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stellafeline · 2 years ago

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Adult!Neteyam Sully x Omaticaya!Reader

content: established relationship, poor communication skills, fluff, kiss and make up, bad writing, characters aged up

warnings: slight angst, insinuation of smut- but no smut, otherwise nothing i think

word count: 4k

proofread, but barely proofread so sorry for any typos there may be.

a/n: this is my first ever fic posting on this blog. anything that i may write in the future won’t be based off of the canon story, just because my bby boy deserved to live. if it does have details from the comics/movies- it will be loosely based. James Cameron you will pay.

i haven’t written fanfiction since i was fourteen so i’m sorry if it’s shit. be gentle with me. feedback is oh so appreciated. love you❤️

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He kept his head and eyes low, unable to meet your gaze.

His head swirling with uncertainties, shame, and of course- anger with himself. This afternoons interaction with you still in the forefront on his mind, haunting him while he tried to go about his duties with helping the trainees.

He couldn’t get the look on your face out of his mind-

Your big honey colored eyes, wide and hurt looked at him while you twiddled your fingers.

A habit that he picked up on when you were upset or uncomfortable.

You couldn’t believe him. You had finally built up the courage to ask him if he could finally take a night to spend time with you. You wanted to show him a little spot you had found while gathering herbs for Mo’at.

It was perfect, located near where the original home tree used to be rooted.

A small pond with an island of grass near the middle, seemingly perfect rocks set up where you had already imagined him lounging on relaxing, while you finally got to pull out the handmade paints that Tuk had made you.

A couple weeks ago, she had noticed your peaked interest when Norm had brought you to the lab to show you how the new alarm system was set up.

You both frequented the lab together, bothering the scientists for books from earth. Tuk didn’t have much interest, but she was attached to your hip.

So alas, when you went to the lab- so did she.

While Tuk had him distracted- asking him what all the different buttons on the panel on the wall did, you took the chance to wander a couple feet away. You had noticed one of the scientists had left out some strange looking brushes, paper, a tray of multiple colors tabs, glass of water.

You walked over to the table, cautious fingers grazing the paper. You took note of the already painted image on the paper. It looked like a flower of some-sort, you assumed it was one that grew on earth.

You had been mesmerized by the simple painting, and ever since then- you’d been bugging Norm for information regarding different painting styles and art forms.

You had even convinced him to show you a strange moving picture on a tablet that gave you insight on how to wield the brush, flow with the paper, and to trust the process

Norm called it a “how to” video. How strange.

While you were a healer in the clan- your hobbies include making instruments, jewelry, and clothes for the people.

You had thought you could take up the human past time of putting the wet pigment on a piece of paper, creating art that could be passed down. Or even to just make something that was absolutely beautiful.

It had seemed easy enough.

The na’vis traditional way of story telling was through word of mouth and music. Your eyes had sparkled at the thought of sharing past experiences through this form, something different.

And Tuk saw everything. Her being the sweetheart she is, had taken the time (much to Norms displeasure since he was the one to help) and created a couple different paints to gift to you.

When she gave them to you this morning, you had cried like a baby. The gifted paint set wrapped in the cutest way with paper and brushes rolled into a bow of twine.

You hadn’t gotten the chance to show Neteyam yet since he didn’t seem to make it home for lunch in your shared hut, so that lead you to quickly scurry through the trees in search of him during training hours.

While walking to the training field, you let the sun embrace your face while you smiled to yourself. You felt so warm all over, enjoying the very air the great mother had blessed you with.

Neteyam seemed to have to spend more time with his father training lately. You only truly got to see him during the night, but the poor man was always so exhausted when he returned, quickly stuffing his mouth with food that you had prepared so that he would come home to a warm meal, and then promptly laying down to sleep, mentally preparing for the next day.

You always had understood, even when you felt love deprived. You understood why he had to do this and didn’t want to burden him more.

That obviously didn’t mean you didn’t steal him away for the day when he did have a free day. You definitely would and would take him deep into the forest to simply get a moment of peace with him.

Everything seemed to be going so well lately other than that slight detail.

While skipping over streams and following frequently taken trails, your mind drifted to thoughts of his laugh, the crinkle in his eyes when he smiled, how strong his hands were.

It was probably pathetic just how much you thought of your mate, but that didn’t matter as you currently felt a smile splitting your face once his broad back and long braids came into view.

You let out a cute war cry to make your presence known. You thought it would have made made him crack a smile at your more than normal antics.

He was speaking with a fellow warrior, ears perking up when he heard your call.

You didn’t mind intruding, you had done it before and your yawne had always seemed so happy to see you.

Which led you to confusion seeing the grimace on your mates face as he watched you walk up to him.

“Ma ‘Teyam” you purred, reaching out to graze his face. Brows pinching when he moved his head back to avoid your touch. “Why such the long face?”

Your face screwed up even more when he replied. Taking note that the other navi that he had been speaking to quickly walked away.

“What is it that you need right now?” his eyes snapped to the side, not bothering to look your way again.

The curt reply surprised you, never in the many moons you’ve know him and have been mated to him- has he ever been this cold with you, which lead to a pregnant pause before you could spit out a response to him.

“Hmm?” he tried again. His patience obviously already thin.

You felt your hands clasp together, trying to stand up straighter.

Being completely thrown off balance and usual confidence completely squished by your mates sudden coldness, you managed to squeak out an answer.

“O-oh I was just wondering if you’d like to come with me to a new spot I found that I think you’d find very relaxing after eclipse. We could bring a basket with some fruit and a lantern. I was thinking a date night? and Tuk made me some paints that I’d really like to sh-“

“I can’t, sorry narlor”, he cut you off, holding his hand up to signal that he wasn’t finished speaking. “I don’t have time for childish activities now or then. I must go to the meeting grounds tonight to speak with my father for the next raid. In fact you should be with grandmother right now for your own duties, not here.”

Your ears immediately pressed back towards your skull at hearing his tone, hurt filling your body. Tail going still.

It had taken a moment to fully process his words, but by the time you did, he had already pressed a chaste kiss to your head and walked away.

You stood there for a couple more moments, watching his large frame become smaller with distance.

You hadn’t realized that Neteyam had watched your face completely morph from giddy and happy, to like someone had spit in your face. He had to walk away before he changed his mind on the answer he had given you.

He wasn’t happy with how he responded to your question. He wanted nothing more than to take you up on the offer. He felt horrible with how short he was. You were his sunshine.

But he had duties to attend to, and you needed to understand that. Sometimes he couldn’t always the ‘Teyam you’re used to.

He was going to be the leader of the clan soon. The weight of all the responsibility was crashing down on his shoulders. It didn’t help that he had just gotten a heavy scolding from father for letting you distract him lately this morning, leaving him with a bad taste in his mouth.

Jake has been having him out on the field, in meetings, and leading hunts religiously. Taking any spare moment away from Neteyam. He was beyond exhausted and fed up.

Tears gathered in your eyes while you walked home, willing yourself to get it together since you still had duties to finish when you returned.

Just like Neteyam said, you bitterly thought.

The sick and injured were well, still sick and injured. It didn’t stop for your trampled on heart.

So moral of the stories?

All you wanted to do was simply lay with him while you finally got to play with your new paints while he got to wind down after putting in long hours of ensuring that the clan had capable warriors and hunters.

But here you are now, tending to his wounds silently cursing yourself for having shaky hands.

You hated how you currently felt. You felt like you potentially blew earlier infraction out of proportion. Feeling stupid at being so upset at Neteyam for being simply busy.

On the other hand, you wish you would’ve bitten his head off in-front of the trainees.

That would have served him right for giving you the cold shoulder, something he’s never done in the entirety of your union.

Since you had returned home from the training field, the short tempered tone and annoyed face of your dear beloved haunted your mind.

Had you truly caught him at a bad moment or was there something else?

Did he actually find spending time with you childish?

The longer you thought about it, the angrier you became.

How dare he? How dare he just brush you off like that? What could you have done for him to suddenly look at you like another chore?

You had been preparing fresh bowls of water for new rags to go in, loudly sighing every couple minutes while deep in thought.

You hadn’t even hear the familiar footsteps wander their way into the tent.

Neteyam hasn’t been able to look you in your eyes since he stepped into the tsahik’s tent, needing to tend to the large gash on the side of his arm. He had gotten it after flying too close to the cliffs near high camp in the hallelujah mountains.

He had needed to clear his head, or at least that’s what his father barked at him when he kept losing his sparring matches with fellow warriors during their training session this evening.

He was distracted, thinking about you of course.

Distracted when he was training and distracted when he was flying.

He couldn’t get the look you had out of his head. Your trembling lips, the way you shrunk into yourself, and worst of all- the hurt that flashed through your eyes. He hated it. He hated himself in that moment. He hated speaking to you like that. He knows he should clue you in to what all he’s had on his plate lately, but he’s never wanted to put his stress onto your own shoulders. But he had done something worse.

He has dimmed the shine of his sun with his foolish choice of words.

When he had gained control over his ikran and landed, the animal was already prepared to fly off as soon as it felt his body weight jump off the beast. Leaving him to walk the rest of the way home with a bloody arm.

While he walked back to base, the young worrier could not help but to sigh of himself.

Even the banshee was angry with him.

So here he is now, trying not to look at you while you caress his body gently, circling around him. Looking for any other scraps and cuts he could possibly have gotten.

Gentle fingertips running across his skin, leaving trails of sparks.

While you worked on his wounds, you couldn’t help but notice him lean into your touch. Testing the waters and seeking comfort. You allowed the small action, for now anyways.

While you couldn’t help but to heal him with loving touches, you’re still wary of being around him currently.

The pit in your stomach would not go away. No matter how much you tried squashing it down. You could not get his words out of your head.

He knew you were upset with him. Eywa knows you were probably even angrier with him after seeing him walk into the healing tent with a grimace on his face and blood running down his arm. Your face morphed from shock, worry, to irritation as you guided your mate to a table with healing supplies that you had been organizing moments prior to his arrival.

He took the chance to steal a quick glance, peaking up to look at your face.

Big mistake.

The look on your face only made the young warrior feel worse.

Your lips set in straight line, eyebrows slightly furrowed, and tail whipping while you worked. Your eyes slightly swollen, it looked like you had been crying.

Had you been crying throughout the day? He had seen you last hours ago.

His stomach twisted at the thought.

Quickly diverting his eyes, focusing his attention to the dirt on your feet.

Your ears twitched downward every time you found a little scrape or knick around his shoulders. You grabbed the healing salve- wiping it along his shoulders and arms, causing him to hiss in pain with every wipe of thick ointment onto his skin.

You took a look at the cut along his arm that ran from the top of his shoulder to the end of his elbow. It wouldn’t need stitches, but would be annoying to keep clean and to heal properly.

After cleaning the wound and wrapping it with long leaves to ensure that no dirt or unneeded moisture could interfere with the healing process.

Running your fingertips over the choker that adorned his neck, taking notes of the frayed pieces on the front and where it was tied together. Taking a mental note to take off the necklace when he fell asleep to repair it. You wouldn’t want him to lose the dear piece of jewelry during battle, training, or whatever misfortunate adventure Lo’ak drug him into that he would have to fix before their parents found out.

You knew how important the necklace was to Neteyam. It had been the first piece of jewelry that you had gifted him during the period that he courted you.

The craftsmen ship was subpar, you had been only a girl when you made him it. He never let you recreate it for him, saying the original meaning was too dear to him to have a remake.

A gruff clear of his throat dragged you out of your daze and you caught yourself still staring at him. You had been lost in thought.

Why were you even worried about the necklace right now? He’d probably find that childish as well.

Seeing his puppy dog demeanor, caused you to soften your gaze and relax your shoulders. You could tell he was chastising himself for being so careless with not only himself, but also the well-being of his ikran.

But still, you were pissed.

Eywa you were so mad at him.

But regardless, you decided that you would talk later about your earlier conversation. You knew it probably wasn’t the time to bring it up. You had to put your feelings to the side to deal with what was in-front of you.

“____”, he whispered, reaching how to grab your arm. Only missing it by a hair as you walked away from him.

“hmm?” you questioned, rinsing the bloody rag you had used to clean his wounds. You made a mental note to grab more salve and leaves to bring home, so that you could easily change the wrapping at home.

“Can you show me that spot you had spoken about when we’re finished?” he started, planning to make amends and to spoil you with affection to make up for his earlier foolishness. “I’d like to see it and see the paints Tuk had ma-“

“No” you cut him off. Feeling slightly bad that you had cut him off mid word like he had done to earlier that day.

“No?” his eyes widening, not used to you saying no to him.

“Precisely, no. I do not have time for childish activities. Neither do you, or so you said. You have to meet with your father tonight anyways, do you not?” You spat, letting your anger get the best of you. Your plan to not bring it up leaving you the second he asked.

His heart sank to his stomach. He hadn’t meant for you to take his words to heart.

You didn’t let him get another word in.

“I will see you at home.” Your eyes refusing to meet his, you didn’t want to give in on this. You knew if you looked into his eyes, you would grab his hand and lead the way.

Your feelings had been so hurt. Intentional or not.

Suddenly you felt a strong grip on your tail, pulling you into his firm chest. Large arms wrapping around your frame, caging you in.

You immediately started squirming in his hold, trying to get his arms to loosen up on their grip.

Sometimes your really hated how much larger he was than you.

The hold on you only tightened, his lips peppering kisses on your shoulder. His head nuzzling into the crook of your neck.

“Sevin, please.” he urged, hands wildly rubbing your body trying to get to melt into him.

Turning in his hold so that you would be facing him, his hands landing on the small of your back, pressing further into him.

With your ears pinned and eyes wide, you looked up at him. Waiting for him to speak further. Demanding your expression to remain firm, slightly failing when your lip quivered.

He didn’t, suddenly he was lost for words.

You waited and waited for him to say something. When nothing came, you took your exit. You let out a loud huff and broke away from his hold.

Gathering your satchel of personal belonging that you brought with you to the healing tent daily, picking up your shawl and wrapping it around your shoulders. He was your last patient of the day, you were set to go home now.

You left him in the tent without another glance, walking back to your shared tent. As soon as you stepped in, you let out a large sigh. If Neteyam did go with his father tonight, you most likely had a couple hours to reign yourself back in.

Deep down you knew that your mate didn’t need your attitude, you knew he had so much on his plate. He thought that he had been doing a good job keeping work and home separate, trying not to clue you in with how stressed he’s been.

But you knew him. He was your yawne. You had loved him since before you had even knew what love truly was.

You could tell everything was taking a toll on him. You thought about how his demeanor has changed while you took your braids out, they were in serious need to be redone.

Neteyam usually was the one to help you with your hair, but you had not bothered to ask him since that was the last thing he needed to worry about. So you’ll just wash your hair in the morning and leave it loose for the time being, it was your favorite way to wear your hair anyways.

Your poor baby. You were no longer mad, only feeling bad for snapping at him in the healing tent.

You thought about how the way his shoulders hunched, to the sore muscles that you spent hours rolling out, and the smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes lately.

You hadn’t seen him laugh in weeks. You missed it.

While deep in thought, you prepared a quick meal for him to have when he returned. Your stomach has been sour all day, so you decided that you’d just go to bed once the food had finished cooking.

You set out the meal on the table Neteyam had carved last spring, and walked to your shared mat. Bringing the blanket over your head, you allowed to let your bottled up emotions to spill over.

Curling your body up into a fetal position, wrapping your arms around your torso in a make shift self hug- you gently cried, willing yourself to sleep.

Neteyam padded into the hut, the meeting with his father went terribly. He didn’t listen to a word his father said. He was wracked with guilt, knowing your earlier tone was much deserved.

That of course led to Jake roaring at Neteyam, smacking the side of his head in attempts to get his attention. Jake realized quickly that it was a lost cause, his son too deep in thought to even begin to try to pry him out of his mind.

Jake knew he’d been running Neteyam hard, but he needed to be ready for when he was the olo’eyktan. He then decided that he would give his son a week of rest after this next raid was completed. Only needing to report for morning rounds.

After being dismissed, Neteyam headed straight to you.

He saw that the fire was dying and bowl of his favorite stew sat on the table. He didn’t initially see you, but after close inspection he spotted your small form curled up under the blanket sleeping, your hair poking out from the blanket.

His heart clenched at the sight, you usually always stayed awake and waiting for him to return.

He walked over to you and crouched down next to you, peeling the blanket away from your face. He took in your appearance.

Your hair was free from their braids, long raven strands flowing across the pillow. Your sweet face was tear stained and puffy, cheeks stained plum. Your pouty lips swollen from crying.

He mentally kicked himself, you had cried so much today. He wanted to wake you to fix everything.

Deciding against waking you due to you needing rest, he stood to his full height. Walking over to the table, he quickly ate his meal. Taking in his surroundings, he saw the paint set you had been talking about on the floor next to your satchel.

His heart clenched for the millionth time that day at the site. All you had wanted to do was show him your gift.

He vowed then that he would make things right in the morning.

Getting into bed, he tried to get comfortable but he couldn’t unless you were curled up into his body. Turning over to face you, his hand gently gripped your waist, pulling you to him.

He cursed himself and held his breath when you roused from your sleep. Big tired eyes slowly opening, blinking the sleep away as you took him in. You shyly smiled while snuggling in closer, nuzzling your cheek on his chest, placing a light kiss on his pectoral- quickly falling back to sleep.

He smiled at your cuteness, unsure if you were too sleepy to continue being mad. He chose to take this sign of good luck to give you a squeeze, somehow pulling you even closer. Signing to himself, falling into a deep sleep.

You slowly woke out of your sleep to the noises of the busy village and the snoring of your mate. Eyes blinking open, you turned your head to look at Neteyam.

He was sleeping so peacefully. One arm thrown over his face to block out the sun peeking through the tent flap the other firmly placed on your thigh- holding you in place. His chest rising and falling at a tranquil pace. The leaves wrapped around his arm needing a fresh set.

You scrunched your nose at his sleeping form, yesterdays concerns coming back to the forefront of your mind. You didn’t even hear him get home last night.

Tracing the freckles along his arm, battling with yourself whether or not you wants to stay in bed, basking in the warmth of the large man next to you or start to get ready for the day.

Deciding that you should probably get ready, you started to stretch. Raising your arms above your head, stomach hollowing as your back arched off the mat- legs trembling as you held your stretch out, letting out a loud yawn.

Sitting up from your laying position, you looked around your place. Neteyam must have gotten home much later than you anticipated, seeing as all of his ruck was hazardously thrown by the door. His bow and knife resting on the table.

You started to shift, preparing to stand up.

Suddenly you were yanked back down into a hard chest, barely able to breathe due to the hold he had on you. His tail wrapping around your thigh.

“Mhmm, where do you think your going, yawntu?” he purred into your neck, lips ghosting over the skin behind your ear.

“Good morning, ‘Teyam” you replied, trying to pry his hands off of your waist. You were determined to get ready and try out your paints.

Groaning at your squirminess, he flipped you so that your were face to face with him. Nose and lips centimeters away from touching. “We need to talk.” he grumbled, kissing the tip of your nose.

Your heart fluttered at the action, cheeks slowly growing a rosy color. You couldn’t help but to nuzzle your nose against his.

“About?” you questioned, deciding to play dumb. You wanted to see what his response would be.

“About how I spoke to you yesterday. I am so sorry yawne. I..” trying to get his thoughts together, “I should’ve never taken that tone with you and nothing you do is ever childish. I’ve just been so overwhelmed with training that I let it bubble over and took it out on you. Which is no excuse by the wa-“

You cut him off with a kiss, he was starting to ramble anyway.

Your lips danced with each other, lips lazily slotted together in morning bliss, his thumb softly caressing your cheek. Only pulling away when your lungs screamed for air, his lips chasing yours for more. Settling for soft pecks against your lips, he sighed.

“You know I was trying to tell you something important” He quirked an eyebrow. You only giggled, pushing your head in the crook of his neck, taking in his scent in large huffs.

“I know, but I had already forgiven you before you even got home last night. Neteyam, baby, when things are getting to the point of you almost exploding- please talk to me about it. I can’t take the cold shoulder, especially when I don’t know why i’m receiving it. I understand so much more than you know, I don’t want us to spend another day like yesterday again.” You whispered against his neck.

“I will, my sunshine, I will.” He promised, his hand tickling the base of your tail. “Now, I was not a man yesterday, but let me make it up to you and show you how much of a man I can be.” He gave you a coy smile, already starting to flip you so that you’d be straddling him.

“Don’t you have to meet with your father for training?” you questioned, hissing inwardly at yourself for even bring that up. You didn’t want to let him go, you wanted to be selfish.

“I, my sweet one, am a free man for exactly one week. Only exception is to meet for morning rounds, but i think my father will get over it for just one day” he grinned, fingers pressing into your hips.

You couldn’t help but laugh and smile down at him while nodding, tucking strands of hair behind your ear, eyes practically sparkling. You leaned down to connect your lips, leading to a heated kiss.

Muttering I love you’s as hands explored lower regions- hearts pounding with love and desire, grinning into each others mouths.

Maybe you would show him that spot later today.

Laying on your stomach, basking in the sunlight- you were happily painting something the humans called a fairy. You let the paint flow as you created a human like woman with ikran wings.

Neteyam sat on the rocks, lounging with his arms behind his head- eyes closed while your tail is wrapped around his ankle. His skin still wet from the swim in the pond he took earlier with you.

Humming to yourself as you colored in her wings, absolutely content with your life with your mate.

Everything felt like sunshine.

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please let me know what you think!

stellafeline<3

#neteyam x reader #neteyam sully #avatar way of the water #neteyam fluff #neteyam angst #avatar twow #avatar x reader #avatar #neteyam x y/n #avatar fluff #neteyam fic #neteyam imagine #neteyam oneshot #neteyam blurb

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this-is-cool · 1 year ago

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We've just got our hands on a copy of the excellent The Art Of The Box from Bitmap Books. Please check out our review and preview book video - https://www.this-is-cool.co.uk/the-art-of-the-box-book-review/

#The Art Of The Box #Bitmap Books #Art Book Review #4K Book Video #this-is-cool #scififantasyhorror #sci-fi art #science fiction art #sci-fi artist #fantasy art #Retro Art #Video Game Art #Video Game Art Book

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ohnakasimp · 1 year ago

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Both The Mandalorian S1 and S2 will finally be receiving physical releases in the form of steel book Ultra 4K blu rays. It’s not known yet if special features like a behind the scenes video or alternate takes will be included but it appears three concept art cards will.

Update: Each steelbook will cost $40. Preorders are available at Walmart.

#the mandalorian #din djarin #grogu djarin #bo katan #boba fett #ahsoka tano #the armorer #moff gideon #cara dune #greef karga #kuiil #ig 11 #star wars #disney #disney plus #mandalorian #paz vizsla

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arlana-likes-to-write · 1 year ago

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Second Chance - Chapter 5

Masterlist

Warning: mention of car accident, past surgery, cancer treatment, chemotherapy side effects, survivor guilt, bone marrow procedure, talk about death.

Relationships: Yelena x reader, Morgan x reader (platonic), Tony, Pepper, x reader (platonic), Wanda x reader (platonic)

Note: a lot of this chapter is based on my own personal experience with the disease. As I've learned chemotherapy effects everyone very differently. The type of chemo the reader is on is based on her type of cancer but the treatment plan may not be 100% accurate.

Word count: 4k

Morgan was pressed into your side as she scrolled through the many streaming services that were offered at the tower to pick a movie. After dinner, Morgan dragged you to her floor and sat you down to watch a movie. She claimed it was unfair that you didn’t play with her so you had to watch a movie together. It was cute and a movie night sounded perfect after the long day you had. There was something about the blonde Black Widow that kept her on your mind. It was a little nerve-racking. Ever since your diagnosis, you’ve sworn off relationships. It leads to more heartbreak in the end. “Wanna watch Moana?”

“We can watch whatever you want, buttercup,” she giggled and pressed play. It was a movie you’ve seen a lot. Hell, your lifelong dream was to live on a sailboat which you did until you got sick.

“Mind if we join?” Pepper asked as the opening song was over. Her daughter hushed her, not taking her eyes off the screen. You smiled, ruffled her head, and nodded at the CEO, who sat next to you on the couch. Tony slid next to Morgan, grabbing her legs and putting them on his lap.

Moaa was probably in your top 5 favorite animated movies but it was getting harder and harder to keep your eyes open to follow the plot. “Hey,” Pepper whispered. “Do you want to go to bed?” You shook your head, not wanting to get up or move Morgan off of you. But your eyelids became heavy and soon your head fell onto Pepper’s shoulder. You were too weak to fight sleep as it called your name.

The weight of your head falling onto Pepper’s shoulder startled her and she tried to keep her body from jumping so she wouldn’t wake you. You didn’t. “Do you want me to move her?” Tony asked. Pepper shook her head.

“No, she’s perfectly fine.” She meant it. When was the last time you allowed yourself to lean on the shoulder of another? Jessica Easton died in 2018, a few months before the Blip. That was 6 years ago. The case remained open. It was another layer to have you bare alone. So you could rest your head on her shoulder as long as you wanted, she didn’t mind.

“I have a meeting with possible investors,” Pepper said, looking at her tablet.

“I’m waiting for a video call from Bruce,” Tony poured coffee into the mug. You rolled your eyes as you filled up your water bottle from the fridge and poured an electrolyte mix into it. It was important to stay hydrated during your chemo sessions. The couple have been going back and forth for 20 minutes on who would be going with you to your appointment. However, it appeared that being Iron Man and the CEO of one of the biggest companies meant busy schedules.

“You know,” you said slowly and put the water bottle on the side of your backpack. Inside, was everything you needed to survive a long day at the cancer center; art supplies, a book, medication, lotion, and snacks lots and lots of snacks. “I can go by myself. I’ve done it before.”

“No,” they said in unison. You sighed, slumping down in the empty chair. Your appointment was at 0900 so you wanted to leave by 0830 to get there a few minutes early. They add to check your results from the blood you gave yesterday. Before every chemotherapy appointment, they needed to make sure your levels were good. 0830 was in 30 minutes and at this rate, you were going to be late.

“Everything okay?” Wanda asked, leaning onto the counter next to you. You sighed.

“Tony and Pepper don’t want me to go to my appointment alone but they are both too busy,” you explained the short-hand version of what was going on this morning. “So I’m just waiting.” She smiled.

“I can take you,” you looked at her in disbelief. She giggled. “I don’t have anything going on.”

“You're amazing,” you turned your attention back to the couple. “Excuse me?” They looked at you. “Wanda said she’ll take me. She’s a very capable adult and you let her watch Morgan,” you sighed when they remained silent. “Oh for goodness sake, I’m getting a needle stapped into my port,” you flipped open your jacket to reveal your tank top. It was March in New York City, it was a little crazy to be wearing a tank top but it made getting to your port easier. Everything went through your port, chemo and they could draw blood. It was easier than them having to run an IV every time. “It’s not like I’m having brain surgery.” You could see Tony thinking it through.

“Fine but you call me as soon as you're done and if there are any issues.” Amazing. Beautiful. You were half tempted to kiss Wanda for saving you.

“I will,” you grabbed Wanda’s hand and your blanket with the other. “See ya later. Bye!” You dragged the poor witch to the elevator, not daring to wait because they could change their minds. “Sorry,” you said told Wanda when the elevator doors closed safely behind you. “I did not want them to change their mind,” she laughed as the elevator moved to the subfloor of the tower. You adjusted the backpack traps and leaned against the metal walls.

“Are you nervous?” Wanda asked. You sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s not nerves,” you said. “The anticipation really like I’ve done this before but a knot still forms in my stomach, does that make sense?” You asked, looking at her.

“It does. I get the same feeling when I use my powers,” her fingertips began to glow red. “I know the feeling and what I’m supposed to do but my stomach still twists and turns.” Carefully, you reached out to touch her fingers that glowed. It was like a static shock; one moment you were standing in the elevator with Wanda and the next you felt as if you were in the car accident again. The screeching of tires. The piercing sound of metal against metal. And the screams of you and your mom. “Y/n,” you heard your name. “Hey, can you hear me?” You blinked, shaking your head slightly. You were standing in the corner of the elevator, gripping the handle. The doors were open and Wanda was standing in front of you. “Are you with me?” You nodded, licking your lips.

“Yeah,” you said, releasing the hold you had on the handle. There were indents on your palm from the metal. “I’m okay,” Wanda wasn’t convinced, the color was drained from her face making her green eyes pop. “It wasn’t your fault,” you assured her. “I shouldn’t have touched your magic without asking.” She sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

“Let’s get you in the car,” you nodded, allowing her to wrap her arm around your shoulders and lead you to the car. She opened the passenger door and you sat down.

“I feel like I got run over by an elephant,” you said. Wanda smiled and knelt in front of you. “I don’t remember the car accident,” you told her, playing with the threads on the blanket on your lap. “I just woke up in the hospital and I couldn’t answer any of the questions the police asked me.” You whipped away a tear that fell. “Could you help me remember?” You whispered. Wanda nodded, placing a hand on top of yours.

“I can,” your head snapped up to look at you. “But not when you are fighting this.” This was the cancer that was running rampant through your body. “It will be painful and I don’t think your mind or body is strong enough to handle it.” She was right. On your best days, you were lucky to not get tired before noon. “We should get going. Don’t want to be late.”

“Right,” you whispered, swinging your legs into the car and putting your backpack by your feet. Wanda closed the door and rounded the front to the driver's side. By the time she was in the car, you were buckled in. You were grateful that Tony, Pepper, and Wanda were adamant about going with you to your appointments but there was a nagging voice in the back of your head calling out to your mom. Why was she taken from you? Was it some type of punishment or test? Why was it her and not you?”

“Hey,” Wanda’s voice pulled you out of your spiraling thoughts. “Stay with me, okay?” She offered her free hand over the center console. “Stay right here.”

“I’m here,” you promised, lacing your fingers with hers. She wanted you to stay in the present and not slip into the past. You squeezed her hand and held onto it the entire ride, a little afraid to let go.

“Does that hurt?” Wanda asked as the nurse, injected the needle into your port. You were all settled in your little cubicle; a pillow behind your head and a blanket draped over you. Your water bottle, sketchbook, and book were arranged on the small side table how you liked it. Each one had a small TV, and a fridge and there was a kitchen for everyone to use. You never watched TV, content with listening to music and sketching. But now you had someone with you which was weird. You shook your head and thanked the nurse as she left.

“Nope, I put numbing lotion on it before we left,” you answered. “Now I wait.” Wanda looked around.

“And you did this by yourself?” You smiled, nodding at the witch.

“It’s not that bad,” she titled her heat at you, a clear indication she didn’t believe you.”Okay sometimes it gets lonely but the nurses are fun to talk to and I get some drawing done. Besides the double dosage days are the worst since they take forever.” You were given cytarabine and daunorubicin with a flush in between due to the chemotherapy possibility of damaging your kidneys.

“Can I get you anything? Or do anything for you?” You looked at your setup.

“Actually, can you go get me some tea from the common area? We passed the kitchen on our way in.” The witch nodded and journeyed into the kitchen. With a sigh, you picked up your phone and began to scroll through the social media. You liked scrolling through instead of posting yourself. Even though everyone said you needed to make an Instagram, it seemed like a lot of work but you tried to post every once in a while to keep your friends in DC posted. “Shit,” you mumbled when you stopped on a picture that was posted on Captain Mills’ social media page. You forgot your promise to Rebecca. Damn, chemo brain. You pulled up your text message and hit Henry’s contact.

‘Hey Captain, I need a favor. Call me when you free.’

“That was a lot of fun,” you said to Wanda as you entered the tower’s lobby. “Thank you for coming with me.” She smile with the blanket you used in her arms. She admitted to helping you carry something. It was nice just talking with Wanda and learning about her through her stories and not the media. The media wasn’t kind to anyone, you’ve seen it grab your mom’s name through the mud. Especially with her case against the Liberation Front, an underground crime syndicate that ran up and down the East Coast. She was able to put one of their leaders Enzo Martinez in prison for life. The local media outlets and officials were not happy with her.

“I’m glad I could go. If you need me to go again let me know.”

“I will,” you hit the button for the elevator, and while you were waiting, you looked towards Rebecca’s desk. She was done helping someone and sat down at her desk. “Hold the elevator for me,” you called over your shoulder and jobbed over to Rebecca. She jumped slightly at your sudden appearance. “Hi.”

“Oh hi. Y/n, right?” You nodded. “I see your talk with Tony went well.”

“It did and all thanks to you,” you fished out a business card from your sweatpants and handed her the card. “A certain captain is expecting a phone call from you,” her hands shook as she took it. Her eyes darted from the piece of paper to you. “And if Tony gives you a hard time about the time off. Let me know, okay? Bye.” You ran back to Wanda.

“Thank you,” she called after you. You waved and stepped into the elevator.

“I’m starving,” you said once the metal doors opened the metal doors to the common floor. Skipping past the couch, you through your backpack on it and made your way to the kitchen. There was stuff in your kitchen but you were too lazy to cook and you were hungry now. You opened the fridge, humming to the song that was playing on the radio.

“Hello, Miss. Easton,” you glanced over your shoulder to see Vision, reading a book on the couch. “How was your chemotherapy appointment?”

“Oh hi Vis, I didn’t see you,” Wanda lay your blanket on the back of the couch. The android took the witch’s hand and kissed the back of her hand. Awe, they were cute. “I had food on the brain,” you turned to look back at the fridge. “But it was good. Wanda made it better.” You pulled out someone’s leftover pizza, you didn’t see a name on it and would deal with the consequences later. You ate the pizza over the sink, not wanting to dirty a plate.

“I thought chemo was supposed to make her lose her appetite,” you nodded.

“It does,” you said, covering your mouth while you chewed on pizza. “But they gave me steroids today to trick my body. I’ll be like this for like 24 hours.”

“What can we do to assist you?” Vision asked. That was such an odd question. What could they do to help you?

“Right now nothing,” you shrugged. “I’ll probably be eating all day.”

“Well I can make chicken paprikash,” Wanda said. “I think we have all the ingredients for it.” Your jaw dropped and a piece of pizza was about to fall out of your mouth.

“You know how to make chicken paprikash,” You said in disbelief.

“I would hope so,” she closed your mouth. “I am Sokovian.” That..made sense. “Sit and I’ll make it.” You did what you were told but not without grabbing a small bag of pretzels.

“There is a restaurant in DC that made chicken paprikash not as good as the one I had in Sokovia,” the witch froze and slowly turned to look at you. She blinked once, twice.

“You’ve been to Sokovia,” you nodded. “Before Ultron happened?” You nodded again.

“In 2014, I was 16 and my mom wanted to help with the war efforts,” you slowly ate the pretzel. “It was a beautiful country.” Your mom was hesitant to bring you with her to a war-torn country due to several attacks orchestrated by the US Air Force to try to stop the country’s political turmoil. This resulted in massive infrastructure and property damage, along with heavy civilian casualties. Besides all that, you found some of the kindest and most beautiful souls in Sokovia. She nodded, her green eyes swelling with tears. You couldn’t imagine losing the place you called home in such a horrific way. Vision joined Wanda’s side, offering a gentle hand on her back.

“Yes,” her accent was much thicker. “Yes, it was. Now,” she smiled. “Let’s get cooking.”

“I’m a little impressed,” Natasha mumbled as she stood next to Yelena and Bucky. “Is that her third plate?” The blonde nodded as you finally took a break from inhaling Wanda’s cooking to take a sip of water.

“Stark is going to need to take out a loan if this is how she’s going to be every week,” Yelena rolled her eyes, slapping the soldier on his cheek.

“Please Stark could end world hunger if he wanted to,” the blonde said. The man in question walked over to you. It was a shock that the man was trying to be a father to you. Yelena was curious if he was going to help you or send you away. It was hit or miss with the billionaire. Yelena left her sister and boyfriend and walked over to the empty seat next to you. “Are you saving any for us?” She asked you. You giggled, whipping your mouth with a napkin.

“Yes, Blondie,” you smiled. “Wanda made a double patch.” Yelena chuckled.

“So, you’ll be eating all of our food for the next 24 hours,” Tony teased. You playfully rolled your eyes, the smile on your face growing.

“I think you can afford it.”

“I said the same thing!” Yelena laughed.

“Your old man has more money than everyone in this tower times two,” you spun around in your chair to see Rhodey and Maria. They must have just gotten back from DC.

“I’m surprised Stark doesn’t have more of you surfacing.” Maria joked. Yelena had that very same thought.

“How about we stop talking about me like I’m not here?” Tony asked.

“Eh, where is the fun in that?” You said, glancing over your shoulder. Tony sighed and filled a travel mug with coffee.

“Don’t tell her something you’ll regret,” the billionaire threatened his friend. Rhodey held up his hands in surrender as Tony headed toward the direction of Pepper’s office. Rhodey rolled his eyes.

“James Rhodes,” he introduced himself, extending his hand for you to shake. “Everyone calls me Rhodey.” You smiled and shook his hand.

“Maria Hill,” the brunette said. “Nice to put a face to the name.” You shook her hand as well.

“The old man likes talking about me I see,” you smiled. Yelena thanked her sister with a smile as Natasha handed her a plate. The rest of the team filled in to get their food and sat around the dining room table. You sat next to Yelena, only bringing a glass of water to the table.

“Not every day a stranger pops up and says you're his kid,” Natasha sat down in the empty chair next to Yelena. “Cut him some slack.”

“Hey, no hate,” you smirked, taking a sip of your water. “I am pretty amazing.” Your comment got a few chuckles from around the table. The Black Widow was sure she heard, ‘She really is a Stark.’ But Yelena scuffed and rolled her eyes. “You got something to say, Blondie?”

“Blondie?” Maria questioned. “What the hell kind of nickname is that -” Before the agent could reveal her name, Morgan rounded the corner and excitedly yelled out your name. It was the only warning you got before the 4-year-old jumped on your lap.

“Mommy and Daddy said you had to go to the doctor today,” Wanda appeared with a small plate with chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. Yelena was a little jealous of her mac and cheese but you waved the witch off when she was about to take Morgan to her seat. “Do they give you a lollipop? My doctor always gives me a lollipop.”

“I did and I didn’t get a lollipop,” the young girl gasped at your confession. Yelena began to eat her dinner but she couldn’t help but watch you interact with your half-sister. “The doctors had to make sure I stay nice and healthy so I can keep playing with you.” You tickled her sides which caused her to squeal and giggle. The sound brought a smile to Yelena’s face but it tugged at her heart and made her stomach drop. Of course, you were good with kids, what couldn’t you do?

“Are you healthy? Daddy said you were sick,” her simple question caused the table to get quiet. Yelena saw you cringe at your choice of words that led to this question.

“You know my mom used to say you can get stronger and stronger every day but you have to eat chicken nuggets and mac and cheese,” you snatched some of the food off her plate. “You wouldn’t mind if I..” you trailed off as you slowly brought the food to your mouth. Morgan gasped and took it out of your hand.

“My chicken nugget,” she said.

“Well eat your dinner before I get hungry again,” you smiled.

“I would listen to her,” Yelena teased. “She’s got a big appetite. I’m surprised she hasn’t eaten all of our food.” You stuck your tongue at her. Morgan got comfortable on your lap and began to eat her food, not realizing you failed to answer her question. Your eyes locked on with Yelena’s and the blonde tried to silently ask if you were okay. You offered her a small smile and focused back on the conversation that was taking place at the table. Yelena wondered how much Tony told his youngest. Did she know that her newest friend was a little more than ‘sick’?

Was it a mistake to leave one of his best friends with the girl who he just learned was his daughter? Probably but he needed to talk to Pepper before he lost his nerve. Quietly, he opened the door to her office and saw that was wasn’t on the phone. “For you,” he said, handing her the coffee he made; no sugar, a dash of oak milk, and either caramel or French vanilla syrup. She took the coffee and eyes him cautiously.

“What did you do?” Pepper asked. Tony gasped, sitting in the chair in front of her desk.

“Why do you think I did anything wrong?” He asked, crossing his right leg over his left. “Why can’t I, as your husband, bring you, my beautiful hardworking wife, coffee?” The CEO stared at him, slowly taking a stop of coffee.

“Caramel,” she said. “My favorite. So, what’s wrong?” Tony sighed, picking up a spar pencil on Pepper’s desk. He twirled the writing device around his fingers.

“I ran the few tests we have and there is one match.”

“Who is it?” She asked. Oh boy. It was now or never.

“Morgan,” he glanced at his wife. To his surprise, her face remained stoic.

“Have you told Y/n yet?” Tony wasn’t expecting that question or this reaction. He had half the mind to wear his Iron Man suit for protection.

“No, you're the only person I’ve told,” he leaned forward. “How are you not freaking out about this? I’m freaking out.” Pepper sighed, closing her laptop. She rested her elbows on top of her desk and folded her hands.

“I figured it was a possibility, especially with what Vision said.” Right. The android said there was a 1% chance for a parent to be matched and 50% for siblings. Of course, Morgan was more likely to be a match.

“What do we do?” Tony asked and stood up. “If we don’t let Morgan help her-” his voice trailed off.

“Then she’ll die,” she finished his sentence. “But are we going to subject our daughter to an intense procedure? I read about it, it can be incredibly painful.” Tony read about it too. It is why he prayed to whatever deity that would listen that he would be a match. Subjecting his youngest to that wasn’t ideal. But you were fighting cancer. “And you did say her medical team does have a plan B.”

“But it’s not a guarantee it will work,” he said, leaning the palms of his hands against her wooden desk. “So, what do we do?” He asked again.

“We talk with Y/n,” she answered, placing her hands on top of his. “Ultimately it’s her choice.” Your choice. Your choice and your life hung in the balance.

Taglist: @likemick, @averagetmblrusser, @@wandaromamoff69

#second chace #tony stark x reader #tony stark x daughter #tony stark x daughter!reader #pepper potts x reader #pepper potts x daughter!reader #pepper potts x tony stark #morgan stark x sister!reader #wanda maximoff x reader #yelena belova x reader #yelena belova x you #yelena belova x y/n

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canmom · 1 month ago

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Animation Night 196: the Demoscene

Hey everyone! It's gonna be a short post today, because the hour is late, but I've been teasing this all week, soooooo~

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This is a square-numbered animation night, our first in a while, and that means it's a night for something computer-related. And what is more true to the essence of computer animation than the demoscene?

And damn, what a topic. 'Computer art subculture' is the usual way of describing it, and that's accurate enough. But let's get into details...

A demo is a computer program which is kind of like a non-interactive game, and kind of like a music video. It generates images, usually synced to music, in realtime. But that doesn't quite get to the heart of it.

A demo is kind of a combination of art piece and coding challenge. The exact constraints vary: perhaps the whole program fits into a tiny size (such as 4kb). Or, it's made for a specific oldschool computer, such as the Amiga, taking advantage of the unique quirks of the hardware to push its graphics capabilities to the absolute limit.

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Perhaps it's better to start with the history - a well-covered subject in books, articles and even documentaries, which I will have to cover extremely briefly. Back in the late 70s and 80s, when personal computing was really taking off with machines like the Commodore 64, copyright took a while to catch up - particularly in Europe. With network bandwidth far more limited than now, it became popular (relatively speaking) to distribute cracked software at events known as 'copy parties' - you'd bring along your files and exchange them for others.

Often, the groups who created the cracks would add a little intro to take credit for their hard work. With space at an absolute premium, these 'intros' would need to be tiny - perhaps just hundreds of bytes. But constraints breed creativity, and soon groups would compete to distinguish themselves with the most impressive intros. Perhaps you see where this is going...

I'm going to brush over a long and fascinating history here, because space is limited and I would rather try and dig into the history another time - I'm hardly the person to tell it, anyway. So let's just say this: the practice of making these intros, or more generally demos, very quickly grew into its own art form - if you didn't have cracked software you could just bring along a cool intro to the copy party. And as copyright law heated up and the cops started coming for copyparties, the nascent demoscene started to diverge from the warez scene, developing into its own, unique subculture - legal but still indebted to the hacker culture which birthed it.

Broadly speaking, the demoscene is organised around demoparties - big gatherings, largely taking place around Europe, where groups gather to enter their demos into competition, create new demos right there, and engage in related activities like live coding... or dorky shit like throwing keyboards as far as possible, don't ask me about that one. It's not all about creating demos either - over time, the categories have expanded to include music, digital art in general, 3D asset creation, etc. etc., unified more by the aesthetic of the scene than anything. Take a look at the entries for a party like Revision (the largest party, based in Germany, hosting about 800 guests each year) to get a sense of the broad scope of the scene.

But the core of it all is still demos! 4k, 8k, 64k, unlimited in size. PC, amiga. Demos have evolved a great deal over the decades, and it is hard to generalise too much. Still, in contrast to game graphics, which usually emphasise authored content, efficient streaming of assets etc. etc., the emphasis of the demoscene tends to be much more on procedural effects and more abstract visuals.

You can get a taste for what a winning demo looked like as of 2007 with debris. by the group Farbrausch, pouet.net's top-rated demo of all time: techno music, a camera flying over a cityscape as cubes stream around...

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And here's one of the most popular 4kb demos, rendering a procedural snowy landscape with a bit of chromatic aberration to taste...

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Modern demos have introduced tools like the node-based animation and sim software Notch, which shifts the emphasis away from programming a bit. Rainmaker, which won Revision's PC demo category this year, hardly attempts to optimise for file size, with its executable weighing in at a hefty half a gigabyte, but it certainly goes all out with all that data, hitting flashy scene after flashy scene...

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Even in the space-contained categories like 64k and 4k, you can see a modern approach to HDR colour, grading, depth of field etc.:

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Especially for the smaller categories of demo, the music tends to be procedurally generated - i.e., chiptunes - as well. But even without that constraint, there is a natural tendency towards many types of electronic music in the scene. After all, it's all about making computers do cool shit.

And to be clear, although technical flexing and generative art is definitely a big part of it, there's plenty of familiar animation stuff in here too. Successful demos tend to feature tight music sync, creative imagery, and definitely some kind of progression or flow in how the images are juxtaposed and how they fit the development of the music. If you felt really pretentious, you could compare it to poetry. I do feel really pretentious, so I will!

Where do you find demos? Unfortunately, there are now many dead links. pouet.net is still something of a hub, featuring a pretty exhaustive database of demos and a voting system to sort them by popularity, as well as providing a forum for the scene (hopefully not about to disappear as its main admin just announced his plans to quit). Demoscene.info tries to be a decent public-facing intro, with links to the major parties and groups that still mostly work. The scene.org awards celebrated a set of demos each year from 2002 to 2011. Youtube psenough reports weekly on what's happening in the scene. There's also Demozoo, a database similar to pouet.

We might also here mention the website Shadertoy, likely familiar to any graphics programmer, which was co-created by oldschool scener Inigo Quilez and carries much of the same spirit. Shadertoy lets you write fragment shaders in opengl to run in the browser, essentially a type of demo, and people use it for all sorts of shit.

So, that's a brief summary. Tonight, starting in just a minute, if you'd like to join me at twitch.tv/canmom, we'll be checking out a random cross-section of popular demos from across the last few decades. I'll be running them on my computer, if possible. I fully admit to being an outsider to the scene, yet to go to a demoparty and see it all in person, but I think it's cool as shit, so let's go explore it together for a couple of hours~

#animation night #demoscene #Youtube

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astoundingbeyondbelief · 1 year ago

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Kaiju Weeks in Review (July 16-29, 2023)

Legendary announced a pair of Monsterverse comics during a panel at San Diego Comic Con. They've said nothing further since, and no one posted the panel online, so I have less to tell you than I'd like. Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted is the obligatory prequel comic for the film. From the pages they showed off, it looks like Zid has art duties again (well-deserved) and the monsters that Kong is fighting could be the "swamp kitt[ies]" cut from Godzilla vs. Kong. Release date is February 27. Monsterverse Declassified is going to spotlight some of the series' original monsters, with the previews showing Behemoth, Amhuluk, and Tiamat. (Supposedly Scylla, Doug, and the previously-unseen Abaddon will be in it too.)

Toho is finally letting Togen's 4K scans of some of its Godzilla films out of satellite TV jail as tie-ins to Godzilla Minus One. Godzilla (1954) and Mothra vs. Godzilla are coming to 4K Ultra HD on October 25, with Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, and Destroy All Monsters on November 22 and Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Godzilla vs. Biollante. Expect them to be as English-unfriendly as Toho's other releases - but a vague promise of "unused special effects footage", combined with some very crisp-looking photos in a recent book, means there's a chance the Frontier Missile sequence from Godzilla vs. The Thing will be included with Mothra vs. Godzilla. That'd be a godsend, considering how elusive an uncropped, uncut, high-quality version of the scene has proven to be.

These releases will easily be the best Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, Astro-Monster, and Biollante have ever looked on home video. But with Togen shutting down, it's unclear when the rest of the pre-Shin films in the series will get upgrades. (It's also unclear when Toho will permit anyone outside Japan to use these versions for streaming or home video.) So this announcement feels bittersweet to me.

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We have a release date for GAMERA -Rebirth- (September 7), a second trailer, and a reveal for the final monster: Viras! As @starestream pointed out, there's a lot of Legion in that design (along with Iris in Zigra). And as Maser Patrol pointed out, this is the same enemy kaiju lineup that Trendmasters chose for its toyline back in 1998. Poor Barugon, no one wants to taste the rainbow (and it probably hurts that he's so visually similar to Jiger too). To be honest, this trailer didn't do much for me; a bit too chaotic. Hopefully it'll be easier to tell what's happening in the show proper.

Bandai, of course, has readied Movie Monster Series figures of Viras, Zigra, and Guiron already. We're also getting a prequel manga set 100,000 years before the show.

Decades after his rampage through the Marvel Universe, Godzilla is barging into the world of DC (where he'll finally meet Batman). Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong is a seven-issue limited series launching October 17, written by Brian Buccellato (who also penned the short "Fight or Flight" comic that will be included in Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus later this year) with art by Christian Duce. The inciting incident is a battle between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, which tears a hole in reality to let the Monsterverse through.

I'll confess, I was more jazzed for last year's Power Rangers crossover, thanks to the tokusatsu link. This could just be more of Warner Bros. Discovery bashing its toys together. I'm most curious to see if the Legion of Doom makes a bid to conquer the Monsterverse, which with Godzilla and Kong out of the picture is far less prepared for them than the DC universe is for a couple of giant monsters. Superman beats them all, as Ken Yano once said.

Hiya is stepping further out of S.H.Monsterarts' shadow with a figure of the female MUTO, a character long neglected by toymakers. They showed her off at San Diego Comic Con. Playmates meanwhile releases an ad for Titan Tech Rodan - I'm glad they're not giving up on this delightful subline.

Summer Smash concludes IDW's middle-grade Monsters and Protectors storyline, which has spanned the entirety of their second go-round with Godzilla. You can tell it was supposed to be another miniseries; Godzilla, Jet Jaguar, and Mothra send Mecha-King Ghidorah and the Xiliens packing pretty quickly. Art's still great though.

Godzilla Rivals will persist into October with Vs. Mechagodzilla, the magnificent machine being the last of the Toho's Big Five to headline one of these comics. The intriguing logline:

IS YOUR CITY BESIEGED BY KAIJU? DO YOU LIE AWAKE AT NIGHT ANXIOUSLY LISTENING FOR THE MONSTER SIRENS? HAVE YOU HAD ALL YOU CAN TAKE OF GIANT LIZARDS, MOTHS, PTERODACTYLS, AND SHRIMP? THEN CALL TRACER TECH TODAY! OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART ANTI-KAIJU TECHNOLOGY HAS ALLOWED DOZENS OF CITIES AROUND THE WORLD TO FEND OFF THE THREAT OF MONSTER ATTACK. San Palomar, California. It’s a sleepy city with not much going on. That is, until Tracer Tech built their new corporate headquarters there, displacing lifelong citizens and forcing out local businesses. But what is the source of Tracer’s amazing, almost alien technology, and why has it put San Palomar in Godzilla’s sights? And what can a couple of local kids like Alex and Jaz do to protect their city when the King of the Monsters and its robot doppelgänger clash?

SRS Cinema has opened preorders for The Whale God, revealing this cover art by Bob Eggleton. Special features aren't anything spectacular (they're vaguely described, but I think a couple of essays are included, plus the obligatory trailers). Should be out by the end of the year.

The disc replacement program for Cleopatra Entertainment's misbegotten Shin Ultraman releases has resulted in an only marginally better product. The opening montage has subtitles now... but like the rest of the movie, they're just copied from the English dub. Dubtitles in 2023... and for a film that already has a perfectly good official English translation, no less. Oh, and they threw in some new visual glitches too. If your local library picks up a copy, I recommend telling them about the disc replacement program (as I've done), but don't give these clowns your money.

#kaiju week in review #godzilla #idw #the whale god #gamera rebirth #dc #capes

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