickster god Loki

I feel like my whole sense of reality has just shifted to the left a little bit. I don't know how it's possible for one man to exude so much magical realism, but I felt like I was reading a modern version of The Great Gatsby but combined with Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," and now I've got goosebumps and a chill running down my spine. I'm both fascinated and deeply unnerved.

Some highlights that really drove this energy home:

"He’s fifty-two. His skin is tanned and healthy—ruddy—and he has enviable blond hair that always looks like he went swimming in the ocean a half hour ago and it dried in the sun, annoyingly perfect. The blue eyes are as blue as they are in the movies, or bluer."

"He asks questions. He is well-read. Very well-read. We parse the divergent narrative styles of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He tells me about a book his brother Luke gave him recently: a biography of an obscure Swiss writer named Robert Walser. He mentions picking up a copy of The Snow Leopard not long ago, a book he says means a lot to him."

"The smiling blue eyes, fixed on me. You heard me.

'Do you think you could beat me in a race?'"

“Yeah, well, my brothers would say I make up rules.”

"Owen can seem like a man who’s rolling through life, as if he stumbled along from a previous century and will eventually wander off down the road, into the future."

"A butterfly carries his words off into the flowers of a nearby jacaranda tree, and he looks up and says, 'How’s our line doing?'"

"Several times, Owen has used the term “magical realism,” a literary genre in which the writer writes something unreal, or surreal, as if it were absolutely real. Owen seems to be always in search of making reality appear magical. Or making the magic of life more real. Or something."

“As a kid, there’s a lot of things that you think about,” he says. “Death—that kind of landed with me when I was about eleven. And I don’t remember ever talking with my parents about it. Although I do remember one time saying to my dad—and I remember exactly where in the house—saying, ‘I worry about dying,’ and seeing my dad turn away and catch himself. And I was surprised to see that reaction. But who knows, maybe that was part of why I said it.”

“We’re not in the same place we were when we sat down.”

"Owen is after something else, something more fascinating, or fun. Something different, and yet something that’s a thousand years old."

"Maybe it’s like the Aztecs say: “We come only to sleep / Only to dream / It is not true, it is not true / That we come to live on this earth” [beat] And stay hydrated!!!"

I've never seen anyone more encapsulate the emotion of awe, and never before have I so badly wanted to write a magical realism short story than at this very moment.

298 notes • Posted 2021-08-19 00:17:21 GMT

#3

Did I hyperfixate on the Loki soundtrack for the past three hours? Yes. Do I have some Lokius insights? Possibly. Am I going to rant? Also yes.

I preface all of this by saying I am in no way a professional. I simply have ears.

So this guy Christopher Bill on YouTube did a series on the leitmotifs and associated meanings in the Loki soundtrack, and it's very good and on point, and he even does an interview with Natalie Holt on it.

However, he doesn't go over everything, so I'm here to add some thoughts based on the things he identified there in the series.

Important notes for people who don't wanna go and watch all three hours of videos:

1.) Loki's theme is, obviously, the Green Theme as shown in the soundtrack. That melody is specifically his and shows up whenever he's the focus of a scene. Also important: Loki is associated with a grand orchestra, brass and strings.

2.) Mobius' theme does not have a track all to itself, but it is prevalent throughout the series and has two parts: a.) there is one specific instrument associated with him: a delay guitar, and b.) the little melody that goes like this:

The "Lokius" track is very interesting because it doesn't contain these two leitmotifs, which is normally what we expect in a song that is meant to be the combination of two characters. It's especially interesting because Natalie does combine themes like we'd expect in other parts of the score. We hear it twice for Loki and Sylvie's themes, both of which are during their two fight scenes. And we hear it for Loki and Mobius in episode 5 as they and the other Loki variants are staring down Alioth. (14:14 - 14:45). This is, interestingly enough, the "Goodbyes" track.

Now Chris talks about it a little bit and identifies it as the Mobius theme combined with a heroic mode of the Loki theme, but doesn't go into further analysis of it. Personally, within the context of the show, I think that it's extremely interesting that this heroic theme for Loki is so obviously filled with Mobius' theme. It could have been a reprise of the Green Theme, but it isn't. Instead, it's Loki's instruments playing Mobius' theme. In other words, in this scene we see the culmination of Mobius' influence on Loki, to the point that Loki is able to be heroic now because he is now symbolically playing Mobius' theme.

Let that sink in, Lokius nation.

Now before I continue with "Goodbyes" and talk about the music in the hug scene, we gotta go back to "Lokius" in episode 4.

We all know this is the song that plays during the interrogation scene, but I think it's important to note what is playing at what point in that scene.

The first section of the track is full of TVA associated instruments, and this plays when Mobius is clearly upset, but mostly just speaking for the TVA through his job as an analyst, playing the heavy keys and lying to Loki about having pruned Sylvie as Loki lies about not caring about her.

Then at about 0:38 in the track, we get these high sliding, falling notes that are almost choral as we watch Loki process this (false) information that Sylvie is gone. It sounds like grieving, and I'd wager that these notes are Loki's grief for Sylvie sound like. Then at 0:58 to 1:50 or thereabout, a more prominent string line shows up, and I think that's the actual Lokius theme. It's a heavy string melody that goes between minor and major, and with the faster strings beneath it, it feels like yearning, like betrayal, and "god I'm so stupid for liking you all this time how could you do this to me," coming from both of them that plays as Loki looks at Mobius with pain written all over his face and Mobius rants about his reality breaking. Which is interesting, because the only other relationship that gets a whole motif to itself is s*lki, thus placing Lokius in a position that functions arguably as a musical foil to s*lki as much as it is a literary one.

But right after Mobius says "What an incredible seismic narcissist! You fell for yourself!" at 1:50 in the track, the music switches again, this time to the Norwegian fiddle played by Olav Luksengard Mjeklva over Loki's line "Her name was Sylvie." It's the same instrument that's played in "Frigga" and when Loki is mourning Ragnarok in the Archives, but the melody is different, indicating that Loki's feelings about Sylvie are associated with his feelings about Frigga (re: he looks at her like he looks at his mother) and home but aren't exactly the same.

And then it lingers on a high choral note for a second as Loki yells, "Is she alive?!" and Mobius responds, "For now," then cuts out entirely for a while in the scene, only to continue at 2:09 in the track halfway through Loki's desperate attempt to get Mobius to believe him, right when he says "and erased your memories" and goes on about how Mobius might have had a family and a life. And the motif that plays is almost identical to the "Frigga" track there, reinforcing the connection between that motif and the concept of lost family, and by extension, Loki's association of Sylvie with lost family. And it's here that Mobius pauses, looking at Loki and seeing that he's telling the truth because it's the same look he saw on Loki's face when grieving his mother. Though he ignores that insight because of his anger, and as Mobius continues to rant, it holds on the final high, hesitating note that calls back to the prior high notes in the beginning associated with Loki's grief and desperation before the song ends and Loki gets thrown back in the Time Cell.

Like @conniving-craven-pathetic-worm says in this post, however, the Lokius theme gets reprised in "Goodbyes" from 2:50 to 3:03. At first glance it doesn't seem to be the same melody, but it's got the same spacing of notes as the Lokius theme, and musically it resolves happily with swelling strings, which at this point in the show, are instruments we have come to associate with Loki's character.

This brings us back to my earlier discussion of "Goodbyes" and the theory that the whole beginning of the song where Mobius' theme is played on Loki's instruments is meant to represent Loki accepting his new role as hero through Mobius' influence and why I feel that this analysis is accurate.

Normally, when we hear a leitmotif like that, it's paired obviously with the associated character/emotion/thing and we know what it's referring to, like previously where whenever Mobius shows up onscreen, we hear a little twang on the guitar or his full motif. However, in this instance of his theme, what we see on screen is not a focus on Mobius. Rather, it pans over the Lokis looking out over Alioth and then zooms in on each of their faces as this dramatic version of Mobius' theme plays. Musically, this wouldn't make sense unless it was saying that here, each of these Lokis is deciding to take on a heroic role instead of an antagonistic one because of what Mobius has said to them.

It's especially driven home because there is a point in the track where Mobius' theme is played on his guitar as contrast, and that moment is directly associated with Mobius, when he gives Loki that pining look and says "Burn it to the ground!," a scene that is so incredibly for Mobius and about Mobius. And after that is when we get the reprise of the Lokius theme with the adding of the strings associated with Loki.

Mobius is so pivotal to Loki in this scene that it isn't until he physically leaves through the Time Door and is "out of sight out of mind" in a way, that we hear Loki's brass leitmotif (or doom horns as conniving-craven calls them) again.

Tl;dr "Lokius" isn't a mashup of Loki and Mobius' leitmotifs, it's a whole separate theme on its own that parallels the romance motif in the Lamentis nexus event, "Pep Talk," and during the s*lki kiss. However, "Goodbyes" is a mashup of their leitmotifs and as a song, represents how every Loki's positive character development has been because of Mobius, while at the same time reprises the Lokius motif into one more recognizably romantic and sweet.

363 notes • Posted 2021-08-25 23:05:43 GMT

#2

Okay but episode 4 from Mobius' perspective is literally the saddest thing if you let yourself think about it for too long.

Imagine you're Mobius and you have a huge massive crush on Loki, and by the end of episode 2 you feel like you've bonded so well, and you know, maybe there's a chance he likes you back. But then he betrays you, runs through that time door after Sylvie and everyone is telling you he's just yeeted out Like Always but you're like "No there's gotta be another explanation. We were friends. Really friends. We had something."

And then you find out that not only did he yeet after Sylvie, as you're dragging them through the halls, all they look at is each other, and it's not until Sylvie's down another corridor that Loki even pays you any mind or says anything to you. And you're just absolutely seething because of course everyone else was right. How could you be so stupid to think Loki could ever like you back? Hes a literal god. You're just some random guy, a bureaucrat. Of course he would rather be with some crazy, stab-happy version of HIMSELF than you.

And you feel so jealous, so angry, so unwanted you can barely think straight. But you still have to do your job even though you feel like this, so you lie and sneer and poke and prod because you're angry and hurting and a part of you wants Loki to hurt too. And then as you're interrogating him, you see him get all teary eyed over Sylvie, and you think, "How horribly painful and awful is this?" He'd cry over this girl after knowing her for less than a day, but he'd leave you without a care in the world. Not a goodbye or any sort of explanation. Would he even care if someone had told him you were pruned? Unlikely.

And you're so upset that even when Loki's yelling at you, desperately trying to make you see he's telling you the truth, it doesn't relieve you to see so clearly in his eyes that he's not lying, because those are the same eyes that you just saw worried over and crushing on Sylvie. So you slam your face directly into denial because how dare he? How dare he be honest now? And so you run away before you let yourself get sucked back in by those eyes, but it's too late, the damage is done. And even though you're angry and bitter and kind of wish Loki would just disappear, you can't deny he was being honest for very long. So you go and stick your neck out and investigate anyway, because you're nothing if not a lovesick fool, and even being angry at him isn't going to change that, no matter how much you try.

And if you're being honest with yourself, something really has been off about this whole thing, and Loki's rare honesty was the proverbial straw that broke your camel's back in this whole mess. After all, you've never been good at denying him when he looks at you like that. You were bad at it when he wanted to go to an apocalypse with you, and you're bad at it now. So you steal Ravonna's tempad and look for yourself. And where else could you go except to the archives where you and Loki had spent so much time together hidden away? It's only appropriate. And what you find just makes your heart sink.

Not only was Loki telling the truth, it's so much worse than either of you realized. Ravonna had killed C-20. And she had lied to you. And what beautiful, horrible irony that the person who was supposed to do nothing but lie was the one being honest, and your friend for nobody even knows how long is the one lying to you. Your whole world starts crashing down around you, and it's too much. You were already emotionally wrecked by everything going on with Loki. You didn't need this too. And oh God, the implications of it.

This means that everything you've done and said your whole known life has been wrong. And more importantly, it means you've hurt and killed for nothing. And that guilt just eats at your soul as you remember what you've said even just to Loki.

"You were born to bring pain and suffering and death. All so that others can be the best versions of themselves."

What have you done? How much damage have you caused? And it's this thought that spurs you forward. Because screw ideology. Screw glorious purpose. What even are those in the face of a person in pain, much less the person you've found yourself caring about more than anything else?

So you run. Almost on instinct. You run to Loki knowing exactly what memory you've looped him through out of bitterness and jealousy and spite, and you're praying you haven't caused irreparable damage.

"You deserve to be alone, and you always will be."

No, no, no, of course he doesn't. He has you. He'll always have you if you have any say in the matter. He has...

Sylvie.

You remember her. Them. The nexus event. And you have a theory. A theory you hate so much it makes you want to crawl out of your own skin and die, but it makes too much sense, and unfortunately, it could work. So as you step into the time prison, you ask.

"Do you really believe you deserve to be alone?"

And he says he doesn't know, but you can see he just doesn't want to admit that yes, he does. And it breaks your heart because you know that you've had a part in that. So you apologize in the only way you think Loki could begin to accept.

"You can be whoever, whatever you want to be. Even someone good."

And part of you is saying that to yourself too, because heaven knows you need to hear it just as much. And Loki's words are still ringing in your ears.

Friend.

How bittersweet. But you're an adult. You know you can't demand Loki's affection as much as you selfishly want to. If he wants to be with Sylvie, you'll force yourself to find some way to cope with that. It's fine. It only makes sense. You'd rather have Loki in your life as a friend than nothing at all. And you're happy to be reconciled at least a little.

But then you step out into the Time Theatre and everything stops. Ravonna is standing there and she's obviously pissed. She knows. You deflect, you lie, try to be as Loki as you can to get out of this. You're surrounded by Minutemen and pruning sticks but all you can think is you can't let Loki get hurt. Not now. He's the key to taking down the TVA. And it's clear Ravonna is having none of it. But you know her. You were friends. Good friends. And you know she's more angry at you than Loki at the moment. So you realize what you have to do to keep it that way. To protect him.

So you press the button you know will hurt her the most. You answer her question from just a short while ago. You bring all the focus onto you, knowing what it'll likely mean. Knowing it'll hurt her and make her lash out. You're not stupid. You're good at reading people. That's why you're an analyst. And if it means protecting Loki, you know you'd have been willing to die much longer ago than is probably reasonable.

You don't even try to avoid the pruning stick. And honestly? It's not even the most painful thing you've experienced today.

And besides. It's better this way. Now Loki can be with Sylvie, be happy, and you don't have to feel a dagger through your heart every time they look at each other. And it's not like Loki will really miss you.

It's better this way.

476 notes • Posted 2021-07-24 16:28:00 GMT

#1

After some thinking, a conversation with my sister-in-law with a psych degree, and a couple of sessions with my godsend of a therapist, I think I've finally put my finger on the thing about Mobius that Loki (and a lot of the fandom tbh) so quickly latched onto like a man dying of thirst at the first sign of water:

Unconditional positive regard.

This concept is at the core of client-centered psychology and basically is a stance that a therapist will take in relation to their client, where they simply accept and support their client as a person, regardless of what they do or say.

My therapist uses this framework with me, and when the Loki series came out, I immediately saw Mobius and was like "holy crap, this man has the exact same energy as Sami what???" And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why until I was talking about it with my sister-in-law and she mentioned unconditional positive regard. And then it clicked.

Mobius radiates unconditional positive regard from the minute he meets Loki in episode 1, and arguably even from the first time we even see him onscreen. He approaches everyone he interacts with using a basic framework of "I see you and care about you as a person, and nothing you do or say can change that," so we immediately get the impression that this man is soft, kind, and shaped like a friend. However, it's most obvious and pointed in his interactions with Loki.

While yes, Mobius' primary objective in episode 1 is to interrogate Loki, it's important to note that it's not an interrogation where Mobius is trying to find proof of guilt for a crime like we'd see in a typical detective procedural. Rather, Mobius is trying to see if this variant of Loki is self aware enough to be able to help him in his hunt for Sylvie. It's fundamentally a test to find out Loki's current place in his emotional and psychological development. It is not maliciously intended, and it is not designed to harm Loki. On the contrary, the intent is clearly to help Loki begin to come to terms with the reality of who he is and the choices he has made.

In fact, the whole time this is happening, Mobius very purposefully strives to foster an environment where Loki knows that A.) Mobius sees him. Truly sees and knows him. B.) Despite knowing what Loki is and what he's done, Mobius loves him and regards him positively, and C.) nothing Loki can do or say will change that positive regard.

Loki, however, is super not used to receiving unconditional positive regard. He has no idea how to respond to it. He feels like it's a trick, like there's another shoe just waiting to drop. I related to him hardcore in this scene because that's exactly how I felt when my therapist presented me with unconditional positive regard for the first time. It's confusing and strange and difficult to believe at first. Especially because it sets the stage for honest self reflection and personal growth that can be incredibly painful.

Loki is not a perfectly innocent person. He has done a lot of really bad things and hurt a lot of people in his life. He has a lot of very deep seated trauma that has informed these actions, but he still made those choices and he needs to take responsibility for them. This is not a fun process. Mobius knows this is actually a really awful, sucky process. But he also knows that change and growth requires two things: acknowledgement that a change needs to be made and the expectation that change can and will occur when properly cultivated. Mobius clearly laying out the reality of Loki's actions and who he is in the Sacred Timeline is the first part of that equation, and his unflappable, unconditional positive regard towards Loki as a person despite knowing that reality cultivates an environment for the second part to flourish.

"By definition, it is essential in any helping relationship to have an anticipation for change. In the counseling relationship, that anticipation presents as Hope—an optimism that something good and positive will develop to bring about constructive change in the client's personality. Thus, unconditional positive regard means that the therapist has and shows overall acceptance of the client by setting aside their own personal opinions and biases. The main factor in unconditional positive regard is the ability to isolate behaviors from the person who displays them." (source)

Mobius is not Loki's therapist, but he does take on a therapeutic role in Loki's life. He shows Loki that he is fully aware of all of Loki's faults and mistakes. He's seen them over and over again and knows them by heart because it's his job. And in the face of all of that he looks at Loki and says that he doesn't see him as a villain. That he likes him anyway and believes that Loki has the potential to help him and what he believes is the cause of good. (Yes the TVA is corrupt, but neither of them know that at this point, and the fact that both Mobius and Loki believe this to be the side of good to varying degrees is important here)

Mobius maintains this regard throughout the series and his subsequent interactions with Loki and when talking about Loki to Ravonna and others, and it's a big part of why Loki so quickly trusts and feels comfortable around Mobius. I know some people say it's unrealistic how fast it was, but it made a lot of sense just based on my experience. I mean, after one (1) session with my therapist, I was 100% ride or die for him, and it was kind of absurd. But the feeling of being seen like that is so potent when you're starved for it, that extreme reactions to it make a lot of sense. And if anyone's starved for unconditional positive regard, it's Loki.

Mobius is only human though, and he's not perfect at this. Over the course of the series, it's clear that Mobius has emotionally invested a lot in his Loki, and he struggles to maintain a professional distance, though he usually is able to keep his head enough to give Loki that positive regard he needs. The only time we see this regard slip is in episode 4 when Mobius is feeling betrayed and jealous. In these moments, Mobius is unable to step back from his feelings enough to get into a headspace where he can separate Loki's actions from who he is. He calls Loki an asshole and a bad friend, and it comes from a place of hurt and jealousy. It's also what drives Loki into a defensive mode we haven't seen since episode 1. He's no longer receiving that unconditional positive regard from Mobius and he feels betrayed. He worries that maybe it was all an act in the first place and Mobius never really cared for him at all. For the first time, Loki feels like Mobius doesn't see the best in him anymore and it hurts.

Mobius' unconditional positive regard was genuine, though, and this is reinforced in the subsequent scenes where we see him act on his instinctual desire to assume the best of Loki and investigate his claims. We see it again when he returns to Loki and he reaffirms both his desire to trust Loki and his belief that Loki can be "whoever, whatever he wants to be, even someone good." At this point, Loki is able to accept it and no longer pushes back against Mobius' belief in Loki's goodness and that he "has within himself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behavior." He's grown and begun to see himself in a more realistic and positive light and it's a direct result of the time Mobius has spent cultivating that relationship based on unconditional positive regard.

That's why their relationship feels so comfortable and satisfying. Unconditional positive regard isn't only a therapy principle. It's something everyone craves in a relationship. To be seen as you are, flaws and mistakes and quirks and all is terrifying and mortifying, but when that person then just smiles and says I love you anyway because you are not your mistakes and you are not your flaws and nothing you can ever do or say can change how I feel about you, the relief and joy and comfort is more than worth the discomfort. So I think the idea that Mobius can look at someone as deeply flawed, broken, and jaded as Loki and love him exactly as he is right there and then, eyes wide open and smiling, believing that beneath it all Loki has the potential to be good, gives us hope that someone could do the same for us. I know that's what Lokius does for me, at least. Mobius represents to me the ideal of unconditional positive regard, and having an image of what that looks like in the character of Mobius gives us the opportunity to apply it to ourselves when we may not get it elsewhere in our lives. And I, for one, think that's very sexy of him.

1014 notes • Posted 2021-07-26 13:02:28 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[bobasheebaby]

Grey’s Anatomy Prompts

I’m going a tad stir crazy, so I decided to make a prompt list of 80 Grey’s quotes I love. This may have been done before but I don’t care. It’s mostly angsty prompts and it’s long as hell. (Break at 15)

1 “When I met you, I thought I had found the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I was done. So all the boys, and all the bars, and all the obvious daddy issues, who cared? Because I was done. You left me. You chose Addison. I’m all glued back together now. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke.” —Meredith Grey

2 “Don’t let what he wants eclipse what you need. He’s very dreamy, but he is not the sun—you are.” —Cristina Yang

3 “Your choice, it’s simple: her or me? And I’m sure she’s really great. But I love you. In a really, really big pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me, choose me, love me.” —Meredith Grey

4 “If you love someone, you tell them. Even if you’re scared that it’s not the right thing. Even if you’re scared that it’ll cause problems. Even if you’re scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud and you go from there.” —Mark Sloan

5 “It always feels like there is just one person in this world to love. And then you find somebody else, and it just seems crazy that you were ever worried in the first place.” —Lexie Grey

6 “Don’t let fear keep you quiet. You have a voice, so use it. Speak up. Raise your hands. Shout your answers. Make yourself heard. Whatever it takes, just find your voice, and when you do, fill the damn silence.” —Meredith Grey

7 “Not everyone has to be happy all the time. That isn’t metal health. That’s crap.” —Meredith Grey

8 “Breakthroughs don’t happen because of the medicine. Real breakthroughs happen because someone is scared to death to stop trying.” —Derek Shepherd

9 “We don’t get unlimited chances to have the things that we want, and this I know. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could have changed your life.” —Addison Montgomery

10 “And if you can't do it, if you aren't willing to keep looking for light in the darkest of places without stopping, even when it seems impossible, you will never succeed.” —Amelia Shepard

11 “Oh screw beautiful! I’m brilliant! If you want to appease me, compliment my brain.” — Christina Yang

12 “You were like coming up for fresh air. It's like I was drowning and you saved me.” — Derek Shepard

13 “The only time I don't feel like a ghost is when you look at me, because when you look at me, you see me. You see me. This is me.” — Owen Hunt

14 “It's good to be scared. It means you still have something to lose.” — Richard Webber

15 “You are my person. You will always be my person.” — Christina Yang

16 “It doesn't matter how tough we are. Trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up. But maybe that's the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through all that is what keeps us moving forward. It's what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up, before we can step up.” — Alex Karev

17 “Please, don't chase me anymore, unless you're ready to catch me.” — Callie Torres

18 “Change … we don’t like it, we fear it. But we can’t stop it from coming. We either adapt to change, or we get left behind. It hurts to grow. Anybody who tells you it doesn’t, is lying. But here’s the truth: Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes, change is good. Sometimes, change is … everything.” — Meredith Grey

19 “Intimacy is a four letter syllable for- here’s my heart and soul, please grind them into a hamburger and enjoy. It’s both desired and feared. Difficult to live with, impossible to live without” -Meredith Grey

20 “You can have the worst crap in the world happen to you and you can get over it. All you gotta do is survive.” -Alex Karev

21 Walk tall. All you can do is be brave enough to get out there. You fought. You loved. You Lost. Walk tall.” -Mark Sloan

22 "Just because people do horrible things, it doesn't always mean they're horrible people."-Izzie Stevens

23 "I am woman. Hear me roar." - Miranda Bailey

24 "I love everything about you. Even the things I don't like, I love. And I want you with me. I love you and I think you love me too. Do you?" -Jackson Avery

25 “If you want crappy things to stop happening to you, stop accepting crap and demand something more.” -Cristina Yang

26 “You didn't love her! You just didn't want to be alone. Or maybe, maybe she was good for your ego. Or, or maybe she made you feel better about your miserable life, but you didn't love her, because you don't destroy the person that you love!” - Callie Torres

27 I am not an ugly duckling. I'm a swan."-April Kepner

28 “Okay, here it is, your choice... it's simple, her or me, and I'm sure she is really great. But Derek, I love you, in a really, really big 'pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window', unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me, choose me, love me.” - Meredith Grey

29 “I’ve had to give up things but what I’ve learned is that I don’t need much. I don’t need much to be happy.” -Arizona Robbins

30 “I need the day off. For drinking.” -Addison Montgomery

31 "It turns out sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. Sometimes you have to make a big mistake to figure out how to make things right. Mistakes are painful, but they're the only way to find out who we really are." -Denny Duquette

32 “In the beginning everyone is there, but then they forget.” - Amelia Shepherd

33 "Knowing is better than wondering. Waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying." -Meredith Grey

34 “You have to go back to the beginning to understand the end.” -Teddy Altman

35 “Yeah we’re friends…I mean right now I’d probably say you’re one of my best friends.”-George O’Malley

36 “I’m just gonna feel bad that I made it so you can never love again” -Jo Wilson

37 "The future is the home of our deepest fears and our wildest hopes." -Owen Hunt

38 “There’s a land called passive agressiva, and you’re their queen” -Derek Shepherd

39 “Let’s play a game of whose life sucks the most. I’ll win. I always win.” -Meredith Grey

40 “I take things personally. I get emotional.” -Lexie Grey

41 “Stop looking at my like that. Like you’ve seen me naked” -Meredith Grey

42 “Pretty good is not good enough, I want to be great.” -Cristina Yang

43 "Don't let fear keep you quiet. You have a voice so use it. Speak up. Raise your hands. Shout your answers. Make yourself heard. Whatever it takes, just find your voice, and when you do, fill the damn silence." - Meredith Grey

44 “Let’s just make-out on the couch.” -Nathan Riggs

45 "Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know; maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop." -Meredith Grey

46 “Deal with your jealousy. Deal with your shortcomings. Don’t put your crap on me.” -Stephanie Edwards

47 "I know I'm not a lot of things that you've gone for in the past - I know, but I would never leave you. I would never hurt you. And I will never stop loving you.." -George O’Malley

48 “Sometimes you have to be a shark.” -Lucy Fields

49 “Don’t look at me like that. Like I’m damaged goods. I’m still me. I’m still here.” -Adele Webber

50 "More tequila. More love. More anything. More is better." -Meredith Grey

51 "More tequila. More love. More anything. More is better." -Meredith Grey

52 "For a kiss to be really good, you want it to mean something. You want it to be with someone you can't get out of your head, so that when your lips finally touch you feel it everywhere. A kiss so hot and so deep you never want to come up for air. You can't cheat your first kiss. Trust me, you don't want to. Cause when you find that right person for a first kiss, it's everything." -Alex Karev

53 "You can't be an ass to me all day and then expect me to give you respect." - Lexie Grey

54 “Some days, the whole world seems upside down. And then somehow, and probably, when you least expect it, the world gets right again.” -Meredith Grey

55 “Shut up. Dance it out.” -Cristina Yang

56 “We may only be together five minutes every two months, but when we do we will savor every second. We know how valuable those five minutes are.” -Ben Warren

57 “There comes a point when you have to suck it up and stop whining and start living” -Callie Torres

58 “Please don’t give up on me. Promise. Promise me you won’t.” -Arizona Robbins

59 “Bad things happen, but you have to move past it. Leave it behind. The sooner, the better. Or it’ll eat away at you and stop you from moving forward.” -Miranda Bailey

60 “This is the way the world changes. Good people, raising babies right” -Catherine Avery

61 “The problem is we are human. We want more than to just survive. We want to love.” -Lexie Grey

62 "There's a club. The Dead Dads/Moms/Parents Club. And you can't be in it until you're in it. You can try to understand, you can sympathize. But until you feel that loss... My dad/mom/parent’s died when I was AGE. NAME, I'm really sorry you had to join the club." -Cristina Yang

63 “I’m going to die because these people aren’t properly trained” -Derek Shepherd

64 “I believe if you were dead, the world would be a better place” -George O’Malley

65 “You think you broke me, NAME? You’re the one who put me back together.” -Mark Sloan

66 “I want so much for you. For both of us. So much more than this. More than being stuck with someone who feels stuck. I want you to feel free.” -Callie Torres

67 “Every kiss before the right kiss doesn’t count anyway” -Derek Shepherd

68 “The expected is what keeps us steady. It’s the unexpected that changes our lives forever.” -Meredith Grey

69 “Promise that you’ll love me, even when you hate me.” -Meredith Grey

70 "The problem is, fairytales don't come true. It's the nightmares that always seem to become the reality." -Meredith Grey

71 “How are you fine? How are you just completely fine? I am ruined, okay? I am dead, I am wrecked." -Cristina Yang

72 “I didn’t like teenage girls when I was a teenage girl.” -Cristina Yang

73 “So you fight. Until you can’t fight anymore.” -Amelia Shepherd

74 “Don’t analyze everything. Just do it.” -Alex Karev

75 “Some lies aren’t lies. They’re love.” -Meredith Grey

76 “That’s where love exists, in delusional fantasies.” -Meredith Grey

77 "Friends are the family we choose." -Meredith Grey

78 "Don't ever date a man who can't handle your power." - Meredith Grey

79 "It’s not hard. It’s painful but it’s not hard. You know what to do already. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be in this much pain." —Miranda Bailey

80 “You’re my heaven. But maybe ... maybe I’m your hell.” — Denny Dequette

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #484

Top Ten Times Loki Should Visit in His New Show

I don’t think anyone’s going to believe me, but I absolutely called the D.B. Cooper thing. Seriously; the bit in the trailer, with him jumping out the plane? “Hey,” I said to myself, as no one I know in real life actually wants to hear me talk about the MCU, “Hey, leaping out of a plane with loads of money only to disappear? That sounds like D.B. Cooper! I bet they’re going to say that Loki is D.B. Cooper!” Well, reader, I was right. If only I had some syndicated newspaper column in which I could have publicly predicted that. Then they’d know. Oh, they’d know all right.

I also theorised, it must be said, that based on “Loki is Cooper” he’d also be inserting himself into other mysteries throughout history. Given that the Cooper scene appears to have taken place in Loki’s actual past and didn’t involve time travel, maybe we can rule that out. Or maybe not? Who knows?!

Generally speaking it seems people are raving about Loki following the first two episodes (although critics got to watch the first two so maybe that does make a difference). Personally, I was a touch disappointed, although my expectations were high. It's difficult to parse my reaction, as I'm not sure if it’s legitimate criticism of the episode as presented (I felt it was rather slow) or rather my dislike of the premise as currently presented. I'm sure this is all part of some unfolding mystery, about which I have my own theories, but I'm not a fan of “prime timeline” or “single universe” plots in fiction, especially large-scale fiction like the MCU. I think it tends to be limiting and just ends up with people being forced to create woolly concepts such as hypertime or anti-matter universes to justify their stories. Also, it feels like time travel as depicted in Loki thus far operates differently to its depiction in Avengers: Endgame, and seems way more magical and hand-wavy; I actually really, really liked the whole “each decision creates a branching timeline but you can’t change your own past” premise. So, like I say (Loki say?), I'm not sure if my lukewarm (Lok-warm?) reaction is genuine critique or just personal preference. Having said all that, Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson were just fantastic and have a great chemistry, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they go from here. Also, the show just looks and sounds great. I'm all for a hyper-technological, seemingly-magical future-world that looks just like a department store from 1981.

So, where is the show going to go from here? Or, I guess, when is the show going to go? Because the thought of Loki bopping around the history of the MCU is really intriguing. And so – even if this doesn't end up being the actual plot of the show – this week's list is full of my thoughts for which time zones I’d like to see Loki gatecrash. Part of this is just which places/times I’d like to see; and part of it is which eras I think it would be cool for Loki to visit. Maybe there are characters there for him to interact with; maybe it offers some insight into Loki himself. But mostly the point of this list is to get one character in particular into the MCU. You'll know who I mean.

Before we jump headlong into the actual list, I do want to pose one question; or maybe it’s just a thought. In Endgame, Steve Rogers goes back in time and lives a life with Peggy Carter. There's been debate since the film came out about whether this was an alternate timeline, or “our” timeline; we know Peggy married, so was her husband (in the “mainline” MCU that we’ve followed so far in the movies) always secretly Steve? Does that even possibly make sense? How could Steve not have tried to rescue Bucky or stop Hydra? Personally I think it makes more sense that it’s an alternate timeline; except wouldn’t the TVA have erased it? Where and when did Old Steve come from on that famous park bench? And where did he go? I do wonder if any of these questions will be answered in Loki.

Anyway. The list. Loki goes to...

The Cretaceous Period: the MCU meets Jurassic Park! Perhaps Star-Lord could inexplicably cameo just for the hilarious in-joke? Imagine Loki attempting to not step on any butterflies while Agent Mobius gets good-naturedly exasperated. But really there’s only one reason for a Marvel character to visit caveman times, and that’s for a Devil Dinosaur cameo. You know you want to.

Lindisfarne in the 8th Century: Loki is a Norse God, which means he’s sort of a Viking. Or, at least, was worshipped by the Vikings. We’ve seen relatively little of the Scandinavian countries, or examined their relationship to these otherworldly creatures, apart from New Asgard being in Norway and the fact that Stellan Skarsgård is around. So it’d be interesting for Loki to crop in Actual Viking Times, and the raid of Lindisfarne would be a good opportunity to look at that. There are connotations of “barbarians raiding Christianity” and all that, and the more violent excesses of Viking culture, and how Loki (the “real” person) could fit into all that given his status as a legend. Also: get more of the North East on screen.

Salem in the 17th Century: the Salem Witch Trials are always a good opportunity for storytelling, and Loki is actually magic (and his mum was a witch, right?). So not only is there fun to be had in Loki being all magic at a time when magic was frowned upon (and – hey – Mobius’ sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic too, right?) but there’s the added bonus of shoehorning in an Agatha Harkness cameo.

The Caribbean in the 18th Century: pirates! Imagine Loki as a pirate? They have to go off out on a boat for some reason! That’d be good, wouldn’t it? Some pseudo-Pirates of the Caribbean shenanigans could go down. Maybe for some reason Loki has to do a shit Captain Jack impression? I’m gonna be honest here, I don’t really know of any actual pirate characters from the Marvel Universe; in the DCU, you have the Black Pirate Jon Valor, who I only really know about because he’s referenced in The Return of Bruce Wayne. But maybe I’m just not well-read enough. Anyway: Pirate Loki. Sounds fun.

The Wild West in the 19th Century: what’s better than pirates? Cowboys. So let’s stick Loki in the Wild West, riding along on horseback with Mobius like they’re in Wild Wild West or something. Again we have Loki taken to a situation or scenario that’s really outside of what we’ve seen before, and giving him an opportunity to act up. Again, I’m more aware of DC’s Western characters (Jonah Hex, for instance), but a quick Google informs me that the Two-Gun Kid was a character created by Stan and Jack in the sixties, so he’d be a fun cameo. But what would be even cooler here is if there was a cameo from a wealthy Canadian called John Howlett. Imagine how that would set the internet alight.

Tunguska, 1908: okay, I’ll admit; I’m moving through different thought processes in this list. We’ve gone from a big Marvel cameo (Devil Dinosaur) through to “it’d be fun if Loki was a pirate/cowboy/etc”, to a couple here which is “conspiracy theories in my teenage X-Files addled brain”. The Tunguska blast in 1908 is a famous mystery – was it a meteor? Was it an alien? – and, a bit like Loki as D.B. Cooper, is a good opportunity to stick Loki into established history as a kind of cause of this huge nuclear-style blast in Northern Russia. Perhaps this could be some kind of enormous battle with the big baddie of the piece (that alternate, murderous “Loki”?). There might be some kind of fun way to tie this into the events of Black Widow, perhaps the mystery prompting Russia to create some kind of department or agency to investigate paranormal activities, which ends up becoming the whole “Red Room” stuff by the time of the Soviets.

Roswell, 1949: see what I mean? Big X-Files conspiracies. Hey, if Star Trek can do it, so can the MCU. I think Loki crashing a spacecraft from the future might be a bit on-the-nose, but perhaps there could be some kind of scenario where Mobius (or some other ally) is captured by the government and Loki has to break them out. Also gives us an opportunity for Agent Carter to make a cameo. Maybe Area 51 is one of the first SHIELD bases?

New York, 1962: so I was thinking about the 21st Century and where else would be fun for Loki to pop up. A good one would have been, I thought, him ending up as the guy on the grassy knoll in Dallas in 1963. But this would be an even better place to crop up, both as part of the MCU’s history and also as a kind of meta-fictional “birth of Marvel” era. Imagine Loki running around sixties New York, trying to avoid Agent Carter (who’d be, I guess, fifty?) and her nascent SHIELD agents, but also bumping up against references to Marvel itself? Maybe a funny cameo from “Stan” and “Jack”? Maybe the Baxter Building makes an appearance? Hey, what if – hear me out – what if there’s a reference to the Fantastic Four, who were erased from time by the TVA? And then, right at the end of the whole series, something or other happens that brings them back? Okay, I’ve gone crazy now. But I still think sixties MCU New York is a fun place to see Loki.

New York, 2099: hey, 2099! It doesn’t feel quite as futuristic as it did thirty years ago or whatever (back when Iron Man of 2020 was seriously in the future), but it still offers an insight into where the MCU might end up. I’m not sure the Sony dealings would allow a cameo from Spider-Man of 2099, but from the range of 2099 books that Marvel published in the nineties, we could still get the futuristic versions of the Punisher, or Doom, or whatever. Stan Lee created a character called Ravage, who didn’t (as far as I know) have a “contemporary” analogue, so they might be a good one to pop up in the “future”. And seeing a kind of Akira/Blade Runner/Coruscant-style sci-fi cityscape in the MCU would be quite good fun.

8162: and we’re back to proper wish-fulfilment “I just wanna see this character” stuff. 8162 is where Death’s Head ended up in his first miniseries thirty years ago. It’s a totally wacky, anything-goes style of future, way more out there than 2099, which is recognisable as the current world but a bit sci-fi. Here there are toad people and dudes with horse heads. But the opportunity to see Death’s Head make an MCU debut – especially if he’s hunting Loki, and our favourite misanthropic godling has to take cover with the Dragon’s Claws – would something very special indeed. Yes?

[aghostcup]

So hear me out...

The Force Awakens, keep Adam Driver.

Think about how fuckin funny it would be to watch him throw his little bitch tantrum when Rey has escaped, played by this legend

(I couldn't find any Janice GIFs bc Tumblr sucks, I'm sorry queen)

Now stick with me. I know you might be mad bc the obvious role of the lead should be Miss Piggy, but if she was Leia before, surely she'd be reprising her role!?

And if Piggy is Leia, we all know who Han Solo would have to be. That's right, if Kylo Ren is gonna continue to be a little bitch boy and also a coward, he's gotta look his father Kermit the Frog in the eye before killing him.

And who's his best frenemy (and lover according to some internet weirdos) General Hux? There's just one man who could do the role justice.

And when Rey finds her soon-to-be mentor, who does she see on that tiny island? Who could possibly pull off playing a grumpy old man?

That's right, TWO grumpy old men! If they can both play Marley's ghost, then I suppose we'll have to introduce the world to Leia's triplet brothers Luke and Owen Skywalker (yes I stole the extra name from the Wilson brothers and no they can't have it back).

Final thoughts:

I'm not gonna typecast Fozzie as Chewie just bc he's a bear. He deserves to be a hero and I think he has the range to play Poe Dameron. There, I said it! I can't be bothered to cast anyone else now but Elmo is definitely in there somewhere. Maybe as BB8 bc they're both so cute. (Have you seen his morning routine video on YouTube!?) So yeah there's my Muppets fancast of The Force Awakens I guess. I won't be taking criticism for this particular post and it'll probably get 0 notes, but I had fun making it.

[queerenteen]

⚡️ Movies?

Zindagi na milegi dobara--Please, this is my favourite Bollywood movie of all time. It's about three friends who go on a bachelor vacation through Spain and it's just one of the most well thought out movies ever?

It's beautiful, the videography is amazing, the characters are so well developed and each of them goes on a life-changing journey, it has brilliant humour and gorgeous poetry and music.

Go watch it--I have binged it more times than I can count.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (the second one)

It took me five minutes to figure out the name ngl. In my head I call it the gay one (can you blame me?)

This one will only make sense if you've seen my hero academia but holy shit I love this movie?

It's about 1a on a tiny island and acting as the resident heroes when villains attack and they are the only ones able to defend the islanders.

It has some of the best wholesome moments with the entire class, two adorable children (so sad this doesn't count as canon because I would love to see them interact in the main storyline) and the ending is the meant to be original manga ending which is very intriguing...

Doctor Strange

This one is personal because I have some great memories of watching this movie in theatres with my parents and a lot of movie nights my friends have ended with us just giving and putting doctor strange for the nth time.

Also, it has Benedict Cumberbatch.

But it is a great story with good characterisation and it really was a cornerstone (get it?) for the entire Infinity Saga.

Mulan

Where do I begin?

Mulan is perhaps the most feminist and diverse movie that Disney ever came up with and it is over twenty years old.

It has a brilliant soundtrack, an amazing storyline and the idea of Mulan going to war on her father's behalf is one of the best portrayals of familial love.

Also, Shang Li is definitely bisexual.

It is my favourite Disney movie of all times.

Marley and Me: It's a wholesome movie about a dog with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. That is all.

(This also remains one of the only few--like I can count them on one hand--movies that has made me cry.)

(I wanted to post only one but I can't choose!)

I know I said top 5 but honourable mention: Princess Diaries 2 The Royal Engagement (i think that's what it was; great movie)

[zcnadm]

Mnangagwa 'boss' mug saga deepens - The Zimbabwe Standard

VICE-President Emmerson Mnangagwa hosted Zanu PF renegades and suspended party officials that have been linked to his so-called Lacoste faction at a Christmas party, reigniting claims that he is plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe, fresh details show.

BY EVERSON MUSHAVA

VP Emmerson Mnangagwa (centre) with former Home Affairs deputy minister Ziyambi Ziyambi (left) and former Mashonaland West provincial youth chairperson Vengai Musengi at a party at his rural home where he was pictured with a mug inscribed “I am the boss” recently.

Mnangagwa, who was pictured knocking back what is believed to be whisky from a mug written, “I am the boss”, was joined by at least two dozen activists who were either suspended or expelled by Zanu PF, among them former Zanu PF Matabeleland South youth chairman Washington Nkomo, Edmore Samambwa (Midlands), Tawanda Mukodza (Manicaland) and Vengayi Musengi (Mashonaland West).

The five, who were expelled from Zanu PF, were joined by other Zanu PF outcasts like the suspended former Zanu PF chairman for Masvingo Ezra Chadzamira and Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is serving a two-year suspension in Mashonaland West.

Also in attendance, according to sources, were the Zanu PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke, controversial National Railways of Zimbabwe board chairman Larry Mavima, youth chairman for Midlands Province Prosper Machando, a Manicaland businessman and Zanu PF politician Albert Nyakuedzwa, Primary and Secondary education deputy minister Paul Mavima and former Zanu PF provincial chairman for Manicaland Mike Madiro.

Some unnamed commanders from the security forces were also in attendance at the party.

Mnangagwa’s allies, citing Mugabe’s advanced age, are now publicly declaring that the Zanu PF strongman — in power for 36 years — will cede control to his deputy before 2017 is out.

“The year 2017 may see Mnangagwa being elevated to president and he is most likely to pick Constantino Guvheya Chiwenga [army commander] as his deputy and Kembo Mohadi [State Security minister] as second vice-president, while other security chiefs will be assigned to powerful ministries,” Energy Mutodi wrote on Facebook on New Year’s Eve just hours before he was snapped meeting the acting president at his homestead in Mapanzure, Zvishavane.

Mnangagwa “strategist” July Moyo, his vocal supporter Justice Mayor Wadyajena, Gokwe-Kana MP Owen “Mudha” Ncube, Masvingo senator Clemence

Makwaramba, and the suspended Harare women’s league provincial chair, Ratidzo Mukarati were also in attendance.

The hush-hush meeting, now dubbed the ‘Mug Declaration’, was called to “coronate Mnangagwa as the new boss in Zanu PF, who will succeed President Mugabe”, one insider said.

It came just a week after the British magazine, The New Statesman, carried an interview in which Christopher Mutsvangwa, the leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association who was sacked as a minister by Mugabe and later expelled from Zanu PF, said he was “100% sure” Mnangagwa would be the next President of Zimbabwe.

Jonathan Moyo, a key opponent of Mnangagwa, drew a link between Mutodi’s Facebook attacks on Mugabe and his meeting with Mnangagwa – forcing the acting president to issue a bizarre statement in which he appeared to suggest that musician posed as an MP to gain access.

Mnangagwa furiously protested that he was opening Christmas gifts, among which was the ‘I am The Boss’ mug.

Mnangagwa was also forced to denounce his war veteran allies such as Mutsvangwa as “rogues”.

Sources told The Standard this week that strategies discussed during the meeting included steps to silence the G40 faction – which so far poses the biggest hurdle in his path to the Zanu PF presidency.

Ziyambi is a former Home Affairs deputy minister and ex-Mashonaland West acting provincial chairperson who was removed from office on allegations of factionalism and working to promote Mnangagwa.

Nyakuendzwa, a convicted murderer who was linked to the death of war veteran Tino Wilson Mukono in 2005, is also linked to the Tea Lacoste faction.

Musengi is a former Mashonaland West provincial youth chair who was kicked out of the party on allegations of fanning factionalism and advancing the interest of Mnangagwa.

He was expelled from Zanu PF together with Nkomo, Godfrey Tsenengamu, Samambwa and Godwin Gomwe after a barrage of attacks on Mugabe, his wife Grace and other senior party officials while demanding that Mnangagwa takes over from the aged leader.

Madiro is a central committee who was once suspended from the party on allegations of pushing for Mnangagwa in 2004 and only bounced back after the 2014 controversial congress which saw the VP rise to his current post.

He is pictured seated with Mnangagwa while the VP is again holding the mug.

Chadzamira is one of the three provincial chairpersons barred from holding Zanu PF offices for undermining Grace while supporting Mnangagwa while Mavima is a central committee member and a strong Mnangagwa ally.

Matuke yesterday said only shallow minds found an issue out of a mug that costs a dollar at the expense of serious national issues.

He said he was not apologetic for attending the meeting, as he was free to associate with people he wanted.

“Only mad people comment about the cup. We did not ask whom those people were with on the New Year eve,” he said.

“There was nothing factional about the meeting. There was nothing bad said about the President except praising him. How does that form a factional meeting?” he asked.

On those expelled from the party over their factional links with Mnangagwa, Matuke said: “So if someone is expelled from the party and is your relative, do you disown them? For the record, this is the ninth straight year I have been at the VP’s house celebrating New Year with him. If VP Mphoko (Phelekezela) invites me, I will attend. I am free to make choices.”

Mugabe, currently on leave in the Far East, is thought to be weighing a Cabinet reshuffle in his first business when he returns from vacation.

Paralysis in his government caused by the unending succession drama may force the 93-year-old veteran leader into a realignment of his party, with an eye on the 2018 elections which his party says he will contest – although few believe he will be fit to run.

http://zimbabwe-consolidated-news.com/2017/01/08/mnangagwa-039boss039-mug-saga-deepens-the-zimbabwe-standard/