#... sorry about a certain cliffy

[laniakeabooks]

So. I'm sure you've all heard of Lightlark by Alex Aster and are probably aware of the controversy and all the review-bombing around it. Naturally I couldn't help myself and my morbid curiosity pushed me to read it for myself.

Is this the worst book I've ever read? No. Is this the best book I've ever read? Not even close. Certainly not worthy of a six-figure paycheck and a movie deal before release... there are far more deserving books out there. My rating is 1.5 stars.

My biggest gripe with this book is the lazy naming. It'sso bad that I got the impression that Aster used these names as place-holders in her draft but never bothered replacing them with actual names. Here's what I mean:

Our Mary-Sue royal MC who spends the entirety of the book on an island - Isla Crown

Leader of a kingdom that draws their power from the stars - Celeste

Leader of a kingdom that draws their power from the sun - Oro (gold)

Leader of the Night Court, sorry, the shadow lands - Grim

Leader of the kingdom that draws their power from the sky - Azul

And the only leader who seemingly isn't named after her kingdom - Cleo... some tell me if the name Cleo is related to the moon somehow because I wouldn't be surprised

The names of the kingdoms... I'll let you guess from what each of them draw their power from - Wildling, Moonling, Sunling, Starling, Skyling, aaaand Nightshade (couldn't stick with the -ling suffix, huh?)

The stick-shaped relic that allows Isla to teleport through portals made of stars? Why that's the starstick of course!

Also the general writing choices... Aster seems to be obsessed with yolky eggs and also likes to describe objects/places using this template: adjective-y thing. Ex. The sun was a yolky thing, it was a cliffy thing, a temptress thing, a gleaming thing. Remember how in high school we were taught to avoid using the word "thing" in our writing? Yeah... guess Aster skipped that class.

Plot-wise... we were promised a mix of ACOTAR and The Hunger Games. Uhhhhh no. This is a rehash of Three Dark Crowns.

The only hint of ACOTAR you get is the copy-paste (but change the name) version of Rhysand that is Grim... and I have a sneaking suspicion Oro will turn into Tamlin in the sequel.

The Hunger Games element? Completely absent. There's no fight to the death... in fact it's made very clear that no one who's participated in the competition in the past 500 years has actually died and it's likely no one will die this time round either. The entirety of the book is spent following Isla walking around the islands looking for a relic that clearly doesn't exist. Massive waste of time.

I really wish we got to follow Celeste or Cleo. Their curses were far more interesting. The ocean dragging people to their death every full moon or cursed to die by the age of 25? Much more interesting than being cursed to kill your true love (I mean come on how many times has that plot been used in fantasy fiction?)

Another instance of lazy writing was the over-abundance of plot convenience. There's not one conflict that wasn't resolved through some magical relic/power/person never mentioned before.

Oh and if you hate the villain monologue trope... prepare yourself.

And of course the flase-advertising everyone has been on about. I didn't see any of Aster's tiktoks promising certain tropes (except for one where she gets overly-excited over a snippet of tepid dialogue that was indeed in the book), so I'll just stick to what we're promised in the synopsis and blurbs.

As mentioned before, this isn't ACOTAR meets THG. It's Three Dark Crowns with some changes to the political system and number of rulers.

Lightlark doesn't only appear every 100 years, it's always there (people live on it ffs) but the rulers of each kingdom can only visit every 100 years... I think. Idk it wasn't made very clear because Oro is the king of Lightlark and the starstick brings Isla anywhere so it's all very ambiguous.

Romance is a sub-plot and the love triangle came out of nowhere. I don't mind the lack of romance but as romance was promised and toted by Aster and all the authors that blurbed the book, it's misleading. I heard a lot of the tropes that were promised and didn't appear in the book were romance-related so just keep that in mind.

Most importantly: diversity. Bitch where? You get your token black character and token gay character all in one. And that's it. Bone app the teeth I guess.

Anyway, to me this book was low-stakes, lazy, and uncreative. I'm surprised I managed to finish it because I seriously considered DNFing it at the 30% mark, the 50% mark, and the 70% mark but I didn't want the rabid fans swarming my review and telling me I'm not allowed to have an opinion because I dIdN't ReAd It or that I dIdN't GiVe It A cHaNcE.

I read it. I finished it. It sucks. Goodbye.

[sunflowerim]

I LOVE YOU 3000!

-PART 30

Weekend 3

Harry waited for a whole minute before the door opened, revealing a very dishevelled Louis.

Harry waited for a whole minute before the door opened, revealing a very dishevelled Louis.

"Sorry, I was in the shower."

"You forgot I'd come early?" Harry asked making his way inside.

"Not really, kinda woke up late and everything else was late too. Tea?"

"Now?"

"Ah, there's no time for tea sweet Harold. I'll make 2 cuppas."

Harry watched Louis move about the kitchen picking up containers and cups while Clifford tugged at his trackies.

"Get off me Cliffy. Go play with Harry."

Harry whistled and the furry little animal came rushing to him.

Harry picked Clifford's ball from the ground and started playing with him.

"Sugar?"

"No."

Harry walked around the couch and flopped himself down on it.

Soon enough Louis arrived with two hot cups and handed one to Harry.

"Let's get the movie started."

Harry was fascinated with the new character that was introduced in 'Iron Man 2'. Natasha Romanoff. He was taught to say st interview that this would be his favourite character, but now he really liked her.

He watched in awe as she displayed her fight skills. Louis loved the reaction. Nat had always been one his favourites and he missed her terribly. Seeing Harry liked her too made him happy.

Harry sat motionless for a few seconds after the movie ended. Louis smiled to himself and got up with the cups, when Harry started.

"I don't mean to impose but can we watch another movie please."

"What? Really?" Louis chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm hooked."

"Can't blame ya," Louis answered from the kitchen. "But aren't you hungry?"

"A bit yes."

"Let's have some food first."

"Oh I was supposed to teach you."

"Don't worry about that, I had my helper cook lunch for us."

"Oh cool."

"Just wait for 5 minutes while I heat em up and we can go back to the movie."

Harry happily nodded and petted Clifford, who was sprawled next to him on the couch.

Harry helped Louis bring the food to the table and Louis put the 'Thor' dvd on.

Harry met the fourth superhero and instantly fell in love with the blonde god of thunder.

Harry practically started clapping as the movie ended and immediately looked towards Louis with a question in his eyes which Louis immediately understood.

"Another?"

"Yes, please."

Louis huffed a laugh and went over to change the dvds.

He put 'Captain America : The first Avenger' on Harry met the fifth superhero. He was absolutely taken by Chris Evans and his eyes watered at certain scenes. Harry Styles is a proper human afterall, Louis thought.

Harry and Louis picked up the plates and walked over to the kitchen sink, talking among themselves, Louis trying to excite Harry more about the next movies. They did the dishes in companiable silence, despite Louis insisting Harry didn't.

Harry didn't mind. He enjoyed spending time with Louis.

"Lou--" Harry drawled ever so slowly, "I was thinking--"

"If you say one more movie I'm gonna kick you out," Louis laughed.

"It's hard to wait."

"You need to give your eyes some rest. By the way, you could stay for dinner. It's almost time." Louis added after a pause.

"Yeah, you're right," Harry said, glancing at his wrist watch. "I guess I overstayed, I should leave."

"Hey, no. I mean you could have dinner with me, unless you have other plans."

"I don't."

"So...?"

"Okay I'll stay a bit more."

"Cool. But you have to cook this time."

"Oh now I get it. That's why you wanted me to stay-" Harry teased, "-you can't cook."

"And all the shops have been destroyed due to zombie apocalypse. Please stay and cook for both of us?"

"God you're so dramatic," Harry managed between laughter.

"You're one to talk."

"Oh shut up."

Harry buzzed about the kitchen finding ingredients. They'd decided on spaghetti. Louis followed the little instructions Harry gave every now and then and watched Harry deftly cook up a wonderful smelling meal.

A warmth spread over Louis' body as he thought about how this could easily be something he could get used to.

Harry was an amazing cook. "I'm a bit of a chef myself," he'd said when Louis complimented him on his skills.

"We've got to do this more often," Louis said finishing his meal.

Harry smiled brightly at that. "We shall."

Louis let Harry feed Clifford and put him in his corner for the night.

Harry seemed reluctant to leave so Louis asked, "do you still wanna watch it?"

"Yes, I don't think I'll be able to sleep if I don't."

"Okay I'll put it on. But it's the last one."

"Yayyy okay."

Louis laughed lightly at Harry's excitement and went on to put the 4th movie of the day.

He put 'The Avengers' on and plonked beside Harry, this time forgetting to keep the polite distance in between. Harry didn't seem to mind so Louis didn't shift away.

Harry's previous reactions were nothing compared to his current ones. Even Louis got goosebumps when the six Avengers took position, despite having watched it so many times before. Harry grabbed Louis' upper arm in excitement and Louis had to fight the smile that was threatening to creep on his face. They stayed like that for the entire movie and by the time it ended, Harry realised he'd been holding Louis and tried to subtly move his hand hoping Louis wouldn't notice. But ofcourse he did.

"Got a bit carried away there, Haz?" Louis teased lightly.

Harry could feel his cheeks heat up and struggled to find words to reply.

"It was mind blowing Lou."

"I know I know. There's still do much more."

Both of them were too tired by the end of the movie, despite the excitement of it all.

Harry yawned and that set Louis off too.

"God it's so late, I didn't even realise."

"It's okay Harry."

"I should go now."

"Wait, it's pretty late and you're too sleepy to drive. I'm not very awake either. You wanna stay over?"

"No no I don't wanna be a burden Lou."

"Shut up, it's no big deal. I'll get the guest room ready in 5 minutes."

And Harry stayed.

Louis returned after a while to inform that the guest room was ready and that he'd set out a pair of his t-shirt and trackies for Harry to change into.

Harry changed into Louis' clothes and couldn't help smiling at the way his stomach flipped.

He poked his head in time to see Louis entering his room.

Louis stopped when he saw Harry in his shirt. His over-sized tee fit the taller boy perfectly.

Louis' face looked like he wanted to say a thousand words and Harry was dying to know what it was but Louis settled for a smile. "Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Louis."

Harry would have thought more about the implications of the situation if he wasn't so tired.

Harry was confused for a minute to wake up in an unfamiliar surrounding before he realised where he was. His heart raced at the thought that he'd just spent the night at Louis'. It was platonic ofcourse. Even though Harry wished Louis was rather in bed with him--

His chain of thoughts was cut by a soft knock at the door.

"Yeah, come in," Harry said in his sleep ridden voice.

"Goodmorning Harry. Hope you slept well."

"Yeah, thanks Lou," Harry said taking the cup of tea Louis handed him. "What time is it?"

"Uh, almost 10."

"What?" Harry sounded frantic.

"Why is there a problem?"

"No I mean I had some work. Shit, I gotta leave."

"Just have the tea first and freshen up. I'll let you get ready."

Harry quickly freshened up and made a dash for his car, telling Louis he'll call later.

When Harry left, Louis knew he was in deep trouble. He'd asked Harry to stay over and Harry actually had. This was anything but normal. He had to talk to someone about it immediately. Zayn.

PREVIOUS / NEXT

INTRO

[forlornmelody]

10 Shows/10 GIFS

I was tagged by @popesheyward to do 10 GIFS of my favorite shows! Let’s see if I can come up with ten.

1) Titans (The show that made us friends.)

2) Gentleman Jack (Finally a sapphic period piece that isn’t super depressing!)

3) Derry Girls (Also a period piece with queerness and positivity, but this one you can watch with your mum!)

4) Legends of Tomorrow (aka the queerest show in the Arrowverse. Sorry, Batwoman.)

5) Batwoman (I got into it because gay. I stayed for the aesthetic.)

6) Sense 8 (I’m only a few episodes in but I’m hooked)

7) Orange Is the New Black (I stopped watching during season 4, I think? But kudos for being the first show where I had to message a friend demanding to know if a certain character survived a cliffy)

8) Burn Notice (hardly anyone talks about this show and it makes me sad. I LOVE THIS SHOW.)

9) Jessica Jones (I love me a misbehaving woman who doesn’t give a shit)

10) Teen Titans (last but definitely not least. For this show was my gateway into comics, especially DC Comics.)

Tagging: @scifi-ginger​ and @samfishers​, if you want to play. 

[knives-out20]

I Know What You’re Thinking, Just Kiss Already - Cliff Booth x Male!OC

Fandom: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

Pairings: Bobby Brightside (OC) x Cliff Booth, StarBeep, DeepSpace, Platonic!Geep

Warnings: Swearing, Gay shit, Heavy flirting, Nobody has a collar kink bobby’s band is just experimenting with their style, 

Notes: Two shots in one day? Yea, I’m procrastinating a handful of school projects right now. Enjoy!

Dedicated To: @mori-ohs​

Bobby adjusted his choker, looking at Gene through pink heart-shaped sunglasses. “Gene, do I look pretty?” He giggled, twisting from side to side to let his skirt waft a bit.

Gene looked down at Bobby, with a straight face. “Yes.” He grunted.

Bobby clapped, excited.

“But Peep looks better” Gene pointed over at Peep, who smirked at Bobby.

“Suck it, Brightside” Peep teased, sticking out her tongue.

“Rude” Bobby dramatically groaned, walking away. He made his way to one end of the stage, by Cliff. “Cliffy, do I look pretty?”

Cliff put his hands on Bobby’s hips, thumbs stroking his exposed skin. “Beautiful” the blond answered, Bobby’s arms around his neck.

Bobby chuckled, taking off his sunglasses so that he could lean in and kiss Cliff.

Beep turned away from the sight, tugging what was around his neck. “I hate how it’s Bobby’s turn to wear a normal choker today” he whined.

Deep exhaled through his nose, cracking his neck. “What? Doggy think collar ugly?” He mocked, snickering to himself. “Don’t be mad that Bobby has balls that you don’t, big enough to make moves on men he wants.”

“Shut up.”

Deep trailed two fingers along his black collar, down to the O-ring that held the collar together. “I think my collar’s cute. Penelope has a choker like this, except the O-ring thing hangs from it, it doesn’t hold it together.”

Beep adjusted his top, admitting “Starchild actually told me he liked my outfit earlier.”

“Ooh?”

“Mhm. ‘It looks real good on you’.”

“Ow!” Deep exclaimed, eyes going wide in surprise. “He wants Benji’s body.”

“‘Benji’s body’? You’re gross.”

“You have low hope.”

“What are you two bumpin’ gums about?” A disembodied voice asked, the tone almost instantly recognizable at that point.

Deep spun around, his skirt spinning with him. “Ace!” He greeted. “Nothing, Benji was just bitchin’ ‘bout the neck stuff.”

“Aw, c’mon, man. Lighten up, you guys look good” Ace teased.

“And,”

“‘And’?” Ace looked intrigued. “There’s more?”

“Benji also happened to mention a certain someone saying his outfit looked real good on him” Deep added

“Ooh,” Ace’s eyebrows jumped. “Say it ain’t so.”

“But it’s so, Space Ace.”

Beep grumbled, sliding away on his heelies.

Deep scoffed, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. “What a guy, eh?”

“Yea, you can say so.”

Deep flattened out his skirt, fixing the bright bandannas on his wrists. He tilted his head up, gaze following the silver makeup around Ace’s eyes.

Ace’s eye caught onto the ring holding Deep’s collar together, and chuckled. He poked a finger through it, touching Deep’s bare neck. “Weird thing y’got there. What is it, a collar?”

“Yea. Beep over there was being a grumpy puppy over it. I like ‘em, personally. I personally feel like everyone has an invisible dog collar on ‘em, capitalistic rich people dragging us by the leashes.”

Ace blinked, pulling his hand away. “Rough.”

“I know.”

“You got much money on ya?”

“Just enough to get Missy ‘n’ me by, I suppose. No one in the band has as much money as Bobby- judging by his house, and the fact he’s juggling three jobs.”

“Three, really?”

“Yea. First came screenwriting, a childhood-stemmed thing. Then came this band. And most recently, modeling. He’s got the looks for it, that’s for sure” Deep explained, watching Bobby follow Cliff across stage like a lovesick puppy.

Ace watched them as well. “Is Cliff o’er there like...a reverse sugar baby?”

“Ha!” Deep laughed. “Nah, man, rats. Broke, yes. Used to live in a dumpy trailer behind some drive-in with his dog, before they moved in with Bobby. But the Buddies have known Cliff almost as long as we’ve known Bobby- except Monte over there, Bobby’s childhood friend. And ex-”

“Ex?”

“Yea, so is Damien. But that’s another story. Point is, we know Cliff. And Cliff ain’t a gold digger. He just drives around ‘n’ looks cool when he isn’t being somebody’s stunt double.”

“I’m learning more from you than I ever could in school, Deep.”

Deep laughed in an airy tone, shrugging. “I’m just yakking off, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, man” Ace ruffled his hair. “The more I know about who I’m sharing a stage with, the better, right?”

“I guess so” Deep agreed. “He could pull off a collar, too.”

“We could always ask Cliff-”

“Man-” Deep guffawed, shoving Ace’s arm. “Don’t do that to me, gross!” He fake-vomited, causing Ace to laugh.

“Drama Queen” Ace insulted.

“Well DUH, what do you think the ‘D’ stands for?”

Ace didn’t reply, but rather grew a sly, long grin.

Deep’s lips parted slightly, feet shuffling. “Nasty man.”

“‘Nasty man’?” Ace shook his head in disbelief. 

Deep licked his lips, dismissing the topic. He fixed the frills on his white top, feeling like- in Maria’s words- a ‘slutty pirate’. In his defense, a black dog collar, a frilly white button-up, some dark pants with smart holes in them, a couple bandannas on his wrists, and heeled black boots should fit the procedure pretty well, right? 

Maria was also able to do something with his face to make it look a bit dirty, but like strategically dirty.

Ace did help by messing up his hair, too.

Deep stretched his arms, Ace seeing his skeleton hand tattoos.

“That must’ve hurt” Ace commented, sucking his teeth.

“Ah, a common thing for tattoos” Deep held up his hands, clenching and relaxing his fists. “I look cool, though, don’t I?” He asked, tattoos reaching from his wrists to just below his fingernails. 

“Obviously, man” Ace scratched the back of his neck.

“Cooler than you?”

“Don’t push it, dog boy.”

“‘Dog boy’, eh?” Deep giggled, tapping his collar. “What, that the best you could come up with, Spaceman?” He teased.

Ace towered over Deep on his boots. He smirked, hooking two fingers around the ring on Deep’s collar and pulling Deep towards him. Ace looked directly down at Deep, their faces obviously much closer than ever before. “Would you prefer any other dumb nicknames?”

Deep’s eyebrows raised in interest, eyes going big. “Only if y’got any suggestions, Ace” he flirted, face slowly relaxing. Deep balanced himself on the tips of his feet, short hair falling back due to how his head was tilted directly upwards, at Ace.

Ace chuckled softly. “Our bands are collaborating, Derek. Everything has to be a team- if not partner- effort.”

“It takes two to tango” Deep reminded, finger gesturing between Ace and himself.

“Maybe so” Ace whispered, testing the waters that kept the border between flirting and playful banter with a buddy.

Deep felt a hint of a smile on his face, gaze up at Ace a gentle one, hopefully not openly loving. “Anyone ever tell you y’look weirder up close?” He joked.

“You lie, Derek” Ace poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue, “it pains me.”

“Aw, rats, whatever shall I do to make it up to you?” Deep purred, tongue tracing across his teeth. 

“Could trail m’hands up your skirt like a girl.” Ace suggested, painfully unaware himself if he truly meant that as a joke or not.

Deep assumed it was the first option, and thought nothing of it. “You do that, and I’ll mess up your makeup” he told, two fingers trailing across the broad shoulders of Ace’s costume.

“Oh yea?” Ace asked, condescending.

The two stayed like that in silence, eyes and grins soft.

Beep broke the silence as he rolled by. “Quit flirtin’, you two. Soundcheck’s in five.”

Depp watched Beep slide off, and rolled his eyes. “Party pooper.”

Ace quickly pulled away, hands on his sides. “Y’got that right” he nodded.

The two looked at one another, feelings bubbling up from under their strange outfits.

Ace departed first. “Deep.” He nodded, turning to walk away.

Deep nodded back at him. “Space Ace.” He returned, the two parting ways on the stage.

[dotshiiki]

I read it.

Cut because spoilers, of course.

Okay, it’s kind of hard to sum this book up because, ouch, it’s a real knife in the gut. And I guess I should thank all you guys who read it first (or knew things about it) for not dropping any spoilers at all because ... the thing I thought was a spoiler? Totally wasn’t.

I guess I’ll start with one point I noted somewhere towards the end, which was that the series plot is really heating up now (literally, lol, burning maze heh). And it sort of mirrors what I felt about TC in the initial PJO series. The first two books were lighthearted fun, and then things started to get real in book 3. People died. Characters got deeper. Here we see Meg changing and showing a ruthless side when her ‘roots’ are threatened—and coming into a power she’s not sure she deserves or can control. We see Apollo shocked into really understanding what humanity means. (And I agree that the character death was necessitated to spur that revelatory moment. So from a plot perspective I can accept its necessity. From a I-love-these-characters perspective, I’m gutted that we had to trade Jason for Apollo. Because, you know, four thousand year old god. How’s that fair? But more on my feelings about this later.) We even see ruptures and upheaval in Jason and Piper’s relationship, and Piper on a likely traumatic journey through all of it. The kid gloves are off—We’re not in your average ‘fun adventure’ territory any more and I will admit I was wrong ... RR DID go dark with this one. (To Melpomene indeed.) It will be interesting to see how he moves on after this.

I found the tone shift interesting. It’s really hard to pull off angst with a first-person narrator like Apollo, whose every second sentence is a humorous aside. And I did find that transition tough to swallow. The jokes and comedic references were jarring in the last few chapters, and it makes me wonder if the main character is really capable of matching the overall plot set-up. But ... I guess we’ll see with the next book. (The Tyrant’s Tomb, hmmmm.)

Speaking of the next book, it’s also interesting that we didn’t get the full sonnet prophecy unravelled after all. And yeah I totally messed up predicting that they’d get to Camp Jupiter and then get into the Labyrinth. We didn’t even see anything on that—the whole bad news stuff happened entirely offscreen! (And did we even get a resolution on what that was, or just a cliffy? Surprise surprise, Mr Supreme Lord of the Cliffhangers strikes. You guys think I’m evil with my weekly cliffhangers? We’re waiting a year with all of his!) The only things I managed to guess were Caligula and Incitatus.

So on the character deaths. Wrong about that too: I did not see it coming. I started out this book deathly afraid for Grover. Because at the end of Ship of the Dead, with Percy and Annabeth crying when Magnus contacted them, I was sure they’d suffered a great loss. And since Grover had been summoned at the end of TDP, that seemed to be the logical answer.

So every ‘spoiler’ I came across that hinted at RR actually killing off a character, or alluding to whatever I feared—well, I thought it’d be Grover. I really didn’t even expect Jason and Piper to be a big part of this book, but once that prophecy about one of them popped up, I kind of figured this might be Grover’s get-out-of-Erebus-free card.

Am I relieved Grover didn’t die? Tremendously! (Do NOT mess with the sacred trio, man!) Am I thankful it was Jason instead? Sadly ... yes. I’m sorry. I do love Grover more than Jason, and that’s just that.

Jason still strikes me as this too-perfect character (the kind we’d have called a Gary-Stu in the old days). Always doing the right thing, his ‘flaws’ coming across as not really that deep. (And go ahead and change my mind on this, I’m open to changing my perspective.) I didn’t have a real connection to him, possibly because first impressions—well, he knew nothing about himself ergo the reader knows nothing too. But one thing that IS evident about him: he’s a good friend. He’s still a good guy. And thus the impact his death has—it is tremendous.

So yeah, I’m still gutted that Jason kicked it. And his death scene was pretty darn powerful. Also, the fact that he died broken up with his girlfriend whom he obviously still loved—okay that’s the stuff broken hearts are made of, you know? We got to see all these reactions as well, and more are definitely coming. Remind me to prepare stacks of hankies for next year’s book release. When I think ‘Jason’s dead,’ I just get this sense of ‘huh. Okay.’ (As opposed to the jitters I had all week anticipating this book and thinking we’d lose Grover.) But then I think about Annabeth and Percy getting the news. Of Thalia hearing about it. I got Leo popping in at the end, oh gods. And Reyna, who is certain to be in the next book and probably the third quest member. And I think of all of them dealing with the loss of a good friend and my heart crumbles into teensy tiny pieces. Guys, I do not know how I’m going to drag myself into work tomorrow and attempt to tackle editing my papers because of this devastation.

I’m feeling a bit guilty as well because besides feeling relieved that he died not Grover, it’s almost like as a reader I was all, naaaah don’t like Jason. And then RR goes, I see. All right, he’s expendable, let’s kill him! Do you love him now, huh? It’s almost like the Dobby thing. Everyone probably called him annoying at some point, but you wanna tell me you didn’t shed a tear after Malfoy Manor?

And one last thing that strikes fear into my heart. I am no longer confident that RR will keep the body count down. I mean, he did the Big One—killing off a main character. That’s like a turning point. Like when Sirius died in OotP, you know the books will never be the same. Before I was so excited every time one of the old crew turned up. Now ... I don’t want to see them any more because WHAT IF THEY DIE? Pleeeeeease do not kill Reyna in the next book, for instance. And I am uncomfortably aware that Greek mythology Ends In Tragedy, even though none of the book series have yet ... the idea that this could all end in Everybody Dies frightens me so bad. I’m not sure I’d stay in PJO fandom if there was no more Percy and Annabeth. (And I guess I need to hurry up writing my fic then because I was actually afraid I’d lose motivation if Grover kicked the bucket. I feel like I’ve got a stay of execution here, but next year ... the year after that ... *shivers*)

Okay. Now I need to go and write a ton of angst because thank you, Melpomene, I hope you’re happy.

[redstarbonky]

tfatws ep 1 not-really-live liveblog (SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS HERE! HERE BE SPOILERS!)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ok calm down

SAM SAM SAM SAM SAM SAMSAM SASMASAMSMASMASMAMSMSASMSMSSM

oh no is this a funeral scene? pls i'm going to vomit

when did they invent zippers? sorry, irrelevant question

please stop reminding me of endgame steve I KNOW IT'S UNAVOIDABLE i just can't emotionally rn

tunisia?! a pretty country

this was edited deceptively for the trailer >:| why would you lie to me like that!!!

dang they're only doing desert stuff. tunisia's coast is gorgeous and you should google it

"OMG," screamed the frenchman

oh batroc, we meet again!

redwing REDWING AAAAAAAAA redwing FIRING LASERS ekjsndkfgn. sorry i’m excited

GET EM SAM!!!!!!

freefall firefight wheeee

batroc has powerful legs

do a barrel roll!

i feel bad for vasant here...

oh heck choppers. go redwing go

jeez sam just murdered that dude

sam has powerful legs. yeah i know i just typed that.

this cliffy area is super cool, very star wars

is it hot to have that kind of thruster/jet/whatever fire near your butt? does falcon have specialty pants that protect his butt from the fire? i hope so

goodbye batroc. knowing that guy he's probably gonna show up later totally fine and working for another evil organization

urban tunisia is pretty too!

a lot of US military of a certain age know a little arabic...

a world without borders? sounds cool and good, can’t wait for anarchists to be the bad guys in this show funded by the united states military (i assume) 😗

stop talking about steve pls

"what are you doing there?" y'know. going to a funeral or something...

though maybe it’s not a funeral. otherwise i feel like bucky would be here in this crowd shot LIKE RHODEY?!?!

RHOOODEEYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyYYYYYYY

no sam that shield is yours. sam. sam. your self-worth should be better than this. you must have that shield. NO. STOP GIVING IT AWAY. THAT SHIELD IS YOURS. HE WANTED YOU TO HAVE IT. SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM

SFBNDJFBDJBSDKGNFKHB SAM I LOVE YOU BUT YOU'RE BRINGING ME DOWN

we're gonna meet sam's family and i'm excited for it! i love portrayals of sibling relationships in fiction! it seems like in terms of numbers they always end up lagging behind romantic/sexual relationships, parent-child relationships, and regular friendships

rhodey come back...you’re the only part of any iron man movie that i’ve liked...oh i guess i shouldn’t just insult the mandarin like that huh

now that that my horrific incident of terror is over, how about some yellow filter to signify that we're in the past?

!!!!!! WHAT THE

SKFNDHJ?? AWEIUHGFDG?? FKJNBMVBNM??????@?!1? kshndfg.

tfw you try to reason with a brainwashed murder machine

alright that was dreadful. cool beans

i'm imagining that the winter soldier was handing out campaign fliers and buttons and stuff to help this corrupt person become a senator

lmao that smile looked painful

of course bucky is the mfer who leaves you on read for days. you’re supposed to be better than me, bucky.

is bucky pals with a grumpy elderly man? love it

PINOCHLE *dies instantly*

mm, mochi

oh no now the mochi is sad?! stop it i’m already sad

well bucky totally murdered that guy's kid...

sam is absolutely the cool uncle, and i love that he's UNCLE SAM!!!! so good

is sam not getting paid enough to help his sister???

it's cool they grew up fishing. the gulf is a real sweaty place to go fishing though

rubber ducky / you're the one...

does - does she know he's a million years old and has killed who knows how many people? at least he didn't lie when he said how old he was lol. be forthcoming with your murders, buckaroo

bucky has a sister??? had a sister??? if she’s still alive she’s got to be extremely old

this girl seems very sweet and has no idea she's psychologically demolishing him

OH NO IT'S HIM. THAT'S THE GUY. COOL COOL COOL

i want to eat the food.

the nephews are cute

man this episode is really globe-trotting. will all the episodes be like this? guess i don’t mind

i think ‘renn’ means ‘run’ but idk

that person has powers of some kind i see...

sam: [flap flap flap] banker: “:OOOO FALCON?!”

do banks in this world really not account for the fact that billions of humans were GONE. awful. imagine being in a job interview. “hm i see you have an employment gap here of five years, can you explain that?” “yeah i literally ceased to exist?” maybe it should be one of those protected questions they’re not allowed to ask you like your age or marital status. they’re not allowed to ask you if you were blipped

being in a boat basement (???) is pretty scary irl. little bit claustrophobic

i hope they don’t have to sell their parents’ boat :[

i don't read the comics much so idk who this villain could be! the super strength makes me pretty nervous!

ohhh dear...unhand that shield you eleventh-doctor-looking toolshed, it belongs to sam >:|

this new captain america, has he been dosed with the serum? maybe a new version of it? or is he nonpowered like sam? i’m aware that this guy is in the comics but i know literally nothing else beyond that fact. if he’s all serum’d up i’m really worried about the outcome of this show rofl

further thoughts

just checking real quick...yeah i’m still mad about IW/EG. mostly EG

sam should have the shield. i feel this is a completely uncontroversial opinion but it has to be said

sam’s poor sister seems sooooo stressed out :[

maybe sam didn’t feel he was ready to take up the shield, but he should’ve known the US government wasn’t just going to put that thing in storage, right? idk though i definitely understand not wanting to take on so much responsibility and publicity

the politician guy is totally hydra or whatever

batroc’s totally coming back, right? otherwise why have sam dealing with him in act 1 of the ep

i was waiting for zemo to show up for a while and...he never did? or at least i don’t think he did. i wish he had because zemo’s actor is really good. also there are only six episodes, they’d better show him to us quick :T

the therapist gave me bad vibes in the trailer but as the session went on the bad vibes went away mostly

bucky doesn’t talk like he’s from the 40s, but then again neither did steve very often. i just wish they had more old-fashioned turns of phrase now and then

winter soldier theme babey!!!!!!!!!!!!! the original music from black panther + the theme for the prowler from spider-verse + avengers theme + winter soldier theme are the only pieces of marvel music that stand out to me at all, it’s a really musically impoverished franchise which is a horrible shame

now begins my LONG, PAINFUL WAIT for next friday 😭 kill me