#But he's felt a good deal of understanding due to his journeys

[valorxdrive]

Would you consider the heart a weapon?

"As in like what it is? In that case, that would just be silly! I'd call it probably one of the biggest oversights there ever could be."

Even long before the scale of his adventures, such a thought would never find purchase within his mind. A silent, formless strength that can thrive, be purged in agony, that can endlessly learn and grow as it tethers to the experiences that give its unique molding... Such a thing could never be solely a weapon. A measured huff escapes him as those cerulean eyes held steady. "The Heart is just the Heart. A force that composes me, you and about everything around us."

A gentle hand is waved at the soft breezes that drape the invisible capes across the land. "It has no form, yet it can come to take any shape that you can imagine, hell, things that you very well can't imagine all the same. Whether it's what me and my friends can do, or the Darkness itself." Who died and made him the expert however? Sora figures that some wiser person held a better clarity on the matter.

All he's doing is just crossing experiences that he's actively felt. "If it has to be a force to ward danger away-- Or, if people want to truly bring ruin to all, they can find that kind of power within it. I've seen that too many times to count."

He holds no pride despite the almost careless way he comes to describe as such. Time and time again, from the primordial depths of chaos itself, to the haunting stillness of Nothingness, this was the potential of the Heart made manifest through mysterious ways. At the same time it was the strength of his own alongside those beloved companions that managed to sink into the depths of that danger, tearing through falsehoods and horror personified.

Despite trying to find more words, it'd only be the current moment that his brain shorts out of ideas. Realizing that made a tinge of embarrassment follows as he pokes out his tongue. Just when he was on such a roll as well! Any internalized curse he had was swallowed down in lieu of a lighter tone.

"S'all you're getting from Sora's Heart 101 today! Try coming again at another time!"

[mllemaenad]

Listening to Wyll's backstory in context of all the details we're acquiring on devil's contracts and soul selling is fascinating.

See - I listened to Lann Tarv's three tales to get my soul coins. I felt bad for making Karlach listen to that, obviously, but to be honest I didn't even want the coins that much. I actually wanted the stories. I wanted a better understanding of how this works.

And what I'm learning is - for the gods (and godlike beings) of this world, cruelty seems to be the point. I mean - it's possible there's a god in this world I wouldn't want to stab to death with a rusty fork, but if so I have not met them yet.

These beings have the power to save people and places, to change lives, to do anything. And when someone asks them to - they demand a terrible price. But they don't just demand a price. They subvert the original request in such a way that they utterly fail to deliver on the original promise.

An abused woman wishes to be loved - and her true love appears, but dies instantly. A man wishes to save his children from starvation, and ends up personally growing masses of meat on his own body - not only painful for him, but forcing his children into survival cannibalism, which they were trying to avoid.

Auntie Ethel works the same way. Every one of her customers is left in a tortured state, while Ethel still takes her payment.

The idea is that the person must come to regret their wish long before the payment comes due. Every cry for help must be met with a boot to the face. Or else the mortals will get uppity? Or something.

What is interesting is how consciously Wyll defies that. And how much Mizora is dancing around, trying to force him into that state of miserable regret.

Wyll was manipulated into selling his soul. He was a kid, and he was summoned into a terrible situation - and in that moment, he could see no other way to save the city. Mizora did need to save Baldur's Gate to serve her boss's purposes, so she couldn't take that victory from him - but she did everything she could to take the joy of it.

He didn't get respect, or admiration, or his father's pride for saving the city. He lost his home and his family. He was assumed to have done something monstrous because he was denied an opportunity to defend himself.

That was supposed to fill him with bitterness and regret - but he got to work building his own life instead. By the time you run into him, the Blade of Frontiers is a hero of some renown. He's remade himself, and found a way to enjoy what his powers can do, however he came by them.

So that didn't work.

Then Mizora sent him after Karlach, and that was a mission tailored to break him. Karlach is kind and heroic herself, and that the start she has been sold into slavery, mutilated and forced to fight in a war against her will. If Wyll killed her, and then found out who she really was, then he betrayed everything the Blade of Frontiers is supposed to stand for - and he would lose the life he made for himself.

But he didn't, and that didn't work either. He's got a friend, now, who at least knows part of what he's dealing with.

So Mizora gave him demonic features. That would destroy the life he's made for himself, because no one would trust him to help them.

Except now Wyll basically goes nowhere on his own, and a small army of people can attest that he got those horns and eyes as punishment for being a good man. Mizora might be able to shut his mouth, but she can't silence his friends - and the group absolutely have shouting sessions about everything. Wyll's horns become a battle scar, like his missing eye, and nothing more.

And beyond that, if you are playing as a heroic character, a significant throughline in the game's story is the journey of the tiefling refugees. The story makes it clear that these people experience a constant barrage of racism, due to their appearance and "demonic" heritage. It also makes it abundantly clear that this prejudice is entirely undeserved - they're just people, with virtues and flaws like everyone else, and what is happening to them is terrible. So Wyll turns up to assist a bunch of people whom he now at least somewhat resembles - and with Karlach along, you have two people in the group who technically count as "infernal", but haven't got an evil bone in either of their bodies.

Mizora created solidarity. Oops.

Wyll is deeply suspicious of gods and higher powers. He doesn't want to make more deals with devils. When Elminster arrives to tell Gale what Mystra demands of him, he explicitly says he does not do religion. When you get Mizora to agree to let his contract expire in six months, he starts by casually invoking the gods - but switches to thanking the player character instead, because he knows who helped, and who did not.

But he utterly refuses to regret the pact he made. That can be a struggle. He clearly misses his dad, and would like that relationship repaired. The fact that he was transformed very much against his will is clearly a source of distress from him.

But if he regrets, then Mizora wins. That's it. Game over. She gets what she wanted all along. So he doesn't.

The main companion characters all have this kind of problem, and naturally have different ways of dealing with it. You have characters like Shadowheart and Lae'zel, who were indoctrinated as children, or Gale, who was literally seduced by one of these nightmare deities - and with them you have to start out by convincing them they they were the wronged party in the first place.

But Wyll knows exactly what game he's playing, and he's been screaming defiance the whole time. It's just that, in his case, the "defiance" is grinning and carrying on every time Mizora inflicts some more bullshit on him.

[sylusjinwoon]

{ 104 }

the price of a lie.

lies of p.

pinocchio x reader

warnings: unedited and a self indulgent mess.

{ how many lies would you tell to be human? }

truth be told, pinocchio never understood what it truly meant to be human.

his journey throughout krat was no easy task, for surrounding him were enemies who wanted nothing more than to witness his demise; automatons who held such deep contempt for him and his goals, being just as deadly as the plague that wracked through the city.

with each challenge that he faced, he was forced to play the role of a real boy, acting as though he desired nothing more than for his lies to become a reality someday. even though he knew that being human was seen as a good thing, he didn't really understand it. when asked about it, his father often told pinocchio that he was the key to saving humanity; that it was due to pinocchio being geppetto's creation that he held him in such high regard- that this was something only he could do.

but it was difficult for pinocchio. he felt as though the weight of the world had been placed on his shoulder, and he was forced to navigate through such a dark world entirely on his own while given little to no motivation. despite how he wasn't quite human yet, there seemed to be a looming weight within his chest, one that filled him with an inexplicable emotion.

the feeling was so great that he couldn't help but dwell on it, the curiosity of it all spilling over that he had to ask sophia about it.

"that emotion you are describing sounds a great deal like dread." he recalls sophia telling him one late evening when he was last seeking refuge at hotel krat. her graceful figure seemed to float along the marble floors, voice ever so gentle as her slender fingertips ran along the oakwood shelves, exploring the spines of the various books settled within it.

she hums, not quite facing him, yet pinocchio knew that she was simply deep in thought. "it is not strange for you to feel this way, after all, we are asking a lot of you at this very moment."

"however," her gentle laughter makes pinocchio finally meet her gaze, seeing her smile as she reassures him, "how you decide to move forward and continue your journey is entirely up to you. and truly, i have faith in you- we all do."

sophia stops herself from speaking further then, her gaze becoming a bit more solemn as she clasps her hands together. she steps closer to him, the skirt of her blue gown swaying back and forth with her movements when she settles herself before him. her gaze was unwavering, placing her hand on pinocchio's shoulder as she tells him:

"but it won't be easy... you must have a strong conviction in order to become what you truly desire. so, tell me..."

just how far would you go to truly be human?

pinocchio hears sophia's words echoing within him, the cogs in his mind whirring as he fought to find the right words to say. could he really tell her of how numb he felt? would she understand if he spoke to her, finally telling her that single phrase i don't know?

instead of being truthful with her, pinocchio found that he could not get the words out; the silence was deafening, and despite how no words had been spoken or exchanged, the pain in sophia's gaze said it all.

as if taking pinocchio's unspoken words as his answer, she simply nods at him before letting him go, leaving him feeling numb.

if pinocchio were to be honest with himself, the puppet simply felt... empty at the thought of being human. he felt no innate desire to become one, and only felt such desires simply because he was told to.

the lies he tells were only made to put up a façade; one that he was meant to uphold if he were to ever survive the dangers that were seen all across krat. he never had a reason, nor felt the true desire to become real-

but that all seemed to change one fateful moment, when he came into contact with a human-

when he came into contact with you.

it was raining that day, the downpour causing the cobblestone streets to become slick. puddles surrounded the city as pinocchio could feel his own clothes becoming wet from the rain. his shoes made splashes all across the roads when gemini's voice became panicked.

"whoa, b-bad news, buddy! i sense a group of rogue automatons just a few blocks away. maybe we should retreat for now? you seem unprepared, and you were only meant to be out here to do recon."

pinocchio ignores gemini's advice, simply sharpening his rapier with his legion arm as he stepped forward, eyes narrowing when he sees a figure coming towards him, seeing you running to him. he stops walking, watching as your footsteps pound against the streets as gasps escapes from your parted lips. you were dressed in a tattered shirt with torn pants, and your shoes were so worn and torn that they nearly made you slip and fall into the slick streets.

when you finally see him, you let out a sigh of relief all while reaching out to him with your hands, "p-please, you've got to help me!"

he takes note of the way your heart raced from within your chest and how wisps of smoke seemed to escape from your parted lips due to how cold it was. the constant thumpthumpthump heard from the confines of your chest intrigued pinocchio a great deal, and he was uncertain why his curiosity was so piqued by you.

"pino, this is bad, the enemies are right in front of you!"

without saying a word to you, pinocchio places you directly behind him, shielding you from the automatons. he watches the rogue puppets with thick oil escaping from their porcelain lips, staining at their skin as heavy grunts and groans were heard from them. their movements were slow, dragging their feet along the slick streets. pinocchio held no concern when it came to defeating them and shielding you from the dangers that they pose.

using the speed and grace he had developed from his past battles, he manages to take down the rogue group of automatons with ease. his rapier slices through them as he dodges their attacks with great succession. within what seemed like seconds, they all collapse in a pile of broken limbs, the rain already beginning to turn their bodies into rust.

he faces you once more, seeing you wrap your arms around your chest, your eyes wide with wonder. "t-that was amazing! and goodness, y-you are also an automaton? i truly thought you were real! simply a young man taking a stroll across krat! well, actually, that would be quite crazy, since humans like me would definitely struggle surviving here!"

pinocchio listens to you and the way you excitedly spoke to him. it was here that he learns of your name, how you were not originally from krat and had simply traveled here to learn about the city's accomplishments with automatons. you spoke highly about your dreams and how you wished to be a master engineer like geppetto.

"that is my father." pinocchio wasn't sure why he felt the need to tell you of this simple fact. something about you seemed...bright. so achingly bright that it made his chest feel this strange tightness. the fact that you were all alone in this dangerous world made pinocchio wish to help you- to shield and protect you from it.

he watches as your eyes widen in response. "you're kidding, that's amazing!"

"yup, it sure is! master geppetto is a genius, and i along with everyone else agree that pinocchio is his greatest creation!" gemini chimes in, further adding to your excitement.

"then that means-"

"you may come with me." pinocchio softly tells you without a hint of hesitation, simply holding his hand out for you to take. your features appear surprised once more before turning a bit sheepish a mere moments later. "i-i don't know. i don't wish to intrude, but...krat has become a living nightmare since the plague hit. i was a bit foolish in coming here so...so unprepared. "

"hey listen, your only hope of survival is to follow pinocchio here. if you stay out here, you're gonna be made into mincemeat for sure." gemini continues to urge you to follow pinocchio, "he can take you to geppetto. and who knows? maybe you can work as his assistant along with eugénie."

throughout it all, pinocchio never stops keeping his hand outreached for you to take. as gemini's voice slowly softens before becoming silent, he could see your eyes shining with excitement and happiness once more. with a sigh, pinocchio watches you as you step forward and call out his name for the first time. "pinocchio, right?"

he feels himself shiver a bit upon hearing the way you call out to him. giving you a simple nod, he extends his hand out even more to you, to which you finally take. the warmth that came from the palm of your hand was what pinocchio initially feels, his fingertips lightly grazing against your wrist as he felt the pulse along with the warmth that radiated off of it.

there was a sudden surge felt within his chest, one that pushes him forward as he ends up interlocking the fingertips of his non-legion hand with yours, pulling you along as he safely lead you out of the city and towards his sanctuary found within hotel krat.

and it didn't take long for you to find a new home within his found family. as predicted by gemini, his father welcomed you with open arms, along with eugénie. you were a fast learner, and offered many insights to both of them when it came to optimizing pinocchio's legion arm.

pinocchio wasn't sure why your presence instilled something so profound within him. he has had his fair share of communicating with humans. he was close to his father, and he enjoyed listening to eugénie prattle on about the modifications she has made to his legion arm.

but interacting with you sparked something deep from within him. each day he returned to hotel krat, he found himself basking in your smiles and the sound of your voice as you told him about your day all while asking pinocchio about his own adventures.

he never tired of hearing your voice, and how your warmth seemed to permeate at the air before seeping into him. and it was while he was in your presence that he found himself regretting that he could not feel your warmth nor share it with you. pinocchio's body was cold, being carved by the richest wood and sewn together with metal. his glass eyes were incapable of reflecting the same emotions that you showed each time you met his curious gaze, and that part bothered him greatly.

that was the first time pinocchio felt a great sense of regret at not being truly human.

he wanted to bask in the rain and feel the cold droplets against his skin and dance in it with you;

he wanted to share cups of hot chocolate with you and be able to lick away the cream that decorates your lips;

but more so than that, he wanted these feelings he was beginning to feel to come into fruition and have a true, beating heart.

it was a yearning that pinocchio felt growing inside him, getting stronger and deeper with each passing day. each time you walk by him, his gaze would ultimately follow you. the longing that he felt was certainly becoming more evident, and an almost knowing smile would grace sophia's features each time she witnesses your interactions with pinocchio.

with a newfound passion, pinocchio continues his journey, now believing his lies of being human each time he uttered them while exploring the city of krat- allowing the thoughts of you to push him forward.

and it was with these thoughts of you plaguing his mind that he returns back home from his exploration around krat. the night was at its peak, with hotel krat remaining silent as evident of its inactivity. pinocchio was the only one still awake at this time, and he found himself wandering aimlessly around the library, unable to rest.

his fingers run across the spines of the books, yet he felt no desire to read any of them. as his eyes scan the various titles, he was aware of the familiar sound that never fails to bring him comfort.

thumpthumpthump...

his ears pick up the gentle pitter patter of your heart, its slow beats alerting him of your sleeping state. yet despite how he knew that you were resting, pinocchio couldn't stop his footsteps from moving forward. he allows the sounds of your heartbeat to lead him away from the library, his steps echoing throughout the marble flooring of the hallways.

as if running on instinct alone, he does not stop his movements until he reaches the front of your room. like a moth being drawn to a flame, pinocchio lifts his hand, pressing it against the door as he pushes it aside and steps within your bedroom.

his eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the room within seconds as he moves forward. he follows the sounds of your breathing and ends up standing before your bed. it is here that he sees you curled up against the sheets, your hair splayed across your pillow as you cling to your blankets. pinocchio allows his eyes to trail over to your chest, becoming mesmerized by the gentle rise and fall of it.

unconsciously, he reaches out to you, allowing his hand to brush back the strands of your hair. upon feeling his cold hand against your skin, you wince in your sleep before letting out a soft groan. pinocchio simply stiffens in response, not even attempting to move his hand away from you even when you slowly began to awaken.

"huh? pinocchio?" you sat up in bed, forcing pinocchio to remove his hand away from your cheek. "what are you doing here?"

pinocchio knew that the right thing to do in this situation was to simply apologize for waking you up, yet no words seemed to come out properly from his parted lips. "i...i..."

yet miraculously, you seemed to inherently understand him. "it's alright, you can't sleep, right?" wordlessly, you scoot over on your bed, making room for pinocchio to settle beside you. "come on, it's alright, you can stay here, with me."

his hands began to itch with a sudden urge, a pinprick of desire that seemed to grow as your smile was all he could see. following along with this strange emotion, pinocchio lets out a tiny thank you in response to your kindness before laying in bed with you.

not wanting you to fall off the bed, he wraps his arms around your form, bringing you closer to him as you let out a gasp. he says your name in yet another soft whisper, adjusting himself so that his ear was pressed against your chest.

"p-pinocchio?" your voice had risen a few octaves, and he could hear the way your heart began to beat faster in response to his touch.

"ssh...just let me...let me listen to your heart beat- listen to what makes you human." pinocchio's voice began to take on a richer tone, being filled with wonder as he closed his eyes and listened to the steady beat of your heart.

thumpthumpthump...

how far would you go to be human?

how many lies would you tell?

in this moment, with you by his side, pinocchio knew that he would tell an infinite amount of lies-

for if he could become human and share his heartbeat with yours, than what greater bliss could possibly exist for him?

a.n. - so a new lies of p trailer just dropped, and i find myself falling for pinocchio all over again 🥹

all stories are written by rei; reposts, translations, and plagiarism are not allowed.

[mrs-santoss]

Are you jealous, Ney? - Neymar Imagine

Summary:

Heyy i saw that ur requests were open and i really liked ur other imagines so could u please write something with jealous ney like the reader and kylian(or anyone)got close since they started dating and one day they were just hanging out and kylian gets too close so ney gets jelous or smth plssss

It was a big change for me to move to Paris with Neymar and change my lifestyle completely. But since my job is mostly remote, I decided to move with the love of my life and support him on his journey. I knew a long-distance relationship wouldn't last for me, so I didn't want to risk breaking up with Neymar. We are an extremely happy and understanding couple; that's what makes us special.

Before Neymar and I moved to Paris, we looked for apartments or houses to rent or purchase. We found a perfect big apartment with enough rooms for me to create my own office. Neymar made sure everything was perfect, so I wouldn't miss anything at work. He felt some sort of responsibility to make me comfortable since I'm the one moving to a different country for him, even though I wouldn't want him to feel this way at all.

I'm working on my latest project at work when I get a call from Ney saying he's bringing a few guys from the team over to hang out. I ask if he wants me to prepare some food or anything, but he's got it all covered.

I'm not in my best-looking state, but I'm not too bad either. I'm wearing a sweater and shorts, dark blue set with some light makeup and my hair up in a bun. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I go to open the door, greeting Neymar first.

"Hi, bebê. How was training?" I ask him and give him a quick kiss on the lips, he squeezes my waist lightly.

"Hi, meu amor. It was good. Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Kylian and Thiago. I invited a few more guys, but they couldn't make it." he says to me as the guys come inside and remove their shoes. We have a shoes-off policy because of me, I hate the idea of dirty shoes on the couch.

Everyone greets me and says hi. Kylian gives me a quick hug, and follows the other guys to the living room as I shut the door. I follow Neymar and I grab his food bags from his hands.

"I will prepare everything, anjo. You sit with the guys." I say to him, he hesitates first but gives in and kisses my forehead.

I'm in the kitchen making some drinks for the guys and one for myself because why not, and put the ordered food on the plates. I go to the living room where the guys were taking turns playing Fifa. Kylian and Thiago were sitting on the big couch, Neymar was sitting on an arm chair, I place the food on the table and sit next to Neymar on the arm of the arm chair. He gives me a side hug and kisses my shoulder. Kylian and Thiago were playing against each other, while Neymar is waiting his turn.

"How's work going, bebê? Are you done for today? he asks me, while snacking on some chips.

"Yeah, Ney. I have a few things let unfinished but I will deal with them tomorrow." I say back to him.

"Okay, amor. Don't get too stressed out about work." he says to me giving me another quick kiss on my shoulder since he can't reach my face since I'm sitting on a higher level.

Thiago beats Kylian on the game, and now is Neymar's turn with Thiago. Kylian offers Neymar his seat so he has a better view of the TV, and Kylian sits on his place next to me.

Neymar's POV:

I switched seats with Kylian so I can focus on the game more. After a few minutes of playing, I hears laughs coming from Y/N's and Kylian's direction, they were chatting together about different stuff. Usually, I'm not the jealous type, but I hate it when someone else makes my girlfriend laugh. I don't want to make it a big deal, I mean they're having fun as friends. I feel some sort of responsibility that she had to leave her friends behind to move to Paris with me.

Kylian reaches out to grab some food, and the arm chair almost drops on Y/N's side due to the unbalanced weight. He quickly grabs her by the waist and pulls her so she doesn't fall.

"Oh, my god, I'm sorry. Are you okay? he says to her. Y/N confirms she is okay, and they both start laughing finding it funny.

I decide to ditch the game and let Thiago beat me. I feel this rush of jealousy over my body. I quickly stand up.

"Kylian, you can continue playing, I lost the game." I say to him coldly.

"Okay, bro. In a second! I want to finish this food first." he says casually to me not even looking at me, still making jokes with Y/N, my girlfriend.

"Sure! No rush." I say to him and I sit back next to Thiago, I pull out my phone pretending to scroll through different apps, but still looking at them through my peripheral vision.

Y/N is telling him an embarrasing story from her high school days, and Kylian laughs, touching her shoulder slightly.

"Hahaha, oh, god, I didn't realize you were also funny and not just pretty." he says to her as if he forgot she's my girlfriend, MINE.

That was it for me. I wanted to make that stop. So I stood up quickly. And walked over to them.

"Hey, amor. Can I have a word with you in the kitchen?" I say to her coldly.

"Yeah, sure, bebê." she stands up quickly and follows me to the kitchen."What's up, Ney?"

"Why are you not working right now?" I ask her blankly, I can tell she's taken back from my words.

"Um... What do you mean, bebê? she asks me confused. "Do you not want me to hang out with you guys?"

"Of course, I want you to hang out with us, but I want you to sit next to me." I say to her, and I feel a little weird saying it out loud. We never had these conversations about jealousy before.

She pauses for a moment, processing my words. And suddenly, she starts smiling. I don't know why she's smiling, I certainly don't find it funny AT ALL.

"Bebê... are you jealous?" she asks, as if she's reading my mind.

"What?! No, I'm not? Why would you think that?" I ask, not sure what to say next.

"Hahaha, yes you are, Ney." she says to me and grabs my, cheeks pinching them, and kisses my lips softly. Oh, god, how does she manage to make me smile through everything?

"Okay... maybe a little. I don't like this feeling. You are MINE." I say, as i grap her by the waist and pull her close to me crashing my lips into her.

"You don't have to be jealous, meu amor. I'm only trying to make new friends. I don't think Kylian there is flirting with me either." she says to me.

"Maybe, but, I still don't like it. I'm the only one who can make you laugh like that." I say to her, she starts grinning. "You're the only one who can also make me scream." she says while winking at me. I kiss her passionately, and run my hands down to her butt, squeezing it slightly.

"That's for sure, bebê." I can't wait for those idiots to leave so I can make her scream my name.

[the-path-to-redemption]

Thoughts on Blood Of Zeus Season 2: AKA, wow /neg.

Long Post Ahead. Seriously, it will be long.

I literally binged the entirety of Blood of Zeus Season 2 in one day, and I'm going to be honest, I was massively disappointed. While there are parts that I enjoyed in it, Season 1 was much better for me because of the potential it had for its characters, especially Heron. Season 2 left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for a lot of its characters though, as well as the conclusion as it felt rushed like Season 1. So let's start with the goods.

The Goods

It's expected, but the best part of this season was the Hades plot line. He's a great adversary for this season, with a believable and understandable reason to why he's doing everything that he's doing. He got screwed over by his family, and I know Poseidon's betrayal hurts him the most; they spent their childhood together in Kronos' stomach, I don't doubt that they were closer to each other than with Zeus, so when Poseidon knew that Hera and Zeus screwed his brother over and said nothing, letting Hades suffer the poison of living in the Underworld without the ability to leave it for long for centuries, I know it shattered their bond greatly.

We see that bitterness in Hades in his sequence with Seraphim, and personally, I think it's nice that he wanted to sink himself into a body of water when he was on the surface as well as him flying between sky and sea. Maybe in a way, he wanted to connect with his brothers again, and it does play into the themes of power ruining the good things in one's life that all gods suffers from. It's a good sequence, and Hades is a great character. His consistency is seen throughout the season, and it shines best when he's with his family.

I also like that he doesn't really know how to approach Seraphim initially, which makes sense. He's all business, and Seraphim is business, so there's that initial wall between them that's still there because of their dynamic as god and mortal, I like that. Seraphim isn't wrong for feeling the way he does, and it has to be a gap that the two must bridged, which they did! Hades took Persephone's advice to be a father to Seraphim, and while he's still rough around the edges due to their inherent dynamic, he still lets Seraphim do what he wants as long as they get to where they need to within the time limit. Yes, there is the whole "holding your lover's fate over your head" thing that he has over Seraphim, but arguably, Hades treated him the best out of all the gods that screwed with his life. It's about deals and fairness in the Underworld, so it makes sense why Hades wanted Seraphim to work for his deal. Again, they understand each other, and I did like their dynamic a lot.

Moving onto Seraphim, who continues to be the best character in the series. Like Hades, his reasons are understandable, especially now with more context to his rage and how it affected him. It sets him on this journey of self-reflection, and I did like that in the end, he still admits to Heron that he's the villain and will suffer the consequences, as long as someone he cares about finds peace. That's great grey morality right there, and it contrast him with Heron's journey very well.

For Heron, I was more conflicted with his story. I liked that he began to play into his justified anger at his divine family; he didn't asked to be born, yet his birth was the catalyst for the world almost ending and his father dead (not like Zeus is any better) when all he wanted to do was provide for his mother despite being outcast. And he barely had time to bond with his siblings before the war started, so I was excited to see the trailer opening with him conflicted with his current situation. And it somewhat delivered?

Him trying to leave was good, him not liking Hera's presence at the Funeral Games was good, him not taking Ares' shit was good, and him still doing good things for the people in his old poli yet not forgiving them for what they did to him was great. Heron is clearly still trying to process his parents' deaths and now his was coming, he's trying so hard to prevent his demise and finding some good in the situation and that's admirable to me, especially when he confessed to Elektra's grave that he can't forgive Seraphim (another great scene portraying the turbulent relationship between brothers, which reflects Hades' inability to forgive Zeus and Poseidon with Heron's active efforts to forgive Seraphim). I'm gonna fight on this hill, but Heron was actually good in the series; he's kind but not perfect, and he's trying his best to do the right thing even when the world scorn his existence, they just needed more time to let him work through his problems that they couldn't, because war.

Hera was also great to be honest. I wish that we have more time to see the disgraced queen of the heavens, because her showing her regrets of starting the second Gigantomachy and the death of Zeus was a great progress for her character. She's not without her pride, shown in Zeus' trial when she defended him and herself, but she is with remorse. It was nice seeing her stepping away from the Olympians' bullshit in the end after failing to convince them to not fight, which I appreciated. Kinda wish we saw her more this season, helping out Heron or at least trying to see past her hatred for him, but she's not the worst offender.

Oh no, I have gripes with several others.

The Bads:

Let's just get it out of the way; that is not fucking Ares bro. I was seething when I saw the writers make Ares, who is the only Olympian who does not fucking sexually assault people, be a creep towards Persephone. Yes, he was one of her suitors, but Ares in most interpretation does not push himself onto women. That's what makes him distinct from his father and brothers, but Season 2 further bastardize him by making him a fucking goober towards Heron instead of making their conflict with each other even have a hint of nuance in it.

In Season 1, Ares was the unstoppable force that Hera needed, and his loyalty to her makes sense. Zeus intimidates him in front of everyone during a competition, his own heir that he has with his wife, and clearly favors Heron over him. Ares has all the rights to forsake his father and the siblings who stood with him, but making him a purely spiteful bully coupled with being a coward is just so fucking lazy when it comes to any iteration of Ares. He's more than just war, he's also a loyal son, a protective father, and a complex character. I would've rather have the season be focus more on how the other heirs of Zeus views each other as both competition and siblings than just another fetch quest plot. I understand that there are time constraints, but the plot needed better planning and execution for the ideas they wanted to have.

What I'm saying is, sibling moments between the heirs of Zeus and how their relationship with him affected them. Make them more complex damn it, because yet again, Athena and Artemis barely have shit, Artemis the worst of the two.

Demeter.

Holy shit, I hated the route they took with her in the second act. I get it, she has beef with Hades. IT'S EXPECTED. But making her NUKE PEOPLE like The Last of Us is not the fucking way to make Hades more sympathetic. I already liked him, you didn't have to make her a complete bitch to accomplish it. How about you go more into her perspective of her daughter's choice, and have Persephone tell her off by reminding Demeter that she didn't even visit her grandchildren at all? How about you see their relationship finally changes with Zeus and Hera gone, instead of bastardizing Demeter and making Persephone a hostage at the end? Disservice to both of them.

My favorite interpretation of Demeter is still from the game Hades; she's capable of being cruel, she's capable of being spiteful, but she does love her daughter and grandchildren and puts in the efforts of seeing Persephone as her own person. She deserves at least that level of respect to her characterization.

Now, we're moving into the territory that I know I will get flamed for. Feel free to disagree, you're entitled to your opinion.

But Gorgo did not need to exist in the narrative.

Seraphim's lover did not need to exist in the narrative for his story to continue or for Hades to relates to him, especially when he already has someone else who can fulfill the purpose he needed for his plot line. His adopted mother.

You know, the woman who rescued him, raised him, protected him and was one of the people who his uncle murdered and sets him off on the journey of vengeance? That woman?

Nope, make another female character who is fridged for Seraphim's sake. For HIS plot. It doesn't matter that we have flashbacks to show the audience how good she was to him, she was fucking disrespected as hell because HER EXISTENCE IN THE SHOW WAS JUST TO MOTIVATE THE MAN IN HER LIFE. You can literally replaced her with the woman who raised Seraphim (who died in the forest. I doubt they gave her a proper burial.) and the story would still worked. I just feel bad for Gorgo.

Speaking of her death and fate, I might be missing some details. But if her fellow priestesses gathered up her remains to give her a pretty swanky grave site, why didn't they fucking pay the obols for Gorgo to pass? Because she didn't have a skull to put money on? That's wack! Put some fucking money in that poor girl's grave, what kind of bullshit is this? Literally her purpose was to serve Seraphim's character, making her the 3rd woman to do so after both of his mothers.

RIP Gorgo, you were a victim of writer's misogyny. I will pray for you. This past couple of years has been hell on me because of the amount of female characters I see with potential gets FUCKED over by their respective writers made me lose sleep. I barely got over Jill Warrick from FFVI and Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal, Gorgo was the third bullet to my brain.

And of course, Alexia and Kofi got shafted. Avios did the right thing and noped out before his ass got screwed over too. I wanted these four to have a FFXV style road trip goddamnit, why do ya'll do this.

The Conclusion

I did not like Season 2 at all. Season 1, while rushed, had a lot of potential that could've been explored in Season 2. And when I saw the trailers, I genuinely thought that we could've have a more melodramatic plot following the death of Zeus. The creator's video on the synopsis said that Season 2 was focusing on the relationship between the 3 brothers, but that was a fucking lie because Poseidon was nowhere to be seen after Zeus' trial. We didn't see him trying to keep up the pieces of the family for the sake of his brother's children or see him clash with Hades after that fall out. He just fucked off back into the ocean.

Hestia got one cool thing going on, and I liked seeing her grief after losing her little brother and watching the rest of her family tear each other apart. But like Athena and Artemis, she got shafted because she wasn't evil enough like Demeter. Lame as hell. They introduced Zagreus and Melinoe to make me hopeful, only to fucking Thanos snappeed those kids into oblivion after 5 minutes.

And the ending...

Narratively, it makes sense. And the cliffhanger makes sense. Heron's death happened because Hades cannot move on from his anger and forgive, something that Heron learned with his brother and even vouched for Seraphim, so they are screwed. But the lead up was so disappointing that I'm with Gaia on this. They should all blow up via Typhon.

That's all I can muster up to even word my displeasure towards this season right now. As always, feel free to disagree with me, that's cool. But personally, I'm gonna pretend that Season 2 does not exist.

[mymreaderlibrary]

Hey buddy, gotta say, fucking LOVE your old man yaoi post with price and reader. It's also one of my favorite things and shit if you'd like could you write more about them? Like I need these two old men to finally own up and kiss damnit 😭

I wanted to get this out way earlier but ANYWAYS IM SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT AAAAGHHGH I honestly wanted to write about it a lil more but I wasn’t sure. I hope this is good, no beta cause I’m a looney toons of a writer who’s stubborn as hell.

[old friends to lovers, slight angst, injury ment, laswell is so fuckin annoyed by being the only smart person, use of y/n though they’re kinda treated more like an oc sorry, the ramblings continue]

[length: 1324 words]

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They didn't speak of the night before, but they honestly didn't have to. Y/n and Price could tell their feelings were mutual, or at least stronger than a typical friendship, but instead they chose to be stopped by an invisible road block.

For y/n it was the feeling of lost time. They weren't young anymore, they didn't have the energy nor time for things like relationships and... well he wasn't sure if Price would want to be stuck with an old fart like himself. Price aged in a way that'd make any man jealous meanwhile y/n? Not so much. He was greying, his bones ached more often than not, he spent half of his time drinking shitty liquor that made his teeth reek, and, as much as he hates to admit it, he's just not handsome anymore. Price deserved to be with someone who still had life to them. Maybe a spunky military gal who could keep him on his toes or private operative with an infinite list of missions to complete. What he didn't need, however, was someone who already had their chance and wasted it. Y/n should've told him just how much Price meant to him, how much he envied the people who got to stay by his side. He should've searched for him, got on his hands and knees and begged to come with. Convince whoever had them separated to change their mind. He didn't care if he still went through the same pain he did when he was alone, if he had to amputate his own damn leg again, or deal with the loss of his parents one more time. As long as he could've done it by Price's side he would've been happy or at the very least satisfied. But that was the past and the current y/n could never catch up to the man Price had become.

However for Price it was guilt. He remembered the days that y/n and him felt invincible. Like every little thing was just a stepping stone in their grand journey to glory. No matter the pain they persevered, found solutions where others would've given up, made names for themselves amongst crowds of soldiers all baring the same purpose. Too bad those names couldn't stop them from being split up, from losing their friends, their families, from being sent all across the world with no way of knowing if the other was even alive. Those names couldn't stop y/n from losing his entire calf... (Price hated that he only knew of his friends injury due a rumor involved with y/n's discharge). Y/n shouldn't even be here, his time in the military was over, he paid his penance, he should be at home watching tv on a leather couch with a beer in hand. Nothing on the mind but whatever sore loser couldn't figure out tonight's Jeopardy categories. But no, Price had to go and drag him out from retirement, right back onto the front lines. Straight back into trouble. Even if he wasn't on the field that didn't mean he was away from risk. His mere association with the 141 planted a target on his back that wouldn’t be removed by simply walking away. Price didn't feel he deserved y/n's affection not when all he ever did was put him in danger.

So they both stayed like that, infinitely stubborn, hellishly avoidant, and not nearly as sly as they thought. The 141 didn't have a full understanding of what was going on between the two, but they could tell there was some unfinished business. Gaz thought maybe one of them slighted the other and neither have taken the step to apologize for it. Soap thought y/n perhaps betrayed Price and that's why he's missing part of his leg. Ghost had... almost the right idea, thinking there was a strange tinge of romantic tension between the two though he assumed it was from something like a love triangle. Maybe y/n and Price loved the same woman and had some unfinished rivalry? Regardless, it was not his problem so much as it didn’t effect the mission.

Laswell however, she knew. She wouldn't have the position she did if information like this just flew past her radar. She knew of their history, she saw how they reacted to one another. Laswell wasn't blind for god's sake, in fact she felt like the only one with eyes at the moment. She wasn't so crass as to demand them to make up and get it over with, but having no one to complain to was definitely testing her patience. Instead she stuck to subtly, casually chatting with Price about y/n and dropping questions in regards to their past missions together and how close they were, hoping to make some wheels turn in his rusted head. She wasn't gonna do more than that however, they were two grown men and if they couldn’t figure it out that was their problem. Could they just be a little more subtle though?

It took until a, quite literally, explosive scenario for them to finally get it together. A bullet had gotten lodged into Price's shoulder after an enemy made a lucky shot. It was far from the worst thing the Captain had faced but it still wasn't great, hurt like a bitch for one. And secondly it seemed to send y/n into a spiral. He was practically fuming when Price got back, going on some sort of rant about hygiene and wound care. Y/n demanded to be the one to dress Price's shoulder with a tone that had the others knowing they were not invited to watch unless they wanted to join in on the incoming lecture. And lecture he did, through the whole process Price could barely get a word in. Y/n paced and raved, threw his arms in the air and even knocked over supplies on accident. He was a complete mess and it wasn't until y/n was literally out breath that the Captain could finally speak.

An explanation of what happened was given, it was just luck (bad luck in regards to Price) that he got hit. This wasn’t overly common and the team knew how to deal with these wounds. Everything was okay, it was going to be fine. This just came with the job, risks were inevitable.

They were quiet, looking at each other and letting the silence permeate the room. Price reached his hand out to touch y/n’s but was caught off guard as the other man suddenly leaned it. Knocking his head against Price’s good shoulder and breathing heavily, y/n shuddered a silent cry. A plead for Price to be safe. Whatever false version of safety he could promise, just please don’t die out there.

The Captain raised his outstretched hand to cup the back of y/n’s head, running a thumb over the stubbled hair. Letting his hand slide to his face and pushing him back just an inch.

Another moment of silence. Hearts beating like rabbits.

“You gonna actually do something or do I-“

Price shut him up as quickly as he could. It was clumsy, a bit shaky, and definitely desperate, but the moment their lips touched it felt like pure ecstatic relief. Relief that this was finally happening, relief that the invisible barrier they built around each other was so weak, but mostly relief that those moments, all those touches and lingering stares weren’t for nothing.

They breathed in each others scent, something they’ve come to know so well and yet in this moment it felt brand new, and infinitely stronger. The spice of a cigar, the sting of sweat, and- oh right, sterile wipes. Price was left to chuckle awkwardly and y/n backed away. Any childish excitement felt would have to wait but at the very least they had this.

[kalena-henden]

Shows I finished in 2024 so far...

A Good Day to be a Dog - A woman accidentally kisses her co-worker and turns into a dog during the night due to a family curse. She has to get her co-worker to kiss her as a dog to break stay human full-time or she will permanently remain a dog after 100 days. The first two-thirds were fun hijinks and a cute romance. The final third with the past life curse origin was a drag. Still upset the mountain god didn't apologize after wrongly punishing the wrong people due to his misunderstanding.

My Demon - A high powered business woman becomes entangled with a deal-making demon when she saves him and his powers transfer to her. This show stole plot heavily from shows like Goblin and Doom at Your Service and failed to do make those concepts their own. However, I still enjoyed it to the end, mostly due to the chemistry between the leads. They had such a fun and lively relationship.

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract - A Joseon-era bride who is widowed on her wedding day is transported to the future where she falls for a man who looks exactly like her dead husband. The story was okay but I was mainly here for the chemistry between the leads.

Fixer Upper: Hotel - Chip and Jo work their magic on an entire hotel. I love seeing the process and the design is beautiful as always.

Memorist - A detective who can see people's thoughts when he touches them teams up with a genius profiler to take down murders. As mysteries unfold and truths are revealed, everything is not as it seems forcing them to confront their traumatic pasts. I binged this in 4 days. The first half is dark but, just when I thought I had the villains pegged, the story opens up to explore the various sides of people to reveal the good, the bad, and the morally grey. I'm still thinking about this months later. I especially loved our detective/profiler team. I really want to rewatch.

Be Melodramatic - This a satire on the entertainment industry, grief, motherhood, and love that is done with 100% deadpan humor which is why I thought the concepts were interesting but fell flat due to not connecting with the humor. This took me almost 9 months to finish.

Death's Game - A man kills himself and then is given 12 chances to survive in someone else's body or he will be sent to hell. It's an anti-suicide version of A Christmas Carol. It was okay. While a host of great actors shine in their guest roles, it was maddening that the man didn't seem to learn along the way until the last body. Where the story ended felt like a copout. If this were a movie where you don't have much time, I would understand, but I wanted to see what would happen next. We needed just one more episode.

Marry My Husband - A woman with terminal cancer is murdered by her husband and best friend who were having an affair, when she is transported back in time before she was married to change her fate and find the love she deserves. This was such a great revenge story. Some of the best villains in kdramaland. A cute romance with a man who adores her. Real friendships. And the OSTs will stick with you.

Queen of Divorce - It started off okay but went downhill quickly. Honestly, such a waste of a great cast.

Daisy Jones & The Six - An interesting look at a fictional 70s rock band as they rise to the top before flaming out. I had listened to the audiobook but I liked the series better.

Doctor Slump - Two young doctors who were academic rivals in high school find themselves grappling with depression and fall in love as they heal together. This was a solid, even keel show for me. I enjoyed their healing journey and their romance.

Live Your Own Life - An outcast chaebol whose parents died in a mysterious car crash falls for his hardworking trainer who needs to learn to become independent from her family. I watched this 50-episode family drama for Ha Joon. There were some interesting things that kept me watching but it was just okay.

Princess Hours - The crown prince and a young artist, who are both high school seniors, navigate the complexities of an arranged marriage and court politics in modern day Korea. This was a really interesting study in how people can change and grow and fall in love as they grapple with the expectations of a nation. It's an old school kdrama and alot is meant to be inferred. It's almost as much about what is not shown or said as much as what is which was frustrating at times. However, when someone explained things, everything started to click for me and I saw all the things that were implied increasing my enjoyment.

Wedding Impossible - A gay chaebol asks his best friend to marry him to hide his sexuality from everyone. His brother who wants him to marry someone else for his own good decides to break them up by seducing his brother's fiance. It's a ridiculous premise with a fun, bickering enemies to lovers couple. It lags a bit in the last part but I still enjoyed this romance. Moon Sang Min is a new fave.

High School King of Savvy - A high school hockey player is asked by his older brother to pretend to be him at his job as a corporate executive while he investigates something nefarious. The high schooler then has to juggle both school and work life as he unexpectedly falls for his brother's secretary. This is a crazy, age-gap romance with Seo In Guk. The only reason the romance works is because both the leads are so pure hearted and kind. Lee Soo Hyuk is doing his best sexy, self-sabotaging second male lead, who even smiles! It was a bit much but it settled down in the second half and I loved the big found family feel of the cast.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes - The first half was interesting with many characters’ selfish and dark intentions mixed with a little mystery were set up in contrast to our optimistic, self-sacrificing female lead. However, the second half drowned in major events happening and then being dismissed as if they never happened, multiple secret keepers refusing to tell the secret multiple times an episodes even when asked point blank when the answers could stop so many bad things from happening, and the existential dread I felt about what the big reveal was going to be only for it to completely dismissed. I knew this was a tragedy going in but still I felt angry and exhausted by the end.

Vigilante - A police university student decides to take the law into his own hands after his mother's murderer is let back on the streets to avenge her and other's like her who have been failed by the justice system. A manhunt for him ensues, bringing together an unlikely and at times unhinged group who decides to reveal the truth and bring justice. At 8 episode (six hours total), it felt like it was just starting to gel by the end. Definitely set up for more potential seasons after Nam Joo Hyuk gets out of the military.

Love Me Love Me Voice - A newer voice actor and singer is one day noticed online by her secretive voice acting idol and a whirlwind courtship begins. These are the sweetest, kindest people ever. I love how the dramatic readings and song performances are seamlessly woven into the story. Multiple romances, great friendships, mouthwatering food, and beautiful locals. This is a feel good story of first love.

[doctorofmagic]

Final thoughts on a lovely journey

*deep inhale*

Please, come inside and sit with me for a moment while we discuss this final issue.

In all my years as a Stephen stan, I’ve never felt this happy to see HIM happy, cared for, surrounded by such meaningful and deep love. I had many beautiful moments so far *coughcough hellfire gala/savage avengers* but this one means the world to me, mostly because he’s reunited with the love of his life.

Love has always been the fundamental force that drives his very existence. He has never healed from the guilt and sadness for watching Clea leave. He couldn’t forgive himself and fell into self-destructive behavior, which later worsened and culminated in depression in the shape of Mr. Misery.

Stephen hasn’t been happy in a VERY long time by our standards of time. It was never clear that he and Clea were in good terms after Sorcerer Supreme by the end of the 90′s and Defenders v2/The Order, but he did go through A LOT ever since she left to lead the rebel army. After the conclusion of Sorcerer Supreme, he made a few cameos here and there until he was adopted by Bendis in New Avengers v1 and v2. He was loved by his teammates but he also made tons of mistakes due to his actions in the Illuminati. He could never forgive himself after what he did to the Hulk, and abusing dark magic only made him feel even more miserable, turning his back to Wong and Linda and embracing once and for all his self-destructive instincts in order to atone for his sins and mistakes.

Hickman’s New Avengers and Secret Wars were no different. They were a downhill towards his own perdition and posterior tragic death by the hands of one flawed man he loved to a fault.

And then v4 happened, the lowest Stephen has ever faced. Alone, fighting himself to preserve a friendship and struggling with his own flaws: his need to be in control, his insecurity, his white and half lies. He was NOT in a good place.

V5 was an exception because, well, not a good portrayal, let alone when it comes to continuity, although he did severe his relationship with Clea.

And then Jed had all the diligence to fix pretty much 30 years of pain, loneliness and Stephen’s inaptitude to be open about his feelings. In fact, Jed is more than willing to work hard and deep into Clea and Stephen’s marriage, and that’s the most important part of this last issue in my opinion.

Because, you see, it’s not the first time they merged and became one. There was one time when Dormammu and Umar forced them and it was pretty much a nightmare. But aside from that, it has always been consented by bonding their souls (with tons of implied sexual semantics, of course). Still, the point is, they deal with magic. I always mention that the magic community is deeper than any other bond in the Marvel universe, mostly because they tap into the spirit and essence of things. So love here... Sure, it’s demanding and takes lots of work, conversation, understanding, patience. On the other hand, when it comes to magic... It’s hard to explain but it’s pretty much how I personally feel about love. It goes beyond the limitations of the physical instance. It connects you to other person in such overwhelming levels of intimacy and trust. It’s not something that should be taken lightly because it goes DEEP.

And that’s precisely what Clea and Stephen’s relationship is all about. Jed, Ferreira, Poggi, Tartaglia, Petit and Garbett did a wonderful job in portraying the depth of this feeling. And it’s just so amazingly done that even when they merge in the being called Strange, they're not 100% on the same page. And this is literally what a deep and meaningful relationship represents. You’re not one with your S/O. You’re your own person. Your relationship creates a strong bond, but you and your partner(s) will disagree on many issues. You will have to find the balance between your needs and the sacrifices you’ll do along the way. Then again, it’s not just about romance. It’s a never-ending mutual journey of growth.

In short? Stephen and Clea are one, but also different in their own uniqueness. And they’ll have tons of work ahead to find said balance. Which is amazing because you don’t see this kind of approach in comic books very often. It’s mature and it reflects how far they’ve come together.

Strange actually reminds me of Garnet and Rupphire, and all the lessons we learned by watching their journey. Steven says Garnet makes it look so easy, to be in a stable relationship. But only Ruby and Sapphire know the ups and downs of their shared lives. And the struggles can only be overcome through kindness, acceptance, conversation, trust, and so many other details that come along with love.

It’s not supposed to be easy, but it IS rewarding. It IS special. It’s fuel to the soul and dew to the world.

Those were humble words to show my gratitude. It’s not just a reunion, but it’s healthy, mature and deeply meaningful. And it really means the world to me that Stephen is happy. It really does. So thank you. A thousand times thank you.

FIN

[misscammiedawn]

Intersectional Community Cooperation in X-Men 97

The discussion around X-Men 97 has died down and I've not really seen a lot of ongoing discussion about it, which is a true shame as it actually managed to update the queer community allegory for the franchise to the mainstream.

I say mainstream as, despite a recent return to status quo, X-Men comics have understood that the formula is essentially about managing intersectional in-fighting in marginalized communities for some time.

If you ever found yourself asking "Why does Krakoa have [insert villain here] at the table?" then it's important to understand that the allegories have by necessity updated to discuss the fact that there are multiple minorities who are all excluded, hated and resisted by the dominant culture under a single banner. The anti-mutant bigots of 616 view Jean Gray, Scott Summers and Charles Xavier as "dirty muties" as much as Erik Lehnsherr, Nathan Essex and En Sabah Nur.

All sects of the mutant community need to unite and fight for their rights under a single banner because Mutant prejudice is not over until The Morlocks can walk in the sun and for the most part. Though individual writers and a worrying number of fans do not understand this fact, it is still the core DNA of modern X-Men.

I think X-Men 97 did a good job bringing the mainstream friendly 90s Cartoon up to date with that in their own way and by adapting 90s storylines, too. I'm impressed.

Especially as I did not trust them to pull it off. In fact we very much were prepared for the typical fumbling of the ball that comes with Disney-Marvel stories on nuanced topics.

In way of demonstrating the lack of faith, after the first episode of the final 3-part arc I (for certain values of "I", these posts do not read like my prose) had written on a forum (edited for conciseness):

Thoughts on today's ep though: Whatcha expect? They have amazing villainous parallels to real world atrocities on oppressed minorities at a time where all the talk of using apathy and overloading empathy bandwidth hits too dang true-- then they cut to what amounts to "punch the bad guy real hard" after 8 episodes of getting the audience to understand bad guy and kinda root for him! Previous ep had Hank framed between fallen statues of Charles and Erik and after walking towards Charles he ends the scene walking to Erik due to his leftist bigot love interest's ignorance-- like they had the makings for emotional complexity that they brewed carefully over a season-- in my heart I knew it would end with "hit Magneto really hard" but like-- it didn't have to y'know?

Turns out, though, the ending was not hit Magneto really hard as we had feared.

It was deal with the internalized self-prejudice of Bastion. I read it as internalized homophobia, particularly as Bastion's journey is played to parallel Charles and Erik's but it's about internalized prejudice that was instilled into him by his bigot parents.

For all the show glossed over Bastion's origins, they did a good job sticking the landing with the allegory. After the genocide in Genosha they all but had Rogue say the pissed-off cockroach motherfuckers tweet at General Ross and we are shown the natural evolution of the cockroach queer, the curly moustache man himself, Mag-Fucking-Neto.

The final conflict between Charles and Erik relives the moment that the pair discovered the other was queer a mutant. The scene, in a bar, has Charles vaguely graze the topic and feel out for safety. Erik, accustomed to hatred, rebukes Charles and tells him that if he were gay a mutant then outing himself would lead to invite violence to be acted upon him. Erik knows the violence that man can and will enact upon marginalized communities.

Where I had worried the fight would amount to "punch Magneto really hard" for endangering the Earth it actually ended up with his ex-boyfriend accepting the sheer amount of pain that he felt and acknowledging that the agony the world had inflicted upon him was consuming him via a literal ocean of agony, the only ship above the tides of despair being his family. It wasn't even choosing love over hate, it was accepting community and the mere idea that life could be anything more than eternal torment and pain. Erik had been conditioned to ONLY expect heartbreak, rejection and prejudice and Genosha proved all his darkest fears true. Magneto was incapable of believing in a world outside of pain and Charles had to reach him and tell him there will always be those who will keep him afloat.

Meanwhile Bastion, with all his self-loathing, has decided to try and exterminate all mutants, a population he himself is a member of. He views himself as an abomination.

If Magneto hates the world that has hurt him so many times, Bastion hates himself for not being what the world considers normal. His hatred of mutants is so strong that it consumes him entirely.

He completely overpowers the X-Men, taking punishment from all the team at their peak of desperation and after his health bar depletes enough to activate a cutscene he mocks "You call yourself a team--- a family? But a family that can't save itself merely works together to die alone."

Hearing that is the turning point in which Cyclops orders the team to stop fighting and embrace him. They extend an olive branch, explaining the prejudice was learned from his mother and that he is still a welcome member of their community.

He resists and fights, unwilling to take them at their word. Insults them, mocks them for allowing him to massacre their people. He notes that humanity is going extinct, being "replaced" by the mutant population. Jean responds that more humans are being born every day and yes some will be queer mutants but that just means coexisting will become more necessary.

The hearty debate is ended when Bastion notices that the USA have launched nukes at the Meteor.

I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards.

I also do like that President Kelly, Steve Rogers (who was shown refusing to "get involved" in mutant affairs earlier in the season) and Tony Stark are all shown in the war room nervously watching after having sent nukes to destroy Meteor M. Allies until the chips are down because they're not brave enough to stand for the marginalized themselves.

Given how ungenerous I had felt while watching the lead-up to this final episode, I really do think that the writers understood that infighting within vulnerable communities will always lead to circumstances where we cannot stand up to oppression.

And the massacre of Genosha was committed because they had established an inclusive community. One that included everyone. Their leadership round table had villains and heroes alike, Pryor, Frost, Shaw and Magneto sat alongside Worthington, and even (as far as we currently know in this canon) human Moira McTaggert. Mutants were learning to stand together and erase the self-inflicted barriers between mutant communities. The Morlocks were in Genosha. All were equal.

That was a threat. It needed to be destroyed.

-

Anyway. I just wanted to praise X-Men 97 for the plea for all those living in a world that hates us to link hands and find love, family, growth and healing in one another and together. We do not have to be swallowed by our pain or try to limit ourselves to be accepted by a world indifferent to our attempts at assimilation.

I legitimately cannot wait for one of those lovely English major queers with free time and a platform to tackle this topic because my uneducated butt is just seeing outlines of a thesis.

[bagelsunshinecoffee]

I have so many Shannon thoughts. She’s only physically in the show for a short time and I wish it was longer. I would have loved for the show to actually play out the Eddie/Shannon divorce and for us to get to see where Shannon’s journey takes her. I can’t help feeling like maybe the show didn’t know what to do with her character so they just killed her off. And I know a lot of people think Shannon is one dimensional but I don’t really agree.

We see Shannon break down and admit her deepest, most vulnerable fears. We see her stand up for herself. We see her make a difficult decision to step away from her marriage to do what is best for herself and her son. Through her we really understand for the first time that she and Eddie were just kids when they got pregnant and married. They are at the crossroads of deciding, as adults, if the path they started on is one they want to continue or if they have grown past it.

Shannon has grown past it. She loves Eddie but knows that at this point the foundation of their relationship is as much nostalgia and wishful thinking as anything. She is determined to prioritize Chris (and ughhh this is why I’m so mad she died because I want to see her stepping into her role as a mother again and learning and making mistakes and getting to have that relationship). Eddie…Eddie is lost, and he’s still lost in that same way by the end of season 7, chasing Shannon and what she represents long after she’s gone. I think there are a lot of reasons (besides the fact that Eddie is actually gay and Shannon represents the life he was supposed to live but will never be able to while being true to himself) including the fact that he struggles profoundly to deal with pain, probably due to being raised to be strong and having that reinforced in the military and then repressing years of trauma. You can’t grow without dealing with pain.

In a lot of ways their dynamic reminds me of Buck and Abby and I’ve seen people react to the two couples in similar ways: demonizing the women to some degree to focus on the hurt they caused the men. And they did hurt Buck and Eddie, and yes let’s deal with that as part of their characters. But both of these are examples of women who decided they needed space from their all-consuming caretaker roles in order to be ready to have real and healthy relationships and both get lambasted for it.

With Shannon there’s the extra layer that she left Chris. She hurt her child, that’s undeniable. I also think it’s true that there are times a person can not be a good parent. Shannon was raising a child she was not prepared for alone, with minimal contact with her husband, for years. She was also raising a disabled child with greater care needs, expensive treatments, and having to make life altering decisions for her child (surgery, etc) all by herself. When she expresses her fear that she harmed Christopher by causing his CP, there’s ableism there, the assumption that CP is a bad thing. There’s also the reality of a young woman who has seen her child experience pain, surgery, difficulties that other children do not and who has felt the full weight of an ableist society descend on her and her child. The world loves to blame mothers for everything about their children, that’s not made up in her head. She’s absolutely coming at it from the perspective of an able-bodied person who didn’t have to grapple with ableism at all until Chris was born and still has a lot to unlearn, but that doesnt make her evil. When Eddie came back into Chris’s life there were many struggles that were already over, that Shannon dealt with all by herself.

What does our society hate more than a woman who refuses to be a caretaker? And what does fandom love more than a woman who can be demonized so the man who steps up as caretaker or lives without her care can be idolized?

Shannon was right at the cusp of something. She was going to have a chance to be a mother on her own terms, to repair the harm she did, to find herself. And it would have been good for Eddie too, I think, to be forced to let go of the idealized image of Shannon in his head which her death only crystallized forever. And then she died because ???? Reasons. I guess.

[scintillating-galaxias]

oh my god, i am. actually so pleased and relieved about the way good omens season two handles an adult wlw relationship. just... idk, there's something nice that, even though the whole point of aziraphale and crowley's meddling was a weird, magical, happily ever after for nina and maggie--it wasn't meant to be. not yet. lesbian rambling under the cut . no editing we typo like. lesbians

i feel like it would have felt really hollow and cheap if aziraphale's and crowley's interference paid off and went off without a hitch. it'd feel like... i don't know, the process, the journey, would have been dismissed, and it'd end with nina in particular not understanding why maggie feels the way towards her as she does and maggie missing out on a lot of important milestones while seeing someone. she's known nina for a week. if the Plan worked, the End Result is all that matters, right? which would contradict the show's core message about how wonderful the time and grace to know someone is, (especially as long as crowley and aziraphale have known each other, cough) and how it's necessary to really understand what 'us' means without forsaking 'you.'

that plan was fated (i know, loaded word) to fail. they weren't in love with each other. maggie is in love with nina, sure! but again, she's known her for a week, and nina isn't ready for a relationship and had broken up with a seriously horrible partner not 12 hours before the time the last episode takes place. there is no 'love' to see! aziraphale didn't Make Up love ("miracles don't work like that") and i don't think he would have particularly wanted to even if he could. no wonder they were so baffled and bemused at the strange 'feel happy and lovely and wholesome to your fellows' air he soaked the place in at his ball.

the scene of maggie fetching the milk and other supplies nina needs and being with her at the counter shows that nina can trust her with helping out with the coffee shop (which, yknow, also parallels neatly with aziraphale trusting crowley with his shop), which is obviously something deeply important to her. again and again, she worries about opening, about getting the night-workers their coffee, and refusing to let it go even due to a partner that constantly degraded her and blamed her for their failing relationship. that's a huge opening-up. nina says it herself, she's closed off, but nonetheless, that's a branch she's extending out for maggie! she's willing to do that much, and maggie handles it wonderfully. they both know a relationship would just be too much. nina is still willing to try, despite her hurt, because she can trust maggie to put in the work.

these last thoughts ramble even more than the rest, but i'm glad the last ep left the off where it did. no time skip to go, 'oh they talked and they waited, and it all worked out!' or something, but it ends like... realistically. relationships don't just, happen, without a good deal of talking. look how that worked out for az and crow. acknowledging the need for space (and a good chiding to meddling forces of heaven and hell) but not pushing each other away completely and isolating themselves one another, i think, is a sign that they can do well together. even though maggie knows she is completely head over heels for this women, she doesn't even make a move towards her while they're sitting down with crowley in episode 6. and then they end in their own shops with the space they requested. its respect and trust, and that's the foundation you really need to build before a relationship can start anyway!!

[shivstar]

Hi, I looked at your profile out of curiosity and I know you're a fan of Sirius. Do you think Sirius is gay or a womanizer or could he just be handsome but not interested in anyone?

edit: I like your profile.

Thank you Anon!!!!!

I really think that we as a reader when we look up fanfics, they are either about a ship or a general story. But real life lies somewhere in between. Yes, your partner becomes someone who matters to you the most and vice vera but that doesn't mean that other people stop existing. So, I think Sirius, the loyal guy we call all agree he is to the people he love, will be that sort of partner who caters to his partner's every wishes even at big costs but doesn't forgets that other people also exist and he really is such a good soul that he doesn't become like those crazy couple who are lost in themselves and the world can go f*ck itself as i think Jily are..(stroy for another day)

I never picture sirius as a womanizer. In fact, I hc that SIrius was a late bloomer.

Tv and romance novel makes it seem that as soon as teenagers hit puberty, they are all about sex. that teenage boys are always eyeing girl in that intese way and what not.

James in this case is that typical teenage boy who is suddenly about impressing this girl he has begun liking.

But sexuality is such a big spectrum and sirius falls in a space where he needs to have the emotional connection to really like the person and feel the desire to have sex.

In peer pressure he does have sex and it is not bad but it is also not something he would thiink much of getting again. and the other three are like did you really have sex or are you lying because how can you be so blase about it.

Specially james who is horny all the time and loves having sex many times a day. Peter, who due to his canonical poor looks hasn't been able to experiece sex. so he is a bit angry that sirius gets to have sex and just not care. Remus on the other hand is supressing his sexual needs like a priest or nun because he is scared little kitten and has all of his life matters attatched to his lycanthrophy. he had sex with this one girl who asked him out and his freinds ecouraged him to say yes and he loved sex, would want to do it again but that girl is hinting at wanting more(it is 1970s and people used to date only when they were seious) so he backs out. And now he is craving more but he is unsure where to find a girl who can be in only for the sex part etc.

So, SIirus in all this is unsure what the big deal is about?

I see him as a pansexual person on asexual spectrum. Not completely abhoring sex but also not making a relationship to be about sex almost 50% of the time like most normal hormonal peers of his are doing.

I think that Sirius's sexual journey is a long one. Only people like James and Lily have it all easy. He has a long way of understanding himself. Specially when he has no problem with who he is but people keep on expecting that for such a good looking man, why is he still single.

Now I will talk about an au where voldy didn't happen becaue his life in the canon is the most traumatical and I don't think that a person who went through literal hell can think about sex after escaping. I don't think he got to live that part of his life (James at 20 was more lucky to atleast live through major check points in life, Sirius at 37 also didn't get to have what James at 21 had)

Anyways, in an Au. t think that Sirius's attactment to James is in part due to his sexual juourney. I really think that for the longest part the only person he felt the desire to have sex was James who never gave any indication that he cares in a romantic/sexual way for anyone but Lily Evans.

And SIrius gets it. He isn't going gaga over James not choosing him. Because again the emotional bond he shares with James is enough to satisfy his needs, he doesn't needs anything more.

But as years go on and James is fully submerging in his marrriage life. He has more kids after harry. I think that jily would have enrolled themselves in a one-sided competion to birth more kids than the Weasleys. A quidditch team of their own.

He is relegated from James's best freind and buddy to the Potter's family friend. James has job and family (a big one) so he is far away from SIrius.

And this kicks sirius to actually look around because James is unable to satisfy his emotional needs.

And then his journey begins. He tries to go out on random dates but is not satisfied to actually make it to second dates etc.

He tries to sleep randomly once again but again it is not as satisfatory.

Then Peter gets married, finally finding a person who really loved him and accepted him. Leaving Remus and SIrius as bachelors in their thirties in their group.

Maybe Peter's wife is a trans-woman. and Sirius gets to learn about her own struggles and she is the one who really gets how SIrius must actually feel about his own sexuality. Because though their strugles are different but the societal and peer pressure is the same.

And the thing is Peter's wife is super good and like someone who is far up station from Peter. and all of their friends are silently left wondering as to how Peter bagged her. James even jokes about it. She tells them that Peter helped her love herself an actually feel comfortable in her own skin.

ANd this sticks with SIrius. Jily as an exapmle for him was too fairy-tale love story type. Falling in love at school and hea. THis is the first time he is seeing struggles of two very different people who chose to love each other the most because they want to not because all this deep attraction and hormones and puberty is making them do.

ANd for the first time he is shown that finding the right partner can be other than the norms where you are attracted, you get to know each other and get married. .

That it can also be about finding a person who can meet your emotional need who can make you feel seen and heard. Who can make you love yourself and then attraction and desires can come later.

That he doesnt needs to be on a look out and worry how his bachelorism is a problem to society. He realisess that in wizrding age, 30 and 40 and 50 all these age is still young. and that he has time.

Once the load is off the shoulder. He focuses back to really making the most out of life. and live away from the only person who provided him with that emotional love to find himself. And this is really big for him because James has always been a big influencing factor in life and their codependency is unhealthy at his side because James has a life of his own where SIrius doesn't plays a big part- his wife and kids do- but every aspect of Sirius's life is about James or James's family.

He reaches a point that he begins feeling like a supporting character in his own life story because other than his job, he is like an outside looking in the Potter family. He aches to have his own family so that his experience can be his own and not second handed experience he feels from the stories james and lily tells him about.

he moves away. Changes carrer. Tries new things. Re attempts the adventurous life he had at hogwarts which he stopped becuase James became a settled family man and SIirus too lost that fun loving part of himself.

His self discovery without James is the thing that helps him the most in his sexual journey too because he meets and talks with so many people. Makes new friends. Experience new things.

And in doing all these things he finds his the one. SOme who knows what a sweet, gentle and giving soul SIrius really is and their primary duty is to ensue that SIrius is not bending himself backword for the sake of the people he loves. TO make him understand that telling no to loved ones is okay. EIther they will understand ot they will leave but you will be better off. Etc.

I think this is what an ideal Sirius based story for me look like. If i had been a writer, i would have wasted no time and penning it down. BEcause I don't think I have ever found someone in this fandom whose tastes matches in mine. But I really like to imagine it in my head. How a boy whose home life was so bad that he had to run away at 16,finally finds his stability. Even when it wasn't as easy as James's. But he got it after all his struggling years.

I like the idea of maruaders dynamic changing and evoloving over the years as life happens. Always keeping them together or justt kicking Peter out because no one like a rat (in au's I am talking about) just feels like taking the easy way out.

But yes. It was cathartic writing all my thoughts on how I see Sirius in terms of romance and sex.

I also like the idea of Sirius making amends wit few of his family members in a no war Au. Maybe a grown up Regulus is some one he can understand. Maybe Bellatrix and he meet monthly for going to a wizarding rock concert. Maybe Narcissa and he met weekly for gossiping about pureblood twats. It is so sweet that they acknoledge that their relaitonship can reshape in the way they want to.

Despite loving James and SIrius's friendship, I think that James himself becomes the biggest roadblock in SIrius's journey to get better because he becomes the only family sirius has and that leads to a power imbalance which is never good in any friendship..........

Thanks you anon. I hope this answered what you asked... I do think that I got carried away somewhere in betweem....

[elliepassmore]

Night of the Witch review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: dual POVs, witchy reads, chosen one, historical fantasy

TW torture, animal cruelty (memory)

I really like the premise of the book and think there's good potential here, but the book itself just didn't....wow me. I enjoyed reading it but wanted it to have a bit more oomph to it to be able to make it five stars.

One of my big issues with the book that kept popping up was the German. Did no one involved in the publishing process consult a German speaker? Or at least Google Translate? While the German was meant to help create the worldbuilding, I was taken out of the story almost every time due to the mistakes. Even though the characters are only using single words, the grammar is all over the place. In German, all nouns are capitalized, which Revis and Raasch do for words like Liebste, meine Schwester, and Hauptmarkt, but conveniently don't do for Miststück and only do it half the time for Hexe and Jäger. Likewise, they get the pluralization right for words like Hexen but not for the second part Jäger (which they have plurally as jägers). I promise, people will understand if you don't use an s. Then, there's a little issue of mistranslation, or at least the authors misunderstanding the translation. At the beginning of the book (and thankfully only the beginning 1/3-1/2), they really like using the word unverschämt, which is an adjective and means 'outrageous/rude/brazen/etc.' But the authors use it almost solely like a noun: "They're full of gunpowder, you unverschämt" (p. 18) and "Stay awake, unverschämt" (p.29). Like....what? Those sentences don't make any sense! The translation for 'idiot' in German is just Idiot, or they could've used Dummkopf, or if they wanted to use a non-obvious German word for insulting someone's intelligence, they should've used Trottel or Blödel. Finally, they use the word schiesse liberally throughout the book. Schiesse translates to "shoot," which might be fine if the characters weren't 1) using it like a curse, and 2) actually cursing elsewhere in the book. If the characters didn't use actual curse words in the book, I could believe they were saying "shoot" and keeping things PG (except also for that sex scene). But these two things make me think the authors were trying to use scheisse "shit" and just misspelled it throughout the novel. Again, all of these are very simple mistakes that even a Google search could've fixed. You bother to research the witch trials of Trier but can't be bothered to get the language right?

The actual content of the story was better, probably because we're dealing with fantasy and not things you need to fact check. I definitely wanted there to be more witchiness and magic in the book, and felt we didn't really get enough of that. Perhaps in book 2, but I don't think I'll be picking that one up.

Fritzi starts her journey desperately trying to rescue her cousin, Liesel, from the witch hunters who attacked their village and killed all of its occupants save Fritzi and Liesel. It's a bit weird because I thought Liesel was Fritzi's age (18) at first, or at least a teenager, but then it turns out she's only 10. Regardless, Fritzi feels immense guilt for what happened to their coven and is determined to protect Liesel, and others, from the same fate. Otto says she's got a mouth on her but....I don't really think she has an attitude? She's rightfully freaked out, angry, and defensive when they meet and are getting to know each other, but after that she's pretty chill. She's willing to stand up for herself and others though, and maybe that's what he means? I did like Fritzi as a character. She does end up in a bit of a mess, but practically every adult in her life has been lying to her, either knowingly or not, so it makes sense that she makes mistakes.

Otto is trying his best. He desperately wants things in Trier to change and decides a big show to push revolution is the only way to make that happen. Best laid plans and all that. But Otto is protective and willing to help Fritzi and Liesel. I think he'd help them even if their paths didn't go the same direction, it's clear he's a softy. He and Fritzi have similar guilt in them about their pasts and things that have happened, so they function well as mirrors.

I liked Liesel, she was cute. She has some moments of being wise beyond her years, perhaps due to the goddess whispering in her head, but then she'll get overly delighted by things like dessert and it becomes clear again that she's a kid.

The romance is pretty quick, but it's sweet. It's one of those instaloves where it feels gradual even though they've probably only known each other a week. I tend to be okay with instalove when it doesn't feel like instalove, so other than some stuff at the beginning, I liked the romance.

I'm a little confused by some of the stuff with the Well. The people there pose the argument that they can either protect the Well or go out and protect other people/witches, but...why not both? They have people specifically assigned to protecting the Well already and they already have a separate group of people assigned as guards on patrol, so why not have a subsection of the guards that goes out and helps people/witches? It doesn't seem like it would be a drain on their resources.

Honestly, I don't know why everyone is griping about this being labeled a YA book but not actually being YA. ACOTAR is sometimes labeled as YA and is definitely not. This? I would consider it YA. The characters curse (only in German), but that's normal (and as mentioned, some of it isn't even correct), and refer to The Three or Maiden, Mother, Crone. There's some grim stuff, like killing, off-page witch burnings, and one memory of animal cruelty, but imo there are neither enough scenes nor are the scenes graphic enough that the book warrants an 'adult' designation. As for the sex scene...does it start to tip a little toward 'adult' content? Yes. Is it a graphic sex scene? No. There's very little actual description of what's occurring. I know there's this new push to keep sex entirely out of YA books, but people. Teenagers have sex and they're going to read/watch/find out about it. YA books range from no sex to fade-to-black, to some mild descriptions and imo that's totally fine because it allows teenagers to safely and age appropriately explore and see that stuff in their fiction. While this is definitely on the upper end of 'mild descriptions,' this is also described as an 'upper YA' book.

Overall I enjoyed this book but it didn't wow me as much as I would've liked. Despite there being a graphic torture scene, I feel like a lot of the book's teeth were pulled out. I wanted more magic and more of a plot besides 'travel from A to B.' Also the incorrect German was really annoying.

[areyoudoingthis]

I've been trying to figure out why I had such an easy time accepting izzy's rehabilitation in these past two episodes, when I was still so very upset about it after the first three. and I think it was (duh, of course) due to the lovely job ofmd did portraying the journey from where the characters were (a terrible place, most of them) to where they're going (healing, safety, community), even tho it they have only half an hour per episode and a bunch of them to follow around.

they showed us they all essentially went through similar things: the discomfort of not fitting right back in with your loved ones (the headbutt, ed's anger, the crew scrubbing at the nonexistent blood stains, izzy hobbling around), the distress of not knowing who you are or where you fit now (wearing a scratchy sack and a bell, ending up in an armed standoff with your friends, drinking and yelling at an inanimate mythical animal, not feeling like you're captain on your own ship), and then the coming together with your loved ones to engage in some deep, soul cleansing healing (making a leg for izzy, laughing with the mops, inventing new food, crying at the note and accepting the role as ship's figurehead, whittling a small shark as a gift for someone going through a hard time, proposing to your boyfriend, fishing with fang and apologizing honestly and without hesitation, sacrificing something you love for the wellbeing of your crazy, superstitious family and being embraced and respected by them.)

it didn't matter what they'd been through or the ways in which they hurt each other, because they all missed the good old days on stede's revenge, and they all wanted to get to a better, happier place as soon as possible, apologies welcome but not required (the one "required" apology was entirely ridiculous and played off as a joke for that very reason, because you can't demand apologies, you work on fixing your relationships at the pace the people involved can, you can't set timelines and deadlines for it.) and for once instead of standing out like a sore thumb, izzy got swept into the environment of kindness and healing that reigns on stede's ship, and it felt natural.

it also definitely has to do with the fact that they very smartly kept him and ed apart while all of this was happening, proving that they understand that some situations are heavier and dealing with them can't be rushed. if they'd had izzy apologize to ed straight away it wouldn't have worked, just like ed wasn't ready to hear I love you from stede and throwing him overboard didn't fix lucius, I think it wouldn't have helped and it might have made things worse. I do still think ed would benefit from hearing izzy acknowledge that he fucked up, to reinforce what he told himself via mr latch "it's not your fault you're broken. you didn't break you. just trying to do your job, weren't you?", as he's departing from the blackbeard persona and figuring out who he wants to be now that's he's allowed to have softness again. I think it would also be interesting to see how that acknowledgment impacts izzy's own growth away from his obsession with being blackbeard's right hand man, and where they land after that, if anywhere (I'm still not sure that relationship can be rebuilt, but sometimes an apology isn't about that, it's about moving on in a healthier direction.)

[jasonsutekh]

Gods of Egypt (2016)

A war between the gods begins and a mortal couple are caught in the middle.

The main focus is clearly on the CGI since the story is fairly action-led. It’s therefore fortunate that most of the effects are of a high quality and with strong enough subject matter than it’s consistently entertaining. The narrative also made for an interesting new exploration of ancient stories, incorporating elements of modern technology.

Most of the acting is less effective than it should have been, for example the lead, Bek, was pretty but didn’t express much range of emotion even when his love was taken and he was being frequently betrayed or tormented. The lore could have used a little more explanation, especially the uses of the artefacts. Also it felt odd Set didn’t go after Horus personally as soon as he started getting hos power back.

There was some variety in the journey and tests which helped perpetuate the story while keeping it engaging. The story about the couple helped a good deal to keep the whole plot grounded on the mortal side rather than spiralling up into a war of the gods, although they could have gotten closer with the gods in terms of understanding.

At some points the mythology appears confused with that of Greece, in particular with the Sphinx which is often mis-regarded as Egyptian. It was especially odd, however, when cats were stated as pets when most historians believe them to have been revered. One notable omission was how few gods of death they were, since most Egyptian gods had a connection to death as a side-hustle at least.

4/10 -It’s below average, but only just!-

-The film was heavily criticised for casting mainly white actors as what should have been Egyptians.

-In Egypt, the title was changed to “Kings of Egypt”.

-Filming largely took place in the Australian desert due to safety concerns about the Sahara.

[uncaaj]

Fanfic - Old Dog, New Trick BONUS: The Confession (Bluey)

MAIN FIC | bonus

READ NOW ON AO3!

This Bandit Bonus short is called "The Confession."

+++

Mort knocked three times on his best friend Maynard’s cabin door. It was a short walk from his house to here and for the first time in years of making the journey, he felt out of place. His stomach churned as he waited for the answer. He tried to grasp what confidence Bandit and Chilli gave to him earlier in the evening, but it had floated away like a piece of driftwood in the nearby lake.

Maynard opened the door, no emotion visible on his face. He was probably thinking how odd it was that a dog who could barge in any old time he wanted was taking the time to knock and wait to be invited in. “Well, well,” said Maynard, hand sliding down to his hip, “I was startin’ to wonder whether you’d gone missing.”

Mort felt like he was a teen coming home after curfew to face the music. “Look, mate…it’s late and all, but…I just gotta say this. I’ve been a dunderhead, and I can understand if you're miffed at me. But…I just wanna come in and explain some things if you’ll allow me to.”

There, he said it. Well, not it, but he still tensed his shoulders and braced for whatever would come.

Maynard smiled and placed a hand on Mort’s shoulder. “Like I’d deny you anything, you old fool. Come on, I’ll put the kettle on.”

A few minutes later, they were seated on the couch in Maynard’s slightly too cluttered living room, tea in hand and a late football match low on the TV. It all seemed like any other time between them, but it felt all too foreign to Mort due to his new revelation. Maynard meanwhile took a sip casually and turned to Mort without a thought as to what he was about to reveal.

“So what’s goin’ on, mate?” the wolfhound said, “you berate me, kiss me, then leave me high and dry all week. I mean, I’m sorry I was careless on the boat but it didn’t seem like a big deal to me.”

“Yeah, I get it,” said Mort, trying to ease himself with small talk. “First freshie I’ve ever seen on that lake. Who knows when they moved in?”

“Won’t do no good to my fishin’, I’ll tell ya that for free.”

Mort let out a chuckle. The levity and nonchalance Maynard treated the whole event would’ve got on his nerves that day, but now it was taking the weight off his shoulders. This old airhead was really something else. All the more reason he had to do this now.

Mort set his mug down on the coffee table and took a deep breath in. “So look,” he began, “I had to…think about some things after that. That croc was all sticks and scales but I…I dunno. I really thought it was gonna hurt ya.” Mort swallowed. “And I couldn’t bear that happenin’ to me best mate.”

Maynard set his own mug down and opened his mouth but Mort held a paw up. “Please,” he said, “I just gotta keep goin’ so I can get this straight.” He blinked at that last word and then cleared his throat, looking away and wringing his paws in his lap. “I suppose I’ve come to realize ‘cause of what happened that…you hold a really special place with me. I’ve called you my best mate all these years but even that wasn’t enough. You saved my life in the jungle. You helped me meet my wife and were there when me kids were born. I’d trust you with anything. You mean as much to me as…well, as she did.”

It was Maynard’s turn to blink. An old dog like him as special to his best mate as Mort’s wife. Was he?

Nah. He’d always dreamed of this day but had long since put it out of his mind as an impossibility. But somehow life always found a way to surprise him.

Mort looked Maynard in the eyes as what weighed him down since the lake was lifted from him, instilling a new confidence with what he was about to say next. “That’s why I acted like a drongo. I was scared, of what might happen to you and what I was about to learn about myself so late in me life.” Despite his unwavering voice, he felt himself glow red as all get out as he finally stood at the edge of confessing what had laid dormant in him for so long and had erupted so suddenly after a simple kiss. And what scared him now wasn’t if Maynard would be accepting, goodness knew he would, but that if he would reciprocate. It brought him back to the butterflies he felt when he confessed his feelings to his late wife, rose petals coming free due to his shaking hands around the bouquet.

“It don’t make it right and I’m sorry but…I love you, mate. I really, really do. And…if you’d do me the kindness of going steady with me, I’d be the happiest dog in the bloomin’ world.”

There. He did it. If nothing else, he could say that much. Now he just had to wait for Maynard’s reaction.

A swirl of emotions rattled the old wolfhound’s noggin, but he chose not to display them. For such an honorable declaration, one that would make him as well the happiest dog in the world, Maynard thought it was Mort’s turn to be wound up a bit for their little tiff. Perhaps it might help his friend, no, boyfriend now, relax even. Of course it might not.

Maynard shut his eyes, took a deep breath in, and stood up. “Well, I suppose I’ve got one thing to say to that.”

The pedestal Mort built for himself to do this came crumbling in an instant. “Y-yeah, mate?” Here we go.

“It’s about time.”

Mort opened his eyes. He hadn’t even realized he was squeezing them shut. “C-come again?”

Suddenly he was pounced on and both dogs fell onto the couch, laughing while wrapped up in each other’s arms. “I can’t believe it!” said Maynard, “me best mate in the whole world fancies blokes, and not just that, he fancies me! Yes, you old fogey, I wouldn’t wanna go steady with no one else but you!”

“Ya mean it?” Mort asked.

Maynard nodded. “Too right, you beauty!”

As they helped each other upright, their muzzles found their way to each other and Mort felt those butterflies in his stomach again. It had gone just like he hoped it would and better. He had taken to this newfound discovery like a freshie to water, and wouldn’t you know it, it was a piece of cake.

The logistics of who would live where and what sorts of things they would try with each other could be dealt with later. Mort would take this new relationship one step at a time and right now, surrounded by Maynard’s coat, felt pretty darn good in his book.