#I hope the appeal got lots of kids nice toys

[cazzyf1]

Mike Hawthorn opens up the evening news Christmas appeal for people to donate toys for sick children with the help of Father Christmas in a beetle!

[carolinahope]

When we got the teaser of the over-sewer talk I was wondering why they were going so hard on all the similarities between Tommy and Eddie. And after watching the episode it seems pretty clear that more than anything they established Tommy as Eddie, just in a different font (as many had already mentioned).

It puts Buck's jealousy and his intrigue with Tommy in many a different light. I'm sure he is interested in Tommy because Tommy is indeed charming and cool. But I'm also sure that there is a lot of confusion and transference and projecting.

I think Buck has put Eddie so firmly in a friend box (whether consciously or not) that the idea that what he finds appealing is something that attracts him to Eddie (and then some) will have to be spelled out to him.

And this is also a nice continuation of Eddie's journey. Of him allowing himself to be more than just a dad. To have friends and interests and good time without his kid. And Tommy seems like such a shiny new toy. Again, I do think Eddie genuinely enjoyed himself with Tommy but he also seemed to be trying to catch up on years of fun in as short a time span as possible.

I kinda like how Tommy is good for Buck and Eddie and also Buddie.

But I still hope he leaves soon.

[kayliebeanie]

I recently got into emulation and finally 100% completed my favorite childhood game of all time, Spyro A Hero's Tail.

I remember starting this game over and over on the Gamecube as a kid because I didn't have a memory card for it for a while, but still enjoyed the game so much that I would just try to get as far as I could before I had to turn it off. I did eventually get a memory card however and completed the game years ago, but never even considered 100% completing it at the time due to how hard I thought it would be. Turned out not to be as bad as I expected, only had to look up the location of one egg behind a wall I would've never thought to check. Overall I had a lot of fun though, a great game with a lot of improvements from it's predecessors, especially the graphics and animations. Not all the humor landed with me and the controls and camera were frustrating at times but still holds up well. The amount of playable characters in this one was a nice touch as well, even if they were a bit annoying to play sometimes too. Forcing you to play as one for a small section of the story was cool though, and luckily one of the more fun ones to play in my opinion, despite the cutscenes preceding it tainting the experience a little. I also loved Spyro's design and VA in this one, along with the improved breath attacks. The changes to him along with the much larger and complex areas make it seem like they were trying to appeal a slightly older audience and fans that had grown up with the series. I definitely wouldn't call the game mature, but I really appreciate them taking it in that direction. It's a shame the series never truly continued after this one, but I did also play The Legend of Spyro series recently and loved it so I can't say that nothing good came of it ending here. Still holding out hope that Toys for Bob will release either another remaster or 'Spyro 4' like they did with Crash, but I don't see it coming soon.

[adam16bit]

People must really hate Spider-Man. Green Goblin is one of his very first foes dating back to 1964, and he's appeared on a lot of the cartoons since. Heck, I saw him on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the 1980s and today's toddlers see him on Spidey and His Amazing Friends, where the Green Goblin was in short supply back in 2022. People want this character, and for good reason - he's got a glider! And a wacky hat! While most incarnations of him incorporate some sort of pumpkin bomb, this one does not - but it has gorgeous packaging that serves to ask why. It's a beautiful piece of art that makes the figures look better, and the graphic design on most modern for-kids toy lines have boxed that are somewhere in the neighborhood of acceptable - I can't help but wonder if that may be nudging the appeal of new toys down a bit, but I digress. We're here to talk Kenner-branded goodness today.

Click here to check availability at Entertainment Earth. Click here to check availability at eBay.

Hasbro used the same basic buck for most of the toys, but mercifully Green Goblin got some new parts to make him better. The hands, feet, satchel, and head are all new, as is the glider accessory. The chest, arms, and legs are recycled from several figures dating back a few years. It would be nice if he was a bit different in his build than the younger Spider-Man, but hey, whatever, we got one and odds are they'd be skinny had Kenner made them in the 1980s. Due to parts reuse, the green "skin" lacks the scales or detailing from the old comic books, but at least you get the pointy ears and giant, silly hat. Of note, that hat is a separate purple plastic piece affixed in palce - it looks great and should hold up to play wear. Assuming anyone were to play with it, that is. The satchel looks nice and fits well, and the figure's curly boots slip right in to the glider - but the glider won't balance with the figure standing on it. That's a downer. You'll need to make him lean forward with his arms out to balance, or put something under the glider to keep it up.

I love the bright colors, and he stands great on his own. Green Goblin fits in old Kenner vehicles quite nicely, although the disconnect between the nicely detailed hands and boots from the rest of the body is kind of weird. It's also the kind of thing Kenner frequently would do, taking a comic/movie-style Robin action figure, altering the head to the stylized 1990s animated look, and releasing it with no additional sculpt changes. I know it's kind of a slam to have lower expectations for some Kenner-style figures, but taking shortcuts is very much the kind of thing we saw a lot back then. It's still a nice figure, and that pink bag certainly adds to the sculpted detail without having to change the torso - and the belt is merely painted-on.

I'm being greedy, but he should have had more accessories. The Green Goblin needs the glider and the bag, but the bag is there for his pumpkin bombs. Other incarnations of the figure (including cheaper ones from Hasbro) had the accessories, and it would have been a real treat to see them included here or with another figure as an accessory somehow. Alas, it was not meant to be. But at least you can appreciate the crazy painted white teeth and creepy yellow eyes.

The Marvel 375 Retro line doesn't really feel like the kind of thing Kenner did, but you could make a convincing argument that it isn't far off from what Mattel actually did do with its Secret Wars line. I'm glad Hasbro managed to squeeze in a few Spidey villains in a line of mostly good guys, and I hope they can somehow find a way to get us a few other baddies before the line goes to the big closeout bin in the sky. I assume Hasbro made an adequate number of these because the going rate as I write this is pretty close to retail price, but I don't know if I've ever actually seen Norman Osborn's green alter ego on store pegs. (I bought a case from work.) If you are old enough to see the Bronze Age of comic books as definitive, I'd recommend picking up this figure and as much of the line as you like. From where I sit, it scratches the super hero itch in ways previous lines didn't, to the point where I'm eyeballing my 6-inch Legends and considering selling most or all of them off.

--Adam Pawlus

[kanene-yaaay]

Ooh, requests are open??

Could I request a fic of Moon (FNAF) being a playful/teaser ler with male (or neutral) reader? I haven't been able to find many of him 🥺 👉🏻👈🏻

No worries if not tho 💜

~🌘

I give up from trying to write mini-fics sdfghjdfghj I got really excited with this because!! It's been such a long time since I wrote a xreader fic and I never tried to make it a tickle fic before so yaaaaay! I really hope you like this! <33

I went for the neutral gender reader. Around 3.000 words. Can be viewed as platonic or romantic. No proofreading so some parts can be a bit confusing. Have a nice week :D

[~*~]

“Are you having fun, yet?”

The sudden raspy, robotic voice probably would scare you if it wasn’t the third time Moon questioned the same thing, his voice coming upwards and not so far away from your spot, showing that he decided to test the metallic cabs this time. You sighed, half exasperated, half amused as you took another sharp turn, ducking behind and under a few tunnels from the playground in hopes of throwing him out of your back. Finally opting for crouching under a yellow slide, you squinted at the animatronic as he headed the opposite direction of your hidden spot, trying to not step on a bunny plushie forgotten there - probably another squeaky toy, those seemed to be appearing just about everywhere these days. - Maybe Moon’s heat vision was malfunctioning? You made a mental reminder to come back to this later after all the tests were over.

Of course, if your superior knew that the way you both decided to conduct the tests to see if his new updates were running smoothly and correctly was through a series of games that somehow came to a heated Hide and Seek in the dark, you knew you would be listening a lot from her. However, how could you shut down Moon’s excitement by forcing him to repeat previously cataloged movements and answer thousands of redundants questions about ‘Are you having any problems staying still in the air? Spin non stop for one minute. Are you having any problems to stay still now? Spin non stop for two minutes changing from going from left to right and vice versa at every twenty seconds. Are you hav-’.

Yeah, you couldn’t exactly blame the petulant scoff that left the calmer daycare attendant when he read the first page of the tests, just as you couldn’t find in yourself any regrets for letting you to be dragged to his shenanigans when that gaze - usually so bored or tired - stared at you with a new chaotic light.

That is how you ended up in this situation, eyes following the blue form of Moon as he moved across the play area with his new suspension cabs, jumping on the playground to look inside the tunnels and around the climbing structure before floating in the air with a few pirouettes, probably enjoying the feeling of the exciting freedom that came with his new update.

The new system was created in an attempt to attract more kids and make Moon an even more visually more appealing character for the younger ones - who would, as consequence, convince their parents to spend more and more in marketables and tickets on the Daycare - since they have been receiving complaints from clients of how much ‘strict’ and ‘uncaring’ - especially for the kids who refused to respect the, as Moon himself proclaimed, sacred Nap Time - the night themed animatronic was with the children.

It was kind of sad, really, that those guardians focused so much on Sun's excited and energetic demeanor and declared that was the only one personality fitted to take care of kids. How they ignored the way Moon would create a schedule every day before the shopping opened so every kid would have a chance to choose a book to read during storytime, how they failed to notice the way he would make different voices for each character even when changing the tune and timbre of his chatterbox didn’t came naturally to him, or even his careful and kind - even if a bit sharp around the edges - actions was when the young ones had a nightmare and he immediately went to comfort them. Just a bit more of attention, or mayhaps just care, and any parent would see how a few shy kids, when the daycare was about to close and guardians waited in a fan of emotions to pick their child and take them home, shuffled closer to Moon and tugged his clothes, thanking him for spending time with them or handing back his noise canceling headphones.

Instead, plenty of clients and even employees kept throwing annoying comments, trying to jab an inexistent rivalry between both of the daycare attendants, receiving back a witted answer from nighthemed robot or an overly excited passive aggressive comment from the day themed one, who would never pass a chance to protect his brother.

So, yeah, you’re not about to deny him a few more minutes having fun with his new update

Besides, the prospect of being able to grab insufferable, careless guardians who shouted complaints at the flickest, stupidest things and throw them far away would be good for Moon’s general health, you’re sure. Not that he would ever do that - or at least you hoped he wouldn’t. Way too much paperwork to even be worth it, - but the fact that he would be able to could bring the true peace to his grumpy heart.

Going back to the present, a quiet chuckle left your mouth as you wrote down a few observations on almost the finished paper you needed to hand to your superior on the next day. Hopefully the support team wasn’t going to have too much work to make the necessary corrections you pointed out. If everything kept occuring well, the daycare attendant would have his new mean of transport in no time.

A cold feeling ran down your spine.

You couldn’t hear the metallic clicking sound of the animatronic moving around anymore.

Mentally cursing your distraction you moved just the slightest from your hiding spot, just to be able to take a better look at your surroundings, a strange chill running across your bones. There was always a strange sensation of electricity and wariness that accompanied childish objects when they were bathed by darkness and complete silence, an aspect that plenty of horror movies liked to play with and that had some scenes of the said ones start to play in front of your eyes. You wrinkled your nose, perhaps you should tune down the whole watching scary movies for a bit.

Another chill danced in cold waves across your nerves, leading the hair in the nape of your neck to stand and an invisible force to turn your head upwards, almost colliding with Moon’s face, which dangled - just like the rest of his body - a few centimeters above you. Even if he didn’t have the need to breathe, you could almost be sure a puff of air hit your features when the aforementioned opened his mouth, a pleased grin on his face.

“Found you. ~”

Things happened way too fast after that.

A blink and you stumbled to be in your feet.

A blink and the animatronic had to quickly retreat to not be headbutted.

Blink. You were running, excited giggles filling the air. Blink. You heard a soft ‘thump’ behind you, followed by quick footsteps. Blink and you impulsioned yourself forward, fuelled by the sinister snickers that got closer and closer to you.

Blink and something made you lose your ground.

A high pitched squeak echoed as your body fell to meet the cold floor of the daycare, your eyes catching a glimpse of something rubbish for a piece of seconds.

Those fucking cursed squeaky toys-

Before your body could hit the ground, however, a pair of hands firmly held your sides, fingers pressing on the spot in order to pull you back to a standing position with no further nor hidden intention, only a helping action to prevent a friend to so said one wouldn’t have to deal with an injure in the end of the shift.

Your nerves, on the other hand, didn’t quite understand the whole ‘just helping a friend’ ordeal, probably a indirect consequence of having so much adrenaline running high in your veins, and the moment those cold fingers found your waist and lightly squeezed it, a ticklish shock exploded across your frame and another squeak floated in the air.

His reaction was immediate.

“Are you injured?” Suddenly his touch was much lighter, fingers tapping the flesh with care, previously game already forgotten as a buzzing sound behind you showed that Moon was using his scanner to look for any bruising. It would be very sweet, really, to see such grumpy animatronic being so gentle. If all the gentleness and worrying didn’t make his touch so soft it left a trail of tickly tingles blossoming and spreading in spirals across your torso.

A wobbly tune took over your lips. Oh, no.

“I-it’s nothing!” Your voice trembled a bit when his fingertips pressed your lowest rib, tapping from left to right over and over again in a methodical manner. A part of your soul thanked the small mercies of life for Moon not being able to sense the warmth growing stronger in your face when a spot that was way too close to your belly had you letting out a quiet gasp and squirming away from the offending hand. “Really. It’s, it’s totally fine!”

“You know you shouldn't be moving around if you are hurt, independently of the gravity of the bruising.” He huffed in exasperation, ignoring your words and letting his other hand adjust its grip so it could still hold you in place as he focused on his analysis. You had to use all your strength to not shy away from the check up, and it definitely didn’t help that he kept poking and poking your ribcage in totally random patterns. Was he looking for cracked ribs? How did he think you could possibly get cracked ribs from playing hide and seek? “You should have warned me the moment you got the injury. Just wait until I tell this to Sun, he will get your ass.”

“Watch your f-fucking language.” You chided him halfheartedly, an old joke you both had and which none could quite recall when it started. “We need to finish your tests, come ON!”

Your hand flied to your mouth the moment the giggle came out, trying to unsuccessfully muffle it. For a second, everything became quiet.

Moon’s faceplate clicked, slowly turning to stare at you, his index finger and thumb pinching your side again only to be gifted with the same reaction. Your other hand latched on his wrist, trying to push it away from the ticklish spot, knowing very well there was no possibility that he didn’t put the pieces for the puzzle together with the way a smile peaked from behind your hand. There was no way of this being possible, but you could almost swear you saw a glint of mischievousness gleaming on his eyes.

“Oh my, oh my…” His chuckles were quiet and low as he got closer, his head bobbing from one side to another just like he always did when he was feeling playful. “You wouldn’t happen to be a bit… sensitive, would you, human?”

You felt more than saw his hands becoming claw-shaped before starting to slowly - incredibly, unbearably slowly - spidering upwards, fingertips spreading wide enough to vibrate on the ribs and in between them. Giggles began to shake on your chest, pilling up as he found a rather sweet spot right in the back of your highest ribs.

“What, no answer?” You shook your head and tried to at least keep your composure by shoving your face on your shoulder and stop staring at those piercing gaze. Moon only tilted his head, searching for your eyes again while pulling you closer, his hands worming their way under your arms. “Aww, and why not? Is someone quiet all out of sudden because I discovered a little tickly tickly ticklish secret?” His fingertips pressed a bit more firmly on the skin, scratching and scribbling on the spot. “Hm? Are you feeling a bit shy right now? Because I discovered that you’re a very wiggly-wiggley giggly bug? Hm? Is that it?”

You attempted to push him away again, squirming and feeling titters escaping from your tight pressed lips when he easily followed your movements, way too much excited with his new discovery to let you escape so easily with your halfheartedly struggles.

"Come on, you know you will feel much better if you just let yourself go and laugh your heart out. Here," in a blink he twisted the hand you were holding to, bending the metallic joints unnaturally and making you let go before he turned the tables and got a gentle grip in your own hand, pulling it above your head. "I will even be nice with you and leave your poor, defenseless armpit alone for now! Instead, my fingers are going to be having a little walk riiiight here…" he tapped your palm, "and only when I finish this path I will give this sensitive spot riiight here" a quick poke on your underarm fished a muffled yelp "some attention. Sounds good?"

Maybe it was the previous adrenaline talking louder, leaving your nerves jittering and a sensation that you could take anything. Maybe it was because it's wasn't often you saw Moon being so playful and it's been a time since you had so much fun. The thing is, suddenly you found a fire sparking in your soul, flames and determination filling your actions as you turned to stare at the daycare attendant with a grin, lips parting, words flowing and:

"I am not even ticklish."

Note to self: maybe coming up with a good, defying answer when your fuzzy brain is still bewildered by phantom sensations is not the best of the ideas.

Moon only seemed to get more joyful with the challenge, his deep chuckles now shaking his entire frame. "Not ticklish? Is that right?" He made a show of wiggling his fingers in the air just a few inches from your side - barely touching, barely grazing - and feigning an attack just to pull himself back when you squirmed, a snort flying in the room.

Your eyes locked again. You gulped and shook your head, because how much worse could this get. "No. Not ticklish at all."

"So there wouldn't be any problem if I decided to explore a little bit, yes?"

"We should call it a day. My shift already en-" The protest was cut by Moon placing his index finger on your wrist teasing the spot there with a few scribbles before moving on to your forearm, drawing shapes and leaving spirals on every inch of skin available.

It was such a soft feeling, so light and simple and it should be illegal the way it left tickly shocks spreading across your nerves and it seemed to make your entire torso ten times more ticklish.

Involuntary, you felt the smile in your face grow bigger.

"Ohohoho, I had an idea! Since we're having so much fun we should play a game. ~"

He stopped by your elbow, giving it a special attention.

"Are you not going to ask me what game it is? Aw, such a pity. It's a very famous thing with all the young humans and, well, I even considered giving you your freedom if you won it. But it doesn't matter now! I think I will have to settle for tormenting those tiny helpless spots, then." The animatronic poked your belly button, making your legs wobble a little. "Your knees seem a bit lonely… maybe we can fix it."

"Wait, no!" With a shove you managed to get out of his grip, quickly putting a few steps between you and that hoarse, teasy voice that continued to whisper next to your ear. You both remained frozen, pretending to ignore the few giggles that succeeded in slipping from your mouth. Moon tilted his head, wiggling his fingers in your direction. "No. You mentioned a game. What is it?"

He beamed, eyes shining in a trickery playfulness. "It's rather easy, you see. One of my brother's favorites, actually. All you need to do is keep your arms up while the bomb is tickling, oh, I mean, ticking, and the moment it explodes all you have to do is just not laugh."

"If-" you snorted and bapped a hand of his away when it got too much closer. "If I win, then I am free to go and to get some revenge."

That made him stop, his head frozen in the middle of its bobbing, eyes squinting in suspicion.

You only grinned back at him.

"If I win," he said carefully, as if measuring the value of his words. "You will have to tell me your worst spot."

One million thoughts speeded through your mind, unhelpfully, as you analyzed your options.

“Deal.”

His grin came back at full force. With a fast spin your back collided with his chestplate (which was surprisingly soft for a robotic endoskeleton, did they put cotton between it and his clothes? It would definitely bring much more comfort for the kids when carrying them around) and he pulled your arms to lock fingers behind his neck.

“It won’t be too difficult for you, I presume. You’re not ticklish, afterall.” That damned low voice was back, right behind your ear, making a new wave of warmth blossom in your face. His fingertips pressed on your biceps. They were vibrating. That little cheater. “Remember: all you have to do is just not. laugh.”

Moon began to make a ‘chhh’ noise as his attack descended your arms, a muffled squeal trying to break your barriers when he added tiny sparks of electricity, really, really weak, just enough to hit the muscle and tickle like hell.

He stopped right at the top of your armpit.

You held your breath, arms trembling, squirming to protect the vulnerable spot.

“BOOM!”

But it was wasn’t the sudden noise breaking the previously quiet atmosphere that made you jump, it was the unfair, illegal, unjust, evil surprise attack on you hips, fingers drumming on the flesh and leading to a shriek to leave your lips, a buzzing raspberry being placed on your neck being enough to crumble your will and result in peals of laughter spilling freely from your barriers.

“CHEHEHEATER!”

“For not tickle-tickle-tickling your armpits, blushy toy? Let me fix this mistake, then.” And now there were hands digging on your underarms, poking and scratching and changing their target to your ribs or belly when you were just about to get used to the feeling, his excited giggles mixing with your snorts and squeals, dancing together in the air.

"Don't worry." He said, scanning you again and smiling a tad more softly when, just like his first scan, the results came back showing high levels of dopamine and oxytocin, not a trace of discomfort in your features as your loud laughter filled the daycare. "We will stay here for hours and hours until a certain Tickle Bug finally admits how ticklish and giggly they are. Now, let's have some fun."

[thevindicativevordan]

On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.

[writingoneshots]

How dare your box be almost empty!

let me change that

NOOOWWWW IMAGINE WITH ME

ya hear me

our beloved red head captain as usual he pulled another all nighter in his tinker shop(is that what they are called... i feel like i am missing a word)

just hyperfocused on this new idea he has been working on and ain't no one in the crew capable to pul him out of there so they just let him be

tho now it's the dead of night no ones awake on the ship but our man is hungry he goes to the kitchen just to approach it to stand in the doorway watching as his s/o is making herself something to whilst singing and dancing around the kitchen

anf he just... eustass kid. exe has stopped working

this man is confused for a second because if there is someone else awake then it should be wire because he has night dutie... and it also seems like that his s/o is just... not noticing him so he decides to enjoy the show a bit before he walks in and kind of moves with you and around you... still not noticing him weirdly enough so he just gets bold and grabs a chunk of your half finished food and eats it AND FINALLY YOU NOTICE HIM (our boi got a little attention starved there)

aaaannnnnnddd that's where my brain stops

enjoy my brainrots although it isn't the college art au this time BUT WE CAN'T HAVE AN EMPTY INBOX

anyway hope you are having a nice and keep up the good work mami

-your au anon( yeah lets go with au anon here😂)

Surprise.. coming up

Hola, au anon :) !  I enjoyed a little writing session in my current stress period right now. Sorry for not posting more, I am currently working on 2 projects at the same time and still need to proofread a few one-shots.  Please be patient.

- Kid x reader - my own OC -> Sova (Kid’s doctor) - 939 words; short OS this time - no smut but mention of it; threats from Kid (surprising, right?)

"Wha- ..Hey!", you looked at him surprised and didn't know how to react. This whole time you thought that you were alone in the kitchen and suddenly your boyfriend appeared out of nowhere. "If someone would have attacked us, you'd be screwed. I've been here for a while.", Kid spoke with a full mouth, trying to finish the part he stole so he could grab the other one before you took it. You realized his intention immediately and pushed the plate to his side of the counter. Kid looked at it a little disappointed, "Now it's not that appealing anymore. It's more interesting if you're not letting me have it." "Don't be a child.. just eat it and finish working, so we can go to bed.", you rolled your eyes and started to prepare a different sandwich for yourself and another one for Kid. "Why are you awake anyway?", Kid frowned and sat down at the counter, eyeing you carefully. "I just couldn't sleep and I felt like it's snack time.", you shrugged and finished the first sandwich for Kid. Kid nodded and grabbed the filled bread, not letting you out of his sight. "Okay, I just need to ask.. What are you building in there? You barely left the room for a few days..", you tilted your head a bit, curious about his answer. "Secret.", he smirked and always looked down on you whenever you weren't looking. "Oh really? You seem to have a lot of secrets lately. Especially after a long talk, which you've had with Sova.", you narrowed your eyes at him pushed a glass of water into his direction. Kid just shrugged and didn't even want to comment on that. "So.. you're not going to tell me?" Kid shook his head. "Not even a hint?" He shook his head again. "..alright.. I give up. I am too tired for this.", you sighed annoyed now and shook your head. Without even realizing it, you put away the ingredients for the sandwich because you weren't in the mood to eat anymore. You turned around to the door, wanting to leave the room. "You've been sleeping quite a lot, right?", Kid mumbled while trying to chew and speak at the same time. You rolled your eyes and continued walking to the door, "Yes, and?" "And you're really moody lately.", he swallowed the last bit and took a big sip of water, emptying the glass. "If you want to make me angry, you're doing everything correctly.", you turned now around, crossing your arms at your chest. "You sleep a lot, you're moody, horny 24/7 - which I really enjoy by the way -, you eat tons of crap and you gained a bit of weight. Now do the maths, woman.", Kid hurried to say these words before a loud burp escaped his lips. You didn't even pay attention to it, as your brain calculated what he had just explained to her. "Oh.. my God." "It's weird to hear you say and not scream that..", Kid frowned and brushed his fingers through his hair as he stood up. Instinctively, your hands reached down to your stomach, "You're joking.." "Trust me.. I wish I was.", Kid chuckled a bit and approached you, "But now, I don't mind. It's time for me to have my own heir and prepare him or her for their future as a real pirate." You looked up to him, not understanding how he could take this so lightly. "I am going to be honest, though. If that child chooses to be a marine, it better learn how to run fast..", Kid looked at you seriously and frowned at how confused you seemed to look. "What's the matter now? Aren't women supposed to be happy about children?" "I.. I don't know if I should even have kids. I don't know if I could be a good mother.", you looked at him now worried. Your thoughts couldn't find a logical path in your brain and it scared you. "Are you fucking kidding me? You are literally taking care of a bunch of idiots on this ship. If you can handle them, you can handle my heir. I wouldn't be working on a bed and the coolest toys if I wouldn't be believing in you.", Kid looked down to you and then to your stomach. He touched your stomach softly with his index finger, "You better be strong. A weakling won't survive on the sea. And if you're a girl.. you better be into women because no man is going to be good enough for

you!" Tears were rolling down your cheeks, happiness, excitement and a little bit of fear in them. It was all a lot to handle but you were sure that Kid would help you go through with it. "Thank you, Kid.. ", you leaned onto his chest, trying to calm yourself down. All of your last weeks made a lot of sense now. The times, when Killer's cooking upset you because nothing was tasting good. The few moments, when you kicked out innocent crew mates because they looked at you in a weird way. And all the times, you woke up Kid in the middle of the night, just to have him satisfy you until you wanted to go back to sleep. You were sure that you'd be able to go through all of this and raise a child, if he was with you. "But I was serious about the marine part.. I will leave the child on an island, if it just hints to want to become a marine.", Kid commented again, ruining the moment as usual.

[ezrisdax-archive]

@camalyng

I had too many digimon feelings to put in just a reply so instead I’m sticking them under this cut rip

I’ve been rewatching adventure and like that is the one I’m most familiar with but I’m always torn if my fave it adventure or 02 or tamers because each of them is just so good and appeals to different parts of me. also choosing a fave digimon is damn near impossible, just can’t do it.

adventure is all the nostalgia though since it was first and I love these kids and want to protect and get them therapy so much. and when it comes to adventure itself in terms of like ‘arcs’ I always like the one where they’re on earth looking for the 8th kid the most. though what I like to call the separation arc when tai returns to the digital world comes in close cause ugh, those episodes got so angsty and hit hard at times. also for a show that was made to sell toys they went super dark (transformers wishes I say as a transformers fan). I know usually people hate the english dub but honestly this english dub is one of my all time faves, it’s just so silly and full of puns and you can tell that the dubbers had fun.

02 is great because I’m a sucker for time skips/stories set just a little bit later. so the cast isn’t too grown up and I just like the new kids and daisuke probably is one of my fave characters in digimon...he’s just so stupid and hopeful! plus the ken arc I always really enjoyed. I know the story gets all over the place towards the end cause the writers got into a huge fight or whatever and you can def see it but for the most part I’m okay with how the story played out. I wish there were more things we’d gotten like with blackwargreymon and I will completely ignore that terrible epilogue to my hearts content but there’s something about 02 that’s very near and dear to me.

and then tamers, holy fuck did that one go hard. I mean the concept was cool with the cards and being able to upgrade the digimon and guilmon was so cute and the story got so dark and interesting while maintaining an amount of fun that still appealed to me. leomon dying (again) really was a harder blow this season. there was just so much put into the characters and story for this and it’s a damn shame the writer turned out to be such an asshole last year. also they brought back the ‘digimon evolved wrong’ thing which I am a sucker for. 

fusion and data squad I have watched and while there were things I enjoyed in fusion it really does take a lot of the fun out when the digimon were the kids themselves and not a separate entity. some of the story was cool though with the brothers and one having been dead though it was almost a ken redux thing. data squad had an interesting premise but poor execution and characters which was too bad because like and FBI squad men in black type thing for digimon sounded like a lot of fun. pretty much I stopped after data squad until the movies.

which uh, I had to stop after the third one? idk those adventure movies just were too depressing for me. (not the very very first one which was released in theatres and I loved and was technically three movies bundled into one) I just felt like the kids characterizations were all over the place and the story was confusing and a mess to me.

also I have yet to watch the new adventure reboot thing they’ve done, I’ve heard good things about it but I’ve also heard a few things that make me wary of it like how much the kids are separated. I know I just said I like the separation arc but that worked when we’d already had 24 episodes of the kids working together, it doesn’t work so much in the beginning when they don’t know each other for me.

ALSO! back when quarantine first started I played digimon cyber ghost and oh my god that game is so good. I was very pleasantly surprised not just how fun it was and how engaging the story was but that it also had some nice lgbt rep. like you can hint your character is into girls if you play as a girl, someone makes a “I thought you were a thespian” joke, there’s a guy whose being hit on by a lilymon whose like ‘I’m gay’, there’s just a few things that pop up and they’re not the butt of the joke but sprinkled in the same way everything is. it’s all just very nice.

(also please tell me your digimon thoughts and what your faves are)

[definitely-not-karen]

My unnecessary and irrelevant reviews about the transformers media I have consumed.

Please let me have this. I was doom scrolling and transformers is my comfort fandom.

G1: I have not watched all of it, I do plan on doing so but I did watch it when I was younger and does invoke nostolgia. I watched it on Teletoon Retro (does that even exist anymore?) ((just googled it, rip teletoon retro)). For some reason I really like the episode The Ultimate Weapon. I am a huge fan of First Aid and it was because of this episode and I have no idea why. Rodimus is the main character of that episode with First Aid just having a very prominent role in the side story of that episode. I really liked the Aerialbots and their storyline with the time traveling and the not knowing if they’re on the right side was really cool. Honestly the animation errors and weird inconsistent story are part of the charm I guess.

RID 2001: another show I’ve only seen tidbits of. I watched this one via random episodes illegally uploaded to YouTube in the early to mid 2010s and now all those videos are taken down. As a lover of camp, this is camp. I love it. Transformers as a concept is pretty camp (which is why I adore it) and I definitely will watch all of this one day. Though Sideburn is cool and all, I do wish he didn’t chase a red sports car every episode. Otherwise he’s one of my favourites cause himbo rights I guess.

Transformers IDW 2005: So... I read the entirety of the idw comics purely because I found out Thundercracker was a screenplay writer and I wanted to read the entire story so I got the complete context of his development from scary fighter jet to an Oscar winner. I was not disappointed, I was met with queer and trans representation of all sorts, a diverse storyline with action filled parts, comedy elements, slice of life, political drama, adventure, horror, and the best road trip through space. Honestly I was not expecting transformers of all things to have queerness represented so casually and quite well in my opinion (though technically they are guilty of bury your gays, I don’t count it cause there was a clear reason for that death) Thundercracker was marked as one of my favourites cause of this series. I did experience a wonderful story because I wanted to see how he got his happy ending. My biggest criticism of idw transformers is that I love their interpretations of characters and sadly I know I’ll probably never get to seen them like that again. But if I want to experience those characters like that, I’ll just re read it I guess.

Transformers Animated: I have watched the entirety of this great show twice and it still love it. Funny characters, a human character that has a purpose, and a fun change to the formula, Transformers Animated has one of my favourite Optimus and made a Bumblebee so lovably loud they had to take away his voice so he wouldn’t become too powerful. Loved all of the characters except the human villains, Headmaster did not age well and I wasn’t in love with Ratchet’s design but his personality more than made up for it. If you want more animated, I love Transformers ReAnimated the void is filled by that series and channel. While I wish it got another season, it’s ending was satisfying enough I guess.

Transformers Prime: Smokescreen is great and was underutilizes -100/10. Just kidding, kind of I really enjoyed Prime. I’ve only watched through it completely once cause when I was a child I did not like the designs since apparently as a child I was a G1 loyalist I guess. Though now Prime has one of my favourite styles that still holds up today. Dramatic story with actual character development, I can over look that the plots a tad slow. I wish Breakdown was utilized more and it also could have benefited from an extra season but the movie wrapped it up much better than animated’s ending. Knockout is an amazing character and I was spoiled while I was watching it that he turns Autobot though I didn’t realize that wasn’t until the literal end of the series. Would’ve like a completely fleshed out Breakdown and Knockout or at least Knockout redemption arc but there’s always fanfiction I guess.

Robots in Disguise 2015: I didn’t hate it? It definitely helped that I watched this before Prime for some reason. I liked the designs, Sideswipe... himbo rights. Biggest flaw is the lack of character growth. I just want nice things for Sideswipe, Strongarm and Fixit. Grimlock was fun, I like Bumblebee trying to be a good leader and Optimus should have stayed dead. The crossover and referenced to Rescue Bots was fun and Blurr and Sideswipe was the rivalry I didn’t know I needed. But the one I really needed was Smokescreen in there too. The ending arc was interesting though not executed the best and Steeljaw did a lot of the heavy lifting for the villain side to a point where they over utilized him and his character suffered as a result. Windblade was not as bad as people online said she was, splitting the group up into two was stupid cause I’m bitter and still don’t want Optimus there. Also long list of underutilization: Denny and Russel Clay, Jazz, all the characters from prime except Optimus and Bee, Jetfire and Jetstorm, More Rescue bots, and many more! Like that girl that’s Russel’s friend that I literally don’t remember because I’m pretty sure the writers forgot about her! Anyways, in retrospect the show probably wasn’t great but I liked it I guess.

Rescue Bots: This show is way better than it needed to be. I actually love the no Decelticons and war. I’m a sucker for slice of life and especially slice of life with a twist. Human villains that were actually interesting, actual character development, continuity (somewhat), great human characters all while being target for children. I’m so happy I watched this show while I was kind of the target age and rewatching it for the third time was great cause some of the science jargon actually made sense to me. Satisfying ending too and honestly it can just appeal to everyone. Love all four of the main rescue bots and constantly wish they made evergreen designs and toys for them so they could at least make cameos in other transformers media. Sometimes it’s nice to have transformers being wholesome I guess.

Rescue Bots Academy: ... I was not the age democratic for this show and I somehow still liked it? Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been gravitating to more wholesome content due to current events but it was actually good? Love all the students, I do miss the old crew and characters like Doc Green and Frankie are under utilized and the Burns family is almost nowhere to be found :(. Once again there’s some actual character development and Hot Shot’s mentor relationship with Heatwave is super sweet. Also actually having positive post war Decepticon and Autobot relationships in this children’s show? Woah. Biggest issue is like RID 2015; the lack of continuity and characters completely disappearing. Perceptor was fun and I was not expecting him to appear. And I love me some microscope dude. It was a good send off for the aligned continuity I guess.

Cyberverse: ending too soon. I was about to be upset that bumblebee didn’t have his voice but he had his voice in his head which was great. Episodes like the velocitron one was really good and it definitely got better with each season and peaked in the Quintesson arc and then rolled to the cancellation date. Thundercracker shouldn’t have been killed off but I’m very biased. Seeing the rebuilding of Cybertron was cool. Windblade and Bumblebee had a fun relationship. I really liked this iteration of Grimlock. Perceptor was super interesting but then they did nothing with him after the Quintesson arc which was a shame and I would have liked to see better relationships between the Autobots and Decepticons after the team up. Also wholesome Whirl was fun. Honestly this needed one more season so bad. I just think it could have been great if it got one. But it’s still good I guess.

War for Cybertron: ...let’s see how I feel after Kingdom comes out but right now, meh. For me my favourite transformers characters usually end up being side characters due to me wishing they had more screen time so in this case, Red Alert is great please show me more of Red Alert. I get what all the people are saying about the voice acting and whatever but I can look past it (though please give us Peter Cullen or let the current VC make his own Optimus voice). But one thing is that all the YouTube reviewers be saying that I completely agree with is that it’s dark. Like lighting wise. I occasionally had trouble making out what was happening because it was dark. Honestly my biggest issue isn’t a fault of the show. I like development of multiple characters to be shown so I can fall in love with a multitude of characters but due to short seasons, it makes sense to focus in completely on one character at a time. Siege in my opinion at least let me see more of the background characters rather than Earthrise but I’d probably like Earthwise more if I was a bigger fan of Optimus. I’m going to watch Kingdom but I’m not expecting to be wowed I guess.

In conclusion, I should watch Beast Wars, I’m going to re read the ending of Lost Light again and revel in the melancholic ending I adore and I really like Thundercracker and First Aid. One great thing about transformers and other franchises that have been around for awhile, if you don’t like the current thing, there’s plenty of last media and you probably won’t need to wait too long for the next piece of media you’ll hopefully like.

Please be good idw 2019, I’ve read a bit of you and I have a scrap of hope. Oh please please please be good. Give some characters the Thundercracker treatment.

[atopearth]

Piofiore: Fated Memories Part 6 - Finale

It's kinda funny how when it came to defaming the Mafia bosses, Dante's one was the most ridiculous with him handling brothels hahaha. Was he so "clean" that they had to make stuff up?🤣 On the other hand, loll at Fei thinking the newspaper wasn't lying about the stuff Yang did hahaha, not sure if we should rejoice that he doesn't actually abuse women daily, but that he does kill his own men lol. Anyway, the mystery guy seems adamant on hating on the Mafia. He's not as verbal about it as Roberto, but his hatred for them seems to run deep. Personally, I'm on Lili's side. She understands that crime is wrong but she also understands the limits of her powers and what she can do by herself, so instead of completely disregarding the Mafia as evil, she instead hopes that she can do her own little part to support this town she loves because she believes that in the current circumstances, helping the Mafia right now means helping Burlone. I wonder what is his importance though~

Is Henri the previous Key Maiden's brother or something and that's why he hates the Mafia and doesn't think Lili will be safe with them? Oooh, or is the Direttore the brother? Chloe sounds... interestingly crazy lol. Anyway, Dante is so cute to insist on drinking espresso even though it's too bitter for him🤣 Gotta salute Lili for eating Lan and Fei's jian dui lmao, it does look pretty bad even though it apparently tastes good. Tbh, it's kinda funny how even though they say they're pretty good at it, they still can't make the shape right lol. Anyway, it's kinda funny how much of a 180 Rosberg does after kinda realising his position I guess. It's like as if he's become the nice and wise church guy lol. I still find it so random how Orlok is his son though, like I legit thought it was a lie back in Orlok's route because he knew saying it would make him go crazier and kill Gil etc so he could at least get his revenge on them that way but apparently it's true haha. I mean, regardless, it doesn't really change the fact that he's literally raised his child to become a killer with no emotions and never really cared about that all these years so I don't know how I'm supposed to view him when he's obviously trash but the story wants him redeemed? Honestly though, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the Direttore and Henri are the same person. Anyway, Henri being Riton was expected after seeing the flashbacks for a while, especially with all the stuff he says but yeah, it's kinda sad to see him obstinate on seeking revenge influenced by all the rumours surrounding Chloe's death and how the Falzone might have killed her etc, but I guess even without the rumours he would eventually blame them, since if they never went to the Falzone, maybe she wouldn't have died like that. I wonder if there's a reason why Chloe went kinda insane though, like a Key Maiden thing, or was it just her? I guess she was just so consumed with the Key Maiden thing and didn’t realise that she could have her own life too. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed with the finale, other than hearing the story of Henri/Direttore, everything ended not much differently from Gil's happy ending, hopefully the after story pieces the rest better. Like, why didn't we get to interact more with Henri/Direttore if this is supposed to revolve around him? Anyway, it is kinda fitting to welcome the new year with them though because I'm playing this on the last day of 2020 haha! 

Anyway, it's kinda saddening to know that Roberto and Nicola were actually kinda friendly when Roberto first came to Burlone and they didn't know each other's identities. I guess it kinda shows why Roberto is so obsessed with Nicola and hates him so much in Nicola's route, since Nicola was also the first one to push Roberto away after realising he was a part of the police. Nicola's attitude also doesn't help to pacify things. I think it would have been nice to know this in Nicola's route though, since Roberto is the villain for it. I thought it was really nice that Roberto was the one to remind Marco (when he was doubting the Mafia system because he couldn't save Chloe back then) that the most important thing as the police will always be to protect the people, so yeah even though the Mafia may not be the best way to run this place, there are things outside their control, but protecting the people will always be something they can do. Anyway, I find it funny how in the Henri ending, the guys blame Nicola for leaving the heroine and coming back himself, but when she runs back into the burning casino to find Henri, no one stopped her?! Like, I know it's for story romantic purposes but really, Orlok who is the quickest could have definitely stopped her. It's pretty terrible that Henri got treated badly because his sister tried to kill Beatrice when she was pregnant😔 Even the girl who "saved" him from the parents beating him played him like a toy... It would be hard for him to let go of his hatred when all these things happened after Chloe died, and essentially it's all because of the Falzone even if Silvio and Dante didn't want that. I feel so sorry for the real Sebastiano Gallier... Henri befriended him, killed him and his whole family just to get his identity..that's pretty cruel. Lili's right that Henri dying won't resolve anything, and living is technically a punishment for him in a sense, so I think it would be nice if they could both find a reason for him to live together. Anyway, Henri probably needs a therapist but I guess they aren't in a good situation to look for one. It's kinda funny how in every kind of happy ending where the heroine runs away or disappears, she ends up taking care of kids lol but I guess that's what she can do. Although I don't really care for Henri personally (he is cute though), I do think it's nice to live in a countryside in peace. One thing that really annoys me is Emilio's existence, he never really does anything, causes more trouble than he does providing "important information" because a lot of the time he gives that info, I'm not sure if it's even useful anymore and he only makes some kind of move when chaos has erupted to a point that there's not much point anymore. And the finale after the finale didn't really do much, but I guess I'll look forward to the fandisk if it gets translated!

Overall, I definitely enjoyed Piofiore. I'll say the overarching plot is definitely a miss for me because every time they mentioned stuff about the Key Maiden and everything, I honestly thought it was boring and the relic was silly too imo, and I also think Henri/Direttore's story lacked the impact it could have created. Even though there was a Henri ending, I don't feel like Lili got to interact with him to the extent that could have made me care more for him, so it was saddening in that aspect. Yang was definitely my favourite character-wise and VA-wise because he was everything I wanted in this Mafia game - dangerous, sexy and ruthless. But I did also enjoy the other guys, it's just that Yang outshined them imo (if you can get over how "evil" he is I guess). The individual routes weren't bad, but I don't think they were particularly interesting since I felt like counterfeit money and other stuff like Lee going against Yang weren't very appealing plot points, so the characters are definitely the highlight for me in this game. If I had to choose my favourite Mafia family, I'd probably choose the Falzone for the overall warmth from Giulia and Leo, but honestly the twins and Yang in the Lao-Shu wins over everyone in the end hahaha. Oh and the art is absolutely beautiful in this game, definitely 10/10 for that. Otherwise, I'd say I would give the game a 7.5/10, good and I liked it but I don't think it had anything or anyone in it to make it memorable for me (aside from Yang). I would recommend it though because it was fun and Lili was an okay heroine, I loved how beautiful she was in all the CGs hahaha.

[call-me-rei]

Chapter 2

Kellin Quinn was a ray of sunshine.

That’s what his mother always said about him. “He’s my little ray of sunshine,” she’d say when someone complimented her son. She was so proud of him and the person he was becoming.

Kellin just saw himself as a regular kid. He didn’t think there was anything overly special about him like his mom did; he just thought he was a kid. He was Kellin.

Kellin’s friends thought he was pretty great, though not to the extent his mom did. They thought Kellin was funny, kind, and occasionally spontaneous. And yes, Kellin was all of those things. He loved telling jokes and being goofy; he loved playing outside and making a mess. He just loved life.

Kellin could put a smile on your face without trying. All he would have to do is smile at you and you were sure to smile back. It was a weird power he had on people. Even the grumpiest person thought Kellin was wonderful.

It was easy for him to make friends. Like mentioned before, all he had to do was smile and everyone was hooked. He had the attention of almost every girl in his class whether it was romantic or platonic, and the boys in his class hung out with him to try to learn his ways. Last year he had gotten full-sized candy bars from the girls on Valentine’s Day. He wasn’t sure why, but what second grader would refuse full-sized candies?

The summer before third grade Kellin spent a lot of time wondering why people thought he was so great. It was starting to get weird to him. His birthday had occurred before school let out and he’d worn a pin on his shirt to signify the day and advertise that he wanted money. It was just a test to see if he’d get anything. Surprisingly he made thirty dollars that day. There were so many bills on that pin that he had to hand it over to his teacher to take care of.

Why would kids give him money? Why were people so drawn to him? He wasn’t necessarily complaining, but he wanted an explanation. What made him so special?

“I don’t know, sweetie. It’s just something about you,” his mom answered.

“But what? What makes me so special? I don’t get it.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. Just consider it a gift.”

Kellin huffed but accepted his mother’s answer. He figured it was better to be liked than hated.

He didn’t question his appeal anymore. It was a pointless effort anyway, so why bother? All that mattered was that he had people who liked him. He took that mindset with him as he entered his school to start third grade.

He was nervous about the year. Third grade was going to be so different from the grade before. For one, this was the year that he’d have to switch classes, so he’d have two different teachers. He wondered if his second teacher would be as nice as his first teacher, or if his first teacher was nice at all. He didn’t want to be in a class taught by a mean person.

He was also nervous about someone else sitting in his seat for half of the day. Kellin was an only child, so he wasn’t used to sharing his possessions. Of course, he shared toys with his friends, but this was something different. Someone could steal from him if they wanted to!

He put those thoughts out of his head when he remembered that he knew everyone in third grade. He’d lived in San Diego his whole life and had gone to this school since he was able to. He knew everyone in his graduating class, and they knew him. He knew he could trust them since everyone was a friend to him.

Kellin walked into his classroom with a smile on his face, but it faltered when he saw the students in his class. He was disappointed that his best friends weren’t in the same class as him. Jack Fowler and Jesse Lawson were nowhere to be seen. He went out into the hall and peeked into the class across from his. Sure enough, his friends were there.

Okay, he thought, at least we’re in classes that switch with each other. That was better than nothing.

Being in classes that switched with each other meant that Kellin had the exact same schedule as his best friends. They had lunch and recess at the exact same times compared to the other two third grade classes that enjoyed those times of the day ten minutes later than his class.

Kellin found his nameplate and sat at his desk. He recognized all the names that were at his table pod and smiled with content. He knew everyone who was supposed to be sitting with him which meant that he was going to enjoy his spot in class.

The first day of school started how it usually did: the teacher introduced themself then asked the students to introduce themselves. Everyone went around the room and shared a good thing that happened on their summer vacation. Their teacher then asked them to write a journal entry about someone else’s response. Kellin liked that. He loved writing.

Kellin’s first teacher taught English-language arts and reading (ELAR) and social studies. He was very excited to be able to start the day with his favorite subjects. Unfortunately, he had to end the day with his least favorite subjects: math and science. Kellin wasn’t the best with numbers.

He refused to dwell on the thing that would upset him, so he focused on the activities in his first class then went to lunch.

The cafeteria was pretty big and had enough room for three different grade levels to have overlapping lunch times. Third grade had lunch right at noon, then second grade came in halfway through, and fifth grade came when third grade was lining up. Kellin remembered being in second grade and wishing he had lunch earlier. Now he was in the next grade, and he felt excited to have seen his wish come true.

Kellin went through the lunch line and got his food then went to his class’s table. He sat on the side closest to the other third grade class’s table so he could strategically talk to his friends. It had worked out in his favor. Jesse and Jack sat at the other table with their backs facing Kellin’s back. They would be able to turn around and talk when they were done eating.

“So, who’s in your class this year?” Kellin asked. He didn’t have his best friends this year, but he was hoping they had more of their friends with them.

“No one interesting,” Jack replied with a shrug. “Lauren’s at our table though so that’s cool.” Lauren was the girl Jack had developed a crush on last year. Kellin knew he was downplaying how “cool” it was to have her in his class so he wouldn’t come off as obsessed.

“There is this new kid though,” Jesse whispered. That caught Kellin’s attention. He looked behind his friends to see if he noticed anyone he didn’t recognize. Sure enough, there was a boy sitting at the very end of the table.

This boy had tan skin, short brown hair, and big ears. Kellin thought the boy’s ears were kind of precious. They fit his face, even if they were bigger than he was used to seeing.

“What’s his deal?” Kellin asked. He was confused as to why the boy was just staring at his tray. He wasn’t making an effort to talk to anyone who sat around him; he just ate his food with his head down. Kellin couldn’t help but feel a little sad. Was he shy or had he not made friends yet?

“He’s mean,” Jesse replied. “He doesn’t talk and he doesn’t answer questions. He just looks at you.” Jesse was very upset with the new kid, obviously. Kellin wasn’t sure what happened, but he didn’t like that someone had upset his best friend.

“So we don’t like him?” Kellin asked. Jack and Jesse nodded vigorously. “Okay then, we don’t like him.”

And Kellin intended on not liking the new boy. Anyone who made his friends upset would never be a friend of his. He was very protective of his friends. Since he didn’t have any siblings, he held onto his friends and treated them like they were family. He felt that if he didn’t then he would never have anyone to play with, and he couldn’t bear to let that happen.

At recess Kellin, Jack, and Jesse played a game in the grassy area behind the playground. Kellin had noticed that Jesse invited the new boy to play. When he asked the redhead why, Jesse responded with, “Lauren made me.”

Kellin shrugged it off. Fine, he thought. Maybe this was what the kid needed; maybe he wasn’t very outgoing and needed to be invited before he interacted with others. Maybe he wasn’t like Kellin.

No, the new student wasn’t like Kellin at all. He was afraid to play with the boys. He wasn’t even sure why he was invited. No one ever invited him to play. Ever. So when he saw that the boys were too engrossed in their activities, the new student slipped away to sit underneath a tree and watch the fun everyone in third grade was having. No one noticed he wasn’t a part of it.

Recess ended in thirty minutes and the third grade classes were called inside to switch to their next teacher and continue learning. Kellin gathered his necessary materials from his desk and walked with his classmates across the hall. He smiled at Jack and Jesse when they passed him.

Kellin’s second teacher, Ms. Barnes, instructed the students to find their names on the nameplates on the desks. Since this was the second class Ms. Barnes had, she put their names underneath the names of her homeroom.

Kellin looked around the desks until he found his name underneath a name he didn’t recognize.

Victor? Who was Victor?

Kellin shrugged it off and sat down. He was a little bummed; he’d hoped he was sharing a desk with Jack or Jesse. Oh well, maybe one of them was sitting at his desk.

He put his notebook, binder, and pencil bag in the desk. He was surprised to see how neatly Victor’s things were organized. Victor had stacked his things on the left side leaving the right side bare and available for whoever was going to be sitting in his spot. Kellin smiled to himself. He appreciated that this person thought about other people.

Ms. Barnes did the introductory things like Kellin’s homeroom teacher had done, just without the journal entries. Then the math and science started.

After a couple lessons that Kellin could barely follow, his class was allowed to go into the hallway and get their things from their lockers and prepare for dismissal. Shortly after the bell rang and the school was dismissed. Kellin stood by a wall in the hallway to wait for his friends. As soon as he saw Jack and Jesse walk out of Mrs. Jones’ room, he waved to them. The three boys fell in step with each other and exited the building.

“I don’t think I’ll like Mrs. Jones,” Jack groaned.

“How come?” Kellin asked, surprised. He already loved his homeroom teacher, and it was just the first day of school.

“Because she’s gonna make us write a lot and I don’t like writing.” Kellin chuckled to himself. He knew that Jack hated his handwriting. His previous teachers had commented on how sloppy it was, and even though Jack had tried his best to fix it over the years, he never got it legible enough.

Kellin put a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Maybe this will be the year a teacher can read your stuff.” Jack shook his head and muttered something about his mom wanting to get him help if a teacher said something again. Kellin wasn’t listening though.

Something had caught the boy’s eye. Or rather, someone.

Kellin looked down the sidewalk and saw the new kid once again, but this time he was with a smaller kid. The new student had a younger sibling? That was an interesting discovery. Kellin had some questions going through his head. What grade was his sibling in? Was he as shy as his older brother?

Most importantly, what were their names?

“Jesse?” The redhead hummed in response to Kellin. “What’s the new kid’s name?”

Jesse scrunched his face in thought. “Uh, Nick, I think? I’m not sure; he said it really quietly when we were introducing ourselves. It’s either Nick or Vic.”

Kellin nodded and looked back to the two new boys. They were getting into a dark blue sedan driven by a woman with a bright smile on her face. Her eyes lit up when she saw her boys approach the vehicle and her smile grew when they got in the car.

The sight reminded Kellin of how his own mother was. She was always so happy to see her son when she picked him up from school. It was as if her day was dreary until her “sunshine” was in the car.

Kellin’s mother picked him up shortly after the new boy’s car left. Kellin said goodbye to Jesse and Jack and got into the car. As usual, his mom’s demeanor brightened once her son was in his seat.

“How was your first day?” she asked.

“It was fine. I’m not in class with Jack or Jesse and that kinda sucks, but my first teacher is the writing teacher and I like that. And I get to have lunch and recess with them so that’s cool. And there’s a new kid that Jesse doesn’t like so I guess I don’t like him either, but the new kid has a little brother. I just saw them leave. I don’t get why he doesn’t talk but Jesse says he’s mean.”

Somehow Mrs. Quinn was able to follow her son’s rambling. She was used to it by now. It had always been as if Kellin’s mouth moved faster than his brain could process.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Mrs. Quinn said as she drove. “You don’t even know this new student and you’re saying you don’t like him?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he do anything to you?” Kellin shook his head. “Then why wouldn’t you like him?”

“Because he made Jesse mad.” Kellin thought he’d made that obvious, but the look his mom was giving him through the rearview mirror told him she didn’t like that response.

“Did he call Jesse a name?” she asked. Kellin shook his head. “Did he push Jesse?”

“No.”

“Then what happened?”

“He…” Kellin thought back. “He didn’t talk to him?”

Mrs. Quinn snickered. “If that’s all that happened then I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to not like him. Maybe he’s shy. You said he’s new to school; maybe he needs someone nice to be his first new friend. Maybe that could be you.”

Kellin thought over his mother’s words for the rest of the day. He had to admit, it didn’t feel too good to be mean to the new kid when he didn’t even know him. That wasn’t the person Kellin wanted to be.

Kellin was an optimistic person. He tried very hard to see the good in everyone, even if his friends said someone was the worst; he needed to make sure of that himself. That’s why he made the decision to talk to the new kid.

The next day Kellin walked into the third grade hallway and peeked into Ms. Barnes’ room. The new boy was there, sitting silently at his desk with his face in book. He wasn’t making any attempt to talk to the kids around him. Kellin went into his classroom and sat at his desk. He noticed the new nameplate signifying that a student from Ms. Barnes’ class was going to be sitting in his spot.

Victor.

The same name that was at the spot Kellin would sit at later today was on his desk. Kellin smiled. Hopefully they’d get to know each other.

The day started and Kellin enjoyed the ELAR lesson from Mrs. Jones. But all too soon it was time for lunch, which meant it was time for Kellin to put his plan into action.

He’d thought about the best way to approach the new student; he didn’t want to scare him off. Kellin watched as he sat at the end of Ms. Barnes’ lunch table and ate his food silently. When he was done, he picked up the book he had brought with him and read until the lunch monitor told his class they could line up to leave.

The new student went outside with his class and ventured off to find a nice shady spot to keep reading. He had somehow snuck away from his classmates and the teachers and found a secluded area where he thought no one would notice him, not that anyone ever noticed him anyway.

But that day Kellin noticed him.

Kellin was a curious kid; he had many questions and wanted answers to all of them. The particular question he had for this new person concerned the book they’d been reading since he laid eyes on them before class started that morning.

“Can I sit with you?” The new student looked up from the page he was reading and into the green eyes of the person who’d just spoken to him. This was the second time in the last twenty-four hours that someone at school had attempted to talk to him. He was apprehensive to answer considering he had upset the first person who’d tried to talk to him. He knew all about the redhead who thought he was mean.

The new student couldn’t trust his voice to give an answer, so he just shrugged.

Kellin took the gesture as a yes and sat next to the new kid in the grass under the tree. “My name’s Kellin,” he said. The new kid just stared. “This is when you tell me your name,” Kellin giggled.

The new student blushed in embarrassment. “My name’s Vic,” he mumbled.

“Cool,” Kellin replied with a smile. Vic nodded then began to feel awkward. What now? He wasn’t comfortable starting a conversation, so he didn’t. He looked down at his book and continued reading. He didn’t want to be rude, but he honestly didn’t know what to do in this situation, so he did something familiar to keep the anxiety away.

“Oh cool, Pokémon! I love Pokémon!” Kellin exclaimed when he noticed the cover of the book in Vic’s hands. Vic looked up from his book and at Kellin who was wearing an excited smile on his face. “Which one’s your favorite? Wait, that’s too many. How about your favorite Pokémon type? I like fire types, but the water types are so cute. The psychic types give me a weird vibe though.”

Vic listened to the boy talk a mile a minute about Pokémon types. He wasn’t sure Kellin had taken a breath while he spoke; his words just seemed to run together.

“Um, I like flying types,” Vic answered once he realized Kellin was down with his rambling.

The green-eyed boy nodded. “How come?”

“Well, because they can go anywhere whenever they want. They can travel far away from anything and anyone, and they can take you to safety if you need to be rescued.” Vic often wished he had a flying-type Pokémon to rescue him. Sometimes being where he was was too much for him. Better yet, he wished he was a flying-type. He could just escape when he was overwhelmed, which was far too often for his liking.

Kellin hummed, bringing Vic back to the current happenings. “That’s pretty cool. I think being a flying Pokémon would be awesome.”

Vic sat there in surprise. Kellin had listened to what he said and he liked his answer! That had never happened to him before. No one ever bothered to ask about Vic’s favorite things, and on the rarest occasion where they did, they didn’t like the answers he gave because they were “too weird and sad.” But not Kellin. Kellin accepted his answer for what it was and wanted to keep talking to him.

“Can we agree that we don’t like rock types though?” Kellin asked.

Vic couldn’t help but giggle at the boy’s question. “Yes.”

The two boys sat under the tree and talked about Pokémon for the rest of recess. Actually, it was more like Kellin rambled and Vic interjected when he felt comfortable enough to respond. Kellin didn’t mind though, he just liked talking about Pokémon.

This went on for the rest of the week. Vic and Kellin sat under the tree and talked about Pokémon, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh for the next three days. And although there was something in the back of Vic’s mind that told him that Kellin was too good to be true and would abandon him, he couldn’t help but want to spend those thirty minutes outside with him.

-----

I updated again because this story is so cute and I wanna keep it going. Let me know what you think!

[myhahnestopinion]

THE AARONS 2020 - Worst Film

Social distancing can be emotionally draining, so let’s practice. Here’s a list of things to stay far, far away from, and you’ll feel much better for it. Here are the Aarons for Worst Film:

#10. The Grudge

The Grudge didn’t have much good-will from the get-go: the franchise’s timeline-shifting gimmick has long been a distinctive element devoid of any tension. Even with the presence of Lin Shaye and John Cho among them, the multiple eras of eerie occurrences never shake the sense of existing only out of obligation. The scares are equally as perfunctory; The Grudge startles, but doesn’t leave a mark. Director Nicolas Pesce and producer Sam Raimi just can’t bring any life back to the series. Then again, it never housed much spirit to begin with; we shouldn’t hold it against them. 

#9. Scoob!

For the first time in its 50 year history, the franchise begged a different question: Scooby-Dooby-Doo, why are you doing this? Scoob! is one of the most depressing examples of modern-minded corporate synergy, dead set on resurrecting IP no matter how ghoulish the results. The film feigns detective work, but unmasks itself early as a superhero story, breaking up the gang to promote the likes of Blue Falcon and Captain Caveman, Hanna-Barbera characters that barely built up an audience back in the day, without ever solving the mystery of why audiences should care. Its most baffling crime? Shaggy traps himself in Hell to save the day (no, not kidding…). Zoinks, Scoob!, indeed.

#8. Fantasy Island

I’m afraid one can never leave Fantasy Island! For you must see your fantasy through to its natural conclusion, but the movie doesn’t offer one, hinging entirely on a rubbish plot twist. The horror reimagining of the ‘70s TV show is all-around cheap, inviting a new group of people to live out their dreams on the mysterious locale without much spectacle or imagination. A bizarre reintroduction of classic character Tattoo is the only thing that leaves an impression. The mismatched tones of the various adventures routinely washes away any tension from the film, stranding the wannabe franchise without any fans to see. 

#7. Brahms: The Boy II

There was fun to be had in Annabelle Comes Home and the Child’s Play remake in 2019, but Brahms: The Boy II has the haunted doll genre feeling entirely played out. It certainly didn’t help that the film seemed unsure what toys were even in its sandbox; the sequel retcons supernatural origins into the series, but the doll’s antics didn’t become any more animated. Katie Holmes is the latest lead led around aimlessly as The Boy conjures expressions in audiences as vacant as his own. It was hard to imagine someone making a horror film more dull than the original, which also made this list years ago, but, boy, does Brahms make it look too easy. 

#6. Dolittle

If we could talk to the animals, they’d tell us to walk away from the latest Dolittle adaptation. Robert Downey Jr. got his post-Iron Man career off on the wrong paw as the eponymous doctor, who sets sails with his creature companions to find a cure for the Queen’s illness. The voyage is on rocky water from the very beginning, mating footage together from three different directors, and trying to rear wonder out of its lackluster CGI creations. If the climax of your hopeful-epic is pulling a set of bagpipes out of a dragon’s ass, don’t be surprised when the result is similarly crappy. 

#5. Followed

Followed asks viewers to just go along with a lot of scuzziness, but you’re better off if you don’t subscribe. Truthfully, it’s unclear how much of the found-footage film, comprised of a vlogger staying in a haunted hotel, is actually meant as satire. Even if one excuses the bad acting as commentary on YouTubers’ artificiality, knowing that the premise shamelessly exploits a real world tragedy is hard to block out. Ultimately though, the content can’t get viewers to care much one way or the other. When chasing a smart, scary social-media series, you’re better off unfriending Followed, and following the Unfriended films instead.

#4. Holidate

Watching Holidate made bringing a random stranger home for every 2020 holiday seem wise in comparison. Like most of the rom-coms Netflix presents viewers with, Holidate wraps itself up in a marketable convenience to disguise its shoddy, shallow inside. Stars Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey bump uglies with all the vulgarness of that phrase and all the enthusiasm of a Barbie and Ken doll being bashed together. The two trudge through a series of increasingly irrelevant holidays for a date before a requisite rom-com end back at Christmas, just when you thought a year couldn’t feel like more of a chore to get through.

#3. A Nice Girl Like You

Lucy Hale can get some… Get some more entries on this Worst Of list, that is! The Fantasy Island star plays a woman determined to no longer be scared by her fantasies with the help of a sexual to-do list in this film. Hale puts the “Girl” in “Nice Girl,” being entirely too young for the movie’s material, based on a middle-aged memoir, to stimulate any meaning. The central list, meanwhile, arouses mostly confusion and incredulity at the choices included. Too lifeless to let loose, Nice Girl ends up being really bad, just not in the way it had hoped.

#2. Artemis Fowl

Even with limited releases to be had, Artemis Fowl captured that good old Disney magic for always managing at least one annual unmitigated disaster. Their adaptation of the best-selling children’s novel lacks both a criminal, with a watered-down Fowl for the Disney-demographic, and a mastermind, with no one involved seeming to have re-read the book since its original publication 20 years ago. The greatest of Artemis’ fouls is Josh Gad’s Mulch Diggums, a dwarf who unhinges his jaw like a snake to dig tunnels, farting out the dirt behind him. Then again, it’s an apt-metaphor for a company determined to swallow every IP possible just to crank out crap.

AND THE WORST FILM OF 2020 IS...

#1.  After We Collided

After two Afters, it’s clear that the one direction the franchise is following is down. Rest assured, the only steaminess from this R-rated sequel to 2018’s young-adult romance is the continued gaslighting in its central relationship. The ongoing exploits of Tessa Young and Hardin Scott remain far removed from any fantasy; even looking beyond the nauseating toxicity, the series has a dreadful failure of imagination (The author’s own self-insert only aspires to being an intern at a publishing company.) The secret to the film’s appeal, as far as I can tell, seems to come only by watching After We Collided after you collide your head with a concrete wall.

NEXT UP: THE 2020 AARON FOR BEST DIRECTOR!

[piratewithvigor]

The Big Five

Summary: A newcomer to L.A., Y/N isn’t much for anonymous sexual encounters, but there are 5 exceptions.

Word Count: 1530

A/N: @niksixx​ and her story Number 73 spurred a big list of comments and ideas and I got this idea as a result of the discussion. Also my first attempt for a reader insert, so we’ll see how this goes. 

It’d been a lifelong dream of mine to move to California. The beaches were my original motivation when I was really young. My landlocked home state offered no such luxuries and they were too far away to visit, save for a few very special family vacations through the years. As I got older, the music scene began to be my enticement. Beaches were nice and all, but the guys who walked them were somehow growing nicer in my eyes. 

My Sweet 16 Birthday trip was when I decided I had to make a place for myself in LA. They were my kind of people. The crazies, the weird, the musicians, the lovers, the dreamers, the shakers, the movers… It was my city. The trip had taken months to save up for, both on my and Y/B/F’s parts, but on our final day, we made a pact that we’d return in a few years, with more savings. Enough to carve ourselves out a little place in the city. 

It took a while. A lot longer than either of us anticipated when we were thinking with our dream-clogged teenaged brains, but we made it a reality. The jobs we found after we made the move weren’t great, and neither was the apartment we were sharing, but it was our new home. Two bedrooms, a bathroom and a communal room that connected the entryway with pretty much everything else. At first, I’d been skeptical over getting a two-bedroom instead of saving a little by sharing a bedroom. Once Y/B/F started getting her nails into the beach boys we ogled as kids, I was only rueing not getting more rooms between us. 

That wasn’t to say she was the only one having all the fun. I was much more careful about getting myself into situations, but I slipped up once or twice. Or exactly five times, as Y/B/F liked to remind me. Five anonymous, deeply animalistic, frequently kinky, occasionally intimate sexual encounters. I never took them to our place. I never got so carefree that I trusted the hookups with my address. That was something only official boyfriends got to know. Y/B/F could always just tell what I’d gotten up to. My walk of shame was painfully obvious, but never so shameful that she didn’t press for details over breakfast. 

I knew the first one was going to be a hit-and-run the moment I saw him. He was the California man I was mentally lusting over since the idea first hit me. Long hair, eyes that oozed sex appeal once he caught you in his gaze, and had likely fucked everything with legs in that bar, stools and tables included. A second shot gave me the nerve to go over to him, but it turned out to not be needed. He was on the stool beside me at the bar once I turned to go over. I can’t remember what we said, only that his unfairly deep voice was lowering my inhibitions more than the alcohol ever could. Less than an hour later, I was gripping handfuls of his soft red hair and he was fucking the last of my coherency away. He was the first, and Y/B/F spent the next month pointing out every ginger she could to try and find the man whose name I couldn’t remember if I tried to get herself a taste of the honey.

Number two was different in every way imaginable. He was the California man I would have pictured as a kid. Blonde, toned, smiling brighter than the sun, and giving me the feeling that he could have been my best friend in the world. He probably could have been if I hadn’t left his place in a hurry after realising that it was Monday morning, and not Sunday morning, like I had thought. His address melted away from my memory with the hangover and by the next weekend, I was just hoping I’d never see him again, way too embarrassed to have been the one to run away before the other woke up without even a note. 

My desperate attempts to avoid blondie coincidentally knocked me into the arms of number three, whose name, I learned, was Duff. His was the first name I learned, but I was never sure if he was fucking around with me or not. I’d been staring across the room at the back of his head for so long, debating if it was in fact blondie or if I was just being paranoid. His own paranoia made him look back at me a few times and eventually stalk towards me, demanding why I was staring. I wanted to laugh off the mistake, but so many things about him caught me off-guard that I couldn’t do anything besides chuckle awkwardly. I didn’t intend to go home with Duff, but he lured me in quick and mercilessly. I left him my number, but without him calling back, he was resigned to number three.

Number four was the first encounter that came from a completely clear head. Clear from alcohol, anyway. Turns out, adrenaline is a mighty powerful aphrodisiac. LA had gotten me fairly used to regular catcalls. Catcalls, and sometimes even being followed down the street, Somehow, it never got me used to a stranger nearby turning onto my catcaller and threatening him with a new pet snake he had been carrying fairly secretly under his pile of hair. He insisted I come up to his apartment so I could call someone and he could make sure I wasn’t alone going home. He would, he said, but his snake needed to be fed immediately and not left unsupervised in a brand new environment. The call kept getting pushed further back as he introduced me to all his snakes, later including the one in his pants. Y/B/F didn’t say anything when she picked me up, but her eye roll spoke volumes. 

The siren call of the music scene had been beckoning me for ages, but I had always sworn to myself that I would never sleep with a guy just because he was a musician. That was a major fucking lie. Why wouldn’t I want to sleep with a guy who had dedicated his life to moving his fingers as swiftly and precisely as possible? It made number five a dream come true. He didn’t even need to bring me home to turn me into a mess inside and out. Innocent gazes and hands slipped under my skirt were all I needed at the table, and once he pulled me into the band’s dressing room, he got his turn. 

I’d hooked up other times, of course, but they were the only five I never heard from again. Never saw again, either, even when I was looking for them. It didn’t discourage me from still having fun. The only thing that did was the sounds of Y/B/F and her new boy toy duking it out all night every night. I knew I was just as bad when I got my shot at them, but it was almost depressing every time I came home empty-handed. After the third week of going out with nothing to show for it, Y/B/F almost had to drag me out for the last Friday of the month. 

“Is it a crime to just want to stay in on a Friday night for once?”

“It is when the only reason for that is because you keep striking out. It’s not happening tonight,” she insisted as we stood in line for the club.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Five bands tonight, including Izzy’s. With four to five guys per band, that’ll make twenty to twenty-five guys desperate to score with a hot piece of ass like you.”

“And a hundred girls for other options.”

“So you might get sloppy seconds tonight. At least you’ll get some,” she shrugged as we entered. I hadn’t met her boyfriend, Izzy, yet. Our schedules only seemed to line up when they were in bed together, and I had absolutely no desire to meet a guy right before or right after he scored. The only reason I had allowed her to take me out tonight was because this was his band’s biggest bill to date. Sure, they had to share it with other bands, but the crowd was going to be worth it. According to her, the other four guys in his band were almost as cute. 

We took our spots in the front row. With Izzy’s band opening, we had to be at the top of our game. Cheerleading was the name of the game. If they were actually good, it would be all the easier. 

The anticipation was eating me alive, but was promptly replaced with a mixture of nausea and arousal when Guns N Roses, as they called themselves, took the stage. My knees buckled the instant I caught a glimpse of the red hair. Ginger didn’t seem to take much notice of me, but Duff, Blondie, Snake Boy and Izzy all seemed to get the same kind of realisation I did when our eyes met. The Big Five. All together as a band.

[ft-dads-au]

Part of the Family

A collaboration by @mdelpin​ and @oryu404​

Fairy Friendship Week 2020 Prompt: Secrets Pairing(s): Sting & Gray, Gray & Rogue, Sting x Rogue

AO3 | FF.Net

Summary: With Rogue's and Aki's birthdays coming up, Mika suggests that Sting and Gray go gift shopping together. Neither of them are excited about the idea, but it ends up being just the thing to bring them all closer together.

September 9, 2020

“That’s a great idea!”

The words burst out of Sting’s mouth before he had a chance to stop them.

It wasn’t a great idea.

In fact, it was one of the worst ideas Sting had ever heard. He was exhausted, having just got off what was supposed to have been a twelve-hour shift in the Emergency Room that had turned out to be more like fifteen, on top of not having gotten much sleep because the twins had been fussy all night.

He smiled at his mother-in-law warmly while scrambling for any excuse he thought she might accept that would get him out of a trip to the mall with his brother-in-law, who looked about as enthused with the idea as he felt.

“Wonderful!” Mika Fullbuster practically beamed at them, “I’ll feed the boys and get dinner ready for us while you’re gone.”

She picked up his son, Kuro, and cooed at him before placing him in a high chair next to his identical twin Haku. Gray’s son, Aki, watched with interest, although he kept close to his father.

Sting knew he was screwed when Gray remained silent, examining him with that glacial expression of his. “Okay, I’ll take a quick shower then. Be back in 10.”

He could hear Mika and Gray talking in low voices, Mika reminding her son that Rogue would probably like it if he got to know Sting a little bit better.

More than anything else, it was those words that motivated Sting to get in the shower and put on his best face because he knew she was right. Rogue loved his brother, had missed him all those years they had been on the outs, and now that Gray and his parents were a part of his life again, he wanted them all to become the family he never thought he’d have.

But Gray wasn’t exactly easy to get along with, and Sting was still irritated about how he had treated Natsu on the night of Lisanna’s birthday, not to mention how he’d dismissed Rogue all those years. Still, for Rogue, he could make an effort. The cold shower didn’t wake him up as much as he’d hoped, but he knew he wouldn’t have gotten out as quickly if he’d taken a warm one. Now he wasn’t just exhausted but also freezing cold and nervous, a far cry from what he’d been looking forward to when his shift was finally over. He passed the bed on his way from the bathroom to the closet and almost sobbed at how badly he wanted to get in it. “Come on Sting, you can do this!” he encouraged himself as he grabbed something comfy to wear and got dressed. “Go to the mall, get some birthday presents, have a chat with your brother-in-law...Can’t be too hard, right?”

It was incredibly hard.

Gray hadn’t said a word since the moment they’d left the house, and Sting had no idea what to say to get a conversation going. Almost everything he knew about the guy was off-limits to talk about, so they walked around the mall quietly, occasionally entering a store that looked interesting.

“Do you think Aki would like this?” Sting grabbed a colorful book thinking it would make a good birthday present for his nephew. He pushed some of the buttons on the front to see what kinds of sounds it made.

Gray shook his head, “He doesn’t like loud noises.”

“I wish I could say the same about the twins,” Sting groaned, placing the book back on the shelf, “just about every toy they have is loud.”

“Cana?” Gray asked, mouth stretching into a small smile.

“Well, she’s not the worst offender. That would have to be my parents,” Sting chuckled, “They’ve wanted grandkids since probably before I was born.”

Gray studied him briefly before turning his attention back to the shelf full of electronic board books. He moved away from them as he discovered the hardcover storybooks.

“He does like books though, tries to memorize them and pretend he’s reading them,” Gray added with a proud smile, “He could probably use some new ones.”

Sting thought Gray had a nice smile, it reminded him of Rogue’s. It was the first time he’d seen a real resemblance between the two brothers, outside of the dry wit they shared, and it made him warm up to him a little.

"Yeah, Rogue mentioned that.” He considered his next words for a moment, ultimately deciding he trusted Gray to be the kind of person who could keep a secret. “He’s uhm...taking a break from the stuff he usually writes to work on a book of fairy tales for kids. One of his college friends is doing the illustrations.”

“He’s writing a children’s book?” Gray asked, his voice sounding softer than Sting had ever heard it outside of speaking to Aki. He appeared stunned by the news but also something else.

Was it pride?

Sting thought it might be. The twinkle in his brother-in-law’s eye made him believe he was right.

“I kind of figured he’d write one of those mystery novels he always loved so much.” “Oh, he did. Published it under a pseudo a few years back,” Sting beamed, the swell of pride overtaking his fatigue for a brief moment. “Don’t tell anyone about the children’s book, though. He wants to keep it a secret because...well, you know your mom. Just act real surprised when Aki gets it for Christmas.”

They checked out some of the books together, flipping through the pages to see if the stories were fitting for Aki's age and whether or not they would appeal to him. Soon they'd decided on a few and headed to the register.

Sting grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket, staring at its contents blankly for a moment. He took a card out and waited for the cashier to finish ringing up his purchases so he could place it in the reader. Trying to hide a big yawn he couldn’t quite contain, Sting inserted the card into the bottom slot when the reader prompted him. He waited to plug in his pin, thinking about how happy he was that they had managed to get one of the presents out of the way fairly quickly.

The card reader beeped at him, a message reading Card Declined displaying on the screen, much to Sting’s confusion. There should be plenty of money in there, he’d just gotten paid. But even knowing that, he could feel his cheeks darken with embarrassment as he saw the cashier glance at him surreptitiously.

He turned to see Gray’s eyebrow arched in silent question.

“I don’t understand,” Sting protested, “I’m sure there’s more than enough in there.”

“Are you sure about that?” Gray asked, looking somewhat exasperated.

“Yeah, I got paid yesterday,” he insisted. “I’ll just rerun it. Sometimes these things are flaky.”

“I don’t think it’s the reader that’s flaky,” Gray muttered under his breath.

“Let me just see it for a moment,” the cashier offered graciously, “Sometimes, you just have to wipe the chip a bit.”

Sting shrugged, handing the card over. There was something about it that seemed off, but he couldn’t quite grasp what it was.

“I think I see the problem,” the cashier said, and although his face remained serious, Sting could hear traces of laughter in his voice. “We do not currently accept Magnolia Hospital ID Cards as a valid form of currency.”

“What?” Sting could only gape in confusion as the cashier handed him back his ID Card.

“Long day?” Gray smirked, taking Sting’s wallet from his hand and grabbing his debit card, finishing up the transaction for him.

“You have no idea,” Sting muttered, finally entering his pin into the keypad and waiting for Gray to complete his purchase, pretending not to see that his brother-in-law was still laughing at him.

“Come on,” Gray said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him behind him.

“Where are we going?”

“Coffee.”

He led them to the nearest coffee shop, where they each ordered a drink and a snack. Spotting an empty table, they quickly sat down.

“You know, if you were this tired, you could have just said no,” Gray sighed, shaking his head at him. “Mom isn’t that scary.”

Sting looked up, and having already shoved his chocolate chip muffin in his mouth, he shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Oy, take bites!” Gray griped, snorting at the crumbly mess he was making on the table, “I bet Rogue loves that.”

Sting laughed, easily picturing the look of distaste he’d receive from his husband if he’d been present. “He knew what he was getting into. Was he always so neat and tidy as a kid too?” he asked, eager to learn some things about Rogue from before they’d met each other.

“Kind of, not as bad as he seems to be now, though,” Gray mused, “He was always serious, with a very sharp tongue, but he could be a lot of fun too.”

He stared off into space and suddenly broke out in laughter, so hard that Sting began to worry for him. It stopped as soon as it started, but the amusement continued to play on his features. “I bet there’s one thing you don’t know about him, though.”

Sting leaned forward in his seat, eyes suddenly flying right open as he was dying for him to continue.

Gray’s whole face lit up with mischief, “Did you know that right up until the moment he was born, Rogue’s middle name was Ashley?“

“Ashley?” Sting repeated, blinking in confusion.

“Yep,” Gray grinned, “Mom’s doctor insisted Rogue was a girl, something about the way she was carrying or whatever, and the ultrasound confirmed it, so we all thought he was a girl. For months my mom told me all about the new little sister I was going to have. She had Dad paint the nursery pink, coordinated all the crib sheets, bought the clothes, everything.”

“You can imagine my parents’ surprise when he was born. Everything they had was for a girl. You should ask my mom to show you his hospital pictures. They’re hilarious! My dad and I have never let him live it down,” Gray chuckled, “I still call him Ashley when I want to piss him off.”

At first, Sting was just boggled by the fact that a doctor would predict a baby's gender from the way the mother was carrying, and how, even back in the early ’90s, an ultrasound managed to support that statement. But when he imagined what those pictures would look like, not to mention Rogue’s face when he’d ask his mother-in-law about them later- which he totally would- he almost choked on his muffin from his laughter. “I should buy him some extra gifts,” he giggled, “I have a feeling I’ll need them to get in his good graces again later.”

“He had a figure skating phase too,” Gray continued, “I was a hockey nut, so I loved to tease him about it, but the truth was he was terrific. Very graceful. I was kind of surprised to see he got rid of the ice rink in the backyard. Maybe now that we’re all back, we can set it back up,” he added.

"I knew about the figure skating. He made sure to show off the first time we went skating together because I ran my big mouth but completely sucked at it."

“Well, he does love to show off.”

“I’m glad you two made up,” Sting confided, getting carried away by the moment they were sharing. “He really missed you.”

He realized too late that it had been the wrong thing to say as Gray only nodded and then went right back to being quiet, but Sting didn’t let that bother him. He’d seen a different side of his brother-in-law, and he was confident that with time they could become good friends.

They finished their coffee and shopped for birthday presents for Rogue for another hour before calling it a night. Gray drove them back to the house to let Sting rest. When they arrived, Mika had already finished cooking, and the boys were playing quietly in front of the TV.

"Wow, looks like you had a successful trip!" Mika smiled happily at the shopping bags they were carrying, "and you're right on time for dinner!"

Sting was happy to see Rogue had gotten home as well, and even more delighted when he stopped setting the table to greet him with a hug and a kiss.

"You look really tired," Rogue fretted, frowning at the mark left on Sting's cheek by the zipper of his coat when he'd fallen asleep in the car. "Go sit. I’ll plate up for you."

"You're the best-" Sting flopped down on one of the dining room chairs, watching fondly as Rogue started scooping rice onto his plate. It was a small effort, but he thought it was really sweet, and it almost made him think twice about his next words.

Almost.

"Thanks, Ashley."

Between Gray's loud snort, Mika's knowing grin, and the look of horror that started to spread across Rogue’s face, Sting could honestly say that the unexpected shopping trip, exhausting as it was, had definitely been worth it.

"You just had to tell him, didn't you?" Rogue fumed at Gray, only managing to contain his outrage for the sake of the kids.

“He’s family now, isn’t he?” Gray’s attempt to sound innocent only riled Rogue up further. “Relax, Squirt, there’s lots of stuff I didn’t tell him. Like the time you-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Rogue seethed, much to everyone’s amusement, but when he looked around the room, he suddenly became skittish. "Wait…where did mom go?"

"Right here," Mika answered as she appeared from the hallway, carrying a large photo album and an even larger smile on her face. She sat down next to Sting, who knew exactly what was going to happen, as his own mother had put him through a similar skit once.

"Let's see-" she pulled a curious Aki onto her lap, completely ignoring the protests of both her sons as she started flipping through the pages.

"Look how cute your daddy used to be when he was little," she told Aki, pointing at some of the pictures of Gray when he was the same age. "He looked just like you, but he always managed to take off his clothes wherever we went."

Sting tried but failed not to laugh as he saw her finger pointing at a picture of a much younger looking Silver holding what appeared to be a bunch of children's clothes as he chased an almost naked Gray across the playground. “Dada,” Aki bubbled at the picture and the others on that page.

Meanwhile, Rogue had finished piling food onto Sting’s plate and went to put the twins back into their high chairs before they’d start protesting the fact that everyone else had left them to gather at the dining table. He finished just in time to see Mika turn the page, much to Gray’s relief and amusement, because the next set of pictures were made at the hospital. Rogue could only groan as Sting went off in what could only be described as a laughing fit at the sight of his first baby pictures, in which he was dressed in pink from socks to bonnet.

“See Gray’s face? He was actually a little disappointed when we told him he didn’t get a sister after all, “ Mika chuckled. “He was so proud of the pink frog plushie he’d picked out as a welcoming gift, and he was worried his brother wouldn’t like it.” “The opposite was true, though,” she continued, smiling at Rogue as she continued to spill more embarrassing moments from his childhood. “You had it with you all the time. The one time you lost it, you wouldn’t stop crying and refused to leave the park without it. Dad searched for half an hour in the pouring rain before he finally found it.” “He still has it,” Sting revealed, returning Rogue’s pout of betrayal with an innocent smile. “It’s sitting on a shelf in our bedroom.” “Gee, when I saw how exhausted you looked, I didn’t think I was getting screwed today. Guess I was wrong.” “Rogue!” Mika was quick to scold her son. “What? It was kid-proof.”

Gray cackled in appreciation at Rogue’s snide remark, his grin withering when his mother flashed him a disapproving glare. He coughed uncomfortably and shifted his attention back to his brother, “You still have it? I thought you’d said you lost it.”

“Don’t get full of yourself,” Rogue crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. “I happened to find it when I was cleaning out the basement a while back.”

Sting knew that was some high-level bs, but he let it go, enjoying the back and forth between the two brothers. Judging from the pleased expression on Mika’s face, he wasn’t the only one.

“Suuuure you did,” Gray teased, marching towards their bedroom with an air of purpose, “I’m gonna go see it.”

“Don’t you dare put your grubby hands on Frosch!” Rogue yelled, chasing after him.

“You named it Frosch?” Sting snickered, although he had to admit it sounded incredibly cute.

“Shut up!” Rogue complained, “I was little.”

“Boys!” Mika scolded, turning to Sting to explain. “Gray ended up loving Frosch just as much as Rogue. He’d sneak into Rogue’s room and take it back to his room.”

“No I didn’t!” Gray denied, “I remember stealing or hiding it just to mess with him. It was hilarious, watching him have a complete meltdown.”

Rogue stuck his tongue out at his brother, acting more childish than Sting had seen in a long time. It was both endearing and amusing as hell.

“It’s okay. I love you too, Bro,” Gray replied, walking over to Rogue and bravely ruffling his hair.

“Rogue wasn’t the only one having a meltdown,” Mika retorted, quietly enough that only Sting could hear her.

“Ugh, just wait until you start dating someone. I am telling them everything,” Rogue promised.

Gray laughed heartily, “Good luck with that. I have zero intention of dating anyone.”

“That’s a shame,” Sting sighed, “you and Natsu looked pretty cute slow-dancing together the other night.”

“That was not what that was,” Gray sputtered, “That was just me comforting a friend.”

“Oh, so you admit you’re friends now?” Rogue immediately pounced on Gray’s words.

“No, I-we are friendly-ish, uhm…friend adjacent? Whatever! He’s still a pain in my ass!” Gray attempted to clear things up, but at hearing that, Sting and Rogue glanced at each other and cracked up.

“Oh my God, get your minds out of the gutter, that’s not what I meant, and you know it!”

But it was too late. Sting and Rogue only laughed harder at Gray’s outrage.

“Who’s Natsu?” Mika interrupted, completely lost as to what was happening.

“Gray’s source of butthurt-” Rogue pulled out his phone and looked through his image gallery, showing his mother a picture of their friend.

“Oh, he’s cute! You should ask him out, sweetie,” Mika encouraged her older son, as Aki gave them all a tentative smile from his spot on his grandmother’s lap.

“Look what you started,” Gray glared at Sting accusingly, “Now I’m never gonna hear the end of it.”

“Well, you said it yourself. I’m family now, aren’t I?” Sting bounced Gray’s words back at him, patting him on the back, “That’s what family’s for!”

Sting and Mika laughed at Gray’s less than enthusiastic response and Rogue’s triumphant smirk.

It was a fantastic feeling to no longer be watching from the sidelines like he usually did, but to actually take part in this moment and give as good as he got. It wasn’t something he was used to, having grown up as an only child.

And it was with a start that Sting realized that while he’d grudgingly agreed to go on the shopping trip with Gray hoping to befriend him, somehow in the last couple of hours, they’d become brothers instead.

[wehavethoughts]

Jingle Jangle Review!

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey David E. Talbert (2020) Netflix Original Movie Fantasy, Holiday, Musical, Children’s Movie

Rating: 5/5 Waves

“I think it’s time for a new story.” – Journey

This review CONTAINS spoilers for Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Summary: Jeronicus Jangle is a genius toymaker who has everything he’s ever wanted until betrayal and tragedy strike and rip away his magic and inspiration. Jingle Jangle follows his journey with his bright, spunky granddaughter to finding his way out of darkness and towards family, love and inspiration.

No content warnings apply for Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Last year was a mess and 2021 is already on thin ice, but one of the best things to happen to me this season was my girlfriend sitting me down and convincing me to watch Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. While the trailer looked fun, especially since it was a musical Christmas story featuring a primarily black cast, I hadn’t prioritized watching it. I tend to feel that everything has already been made when it comes to Christmas movies and I don’t want or need another retelling of the same stories. If I need a bump of Christmas spirit around the holidays, I indulge in a classic and move on. Fortunately for me, she wanted to watch it and we needed a Christmas Eve movie.

I loved so much about this movie that I could write tens of thousands of words singing its praises, but I wouldn’t do that to you, so I will narrow my praises to the most important parts of this movie to me. At the top of the list is just how good this movie looks.

Jingle Jangle is one of the most visually appealing movies I’ve ever seen. From the set to the costumes to the choreography, every single shot of this movie was pleasing to the eye. The clothing was sharp and colorful in a way that I expected to get on my nerves, but it ended up stunning. Costume designer Michael Wilkinson described the fashion as “Afro Victorian”. The characters’ hairstyles are another part of the costuming that stood out. They were creative and fun while also adding dimension to the characters’ looks. And let me just take a minute to personally thank the creators of Jingle Jangle for allowing all of these black characters to have natural hair. I have never seen that in a movie and it almost made me cry. Both the clothing and the hairstyles mirrored the characters’ arcs and added depth to the narrative.

The beauty of this movie can mostly be attributed to its fabulous designers, but I also want to point out that everything looked and felt fabulously expensive. I could not find the budget of Jingle Jangle in USD, but with every set piece, CGI shot, song and outfit you could tell that someone who loved this project spent a whole lot of money on it. It is refreshing to see a story like this getting the financial backing to do it properly.

The visuals were so stunning, in fact, that even if the actual story had been terrible, I would still have been happy to just sit and watch it on mute. Fortunately, Jingle Jangle’s story was phenomenal; heartwarming and inspiring with just enough humor to keep it light without feeling overly juvenile. It also had such meaningful emotional themes that I cried at least three times (in a good way).

The emotional core of this movie is the relationship between Jeronicus and his granddaughter Journey. Jeronicus is a grumpy, disillusioned inventor who abandoned his aspirations after achieving his dreams lead to nothing but betrayal and heartache. Journey is a bright, talented child who wants to learn from her brilliant grandfather, but she realizes she has to reignite his belief in himself first. The story centers around belief in the impossible, like most Christmas stories, but instead of asking the audience to believe in something like Santa Claus, Jingle Jangle reminds the audience to believe in themselves and their own abilities. Personally, I’ve never felt more inspired than when a small child belted about how “The square root of impossible is me!” The story digs into how depression can destroy a person’s creativity and inspiration and sometimes what we need is other people believing in us so we can be reminded to believe in ourselves.

My whole deal is reviewing fantasy though, so I feel like I should mention magic. Like most things in the movie it is very pretty to look at. When Jeronicus and Journey use their magic it is glittery, dazzling and very obviously a metaphor for imagination and creativity. Personally, these characters could have probably just have been very smart, but having a visual to see them thinking in new and exciting ways was nice. Math-but-its-glowing as a magic system is not something I’ve seen much of recently, but I know just enough math words to delight in what is coming out of these character’s mouths when they talk about their inventions. This might be a difficult movie for haters of math or people who study it for a living. If hearing characters say things like, “Belief! It collapsed the wave function.” and “Take the circumference of spectacular, divided by the second derivative of sensational…” is a deal breaker for you, then maybe skip this movie.

Also, I should note that this movie is a musical. This came as a surprise to us the first time we watched it, but luckily we love musicals. The first time the music swelled and Jeronicus started singing we were swept away by the magic of the moment, delightfully surprised and in awe of the musical talent. Every single song in this movie is energetic, fun and refreshingly Black. Director David E. Talbert said that he was inspired by southern soul and gospel music as well as Afrobeat and other primarily black genres. The mix of inspiration creates joyful and fresh new songs for the holiday season.

As a whole this movie got my highest rating because the things I love about it outweigh the flaws. That being said, there are a couple pieces of the story that either didn’t make sense or it feels like they did not think all the way through. First of all, the main conflict revolves around the villain Don Juan, a toy matador who has been given sentience through Jeronicus’s miraculous inventions, not wanting to be mass produced. While the story tries to convince us that the conflict revolves around Don Juan’s narcissism, if you think about this plot point too hard you realize that our protagonist plans to mass produce and sell his creations that are clearly alive and intelligent. Obviously the movie doesn’t dig into the ethics of this, since Don Juan is more concerned about not being one-of-a-kind rather than worried that he is going to be bought and sold as a commodity, but it is a concerning angle that implies some very uncomfortable things about this universe.

Another piece that I found falls apart when you think about it too hard is the framing of the story within a story. Jingle Jangle is told a bedtime story being read by a grandmother to her grandchild (similar to the Princess Bride). The first scenes introduce us to a couple of cute kids who ask their grandmother for a Christmas story and in opening the book we get some spectacular CGI and animation to introduce us to Jeronicus’s world. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this method of storytelling, I found it to be unnecessary since the children listening to the story and the grandmother don’t add much as independent characters. Unfortunately, the story seemed to feel the need to justify these characters’ existence and so in a big reveal at the end we discover that the grandmother is Journey, Jeronicus’s granddaughter.

While seeing Journey with her grandchildren is cute, it leads to questions that I personally did not need to have at the end of this otherwise tied up narrative. For example, the children seem to have never heard of Jeronicus Jangle, Don Juan or Buddy 3000 (another important toy character), yet we are meant to believe that Jeronicus’s story happened in the universe that the children live in? Why wouldn’t they know stories about their rich and famous great-great-grandfather? Why had they never heard of Jeronicus Jangle when it is implied that the toys they have grown up with would have been his or his family’s inventions? By making the children related to the people in the story, the writers distracted me from Jeronicus and Journey whose story is much more interesting and heartwarming. Jingle Jangle is a movie that asks me to think and reflect, so I don’t feel bad poking holes in the story, but I don’t love that they left me hanging with all these questions.  

Additionally, there are also some things that I wish the writers hadn’t included in the movie at all. For example, they fridged Jeronicus’s wife almost immediately which was completely unnecessary and I hated to see that in a movie that got so many other things right. Also, having the only obviously Hispanic character (Don Juan Diego) be the villain in such a cartoon-y way left a bad taste in my mouth.

But Jingle Jangle still got my highest rating because as the sum of its parts, it was a fantastic story and I am so glad I got the chance to watch it. My very favorite part of this movie that has stuck with me even weeks after my first viewing is the relationship between Jeronicus and his family. There are sections of this movie where Jeronicus falls into the stereotypical absentee black father trope, but this story allows his character space to talk about what he did wrong, how he is hurting and Jeronicus learns to do better which is so important. I love the current trend in movies where parents apologize to their children because that can be such a healing experience and Jingle Jangle gives us that, but additionally, it makes the parent work for it and prove to their child that they are healing themselves. It offers hope to children struggling through painful situations like this and give parents an example of how they might be able to fix what they broke.

Overall, Jingle Jangle left me with a feeling of joy and contentment while inspiring me to remember what I used to love and rethink my self-imposed limits. The core message of this movie is a reminder that sometimes our lack of belief in our own skills is enough to stop us from achieving our dreams. Jingle Jangle reminds us to believe in our own capacity and lift each other up even when times are difficult. I don’t know if this movie will become a classic in the general consciousness, but it will certainly become a tradition in my family.

~TideMod

[loveisblindfanfictionbka]

Love Is Blind: Chapter Seven

About 30 minutes later, they were walking out to Chris’s car. Robyn smiled at the black Range Rover, “this isn’t the same car from before, is it?”

“It is. I had it shipped here.”

“Really? Why? I’m sure you could’ve gotten another car.”

“Yea but I have an attachment to this one and I still don’t trust anyone driving it.”

“You were so territorial over this car.”

“You bought it for me.”

“I did.”

“That’s enough of a reason for me.”

Robyn chuckled as he followed her to the passenger side and helped her into the car. Chris ran around the front and climbed into the driver’s seat, “music or no?”

“Not necessary.”

“Ok.”

It took a few minutes before they arrived at the park and Chris found parking. They started their walking at the East side entrance of the park.

“You know I’ve lived here for a few years and never came here,” Robyn remarked as she looked around.

“I’ve been here maybe once or twice. It’s better at night. Not too many people around,” Chris replied.

“I could see the appeal. So since we now know who it was behind the phone, what exactly have you been up to? How’s the family?”

“My family is good. Aunt Christine moved back to Virginia. As you know Jess lives upstate but she had another baby two years ago.”

“Boy or Girl?”

“Boy named Emmanuel.”

“Nice. I’m sure he’s a cutie pie.”

“He is. Very funny kid.”

“So what else?”

“Just work, therapy and Anesa, of course.”

“Anesa. I don’t know, I never imagined you going through with adoption when you are still able to have a child.”

“I couldn’t have a child with who I wanted to have a child with so I figured adoption was better.”

“Are you saying that you only wanted children with me?”

“Yup. I never deviated from our original plan, you know. It’s just when we were married, I wasn’t in the right mind to be a father. There was so much I had to heal and clean up first. Last thing we needed was a baby in the middle of the chaos.”

“I can respect that.”

“Besides a parent should never give a child a job before they’re even born.”

“I can agree with that as well.”

“So what’s been going on with you?”

“Nothing much. Family is the same. Lele had a son a few years ago, Maxwell. Mel is still with Juan. My brothers are still running through girls but at least they have their own places and jobs now.”

“That’s always a good thing.”

“Not the happy ending you expected, huh?”

“Almost. I was expecting you had moved on, gotten married or something like that.”

“You ruined me for other people, Christopher and not just in the bad way either.”

Chris chuckled as Robyn playfully nudged his shoulder. He moved to put his arm around her but stopped a few centimeters from her shoulder, “is this ok?”

Robyn nodded and leaned into his body as he put his arm around her, “did I actually greet you when I got to the restaurant?”

“You addressed me but it’s not like we hugged or anything. I wasn’t expecting that much.”

“Oh ok.”

“So how have you been? What are you feeling right now?”

“I feel a little bit unsure but I’m ok to be honest. You?”

“I feel good. A little foolish but good.”

“Foolish? Why?”

“This is something I should’ve done years ago.”

“Maybe but sometimes things happen when they’re supposed to. Think about it, we’ve both been in NY for over five years and never once ran into each other. That’s crazy.”

“That is crazy.”

“But...I think Lele might’ve seen you a couple weeks ago.”

“Really?”

“Yea, she came and told me that she saw someone who looked like you downtown but wasn’t sure since it was just a profile.”

“Was she wearing a turquoise shirt with a navy skirt suit, black, white and turquoise shoes?”

“How in the-”

“Yea, that was me. I figured it was her because Lele is hard to miss but I didn’t want her to know I had seen her.”

“She is going to flip when I tell her.”

Chris laughed, “please don’t. I do not need her calling to curse me out for not saying hi or something.”

“If she curses you out, it won’t be for that.”

“Really?”

“I told you everyone thinks we should’ve never gotten divorced. She is the leader of that group.”

“Lele? Really? I could’ve sworn she hated me.”

“What? No. She just likes picking at you, that’s all.”

“Oh ok.”

“Is that another reason why you didn’t stay in touch? You thought everybody hated you?”

“That and I didn’t have the decency to stay in your life, why come back and insert myself in it again?”

“Chris, you do know that I never hated you. I was upset and frustrated but I’ve never hated you.”

“I had hoped but you never know. Women aren’t known for forgiving men who break their hearts the way I did.”

“Women aren’t me, Christopher.”

“You are definitely right about that.”

They fell silent and continued walking for another 10 or 20 minutes. Chris stopped at a bench and they sat down. Robyn leaned into his shoulder and he grabbed her hand, “what you thinking about? You feel tense.”

“Just thinking about what’s next.”

“Well Christopher, that depends on what you want.”

“I think it depends on what you want actually.”

“I would like for us to continue talking. It’s clear we’ve both changed a lot over the years. There’s no harm in being friends, is there?”

“No. I’d be honored to be friends with you.”

“And if something changes, we’ll talk about it right.”

“Right. I promise.”

“Don’t promise, just do.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Robyn chuckled as she squeezed his hand, “I’m not old enough to be a Ma’am, Chris.”

“I know. Just seemed more appropriate than just saying yes. Am I allowed to kiss your cheek?”

“Absolutely,” Robyn replied as she angled her face toward him. Chris kissed the very top of her cheekbones then the corner of her eye before kissing her temple.

“You never could just give me one kiss, huh?”

“Some things must happen in threes.”

She smiled up at him before leaning back into his shoulder, “how long we got together?”

“As long as you want. I’m not gonna head upstate until tomorrow afternoon. Why? You got something you want to do?”

“No, I was just wondering.”

“Speaking of wondering, would you like to formally meet Anesa?”

“Sure if it’s not gonna give anyone the wrong idea.”

“What? No. She knows I was married before and I’d love for you to meet her since we’re building a friendship and everything.”

“Ok. I’d love to.”

“Good. So are we still gonna play this secret or?”

“Lele already knows and if she told Mel then eventually my entire family is gonna know so it probably won’t stay secret for long.”

“Then you could come with me to Jessica’s house. I’ll bring you back in the evening.”

“Is she gonna be ok with me being there?”

“Absolutely. When I tell you my sister still adores you, she does. She actually got mad at me for not knowing what my internet friend looked like because she didn’t want her to be uglier compared to you.”

Robyn laughed, “You’re kidding.”

“I am so serious.”

“Wow.”

“But this means we’ll have to leave in the morning for us to have enough time to actually do something while we’re up there.”

“That’s fine. I’m  banned from work for two weeks, remember.”

“That is very true. Did you decide on what to do?”

“I’m going for a meditation retreat but it’s only for a week so I’m free this week until Friday.”

“Cool. How about we get that horse riding lesson we never made it to?”

“You remember that?”

“Definitely,” Chris said with a laugh, “I mean we missed it for a good reason but we still never learned.”

“True. And maybe you can show me all the new instruments you learned to play.”

“I can show you that tonight if you want.”

“How?”

“I have an entire music classroom to myself and I have a condo with my instruments nearby. I’m sure we can find a sax and piano for me to play.”

“Are you comfortable about having me in your place?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Robyn shrugged.

“It’s not a huge deal. I can make us some hot chocolate, I always keep some sweet cake in stock. I can play music and we can chill. Is that ok?”

“Yea. That’s perfect.”

“Sorry about the mess,” Chris said as he unlocked the front door, “time gets away from me during the week so I usually clean up on weekends. Your coat?”

Robyn turned so Chris could slip her jacket off her shoulders, “I don’t even see a mess. You’re being silly.”

Chris shrugged as he took off his sweater and placed both their items into the front closet, “you can have a seat in the living room or come into the kitchen with me, your choice.”

“Is it ok if I just walk around?”

“Sure. Self-guide yourself away.”

Robyn giggled as she slipped her shoes off her feet and sat them by the door, “I’ma little more comfortable barefoot.”

“You always were. I’ll get everything started in the kitchen.”

Chris left into the kitchen while Robyn went in the opposite direction towards the living room. She ran her hand along the black leather couch before making her way towards the hallway. The first room she came upon was the bathroom, she glanced in briefly before continuing past it. The next room appeared to be a storage room. Leaning against one wall was a guitar case, a saxophone case and a set of speakers. On the opposite wall was a luxury portable piano, the wires from the back were connected to the speakers and a cushioned bench was placed in front of it.

She left the room and continued down the hall to another room, the door was slightly ajar. She smiled at the pink accent wall and the stuffed toy covered bed. Anesa’s room. It looked like she had everything a 3 year old could ever ask of. Carefully fixing the door back as it was, she moved to the last door in the hall. Chris’s bedroom. Her hand stalled on the door knob, the door wasn’t completely closed but for some reason she felt like she was trespassing all of a sudden.

“You can go in.”

Robyn jumped at the sound of a voice behind her. She pressed her hand to her chest as she turned around to face Chris, “you scared me.”

Chris chuckled, “Sorry. You didn’t have to hesitate, you can go into my bedroom.

“I wasn’t-” Chris arched his brow and Robyn giggled, “Ok, I was just gathering my nerves.”

“Why? It’s just a bedroom.”

“It’s a sacred space.”

Chris grabbed her hand and pushed open the door for them to walk inside. His bed sat up on a metal platform. The large piece of furniture made Robyn speechless, “Wow.”

“Not what you expected.”

“No, that bed is just huge.”

Chris laughed, “it’s custom. I have a matching one in my house upstate.”

“It’s beautiful. Why so big?”

“Well I’m tall and I like a lot of space.”

“True. This is a beautiful condo. Are you renting or you own?”

“I own. I bought this place when I first moved here, I got the house when I decided to foster and adopt so there was an option of a backyard and some quiet away from the city.”

“Nice. Your music room?”

“It’s soundproof so I can play to my heart’s content no matter the hour.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“I got lucky because a musician used to live here and it was already done. I paid a little extra but it was less than if I soundproofed it from scratch.”

“That’s a good deal.”

“Did you ever decide if you were buying?”

“I think I’m gonna buy my apartment actually. It’s the perfect location and I think I’m way too attached to it.”

“That’s understandable. So you still looking around or-”

“No, we can go back out. I think I’ve invaded your privacy enough.”

“It’s not an invasion if I invited you. Come on.”

Still holding her hand, Chris led her to the living room, where his piano was now set up, “you can have a seat anywhere.”

“When did you move this? I couldn’t have been that distracted.”

Chris chuckled, “it barely took two minutes.”

He moved the coffee table closer to her. It was laden with bite size sweets and candies and a thermos of hot chocolate.

“You thirsty? I can get you juice or water if you don’t want hot chocolate.”

“No, the hot chocolate is perfect. I’m surprised you don’t think I’m weird that I agreed to it. It is Springtime.”

“Doesn’t have to be cold to enjoy hot chocolate. There’s marshmallows, confectioners and granulated sugar and some chopped up chocolate pieces to mix into it, if you want.”

“You remembered?”

“I did. Truth be told, it’s the only way I can drink it now. I got so used to you drinking it that way.”

“Crazy how much of our dating got overshadowed by our marriage.”

“That tends to happen.”

Chris sat down at the bench behind the piano as Robyn poured herself a cup of hot chocolate and dropped a handful of marshmallows into it, “any requests?”

“Something original.”

“Off the top?”

“Or something you’ve already composed is good.”

Chris thought for a few moments then pressed his fingers onto the keys. Robyn smiled and leaned back against the couch pillows as he started to play.

She wasn’t sure how many songs they went through but she had never felt so light in a long time.

“You wanna learn a few keys?” Chris said softly, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“I don’t know if I’ll be any good at this,” Robyn replied as she set her cup on the table.

“It’s not difficult. Come here.”

Robyn sat down on the bench next to him and Chris placed her fingertips on the keys in the resting position, “now this is the resting position. You start with your right thumb on the C note key and then let your other fingers fall into place behind it. If we were using both hands, you’d mirror this on the left side.”

“When’d you learn piano?”

“I always knew the basics of it. Once I decided to go into teaching music, I decided to brush up on my skills.”

“I never knew that.”

“When I originally learned, it was at an afterschool program. I only played to get out of doing homework.:

Robyn laughed, “Sounds like something you would do. So what about the sax and guitar?”

“It was a part of my music therapy when I was in the hospital.”

“Did they put you on meds?”

“Some antidepressants at first but as I got better with handling myself, they reduced it until I didn’t need them anymore.”

“Do you still see a therapist?”

“At least twice a month, more if I feel like I need it. I’m in more of a maintenance mode than prevention mode.”

“That’s beautiful. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Can I ask you something since it’s still fairly early?”

“Sure?”

“Did you not think you could’ve done this with me around?”

“Could I have done it? If I really tried, absolutely. Was I in the right space to do it? No. I really hate that my leaving makes you feel like it was you because honestly it wasn’t. You did nothing wrong. It was my ego and fear that led me into the space I was in, I didn’t want to drag you down with me.”

Robyn nodded her head in understanding.

The silence settled in around them as Robyn slid her hands into her lap. Chris looked over at her and smiled, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Are you uncomfortable being here with me?”

“No. This has been really fun. I don’t even know what time it is.”

“It is getting late. I can take you home if you’re ready.”

“Are you ready for me to leave?”

“No but then again I’m also worried that I may never see you again.”

“Why?”

“You know who I am now. The mystery is gone. That kind of changes things as you inferred earlier.”

“That’s true but that doesn’t mean I would ghost you necessarily.”

“One can hope.”

“When I said I wasn’t angry anymore, I did mean it, Christopher.”

“I know. I am not doubting that in any way.”

“So what makes you worried?”

“It’s just me being realistic. We know who we are. The novelty may wear off. We are each other’s past that we so extensively discussed.”

“Yea. Doesn’t make it a bad thing though.”

Chris turned and moved to cup her face on the opposite side of him, “is this ok?”

“Yes.”

“May I kiss your cheek?”

Robyn smiled, “yes, you may.”

Chris kissed the top of her cheekbone, the corner of her eye then her temple before resting his face against hers. He felt her breath softly stroke his skin, “you remember why I always do that?”

“The cheekbone for the smiles. The eyes for inner sight. The temple for inner thoughts.”

“You remember.”

“It’s an odd kissing ritual so it’s kind of hard to forget. Very sweet but odd.”

Chris chuckled as he rested his arm around her shoulders, “I think we should get you home. It’s late and we’ll need to get up at a decent hour to see Jess and Anesa.”

“What time is it?”

“10:30.”

“I’ve been hanging out with you for 4 and a half hours. Wow.”

“That is a while. You tired of me yet?”

“No,” Robyn said with a nudge of his shoulder, “but you don’t have to take me home. I can call a cab.”

‘Nope, I brought you here, I will take you home unless you wanna stay. The couch pulls out into a bed.”

“You gonna let a total stranger sleep in your house?”

“When you can identify this total stranger then we’ll have that conversation.”

Robyn laughed, “In less than 24 hours, we’ve mended some fence and are already having our first sleepover.”

“Sometimes things just fall in place, huh?”

“I guess so. But if I’m gonna stay, I need something to sleep in.”

“Follow me.”

Chris led her to his bedroom closet and he pulled out a wrapped pair of pajamas, “Jess stays over sometimes so I have to be prepared. Her in Mommy mode is not pretty.”

Robyn laughed, “Thank you. I’ll use the other bathroom to change.”

“There’s towels and washcloths in there on the shelf above the toilet. The cabinet has lotion and oils, if you need it. I’m gonna clean up the living room so you have room to sleep.”

“Thanks. See you in a bit.”

Chris had just stepped out of his bedroom when Robyn came out of the bathroom and saw each other in the hall. Chris ran his hands over his hair, “I was getting ready to come check on you. Everything alright?”

“Yea, just taking a moment for myself.”

“Have you changed your mind? I don’t mind taking-” Chris stopped as Robyn shook her head.

“Chris, anyone ever tell you that you worry too much?”

“Once or twice.”

“Relax. I haven’t changed my mind. Just a personal ritual, I do. Nothing serious.”

They walked to the living room where Chris had pulled out the couch bed and placed new linens and pillows on it, “I wasn’t sure if you liked a lot of pillows anymore but I took a chance.”

“Thanks. That hasn’t changed.”

Chris smiled, “The remotes for the radio and TV are on the side table, I have Netflix and all the channels if you aren’t ready to sleep yet. Everything in the kitchen is accessible but if you need something specific just let me know.”

“Chris, I am fine. Getting sleepy but fine.”

“Is there anything you need before I go to my room?”

“Yea.”

“What’s that?”

“Can you cuddle with me?”

“I would love to.”