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starlightbooklove · 3 months

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Ok, I finally saw Journey to Bethlehem and I can't begin to express how much I loved it, I'm a very difficult person to like a full musical, which is why movies like west side story and in the heights I only liked a few songs, like as movies in general they are good, but not to my personal taste.

Furthermore, the Christian film market usually ranges from very similar, commercial and honestly boring films, to 'reinterpretations' that remove plots and things that do not go at all with the Original material So I wasn't too confident in how good the trailer looked but I was willing to give it a look, thank goodness I did.

As a Christian who was raised in the church with a Christian family, my view of religion was quite Biased by their way of looking at it Which wasn't bad, but I was focused on the religious point of view sometimes excessively, so over time as I grew up and got to know the world around me, I moved away from that, And then after I grew up I returned to wanting to learn for myself without biased opinions about the Bible and to be able to understand it and really feel what everyone said they felt.

And so I came to the conclusion that You can save your self a Lot of time, if you just read the bible as what it is: a book, full of human people with a lot of imperfections, murky, miraculous, heartbreaking, crazy, steamy and even funny (yes, I'm not lying) stories. Religion, so focused on an idea that sometimes not even the Bible itself shares, forgets the human part that fills the stories, which is not very described in it either, but that one can easily interpret.

And thanks to this, criticism of Christians is very well founded on several occasions, and many people have the mistaken idea that the Bible is a 'holy book of holy people'.

That there is nothing more false, the book is holy or is different, unique and/or sacred because of how it was written and because of the stories that happen in it And how accompanied by prayer and the real desire to want to know, you can learn a lot no matter how many times you read it, not because of the people who lived them.

Who were they, let me tell you the test of God's patience.

Do you know Moses? The dude who divided the sea (by God's guidance), did you knew that (this one's funny), thanks to the people he brought out of Egypt after the plagues and that he have to spend 40 years with them in the desert? 🙃 no, it's not a joke and no, it's not an interpretation, literally thanks to the almost constant disobedience of the Israelis after being liberated they were punished with that, and the worst thing is that God had reasons, and I'll give you an example of that, these people decided to worship a damn golden cow that they built Because Moses had taken a long time to return from talking to God (when he went to look for the commandments ironically) less than a year after being freed by God from slavery.

Moses broke the first tables of commandments out of anger, and had to go look for them again, I repeat, no, I'm not playing, this is how it happened in the Bible And it was not only for this reason that they had to stay, it was a list of things that these people did, having as a testimony and example just by being free, still had Incredible faith problems.

The generation that left Egypt never saw or lived in the promised land, the only one who saw it out of mercy was Moses, but it was the descendants who managed to enter the promised land.

Haaa, bet you didn't knew that..

So, as you can see, no, not holy and/or perfect people at all. You might wonder, what does this have to do with the movie? And I will answer you, sorry, i got inspired, but the thing is, this is basically the context of why I liked it so much.

Journey to Bethlehem, it is the story of the birth of Jesus if we remove the religion and the holy holy beautiful peacefull look that some churches like to sell, and start to unite our 4 neurons and think about what, humanly, those people thought and did under the context of that time With fire songs, good performances, very good acting, and Milo (I'm not going to elaborate, I'll just say that I gained a tremendous crush on this man lmao)

And I want to list my favorite points from this in the movie.

-The representation of Mary

Arguably my favorite part of the movie, like, this woman really made me feel what it must have been like for her to carry the son of God.

Because N1: Mary is painted as this woman rejoicing in the news that she will become pregnant overnight when she is engaged, not married, in a patriarchal society With around 1000 laws about what you can and cannot do and the things you cannot do are punishable by death, One of them being being pregnant or having a child out of marriage 🙃🤭 what a blessing right?

And N2: For years Mary has been said to be holy and worshiped when she probably wouldn't approve of that herself, since she grew up with scriptures that said they couldn't worship idols. And they made her an idol. Something to make clear is that the only holy human, biblically speaking, is Jesus. Mary was a virgin, not a saint, she had more children with her husband after having Jesus, she had a life beyond him.

And this movie brings that out, it makes the most of it and I love it.

It shows what a struggle it must have been for her to have such a burden on her, she was young (in those days people married young), perhaps a teenager, Yes, they were raised differently and at the end of the day he was about to get married, but still, as I said, the Bible leaves out a lot of the human factor.

It can say that it passes a beginning and an end but it does not give you the means to connect both parts In the Bible, Mary respectfully accepts the news that she is going to have a baby, and the film respects that, but Mary was human, you know the fear and absolute madness must cause that an angel to appear to you out of nowhere and tell you that you are going to have a son who is going to be savior and king and then disappear (appreciation for the angel Gabriel btw My man would be me if i was an angel lmao) How the hell do you explain that to your parents? To your fiancé, no matter how versed everyone was in the scriptures, no one, NO ONE thought Jesus was going to be born from a humble virgin, Literally part of the reason (spoiler alert lmao) Jesus was killed was because no one believed that the king they were waiting for was a simple carpenter who was born in a manger. This probably included Mary herself, certainly her parents, and much more, Joseph. And she knew it, of course she knew it, she knew it was true but she had to know how hard it was to believe it and how much trouble she could get into for being pregnant. It's kind of expected that Mary would have doubts, rightly so which is why I love love the song "mother to a savior and king" i just feel that it had to be exactly what she thought.

... Give me eyes to see

Just how I can be

Carrying your son when I need You

To carry me

...Should a miracle feel like an anchor

Bringing shame upon my family

This burden is too heavy

I need strength to be

A mother to a savior and king

... You said, "Do not fear"

So Lord, if you are here

Help me have the faith you have in me

Give me eyes to see just how I can be

Mother to a savior

When I need saving

Like aaaa Chills, literal chills And I love it because it doesn't occur to people how society must have seen Mary, we see it as a blessing because we know how it all ended, but they didn't know. And they lived in a very very different society, if everyone had found out, they would have stoned Mary, that is the reality that they don't talk much about at Christmas.

Another fact that I liked is that Mary had to travel, traveling in this time does not imply the same as traveling in that time, with her 9 months of pregnancy (Because she gave birth as soon as she arrived in Bethlehem) on a donkey 🙃🙃🙃🙃 I don't think I have to elaborate much, i love how they portrayed here. You can say people knew how things were, they were used to it, yes, but Maria had never been pregnant and no matter how adapted you are to something, You can't erase the physical challenge of traveling with a giant belly in those conditions.

And let's not even talk about the birth, where they were in the city that: it was full of soldiers seeking to kill her and her baby, they broadcast the news that they would be killing babies and pregnant mothers In search of finding her, which is why they did not find asylum and had to go to a stable.

I think with the idea of ☺️ ah, Jesus was born in a manger ☺️We forget that 💀 oh, Jesus was born in a manger 💀 I don't know about you, but I think that is not the ideal place to give birth And yet the representations of that are so sugar coated We literally have a song called "Silent Night" tell me, explain to me what part of giving birth where the animals and their excrement are because an entire army is chasing you trying to kill you, sounds like a peaceful night????

Another detail is that Joseph (who I am obviously going to talk about) logically had to act as midwife for Mary, because no one was with them, no one wanted to be with them, that sounds like a horror story honestly, and no, I'm not taking away from how beautiful the whole purpose of Jesus is and everything is.

I am only pointing out the facts, which are raw and very Real about a situation like this, this was the reality as it is written, the Bible leaves things out But the rawness in several acts is never lacking.

One last thing to add is that I was afraid at first that they would portray Mary as a feminist ahead (by centuries) of her time But in an annoying and very political way because of how the movie started, And that they were going to make her not want the pregnancy and make it as if they had violently forced her, thank God that didn't happen, i loved her, The actress did a tremendous job interpreting her with personality without losing the respect (that is noted in the Bible) Mary had for God and the giant task she was given, and I actually liked that twist That perhaps Mary and Joseph did not know each other before they got engaged, which would not be unusual at that time. And that Mary said at the beginning of the movie that she believed she was destined for bigger things 🙃.They give more personality to this icon that we all have of her and I love it.

-The representation of Joseph

Starting with the fact that I have a big fat crush now on Milo Mannheim thanks to him (not important at all actually)

I think everyone, whether Christian or not, knows that Joseph is a secondary character every time the story of Jesus' birth is mentioned, even invisible I dare say. And I was always curious because of how he leaves after he is born in the Bible, it is simply not mentioned again and this is why I think there is this kind of unconscious belief that Jesus only had one parental figure and that was Mary.

When this can easily be contradicted by the little information we have in the Bible; Joseph was known as Joseph the carpenter, and who ended up being a carpenter? (Flashbacks to Sabrina lmao) Jesus, No matter how holy and amazing he was, Jesus grew up having to learn things, he wasn't born knowing, and obviously Mary didn't teach him how to work with wood so it's pretty logical to think that his stepfather (idk How to call it) taught him. That even if we leave this out (which is after the birth of Jesus) Joseph was THE man ok And this is with biblical foundation, he believed Mary and decided to continue with the wedding despite how crazy it all sounded, he helped her during the trip to Bethlehem, ALONE, he had to practically attend the birth

And the film captures that so, so well, I have no words to describe how impressed and excited I was to see how they highlighted so many things that I knew because yk, they are in the Bible but I hadn't been aware of noticing before.

How difficult it must have been for him to make the decision to believe Mary (which, let's be honest, takes a lot of faith to believe something like that) To follow her, and his song, my God, his song is so good. It's perfect for showing a morally gray human decision and the way he delivered that presentation ugh I just feel from my heart that it was exactly what Joseph thought. Cause:

I'm completely torn in two

Half of me believes her,

while the other half needs proof

This was no inmaculate conception

Just the ultimate deception

Gilty to the bone we should have her stoned now

Wait don't you throw your stoned no don't yoy judge her i look into her eyes i think i love her

I just 🫠🫠🫠 Jesus Christ

You don't come out of that movie without half falling for Joseph and that's something I never imagined saying in my life lmao

It was a very human way, full of personality and commitment, to portray the character. beyond the attractiveness of both the actor and the goofy personality they gave him. They gave it this degree of seriousness and part of the story that shows very clearly what they themselves say in the film and that is that God did not choose only Mary, She couldn't do everything she had to do alone, and among those things was raising a child that was given to her overnight and that she had to carry for nine months, and that does not deviate from history even though there are those who say no, it is written but I think it needed the human interpretation for people to see it, as I feel that they need with many stories from the bible. They definitely took their liberty to create the love story and I'm not complaining, I never thought at all that there must have been a lot of love both between them and for God for them to be able to go through all of that, And I like to believe that if it was like that, the love they had for each other, because only someone who loves another person so much is willing to go through all that, cause very easily Joseph could receive confirmation from God that what Mary said was true and say well, that's not my problem, but he decided to take responsibility with her, Which shows why God chose them, so yes, it has its freedoms but I don't think it is essentially far from reality.

Herodes

O. M. GOOOOODDD.

Antonio Banderas ate with his performance because damn I could feel the arrogance, the complete pleasure that those kings had for being rich and powerful, with that man And he didn't have much screen time, despite how comical he gets at times he manages to show how dangerous Herod was.

That, they didn't show it but that man ordered babies and pregnant mothers to be killed in the end, just for fear that they would take away his throne and his power, out of complete caress. And Antonio showed a funny and iconic man but also dangerous and capable of that and, and also they gave him the best song.

And i'm not Even joking, 'good to be king' is what Disney tried (and failed) to do with "Wish", It has all the magic and that lyricism that shows rough and raw things with incredible music That sticks to you despite how bad the bad guy is, from the villain songs of Disney's 2D movies, It's at the level of "poor unfortunate souls" and the Interpretation, God It's one of the best parts of the movie, weeks go by and I still can't get it out of my head

Finally, the relationship of Mary and Joseph.

I feel that all our lives, after thousands of times telling us the story of the birth of Jesus, the relationship of Mary and Joseph never had any importance beyond their role in the birth. So I loved the representation of that here, the way they took this theme of a planned marriage, which could very easily have been a reality, Along with the human and emotional reaction that these people must have had at the time, they give life and depth to Mary and Joseph, with the pros and cons.

With how difficult it was but also how strong they must have been as a couple to carry out the huge task they had, it made me see it from a more human point of view and give more value to their relationship.

They took their liberties, there are things that are super funny and have that absurd touch, but it is a story full of a lot of respect for the source, and full of a wonderful and human interpretation of of this great story, You don't feel it is religious, because it isn't, the music isn't just there and they are all very good (something that doesn't happen with all musicals).

And it is simply beautiful, it is made with love and it shows, they took advantage of every penny of their budget and put out this piece of art that I feel everyone should see for Christmas And that I would like to tattoo permanently on my brain lmao.

Go watch it, it's absolutely worth it.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my entire almost essay of the movie, I hope you find your Joseph in life🫶😂

#journey to bethlehem #milo manheim #fiona palomo #antonio banderas #christian movies #christianity

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ursaminder · 9 months

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Thinking this morning about Sydney Adamu, as one does. I mean, look at her, for a start.

I feel like I’ve focused more on Carmy in dissecting the show, and am realizing that that’s maybe because Sydney hits closer to home for me.

From about 2010-2015 I was a baker. I started working out of a friend’s cafe kitchen after hours, selling at farmers markets. I graduated to having my own trailer kitchen, parked out in front of my parents’ house, and then I got the opportunity to go in with a couple of friends and open a brick and mortar shop.

It was…hard. The hardest I’ve ever worked. It was 12-18 hour days, most days. I took home $1000 a month to live on. I moved back in with my parents. My feet hurt so much I was worried I’d permanently damaged them. I was always sticky with sugar and sweat. I think people who have never worked food service, or even only worked it part time, have no idea how emotionally and physically draining it is to do it all day, every day.

And then it closed, as food businesses regularly do, and that was that. There are still leftover bits and bobs from the business in my parents’ house. I feel like I’m constantly turning up something new every time I visit. And so watching Sheridan…the moment when we see the catering company boxes in Sydney’s room hit me like a ton of bricks.

Because I know exactly how that feels, waking up in your childhood bedroom and then seeing the detritus of the life you were trying to build, the future you had a vision for. You pour so much of yourself, body and soul, into an industry that will never thank you for it by making your life easier, but will just keep piling on more work.

I understand Syd’s dad not wanting her to go through that again. My bakery closing was devastating, but the work that went into it first was almost just as crushing, and the payout non-existent. He watched her struggle and sweat and not have any time or energy for anything else in her life for however long Sheridan Road ran, and then he watched that dream shatter and his little girl move back in with him with a stack of boxes. And now she wants to do it again, but with much higher overheads, and some white guy he’s never met? It would be strange if he wasn’t scared for her.

But it makes sense of why Sydney isn’t scared off by the Beef. She’s been in the trenches. She knows all the sad, bleak realities of the business. But the Beef gives her what she didn’t have before— a brick and mortar location, and a partner. It’s no wonder to me that she clung on tight, because I did the same when I got the chance. It’s no wonder she bristled at Carmy having creative control, when she was used to having it herself and wanted it more than anything, wanted it enough to give up working at some of the best restaurants in the US to have a chance at it.

Anyway I don’t have a larger point here, except to say that I see her and her dream, and the fact that she’s still standing and trying to make it in this industry is a testament to her strength. I see people not get that, and I just want to say from the bottom of my heart that I do. And I’m rooting for her.

#the bear fx #the bear spoilers #sydney adamu #the bear hulu #the bear #the bear meta

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thefreakymunson · 2 years

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Could you write reader being insecure (not shy, just insecure) because Ed's not longer a virgin and she is? Ily!

You were sat in the middle of Eddie’s bed, watching as he rolled yet another joint. The dog days of summer had started and it was too hot to do anything else other than just hangout in a semi-air conditioned room with your best friend. You had been away for the better part of the summer vacation and now that you were home, you made a beeline for Eddie’s – as usual.

“I think this year is going to be the year I finally lose my virginity,” you said out loud, the effects of the last joint still evident.

“It’s not that big of a deal, honestly.” Eddie shrugged, laser focused on the task at hand, “Maybe it’s different for girls.”

“How would you know?” You glanced down at him and then away, not wanting to be caught staring.

“I lost my virginity,” he said in a matter of fact tone, tongue darting out to wet the end of the paper.

“What?” Your eyes widened, “When?”

“While you were on vacation,” he mumbled.

“With who?” You frowned. You knew who it was because of course it was going to be her.

He looked up at you for a brief second before he looked back down at the joint, putting the finishing touches as he twisted the end of it.

“Chrissy,” he said.

“Oh.” You nodded, biting your bottom lip to keep from saying what you truly wanted to.

He felt guilty admitting it, as if he had done something wrong. He knew you struggled with connecting with people and he wasn’t trying to brag. It was just a thing that happened and he wanted to talk about it with his best friend.

“Was it...good?” You asked, twiddling with your thumbs as you watched him sit up and grab the lighter.

“Not really, if I’m being honest.” He shrugged, “It was rushed and...fumbly...didn’t last very long. The second time was better.”

“Second time?” Your brow furrowed as you watched him light up the joint and take a pull from it.

He nodded, holding his breath as he passed it to you. “Yeah...it’s happened a few times now, actually. It gets better the more you get used to it and learn.”

The phone rang in the other room and he sighed, telling you he would be right back as he stood up and walked out of the room, his wallet chain thumping against his jeans as he walked.

He was no longer a virgin. The guy you had wanted – dreamed of even – giving your virginity to was no longer interested. Chrissy Cunningham was the only girl on his mind by the sounds of it. She had won again.

You no longer wanted to smoke or even hangout with him. You just wanted to get in your car and go home but that would only raise his suspicions. How did he not see you were in love with him?

“You okay?” He asked from where he was leaned against the wall in the doorway, “Y/N?”

“Yeah,” you faked a smile, “I’m okay. Why?”

“Cause you went all quiet on me,” Eddie sighed, “It’s not that big of a deal, ya’know?”

“It is,” you gave him a sad smile, “For me, at least.”

“That I lost my virginity?” His brows furrowed as he looked down at you, “We can’t do everything together, Y/N.”

The words were like a slap to the face as he said them. All the flirting and stuff you had tried in the past had went right over his head. He was either clueless or didn’t share the same feelings.

“We could’ve,” you sighed softly, “I always visioned myself...giving it to you.”

His eyes widened and the look on his face was pure shock as you said it. Instant regret came over your body and you sprung up from the mattress, grabbing your shoes and your keys. You slid past him in the doorway and made a beeline for the front door.

God why was this so embarrassing? What is wrong with me? You thought to yourself as you walked out the door.

“Y/N, wait.” Eddie called out after you as he followed you through the trailer.

“Just leave me alone, Eds.” You frowned, feeling him gently grasp your arm and stop you, “I’ve embarrassed myself enough as it is for one day.”

“We need to-”

“No, we don’t.” You cut him off, “We’re never talking about this again.”

Eddie sighed and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at you. There was so many things he wanted to say but his brain couldn’t process them all with how rapidly they bounced around in his mind.

There was no hope for you now apparently. Eddie wouldn’t want to be friends with a virgin and he’d leave you all alone while him and Chrissy Cunningham played high school sweethearts. The thought of it made you sick. He’s just always going to see you as the friend who no one found fuckable enough to give ten minutes of their time-

“Y/N,” Eddie sighed as he walked over to where you were leaning against the porch railing, lost deep in your own thoughts, “You’re going to find someone.”

“I highly doubt it,” you snorted.

“You will,” he nodded, “Look...if I had known that’s what you were waiting on, I would’ve waited until you were ready. You could’ve told me.”

You looked down at his scuffed boots and sighed to yourself, the thick humid air making your skin clammy feeling. You were uncomfortable in all sense of the word.

“Are you dating her?” you didn’t want to hear the answer, but you needed to know for your sanity, or your misery. You weren’t sure which one yet.

“I mean,” he swallowed harshly as he shrugged his shoulders, “Define dating.”

“Hanging out with her, taking her out, having-” you closed your eyes as the images of them together flashed through your mind. It hurt, “Having fun with her?”

“Yeah,” he said, his eyebrows raised slightly as he leaned back against his trailer, “I guess so.”

You forced a fake, tight smile as you looked over at him, “I’m happy for you...truly.”

With that, you turned on your heels and walked off to your car...and he didn’t attempt to follow you.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #thefreakymunson #angst

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broadwayfangirl222 · 4 months

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Spoilers for Hazbin Hotel Episodes and my thoughts/initial reactions:

Episode 1:

I adore the opening narration, it genuinely feels like a fairytale being told to a kid and I get the vibe Lilith and Lucifer were trying to help Eve by giving her the apple. And for people worried about her being Stella 2.0 It comes off more as Lilith taking over since Lucifer became low key depressed and while there might be issues between them it might be more communication issues than anything else

Husk's voice sounds a bit gruffer than it initially came off as in the trailers and I really like how it sounds

Angel brings up good suggestions of having a celebrity be a selling point for the hotel and why can't Alastor use his connections to bring more people to the hotel

and their answers (of Charlie not wanting to exploit him and people needing to choose to be there, not be forced to be there) were also really great points

I feel low key dumb for thinking Adam was actually there, he wouldn't bother to bring himself down to their level

Charlie's realization this asshole is her mom's ex is hilarious

Tbh I would've wanted to see more of them making the commercial but it was so much fun to see and I love how Alastor only agreed to put genuine effort in the commercial if he never had to do anything related to TV again

Niffty zoning out when the camera is on her just game me hypnotoad vibes (dumb and obvious comparison but that's where my mind went)

Wow...what the hell, they really are cutting the time in half just as a "fuck you" to Charlie and her idea?! Really harsh and just this whole thing works to show they're not so different than the demons

Is it just me or is there weird audio mixing issues with Brandon Rodgers' audio as Katie Killjoy?

Ohhh interesting the 6 months thing is cause an angel managed to be killed and it's a cover up! I'm genuinely curious where this goes

Episode 2:

Good point with this being something that could make people be willing to hear this idea of redemption out

Omg of course Niffty is into Pentious. Also interesting she didn't know who the V's were.

Vox in the trailer sounded like seth rogan to me but he sounds way more gameshow host to me

VELVETTE'S BRITISH?!?! Also kinda cool to see her being a bit more business focused and not just kinda high energy chaos

OMG! Finally we get to hear Valentino! It's kinda cool how his accent is partly there, like it's thicker when he talks in some parts than others. It's done in a way that's less the VA dropping the accent and more it being a deliberate thing for the character

For Vox and Val's relationship we got this idea of Val being the one in charge and mistreating Vox but Vox trying to calm Val down feels like him and Velvette just let Val think he's the one who's in charge of the V's while Vox is actually the one to plan stuff through

Fun little bit of Val poking fun at Vox's obsession with Alastor and I kinda like it's all of them kinda snapping at eachother and messing with one another

I've seen thumbnails for this song on youtube and i've been trying to avoid it and I'm so glad I can finally see it. This song and Adam's songs were low key my faves of these first couple episodes.

One thing that stood out to me in this song is two lines from Alastor is "Is Vox as strong as he purports or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vees" (and cute little bit of Val and Velvette looking kinda smug at that line) Cause it does raise an interesting idea: The Vees essentially all prop each other up, how would they handle being purely on their own

"And here's the sugar on the cream, he asked me to join his team, I said no and now he's pissy" Oh so basically he tried asking Alastor out and didn't take the rejection well?

Is that a robo fizz?!?!

I actually appreciate Angel wasn't the one told to be the spy on the inside but rather Pentious. It's a good way to get him involved with this and just isn't the more obvious plot choice

With Angel feeling jealous and insecure I'm actually really glad there isn't that thing where this new character is suspicious and one character points that out but they keep getting dismissed by everyone else and just accused of being jealous

Poor sir Pentious...And honestly this moment is just really sweet and honestly Charlie's design with her hair and Pj's are so adorable!

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel early access #hazbin hotel spoilers #shut up me #my ramblings

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lightwise · 1 month

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TBB S3 E9 Reaction

- Oh boy. I am not liking that opening shot that makes Pabu look like Tantiss 😭😭

- It’s so cloudy and dark—it must be the fall season going into winter

- Wrecker AND Crosshair making lady friends…I see what you’re doing there Jen

- “Does it matter? We’re not handing her over.” The 👏🏻 character 👏🏻 growth 👏🏻

- “Can’t be prepared if we don’t know what we’re dealing with” Hunter is fully back in sergeant mode

- Also this is the first time we’ve seen Crosshair without his outer pauldrons on!! Now he can’t stab someone’s eye out if he stands next to them 😆

- I love how Omega says Batcher

- Oh yeah Omega go walk into the scary cave that Batcher is afraid to go into. And walk up to a strange ship that you don’t recognize 😅

- I do honestly wish Ventress’ character reveal had been kept a secret and wasn’t in the trailer. This moment would hit so much harder. But it’s very good to see her finally show up.

- Love the subtle nod to how Hunter seems to hear Batcher first, and Crosshair sees her first, showcasing their different skill sets and how well they work in tandem.

- Wow Ventress looks so good!! The hair! The outfit! Her in this animation style!

- Lol of course she already knows everything about them.

- Why does Crosshair keep suspiciously leaving a space between him and Hunter where a certain bespectacled Batch member is supposed to be standing 🥺

- “We never gave her our coordinates” 😬😬😬

- Love how serious but also calm and curious Ventress is. You can already see how much more at peace with herself she is compared to TCW (I have not read Dark Disciple but I am aware of the basics of her arc in it).

- “It’s for a friend…you’re saying I’m a Jedi!?!” Baby girl, don’t you know that Nala Se basically engineered you all to be TERRIBLE liars 🤣🤣😅 absolutely no one ever was going to believe those words coming out of your mouth, not with that adorable face

- Loving the lore drops that Ventress is giving here. Using the word midichlorians, tying force sensitivity and blood count to TPM and Ahsoka and the OT. Acknowledging that training is what makes you a Jedi, not your m-count. That the Force connects all living things. Bringing up the age old fandom question of whether clones could be force sensitive.

- “There’s your intel” turns around to leave

- “No one’s been able to give me answers” and we’re not going to leave this episode with any either 😅

- Omega isn’t usually this impatient, so I wonder if her focus is easier to hold when she’s focused on people and creatures rather than tasks that she can’t connect to what she’s trying to accomplish.

- “You must be a Jedi, right??” Immediately shuts her up with a hand to the mouth 🤣🤣

- Tech mention by Cross 😭😭😭

- How can she hear them? Force usage? Or do Dathomirians have sensitive hearing?

- Poor Omega. I wonder too if she’s a little intimidated by Ventress and that’s also impacting her ability to pull off this test.

- “Well? What happened?” A good teaching method, that she wants Omega to explain why she’s having trouble rather than immediately telling her “oh you failed” and helping her up 😄 TCW Ventress would never

- “The sun’s already started setting” nooo I don’t need that parallel

- They’ve made some really interesting shots with framing through the caves this episode

- Yeah girl work smarter, not harder

- Aaand the name of this boy band is? 💀 (serving c—— everything, that’s what 🫠😅) Hunter my boy that hip pop should be illegal

- Ventress has not lost ANY of her sass though

- THIS FIGHT. THE MUSIC. THE MOVES. THE LIGHT. AGAIN EVERYTHING IS ON THE TABLE AND WE ARE BEING SERVED

- Idk if we’ve ever seen Crosshair@/ agility like this

- Girl is fighting dirty

- I also love her going mostly for all of their weak points and joints that allow her to take them down while barely moving a finger herself

- Ahsoka 🤝 Ventress - some of the strongest force users in the galaxy who can take down an entire group of highly trained combatants with just martial arts moves, flexibility, and sheer nerve. No force usage needed. 🔥

- That knife throw 👀 🥵

- “We’re not big on following orders” THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN AHHHHHHHH

- Literally I could look at this scene all day. (They’ve never been more beautiful) 🔥🔥🔥🔥

- Poor Omega has no idea what she’s about to walk into

- *jaw drop* y’all every time I check I’m pretty much certain that I’m straight but….but…dodging those blaster bolts and just casually pulling out a yellow lightsaber like that? Respect.

- Lmao it’s so much worse than I expected 🤣 Jennifer I didn’t know that TV’s below TV-MA rating ever anticipated Hunter flat on his back with his knees spread like that…I just…I think you broke some rating scales there 🫠🫠🫠🫠 I love to see you fulfilling all of our fantasies in one fell swoop (I think I uh, need to go take care of some things, I’ll uh, I’ll be right back 👀)

- Lol kidding. Anyways….

- “What, stop!!!” You tell ‘em kid

- “Times have changed. Something you clones should be familiar with” yeah Hunter, what have you been up to the last two years??

- “We are not the same”. “No? We were pawns in the same war. And we ALL lost.” SAY IT LOUDER FOR THOSE IN THE BACK. girl just literally summed up the entirety of the saga.

- “I’m many things. But I’m not your enemy” character 👏🏻 growth 👏🏻 again 👏🏻

- Hunter, I love you, but your prejudice is showing. Interesting how he’s never had a problem with separatists in general before, and had to convince Echo to help rescue Senator Singh in episode one. Sometimes his distrustful nature really gets the better of him

- “We were just getting warmed up” uhuhhhh sure Wrecker

- “You’re being naive” I never gave up on you, did I?” Crosshair. Honey. Is it really just now hitting you full in the face just how much Omega has believed in you? And look at how far you’ve been able to come. His expressions just pierce my soul 🥺

- I kind of really love the seaport vibes and the neutral lighting here. I can just see Omega as a fisherman’s daughter or running off to be a pirate in another life

- Lol Ventress isn’t used to being around someone as optimistic as Omega

- “You did” lol

- I do find it interesting that almost no force user ever explains what reaching out “feels like” when trying to teach other people about it. You would think they could come up with a better description so that people can grasp it more easily. Unless their goal is that you can’t unless you have perseverance and/or capability

- “This is different than being a soldier” so much to unpack there.

- “Why should I listen to you” years of hardship and trial and experience and loss and growth and change

- Ooooh pretty creatures

- “I’m not the one holding back” 👀

- Ooooh scary (pretty) creature

- “Not intentionally” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I love her vocal inflection here. “No omega I was just trying to teach you a lesson not accidentally kill you” 💀I wonder which one of them actually summoned it

- *furiously screenshotting the Marauder while we still have it*

- So we’re really gonna get everyone with wet hair except Hunter, huh?

- Crosshair 🤝 Ventress rescuing Omega from drowning in the ocean

- Don’t make the angry tentacle crab angrier!

- The animated movement on Omega’s hair is amazing

- Ahsoka 🤝 Ventress reaching out with the force and calming a wild beast

- Welp. This is probably one of the most powerful instances of a force user connecting with a creature to calm it/communicate with it that we’ve ever gotten

- And what it says about Ventress’ inner calm and serenity and confidence and authority that she’s gained since TCW and Dark Disciple—I’m so proud of her 🥹🥹🥹

- What a beautiful creature

- THEY HELD HANDS 2.0

- Crosshair is just becoming the consummate gentleman and I am HERE for it 🥹🥹🥹

- Crosshair 🤝 Ventress - literally 😏

- Okay in all seriousness I’m not truly shipping them but I love seeing everyone have fun with their ship names

- “But I’m…already a target”. Baby girl still needs answers. She sounds so sad and confused

- Look at Wrecker’s emotional intelligence saving the day

- I love how this show uses little nods between people to show understanding. More of that in real life please.

- “You’re lying” “about which part?” The two of them would have a blast sassing each other that’s for sure.

- Interesting that her take is that omega would have to be trained, when decades later Ahsoka’s response to Grogu is that he shouldn’t be trained at all and should let his powers die out due to attachment.

- LEAVE PABU BOYS. She’s not warning, she’s telling. Ya know, not like it’s the title of the episode or anything

- “You’re not worried about the empire coming after you?” Love how even after all that and all his distrust, Hunter is still capable of caring about her well-being

- “I’ve got a few lives left” can’t wait to see when and why Ventress shows up next

#the bad batch #tbb #star wars #tbb spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #asajj ventress #Ventress #tbb ventress #the bad batch season 3 #tbb season 3 #the harbinger

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pokeshadow · 1 year

Text

Ok so this image the official Scream twitter posted of the shrine has been eating my brain for days now.

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GHOSTFACE? Just look at all the shit in this shrine! This isn’t just a Stab fanboy, because there’s stuff like the fax machine from Scream 3 and what looks like Richie’s shirt. This isn’t just a Billy/Stu fanboy because Mrs Loomis’s jacket’s in there, what looks like Kenny’s cap is in there, and again Richie’s jacket. But they also have crazy shit like Billy’s blood stained shirt, the robes Stu wore during the party, Tatum’s outfit, a recreation of Steve in the chair complete with the jacket, what looks like SKETCHES Stu or Billy made planning what they wanted to do to Casey, what looks like someone sketching portraits of Sidney Tatum Stu and Billy in the case next to tatum’s outfit, what looks like the CAMERA Gale used to film what went down in the house, there’s a gun next to Mrs Loomis’s jacket that looks just like the one she used, and what I think is most important, the ACTUAL GHOSTFACE COSTUME USED THAT NIGHT. Well, one of them at least, since most likely Billy did also get up at one point to help Stu out, meaning two ghosties were running around at once that night. It’s the only one behind protective glass, and you can see the blood stain on the right shoulder from where Sidney wore it (she was stabbed there and bleeding). If it’s the only one being that well cared for, it has to be the real deal. SO WHO THE FUCK WAS ABLE TO GET THEIR HANDS ON ALL THIS SHIT? Even if most of it is just recreations, HOW DID THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO CREATE? Why such obscure shit like Kenny’s hat? You don’t just recreate sketches when you don’t know someone did them in the first place. So who the fuck could get their hands on Stu/Billy’s art??

They made it clear at the end of Scream 2022 that they weren’t going to share the names or motives of the latest killers to try and break the cycle, so this is someone who KNOWS about Richie. There is a very small number of people in the know about what happened, so it’s someone we KNOW (theoretially). BUT, also someone who’s been religiously following ALL the ghostface murders since the beginning. AND it’s someone targeting Gale and Sam spesifically, NOT SIDNEY.

So, first obvious answer. Is this Stu? Honestly, I really don’t think so. Stu was never this obsessive, his end goal from the start was always just to have fun indulging in his dark desires, and because he loved Billy so much all he had to do was ask. Without a Billy, why would he be doing this? Especially to Billy’s daughter. Even if you want to go the route of he lived and is still full of that old hate, why would he be attacking Billy's daughter when presumably his motives would still be avenging Billy? At the end of the day, if Stu were to still be holding a grudge after all these years, his target would still be SIDNEY. Not Randy’s niece and nephew. Sure, Gale wrote the books that lead to the movies, which slammed the hell out of him, but his end goal has always been Sidney. Plus, the Ghostface we see in the trailers is someone who’s been training for this. They’re fast, agile, strong, they’re trying to be the ultimate killing machine. Even if we say that goofy ass Stu has been training all this time, he’s still at bare minimum, 44 years old. Sure, there’s some fit as fuck people in that age range out being commandos, but someone we know as a gangly stick tripping over his own feet? That and why would he collect stuff from the Stabs and murders not related to him? The Stab 3 case is the most prominant thing in that picture, and why would he track down and keep RICHIE's jacket? I love Stu to death, but it really doesn’t make sense that this is him as the killer.

A semi interesting theory, it’s Leslie Macher. She’s been there since day 1, she’d have some knowledge about Richie since her son was killed in the events of all that, and it’d make sense she’d have a grudge moreso focused on Gale since her books would have ruined her family. It’s implied her partner left her and she had to raise her son alone, if she kept the name Macher for any period of time she would have been hounded by people about what her brother did, given the way Stu seems genuinly upset about his parents finding out what he did it sounds like they were good people who’s lives would have been DESTROYED by what happened. If someone has a grudge against Gale, it’s Leslie. But she was Stu’s OLDER sister. All of the above about Stu’s age not matching the hardcore fitness killer we see apply to her moreso. Sure, she’d have the most direct access to things like Stu’s robes, sketches, the camera planted in her house, but how would she get her hands on all of the stuff not related to her brother. They don’t just let people walk into the police station and take evidence they’re not using anymore. It could be someone on behalf of Leslie, like how Mrs Loomis had her pet Mickey to run around and do the hard work while she cleaned up the mess, but that’s something we’ll just have to keep in mind until the movie comes out.

Another theory I’ve seen go around alot, it’s Sam’s new boyfriend Danny. Ok, kinda makes sense. Danny, like DBD Ghostface Danny, and the name of the irl killer than inspired Scream Danny. That has to be deliberate, or at least known by the film makers. But come on, are they really going to have “Ooo is it the boyfriend?!” for the 4th damn time. Plus with this focus on the history of the killings, why would the killer be just some random guy we met like 20 minutes ago? Unless Danny IS the little pawn mentioned in the above bit, but again are they really going to do the killer boyfriend song and dance *again*.

There's a neat theory it's Gale given this shrine is in New York, where she's lived the entire time, and she would have the means to get her hands on all this stuff since she’s the reporter who covered all these cases. But really guys come on, after all these years of getting shot and stabbed by these people, and getting the love of her live killed by one, is she really going to turn around now and go "You know, maybe they had a point". Plus, to go back to why I think it’s not Stu, Gale is even OLDER and has a far more messed up body. She's been shot in the gut at least 3 times now. There’s no way she’s our hardcore commando Ghostface. PLUS plus, the starting phone call of the movie is HER being attacked, so why would she stage that when no one would see it but us the audience?

So to round it all back. The killer is someone who knows and worships the history of those behind the ghostface masks. Given the ancient looking mask on display, they might even HAVE the original ghostface mask (or at least one of them, Billy and Stu used like 4 in that first film). They’re someone who could get their hands on things probably SIDNEY didn’t even know exsisted, like the sketches. This isn't just a Stab fan boy, this isn't just a Billy/Stu fanboy, AND it's someone who knows about what happened in the last movie even though they never made the names and motivations of the killers public.

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GHOSTFACE???

This post will be fun to go back to in a month after the release of the movie lol.

#Scream 6 #Scream 1996 #Scream VI #ghostface #Stu Macher #Scream #scream 2022 #stuilly #Billy Loomis #sam carpenter #gale weathers #scream theory #can you tell I have a hyperfixation?

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aaasbrutus · 5 months

Text

The End of the Word (part I)

Eddie Munson x fem! reader

Summary: Eddie falls in love with a girl who just moves into his town with a mysterious past.

Word Count: 1007 words

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ —

Eddie would never forget the first time he saw you.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when he decided to go out on the porch and read under the sun when he saw you from the corner of his eye. You were pacing back in forth in front of the house next door in what looked to be your Sunday best, probably hoping to impress someone. You looked completely terrified, debating whether or not you would knock on the door before finally giving up and walking away.

He had just moved into his own trailer a few weeks ago. He had finally graduated and had a full-time job as a mechanic so he decided to get a place of his own. And as soon as he moved in, his neighbors, a middle-aged couple next door, Barb and Robert, introduced themselves and made him homemade Cherry pie. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would be afraid to see the nice couple that lived next door. Without giving it another thought, he walked back inside.

The next day you were there again, dressed in formal clothing, debating whether or not you would take a leap, and knock on the dark oak door, and there you were again the day after that. Every day Eddie watched you curiously, wondering what on earth you were doing and what business you had with his next-door neighbors.

At times he wanted to go over there and ask you if you needed any help or simply ask for your name, but truthfully Eddie was afraid himself. He was afraid of scaring you off, or potentially coming off as creepy but overall he was afraid because you just so happen to be the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. So he decided against saying anything to you to avoid an awkward first impression.

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ —

He had just finished his afternoon smoke and went inside to continue to do some housework when he heard yelling outside. In the few months he's lived next door to Barb and Robert, he had never had any complaints, especially not for noise.

Curious, he opened the curtains in his living room to see what, or who was making this much noise when was shocked to discover that it was the nice couple next door, yelling and sobbing because of you. You, who finally worked up the courage to confront them, and who was now cowering in fear, eyes staring down at the floor avoiding their accusing stares.

The next thing he knew was his next-door neighbors casting him out telling him that what he did was unforgivable and to never come back before slamming the door right in his face. Finally looking up, you turned around and made eye contact. Eddie cursed under his breath realizing that he had been caught, but you didn’t think much of us, giving him an apologetic smile (most likely because of all of the noise) and making your way down the street.

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ —

The next time Eddie saw you was at the cafe in town. He made it a habit to buy his coffee to start his workday but he never expected to see you.

It was the first time he saw you when he wasn’t outside the comfort of his own home and he couldn’t help but feel awkward. You were simply sitting down by the window, crossing out jobs in the newspaper, simply minding your business, yet you still had such an effect on him.

This felt very strange to him, no one had ever intrigued him so much, and he didn’t know anything about you–not even your name– and yet you were the only thing he focused on in a room full of people.

“Excuse me, sir, are you ready to order?”

Embarrassed, he quickly ordered and waited for his coffee trying to avoid staring at you in fear that you would look back, and walked out of the store wondering when he would see you again.

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ —

The first time he spoke to you was the next weekend when he drove 45 minutes out of town to a music store to find a record he’s been looking for, for a while. He was so worried that he was never going to see you again since he never saw you besides when you were at his neighbor’s house and just assumed that he was never going to see you again since you were diving with your business there, and was not welcomed back. However, this only made you more intrigued. You didn’t live in town, yet you drive 45 minutes back and forth every day to talk to people who seem to hate you.

“Good morning, sir. Did you find everything okay?”

It was the most you’ve ever said to him. It was simply a protocol, something you’re forced to say to a customer. It was the same thing you said to everyone else who entered the store, and to everyone else who will be online after him, and yet he was ecstatic, practically bouncing on his toes, wanting to hear you speak to him again.

You seemed to not recognize him, not that he blamed you, you only made eye contact for a split second, and seemed incredibly tired, most likely wishing you could be anywhere but here, but Eddie has never seen someone more beautiful.

“Yes, thank you.”

Three small words were all he said until you told him the price of hours of food and wished him a good day when he was leaving. Before answering, he looked down at your uniform to read your nametag as if he had found the secret of the universe.

“Thank you, you too.”

He left the store feeling pretty proud of himself. Not only was he able to find what he was looking for but he also got to see you again, and of course, speak to you. A grand total of seven words! Which was better than none, and now he knew your name. He couldn’t wait until he got to see you again.

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ —

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

main masterlist

#eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson fem!reader #eddie munson #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction

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skzcoffeemachine · 1 year

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Poetry

You sat far away from him towards the other side of the room as he enjoys his time with Stays on Channie's room, once again. But ofc, he was in perfect view.

His dimly lit room and purple led - it was your comfort space - and him, as well, obviously.

You watched him talk so passionately about LOLs and baby pictures and the trailers and spoilers, basically enjoying his well deserved time with his beloved stays. But you find yourself hearing less and less of what he was talking about, as your eyes went from his lips to his eyes to his face to his well toned body, clad in a fitted tee shirt.

This is the Bahng Christopher Chan that has everyone on their knees. And he was yours.

But why...?

Lips - pink and luscious that curves into a smile that brightens up the dark room.

Eyes - dark, hides many a story but twinkles so bright when around people they love.

Face - might be a sculpture's dream or we can say, it was one, personally sculpted by the Creator himself.

Shoulders - carries such responsibilities, is that why they are wide as one of the greatest seas?

Hands - lends them to anyone and everyone who needs it, is that way they are so soft yet strong at the same time?

You are the closest to heaven that I'll ever be..

Babe.

“Babe.. You with me? ”, he smirked nudging you out of your trance, making you blush all over the place.

If anyone could make you blush, it was him.

“ what were you thinking about? " He asked, walking over to his desk to reorganise after the live.

But you were focused on his silhouette against the wall.

Too perfect to be mine.

Insecurity had always been a big demon in your life and you have always tried so hard to overcome it. Yet, it comes out to haunt every once in a while. And most of the time, it is related to your worth.

Do you even deserve him?

“Do I even deserve you, Chan? ” you blurted out , regretting the second those words left your lips.

He paused for a moment, probably taken aback, because this was the first time you ever doubted your worth in front of him.

You were always so careful to not let him figure out your insecurities and anxieties, because that would be such a deal breaker in a relationship. And as far as you knew him, he would be worried about you and that is the least you want him to feel.

He came over and squatted down in front of you to meet you at eye level. You felt like his eyes were analysing your soul, when he gazed into yours. You had to come clean.

“I've always felt insecure about myself, Chan. I tried my best to feel secure and confident in myself, in my worth. I am always trying. I never want to be that insecure girlfriend. But it always comes back like this”

“Thank you for telling me, love”.

You were expecting a surprised look and a question “why would you say that? ” back. But to your surprise, you were greeted with a smile.

He knew.

He noticed your nibbling at your cuticles whenever a suspense scene come up on screen. He noticed the beads of sweat building up on your forehead and the relentless shaking of your legs, while you both wait for his health examination results. But he never addressed it, seeing how you played it off in front of him, trying to be a reliable source of strength for him. He was waiting for you to trust him enough to confide in it, since he knew you view it as your weakness.

“but how? ”, you asked in a low voice, head hung low.

“I've liked you since the day I first saw you, ” he held your chin up with his hand, “I wanted to know every part of you since that day. Of course, I noticed”, he said, kissing your forehead.

That kiss felt like it took off years and years of insecure feelings of worthlessness and replaced it with love and security.

“ I wish you were just a human, Chan”, you said, eyes fixated on his hand that was on your knee, “I wish I didn't look at you and see poetry like I do now”.

He bursted out in a soft laughter.

Squeezing your cheeks together, he said “Do you know you are the cutest human I've ever known? And I've known some very cute humans in my life. But you,my lady,are my angel sent just for me” and he kissed your pouted lips, before engulfing you in a bear hug, Channie's style.

#bangchan x reader #bangchan #bangchan × y/n #chan imagines #stray kids #skz headcanons #bangchan soft hours #bangchan scenarios #bangchan fluff #Spotify

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shinakazami1 · 9 months

Text

TBG Shortfic

I wanted to write the meeting after the years I've mentioned on my TBG Davey ask blog (@cake-bread) in this post. It's nearly 2k words long and I do wodner if I should start posting my drafts on my Ao3 Jeueuehw but i hope someone will enjoy this! If you do pls let me know huehue

===

For Davey, the small game con felt like a nice change of pace.

He was happy that the game reception was good but he didn't miss the sense of being overwhelmed and constantly perceived. The days when he still had the energy to respond to emails and comments about his work were over. That didn't mean he wasn't grateful - quite the opposite. After all the delays, seeing the game published and still appreciated helped with his worry of him losing touch with his work.

But he didn't like how much his face was tied to the game. He wished he never uploaded the trailer on his comedy page. Or that he never mentioned it to anyone. Ever since the release of the original mod, TSP became him. He felt a bit sad that his love project made Kevan to be known only as The Narrator. It used to be funny a decade ago. And while Kevan agreed to work again with them and seemed happy, he did seem a bit tired.

At least he didn't judge Davey for destroying passion for his work.

He was worried he lost his own passion, too. Until he went to the con.

The first day went very well. In there, he felt like just a gamer once again. Except for his buds that invited him there, nobody else seemed to recognise him.

It was nice to just be seen as another fan of the media and nothing more.

There were no questions about why the release took so long. Or about what the Bucket meant. Or what got him inspired to create Gambhorra'ta.

Or if The Beginner's Guide would ever get an ultra deluxe release, too.

He sighed. That question was on his mind for a while. But he didn't trust anyone with getting to those games. Especially if it meant changing the engine as it did with TSP - it would completely miss the point of Coda choosing Source. And just trying to add or change any visuals wouldn't work at all.

He didn't even want to consider recording new lines.

Davey sipped on the soda in the red plastic cup and tried to see where he could leave it. With no table feeling safe or stable enough, he decided to go away from the retro game stand and went to his bud, asking them to hold the cup for a moment. Once they pointed him in the bathroom direction, he went there and stared at the long line.

He didn't understand how gamers could share the same bladder but that sight made him wonder if it was why most irl gamer meetings were speedrun related.

Seeing that the line didn't move in 3 minutes, he decided to get some fresh air.

He didn't know how much different it would feel than the dense air inside. It felt like a metaphor for his life but he didn't really have the mind space for figuring that one out. Instead, he focused on how dry his mouth felt, reminding him why he wasn't drinking sweet drinks as often anymore.

He noticed that a few people left the building and went to some sort of a shop in the distance. Based on their age and the alcohol restriction, he could figure out what they were buying, even if he couldn't see the writing.

'I really should go to the eye doctor finally', Davey thought.

The darkening cloudy sky felt like a timer. With no umbrella or even a jacket to cover himself with, the trip to the store seemed a bit risky. But for a small price of a beer or two, his friend would gladly come for him with the umbrella they had. And since he acknowledged the desert in his throat, he knew it would drive him crazy for the rest of the day. And that soda would only get rid of any droplet left on the sandy land.

As he walked towards the oasis, he looked back at the school building the con was taking place at. It reminded him of April 2009 and...

He decided to speed up. He really didn't like how his mind kept shifting to Coda. He thought he was doing so well of late. Everybody told him to move on.

Even he couldn't replay the games anymore.

Feeling a raindrop hit the tip of his nose just as he reached the shop felt like a sign. Whatever it was trying to point him to, he refused to acknowledge.

He looked at the prices of the water bottles and took the smaller one, feeling his wallet screaming. But so was his throat - if he didn't save it soon enough.

He didn't expect the line to seem longer than the bathroom one. He thought it was fortunate that it was due to guys coming in packs. He soon felt disappointed, seeing each one pay for their own drink. What happened to splitting the bill? Nobody liked to wait. So it felt counter productive, especially since this line felt more impatient than the last one.

Maybe it was due to the sound of the rain drops falling on the shop windows, reminding everybody of the weather. In just a few minutes, the school was not visible behind the wall of water. And more people seemed to come in, just to find some nice shelter.

Davey stared at the cigarette packages and tried to read anything off the labels. He knew his eyesight was getting worse but he didn't know it had gotten that bad. For the past 3 years, he spent most of the time behind a screen. Even if he finished most of his work on the game early in the development, he tried his best to support the rest of the crew. So he didn't really notice the change.

He snapped out of his thoughts when the cashier repeated it was his turn. The crowd felt only growing so the line moving felt like a minor thing.

The instant he got the receipt, he opened the water bottle and started drinking. He knew his throat wouldn't be grateful and would still feel dry after it but he wanted to forget about it for a moment. Just like he wanted to forget-

"David?"

Davey tried to dry the water stain off his lap with the receipt to no avail.

An overpriced water bottle, wasted. It brought the storm into the shop.

But something else brought it into his heart.

Even if his name was a version of David, he wasn't one. It was the same like Sam not always standing for Samuel or Samantha. It was a normal assumption to have and he just corrected people on that.

There were a few exceptions, though. And life just couldn't help but torment him about one of them that day.

He was about to turn over when he felt a hand brush his leg. Frozen, he watched it pick up the water bottle and stand by his side.

The last time they did that was at the bus stop over a decade ago. It was the last time they saw each other.

Coda felt just a tiny bit taller now. But the same cold aura was still there.

And the distance felt too small but too big at the same time. Memories felt within reach while longed words got stuck in an already dry throat.

He could only make himself stare at the face he thought he had already forgotten.

His mind felt both empty and full at the same time. Images of every rendition his mind made of this scene played before his eyes but none of them could match the dream-like feel of reality.

There was no anger, no disappointment. There was no shouting, laughing or running away.

Somehow, just standing just like that, side by side, never crossed his mind.

It felt as if he still had a chance to ask if he could stay over for that night. Maybe everything wouldn't turn out to be as tragic then.

He stared at the face but felt like he couldn't see it. As if his gaze pierced through it, not noticing the details or seeing the disappointed face he drilled in his mind after reading the message in the Tower for the first time.

He felt something on his right hand. He quickly looked over and saw a woman offer him a handkerchief. Without thinking, he took it ,thanked her and started to rub on the wet stain. His moves were automatic and he wondered if he wouldn't wake up in a moment with a saliva stain on his pajama pants for the third night in a row. Sleeping in one bed with 3 men was not the most comfortable but it would be way better than whatever nightmare he was having.

But if it was a dream, he had to get the courage. His actions didn't matter in these, after all.

Unfortunately, he knew it was a lie. Reality liked to show its sense of comedy timing and he knew he was the punchline.

"Do you have any socials?", he said, looking back at the other man.

He instantly cursed himself for not going on any other line from the 200+ ones he kept coming up with for the occasion. It still wasn't the worst one he could have said but that didn't make his chest any lighter.

It felt like a test he didn't know the answers to.

Fortunately, life did hold all the pieces.

"Yeah."

"What are they?"

He didn't know how he had the confidence to keep speaking. Maybe this was the way his throat was thanking him for earlier, even if it felt as if it was burrowed in dirt at that moment. He himself felt like he was drowning in some quick sand, getting consumed by the growing anxiety that somehow didn't show up on his face.

"Give me your phone."

The witnesses probably would think that Coda was some sort of a bully. He caused the other man to spill a drink, freeze in place and then put in his pin code and give away his phone without any discussion.

He couldn't see the screen. With how long Coda was typing and looking over at him every now and then, he wondered if the man opened the notes app and wrote anything.

Maybe that was the only way Coda could talk to him anymore.

But he felt there was no backing off. He was ready to face whatever he would be shown. He told himself so.

And yet, somehow, a locked Twitter account with the word 'pending' on the right was not something he expected to see.

Nor did he expect to feel a hand pat his shoulder.

Something about the casualty felt like a stab in the heart.

He would prefer to be yelled at. Instead, the sound of a bell ringing and the door closing filled his ears. He watched Coda put his hood on and join the school behind the waterfall.

Davey did expect that he would in the end get recognized on the con.

He didn't know if he would have preferred being asked about the significance of the Fern or the whole fever dream he had just experienced.

He went to buy another water bottle and a beer for his friend. He couldn't focus on the rest of the con, searching for a familiar figure.

Two days later, the pending button changed into the following one.

He didn't expect to get a 'Hey.' the same day.

Nor that he would ever again be able to say 'Hi, Coda.'

The rainy weather was no more.

But the sun was shining a bit too brightly.

===

#Tbg #The beginners guide #The beginner's guide #Fanfiction #Coda #Davey #It feels like real person fiction but pls it's just the fact game Davey says he made tsp making me do this but it's not The (tm) Man #davey wreden #My writing #Shortfic

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romancomicsnews · 3 months

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5 Non-MCU Characters I'd love to see in Deadpool & Wolverine

Superbowl Sunday saw the return of everyones favorite Merc with a Mouth Deadpool in the trailer for his upcoming new movie Deadpool & Wolverine.

And as usual, Marvel hooked me.

Some fans have seen it as a return to form for the MCU, others as business as usual for Ryan Reynolds, and some just couldn't get over the little bit of Wolverine we got.

Myself, I was mainly focused on one thing. Aaron Stanford.

For those not in the know, this clip from the trailer shows Aaron Stanford returning as minor villain and asshole Pyro from the original X-Men Films. He was a sidekick to Magneto, and has a rivalry with Iceman in those movies.

The return of Pyro from the X-Men films confirms what most fans expected: we will see old heroes and villains from the Fox era, not just Wolverine.

And while a few have been already revealed through casting news or set photos, there are plenty more in store for us, I'm sure.

This got my head gears turning, so I decided I'd look back on the old Fox films to see who I want to return, even for the briefest moment or cameo.

None of these have been confirmed officially, so you are spoiler free from here on out. But I must warn, once I put this ideas in your head, you may be mad if they don't show up.

5. Animated Deadpool Voiced by Donald Glover

*sigh* The project I wish existed.

In 2017, Donald Glover was in development and given the green light on an animated Deadpool show. The show was to premiere on FX in 2018. However, for unknown reasons it was cancelled, and never debuted, leaving fans and Donald Glover displeased.

After the success of films like Spider-Verse, and Glovers involvement with Marvel, having him come in for a scene where he fights with or against Ryan Reynolds Deadpool could be a fun nod to the fans and maybe give the project the boost it needs to somehow come back.

But alas, I'm still hoping Spider-Verse will bring back Spectacular Spider-Man, so what do I know?

4. X-23

If there is a character ripe for a spin-off from the old X-Men universe, it was definitely X-23.

It's surprising to me she hasn't been revealed as a main member of the cast. She's a character I think few people talk about anymore, but was a crucial part of the film. I'd say Logan is up there and one of the best superhero movies.

Dafne Keen and Hugh Jackman made Logan such an impactful moving film. I'd love to see where the character has gone since Logan, and see how them reuniting effects the film.

Not to mention if she fought Deadpool, it would be one hell of a good (and kind of funny ) fight.

3. Apocalypse

Do I like this character? Absolutely not.

Do I want him here just for the Moon Knight jokes? Yes.

I actually think theres a good Apocalypse in Oscar Isaac somewhere. Having Deadpool and Wolverine at one point face the X-Men's Thanos sounds pretty cool, and Isaac is a great comedic and dramatic performer who deserves another shot.

I wouldn't mind a CGI version that looks more comic accurate, like Beast in the Marvels.

But again. I really just want Deadpool to say "So are you Steven or Marc?"

2. The Human Torch

Similarly, I want the Captain America jokes.

But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that Human Torch was by far the best part of those Fantastic Four movies.

There's just so many things you can do with it!

We can have him in the frosted tips, in a new Fantastic Four uniform. Maybe even have him fight Pyro, stop a fire guy with a fire guy. Or have him come out from behind a train like Captain America in Infinity War, but it's Johnny.

Having Evans play across Reynolds even for a bit would make so many fans happy and get more cheers then No Way Home.

Besides Evans has done a cameo in a Shawn Levy film starring Ryan Reynolds once. He can do it again.

1. Legion

The rumored main villain of this film tends to have a very particular vendetta with Charles Xavier. So why not use his son to acquire power?

Legion is the acclaimed show from Noah Hawley starring Dan Stevens as David Haller, a mutant with schizophrenia and basically unlimited power.

Dan Stevens is incredible in this show, and I think bringing in such a powerful X-Men character would make for some fun interactions and extreme stakes. Not to mention the insane visuals, all while delving deep into the psyche of both are protagonists.

While I doubt all of these characters show up, if one or two do, I'd be extremely happy. We'll just have to wait and see.

Thank you so much for reading! Please consider following, and check out my socials and other sites here! And let me know: Who do you want to see in Deadpool and Wolverine?

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kess-in-the-perthchimzone · 9 months

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What the hell is Ben thinking in NLMG? Part 1 (up to immediately following the outing)

Why is a multiple thousand word, multiple parts essay coming out about Ben from Never Let Me Go so long after the show ended? The very quick summary is – like many of us, I was immediately sucked in by the Dangerous Romance trailer. Excitement about the show made me want to learn more about Perth and Chimon’s background.

Although I swore I’d never watch Never Let Me Go for reasons I won’t go into here, I gave it a shot to see the two of them in action. As I watched, I fell completely in love with Chopper. And since Chopper loves Ben, I became somewhat obsessed with figuring out what the heck was going on in Ben’s head. On first watch, Ben drove me crazy— it felt like he was constantly flip-flopping; taking one step forward, two steps back; and generally being a big ole hypocrite.

But after multiple rewatches, I realized that Ben actually goes through four distinct character arcs within the show that help explain his actions. I’m going to break those down here.

(Quick caveat that this is very Ben/Chopper focused because I watched the absolute bare minimum of Ben’s scenes with Nuengdiao necessary to write this. Again, I love Chopper too much to see his person with someone else!)

Arc 1 - Ben explores being with a man for the very first time; he also realizes that losing Chopper as a friend hurt him badly

Let’s start by throwing it back to 10th grade. Here are a few things we know about younger Ben thanks to canon:

Chopper was his very close friend – they were close enough that other people like Nueng, who doesn’t seem to pay much attention to anyone at school, noticed their relationship.

He was at least equally, if not more terrified of his dad than he is in modern day.

Because of this fear, coupled with the things he’d presumably been hearing all his life about homosexuality being wrong, he lived in complete denial of at a minimum, his feelings for Chopper, but possibly his sexuality overall. He actually admits this twice:

Listen to his voice when he says this in episode 8 – he is rueful. He sounds incredulous. He’s realizing as he says it, that that was complete BS. He probably caught himself staring at Chopper’s pink lips or looking at the way his hair fell across his forehead and found ways to explain it away often enough that it became habit.

Back then, out of sheer self-preservation, Ben had thoroughly convinced himself either (a) that he was straight, or (b) that he absolutely, under no circumstances had feelings for his best friend. He suppressed all his feelings for Chopper so deep he didn’t even know they were there. And once he learned Chopper liked him, he rejected him in a way that was unmistakable.

At the time, that wasn’t a lie – Ben thought he meant it when he told Chopper he didn’t feel the same way.

10th grade to present day (less than two years)

Ben immediately suffers for this — he completely loses Chopper in his life. I get the sense they only had each other, and both of them leaned heavily on the other considering the stress they both were dealing with at home, so this would have created a noticeable absence in both of their lives.

You can argue that vacancy persists to modern day. To quote @thirstkanaphan , “the fallout of the loss of their relationship is also evident in their respective lack of other close friendships when the series begins. Does Chopper have any friends? The bullies don't target him unlike Nueng because he shrouds himself in an aura of cool untouchability (and genuine danger); but Chopper seems to be quite isolated. And while Ben achieves a high social rank in school (student council president) and cultivates a congenial personality, we also don't see anyone coming to his defense in the aftermath of The Outing. Who are their friends?”

Chopper later explains to Ben why he stopped talking to him, and his perspective is completely understandable, but I can also see how that wasn’t fair to Ben – to overnight lose his best friend when he thought he’d told Chopper the honest truth about how he felt.

I definitely don’t think Ben expected that would happen; I’m guessing for the first few weeks or months after Chopper pulled away, he kept waiting for him to come back

Over time, Ben became increasingly hurt and lonely, but I think once again he denied the shit out of it. He threw himself into his music (which based on the way Chopper spoke has only recently started to take up much more of his time). When they do speak for the first time in the present day – more to come on that – these are Ben’s first words:

It’s telling that Ben’s first reaction is anger to see Chopper. He’s convinced himself over time that losing Chopper was for the better – that Chopper is a selfish jerk – but that anger has only been masking a lot of pain underneath.

This brings us to the start of the series

Ben first starts paying attention to Nuengdiao for a few reasons: because Nueng seems so lonely; he’s in awe of Nueng’s piano playing; and as class president it really is his job to help put other students at ease. There certainly is a superficial attraction there but also — it’s no coincidence Neungdiao is Chopper’s cousin and presumably resembles him!

@thirstkanaphan adds: It's telling that Nueng and Ben probably did not interact much before the start of the series, but the death of Nueng's dad and his subsequent return to school results in the escalation of bullying towards Nueng, as the bullies feel as though Nueng no longer has the same protections as he once did. Ben is - at heart - a caring person who dislikes seeing others in pain.

Over time, this shifts to more genuine romantic interest. In Never Let Me Go, Nuengdiao serves as the first time Ben has felt brave enough to admit that he is interested in a man and to explore pursuing some kind of relationship (whereas, Ben plays an important role as a catalyst that helps get Nueng and Palm together). More than anything, I get the sense Ben feels Nueng is safe. He’s similar to him so Ben understands him, he’s very quiet, and he keeps to himself — so as Ben starts to finally come to terms with himself and his sexuality, Nueng is a good potential person to explore those feelings with. With Nueng, Ben gets to have a pure, simple crush, whereas his feelings for Chopper are significantly more complex – and bogged down in years of other more negative emotions.

When Chopper and Ben speak for the first time in episode two, Ben’s frustration in Chopper’s absence becomes immediately clear from his words and tone (see above). He makes it very obvious: “You are the one who has avoided talking to me. Then you disappeared”

This is also the conversation where Chopper asks him about becoming close to Nuengdiao.

Ben’s incredulity at this is palpable. On first watch I thought his line of “have you been watching me” was over the top, but it’s unmistakable that he’s like (“this is why you’re finally talking to me??”). By leaning in so close to Chopper, he’s actively trying to provoke him. (EDIT made many months later. Also!! As you’ll see in later parts, Ben jokes about things he wants, so “Have you been watching me” is VERY interesting.”)

In this scene, I think Ben answers Chopper honestly about what he thinks of Nuengdiao: He’s interesting, he doesn’t brag about his father’s name, they get along well because of music. Nothing about this is overly romantic. Slightly out of order but:

And after this brief and very awkward exchange, Chopper asks:

You can see that Ben is genuinely rocked by this. He can’t believe someone who used to be his friend would ask something like this

This is when Ben drops the line “maybe because you think of me this way we aren’t friends anymore”. At the time, I think his feelings got a little lost because the audience was being led to be suspicious of Ben’s motives, but looking back, Ben is so so so stung by everything about this exchange.

You can argue that Chopper’s comments hit a nerve – Ben is being duplicitous. He has been hiding his attraction to men from the people in his life for years. And you can tell Ben is wondering, (“Does he really think this little of me? Is it possible I deserve that?”)

It’s after this that Ben’s solicitation of Nueng escalates — his burgeoning crush aside, I would argue some of his determination is targeted indirectly at Chopper, like (“see, I don’t need you, I have a new friend”)

And then we get to the paper cutting scene, which is a crucial one for Ben & Chopper:

It had already been made pretty clear to the audience that Chopper liked Ben, so I remember YELLING at my screen at this line for how badly that had to hurt him. But now that we know Ben knew about Chopper’s feelings all along, this line is actually kind of cruel. And Ben follows it up with a similarly cutting piece of dialogue. “Like I said . . .”

Apparently this is a thing he has said to Chopper previously – possibly while rejecting him – and it can be read as surface level; similar interests, etc. But we, as the audience, could also read into it that Ben means someone else who’s not ready to be out of the closet yet (going back to Nueng = safe)

This boy is hurt and he is so very bitter and he is exceptionally good at masking it with a smile and an easy tone. I think it’s telling that he word for word asks “what if I confess to him and he rejects me?”. He is thinking about the 10th grade as much as he is present day.

Except despite Ben’s slides towards pettiness, Chopper remains nice, he encourages Ben in this very soft earnest voice. He apologizes for what he said about Nuengdiao. He says WHO WOULDN’T LIKE YOU?

And look at Ben’s face here. The raw, unguarded staring that goes on for a second too long:

I think in this moment he’s beginning to truly understand how much he hurt himself when he rejected Chopper and feeling the first stirrings of the confusion that come back in full force in episode 8. (“Does he still like me? But he wouldn’t be encouraging me and Nueng if he did, would he? Why does the way he’s looking at me so intently make me feel so weird?”)

You can see him try to shake it off. He convinces himself it’s his excitement over them talking again.

They don’t show it on camera, but Chopper touches his hand or his arm – there’s a clear movement just below screen – and Ben gives him another one of those unguarded looks.

The cracks are already here in full force in episode 4!!

And then a whole lot of stuff happens with Ben and Nueng afterwards during which Ben gets to be a normal teenage boy who likes another boy and has the freedom to explore that. This is important to his development, because by exploring – and acting on – his attraction to men through his interactions with Nueng, he is better able to later realize he likes Chopper later.

@thirstkanaphan helpfully provided some context on the main romantic plotline that I missed entirely while skipping all the P/N scenes: Director Jojo films the first few episodes in a way to make the viewer suspicious of Ben’s intentions. We are meant to regard Ben’s open display of care and concern with wariness in the context of how the rest of the school treats Nueng. Plus, we are in BL territory and Ben is set up as the second romantic lead, so we are conditioned to root for Palm, who is standing outside this scene at the piano bench, witnessing their kiss with confusion, jealousy, and heartbreak. We are meant to be rooting for the main couple, so while Ben's actions may be considered reckless (kissing at school? wow!!) this moment sets Palm/Nueng's romantic arc in motion - Nueng's disappointment in Ben, his breakdown on the roof, and Palm's subsequent offer to replace the memories of Nueng's first kiss. For all that WE are concerned with Ben's interior life, the show is not. The show needs Ben to be the foil for Palm, so that Palm can be noble and swoon-y for Nueng.

At this point, the pivotal Ben/Nueng moment happens— the photo of them gets plastered all over the school entry, and Ben, who is visibly cowed by his father the entire time in the office, makes the horrible decision to say Nueng forced himself on him; we’ll come back to this decision in Arc 3.

I cannot understate how traumatizing this whole experience had to be for Ben. This would be deeply scarring for almost anyone. His first queer experience should have been a positive experience for him and it was treated entirely as something wrong – something to be embarrassed of; something his father would under no circumstances tolerate. Although he makes a bad decision, he is still a victim here.

I will wrap up part 1 with the lunch scene, which never fails to touch me deeply. (I can’t believe anyone genuinely thought Chopper spread those photos!!): Ben, who is feeling ashamed of himself and isolated from the entire school, goes to sit at a lunch table all alone. While everyone else stares at him and whispers behind his back, Chopper comes over and takes a seat beside him without a single moment of hesitation. He assures Ben. He touches Ben’s hand! He offers Ben help. And he coaxes a tiny smile out of him.

For all that his mind was on what happened in the office, I think from the moment Chopper takes hold of his wrist, Ben’s thoughts are completely on him:

In this moment, he must be thinking about how good of a person Chopper is, how empty he felt for so long without him, and how grateful he is to have Chopper in front of him right now. And what’s so beautiful is — this is probably one of the lowest points in Ben’s life, but it’s also the moment his closest friend comes back to him. I genuinely tear up thinking about it. How much did that mean to him?

–

TLDR: In his first character arc, Ben simultaneously confronts the fact that losing Chopper as his friend in 10th grade hurt him badly, and begins to explore his attraction to men through his pursuit of Nueng – who (initially) serves as a safe person for him to do so with. Both halves of this arc conclude at about the same time – he gets to kiss a boy for the first time and in that aftermath, Chopper returns to his side. But the events of arc 1 create a new set of problems for him that I will explore in parts two, three, four, and five!

Continue to part 2.

#never let me go #never let me go the series #nlmg #chopperben #chopper the best boy in the whole world #chopper kiattrakulmethee #benchopper #ben x chopper #chopper x ben #thai bl #ben nlmg #perth tanapon #chimon wachirawit #nlmg ben #meta meta meta #Ben meta series

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rebeccalouisaferguson · 10 months

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https://metro.style/people/celebrities/rebecca-ferguson-mission-impossible-dead-reckoning/35891

The Mission: Impossible movies have a unique creative process. They don’t start with a complete script but evolve as they go. How would you describe that on-set experience?

“Tom and McQ have a way of working which from the outside could look very odd, but it’s genius. The story is mostly in McQ and Tom’s heads, not on paper. For people who are new to the game, I guess that could be stressful because they don't really understand the process. But that’s why everyone’s there, to support everyone. The creation happens in the conversations between Tom and McQ. Everything that is created is enhanced by the dynamic between them. It is incredible to watch. It all comes together in front of you. It is extraordinary how much knowledge they have about film and camera angles and storytelling and building tension and character. Tom is extremely focused on character. ‘Why?’ is Tom’s question all the time. ‘Why is that happening? Why is he doing that?’ It’s so detailed.”

How would you describe the threat that the team face in this movie?

“What has been really interesting and extremely intelligently created by McQ and Tom in these movies is that they play with the question of what is actually good and bad. There’s a scene we cut from the last movie, between Ilsa and Ethan, where she is saying to him: ‘Why are we doing this, you and me? Why don’t we give up? There will always be people like us who can take over, so why don’t we let them and go and live the life that other people get to live?’ But it’s also the reverse. Who is really bad? In Fallout, Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane talks about bringing them over to a world that’s better, but in our world he was seen as evil because of the destruction [that would entail]. But is it? Or is it human growth? These films have always played with big thoughts of ownership and world control – how we have been controlled by the police, state and government, the politicians. Obviously [in these stories], the baddies are the baddies – and we know they are because they kill and want to destroy everyone and everything. But there’s always a philosophical mind at play in these stories too. What is actually ‘bad’ if you break it down? For a lot of these characters, that will depend on the balance of their beliefs – on what they believe is truthful and real. In this movie, Gabriel, the antagonist, is in full belief of what he wants, and that is justice, for the betterment of all mankind, or for whatever is left of it when he’s done.”

What is it about this story that’s so big it needs splitting into two movies?

“These movies just become bigger and bigger, with larger and larger themes. They are so big and grand, location-wise. It really is a mission, shooting these movies. So, linking two together? That is not an easy task, in any way, shape or form. But I think that the scale of what Tom and McQ have attempted here demands two movies. To let the story and characters breathe against this never-bigger, action-packed backdrop.”

Let’s talk Ilsa. What is she going through in this movie?

“This is where it gets hard! [Laughs] Because it’s very hard to promote a story that you don’t fully know. The way we work is that we shoot a lot of footage, and then they cut it together. Then we get to see that version at the premiere! And we go, ‘Oh, that makes sense!’ But that works perfectly for these films because the fact is that in these movies, these characters never have the full picture in front of them. The fun of watching these films is watching these characters discover things as they go. That’s where that wonderful dynamic comes from. Are they working together? Are they not working together? We ended the last movie thinking that there is sort of a collaboration here between Ilsa and Ethan. We begin this one very confused again. It’s that dance between these two characters that I have fallen in love with.”

In the trailer, we see Ilsa and Ethan embracing. What can we read into that?

“You can read whatever you want into that [laughs], but I don’t want to give anything away. What I will say is that we have always, for years, talked about the relationship between them because it’s so complex. The bond between these two people has been born of trauma and chaos – these are emotions that go beyond any form of love affair or kinship. They have this pure urge to protect and support each other, but also to have their own rights. They’re two very similar characters. What do you see? Is it love? Is it friendship? Is it family? Is it support? Is it just knowing that something’s about to blow up? That’s the whole point of this dynamic.”

The trailer also gives a glimpse of a showdown between Ilsa and Esai Morales’ Gabriel in Venice. What can you share about that sequence?

“It's always a wonderful moment when bad and good meet. What was fun about this meeting is that I got to train to sword fight for the scene, which was ridiculously hard and wonderfully exciting to do. I’ll never forget shooting that scene – sword fighting over turquoise waters in Venice. And Esai is phenomenal. He’s unpredictable, a classic baddie. It’s a dance.”

What made the sword fighting so difficult to master?

“It’s so tricky. You always have the possibility of doing the fighting with lighter replicas. So, in some angles you have the sword and for certain other angles, if it’s dangerous, you switch that sword out for the replica, so you don’t chop someone’s head off. But the part you don’t realize until you first do it is how important the weight is. Because the weight is so important, you have to train with the real weapon. And then you have to remember what that weight feels like, so you can fight with something that’s not equally weighted but make it look the same. It’s not just the choreography – which is difficult enough in and of itself – but retaining the muscle memory of training with the real weapon. There’s so much more to it than I ever understood before.”

A lot of the characters in this movie are exploring their darker sides. How does that play out on screen?

“I remember McQ and Tom talking a lot on the last movie, Fallout, about what they wanted to do with this one. They talked about not being scared, about wanting for the next film to basically eat up the franchise emotionally, to give the audience another level of action and emotion. People know the ingredients that make these films so great and one of them is their ability to give you a metaphorical emotional stomach punch. And Tom and I have often talked about not being afraid of giving these characters physical tasks and emotions to deal with. Whether it’s loss or love or fear, we have never been afraid to go deeper, to go further. And this movie is maybe the pinnacle of that.”

Is there a sense that these two new Mission movies are almost a love-letter to the whole series?

“Honestly, everything Tom and McQ do is intentional. Everything. Every angle, every shot, every line, every prop, the costumes, the music, the edit. This is a movie that has so much boom and abandon and adventure. But, also, there is so much in there that is an homage to something they loved in the previous movies, or something they loved in all the classic movies the two of them are always referencing on set. They are far too smart for me to ever try and even pretend to know what they’re talking about [laughs]. At the beginning, they’ll go, ‘Have you seen this classic movie or that classic movie?’ And at the start [on her first Mission movie, Rogue Nation], I would sometimes pretend that I had, to look smart. And then go and watch it that night. But now I’m just honest and say I haven’t seen it. I’ll be like, ‘Send me a list of all the films you want me to see. But remember I’m a novice.’”

Dead Reckoning Part One promises to be a truly epic adventure for audiences. How much of an adventure have you had making it?

“It’s been incredible, it really has. The places we’ve seen, the things we’ve done. I absolutely loved Abu Dhabi. It was phenomenal. The desert location and the footage you get from it is just exquisite. Putting us into nature that is so uncontrollable, whether it’s a sandstorm or whatever, and us just having to adapt to it, was so beautiful and so apt. It’s the same with all the different inputs of nature – from rain to wind – that came into play on Tom’s bike jump. No matter how much planning you do, you can’t control Mother Nature. That’s what makes it so dangerous. And that’s what makes it so exciting to watch. People will never understand what it took for everyone involved to make that bike stunt work.”

#rebecca ferguson #interview #mi7 interview #ilsa faust #mission impossible #mission impossible dead reckoning part one

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sylvies-kablooie · 7 months

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I hope the anonymous ask doesn’t get ruined for you! There are so many rude people for no reason :(

What are your thoughts on the new episode? How do you think the next one will go?

thanks so much! this is gonna be lengthy so i'm gonna put an expand thingy if i can- never have done it before so bear w me lol. below the read more will be my hot takes regarding Dox, Victor, pie scene, etc

if i can get enough work done this weekend, i'm hoping to give some of the new episodes a rewatch. when i see them for the first time, my brain can get really caught up on what is happening what is happening that it prevents me from taking in the finer details that make the show so enjoyable. i think this has been compounded by s2 focusing a lot more heavily on racing the plot forward rather than allowing for characters to process things slowly, so i would like to give them another go knowing what will happen and having my fine-detail lenses on.

that being said, the new episode did catch me off guard! i knew a plot twist was coming because it had been teased, but the victor spagettification was NOT what i saw coming and it actually made my jaw drop. i had assumed the spaghetti line to be a throwaway one so having it actually pay off was wild. it was a noble end for victor, although i wish we had gotten a chance to spend more time with him because i thought he was very compelling.

something i was conflicted on was taking Dox and her group back into the TVA and then having b-15 ask them to come back because she knows deep down they are good after they had just killed an unknown number of people and we saw them witnessing that grief in real time (this was especially the case w B-15, who was heartbroken!). narratively speaking i didn't find that super compelling and others have addressed their problems with that better than i have. HOWEVER dox and the others being squished? was also not what i saw coming, especially after that wtf thing between Dox and Brad. i have no idea if we'll ever get answers on that! but i wish we got to see more of Dox- maybe she'll come back around.

sylvie yelled at mobius, people got mad at his, but it was clearly building up to something that is going to pay off in a later episode. and honestly- was she wrong? why is he being so chill about this all? this is going to be investigated later, and i would venture to guess it's because he's pretending everything is fine and cool when in reality all he knows and loves is collapsing around him. seeing that lead to discourse rather than people understanding it as foreshadowing made me lose a little faith in people's media literacy LMAO.

sylvie. my beloved. we saw her smile over killing HWR and I thought that was really interesting, something i will probably write a whole meta on later- hint: i think she is both genuinely proud of and sorrowful over her actions. her conversation with loki in the pie room was something i highly enjoyed. hope is hard. that being said, i was hoping for more dialogue between them. they're still circling everything. BE BRAVE AND SAY WHAT U WANT TO SAY LOKI. BUT them teaming up against Brad was LEGENDARY. screaming "turn it off"? are you kidding me!!!! LOVED IT. Loved the "Are you okay" and "tech savvy" callbacks. mwah it was so good.

i have no idea what the new episode will bring beyond hopefully that bar scene finally and also the scene where sylvie gets to listen to her records because those were featured in the trailer and we still haven't gotten them yet! obviously it isn't the end of the world, but what does it mean? a great question! was the TVA all for nothing? how would that impact our characters, realizing everything they knew was a lie? great motivation i hope we will have time to explore!

thanks so much for the ask and allowing me to ramble! i hope to have more time to go over things again with an even finer toothed comb, so if i can get all my homework done you can expect more analysis :)

#thanks for the ask!#loki #loki series #loki show #loki tv show #loki tv #sylvie #sylvie laufeydottir #loki s2 #answered #juni answers

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digital-corruption · 2 years

Text

Unrecognisable Part 23

“You know, maybe we could find another way to Colville,” I suggested nervously.

Jake was eyeing up the only cars in the diner’s parking lot. All three were old and used and obviously needed by their owners. To steal one of them felt so petty. I just couldn’t stomach doing that to them.

“You're going to let me steal a semi then?” he looked back at me annoyed. “Have you forgotten what’s at stake here?”

“I know, but if you steal one of those, you're really going to make someone’s life miserable,” I argued.

“He made my life miserable!” Jake snapped at me.

“Jake, I’m sorry, that’s not- I didn’t mean to-,” I struggled to find the right words. “It’s just making sure he sees out his full sentence is no excuse to mess with someone else’s life.”

He came up at me with fire in his eyes. I backed up until I hit the exterior wall of the diner and even then he got right into my face, staring holes into me.

“I got out of the hospital as soon as I could walk, but the pain, the pain wasn’t gone. It stayed with me wherever I went, whatever I did, for months. For fucking months! So what if some waitress has a bad day or week even? At least she’s able to sleep! You know who shouldn’t be able to sleep? Richard fucking Roger,” he gritted his teeth.

“How did you cope with it?” my voice shook as I tried to remain calm.

Jake pulled away slowly, “Cope isn’t a word I would use to describe that time in my life. I survived and that’s all that matters.”

“Jake...” I stroked the side of his face. “Is that why you got the tattoo?”

He turned his head away, “A friend convinced me it would help me regain control.”

“Fuck,” I bit my lip. “I wish I was there for you. I should’ve been there for you!”

“No!” he roared. “Never! Fuck, the things I did then... I had absolutely no restraint. I just did whatever the fuck I wanted to whoever I wanted. I would have- I would have done things. Regrettable things. It was better you weren’t there. Having you here now has been a reminder I must never let myself stray that far off the path again.”

I sighed, “It’s your story the board needs to hear, not mine.”

“How? As far as they’re concerned, I wasn’t there!” he refuted. “It’s not like I can walk in, point to him and say, ‘That’s the son of a bitch that nearly burned me alive!’”

“Do you have your hospital records? We show them those. For the John Doe discovered on the side of the road outside the mines with severe burns,” I argued.

“Of course I have them,” he admitted. “We still need to get to Colville though. We have just over five hours and over three hours of driving to cover and you won’t let me steal a fucking piece of shit car because it might hurt someone’s feelings. So how, pray tell, will we get there?”

“I don’t know. We start walking until we find something else?” I shrugged.

“Wow, so you're too good to steal from these people, but maybe after another hour of walking we'll find someone who does meet your criteria,” he said sarcastically.

“Or we hitch a ride with one of the truck drivers!” I offered. “No, wait, that ended badly the last time.”

“If we weren’t so focused on getting to Colville, I'd say we just sneak onto the back of one of the trailers and let fate take us to our next destination,” he shook his head.

“I suppose going back inside and asking each driver where they were going would look rather suspicious,” I thought out loud.

“No, but I have other ways of finding out who’s going where,” Jake stepped away and looked at the company names on the sides of the trailers. “Some of these are local, but some are traveling across country. I just need to find out which one is going in our direction.”

“And that will get us closer?” I questioned.

“It should cut the distance down considerably,” he nodded. “Just have to hope they have space in the back for us.”

Jake took off his backpack and crouched down to pull out his laptop. He then sat down on the concrete with his back against the wall and while his computer woke up from sleep. As soon as it loaded he was absorbed in his work so I let him be.

Meanwhile I started pacing back and forth. I thought about the hearing and tried to figure out exactly what I was going to say to the board. Never before had I given such a statement in front of the person involved. Sure, I was asked to speak at Richy’s trial, but the judge had agreed to letting the prosecution video conference me in. I didn’t actually have to stand in front of Richy and give testimony against him, which made it a lot easier for me back then. To be honest, I hadn’t even seen him since his video confession. The others told me he had been burnt badly by the fire, but that was as much as I knew. This time I would be speaking out against him while standing in the same room. This would have a lasting effect on his life. Could I pull it off? Did I have the backbone for it?

I paused and looked at Jake working at his laptop. Alan Bloomgate, the Duskwood police chief, told me they couldn’t bring up manslaughter charges against Richy because there was no body and no way of proving that a wanted fugitive was even in the mines. They could only charge him for the kidnapping, assault, and arson. As Richy plead guilty to those charges and showed deep remorse, he managed to get away with lighter sentencing. Because he gave key eyewitness testimony against Hannah and he was able to prove that he had drunk too much that night, he managed to avoid any charges related to Jennifer’s death. Hannah, his kidnapping victim, was forced to accept the full force of the law over Jennifer’s death. It had been the worst outcome in all of this - Richy’s full sentence was the same time as Hannah’s earliest release. If we could prove Jake’s injuries were a result of Richy’s reckless behaviour then maybe we could at least guarantee that Richy sees the same time as Hannah and that would be the only solace we had in all of this. I'd only have one shot at this. If they grant him parole, that’s it, he’s free.

“There, that truck with the tarpaulin sides is running freight to the depot outside Colville, about 30 minutes away from the prison. It looks like it is only 80% full so there should be enough space for us to slip in,” Jake announced optimistically.

Jake closed his laptop and shoved it back into his backpack. Then he pulled out his pocket knife and stood up, slinging his backpack back over his shoulders. He took off in the direction of the truck in question without warning. I had to rush to catch up to him. He opened his pocket knife and cut a small hole into the tarp on the side of the truck. Quickly he put his pocket knife away, and after taking one last look around, he pushed the tarp open enough for him to climb through. Once he was in, he held the tarp open for me to climb in after him.

The trailer had several full pallets of various cartons, all plastic wrapped for transport, but there was enough space for us to sit on the floor at the back of the truck. Jake pulled his backpack off and sat down with his back against the rear of the trailer. I dropped our bag to the ground and sat down next to Jake while pulling the bag close to my side.

“Now we wait,” Jake sighed.

“He’s going to leave soon, right?” I asked nervously.

“Well, he’s scheduled to be arriving at Colville by 1 so he better?” Jake responded less confidently. “Stealing a car is still an option.”

“No, we’ll stick with this,” I nodded. Jake waited a moment, then pulled his laptop back out. “What are you doing?”

“Hurrying things along,” he explained. “There,” he turned and smiled at me.

“Do I want to know what you did?” I said apprehensively.

“Just sent a message, that’s all,” he grinned. "A harmless little message."

Jake went back to his laptop and switched windows. I rested my head on his shoulder as I watched him connect to a remote server and download several files stored on there. He opened them to check through the contents. As soon as the first one loaded, I realised they were his hospital records. First was a digital written record describing the extent of the injuries. Next was a statement from the EMTs that brought him in, detailing where he was found and who had called it in. He was about to open the next file when he paused.

"I didn't want to show you these, but if you’re going to take them to the parole board, it's best you see the photos now," he sighed. "Are you ready?"

I hugged his arm and nodded, "Show me."

God, I wish he hadn’t. If there was anything in my life I wish I could unsee, it was those photos of Jake’s burns. Thankfully the truck started up just in time for the noise of the engine to drown out my cries.

#duskwood #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood jake #unrecognisable fanfic

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