#AND NOW THE WHOLE MOVIE IS ONCE AGAIN FRESH IN MY MIND

[goblinbugthing]

the neverending story is the best movie of all time btw

[ffsg0jo]

the acrid smell of acetone permeates the room as you gently rub away the chipped black polish on sukuna's fingers. in hindsight, you really should've worn a mask, but when sukuna asked if you wanted to 'paint his nails or whatever', you jumped at the opportunity before he changed his mind.

"hurry up brat," sukuna scoffs, clicking the roof of his mouth. you squeeze the hand held in yours in annoyance and meet his gaze.

"patience kuna, you can't rush art!"

"what art, you're painting my nails black?"

"just shush and let me paint them."

"don't tell me to shush, i've beaten people up for less."

"okay big guy, anyways i'm done. gonna start painting them now."

sukuna only grunts in acknowledgement and leans back in his chair, closing his eyes. he's had a long day today, and the gentle rubbing of your hands on his calmed him down. he'd never admit it, but he finds it relaxing when you play with his hands. your soft skin pressing against his.

he missed you today. he doesn't understand why because he comes home to you every single evening, but he felt uneasy the whole day. at first, he thought he might've eaten some bad meat, but he realised he was unlocking his phone just to see the picture of you he kept as his background. he found himself scrolling through his gallery on his lunch break, which consisted of pictures of his nephews, car parts, and mainly you.

sukuna felt lovesick.

he just wanted to come home, leap straight into your arms, and stay there until he had to leave for work the next day. was that too much to ask for?

but of course, his avoidantly attached tushie would never admit it or verbalise it. it's a miracle you're fluent in sukuna and recognise his need for your touch and closeness. which is why you were taking as long as possible painting his nails. even giving him a little hand massage whilst you did it.

he hummed and sighed in relief when feeling your lips press against the palms and backs of his hands. he loved you so much.

"love you too kuna."

his eyes fling open at your words, and he realises in his hazy state of mind he said those words out loud. you giggle at the look on his face and start painting his nails, finally.

your boyfriend watches your every single move, drowning in how beautiful and majestic you look. your gentle strokes when filling his nails, the tip of your tongue peeking out in concentration and the firm grip of your hand.

before he knows it, you're already moving on to the next hand. sukuna frowns at how fast the time seems to be going. he knows he told you to hurry up, but he wanted to savour the feeling. you look up, feeling the intensity of his frown and grin at sukuna.

"we can cuddle whilst watching a movie if you'd like?"

"only if i get to pick the film," he huffs. your smile only widens.

you finish painting his nails and gently blow on all of his fingers. his hands are so beautiful. strong, veined, with calluses from working so hard all day. the paint will probably start to chip away again, in a week or two, but you'll be right here to paint a fresh new layer on.

"beautiful," sukuna whispers above you. you nod in agreement, appreciating the black on his nails. it suited him so well, but maybe you could convince him to let you choose a different colour next time. you glance up at sukuna to tell him and realise he's staring at you.

not caring if his nails have properly dried or not, he lifts his hand up to your face, gently kissing your nose, your cheek, and finally, your lips.

"beautiful," he whispers once more.

i am taking requests and writing fics and matchups for gaza. check the linked post out to find out more !!

© ffsg0jo 2024 — do not plagiarise, repost, modify, or translate any of my work, in any way shape or form; i will piss in your cereal if you do. all work belongs to me and me only.

[amagust]

“Are you afraid?”

PAIRING: Four x Reader

SUMMARY: [Following the Divergent movie] After learning your new result from the aptitude tests, Four wants you into his world to show you how to pass. He’s determined to make you pass.

—————

After learning your dear friend took the hard way of not accepting the fact he was going to become faction less, you felt fear take over your body. Your mind was running a thousand miles a minute after seeing your dead friend on the ground—how could I let him do this? You began rushing toward the doors that led outside, gasping for the fresh air of the odd morning to reach your drowning lungs. Before you could make it, you ran into a hard wall, looking up you see the hard wall being your instructor Four’s body.

“I’m sorry.” You sniffled as you tried to walk past him but you felt his hand grip onto your arm. He pulled you towards him but you ripped away from him. “Stop, please Four.”

“It’s not your fault he chose this way.” He says. You look up at him and see the way his eyes glistened in the lights of the hallways. His eyes.

“Even if it’s not, I don’t deserve my position I have now. I feel like an intruder.. like I’m-” you stopped yourself from saying the word. You see Four furrow his eyebrows at you. “Like what?”

You let out a shaky breath and looked into his eyes. A tear sliding down your cheek before letting him know what you felt. “They’re going to kill me.”

You felt more tears slide down your face. You knew your fate. You knew what was going to happen to you once you reached the second level of the training. You were warned what was going to happen if you were caught. You were determined to train yourself to not get caught but once you saw the cold, dead body of your once good friend lying on the floor, that hope and determination escaped your mind.

You knew what was going to happen to you no matter how long and how much you train yourself to surpass it.

“Why do you say that?” He asked but it didn’t feel like a question. It felt like a rhetorical question—he knew why but he wanted me to tell him the reason.

I looked up at him, tears staining my red cheeks and my bloodshot eyes piercing through his.

“You know why.”

He clenched his jaw from your response and let out a hum. “Follow me.” He says, turning around and walking around the corner.

You knitted your eyebrows in confusion and followed his order. You followed right behind him, his body becoming your shield from the dim lights of the hallways. His silhouette figure on the walls devoured yours—it was alluring to you.

Once you both reached the room you have been in before for the fear tests, you watch as he takes off his jacket and set it on the chair. He looks up at you and gives you a small nod, letting you know you can close the door. You do so and face him again. He begins to prep like he would do before testing one of his trainees for the fear exam.

“You’re going into my world.” He states. You widen your eyes, taken back by what he just said.

You watched as he gets the metal syringe ready for the serum. What felt like seconds ago he was telling you to be careful—to watch what you say towards him as you watched the way his jaw moved from the food he put in his mouth. Now he was allowing you into his world of fears. Into what kept him up at night and took over the controls of his body.

“You’re just going to let me into your mind?” You asked in disbelief.

“Mhm.”

“I don’t know a single thing about you and you’re just letting me into your world.” You scrambled. The way the vibration of the words slipped off his tongue made you tingle—his voice was deep and husky, it filled you with something you didn’t understand.

“What do you want to know?” He asked, stepping closer to you. Instinct kicked in and you stepped back. He stopped and scanned over your body, “are you afraid?”

During the whole duration of what felt like hours of him getting ready for the transition, he kept his gaze fixed on you. It felt intimidating the way he held his eyes so confidently over your face—your body. It was the first thing you noticed about him when he lifted you off the net when you first jumped down, the way he held his gaze so strongly over you. The feeling of his hands gripping your waist as he helped you onto your feet was engraved onto your skin ever since. The first moment you locked eyes with him and saw how dark and dusky they were, they seemed empty and bare the first time you stared into them. It made you want to know more about what he put a front on.

“You need to know how to handle your fears correctly. How a Dauntless would. If you want to pass without being suspected of what you are.” He stated. You watched as he injected the serum into the skin of his neck and release the liquid. You scan over his face to see his reaction but he was emotionless; like he’s done this a million times. He walks over to you with the syringe in his hand, ready to inject you next.

“Why can’t we just practice with my fears? So I know how to face them when the time comes.” You asked. He ignores what you say as he grabs your face with his left hand, his right with the metal syringe ready to pierce through your skin. Before he does so, you feel the pad of his thumb caress gently over your cheek, like he knew it was going to hurt you but he wanted to protect you from the pain.

“This will be a lot easier. I can’t see your fears clearly on the monitor. I need to show you what you need to do to pass.” The tone of his voice felt like he was pleading with you, begging you to open up to what he was going to show you, but he also sounded afraid of what you might think once you go and experience his fears with him.

You nodded at his words.

You felt a slight pinch into your skin, your nose scrunches in pain and you let out a small sigh from the contact. He slightly raises his eyebrows, like he was letting you know he was sorry for what he did. After he was finished, he placed the metal tab on the outer corner of your forehead along with himself. He then guided you onto his lap in the chair, your back facing his chest as your legs intertwined on the chair that was centered in the corner of the room. You felt him grab the sides of your waist as you lifted yourself to lean back into him, the warmth that overtook his body was now intact with yours. It felt nice feeling the rising of his chest every time he took an inhale and feeling the breath come out of his mouth onto the baby hairs of your neck.

“You ready?” He whispered, his lips so close to your ears. You nodded in response. You were ready to see what kept his mind uneasy on days he thought too much. You wanted to know what pained him in his dreams and screamed him out of them.

“I’ll see you in there.”

—————

A/N: hello my dudes, I am back! And with my first ever imagine of Four. I hope you all enjoyed this as I enjoyed writing this for you all.

Please let me know if you want me to write a part 2 to this of being in his hallucinations. This scene is my favorite part of the movie and I wanted to write a little something about it.

[deliontower]

Wild flowers | s.p

pairing: Sejanus x gn!reader

summary: Sejanus finds you in the meadow

warnings: mainly fluff, small mentions of the games and some light spoilers for the movie and book

word count: 800

a/n: saw the movie a few nights ago and wow, I’m me fashion i did like the book better but the movie was still amazing and I have the old therebefore on repeat . I wrote this for my bestie because she couldn’t find Sejanus fics. This probably could be edited better

MAIN MASTERLIST | REQUEST OPEN

The summer air was sweet, the flowers of the meadow had bloomed overnight, as far as the eye could see. Lily of the valley, young primeroses , deep purple violets, and dozens more you couldn’t name.

Hidden behind a massive tree, its leaves shading you from the harsh sun. This time of year in district 12 was unbearable. Only the rich could afford to keep cool, and you certainly wasn’t that.

Six days out of the week you worked in the local doctor’s. It couldn’t quite be called a hospital but it was one of the only places people could go and get medical care.

You lent back against the tree, weaving your hands through the tall grass and flowers. Bees buzzed but gave no mind to you. The day was turning out well, you had brought some fresh bakers bread and a lump of cheese, and a jug of water. Simple and delicious.

The mockingjays song hit your ears, the tune was familiar but the name escaped you. Humming along, some words came to mind.

Here it's safe, here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you

Deep in the meadow, a song a local brand was known to play, you had only seen them a handful of times but the songs stuck. Like it had for the birds.

The sound of stones falling and fallen twigs snapping pulled you out of a dream and jumping to your feet, frowning in the sunlight you spotted, Sejanus Plinth.

Sejanus had been a peacekeeper once but shortly after he had found his way to the doctors, where he was training to be a medic. He rarely spoke about this life before 12 but from the times he had (and from what the doctors said) he came from a rich family in the capitol.

“You following me, Sejanus?” you asked. Your tone was serious, his whole body went still. Then you laughed. “Come sit with me then, might even share my food with you”.

In his hand he carried a brown paper bag, “then I guess you can have some of mine”. He dropped the bag in your lap, opening the bag you found cookies.

Now this was proof he was rich, the baker sold cookies but only the other merchants could afford them Sejanus went on to explain, his Ma had sent them, blushing the whole time.

The shy blushed look made you laugh, “that’s very sweet of her, she must miss you an awful lot”.

“Just as I miss her” he replied in a sad voice.

“You might see her again, learn enough and you could go back to her” you said, laying a hand over his. His hands were cold, cold hands warm heart you mama used to say.

“I don’t want to go back there” he said.

What you said next came as a surprise to even her, “I can teach you a few things, like what plants heal and where to find them”.

“You’d do that” he asked unsure.

“Of course. We don’t have many doctors here and if you’re planning on staying I’d teach you”. You stood, putting the cookies on your bag. “There’s a lake deeper in the woods, you’ll find all the best stuff there”.

He followed and stood up looking through the trees, maybe he didn’t trust you and thought you were leading him to his death.

“Hey” you touched his hand again, “keep north and you’ll find the lake then it’s south to get back, you can trust me”.

He smiled and suddenly the sun seemed dimmer, he took your hand and squeezed it ,“okay, I trust you”.

The hike took a few hours, but the sight of the lake proved it was worth it. You found a patch of herbs close by one of the old houses, it might have been someone’s garden once.

You showed him peppermint that helped with nausea, liquorice to reduce swelling, lemon balm for sleep and any others you could make without the book of herbs and flowers you had at home.

“Where did you learn all this?” He rubbed a peppermint leaf between his finger and thumb. You pick a lemon Balm inhaling the smell, smiling.

“My mama was an apothecary, always been my dream to follow in her footsteps. What about you? Do you have any dreams?”.

“To help people anyway I can”

It was so easy to talk to him, somewhere in your heart you knew he’d understand. Maybe it was his eyes, brown the colour of chocolate. Sejanus was sweet, too sweet for the world, you thought that if it rained he’d melt away like sugar.

“I have a feeling you’re gonna do wonderful things Sejanus” I smiled and he smiled back.

[heartfullofleeches]

Practice

College Yan + Older Neighbor Reader [M + G.N]

Summary: A friend requests a favor from you after a rough night

Warning: Legal age gap, mentions of alcohol and drugs, emotional manipulation, groping

-

12 missed calls....

"..Hey, Y/n. Just realized you're probably still at work right now....l I just wanted to say thanks for everything. Without you - I don't think I'd be out here tonight.."

"Y/n - hey! Oh... just missed you I guess. I just arrived, and... honestly I'm really nervous. There's more people than I thought there'd be and I don't know anyone. You mind if I call again? Even if you don't answer - it's nice not being alone."

"Y/n... things are going pretty good so far. Someone just came up to me and handed me a cup. I've never drank before, but I have too many regrets already to have another. This goes out to you."

"Are you afraid of dying alone?.... it never crossed my mind until my grandad died a few years back. Nobody liked the guy so he just.... wasted away alone in his house. I don't want that to happen to me. I wish you were here."

"Y/n?.... fuck... please don't listen to that last message. Can you come pick me up? I sent the address to you earlier, but I forgot to tell you. I think I drank too much and I know it's late but... fuck."

"You're coming to pick me up...aren't you? You wouldn't leave me behind like everyone has... I'm so happy I-"

Message Saved.

You didn't need to hear the rest. Teddi was the sweetest guy you've met in recent years. A little rough around the edges, sure, but it's a given with everything he's been through. Once you cracked that shell, he revealed that dorky, loveable self of his who still cried when animals died in movies yet gushed for hours about his fascination with horror media as a whole. You thought you were doing the right thing by trying to get him out of his comfort zone - keep him from turning out like you.

Breathing through your teeth, you toss your phone into the passenger seat as you exit the vehicle. Beer glasses and someone's glasses left out in the field crunch beneath your feet as you cross the lawn up to the house and adjacent door. Poking your head through the crack; a sea of young adults and their peers overcrowd the living space - egging each other into boisterous acts and having the time of their new lives. Realistically you couldn't be a few years older than the older face in the crowd, but this wasn't your click. You walk up to the nearest, unattended person and tap them on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, looking for someone. Thick glasses, nose ring, blue...ish hair? Should've brought my phone out-"

"Oh!! You must be Ted's partner. Y/n - right?."

"We aren't dating. I'm their neighbor."

"My bad - he's just been talking about you all night so I thought - anyway, he's up on the roof. Said he needed the fresh air. Just head upstairs, the ladder to the attic should be right there.

"Alright. Thanks." You push past them and up the stairs - bracing your foot on the ladder rails that creek under your weight as you climb up into the attic. The room is foggy, musty fog filtered out the open door leading to the patio. You reject an offer for its source as politely as you could as you brush by the individuals occupying the space, pulling your shirt over your nose as you step out into the chilly night. Laying on a blanket made of someone else's coat, Teddi sits beneath the stars wearing the jacket you lent him about a week ago. He takes the blunt offered by a peer, breaking off its tip as he pulls it to his lips. You knock on the door frame twice - smoke violent exhausted from his nose and lungs as he turns around to see you.

"Y/n." Teddi staggers to his feet, legs tangled in his makeshift blanket as he trips and stumbles his way towards you. He sports a dopey grin, fixing your jacket to his shoulder. "Hey, we were just talking about you - this is.. uh.." He snapped his fingers. "Fuck."

"Trudy."

"Trudy! Right, haha - they're great, but not as great as you."

"That's great." You wrap an arm around their shoulder, turning them towards the door. "We're leaving."

Teddi slurs out a whine, leaning back - trying to pull you with him. "What? But you just got here. I wanna introduce you to everyone first."

"Maybe later. I need to get you home." Your right hand finds the small of his back, locking around his waist. "Car - now."

His pink face flushes further. "Okay...."

-

Loading Teddi into the car, his head slumps against the passenger window as you shut the door. The ride home is mostly quiet - his hand glued to your lap no matter how many times you nudge him away. His head rolls over to your shoulder and the alcohol on his breath fans your face as he speaks.

"Do you think somebody will ever love me, Y/n?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"I meant someone tonight."

He studies your face. No twinge of jealousy or sadness. You almost looked relieved. He swallows, buring the ache as he continues. "I meant someone and.... I know they're way out of my league. Kind....smart....when they smile it's like the whole room lights up. We hadn't known each other for long, but they've always been there and... I can't imagine life without them now that they're here. Despite our differences I know we are meant for each other."

You ease your foot off the gas. "....Ted. You're a good kid. If I had known a guy like you back when I was your age I would have loved to get to know him."

Teddi sits upright, looking down as he rubs his face. "Quit talking like you're so much older than me..."

"We're here."

Teddi glances outside. Always when he works up the courage to talk to you.. You park outside your house and round the car to help him get to his. Teddi clutches your arm as you face his yard.

"Please don't make me go home tonight, Y/n."

His nails dig into your shirt. "Please."

You sigh. Helping him up the driveway and into your home, you guide Teddi into your bedroom- afraid of what's happen if you give him the couch. Teddi relaxes as you cross the threshold into your living room. The familiarity of your home, just the two of you in this vast space - he wouldn't give it up for anything. The lingering stress melts from his face as you lower him into your bed, resting on the pillow you lay your head on every night. You set his glasses on the dresser and bring him a glass of water - wishing him good night as you turn off the lights. Hovering over the bed, he grabs your wrist as you turn to leave.

"Y/n..... please stay with me tonight."

He brings a hand up to your face, stroking your jaw as he pulls you closer. "Kiss me, Y/n."

".... how much did you drink, Teddi."

"Alot, but - I need you... to help me I mean. I've never kissed anyone before, and I need the practice if I'm ever going to tell them how I feel. You're the only person I can turn to for this. You promised that you would always be there for me."

You knew that would come back to haunt eventually. "Ted, when I said I'd help you with anything, I meant like teaching you how to do your taxes or change a tire. This isn't something we should be doing."

His cheek presses against your neck, fresh tears staining your skin. "We can forget about it in the morning.... They're all I have. You're all I have... Please don't leave me too."

"....show me."

"Huh?"

"How you would confess. Show me."

You sit on the edge of the bed. Teddi props back against the frame, tucking his hair behind one ear and fixing his shirt. He chews on his bottom lip - the moonlight reflecting off your skin basking you in that heavenly shine he always saw. He looks down. "I'm gonna use your name just to make it easier - okay?"

Teddi takes a deep breath. "Y/n - you... you're the most amazing person I've ever met. When I'm with you, it's like opening my eyes for the first time. You're someone I know I can trust through thick and thin... you've always been there for me, and I want to be here for you... forever."

He scoots closer, placing a hand on your lap as he cups your cheek - leaning in til his forehead rests against yours. "I like you...I love you. Please, stay with me."

Teddi slowly closes the distance; fingers restricted round your thigh as his lips fall flush against yours. It feels like a crime - your soft skin beneath his chapped, bitten lips. He presses deeper, engraving every each of you into his memory and being that his mind would allow. His tongue ghosts your lower lip, snaking against your teeth. His hand clasps the base of your neck as he adds his weight to your chest, pulling you up on the bed as he brings your hanging leg up to his side.

"y/n....."

He cards his fingers through at your hair - the taste of whiskey and desperation hot on your tongue as you wince from the abrupt tug at the back of your skull. The depth of your mouth is more indicating than any substance he had all night. His fingers sink into the flesh of your leg, working towards the curve of your ass as a moan vibrates through your teeth centered from throaty whine he makes as they close around his tongue. His lip ram yours as he tilts his head for a better angle with enough force to bruise, and by god he hopes it does. Biting down doesn't stop his tongue from barreling down your throat - ball piercing sucked to the roof of your mouth. He gives pause only when he finally accepts the stars dancing in view are from the lack of oxygen rather the magic of the eve- falling to your chest with a few links and kisses between greedy intakes of air and your scent. He giggles, hiccuping as his arms shoot around your waist.

"My first kiss...... I made sure to tear off the end when I smoked with that girl so I wouldn't lose it even indirectly. Was I your first too? Can you by my first in other ways too?"

You pull from under him as he nips at your shoulder. "You're not into Trudy?"

"Trudy?" The name rolls off his tongue with such disgust and confusion. "Heck no. The person I like is so much more special than her. I'm lucky to even be in their presence. I wanna give them the world. My heart. I love you.... them- so much."

You fall silent as he nuzzles his face against your torso, eyes growing heavy. "It's late, Teddi. Go to bed."

"Will you sleep with me?.... Stay with me until the morning?..."

".....Always."

Teddi cuddles up to your side as you join him in bed - fighting exhaustion to treasure your sleeping face beside him.

[okaylorrainee]

her way of water

characters. neteyam & female metkayina reader. sully family. tsireya.

synopsis. neteyam and his family left their clan to seek uturu from yours. on their first night, neteyam wanders by the shore to clear his mind. he finds himself away from everyone’s marui pods and comes across you as you bathed - he couldn’t get you out of his mind since then.

contains. aged up characters but only by a few years. timeline and some parts of the plot of the movie may be ignored. sometimes out of character.

note. hello! welcome to my first avatar ff :)! this was supposed to be a one shot, but as i wrote it, i’ve decided one part isn’t enough. sorry if any parts of the story seem weird. i still have a lot to learn about the na’vi. do they even bathe? idk. english is not my first language so please feel free to correct me if i get anything wrong! also, this may be the first avatar ff i’ve ever written and published but it might not be the last so stay tuned!

Ch 01 [ masterlist . next ]

he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. a low grunt left his lips as he sat up in frustration. he looked around and his family was in deep slumber, perhaps due to exhaustion from all of the water training they’ve done all day. he wished he could be the same, then at least he’d silence the sadness he felt from leaving his home. 

neteyam didn’t want to voice it out too much. he knew it was harder for his parents, especially for his mother whose whole life was the forest. he refused to burden the family with his emotions, so he suppressed them, like the responsible eldest son he always was.

he sighed, making his way out of their family pod. he didn’t know where he was going at this time of the night, but he just allowed his feet to keep going. wherever he’d end up, he’d just make sure to find his way back again before the sun rises. because tomorrow was another day to learn the ways of the metkayina, to be one of them. 

neteyam uttered not a single word, and nothing but the sound of waves surrounded him. the breeze accompanied him as he walked, his hair flowing with the wind that the beads braided with them collided every now and then. he found the air relaxing, that every time he inhaled he felt like his lungs were being cleansed from how fresh it was.

awa’atlu was indeed a very beautiful place, but neteyam adored his clan’s forest more.

neteyam found himself by the edge of the shore. beside him stood the palm trees that formed the forest he has yet to explore. thinking he had gone too far away from the village, neteyam was about to turn and walk back, until he heard low humming come from his left, the parallel of the village’s front. 

curious, he carefully approached and followed the sound. the humming got louder as he got closer. and soon, a figure came into view in front of him. it was a silhouette of a metkayina na’vi, waist deep within the water, staring into the vast ocean in front of her.

neteyam hadn’t felt his eyes gape at the sight of her. she was undressed, nothing but her long hair covering parts no one but only her future mate should see. her skin was wet and the freckles all around her body made her glow. this kind of scene should not be new to him, after all, he too had freckles that glowed in the dark. but for some reason, neteyam seemed to be so mesmerized by her that he found it hard to look away. only when her whispers of singing reached his ears once more did he realize that he was staring at this naked na’vi woman. he immediately turned away and hid behind a palm tree.

neteyam’s cheek burned from embarrassment. just what was he doing? but actually, what was she doing? at this time of the night while the rest of the clan was asleep, she was here apparently bathing at the opposite side of the village’s island. for someone who spends so much time in the water, this metkayina woman had the thought of washing herself in the middle of the night - neteyam found it a bit odd.

however, he stood still from his spot. he didn’t want to walk away, he was curious as to what she might be up to. this wasn’t weird, right? it’s not like he was watching her. he was simply… waiting.

a couple of minutes passed but nothing else happened. she continued doing whatever it was she was doing by the water, creating small splashing sounds here and there while humming another song different from the previous one. this whole time, neteyam was leaning on the tree, staring at the sand and doing nothing. but he had to admit, instead of being bored out of his mind, he enjoyed his time listening to her voice.

soon enough another gentle splash came from behind him, it sounded different from the ones before, indicating that she might be leaving the water. neteyam felt a sudden wave of nervousness, worried she might find him. so without looking back, he quickly ran to the direction of the village, moving carefully to not alert her of his presence.

it had been long since then. hours had passed and the sun had risen. neteyam and his siblings were once again under the care of the olo’eyktan’s children to learn about metkayina customs. today, they were polishing their riding skills with ilus.

tsireya and her brother were watching the sullys from near the shore, both mounted on their ilu companions. ao’nung spent most of the time snickering as he watched lo’ak fail over and over, and tsireya would smack him to make him stop. she flashes a gentle smile to lo’ak when he peeks to look in her direction, and he nods at her trying to appear cool before getting thrown off once more for losing focus. she giggled, lo’ak appeared very cute to her.

tsireya shifted her eyes to the others. kiri and tuk, who were accompanied by ao’nung’s friend, rotxo, seemed to be doing better than their brother. tsireya noticed how kiri appeared to be a natural at everything they have taught them so far, and she thinks it may be because of the special kind of connection kiri had with nature. but tsireya didn’t comment on it any further, she had only met them yesterday.

meanwhile, neteyam was alone on the far right of the group. tsireya noted how neteyam was quick to adapt and learn, and that it wasn’t difficult to teach him. compared to his brother, neteyam took things slow at first and it made him grasp the idea of riding the ilus easily. 

tsireya hadn’t missed how distracted neteyam looked today. he was paused above the water, staring at it in deep thought as he held his ilu in place. tsireya wondered if something was wrong, so she motioned her ilu to swim to neteyam’s direction.

“hey, neteyam.” she said to catch his attention.

the said man lightly jolted before turning to her. “oh, tsireya, hey.”

her brows furrowed in worry. “is everything alright, neteyam? it seems like you are unable to concentrate today.”

neteyam’s cheeks flushed. “i am okay, tsireya. there is no need to worry.” 

she hummed, still not convinced. “well, alright. but if there is anything we can help you with, let us know.” she turned to swim away. but before she could get farther, neteyam called her.

“actually, tsireya, there is something that’s been on my mind for hours now.” he started. “but you must not let anyone know.”

curious, tsireya went closer to him. “what is it?”

he let out a deep breath before shooting her eyes a serious look. “last night as i was taking a walk by the shore, i came across a woman who was alone at the opposite side of the village.”

tsireya pulled away in shock and interest. “metkayina? what was she doing?”

neteyam nodded then gestured for her to lean closer again. he whispered, “she was bathing, i think.”

“bathing? that is strange.” she tilted her head in confusion. “did you approach her?”

neteyam shook his head. “no. i could not bring myself to interrupt her. she was undressed after all. how would she react if a man came to her while in such a state?”

tsireya nodded in thought, agreeing to what he said. “you are right. did you see what she looked like?”

neteyam sighed. “no, but i listened to her sing.” he spoke. “she has one of the most beautiful voices i have ever heard. her tone almost made me fall asleep from how relaxed i was, you see. and her skin,” he sighed once again, “tsireya, i had only caught a glimpse of it because i had to turn away. but i could not forget how divine she looked around the glow of the bioluminescence surrounding her.”

tsireya couldn’t hide the smirk that was growing from her lips as she listened to him talk. when she didn’t respond, neteyam turned away in embarrassment when he realized what he was saying. tsireya covered her lips and giggled. “so, you have developed a crush on this woman you saw last night. is that it, neteyam?”

“be quiet, tsireya! the others might hear you.” he scouted the surroundings and saw that everyone else was still busy with their training. “but… i don’t know for sure. i told you because i don’t know what she looks like, and i am hoping that you might know who she is.”

tsireya shook her head. “i am sorry, neteyam. i do not know who you are talking about.”

a slight frown becomes visible on his face. neteyam’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “oh. that’s okay.”

“but hey, do not worry.” she placed a hand on his arm as a gesture to comfort him. “i will help you look for her. there is not anyone in this village i am not familiar with. perhaps with more details, we can figure out who she is.”

neteyam gives her a small smile. “thank you, tsireya.”

she smiles back. 

loud laughter from everyone else in the group interrupted their conversation - lo’ak had fallen off his ilu once again because ao’nung had taunted him. tsireya and neteyam exchanged looks before heading to the commotion.

-

tsireya enjoyed spending time with the sullys. she thought they were a very fun bunch. when they arrived, her days became something she started to look more forward to.

because she believed this arrangement would be permanent from now on, she thought it would be important for an acquaintance of hers to be introduced to the sullys as well. it would happen eventually anyway since they would become fellow clan members soon. 

also, tsireya believed this acquaintance of hers would be a great addition to the sullys’ circle, especially from all the trouble her brother and his friends were bringing them. tsireya was sure that a kind and open-minded na’vi would make her new friends feel more welcome. that, and she needed another capable hand to help teach the sullys better.

“sister, are you here?” tsireya peeked inside the marui of her friend.

you turned your head to her direction, away from the new top you were working on. a smile appears on your face when you see your friend. “tsireya, it is nice to see you.”

©️ okaylorrainee 2023. please do not re-upload, translate my content anywhere without permission.

ch 01 [ masterlist . next ]

[stillwinchester]

“Okay, I need a shower, but later, we can watch TV,” says Dean, looking at Cas hesitantly. “If you don't have any other places you should be in right now, of course.”

“I don't.”

“Awesome!” Dean smiles and grabs a clean T-shirt from his bag. He disappears in the bathroom, and Cas was left alone in the room.

They stay in a crappy motel, the one with shitty lighting and not-that-fresh sheets. But Cas doesn't mind, it's not like he needs anything comfortable; besides he likes life on the road with Dean. Especially the 'with Dean' part.

Before they arrived here, they stopped in the small bar with burgers, but Cas remembers Dean loves eating during the movie too, even if he had a big dinner. That's why he decides to go outside and buy some stuff from the vending machine. He doesn't have his own money, he doesn't need it, so he grabs Dean's wallet (he knows exactly where Dean keeps it), and leaves the room.

The vending machine is right there, full of cans with soda, crisps, chocolate bars and some other things that Cas can't identify.

Cas takes the first coin and puts it in. Unfortunately, it comes back to him. He tries one more time. It doesn't work again. Cas tilts his head, confused. He's seen Dean doing it many times, it should be easy. He probably should punch it, it was Dean's way to fix many things.

He does what he thought, his fist lands on the machine and makes a hole in it. But somehow it still doesn't work.

“I see...” murmurs Cas to himself. “You don't want my money... We will do it in old-fashioned way, then.”

He puts his hand on the glass, and his eyes glow, after that, snacks start falling... All of them.

He's not sure how he's going to take all of this at once, but he will find a way. Dean will be gratful when he sees so many treats.

Eventually, he puts in his pocket as many sweets as he can, and he takes even more up both of his hands. He comes to the room, where Dean's waiting for him - clean, wearing his favourite hot dog sweatpants.

“Dude, did you just rob a whole vending machine?” asks Dean at the view.

Cas' face stays dead serious when he gives his short answer: “Yes.”

Dean laughs. The way he always does if Cas says something hilarious, with his head tilted back.

Cas doesn't understand what was so funny about the things he said or did, but he smiles too, just because he made Dean happy.

“Okay, come on, the movie will start for a moment,” says Dean, wiping away the tears from the corner of his eyes. “And don't forget taking off your shoes! I don't wanna it on my bed!”

They sit together, side by side (without the shoes) and stare at the small screen. The television made weird noises, but they don't care. Yes, Cas likes life on the road with Dean. Especially the 'with Dean' part.

[velvet-vox]

My Top 10 Favourite Male Villains of all time.

"How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant". -John Greer, Person of Interest (2011-2016).

There comes a moment in a blog's life where some things are just long overdue, and while the argument could be made that this happened way too early, I'd say that as long as this helps me to find my groove, I am free to experiment as much as I want.

So..... Villains.

Gotta love them. As long as I do not meet them in real life. This post is in particular about male villains since I have one dedicated to their female counterparts in the pipeline so expect that to come soon enough and for this part to be rewritten. By the way, "villain" is a generalisation, I can totally put antivillains, antagonists or more general antiheroes in this list; your definition of "Bad Guy" can vary greatly and so can mine, someone like Walter White from Breaking Bad could have made it in here. My taste is very unusual, so prepare yourself for some unexpected picks.

Also, since these are meant to be some big celebratory posts, for the occasion I'll reveal my Italian heritage and translate every line of dialogue in Italian and publish it separately with a link, so that English readers who are learning Italian can exercise.

But first, some honourable mentions:

Oropo (Wakfu): Once you see the number 2 spot for both this list and the female villains list you might notice that I tend to gravitate towards characters with wasted potential more often than not, but while we're just talking about this guy, I cannot stress enough the amount of unceremonious mishandling that lies within his concepts and execution. Really needed two seasons of 25 episodes each to explore it to their maximum.

Tai Lung (Kung Fu Panda): I love him, but not as much as others, it's a matter of personal preference. He's an amazing antagonist, so even if he is just an honourable mention, I wouldn't call him a lesser villain by any stretch of the imagination; I once felt like he was too sympathetic for his movie's sake, but looking back at it again, he's actually moderately evil for a lot of reasons, even if Shifu is the main one.

Bill Chyper (Gravity Falls): It's been way too long since I watched Gravity Falls, I really can't give you an accurate opinion on this guy anymore.

Flintheart Glomgold (DuckTales 2017): That season 2 episode. If you know what I'm talking about, you KNOW. Also the music for that whole sequence was a banger, really driving home the deranged nature of that twist reveal.

Big Jack Horner (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): I feel like when people praise Jack for being a breath of fresh air in a stale environment, they often forget just how good of a villain he was in his own right without the larger industry wide void of truly devious antagonists that act out of pure malice.

The Wolf (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): Two villain entries from one movie? Of course it was gonna be The Last Wish, what else could it be? Honestly I don't even wanna talk about this guy, you need to experience the movie for yourself.

Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball): Everything I have to say about this guy gets talked about much better by the number 6 Spot on this list, but as it stands Rob was my first villain OTP and the guy who opened the box of Pandora for me on what an antagonist could and should be, since then my perception of villainy only widened and now I enjoy their role in a story in much different way.

And now, with that out of the way, let's finally start with the ranking of my personal favourite male villains of all time.

Major spoilers down below:

Number 10: Silco (Arcane)

This guy is the reason that brought me to specify who or what counted for this list as trying to simplify Silco into one specific group of characters is a challenge that can only end in a misunderstanding of what makes Silco such a complex and fascinating character with an amazing character arc, that ends with him not being redeemed, mind you, but allows the audience to grieve in such a way that would make a side character death jealous.

When writing an antagonistic character, Silco is my goal and high standard, and just for that he deserves all of my respect and endless praise.

Now, admittedly, Silco's arc takes a while to kick in, but it works out to his advantage by the end of it since you don't realise just how much you've grown to care for him until he's dead and you're left with the surprise.

10 out 10, the nation of Zaun would have been much better (worse) with him than with Vander.

Number 9: The Riddler (DC)

The Riddler is literally my ride or die villain, when I'm in the mood for him, he's literally my favourite antagonist ever; when I am not in the mood for him, I completely forget about his existence.

When compared to many other entries on this list, Riddler is definitely more on the pop culture side of antagonism, and when you've been around for almost a century, you tend to have many different versions of the same character written by different writers, so I wanted to highlight here my favourite versions of him:

Arkham Games: He's hilarious. He's not my ideal Riddler, but whenever he comes on screen, his whiny rat's ass voice stimulates my pheromones.

Batman The Animated Series: I've heard somewhere that this version of him is disappointing, and to that I'll say... yeah, but only when he wasn't on screen, because otherwise, he kind of slayed.

Matt Reeves The Batman: This is the version that rekindled my love for him after so long. Out of every interpretation of The Riddler throughout the years, this is the one version that treated Edward more as a character rather than an obstacle for Batman to overcome, and for that I'll be eternally grateful.

LEGO Batman The Videogame: My very first introduction to The Riddler and the Batman universe as a whole, this version has a permanent place in my heart , I love how much information and emotion you can get out of him by just looking at his mannerisms and quirks alone; unironically, being silent helps him reach that quote on quote idealised version of Riddler that I was talking about earlier.

Number 8: The Snatcher (A Hat In Time)

There are many things that can carry on a villain in a story, their evolution, stage presence, complexity, thematic contrast to their counterpart, and so on and so forth. While an antagonist can check off many of these boxes simultaneously (like the one pictured), there's one box that is almost impossible to truly nail perfectly: comedy.

You see, comedy is subjective, and when your main antagonist is also the funniest part of a given story, it becomes hard to also match a sense of gravity and menace that allows them to also be an imposing threat, even harder is to give said antagonist depth and a tragic backstory.

But somehow, out of nowhere, The Snatcher from A Hat In Time manages to simultaneously be the funniest character in his section of the game, carrie said energy throughout the whole experience even down to the DLC, simultaneously strikes the balance between being scary, wholesome, sympathetic and tragic, exude an insane amount of charisma, all while having a deeply disturbing backstory that touches on some heavy themes and re contextualises his actions into something more complicated and out of a broken man, everything I just said + he's the biggest bastard in his videogame and never repents nor does he have his actions called out.

Snatcher really has all the right cards that make a stationary character work and uses them to his maximum potential, and it works because his character arc throughout the game is more about becoming affectionate to Hat Kid than it is about redeeming himself.

Lastly, his voice actor, Luke Sizemore, aka Yungtown, really sells the performance of this devious soul eating worm and burns his catchphrases into your brain for the rest of eternity, much like his boss theme,

Your Contract Has Expired

A song that switches around being scary, epic, energetic and desperate in a short, yet perfectly paced amount of time. You need to listen to it regardless of if you've played the game or not.

Fool.

Number 7: Judge Claude Frollo (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

You can never say no to a classic.

There's nothing that I could say that hasn't already been said by thousands of videos on YouTube, but I'll try anyway: you see, Frollo is the reason why we need a new term to identify certain villains that aren't "sympathetic" but still make you feel some sort of human emotion and a form of "I wish someone could give you the care you need to fix your life", I guess the term empathetic exists, but when do you really see it used?

Now, don't get me wrong, Frollo is absolutely not sympathetic in the slightest, he wants to r##e a Romani woman that's way younger than him, but you can still feel that he's very troubled about it in the Hellfire scene and has definitely a lot of unidentified issues and internalised bigotry that could be worked through, even if it's too late to work through them right now.

In general, I feel like people forget that the main reason why past Disney villains worked had to do more with their human traits juxtaposed to their malice rather than just their plain wickedness, otherwise the Horned King from the Black Cauldron would be top of the Disney villains league and that couldn't be further from the truth.

We should really strive towards writing more villains like Frollo, less omnipotent beings that end up falling flat because they don't have much thematic relevance aside from being a threat (Bill Chyper works because he represents Ego and he's used sparingly) and more average vicious individuals who use their power and influence to get what they want.

All in all, if you've seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then you know why this guy is here, but just to cite a couple of repeated points, the Hellfire scene is perfect. It's immaculate. It's unreproducible; there will never be another scene like this coming out of the House of Mouse or animation ever again, the excessive amount of stars and elements that came together to create this gothic classic is so vast that it's literally a miracle.

Frollo is truly the personification of the dark, twisted side of humanity peaking through the door and into your mind, from which he shall never escape as his performance still remains perfect to this very day.

Number 6: The Spot (Spider-man across the Spiderverse)

"You've hit me with a bagel!" It's still the greatest villain origin story of all time. There's truly something maniacal about this reveal, like the entire universe was shattered and reality was shocked at the mere realization that while Miles was having his coming of age moment back in the first film, this guy was having his normal life completely and utterly shattered by a combination of both our heroes stepping up to do the right thing and our doofus lack of foresight and self reflection; all of this stuff is hilarious and completely made up for the film but good god they did such an amazing job tying all the elements together in an unexpected way that makes sense and parallels the journey that our protagonist faced in the first movie.

Like with Rob from The Amazing World of Gumball, and a little bit like number 2 on this list, I just really enjoy the concept of turning background characters who had no relevance whatsoever into the big bad of the story who's been there all along and the heroes (and the audience) just couldn't notice.

With The Spot in particular, there's that sense of satisfaction of turning the wasted potential of a villain who has been underestimated for literal decades and treated as a "villain of the week" (God do I love the meta narrative of this movie) into an actual competent, well written antagonist that is aware of his reputation and strives towards bettering himself and his powers.

He's also the funniest character of his movie too and the voice acting of Jason Schwartzman only accentuates his mannerisms and pettyness.

He also has the coolest usage of portals I have ever seen and his whole "There's a hole inside all of us" metaphor is simultaneously hilarious and very deep personal information that can only be understood if you put yourself into his shoes.

I can't wait for Beyond the Spiderverse to come out and see how his arc resolves, more importantly, I wonder if he's going to rank higher in the future.

Number 5: Lord Shen (Kung Fu Panda)

"Happiness must be taken. And I'll take mine"

.....

What a character.

What a movie.

You cause so much pain and suffering, because you don't understand the people around you, and then those people banish you, and you can't understand why, so you start to believe that they hated you.

They never loved you, so you keep causing pain and suffering but it's not that easy anymore; the guilt starts to resurface, all those bodies keep piling up, but you can't stop because then it would have all been for nothing; so you keep chasing those dreams of grandeur because that's all you have left; the emptiness in your heart can no longer be filled by love, so you try to fill it with something else.

You try to fill it with power. You try to fill it with glory. You try to take everything else for yourself so that you can fill that cup, but it doesn't work, because that cup has no bottom.

And so you're left... with yourself.

And the damage you've done. But now it's different; you've failed. You are left with nothing. Nothing.

And so you outrage, for the last time... And then it all ends. Forever. And you've finally come to accept this, after all....... Who could ever love you?

Number 4: Spamton G Spamton (Deltarune)

You know, in retrospect, it's kind of insane what Toby Fox managed to achieve when creating Spamton.

Not only because Spamton feels like the most insane combination of ideas ever conceived, but also because Toby Fox created such a complex character with such a complicated language and personality and then not only shafted it all aside for the players to go out of their way to interact, but also made all of this in what are officially 2 or 3 cutscenes at most (4 if you consider his shop encounter as one) and only one of them being truly mandatory.

You spend so little time with Spamton, and most of that time is spent fighting him, and yet by the end of it you've become enlightened by the knowledge of him, that after a while... you forget how scary it all was.

All the memes comparing Spamton with Turbo are 100% correct and justified, Spamton truly is Turbo but better; you go through an insane rollercoaster of emotions with this character that you are left absolutely dumbfounded when it all comes to a stop and you go back to play the rest of chapter 2 normally.

His insane mannerisms and mood swings are pretty funny at first, but once you peel back the layers a bit they reveal a pretty realistic and sad portrayal of mental illness, mania and hysteria coupled with an unhealthy amount of social distancing, loneliness, and abandonment issues, that reinforce into your brain the idea of someone lacking proper healthcare and needing to be locked away from society for their (society) own good, simulating the vicious cycle that Spamton lives by: nobody wants to help him but he's still expected to act like a regular individual despite the amount of hardships he's facing and the lack of a support system keeping him from falling back into his bad habits.

I'll admit, I've considered putting Spamton in place of the Number 3 spot on this list; but then I've realised that on an objective level, the next entry totally deserves to be ranked above Spamton; plus, with at least 5 more chapters of Deltarune on our way, whose to say that one of the next gremlins won't be able to dethrone even the number 1 spot?

Drumroll for our top 3:

Nox, the Watchmaker (Wakfu)

There will never be another experience in my life as cathartic as watching the first season of Wakfu for the first time ever again.

On a later rewatch, the initial problems that you've noticed throughout the first half of the season and a little bit in the second half become too apparent to ignore, but the first time everything that goes from the ball tournament to the finale is one of the best paced arcs of television, and everything that happens when the team reaches the Sadida kingdom is just peak Wakfu.

And the king, the culprit, the crown jewel of properly paced stories and arcs is no other than the sad clockwork dilf himself: Noximilliem Coxen the Watchmaker.

Arguably, the greatest sympathetic villain of all time. There has never been another case of a character who has committed such vile, unspeakable crimes, and yet still managed to make me root for them while simultaneously not putting down the heroes.

And let's not be mistaken here, Nox is pretty evil:

Aside from the generic murder, Nox also defiled and stitched together the corpses of multiple victims and turned them into his obedient puppets in order to commit even more murder and genocide in order to achieve his goals.

Also, this is one of the funniest crimes Nox has committed: he abused his dog. It's really not that hilarious nor is it that important in the context of the show, but if you look back at it from an outside perspective then it's really like: Oh yeah. That happened too. Lol.

One of the best parts of his entire arc is his defeat. The "20 minutes" scene deserves a "One Villainous Scene" coverage video to forever immortalise it amongst the greatest. Everything from the music, the subversiveness, the cinematography, the voice acting and just the general art direction of it is worthy of an Eminem award at the Oscars, there's genuinely nothing wrong with this scene, it's truly immaculate.

Words alone cannot do justice to the treacherous, gut wrenching emotional rollercoaster that is experiencing his story for the first time. An hour long video essay would only serve to cover the basics and fundamentals, while for the real deal you need to watch the first season of Wakfu for yourself.

Number 2:

Bradford Buzzard (DuckTales 2017)

And now it's the perfect time to pull out my final wild card, the hole of the sink of my autism, the masterpiece of wasted potential that is Bradford Buzzard from the DuckTales remake of 2017.

When you'll also see the number 2 spot on my villainesses list, you'll come to realise that this spot is more of the "I really wish I could put this at number one but I can't because objectively he doesn't deserve it and the majority of things I love about him in canon were probably an afterthought and in fanon were never plausible to begin with."

And that's how I feel about Bradford Buzzard, an antagonist I spent more time thinking about than probably anybody else on the Earth.

The show runners were so genius for this: we are going to create an original character that will probably struggle to maintain a foot print on the franchise due to the way the Duck verse works, we'll give him an insanely cool backstory and motivation, all coupled with interesting character traits and ideology, we'll make him the ultimate foil to Scrooge McDuck that has been working with him for literal decades, we'll make him the one who has got the closest to isolating Scrooge and destroying his family, and THEN we'll turn him into a generic anime villain that shoots lasers and fumbles his own plan and loses because of insane plot armour and contrivance. Good job writers.

Anyway, I should probably make the case for why this guy ranks so highly in my mind to the point of almost taking the podium for my most liked villain of all time, especially when compared to the stiff competition that we just went through.

Now, part of it is just because this is a personal top 10 and so I can put whoever I want in whatever order I want. But also, with Bradford in particular, there's a personal aspect of relatability, various interests, and passions all coming together to make him stand out in my brain.

The thing is, I've had a pretty strong connection to Disney's Duck's comic books my entire life, even if my love for them came dwindling over time, so when I finally started watching the Reboot and it was amazing, all of that buried passion and love finally re emerged back to the surface, turning me into an annoying super fan. But while season 1 and 2 were great, season 3 actually gave me something to latch on for the rest of time even after the show had ended: the character of Bradford Buzzard.

You see, DuckTales, both in the shows and comics, always had a plethora of villains; from the crazy, megalomaniacal millionaires, to witches, demons, and other mythological creatures, to power hungry aliens, to straight up super-villains. But while all of that is true, there has never been another villain, aside from Magica, Glomgold and Rockerduck at traits, that was built specifically as the anti Scrooge McDuck, and even further, there has never been another antagonist who challenged the very core ideas and concepts of the entire franchise.

Bradford is like the Frank Grimes of DuckTales: just a regular, average, real world guy who's fed up with the nonsensical constant state at which their fictional universe operates and seeks to correct it in the most logical way possible. And while Frank was ultimately a victim of a world in which he couldn't conform, Bradford's outrageous and extreme plans and methods put him on everybody's hit list until he was left all alone, but not before indirectly causing every major disaster throughout the reboot's runtime.

A cold, calculating, machiavellian mastermind whose impact and presence secretly permeates the show, right till the very end.

Shame he wasn't written better.

And now, for the one and only,

Number 1:

Qilby (Wakfu)

Qilby is the biggest example of an anomaly that you could ever observe in a work of fiction. The first time experiencing a story is the most important and impactful moment of that story, as every future rewatch won't be as good as the first. In particular, this is an important aspect of twist villains, as they can only surprise you the first time, since at future rewatches the twist becomes predictable.

Furthermore, if the twist ends up ruining the character that was established up to this point, or it doesn't make any sense, then the story is kind of ruined and it only gets worse on future rewatches, since now you know that everything that you are seeing right now is ultimately worthless and doesn't provide any value.

So why do we love twist villains and keep churning them out? Well, you see, it's a matter of execution. A bad guy introduced in an unconventional manner is much more memorable than one introduced in a straightforward way; the twist can also serve to showcase different aspects of the character before becoming an obvious obstacle, be it quirks, interests, personality in casual settings, or cunning.

Let's not beat around the bush.

If Nox is the single greatest sympathetic villain of all time, then Qilby is by far the greatest twist villain of all time, and the crazy thing is, that he surprises you two times in a row, at first by revealing himself as more evil than you could ever imagine, and then, by outing himself as more complex than you could have ever anticipated.

Let me paint you the picture: you just finished the first season of Wakfu, and you are still pretty fresh of the hype surrounding Nox, so you think to yourself "Oh, now every future antagonist is ruined because nothing could ever top the emotional gut punch that I just went through. Whatever, I'm going to stick around just to see if the story gets worse" and you start the second season.

So far, everything is normal, even better of the first season in terms of engagement value, but you can't help but feel the lack of a Nox like figure inside of the story, but at this point, you just accept it.

Then the final six episodes roll around and OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING, HAS THE WHOLE SHOW JUST GONE INSANE?

Somehow, in some mystical, french, magical way, the season 2 finale is arguably even better than the ending of season 1 despite the fight having less buildup and introducing a lot of brand new characters and an entirely irrelevant faction into his conflict.

The entirety of the scene in Emrumb is some of the best writing I have ever experienced in any work of fiction, and the music accompanying it only accentuates the repressed dopamine being released after various episodes of filler, all of them important for this moment to be as impactful as it is.

Qilby is also just a great, tragic character, that is simultaneously an unforgivable bastard that tried to kill his family and doomed his entire race for a family trip, and a sad, nihilistic man still trying to reconcile his love for his family and his need for knowledge and discovery; his curse never truly allows him to move on or relate to others but his ego and need for his forgetful brothers attention just pushes him even further into resentment, ending up damaging himself and those around him, until he's finally isolated again by the vary people he harmed and showed his love towards.

He's as good as the evil secret sibling trope can get and I never get tired of watching him on screen. His reveal scene to Adamai still gives me the chills to this very day and demonstrated me just how good the surprise villain concept can get when it's executed correctly.

Just an all around great show.

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

Honestly I might (might) write a longer post about it at some stage but like… my current feelings on finishing MAWs second season is that the new characters (as in those introduced in this show and didn’t exist prior to it) were very solid.

Certain older characters (as in: those that existed prior to this show). Uhhhh.

Um.

In any case I feel a reason for this is because those in charge of season two did of course watch season one: or at least had it fresh in their minds.

Because of this, they were aware of some things which didn’t work in that first season in terms of its newer characters and that the ending wasn’t satisfactory (particularly for Tylor and Val) and decided to make something better out of it: all while still making it feel like something that could organically grow out of the events of season one.

Things like monsters thinking comedy wasn’t respectable feels realistic. Tylor failing hard at it is also inevitable. Val being well suited to it also. (Especially as being more like a cool babysitter rather than doing stand up). I thought the fact they made them into a comedy duo was a very clever idea I didn’t see coming: but also didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere. It’s really a way for Tylor to be realistically involved with comedy again which doesn’t feel as forced and off as season ones doughnut joke did.

This is good solid writing to me. With their own new characters that they themselves made, while they may have stumbled in season one: I feel the show really gets them now.

But… I honestly wonder if the writers watched either MU or MI upon first starting to write for this show. At least recently. Since they got the job in question I mean.

They’ve clearly seen it at some point in their life. They also perhaps fast forwarded and zeroed in on a specific scenes like Sulley in the laugh floor with Boos picture in season one. They’ve researched the sets that were available and expanded. That sort of thing.

But otherwise it feels like they based the older characters off vibes and half forgotten memories they had of what they thought they were like. Like it’s possibly been more then a decade anyway since they’ve given it a look. Even in season one something feels off with Sulley to me. I’m not sure how to describe it.

And: Randall is indeed violent in MI. There he’s the kind of guy to turn invisible, throw a scream canister at you, state he’s always wanted to do that, darkly chuckle and then choke you out while your friend blathers on at you without realising what’s happening. Randall in MI can be dark man. But: The MAW version… it isn’t really Randall at all. He’s way too… cackling and bouncing off the walls for some reason. He doesn’t know these mifters. With Sulley, Randall has been bitter as hell for a long time and he wasn’t like this. The only take away from the original movie would be a call back to Sulley unplugging the machine to save Mike: like Randall did to them to stop them from taking back the laugh power.

The only possible explanation I’ll take is that his head got scrambled by the shovel. Which would be… fairly dark and possibly interesting as an implication. For Sulley and Mike to be responsible for that happening. But rather like the fact that in season one they just have CEOs legally able to banish monsters if they have the right excuse, I kind of doubt we’ll ever get a look into it or we’re supposed to think on things like that in any real depth.

Also, as a major Sulley fan. I have to say the whole evidence in Tylors locker things and jumping to belief of guilt kind of pissed me off. Granted while better than only-fifteen-minutes-lunch Johnny, he ain’t the best boss at points. (He had his comedians work a double shift? Mike almost dying from a drug overdose on energy drinks Etc) But once again… I’m not sure we’re supposed to take it that way or as a potential thing he has to work on which is kind of… disappointing?

Like he could have an arc. Learn to be a better boss? Maybe Roz shouldn’t have done the random idea of throwing it on them immediately. (Where is the board of directors Waternoose complained about anyway? Yeah see: this is why I think it’s been a while since any major writer has seen the movie).

Johnny was actually pretty solid until the finale and until he chose to tell Tylor of his plans for…. Absolutely no reason. Like Tylor had been working there for a day. He was expressing doubt even. Before this, given vague spoilers I had, I thought Johnny was being handled well and they could make his secretly-evil!Johnny reveal be good even if Randall wasn’t exactly sounding too hot.

Like just have Tylor sneak around and be suspicious of something. Did you run out of time? I guess it’s possible. Season twos pacing before the final two is pretty solid. But if you only had ten episodes? Hrm. Idk. Hard to know what to cut honestly to make room if you don’t want a cliffhanger ending.

I guess this may be an odd example of competent original fiction writers failing to write convincing fanfic.

[anxious-witch]

inspired by my recent trip to Ljubljana where I saw the holiday lights: Kris taking Bojan to see the holiday lights (they are magical and fairytale esque, can provide references) and they totally kiss in beautiful magical nighttime Ljubljana

Good god, sorry this took so long, this writer's block plus all the decorating has taken a toll. Here it is finally, so I hope you like it ❤️

Being back home was odd. Not that Ljubljana didn't feel like home anymore, no. But Bojan felt like it had been years since he was there, his apartment strange and unfamiliar. 

The city, that used to feel too small for him and all the dreams he had, somehow seemed to have grown while they were away. Full of wonder again.

Bojan looked out of the window, at the snow gently falling down. He was startled out of this thought by Kris’ arms wrapping around his waist. Kris leaned his chin on Bojan's shoulder, looking through the window as well.

“What got you so lost in thought?”

He shrugged.

“I was just thinking of how strange and different everything feels now. Like, it feels like home and it also doesn't. Y'know what I mean?”

Kris hummed, kissing the side of his neck, which made Bojan breathe in sharply. He turned in his arms and pulled Kris down into a kiss.

He kissed him back, but he almost seemed distracted. Bojan pulled back, a pout already forming, when Kris spoke.

“How about we just go for a walk and go on the advent? It's beautiful every year and now we have a fresh perspective of sorts.”

Bojan blinked at him. That…wasn't a bad idea at all, especially with the snow outside. It would be truly like something out of the movie. Bojan grinned.

“Yes! I love that idea!”

Kris chuckled.

“Let's get dressed then. It is pretty cold.”

Bojan didn't run to the bedroom to change, but it was a near thing. He got dressed quickly, picking a nice beige sweater he knew Kris liked, and black pants.

Then he saw what Kris was wearing and burst out laughing. He opted for a black sweater with beige pants, making them look like opposites. Like they had matching couple outfits.

Kris turned to see what he was laughing at and when Bojan pointed at their outfits, Kris chuckled too, shaking his head.

“We might not wear very festive colors, but at least we match.”

“Well, won't we look like a proper pair of fools,” Kris said, but Bojan saw the way the corner of his lips curled into a smile.

He was pleased. Bojan knew he would never admit to being possessive at times, but he knew him well enough to tell.

He wanted people to speculate if they were together. Bojan could give him that. He grinned and grabbed Kris’ hand pulling him towards the dood.

“Let's go then!”

“Bojan! Don't forget the jackets!”

Right. Would have been the smart move, he supposed.

Once they finally made it outside, Bojan was practically hopping around, making the dents in the fresh snow.

Kris had to pull him in the right direction several times, until they made their way to the main square. Bojan's eyes widened, as if he was seeing it for the first time.

It almost felt like it.

The trees, the buildings, everything was covered in Christmas lights and Bojan couldn't help but be in awe. It was like the whole world had become brighter for a time and his chest felt lighter, too.

Bojan turned to look at Kris after being mesmerized by the lights for some time. Instead of finding him admiring the square the way he had, he found Kris already looking at him.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

Kris shook his head and gently pushed Bojan's hair back. Bojan leaned into the touch, briefly closing his eyes.

“No. It's just really nice seeing you so excited about everything.”

Oh. Bojan felt his cheeks grow warm at that. Kris didn’t have a habit of outright admitting things like these, so he always felt a bit caught off guard when he did. So he blurted our the first thing that came to mind.

“Can we go get something to eat and drink from one of the stands?”

“Sure.”

This time, Bojan was the one tugging Kris in the right direction. He got them mulled wine and they took one of the tables nearby.

He watched Kris under the twinkling lights and felt an odd sense of Deja-Vu. If he squinted, he could see all the younger versions of Kris as well.

Remember all the times they came to this very square, even the times before they could even drink mulled wine and instead drank hot chocolate.

An annoyance. A friend. A band member. A crush. Annoyance again. Then a friend and a band member again and I'm the end, boyfriend.

He couldn't believe he almost gave that up. For a chance to maybe have a solo career. Bojan suddenly felt tears sting his eyes.

 He reached for Kris’ hand, gently squeezing it.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just…thinking. Of how we got here. How I could have left the band and we never would have…”

“Hey,” Kris gently cupped his face, his blue eyes laser focused, “it's okay. We are here now.”

Bojan swallowed past the lump in his throat.

“But we almost weren't. And I keep thinking how long I've known you and how much time it took us to get here and-”

He pursed his lips, and tried to breathe. Kris stroked his cheek, seemingly lost in thought. Bojan waited for him to speak.

“I think it would have happened either way. Even if you left the band for good. I don't think I could have let you go, even then.”

Bojan laughed, more in shock than anything else. 

“You called me a dumb asshole that wants to chase fame. I very much doubt that.”

Kris leaned closer. Dangerously closer, since they were in public. Bojan's breath stuttered, his gaze skittering around, making sure no one was paying attention to them before settling back on Kris again.

“Oh, I was mad, don't get me wrong. But if it was permanent, well. I would have found the most dignified way to start talking with you again.”

This time, Bojan's snort was genuine.

“The most dignified?!”

“Well. I wouldn't want you to think I care that much.”

Bojan rolled his eyes.

“Naturally.”

It did make him feel better, though. That, no matter what arguments and obstacles they had, they would have still ended up together, sooner or later. It was not a matter of fate but rather, of the fact that they simply couldn't stay away from each other.

His anxiety slowly dissipated, leaving only a warm feeling in his chest. Kris pulled back and they finished their wine in an easy conversation. 

Then, an idea struck him. He grinned up at Kris.

“Do you want to go into the alley and makeout like we are teenagers?”

Kris choked on the last of his wine, coughing violently.

“You are insane,” he said, after finally catching his breath, “if anyone sees us, we'll be all over the portals.”

Bojan shrugged.

“What's the point of sneaking around without a little risk? Com'on, it'll be fun!”

Kris narrowed his eyes at him and Bojan made his best begging expression. It lasted a few seconds before Kris sighed.

“Fine, you absolute menace. But if someone takes a picture, I am blaming this on you.”

Bojan grinned again.

“Deal.”

The city he grew up with might feel strange, and the decorations might look brand new, but Kris would still be Kris. And Bojan would love him just as much as he did at seventeen, and twenty and twenty four. With any luck, he might still love him just as much in all the years to come.

That was something that would always feel familiar. That would feel like home.

[babyitsbeautiful]

I gotta stop doing these life updates and just get on with it, but nevertheless...

Where do I even start?

I know I promised I would get back to 'crash through the surface' and I swear I will, I feel my creative muse has resurfaced but through a different fandom this time...

Twisters/Glen Powell/Tyler & Kate

I've seen this movie 3 times in the theater and once at a Drive-In but that was kind of a hot mess. Also, Glen Powell-- why, wtf, this man should be illegal in this movie. I live in TN but never got the whole cowboy thing until I saw him in this movie. (Men like that don't really exist here, btw)

I honestly have not loved another fictional couple this much since Gendrya. It's been a minute since I had an unhealthy obsession with something and I am living for it. It has got my love for reading fanfics back to the forefront of my mind again and I feel like I can finally pick back up where I left CTTS off just to get it and Gendrya finished for good. (Gendrya is still the main inspiration behind Beautiful Dangerous and the screenplay I am going to write, so they'll always be in my <3)

Anyway, a lot has been going on this year. A year ago around this time I found out about Lucy's cancer and I can't believe she's been gone for this long. Still miss her everyday. My brother is getting married in October and I'm serving as a bridesmaid, so that should make for a fun story.

But for the moment, I have A LOT going on in August including three out of state trips:

Poll Worker for tomorrow's Election

Nimesh Patel's show at Zanies

5 Days in Florida for my 32nd Birthday

Dermot Kennedy show at Blue Bird Cafe (tickets on sale Friday, wish me luck)

Train & REO Speedwagon Concert

Team Member for Creation Con Indianapolis, Indiana

Then an end of the month Bachelorette trip in Washington D.C.

In the in between days of all of these events, I plan to work on the next chapter of Crash Through The Surface and get that out sometime soon after finishing as well as work on some brewing fanfic ideas for Tyler & Kate in the growing Twisters fandom.

Seriously, go see this movie if you haven't yet.

I already have so many fics to start reading on Ao3 for Tyler and Kate, who needs a ship name BTW. Tate? Kyler? Wrangler Tamer?

Anyways, that's a little bit of where I am right now.

I'm trying to spend less time working on fan art and fics at work due to a new IT system that seems to know everything I download (pics for mood boards being the main) and it's honestly making me very self-conscious so after work is where I'll be letting my creative bitch reign supreme.

I have ideas for Twisters and an outline already for CTTS but any fresh ideas and suggestions are always welcome.

Twisters fandom, if you want a feel of what I love creating the most, search the #gendrya tag on my blog.

Love you all.

[therealemaskye]

it is desperately missing sanders sides hours (which is pretty much every hour for me) and i just rewatched my favorite sanders sides related video to date: “flirting with anxiety.” i have so many thoughts on this episode i thought i’d throw them out into the void that is tumblr. here is my unorganized list:

• the first thing that comes to mind when rewatching this episode is just how much roman and virgil have grown together. as a comparison, let’s use the only other video they had with each other. in “the dark side of disney,” roman was annoyed at virgil simply being there. he was in disbelief that virgil could even be a fan of something like disney. to quote roman, “disney movies are the embodiment of goodness and purity; something you would know nothing about.” throughout “flirting with anxiety,” just by the body language you can tell how comfortable the two are with each other. they bounce off of each other with ease, and make up a pretty entertaining matchmaking team, which is something roman once thought virgil couldn’t understand: love. both episodes are almost similar, though, in that both roman and virgil bring different sides to the table (pun not entirely intended). in “the dark side of disney,” roman and virgil discuss the different messages they see in disney movies; in “flirting with anxiety,” the two have very different approaches when it comes to flirting. their differences, which once made them argue with each other, now made them a team.

• as well as having their differences, we also see how much they have in common. when you think about it, there’s a lot; more specifically in what they like. bringing this back to “the dark side of disney,” it feels like they’ve come full circle from where they started, back when they discovered they could even have the same interests at all. the stickers on nico’s laptop stood out to me as sort of easter eggs to these kinds of moments in the past: the disney sticker (the dark side of disney), the paramore sticker (roman must have called virgil a nickname related to this somehow; also, emo music is a perfect combination), and the nightmare before christmas sticker (accepting anxiety: “you can’t have my sick nasty tim burton posters!”).

• this next note is the whole reason i wanted to make this post really: thomas’ monologue in the bathroom. on the surface of “flirting with anxiety,” there are no telling references to what had happened previously in the canon timeline: “putting others first.” this asides episode was sort of a breath of fresh air after the messy cliffhanger in the main series. now, i don’t know if this was intentional or not — but looking closer, this entire scene is full of insight into what roman specifically is feeling after the events of svs redux. let’s break it down:

1.) “look, i know this is awkward… and maybe not the best place to strike up a conversation. …i don’t really know what to say to you; i honestly don’t know what i’m doing at the mall today. i don’t know what i was looking for… i guess that answers my question: the mall is where you go if you want something, but you don’t know what it is because the mall has everything, right?” at the end of this quote, the frame shows roman looking in the mirror with an almost painful expression. he seems to realize how close those words hit to home: roman is lost. after everything that happened, roman has to be feeling like his world has turned upside down. he is unconsciously avoiding the issue by making thomas feel like he has to go to the mall. roman is the part of thomas that doesn’t know what he’s looking for.

2.) “i don’t know… ugh, i don’t know a lot about anything… least of all myself. …and i feel that the hardest when it comes to… knowing what i want.” once again, the frame is a cut to roman. it is such a punch to the gut, because this is exactly what caused the whole mess in the first place. think about it — who was the most torn on the wedding or the callback? it wasn’t patton or janus, logan or virgil: roman didn’t know what he wanted. roman has clearly followed patton’s lead since the beginning; he wanted to be the pure and good prince that he was, and patton was just that to him — pure and good. yet, he would do anything to achieve his dreams — thomas’ dreams. that included ditching a friend’s wedding, and friendship is something that roman holds as dear to his heart as patton does. roman was by far the most torn of all sides about this decision; that’s why it was so impactful that roman was the one to decide to go to the wedding. from the get go you could tell he didn’t want to, but at his core, he is a fundamentally good person; someone who is righteous for righteousness’ sake. this is a value that stems directly from his admiration for patton: so you can imagine how blindsided he was when patton had a change of heart in svs redux. to roman, this huge, personal sacrifice he made was for naught.

3.) “but i know that… i want to take a chance… and talk to you. i have to, because… i don’t know when i’m going to know what i want again… and i know that if i don’t act on these feelings right now, i’m… going to regret it.” the one thing roman is so sure that he wants, and always has wanted.. is love. there’s the placement of the panels again; when thomas says, “i don’t know when i’m going to know what i want again,” the panel has roman in frame. it’s almost as if that is what roman himself is thinking — finally, he has a chance to get something he knows he wants, and it isn’t out of reach. but then after that, when thomas says, “and i know that if i don’t act on these feelings right now, i’m… going to regret it,” it is virgil in frame the entire time. virgil’s feelings on the whole svs redux matter are entirely up to fan interpretation — he wasn’t present at all. i at least can provide evidence as to what i think he is feeling with this frame — virgil knows how much roman regrets going to that wedding. as we know, virgil fervently sided with patton in “selfishness v. selflessness.” now, i don’t think it’s because he truly believes it to be the right decision; he’s anxiety. he was the part of thomas that irrationally worried that if he didn’t show up to his friends’ wedding, thomas would lose them forever. plus, virgil is a follower, not a leader; he states as such in “fitting in.” before, as a dark side, he followed janus; now, he has latched on to someone else: patton. to him, not agreeing with patton meant agreeing with janus; you can imagine his feelings on that. so, maybe virgil regrets his own stance on the case — moral of the story, virgil is tired of regrets. he knows how horrible they are first hand, being anxiety and all; and i like to think he’d rather not put roman through that any more if he can help it. at this moment, virgil knows he has to do something to make this thing happen — which later turns out to be virgil taking that leap of faith, and pushing thomas back to nico.

• don’t worry, i’m going to touch on where i just left off; but, i’d like to bring up another note that made me want to do this. it is honestly very hard not to notice that throughout the entire episode, roman and virgil never fail to bring one thing up: lies. they scold thomas for lying and even call him a liar multiple times. when they exit the bathroom, the both of them are adamant that if they are to go forward, the basis of a potential relationship cannot be deceit. it is so obvious that roman and virgil are the two sides who hold the most disdain for janus; janus is a reminder of what they have failed to do. for virgil, janus was a part of his life that he regrets because of how he mistreated thomas and the group. for roman, he wanted exactly what janus wanted as well: to go to the callback. janus proved that thomas could’ve and should’ve gone to the callback, something that roman wasn’t able to do.

• before going into the most prinxiety part of this post, i’d lastly like to expand on nico’s song idea: “i think i like the idea of someone’s life, or an aspect of of their life feeling like… a trash bin. and the waste keeps piling up… and piling up… until it inevitably… spills out into the rest of their life.” funnily enough, nico apologizes if it hit to close to home, and thomas adds that it’s true: his life is full of wasted opportunities. this once again feels like a reference to the callback. the entire explanation, though, feels like foreshadowing to the future of sanders sides. as i’ve discussed, there is clearly a divide among the sides; the biggest one they’ve ever had. yet, there lacks a resolution to the issue at the moment. it seems that all of it will continue to pile up until the repression of their glaring problem spills out into thomas’ life.

• i’d argue this is the most important scene in this episode: virgil pushing thomas. the look of dejection on roman’s face as nico walks away is a reminder that virgil is indeed tired of regrets. at that moment, i don’t think there was a single other reason why he did what he did than virgil’s desperate need to see roman happy again. whether you ship it or not, it is clear how much these two care for each other, especially in their last interaction. virgil is constantly surprising roman — i like to think that’s why he started to like him so much. the moment that virgil pushed thomas was probably one of the most surprising things roman has ever seen from him, though. a very, very wonderful surprise. you can just tell how much admiration roman has after virgil has done this just by the one word he uses: bravery. let’s take this back to “fitting in.” roman is very clearly protective of his house and its noble traits, and bravery is one of the most important ones of all for a gryffindor. bravery is what roman is all about; when roman calls virgil brave, it is one of the biggest compliments he could give someone. then you can just feel it in your bones the warm affection behind “shut up, emo,” and its subsequent shoulder touch. it showcases, once again, a huge contrast in how they use to behave with one another — there is so much fondness and respect that wasn’t there before. this is honestly one of (if not the most) heartfelt scene in the series.

and that is all! if you got all the way through my terribly long rambling, thank you for listening! this show means so much to me and i miss it so much thomas pls drop the next episode challenge (but also no pressure). if you couldn’t tell i’m a roman stan. okay byyye.

[whoslaurapalmer]

top 5 movies & top 5 soups!

okay i finally got tumblr to accept and post my response to this. we live in a functioning website for sure

oh top 5 movies...............what a tough call........trying to figure out if i should do top 5 as in, BEST MOVIES, or top 5 as in, favorite movies, wait i'm sure everyone here probably knows my favorite movies at this point so i will do, TOP 5 BEST

wait. i'm gonna do top 5 soups first bc i will talk less about soups bc we know i always have to Talk

-chicken and gnocchi soup. it is so creamy, which i think is ideal in a soup, not too thin, just like, the right amount of thickness, and has things to chew in it, which i think is ALSO ideal in soup. nice chicken, nice chewy potato pasta, altogether very warming (which should be Peak in soup ranking) and SUPER tasty.

-tomato soup WITH GRILLED CHEESE now the grilled cheese addition is important. also a nice thick tomato soup so probably some kind with cream in it. i think i've yet to find a good good tomato soup. anyway bc it doesn't have anything chewy in it, it needs something to be Dipped In It, which is where the grilled cheese is necessary.

-minestrone. now minestrone is kinda thin, in terms of the broth, but i love the STUFF in it. the beans! the veggies! sometimes, if you get lucky, you get like, a whole chunk of parmesan in it, too. i should make some minestrone when fall comes around again. i think i'd like to. and splurge on a big block of parmesan............oh you know pasta fagioli/pasta fazool is pretty similar to minestrone, also good but has more Things in it, that is also a worthwhile soup contender...........

-i should not be ranking vegetable ramen as #4 on this list bc, vegetable ramen my absolute beloved, but god there's just so many good soups, and i just can't forget to talk, once again, about how much i love vegetable ramen. the place i get it from makes it with a shio broth, and the veggies are so crisp and fresh (the chewing!!!!), and the noodles!!!!!!! it is my go-to Oh I'm Experiencing Sinus Horrors meal. oh god i love it so much

-wonton soup. can't go wrong with it. absolutely perfect soup. enough to chew, tasty broth to sip. mmmm.

okay. top 5 best movies. maybe not THE top 5 but certainly a top 5 because wow, movies.

-the godfather, part 1+2. now this is also a pair of favorite movies, but they are also, to me, really truly incredible movies, and michael's character arc throughout the two movies but ESPECIALLY contrasted with his father in part 2, is such a well-crafted tragic downfall. is it possible, really, to ever pinpoint the moment when michael could've turned back, or was this always his fate? i'm still not sure. the idea of 'the family' vs 'The Family' also gets me. also, so just part 1 alone is a great movie but part 2 is REALLY what makes the whole story spectacular. don't talk to me about part 3 i've never seen part 3 and i intend to keep it that way for as long as possible

-eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. i first watched it in high school in the film class i took and i have been obsessed with it ever since. relationships and people are complicated and hard but you keep growing, and you can keep growing, like you have to make the conscious choice to do it for yourself first. there is nothing you can truly, truly forget. and i mean it's more complicated than that sentence, but it's also true. also the characters feel very real and dimensional, and the scenery is so nice. like, the movie really, successfully lives in its world, in this just left of true reality science fiction-y story. and there are some really gorgeous shots of this world.

-sweet smell of success. you know!!!!!! the sleaziest movie. it's, like, god the kind of movie you can't wash off your hands sometimes. everyone in this movie is drowning and some of them are finding real thrill in the experience. i love the characters and their interactions, i love the motivations, the inevitability of susie having to manipulate her way out of her life bc it's the only thing she's ever watched the people around her do (it's even MORE horrifying in the short story). the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE. the shots are CRISP. it is real and reprehensible. and at the same time it's so unbelievable. he is just one (1) CRITIC. the world should not be in his hands but it IS. the world should not be in the hands of many specific people and yet it is

-citizen kane. look!!!!! the godfather and citizen kane are really, genuinely great movies!!!!!! i always feel like i gotta defend some movies. but it's bc they're like, The Downfall Of One Specific Man, and like, the movie IS ABOUT the downfall. these movies are not, by any means, glorifying these men?? these movies are hard tragedies, and i can also say 'where could he have turned back? or was it inevitable?' about citizen kane, too, which is why i love it. i really do love stories about the question of fate and destiny and inevitability and, building that narrative and story, the character himself also participating in it...........anyway. citizen kane knows what it wants to do and it does it. i love the reporters as the framing device. i love the loneliness of the staging, the emptiness against the collecting of Things. it really is a perfectly crafted movie. rosebud is, at this point in the world, obvious, but i don't think knowing about rosebud makes the movie any less impactful. i think if you go in willing to interact with this story, instead of thinking you've been robbed of the ending or you become dismissive of it for knowing the piece it's turning on, if you go in to experience its story then it keeps its power.

-i should like, put in a comedy here, and this isn't to say comedies cannot be top movies but sometimes god i just love movies i get to chew on (.............same with soups........................). so it's anatomy of a murder. danhan's right, the soundtrack is also incredible, and i think the story is too. it's an excellent courtroom drama, it's very long but by no means FEELS long or overstays its welcome, every movie should have eve arden and her gorgeous beautiful snarky voice and self, james stewart's character pushing so hard to get the court to acknowledge that the whole reason they're there is because a woman was raped, laura manion standing in a tradition of fictional film lauras.........i am still not entirely sure what i think happened, actually. i have a bunch of different theories, sometimes, of, did x really happen, did y happen instead, and i think the movie leans into that, too, in parts.

[skaiind]

A lot of your work has really inspired me to take a shot at making comics. I know it's a lot to ask but I was wondering how to go about the process. Do you write and refine scripts before illustrating pages or do you just have a general plot in mind? Big fan of your work, your artstyle is magnificent.

first of all, that's amazing! comics are one of the best ways to learn art, because they challenge every aspect of your skill, it can be frustrating, but very very rewarding and worth it! and i am deeply moved that my work has inspired you to do so! thank you very much!!

my process has several steps, an each one sort of refines the last one as i revisit the same page over and over (which is great because i look at it with fresh eyes and manage to make it even better!!) but it turned out long, so get comfortable:

first i write a rough draft, trying to write as fast as possible with no stopping as much as i can, just so you can get the story (chapter) out. once the whole thing is finished, i edit it to make more sense! fix any mistakes, format it sort of like a script and also i try to be as descriptive as possible when explaining a scene - not just the vibes of it but i try to write out what i want the panels to look like or have, what POV or angle they're in, what details should be visible, describe the page design alltogether, etc. for the scripts i use notion.to because it was the most comfortable to organise all the chapters and notes and stuff in one place!

once the script is completed, i plan out the panels - that means i get a bunch of sketch paper (a3) and one by one as i reread the script, i draw out the panels and use little post its to shortly describe what should be in each panel (ex.: wide view of room, Michael in middle looking angrily at the clipboard). during this i also can edit the script a bit again, as with fresh eyes maybe i managed to think of something BETTER for the scene. i usually plan out about 15-20 pages in one sitting this way, because it's mostly just drawing rectangles and visualising the page in your head.

then we move on to ACTUALLY SKETCHING inside those panels, and with this i start from backgrounds first, then characters, then added details. at first i used just the red lead pencils, but then i began adding different colours like layers for the beforementioned categories. and when doing this i try to do as many pages as possible in one sitting, because the first page always comes out wonky, but then you get the flow of the story going and it gets easier (also good practice!!) and again, here i can refine the script, because maybe the post it i placed earlier doesn't make as much sense anymore and the scene might look different. so i sketch it how i think is best at the moment. i try to be as clear as possible, so the lining process later doesn't frustrate me too much.

now it's time to scan everthing and because i have a smaller scanner that means i must do it twice for each page. that's okay though because at least it comes out high quality when i photomerge them on photoshop later on. i apply autocontrast+autocolor to the picture, and the page looks more legible, and then transfer some to procreate on my ipad.

then you test out what lines/brush look best, and once you've got a chosen one - you LINE IT. Starting with defining the panels better, so they're not wiggly unless they look better that way. i again start from backgrounds because they're tedious and hard, then the characters, add some more details and then the speech bubbles. each on a separate layer so i can edit each one later if needed.

then all that's left is shading everything and exporting that bad boy out into the world!

what is common in most of these stages, is that i keep editing as i go. when i think of how i want the panels to look, i try to imagine it not just as a comic panel but like a scene in a movie (if specifically - horror movies and other times a one-camera comedy tv-shows or just a combination of both) and that really helps me visualize the panel.

another thing to keep in mind when writing a bigger/longer story is to know where it's going or at least what are you trying to show through it, but even that isn't necessary because in comics you can just keep exploring an idea or a concept without going really anywhere and it can still end up being amazing.

in the end you must remember that the comic you're making for YOU first and audience second. because when you start thinking about what other people will think, it'll become frustrating very fast and lose the fun. an creating comics is already frustrating in on itself, there's no need to bring in any more to it.

i hope you will make comics! i hope they will be fun for you and i'm very happy you want to put out more of this fantastic media into the world!

i also hope the long answer helped :))

[theone-with-thestuff]

Power Rangers: Zeo💠

Hey guys! Here's an awesome new series of commissions made by the super talented @artandfail showing what I think could have been the 2017 movie sequels!

Following Zedd's attack and the Rangers separating, a new threat rises from the wreckage of the destroyed alien main ship. Capturing civilians and building an unknown structure. What is this new enemy's goal? And without the Rangers, who will be able to stop them?

We now get to the next part of Tomi's story! Where she has to take up the mantle of Red Ranger and train a whole new team to become Rangers after the previous team separated following their losses and sacrifices.

____________________

In the aftermath of Lord Zedd's invasion, the loss of their friend and losing their ability to morph, the once proud Rangers have disbanded.

Zack has decided to leave with his mom for a new city to focus on her health and treating her long-term illness.

Jason and Kim, grieving and in need of a fresh start, applied and were accepted to a college far from Angel Grove.

Tomi and Billy stayed behind... resolute to maintain the ship and keep watch over the reformed Zeo Crystal.

"After Trin-... I'm sorry, I just need some time to deal with this. And I can't do that here."

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

Deep in the quarantine zone, in the heart of Lord Zedd's mothership wreckage, evil still remains.

Analyzing its new habitat, capturing preys to assimilate, reconstruct and remold. Creating the perfect warrior, the perfect hunter. Create an apex predator, a drone to control just as its Bio-metalic system dictates.

It recreates the greatest warriors of this planet in its own image. Recreates these... Power Rangers.

But it will need more drones to construct a signal tower to contact the rest of its kind. It will need-

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"

To assimilate another prey.

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

School project partners Aisha, Adam, Rocky and Kat were taking pictures near Angel Grove's quarantine district when the... Ranger attacked. They tried to talk to it, tried to run but it was useless, it was hunting them, separating and isolating them.

But moments before it could strike and capture one of them, someone else managed to strike IT.

"I don't know what you think you are, but you are no Ranger. YOU'RE NOT WORTHY!"

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

After facing the Dark Ranger and reviewing the pictures taken by the four teens she had just saved, Tomi came to a simple conclusion. Angel Grove needed the Power Rangers again. This new threat was too big. It was building some strange structure within the quarantine zone, not only that but it was also capturing civilians and transforming them into these Dark Rangers.

With that in mind, Tomi headed back to command center, unknowingly being tailed by the same teens she had saved.

With the help of Billy, Alpha, Zordon and a broken piece of her own Power Coin, Tomi managed to imbue slivers of the Zeo Crystal with Morphing energy and strap them into six pairs of modified wrist attachments in order to create a new method of morphing, stronger than before, the Zeonizers!

Tomi took the first set and shortly followed by giving Zeonizers to each of the four teens that had followed her into the ship, finding them worthy after seeing them in action and observing them at school. She then offered the final Zeonizer to Billy... Who refused it, holding his own now powerless Blue Power Coin in his hand.

"I was proud to be a Ranger, we were heroes, we saved the earth over a dozen times... But my time is over. This isn't my team, It's yours. You are the new Red Ranger, this is your time."

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

With the help of her new teammates, Tomi dove back into the mothership of the monster that had taken so much from her. Intent on stopping this new enemy and destroying the mysterious machine sending deep-space signals that has been constructed in its center.

Fighting these bio-metallic twisted versions of her previous team, Tomi and the new Rangers will show them that no matter what, Power Rangers never lose!

"I've fought against witches, aliens, monsters, invaders and tyrants. You think you upstart Venom-wannabes are going to be the one to conquer earth? Well you've got another thing coming!"

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

Celebrating their victory, the newly formed Zeo Rangers returned to the ship and celebrated in the pit. Four teens joking together in the sandy terrain as two others stood farther away, picturing four other friends who once stood in that very same spot, joking in a very similar way after a difficult battle.

"So, what did you think of them?"

"They'll need training, lots of it... But they have the heart... They'll be fantastic."

"Rangers at the core, huh?"

"You could say that... What about that sludge we brought back for analysis from our latest planet ending event?"

"Metallic bioplasm, living metal, I'm not sure how to even start defining it. We ran it through the ships archive and had a match but the files are encrypted. Not even Zordon could access them. Alpha is trying to brute-force the system but we can't figure out exactly where that deep-space amplifier was trying to send out a signal until then.

"I just hope we were able to destroy it in time before it could reach whatever it was aiming for."

"Me too... We were able to access one thing from the files though."

"What was it?"

"Just two words, something called the Machine Empire."

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

In a deep, old and forgotten part of the universe, an ancient evil awakens.

Something so depraved and vile, even Lord Zedd himself had deemed necessary to seal away.

A hive of living machines, assimilating all biological matter it finds.

And after millenias of slumber, a blip, a hint of a signal reaches one of its communication captors, breaking their weakened prison.

The Machine Empire lives once more.

Hope you guys like it!

[poison--ivory]

Hi I was wondering if you could do some head canons for Sero and Denki ( together or separate I don’t mind) with an s/o that has a candy manipulation quirk. Where they can make, shape and control all types of candy. And their making part of the quirk is like momo’s where she uses the glucose in her blood to make candy. However if she over uses it her blood sugar drops and she needs to have sweets to bring it up. (She can’t consume the sugar in the candy she makes herself.) so she’s always munching on some type of candy. She also loves to make candy for the class with her quirk.

Sorry for the very late answer, anon. Also, I just love the quirk idea, very creative.

Pairings: sero x fem!reader, denki x fem!reader

Warnings: fluff

Sero

He called you, Pastelito, once you two started dating

Every now and again, you would make him and the class sweet treats with your quirk, at first, some were weirded out by the whole blood part. But quickly got over it after eating your candies

Sero loves how selfless you are, its one of the reasons he fell for you so hard

Like the time he caught you making dozens of concoctions for Sato knowing the risk of your own quirk on your body

During the weekend, you both spend time together, going to the movies or getting street food and talking about how class stresses you out

Sero loves sitting close to you. You smell like all the sweet treats he loves, and he can't get enough of you

When your sugars are down he makes you churros, concha bread, paleta, etc.

Kaminari

Denki loves your confections and calls you sweet buns

This guy eats your candies so much you start to notice your kisses taste sweet

He takes you on dates like going to the mall and later cuddling in bed watching lousy rom-com movies

Hugging you from behind and kissing your neck, whispering how you smell like cherries

Loves that you always put care into quirk, like before any big training session you stock up on candy and baked goods even packing a few extra for some of your classmates

Monoma called your quirk gross, off handly one time, and ended up in the nurse's off

He tried to bake a cake for you as a surprise but caused the fire alarm to go off and evacuate the building

Pastelito- Little Cake ( In Cuban Spanish is Cuban pastries also called pasteles)

Concha Bread- Sweet Bread

Churros- Fried Dough with cinnamon

Paleta- Popsicle made from fresh natural fruits like strawberries, mango, pineapple, or kiwi

So, sorry again. I just quit my job and had to report my shift leader for abusing her co-workers. She made every shift miserable and I just couldn't find the strength to write.