#I hope this ending wasn't underwhelming or anything.

[somewhereincairparavel]

🐚 Daughter of Neptune headcanons list... 🌊 part three

Note: ahhh finally done with this unexpected series. Also, this is twice as long as the previous two parts, I got soo carried away haha, well you can't blame me, writing is so fun! This is the last part of this headcanon series, I had so much fun writing this?? Even though I had like a mini writer's block at first, I swear I started typing this part out having no idea what I was doing, but it all turned out better than I expected. This part is not just Jason x reader but it also includes so much platonic stuff with the others of the seven + Reyna + Nico. It's just so fluffy omgg. Happy reading! Thank you sm for all the notes you guys have given me for the previous two parts! Tell me if you guys enjoyed it, do you think I should consider writing more of these headcanon stuff in the future?

Part one: https://www.tumblr.com/somewhereinhogsmeade/746404816602972160/daughter-of-neptune-headcanons?source=share

Part two: https://www.tumblr.com/somewhereinhogsmeade/746489087922520064/daughter-of-neptune-headcanons-list-part-two?source=share

•After Jason woke up on the bus, he'd actually remember your eyes and voice VERY clearly. Because those were his two favorite things about you. But Hera had whacked him on the head pretty badly, so he couldn't remember ALL the details about you in the beginning, like Percy did. (I honestly wanted to make him remember you fully even after Hera wiped his memory off, but that would be too similar to Percy and Annabeth lol so I didn't want it to be cliche sorry)

•Now you guys may be wondering, what about Piper and Jason? Okay Piper would admit her feelings for him, but Jason would turn her down, albeit politely though, because it felt utterly wrong. He knew about this special person in his forgotten life, even though her figure was wispy and blurry. He never had any attraction towards Piper, she was a good friend, sure, and it didn't matter how pretty people thought Piper was, because those black Obsidian eyes of the mystery girl he was so familiar with, was alone prettier by every means. (We all love a loyal whipped Jason who thinks that a pair of eyes are more beautiful than a daughter of Aphrodite)

•He knew you were special. He knew that he didn't belong there, in the wilderness school. He knew that he was miles away from home. His real home. But the name of that home never came to him. •the moment he looked at his SPQR tattoo, though, it would bring him vigorous flashes of you and him sparring in a training room.

•Aeolus the wind god, would remind Jason of the time you and him stayed at his palace to slay Trojan the sea monster. Well, of course you went, how can you go to slay a sea monster without taking a sea child with you? Right? That was the last quest you and Jason went on before he disappeared.

Aeolus would trigger that one memory in Jason. Thank the gods for Aeolus. That one memory trigger is what made everything gush back to Jason like a tide.

•He’d remember your name, finally. His Best friend. His crush. His maybe girlfriend. He'd remember his friends from his home. Camp Jupiter. Gosh. He felt such a burst of energy simply by saying that name. Now, he felt homesick.

So you could imagine the excitement he felt, when Leo was building the argo ii. He'd practically gush about you to Leo, and even Piper would be super cool with it. Over the course of the months, Piper realized that Jason and her were not romantically compatible at all, it was all Hera’s mist. She didn't even know what she was thinking, crushing on someone who was so different from her on every level. So now Piper and Jason were like homie coded.

You were super worried after Percy told you that the new, Greek ship, the argo ii would land today. Which was pretty weird, since it meant that Jason was coming back to you. Why were you worried?

•Well, for lots of reasons, what if Jason didn't remember you anymore, what if he lost his feelings for you, what if he found someone else? The stress was real.

•Without even realizing it, you poured your thoughts out to Percy, whom you initially refused to tell about your’s and Jason's.. er.. situationship.

•Percy, would surprisingly be chill about it?? Like you were expecting some panicking now that he knew his sister was romantically involved with someone.

•Percy would calmly tell you that Jason wouldn't stop loving you, proudly pointing to himself as an example, that he never stopped loving annabeth even after the Hera Fiasco. Well. He had a point. That boy was still whipped for his girl.

•So when you locked eyes with Jason, and saw the familiar gleam in his eyes, you knew, he didn't forget. You forgot how piercing his blue eyed gaze was,because it made you feel stuff erupting from your stomach lol (blud is the definition of 🧿👄🧿)

•Without even caring about what your fellow Romans thought, Jason and you would just lunge onto each other tbh. Its canon that Jason is the best hugger ever, so it would be a rib crushing kinda hug.

•You would be SO relieved that he'd remember you and he'd be so relieved that you didn't move on.

•You guys wouldn't kiss, not yet. You still haven't exactly acknowledged your relationship status, BUTTT you do the cheesy af forehead touch thing (you could have sworn percy fake-gagged LOL)That's when Jason noticed your praetor badge, he’d be stunned, and would ask you for details, you’d simply point to the golden eagle perched at the end of the senate house and tell him that you and percy got elected after you both returned the eagle together.

He’d fall in love all over again omgg the heart eyes he’d give youuu. He knew that you were downplaying your achievements tho, so he’d secretly ask Reyna for the full details lol. (Reyna was a proud mom, so she’d give Jason ALLL the deets)

•okay so when Annabeth judo flips percy, you'd be SO taken aback lol, you’d even get a lil uncomfortable bc well that's YOUR brother getting attacked by a random girl- so initially you’d be ready af to throw hands.But after Percy starts laughing you’d realize that THAT'S annabeth. Like Percy's Annabeth. Dam, your brother was with a fierce girl.ANYWAYS, Percy would introduce Annabeth to you proudly, like “THIS is MY sister” (so dramatic and for what reason)

Annabeth would initially be very nervous around you, because, one, she didn't know that Poseidon had ANOTHER kid, gods know what havoc you and percy would cause together, two, you meant a lot to percy and she could clearly see that, an idiot could deny how much love your brother had for you, so she was determined to not mess up her reputation around you, ESPECIALLY after she the look on your face when she flipped Percy (you had a hot temper, need i mention, so without even realizing it, you had directed a very fierce glare at her, oopsie).

Octavian would again, not give up in trying remove your’s and percy’s praetorship by going “Oh there cant be four praetors its against the rules” blah blah that's where percy intervenes with his legendary “we all outrank you loser” lol

So after the group’s lunch scene where they discuss the prophecies and stuff. You, Reyna and Jason would actually talk amongst yourselves, after you guys came to the conclusion that you will have to join the gang in the argo ii. Jason would secretly be overjoyed that he doesn't need to separate from you anymore but you guys would still be sad that Reyna wouldn't be able to come.

This also meant that you would have to give your praetorship up. Gosh your positions in camp Jupiter somehow never stuck permanently, you'd even joke about that. And Reyna would have to handle Camp Jupiter by herself now that all three of you left, But Reyna assured you that it wasn't your fault.

Okay enough with the plot yapping I did. Bc if I continue it would go on for ages. The main reason you're here is because of reader x jason and I'm kinda deviating from that a little.

It would actually take so long till you and Jason get alone time on the argo ii because of group discussions and coach Hedge lol But you both would meet at the deck at like 2 AM (this kinda reminded you both of the times you and he would sneak out to explore New Rome at night.) That's where you both could feel the tension in the air lol. So many unresolved and unrequited feelings on both ends, how would you approach that?

But thankfully, being best friends first gave you guys an upper hand to moving forward in the relationship very quickly. You'd just start off talking about each other's respective journeys in your respective camps. He'd tell you about the quest with Leo and Piper, and you'd tell him about what went on in Camp Jupiter while he was gone.

That's when you realize that Jason looked a little different than when he left. His hair was Messier, a little longer, no more neatly cropped, his azure eyes sparkled when he spoke of Camp half blood, and the war games they had, how different it was from Camp Jupiter, etc.

But instead of feeling upset about how much Jason enjoyed the other camp, you'd feel relief. Relieved that Jason no longer looked stressed anymore, he'd always held this fatigue in his eyes, while he was at camp Jupiter , it was no wonder, considering the politics he'd had to engage in to prove the worth of the twelfth legion, his leader duties + vigorous training had tired him out, but now, some of the fatigue his eyes held had vanished.

Camp half blood seemed to be the place for him. Now you were itching to go to this mystery camp your maybe boyfriend AND your brother seemed to love so much.

Jason would be super nervous to tell you that he liked it better at camp half blood, and that he secretly wanted you to come and stay with him there though. Because he felt like he was betraying his Roman life. He felt like he was betraying your past.

So when he'd tell you, he'd just yap and yap about it out of nervousness. That's when it happened. That's when you kissed him. You would just pull him in. Period.

He'd be super flustered at first, neck reddening and all, but he'd just lean in and be so into it (he's a neck grabber, fight me) You'd think that as a military dude, the guy would be a bad kisser. Hell no. His dad's the chief of getting all the bitches, he ain't letting his son embarrass him by having no charm lol

OH OH and speaking of the old man, The moment your's and Jason's lips met, you would hear a clasp of thunder and see huge steaks of lightning explode in the sky.

You had to admit, the thought of your dad's watching as you both kissed made you feel weird lol

But if Zeus had hated you so much, he would've zapped you to electrons by now, and if Poseidon had hated jason so much, he would've drowned him. But thankfully, neither happened.

After lots of long deep conversations (and kissing)You both would reach the decision that after the whole gaia situation is over, you'd both stay at Camp half blood, but, you'd both return to settle in New Rome as you grew up. I mean, it's Camp Jupiter that you both dislike staying in, not the city itself. The city is paradise for demigods.

But the fates ruined it, so despite gaia’s defeat (No leo is alive and well here okay) after Jason took up the responsibility of building shrines for minor gods, he had to go back and forth between both the camps.

But you, Reyna, Hazel and Frank would help Jason with the minor gods in Rome, While Jason took care of the Greeks. This made his job a tad easier.So the downside was that you kinda had to do long distance for a while AND you hadn't even visited camp half blood yet (Which got on Percy's nerves, the poor boy wanted to show you around his Camp and cabin SO badly, but the fates never left you or Jason alone. The Romans always had duties in front of them.)

But because you, Reyna, Frank, Hazel, Annabeth, and even Leo helped Jason with the shrine stuff. The job got done a lot quicker.

You both were finally at peace.So as a celebration to finishing the shrine project, Percy and Jason DRAGGED you to camp half blood and had the whole day spent with all of the 7 (including Reyna and Nico).

When I tell you, you've never had THIS much fun ALL your life omg.

You never got to bond with Leo, Piper or Annabeth properly because of the war, and stuff. But today? It was like you guys have been friends since forever.

You played capture the flag, You and Percy used up your water shenanigans to put on the most dramatic fountain show EVER (Annabeth was right in her judgment, you both were completely chaotic together) she realized how fun you actually were, not even half as grumpy as you looked. After you and Percy caused a huge avalanche that almost turned into a hail storm (which was prevented by wind boy Jason) Leo told you guys to stop flexing your fancy shmancy weather powers.

Piper taught you guys how to surf, which only ended in You and Percy somehow splattering water on each other and you aggressively tackling him into the bottom of the ocean, WHICH ended in a chaotic “who can swim faster?’’ competition between you both, You both were SO dedicated that you created a huge bubble to bring everyone into the bottom of the ocean to spectate (Frank turned into a sea urchin though lol)

You and Percy ended up in an argument over who won. Mind you, if you read part one, you'd know that Percy and you have this ability to telepathically converse with each other underwater, but only you both understand, so it would end up looking like you're making strangled fish noises to the others. Nico, Piper, and Leo were absolutely hysterical. Jason was amused but so clueless. Hazel was mortified, while Annabeth and Reyna hoped you and Percy didn't kill each other. And Frank? He was still an urchin.

Also, since You, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Frank would all go to New Rome College together, you guys would have SO many double dates together omgg.

I forgot to mention, you met Tyson and Percy's new little sister Estelle, so now your sibling group has expanded even more.

did i mention that percy and you would have matching dolphin plushies? yeah. he'd have the blue and you'd have the grey

Tyson would love you sm omg :( he'd keep making you stuff every time you showed up in camp half blood.

Also, Sometimes when Percy and Annabeth would be busy, You and jason would so babysit Estelle (which Sally would adore) Jason would so take Estelle flying.

can I just take this moment to emphasize how much Sally would care about Jason?? Like after hearing jason’s erm tragic past, Sally would get so protective of him and give him sm food and everything :( Jason would get a little emotional too. Like you can just see his eyes tearing up whenever Sally hugs him :(((

Even though Reyna joined the hunters, You and Jason would make it a point to see her at least Every two weeks. She'd be so proud of how far you and Jason had come, even after the long break that temporarily had your relationship on hold. Now Reyna could sleep peacefully lol since the poor girl had seen you both hopelessly pining for eachother since you were like 9 lol

She had listened to you telling her that you weren't good enough for Jason to like you back, AND him telling her that he wasn't good enough for you, after all.

Okay after you guys got older, because of the amount of services you and Jason had done for Camp Jupiter, you guys would end up receiving such a cool house in New Rome as a gift (it's like the least you deserved for all that you've been through lol) It would have a fancy Roman bath and everything. and even better, it was not far from where percy and Annabeth were living. So it was a win win.

You and Jason would totally iris message Nico at least once a week, you both were basically proud parents when you see Nico all lovey dovey in a relationship with Will. (Is this how Reyna felt seeing you and Jason? Maybe, yes)

Also, you and Thalia met not long after she came to Rome to check out the minor god's shrines. She loved you, like almost immediately, Jason iris messaged her atleast twice a week, so he told her all about you. So Thalia would be SO happy that someone was treating her lil bro right. He deserved that.

Speaking of family, Zeus had just grudgingly accepted that you were his son's girlfriend lol Poseidon would actually be a little chill about it. He wasn't as judgemental as his brother. But just because you and Jason were dating didn't mean that your dad's didn't stop having a go at each other lol

But you both would make it a point to start aggressively kissing eachother whenever you spot statues of your dad's placed next to eachother. Simply to piss them off. And it works. Every. Single. Time.

You would hear a clasp of thunder each time you do this. You and Jason would just look at eachother and burst into giggles. It was a tradition now between you both.

Sometimes Jason would still look at you like you were made of stardust, and vice versa.

In the end, you and Jason were what people called “Childhood Sweethearts”

[islandheartprincess]

bully!rafe ༚⁠ᵕ˖⁠♡ pt. 3

part 1 ✧ part 2 ✧ part 3

‧₊˚ ⋅ summary: he wasn't your boyfriend, why did he get so pissed seeing you talk to another guy. you put him in his place, but not long before he reminds you why you can't forget him

⋆. 𐙚 ˚ pairing: bully!rafe x sassy reader

୨ৎ .ᐟ a/n: ik this was long awaited, drk know how I feel ab this 1, feedback highly appreciated!

‧₊˚ ⋅ c!w: swearing, p in v, fingering, unprotected sex, reader is that bitch, switch sub & dom, reader makes fun of rafe, name calling

in an attempt to get your mind off things, especially about your last encounter with rafe, you found yourself out and about with your friends.

you guys spent a whole day having fun, ending your day at some nice little food spot that most kildare teenagers you knew hung out at. it was until your day took a turn when you were reminded of your actions from last week.

it's not like you exactly regretted what happened, quite the opposite. being stuck in a state of disbelief, you were still struggling to process what even happened.

yet everytime you saw rafe, it was like it never happened. you still saw him acting as the same playboy flirt as always, the same dickhead.

for rafe, he knew that one encounter wouldn't satisfy his need for you. being the man he is, he tried to shut you out. when fucking some girl he couldn't remember the name of, it was your face he was picturing. and, your name he moaned on accident.

he also knew you seeing him with random girls wouldn't sit well with you. convincing himself, how the poor girl you are, you would just sit there and wait until he came back to you. you weren't pathetic like he was, he should've known better.

so when you saw his face, it almost felt as though the people around you disappeared. your heart skipped a beat, but you quickly regained control of yourself, and came back to reality. turning back to your friends, laughing and returning to the conversation.

no, he wasn't disappointed in your underwhelming reaction, was he? hm, trying to play cool, that must've been your plan. not for long though, he was determined on getting back your attention.

rafe was seated down with his friends, hoping nobody would notice his odd behavior. his eyes were on you, pretentiously watching and waiting until your gaze landed on him. you couldn't have appeared more unaware and unbothered, it was like he wasn't even there!

"hellloooo? you there bro?" he was snapped out of his trance by toppers hand waving in front of his eyes. he honestly forgot there were other people around him, "huh? yeah- uh, what?" his friends around him snickered, "dude, did you even hear anything we were talking about?" topper continued.

"nah man, he was too busy staring at those chicks over there." kelce teased, tilting his head in your direction. your friends noticed their stares, nudging eachother with giggles.

"really guys? ignore them! there total losers...." you shunned the girls around you, with a pout on your lips. one of the girls continued her giggling, "kelce is like, so cute tho! i really hope they come over here!!"

that would be your last wish. there is no way you'd want rafe Cameron and his stuck-up friends to come over here. rafe, ugh, he would just look at you, thinking of some snarky comment to say. with his annoying, stupid, gorgeous, soft, lips. huh?

their swooning quickly settled over. "im gonna go order a snack or something" you mumbled to your friends. you stood up, and made your way over to order. you took notice to the familiar cute taller boy standing next to you, waiting on an order. perhaps you'd seen him in one of your classes before

for some reason, you felt a little confident today. wanting to spark up a conversation, you turned your head over to him. "hey, i think I've seen you before?" he looked to you, before his lips quickly raised into a smile. "yeah, you go to [school name] too! i think we have some classes together!" his face lit up, as you two conversed getting to know each other a little.

he flirted a little, you flirted back, and before he picked up his order, he gave you his number. unbeknownst to you, rafe was watching you the whole time. he felt his fists tighten into a ball, feeling furious as he watched the boy smile at you.

who the fuck was he to be talking to you like that? and who the fuck were you to be whoring yourself out to him. it was just a conversation, right, but he thought he made it clear, you were his.

rafe quickly stood up when he saw you headed toward the bathroom, "gotta piss guys," he said quickly departing from his table.

he jogged a little to catch up to you, grabbing your arm and pushing you into the bathroom.

you gasped, ready to scream at the sudden ambush, but rafe quickly slapped his hand onto your mouth. when you saw it was him, you were a little relieved. then you remembered it was rafe cameron, and returned to your state of panic.

"did you forget what I told you? hm? last time in the hallway?" his voice was highlighted with fury, your mind quickly pinning what he was talking about. the memory replaying "you're only my slut, kay?" his voice echoing in your head. you shoved his hand off you, catching your breath.

"what the fuck, rafe? are you insane?" panting, thinking that he truly must've lost it. "holy, we literally just talked, that's it." you shouldn't have been defending yourself, he had no right to an answer. he looked at you with confusion, placing his hands behind his head.

"y-you just talked? really, so, you didnt get his number or anything." you couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth "if i did is that your business? are you stalking me or something?" you shoved him backwards, making him stumble and continued your rant.

"also, i don't remember you being my boyfriend or anything. you've also been having fun with your fair share of chicks isn't that right?" he went silent, anger fueling up.

"nothing to say now? c'mon you had a lot to say to me before, fucking dragging me into a bathroom." rafe opened his mouth, trying to find the right words but just ending up stuttering in his fake confidence

"right, how could I forget, you're just a pussy. always will be." laughing in his face, watching the way his lip quivered very seemingly furious. "don't fucking call me a pussy. 'm not a pussy." his fists balled at his side.

"mmm, no i think you are baby. too pussy to talk to me normally, too pussy to ask me out, too pussy to fuck me?" the way you spoke made him almost forget he was supposed to be in control.

rafe finally grabbed you, eager to shut you up. you yelped and knew you were gonna get what you wanted. he slammed you over onto the sink of the bathroom, roughly grabbing your ass. "god, y'just don't know when to stop talking." he groaned into your ear while unbuckling his pants.

you bit your lip, hiding a giggle. he pulled down your pants, and harshly slapped your ass. "fuck, that hurts!" you squeaked, but he barely heard you. "it hurts? im gonna make you hurt a lot worse sweetheart."

it was almost unbelievable how aroused you were hearing him talk to you like that, and when rafe pulled your panties aside, he was also in disbelief. "damn, you're wet." letting out a moan in response as he put two fingers inside you.

"fuuuck you're even tighter than the first time, can't wait to break you in" humping back into his hand, your patience faltering.

he quickly pulled his fingers out, shoving his boxers down and spitting onto his dick. you looked up into the mirror, watching him jerk himself off before meeting his tip to your entrance.

you felt a slight burn when he first shoved his tip in, the penetration feeling odd and uncomfortable. "ngh, oh my-" gasping, when he slowly shoved his length more and more into you.

rafe had to resist the urge to fully slam into you, but he wasn't that mean. when he finally was fully into you, he moaned so loudly into your ear. "you're squeezing me so tight babe"

the uncomfortableness quickly turned to pleasure as he started off slowly pacing into you, and you knew it wouldn't last long before he started slamming in and out of you.

quickening his pace, you could feel the counter of the sink digging into your hips. your fingers tightened around the countertop, rafe's roughness pushing you into it everytime he fucked into you.

rafe latched his hand onto your hair, yanking your head back. "look at how well you're taking me, fuck!" your eyes were forced up to the mirror, looking at the unreal scene in front of you.

the room was filled with the sounds of skin slapping and groans. his cock doing unexplainable things to you, you felt yourself black out when your high was nearing.

"oh my- rafe, fuck, rafe im close" blabbering, as your vision went out only feeling him inside of you. "yea? cum on my dick princess"

his eyes were focus on the mirror, how good you looked being fucked out of your mind. he should've lasted a little longer, but with a girl like you he could cum in his pants. not the first time it's happened.

his breathing was heavy, hearing your moans made his cock twitch inside of you. he was sooo close, unable to hold himself back.

you felt yourself cum all over his dick, your sight returning as your brain started functioning again, heavy in ecstasy. he kept slamming into you, aware that he was close.

"m' close, so close baby" groaning out, his grip on your waist was harsh. "yea? cum inside me rafe." you said with a stern tone, a tone that made him release in seconds, his cum shooting up into you.

slowing down, he pulled out and watching your shared semen drip out of you. he grabbed a paper towel, and cleaned you up with minimum effort.

you finally picked yourself up from your bent position, knowing you would have some bruises next morning. pulling your pants up, and turning around to face him.

he looked up at you, heart beating a little faster when you stepped over to him.

you wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing his jaw "maybe you're not as pussy as i thought" you giggled into his ear, grabbing his face and kissing him before walking out of the bathroom.

it couldn't get better than this for rafe cameron. the woman of his dreams, but it wasn't that easy to work it out.

part 1 , part 2(≽^•˕• ྀི≼)

i think this will be the last part, sorry im not as active but please give feedback <3

[junkissed]

can't get you out of my head

member — fwb!vernon x f reader genre — smut, like a little tiny bit of angst? with a happy ending word count — 2.4k synopsis — so what if calling your fuck buddy every other day is a little excessive? maybe you're just in love with him. smut warnings — descriptions of female anatomy, lots and lots of kissing, some dacryphilia, multiple orgasms, begging, creampie warnings — vernon is called hansol - i don't usually do that but just go with it; vernon is kind of a sweetheart tbh this ended up being pretty soft notes — june is back !! i've really been struggling to write these past few months so i'm actually super proud that i was able to sit down and write this as fast as i did. i can't promise another fic anytime soon or any kind of consistent uploads, but i hope you enjoy this meager offering! thanks for the support even while i've been gone :) also this is based on a dream i had about vernon the other day and i could not stop thinking about it it was driving me crazy, so everyone say thank you to my brain or the sandman or whoever put that idea in my dreams because this fic is a result of it. if there are mistakes pls ignore i wrote this at 2am

the thing you remember most about hansol is his lips.

the first time you kissed him was like opening a door to a world you'd never known existed. your past hookups had been terrible kissers, or even worse—hadn't even tried to kiss you at all. you were sick of the boring, underwhelming sex with men who couldn't care less if you got off or not. but some god or being in the universe must've been looking out for you, because finding hansol was nothing short of a miracle.

it was so good, you weren't even that embarrassed when you'd desperately texted him a couple of nights later, practically begging him to come over and fuck you again. he was burned into your brain, the feeling of his mouth locked with yours seared so deep in your memory you couldn't erase him if you tried, but it wasn't exactly like you wanted to. 

he hadn't explicitly said you would only be a one night stand, but you usually didn't hang around the same guy for too long, and he didn't really seem like the commitment type anyway. but when you find something this good, you don't let it go, and somehow you both knew that whatever this was, it was too good to pass up on.

so it wasn't really a surprise when you found yourself on his couch, straddling his lap in the late hours of the night for the third time this week. 

like you remembered, his lips were warm and soft, his cheek brushing against yours as you melted into him. you could kiss him for hours and not notice the time passing at all, so focused on the rhythm of his mouth working you up more than anything you'd done with any man you'd slept with before.

the heat of his hands resting on your hips sends shivers up and down your spine, unconsciously arching towards him as his tongue pushes into your mouth.

one gentle hand travels carefully up beneath your shirt, tracing the skin of your stomach before stopping at your breast, your heartbeat racing beneath his palm.

your breath is hot on his cheek as you readjust your position, slipping your knees onto either side of his hips and sinking down to straddle his lap. your clothed cunt throbs as he presses his bulge against the inside of your thigh, and you don't hold back the open-mouthed moan that escapes you as his other hand quickly reaches up to angle your jaw and guide your lips back to his.

you push your hips down a little harder on him and his nails dig into your breast. his grip tightens a little as his hips cant up against you, desperate for more pressure against his strained cock.

your eyelids flutter as his other hand tilts your chin upwards, finally breaking away from your mouth only to reattach his lips at the base of your jaw. his tongue laves over your skin before he starts to suck, and you shiver when he pulls back and cold air hits the wet patch of spit on your neck.

you have to focus hard not to drool when you open your eyes and catch a glimpse of his face, lust-glazed eyes staring up at you through his long, thick lashes, his intense gaze fixed on you.

if you ever get past this weird in-between stage of talking but not talking, maybe you'll tell him how jealous you are of his beautiful, natural eyelashes. if you ever actually get to have a conversation with him outside of calling to hook up, maybe you'll tell him how nice his lips are. you'll tell him how soft his hands are and how he's by far the best person you've ever slept with, leaps and bounds better than all the rest, and—

before you fully realize what's happening, you feel your shirt being pulled over your head and hansol's lips have made their way down to your chest. without a sound his hands roam your body, fingers drawing invisible lines over your bare skin and leaving trails of goosebumps with every touch.

he doesn't talk much during sex, or maybe you just don't know each other well enough yet for him to have much to say. aside from the way he occasionally murmurs about how perfect you are — an oddly intimate thing to say to someone who's just a friend with benefits, but coming from him it sounds so casual — the only words you ever get out of him are curses and whimpered pleas.

the only words he ever gets out of you are shamelessly begging him, please kiss me again, please, hansol; and you're always too far gone to care about how whiny you sound, because you need his lips on you so fucking bad you think you might just die without them. but he always obliges, quickening the speed of his thrusts and wrapping his arms around you tighter so he can kiss you deeper, until your lips are numb and you can still feel the weight of him holding you even hours after he's gone.

so maybe you do have a teeny tiny crush on hansol. anyone in their right mind would, and when he's finished with you tonight you're sure you won't have much mind left to even think about it. certainly this is a problem for another day, a day when you'll inevitably call him again so he can make you lose your mind all over again and you won't have to think about how much you like him, and you'll continue like that for who knows how long. 

maybe he'll get bored of you, or find someone else, or move to another city too far for you to justify travelling for a relationship that isn't even a relationship…

… but then he lets out a little groan and you fall back into reality, the reality where you've been making out with him for the past half hour and he quietly but confidently lets you know if he doesn't get his dick out soon he's definitely going to cum in his pants and not only will it make him look like a loser but he also won't get to fuck you, which is the whole reason you asked him to meet up tonight, right?

well, yeah, you guess, but a part of you knows there's more to it than that. but that's not really a conversation for right now.

you lean down to press another chaste kiss against those lips that you can't stop thinking about, and your fingers pull his t-shirt over his head before finding their way down to the button at the top of his jeans.

you've had his cock inside you more times than you think you deserve, but still your stomach bubbles with excitement as he lifts his hips and shimmies out of his pants, the outline against his briefs more than enough to make your mouth water before he slips those off, too.

for tonight, you're the recipient of his undivided attention. you alone get to have him and his perfect cock all to yourself; maybe not forever, but for right now, and that's all you really need.

he presses his hand against his bulge, eyes squeezed shut in pleasure as you stand up from his lap to kick off your pants and underwear.

you must have been taking too long for his liking, though, because as soon as you're fully nude his hands tug impatiently at your waist and pull you back down onto him. 

he lets out a heavy sigh, the head of his cock pressed deliciously against your clit as you start to rock your hips back and forth.

but before long his hands bring you to a stop and he lets out his usual string of pleas to let him fuck you, and now it's your turn to sigh in relief as he pushes into you, the stretch so natural like he was the only one who was made to sit you on his lap.

he doesn't move right away. he never moves right away, whether to give you a chance to adjust or maybe because he himself can't handle the feeling. either way, you always struggle to take in a shaky breath as your walls flutter around him, perfectly thick and long that you could probably cum untouched like this if you sat there for long enough.

but as badly as you want to never move and let him cockwarm you for hours, he always eventually moves. 

he starts out slow, just a few inches at a time, a gentle in and out that's almost romantic until you feel like you can breathe normally again— right before he knocks the breath out of you, increasing his pace until the room is filled with the loud sounds of skin against skin.

he always fucks you like it's been months since he's came, even though you know for a fact it was last thursday and all over your stomach. all you can do now is hang onto his broad shoulders for dear life, nails scratching helplessly at his muscles as he carries you up and over the edge, pushing you into the first of many orgasms tonight.

sometimes he'll make a comment about how wet you get when he fucks you like this, rough and fast as he pounds into you like there's no tomorrow. and that's when you'll agree, yes you love it so much, yes he's so good, yes you need more and please, please keep going.

if it were anyone else they'd probably smirk at that, satisfied with the momentary boost to their ego. but that's what you love about hansol, is that he's not anyone else: he'll take those words and use them to somehow fuck you even rougher and even faster, so rough and so fast that sometimes tears will start to roll down your cheeks, and that's usually about when you start begging him to kiss you.

you can't help it. the way he bounces you so effortlessly on his cock, his lips parted and beads of sweat trickling down his neck, you need him bad. you want to be closer to him, closer than you know is physically possible but damn if you won't try anyway.

throwing your hands around his neck and falling against his chest, tears still streaming from your eyes as you plead with him, repeating his name over and over and over like you've lost your mind and he's the only thing left. in all honesty, maybe he is.

he quietly shushes you and tilts his chin up to capture your lips in the kiss you so badly crave, and it's everything you need and more and somehow still not enough but you can't think straight anymore when his cock is hitting you just right and his mouth is also just right and each vein, each curve, each ridge, drags perfectly along your walls and he's splitting you open and goddamn you are ruined for anybody else.

you feel like you're skirting in and out of consciousness when you cum again, squeezing around his cock so tight that even his powerful thrusts can't continue at their current pace.

it isn't long before he lets go too, holding you flush against his body as he fills you up, painting your insides white with a breathy moan, and in a weird way it makes you feel kind of proud.

you both sit there for a moment, panting as you start to come down.

without even standing up you already know your legs are jell-o, but you don't really have time to think about that as hansol lifts you off his lap and sets you carefully on the couch, leaving you with another kiss before he stands up and disappears down the hall, returning seconds later with a towel that looks suspiciously new.

you'd asked him about his bathroom towels last time you'd been over at his place. a mismatched collection of white and brown and aquamarine that he'd taken with him when he'd moved out of his parent's house, he said, he'd never really had a reason to buy a set of his own. 

the grey cloth in his hand now that he uses to gently wipe between your legs is one you don't remember seeing.

he finishes and you want him to kiss you again, but you're too shy to ask now so he leaves you again with just a kind smile this time.

you've put most of your wrinkled clothes back on by the time he comes back. he offers to drive you home every time afterwards, but you always insisted you were fine, already feeling like you'd overstayed your welcome.

this time he doesn't offer, though, just quietly sits down next to you to pull on his own clothes until you're both fully dressed.

he speaks before the awkward silence has time to set in.

"have you been seeing anybody else?" he asks, and it's probably the longest sentence he's spoken to you outside of when he's fucking you.

it takes you a couple seconds to say no. god, you sound like a loser, but you couldn't lie to him. since the very first time with hansol the thought of seeing anyone besides him hadn't even crossed your mind. just like you thought; ruined.

it takes him a couple seconds to reply, too. 

"good," he says, and you could almost swear his cheeks are pinker than usual as he admits that he hasn't been with anyone, either. "could we keep it that way?"

your breath catches a little. "yeah?"

"yeah," he answers. "whatever… this is, i like it. and i like you."

and just like that, things make sense. 

"maybe, would you, y'know, wanna stay this time?" he asks, and you can't hide the grin on your face as you lean over and kiss him again, your answer evident in the way your hand falls against his warm chest and your fingers weave gently through his hair.

everything is so simple with hansol.

i hope you enjoyed this!! if you did, consider reblogging or leaving a comment or an ask :) it shows me this is something people want to see more of, and knowing people like this makes me want to write more of it! thanks for reading!!

> taglist | @wonderfulshinee @noniestars @onlymingyus @just-here-to-read-01 @wonuziex @enhacolor @yourfavoritefreakyhan @dkakapizzaboy @zozojella @rainyjeno @jwnghyuns @uwuheeseungie @miriamxsworld @synthetickitsune @simeonswhore @junhour @foxdaisy @limesorbets @98-0603 @fairybinie @anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @mingminghao @ifuckcheol @jeanjacketjesus @luvwonyy @tinkerbell460 @novalpha @ronnie97b @ohmygodwhyareallusernamestaken @usari @hyneyedfiz @honestlydooetree @oscarcantread @ktackore @k-drama-adict

> strikethrough means your blog cannot be tagged, please check your visibility settings and make sure they are off so i can tag you properly!

> if you want to be notified when i post a new fic, you can join my taglist here!

[the-traveling-poet]

House-Husband’s Love

When life becomes too overwhelming, maybe even simultaneously underwhelming at times, sometimes you just need a break. Just a day off to lay around and do nothing; give your brain a chance to calm down and reset. With Levi as your partner, you can bet he would be the one to ensure you got your breaks. And some attention, of course.

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x gn!Reader (relationship isn’t specified, so imagine how you prefer!)

Warnings: SFW, hurt-to-comfort kinda, themes of depression/disassociation/sensory overload, fluff ending

A/N: Needing some modern!househusband!Levi rn cause I’m nearing my breaking point again and needed to write some brain rot to completely disassociate again. I guess also to distract myself from writing my fics? I dunno man.

1.2k words

It must have been one of those days; where everything felt off-balance. Levi always saw. He could tell by just a glance your way the morning before.

Another day of feeling as though every sight before you became dull and muted in appearance. Unnoticeable, nearly, while you disassociated. And yet somehow, all at once, the more noticeable everything became, making you paranoid and panicked.

He could figure out your tell-tale signs well enough by now, from his own curious observations over time. Occasionally, after some time of letting you sort it out yourself, he’d talked it over once or twice with you. He’d asked you how exactly you felt on days like these; days where your eyes stayed wide and brows raised in an expression of alertness, even as your jaw clenched and hands shook, your eyes glazed over as you kept yourself in near constant motion. He knew the signs, and what they meant.

You were spiraling again. Sensory overload, dissociation…He hadn’t seen it so bad in you before.

Always moving, always forcing yourself to focus no matter how shallow it made your breath...He hated seeing you in such a state, when you wanted to focus on anything but your own thoughts.

Sometimes these moments lasted a few hours, sometimes even just one. But often, they progressed into days of forced hyper focus and constant activity to draw yourself away from your own mind, busying it with tasks and work.

But this time…this time, it had been weeks.

It hurt him to see you so stressed, no matter the situation.

And so, one such morning, following another rough night, he took the liberty of disengaging your alarm for the morning. The simple press of a button, he hoped, would keep you asleep for just a tad longer. Your mind needed the rest of a couple more hours, he reasoned.

After only a second’s hesitation in which he still held your phone, he also sent a quick email to your employer; some excuse about being unwell enough to not clock in today, and warning about a possible similar hinderance for the following day.

'If you need more information, feel free to message my emergency contact, as he's looking after me today while I recover.'

He sent the email, slightly smirking to himself as he turned your phone off and set it back onto the nightstand.

He would handle it for you, as much as he could.

Pulling the covers up over your shoulder, Levi slid out of the bed soundlessly.

With you still soundly asleep, he went about tidying up what he could around the apartment, keeping any noise to a minimum to ensure you stayed asleep.

'A clean space helps clear the mind,' he'd always believed, and as such he wanted to provide you with such a fresh start today. Whenever you chose to wake up, that is. He wouldn’t enforce it today.

It wasn't until late morning he heard movement from the bedroom, your weight shifting over the creaking bed as you stumbled out in a panic moments later.

"My alarm, I must not have set it-" You'd started, obviously anxious as you raced to throw on a new top and a pair of jeans.

Before you could get to slip anything off, Levi’s hand found your shoulder, softly holding you in place.

"Don't worry about it, love. You have today off. Maybe even tomorrow, unless I get a call."

He mumbled, gently taking a jacket from your shaking hands.

You stared up at him blankly for a moment, completely in disbelief.

"...It's Wednesday. I work a 9-5, babe...I'm not off today; it's not a holiday." You tried to protest weakly, but once again were silenced by a slender finger against your lips.

"I know. I called off for you, though. Besides, the shift started three hours ago, so there's no need to bother going in now. Just take a seat, breakfast is half done."

Still regarding him in complete bewilderment, you hesitantly took a seat on the couch and watched him meander back towards the kitchen, returning his attention back to the stove. It was only then you noticed the array of pans neatly set on the hot surface, and the toaster on the counter already slotted with bread. The smell of frying foods wafting over to you, causing your stomach to protest weakly.

When was the last time you’d focused on a full meal, instead of eating a few small bites here and there throughout the day?

It wasn't long until he'd plated the meal, and brought you a plate with a cup of tea to pair it. Once you were settled in with your plate and utensils, he sat down on the couch beside you with his one of his own. He'd never been fond of eating on the couch, you knew, so this must be a 'special occasion' of sorts.

"...Why?" You eventually mumbled between bites of toast and sips of tea, digging in the moment he’d sat.

He swallowed the bite of scrambled eggs from his own plate before answering, a napkin already in hand to wipe away any invisible cooking greased from his lips.

"You're stressed out, baby. I've seen it for several days now. Relaxing evenings after work weren't doing it, so I wanted to give you a full day's worth, instead."

"...I'm fine. Life is just rough sometimes-"

You'd started, setting down your mug to weakly protest his concerns; but he easily held a hand over your wrist, lowering the warm beverage from your lips.

"Then isn't it my job to try and make life a little less strenuous? One day off won't kill you, and won't impact the income too greatly. We can manage; but your mental health can’t, not like this.”

He sighed, setting your mug down onto the coffee table for you.

“Just relax, yeah? Relax, and let me handle today for you. It’s the least I can do, for all that you always do.”

Huffing quietly in muted amusement, you smiled his way, eyes welling with unshed tears. Tears of silent relief.

“…I haven’t had a work day off in ages, maybe months. Two days a week are nice, but…”

“…But not enough sometimes. I know sweetheart. I know. I can see it in you. So just relax today. We don’t have to be productive every day.” Levi reassured softly, keeping his hand around yours.

“Hell, I’ll bully your boss into giving you another day off-“

“Levi I need this job, you can’t,” you giggled, leaning against his side and curling up onto the couch.

“…But thank you, my love. I think I needed this,” you finished in a whisper, briefly closing your eyes.

“I know you did.” Levi stated calmly, running his free hand’s fingers through your hair.

“Just rest…I’ve got everything else. I’ll deal with it for you.”

(A/N: I’m a whore for the idea of Levi calling us ‘baby’ or ‘sweetheart’ leave me alONE-)

[thefudge]

so, about nosferatu

....eh

this film felt like such a missed opportunity

it wasn't bad, it was just very underwhelming and disappointing, which i'd heard, but still. i was hoping for more juice, more substance

the cinematography is beautiful and atmospheric and the overall look of it is great....but it doesn't seem to say or do anything all that interesting

yes, we get it, we're dealing with ellen's exteriorized and embodied "appetite" and repressed sexuality, but i don't feel eggers did anything particularly salient with it

lily rose depp certainly gives it all in her physical performance...but the intensity becomes tedious because eggers doesn't seem to actually want to engage with ellen's desires; she's not really allowed to be devious or deviant, in spite of the great show she puts on. and i understand that it's part of the point; that society has taught her to be her own biggest censor. but still, there comes a point where it feels like the spectacle of her hysteria is more important than any more subtle shades of her loneliness/desire for connection.

ironically, her supposed abnormalcy becomes monotonous

and if you strip away her possession scenes...what do you have? who is this woman, really?

frankly, most of the characters felt like this - threadbare and rather empty

and this could be part of the fairy-tale effect of the movie (operating with types), but it's a very dissatisfying effect

you don't believe in the characters and their actions

the only one here who feels like a "flesh and blood" person is willem defoe, because he seems to realize he's starring in a dressed-up melodrama; his is the most enjoyable and palpable performance

honestly, i don't get why eggers felt the need to tell this story. what did he bring to it? a particular style? historical mise-en-scene?

speaking of history, that's one big thing he's known for; his almost obsessive adherence to authentic and accurate historical detail. well, this time i think it worked against him

so, the screening i attended was followed up by a discussion with florin lazarescu, the Romanian screenwriter whom eggers hired as consultant for this movie, and lazarescu basically explained the amount of research eggers' team did to try and get some details right

most of that research...ended up being either misused or simply wasted

for instance, eggers insisted on getting right certain Slavonic carvings on orlok's casket, or was obsessive about reconstructing parts of a Romanian monastery and the exact dress of an orthodox Mother Superior. and that's all very cool; i'm not saying i don't appreciate this level of dedication, but what was it in the service of, ultimately? yes, these details add atmosphere, but a lot of things he poured so much work into barely show up on screen (lazarescu said there's a much longer director's cut, tho) and when they do, they're frankly framed in a sketchy, amateurish way

take the scenes with the Romanian gypsies (i'm using the term with the 19th century connotation of it); lazarescu said eggers wanted this community to not seemed cliched, to feel authentic, but....literally, thomas is greeted by them singing and dancing in the most affected, cliched/stereotypical way. yes, i've seen much worse depictions of course, but all that historical research ultimately gave way to a watered down depiction. the dialogue in Romanian during those scenes is pretty funny/cringey, if you understand it; i realize most people won't. but as a Romanian, those scenes were ridiculous instead of atmospheric or spooky. and i know this won't affect most audiences' enjoyment, but eggers prides himself on historical verisimilitude, yet all of these "local color" scenes felt like one big, cliched spectacle (including the scene with the naked girl on the horse - none of these moments felt like they had actual depth. and imo, you need a bit of depth if you want to elicit a terrifying atmosphere)

and then there's the "Dacian" language orlok speaks....

lazarescu mentioned eggers insisted on this aspect and asked him to basically invent it because he wanted the count to go all the way back to the Dacians (our ancestors who were eventually conquered and colonized by the Romans)

and i get wanting to make the vampire even more alien, more remote, but this Dacian background adds nothing to the story of the character - literally nothing* is done with it in the film; it's just something you can look up, but you'd have to know that eggers intended for him to be Dacian/ to speak Dacian

so it's a pretty superficial easter egg

and the language orlok speaks is just a really garbled, phony-sounding Latin (because linguists believe that Dacian and Latin probably had a common ancestor); and this is just a personal complaint, but he never sounded genuine to me; i did not believe in this immortal count who goes all the way back to the Dacians

bill skarsgard does the best he can, but even his English lines (spoken with a heavy Russian accent) are pretty farcical

and this could have worked for me if the movie leaned into these farcical/melodramatic elements more, but it takes itself too seriously for that

there are some funny bits here and there, but it's obvious eggers wanted people to "think" about his movie

there are atmospheric moments i enjoyed, and i think the last frame/shot of the movie is really beautiful and evocative (and something tells me that this picturesque shot was the impetus for the whole movie - it feels like eggers made the whole thing just to get to it, and ...you know what, i can respect that)

but all of the historical authenticity he tried to insert into the film fell very flat for me and felt like pointless research, since very little of it was utilized in an interesting, meaningful way (or at all)

i mean for all the work he put into it, this movie felt so incomplete and fractured, so devoid of actual historical or fictional layers - it did not know whether it wanted to be a dreamlike folk tale or a historical gothic, and it did not much succeed at being either imo

the pacing also seemed sort of labored to me; there were some very predictable moments that were drawn out without much in the way of interesting effect/resolution

again, i enjoyed some aspects, but the whole of it felt like a hollow faberge egg

and i guess this adaptation reveals the pitfalls of the original - which is in itself a copy of dracula. because at every step of the way i wished i was watching dracula lol. even the bbc 2020 dracula!

to offer some compliments here at the end: i like that orlok is ugly and stays ugly and monstrous all throughout; i like that eggers seems to understand there is an appeal in that (especially for women) - but he doesn't go far enough with it. he is not bold enough to have ellen revel in that ugliness. there are some brief shots where orlok's ugliness/monstrosity verges on seductive/erotic, but the movie shies away from ellen's desire for that monstrosity. the film focuses more on her "monstrous" physical guilt for desiring him, but without really fleshing out her connection with orlok. again, i don't know who this woman is. (if she is meant to stand in for all repressed 19th century women at the time that's weak sauce to me)

i do think eggers is a v good director and i have enjoyed his other films; i just think he didn't have much to say in this one (he just wanted to get to that last cool shot)

(*to be fair and give the film credit, the myth of the Solomonari is invoked/referenced in order to connect orlok with Daco-Romanian folklore....but a) i don't think that this link was utilized in an interesting way; b) it's not fleshed out enough for us to understand orlok's powers as a Solomonar wizard or what the deal is with the Solomonar book....it feels like missing fragments from a larger story. and it makes me yearn for the film that could've been)

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

BNHA 430: This wasn’t very “My Hero Academia” of you I’ll be honest—

Okay, where do I begin? Uh. So the story reached its conclusion. Congratulations, and all the best to Horikoshi-san for telling the story he wanted to tell for ten years, loved the characters, the little world he created after the cancellation of his previous works, I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

... but in my opinion: the last seven chapters were so bad- I don't think I can see this ending as anything other than a contradiction of what we were shown. Like, I thought we'd get a twist, everyone would be fine, something would change. I'm wearing the clown shoes already.

So, I'm just gonna treat this as a normal chapter, and not a final one, because I'll be here for days if I open this can of worms, which, I will not lie, is very bad (I'll open it at some point, not now.) I'm posting this on the.. 6th? Because apparently there's an announcement in the 5th and I don't wanna spoil the fun.

So, uh, under the read more are my thoughts on the ending, be warned I'm very, very negative about it.

*sigh* Oh boi, how killing the League made this go from an "underwhelming" to a "tone-deaf" chapter- I mean. Jesus fuck, leaving things open-ended don't erase the fact they can't make a single appearence to prove me wrong. And if they were alive, the last five chapters (and eight years!) were a waste of emotions and keeping them hidden was a stupidly cruel move.

Funny, the narration is "people aren't equal but it's because of these differences that people find common ground to get along"- THE VILLAINS WERE KILLED OFF FOR BEING DIFFERENT BRO WHAT DO YOU MEAN- "if lending a hand and caring is being a hero then we all became the greatest heroes". Izuku, whatever you're drinking, I'm taking it and drinking it all by myself. You may have cared (which I can't even say for certain anymore). But Tenko died. On accident. Because you gave him OFA.

I liked the "Midoriya-Sensei" part. For 5 seconds. It's fitting, he loves learning stuff, he's good with kids... until you say "it's only because his embers are gone". Then why use it as a tease for seven chapters only to just get rid of them at the end? Is running to Ochako really the last we get to see him use it? Not even as a part-time hero? (not that it matters at the end-)

Ragdoll works with the WWP, Tsukuachi was head strategist in the final battle, Hawks is the (H)PSC president, Aizawa is Aizawa. Why wasn't Izuku hired at an agency? Intelligence was a huge part of his character, yet the moment he was fully Quirkless again, he had to leave? Men truly aren't created equal...

"Cursed power", "blessing", "special" — the only thing special about OFA was being haunted by a guy whose brother was insane enough to hunt it down for generations. A Quirk's a Quirk; having multiple people/powers in one body isn’t special, Tokoyami and Shoto exist. Izuku was supposed to make it special using it on his terms. But I guess "meant to save, not kill" was a lie, as eight out of ten people who had it died. Nine out of eleven, counting BNHA: HR. Tenko died because his body couldn't handle the Quirk, but I guess Izuku isn't gonna think about any of it? Katsuki was right, I guess. OFA is a curse.

Spinner wrote a book (not a comic, guess he took offense to Izuku. Fair, actually). Mr. Compress got a panel, but no real mention of the LoV? They broke the status quo for months (in-universe), and after all of that, nothing changes? Did Spinner know about Tenko, how he became Tomura? And the people who will read it and pull an MLA? TomurAFO had followers, now he's martyr a lá Re-Destro. I’m hoping Spinner didn’t commit suicide like Destro did.

Ochako’s expanding Quirk Counseling. Reform’s implied (it only said expansion), but Himiko still became what Curious wanted her to be: A cautionary tale. And I’m still asking how Ochako knows Himiko what went through, she only told Ochako she was hated because of her Quirk and how she loves. I wanna think she’s reforming it, but nothing else changed, why should I think she’s the exception? She might literally just think Himiko didn't get help, that's a cruel irony.

(At least she's seen as a hero on her rights… even if it took 429 chapters, messy writing, her face looking like rubber, and still being a girl recognized as a "caretaker", not a kickass hero).

Shoji's travelling through Japan to solve discrimination and got a prize for it. No foundations or mentions of Spinner being the main reason he did it, just "standing atop those who rose up eight years ago", just solving it peacefully, you sure are, buddy. Like, I'm sure you are being successful but how exactly are you solving this? I mean, you "solved" the hospital fight by fighting Spinner with Koda- Oh wait, time constraints, we can't elaborate how. I'm rolling my eyes

Shirakumo showed the noumu state could've been reversed, yet Katsuki, who never killed someone aside from AFO (and that guy was gonna die anyway), fatally exploded him. I hoped it was a misunderstood panel but no. He died because he wanted to save Tenko. Even fucking Gran Torino was alive by the end of this. Why.

I think Shoto is the only main character I’m not really having a problem with (Ochako's ending required Himiko for it to feel somewhat complete. Sorry, Ochako). I’m weirded out that they mentioned the billboard using the guy whose life was ruined by it as an example, but other than that, he’s doing fine. Wish we saw him talking to his siblings though. But alas. No mention of Fuyumi and Natsuo. And Rei's with Endeavor. Fuck I take it back Todofam still deserved better.

Inko got so sidelined when Mitsuki and Masaru were in 424 for half a chapter, by the way. Just one panel for her, the protagonist's mother.

Schedules not aligning is one thing (I get it, my friends and I can't align ours anymore), but Class A not opening an agency together? They survived the same two wars. And you're telling me they wouldn't say "WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER AND TAKING MIDORIYA WITH US"? Also, where’s the "world where heroes have time to spare" when they look so busy? Were they understaffed or working as celebrities? (if someone says it was for the suit I will point out to the three nepo babies of Class A + Momo's Quirk, Katsuki’s a dumbass if he forgot that detail).

We wasted pages on a kid that can throw plates from his hair. To tell him he can be a hero. Coming from the guy who had to stop working as a hero when he lost OFA. I'm not taking this parallel seriously.

I wish Izuku wasn't in "everything’s fine" mode until the end. We're really gonna leave him at "implied" mode, not confirm if his mental state's fine? Being open and emotional was an appealing part of him and now we just get “Yeah that’s just how it is”.

This one's petty and irrational, I know, but since I'm letting some of the steam out: I hate Izuku's new design; face scars (the constant "HE FAILED" reminder makes my eye twitch and I wish that was a joke, but also so many characters in BNHA got face scars, it doesn't even stand out), "perfect tie", normal formal attire- where's the character highlights? The things that make Izuku stand out?

But hey: He gets to be a hero again! Not with skills, heart, intelligence, strength, in spite of Quirklessness. No, he has an Iron Man suit! That Class A paid billions for. The government should be paying the child soldiers- sorry, Class A and B (and Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu) instead, but all they get is a pat on the back. If the suit breaks down, hurts or kills him while in it? I'll laugh (Hatsume and Melissa worked on it? Oh it's gonna happen, I'm hoping). And Toshinori, what happened to him, did he hit his head when he landed on that building!?

Went from: Smiles cover his fear and reassure people, believed saving is about saving body and soul, wanted to help Tenko, only didn't because Gran Torino said it wasn't a good idea. Disliked people were being heroes for fame and not because it's the right thing to do, only used support items as reinforcement and a precaution, never as a full solution, even Iron Might was so he’d have a chance to fight, not a solution.

To: If Tenko died smiling, it wasn't resignation, he was saved, even though he died. Didn't care AFO killed the Shimura - his mentor's - bloodline. Is fine with the billboards existing, even though it caused things like the Todoroki plotline. Now he's giving Izuku a suit, when the last time he did it himself, it didn't save him and his spine was almost snapped? Dude, what?

Also full disclosure, I thought he was paralyzed, but I guess he just had a bad back. Let's not discuss the trauma of almost being snapped in half and feeling your bones break so bad you set a record of how many screws were used, I guess.

... I hated BKDK's conclusion. It's actually so laughable how much I hate it. If it had another outcome, I'd probably be overjoyed as a shipper. But look at this mess:

Thematically, Tenko wasn't rescued, it wasn't a perfect victory because AFO still got away with what he did to him. Save to win, win to save were just nice words. "The End of an Era and The Beginning"? Nothing changed in the world they live in, and they don't stand out among other heroes (these are AM’s successors. And they aren't even important. How.) What new era is this, really?

Their resolutions, relationship rebuild? Offscreen, but Katsuki was the one with the Iron Man suit idea for Izuku and apparently that compensates for it. Because he’s the one who can solve all of Izuku’s problems now, not motivate him to be better anymore. It wasn’t even Izuku’s idea, it was Class A, and sure it’s a nice (condescending) gesture. We’ve seen Toshinori barely come out alive even with one. That's a support item for a reckless little shit who will get himself killed.

Izuku barely batted an eye to any of the things he went through - losing his arms and/or OFA? Seeing Spinner's breakdown? Lady Nagant!? Katsuki or Tenko dying because of Izuku and OFA!? SOME INTROSPECTION?! IT’S BEEN OVER 100 CHAPTERS SINCE YOU’VE BEEN THE EMOTIONAL MC—

Katsuki's insecurities were pointless by the way! Izuku's empathy and heart never mattered, a Quirk was more important to be a hero in the end. BULLIED HIM FOR NOTHING BUDDY- like. Shouldn't have done it at all, but now his character development means nothing because his previous beliefs were the right ones. Changing for the better was pointless. Like Twice's death. Or Katsuki’s own death, since “Control Your Heart” meant nothing as well.

Izuku still remembers Tenko, but has he done anything about it? No one wants to remember him, Himiko or Touya. Spinner's book won't be taken seriously except for Tenko's followers, Mr. Compress was sidelined, Twice's death was pointless. They didn't change society, they've returned to the status quo. Pointless as Izuku losing his arms.

That fucking suit- Wow, he really couldn't be a Quirkless hero, the casual rivalry was just erased for an easy way out of their consequences, there's no catching up because Katsuki paid for Izuku a way to be a hero. Izuku doesn't get there because he still believes Quirks make a hero. This isn't heartwarming or romantic or whatever, Katsuki just proved he also didn't believe Izuku in the end.

And it ends with Izuku seeing Tenko's... Ghost? Hallucination? Vestige? I guess we’ll never know, because Izuku’s following his dreams again! Let's ignore he's doing this during class hours and he definitely should be in UA but who cares, he probably quit, we'll never know. Aside for the BKDK/DKBK fics, being a teacher was clearly a inferior choice for him and he can't do both ignore Aizawa and Present Mic look at him being the world's greatest hero!

It just took 1 year of trauma, scars, following on his mentor's mistakes, losing the thing that "actually" made him be a hero, having the first (Katsuki) and the last (Tenko) people he tried to save dying because of his existence (one literally by his hands), proving anyone can be one! By ignoring the guilt of those you failed, give hands and sparing your thoughts, having superpowers and/or connections who'll give you a suit! And if they still "act out"? Then they deserved death no matter the valid points they've had and you gotta play jury judge executioner. Unless they decide to be quiet like a good entitled citizen.

Fuck this shit I swear- You could’ve had a BKDK proposal with a double spread handhold, and I'd still think Izuku's ending isn't earned. His "happy ending"— actually. BKDK crumbs are the fandom's consolation prize for this ending. I feel cheated out my OTP (like. I'm shipping the version of them in my head, not the canon one 412-onwards because it got worse from there-)

A story about hope bent itself over to give the protagonist an unearned happy ending, when it said it was for every character who wants to connect to that hope, who wants to give that hope. Izuku went from "wanting to be a beacon of hope and save people" to "talk about beacons of hope, but in the end, others are doing this better than you. You had none of the willpower to be one." He's not hope or unity. Act 3!Izuku is just a plot device, I feel nothing for his ending other than irritation, and I hate it because he was my favourite character. Lol, a very useless one in the end.

So. Yeah, those are my thoughts about the ending. I think. I don't know if these are all of them. I feel horrible about hating it, but I've sat on this chapter for days and right now, not a lot can make me like it, especially with the timeskip, which made this "open ending" a rushed and incomplete mess. If you disagree with me, honestly, that is very fair. I'm glad for you if you liked the ending. I'm just disappointed, and wanted to share my opinions. (and I do have more stuff to say about it but I think I've been negative enough)

But for the weeks I spent hoping this wouldn't slap a classic shonen ending in this catasthrophic mess and for making me feel like a dumbass after what we got in the end: Everything after 410 that isn't 421 and 422 is non-existent to me, this epilogue was a freaking waste.

Thank you for reading.

(EDIT.: Fixed some spelling mistakes and added a few more things because I can keep going on how bad this ending is. Also to clear stuff up: I am still a BKDK shipper. But only until 412, anything after that? Yeah, no, keep that shit away from me lol.)

[yarrowleef]

hey, hold up, hang on

I was doing some random wiki research about Midnight, and I came across this???? apparently there were bonus info videos released with The Last Hope's ebook?

look, this is decade old info, and maybe everyone already knows and stopped caring years ago but like??? I don't think I knew this?? this is news to me!!!

time stamp 1:00 - 2:10

Midnight was supposed to be the twist villain for OotS?? are u kidding me so much of why I remember the last Hope being anticlimactic is because nothing interesting happened, the bad ghosts had been saying "we're going to do a big attack" for books and books, and then they just did that big attack exactly as we had been told and it was the same as any other Big Battle scene and there wasn't really any more interest to the plot. This kind of plot twist might have actually added something interesting to that book!

And Vicky makes it sound like she had this plan for a long time? it was even going to tie back to Midnight secretly having a hand in the badger attack in arc 2?

THIS!? This is why she told Sol that info about the eclipse?? and then never explained why??? Like!!!! is this why Sol was Like That!?? a guy set up to be a big mysterious deal, but then he didn't really do anything and just fizzled out of existence??? because he was conceived of for an idea that was scrapped before going anywhere, but he was already sort of part of a (presumably already started) plot mid PoT so it was too late to cut him 'cause they still needed SOME minor antagonist there to fill pages, right? .... but he had no where to go and no (good) reason to do anything, no ending, since HIS BOSS, his Motive, suddenly stopped existing as a concept??? bro??? no wonder his random tie to SkyClan felt so unfitting as a reasoning for this kind of villain

Erica!! Erica wtf!! I don't care if it felt absurd, absurd is better then underwhelming! so what if Midnight was nice and helpful to some cats, maybe she has complex feelings about certain clan cats despite still secretly wishing to unleash chaos on the society as a whole for personal reasons, heaven forbid there be a complicated villain :'(

anyway I am going to be thinking about this lost timeline forever.

[neat-crows]

For some reason I've seen a lot of people disliking the way Jessica Jones season 1 ends. The vibe I've seen is that it wasn't epic enough, it was underwhelming, and that it was too simple and fast and Killgrave would be too smart to fall for it. etc etc.

I think these takes miss the point though. This is the only way he could have gone out, BECAUSE it wasn't an attempt to outsmart him at all.

The whole point is that Killgrave wasn't an epic villain, he was a weird misogynistic little control freak that was obsessed with owning Jessica because he couldn't stand that she was her own person.

The whole season is a game of cat and mouse between them, and you can see just how smart both of them are - they are both equally powerful and intelligent, BUT killgrave literally didn’t need to be doing this at all! He could have left ANY time, he didn’t have to send Hope after her, he could have left before the house, or after he escaped, or after the nightclub, literally WHENEVER

His obsession with controlling Jessica was always his downfall

She was the executioner, but in the end he brought it all on himself

He didn’t get an epic ending because it’s not ABOUT him and because he didn’t need one. It was never about outsmarting or overpowering him, it was about his incessant need for control and Jessica making a decision.

And it works SO WELL not just because it makes good commentary, but also because it mirrors exactly how Killgrave tried to get her to bend to his will; both of them aimed for each other’s emotional weak point - but killgrave failed because he doesn’t actually know or understand Jessica at all, just the version of her he made up in his head and made her play act like a little doll for him

He thinks her weakness is a hero complex, because the first time they meet she’s saving Malcolm from some muggers and killgrave asks her if it felt good to beat up those men, she says yes, and when he asks why she says

“Because I helped someone”

And he’s such an inherently selfish person that to him that translates to a hero complex - He can’t imagine a person who just wants to save people, not to bolster their self worth or to in some way help theme selves. He’s spent his entire life only doing things because he wanted to, because it brought HIM satisfaction, that the idea that someone might willingly do Anything that’s not to make them feel better doesn’t even cross his mind.

And that’s why at the house he shows her the (curated) videos of his childhood, why he “respects” her wishes about not hurting the nosy neighbor, why he goes and saves that family with her, and is genuinely helpful. His tactic to get her to stay with him is to show her how his powers can be used for good, show her he’s also a person who can experience pain and love and joy, and then make her ‘realize’ if she stays with him she could make him a hero and good person. Because he thinks she will sacrifice herself for him and for society if he presents it as a way to atone and heal her guilt.

But Jessica refuses. She betrays him and takes her own route while knowing if she had given up all her autonomy she could have made him a good person and saved countless lives. (I don’t think this was ever actually achievable but she believed it was so the point stands)

Jessica jones has a lot of problems, but a hero complex isn’t one of them.

But Jessica jones DOES know his weakness, his real weakness, her. Controlling the only person who could defy him. And yes it is an obvious and see through plan - Killgrave even calls it out! But then in order to prove she’s faking what does he do? He assaults Trish - and when she continues following his orders he FULLY believes it and completely lets down his guard.

Why? It’s such an obvious trick! He’s supposed to be clever!!!! Well it worked so well because he clearly WANTED to believe it so bad (self admittedly), he was drunk on his own power, he wanted to believe his own strength and he wanted to own Jessica again. But also because again

He thinks Jessica has a hero complex

Her allowing this to happen to her friend ? Jessica jones would never do this! He knows her so well! She just Can’t Help but Help people! If she was faking her helplessness this would have broken her out of it! (Also there’s the whole level of the jealousy he has of Trish and the love Jessica and Trish share but that’s for another post)

And so he dies, small, unable to speak, not being told he’s loved, with a simple snapped neck from a cheap, unplanned ploy, that was thought up on the spot. Just as he deserved.

[justanotherwriter140]

Kung Fu Panda 4 - The Movie

The last really, really long discussion post (for now).

Major spoilers ahead!

This review is full of spoilers, so please refrain from reading through it until you've watched KFP4. I would highly suggest doing so, as I want everyone to form their own opinions without my influence. The movie has its flaws (some of which admittedly being a bit distracting), but it's a fun film that has things to offer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun movie (take that as you will) that takes its audience on an action-packed, surprisingly funny, yet relatively contained adventure on which Po doesn't really do much. It's an inconsequential, safe sequel that doesn't really hurt the franchise but adds close to nothing.

I had a good time watching the movie. It was obviously produced with its theater experience in mind and the action scenes especially reflected that priority. The humor was actually funny sometimes and I enjoyed Po and Zhen's dynamic. During the film, I was able to put most (most!) of my grievances aside and take the movie for what it is. I've discovered that the best way to watch KFP4 is with low expectations and an open mind.

I have a lot of things to say about KFP4, both complaints and compliments (though the former might be taking the forefront in this review), and I hope this review can help those of you who have seen the movie organize your thoughts. I've been having a lot of trouble with that specific aspect of things myself. Those who get it get it.

With that said, let's get into my full review of KFP4! I've been waiting for nearly 2 years to write this and I'm so excited to share every single thought.

I'm going to follow the format of my first discussion post and curate a bulleted list of my thoughts, followed by an analysis of each of these points. Keep in mind that everything I say is IMO and this is more of a rant post than anything else.

Here are my main points:

The Furious Five's role is comically minuscule in the context of the film. Their actions are inconsequential and add nothing to the plot (a confirmed last-minute add), and they have 30~ seconds of screen time. Shifu is also largely irrelevant.

Mr. Ping and Li's presence has little to no effect on the movie (though I won't complain too much because they were pretty fun to watch and this movie has bigger problems). In almost any scenario, I am adamantly against having characters present that don't add anything to the narrative; however, Mr. Ping is an exception. I love Mr. Ping. James Hong is a gem.

Zhen's screen time is not utilized well and her character is underdeveloped. She definitely wasn't annoying, but I didn't find her either compelling or funny enough to warrant the screen time she was given, especially considering it wasn't used to establish a backstory/strong motives. This makes me feel bad for the character because the movie kind of screwed her out of any substantial development.

The Chameleon, while complimented greatly by Viola Davis, is an underwhelming villain. Viola Davis is amazing in this film and I would suggest watching it for her performance if for nothing else, but the Chameleon is underwhelming considering the super cool concept behind the character.

The film feels very rushed. Apologies to those who disagree, but I think the pacing is atrocious and the final fight is anticlimactic. The movie felt like a word-vomit with no discernible intermissions that stops abruptly when the film ends.

I felt as though Po didn't change/grow as a person and the audience never had a chance to either bond with or relate to his character. His internal struggle is kept to a minimum and we don't spend a moment alone with him as an audience, which is disorienting and distracting. Watching the film felt like running into an old friend at the store who's too in a rush to have a real conversation.

The action scenes were strong with few exceptions. Creative art direction was utilized and I thought the martial arts choreography was entertaining and dynamic. I love the color palette of the film and many scenes were very impressive visually.

With my main points established, I do believe it's ranting time. Strap in, folks.

Let's start strong with the Furious Five: I'm gutted. Chagrined, despondent, crestfallen, etc.

The lack of the Furious Five negatively affects KFP4 so much, because not only does their absence hurt the atmospheric integrity of KFP as a franchise, it also forces KFP4 to bring in a slew of different characters—all while still noncommittally including the FF at the very end because I believe the marketing team required it—that clog up the cast a bit. It all goes to show how important strong, established side characters are.

The Furious Five are side characters, but the role of "side character" does not equate to being irrelevant, expendable, or exchangeable. I recognize that the Furious Five aren't super developed as characters beyond a handful of lines that allude to traits sprinkled sparingly among the members; however, I believe that the tiny bits of development we have been given have proved impactful in the past. Tigress's development in KFP2 is a prime example of how much narratively conscious changes (however small they may be) can positively affect these movies.

Because of limited runtimes, the Furious Five often operate as more of a singular unit than five individuals. Even so, I don't think discarding them is valid. They're so important to the KFP universe (to Po's universe!) and not having them with him feels so wrong. The Furious Five are fully integral to the heart of Kung Fu Panda, which is why I believe a lot of those who have seen the new movie have expressed something feeling "off" or something being missing.

I agree with this sentiment. To me, KFP4 didn't feel like a KFP movie. I don't need a Furious Five spin-off movie and I can be fully content with a KFP5 centered around Po's journey as an individual as was intended from the beginning, but he can't carry an entire movie on his back. As strong as he is in every sense of the word, he is only one character. He's the centerpiece of the franchise, but a centerpiece can only go so far without the rest of the design, so to speak.

For me, the Furious Five's absence is one of this film's biggest faults. It's huge and glaring. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, either, because the friends with whom I saw the film refused to talk about any other aspect of the movie after seeing it. Seeing them at the end was better than nothing, of course, but it was a disappointing culmination after eight years of waiting.

That all is to say I feel robbed. Despite all of this, though, I understand that there were reasons why the Furious Five weren't included in the movie. I don't believe the production team would exclude the Furious Five unless they weren't given a choice.

Shifu and Po's dynamic continues to be thoroughly delightful but their interactions are short and simplified. I would have loved to see more of them in this film, especially considering the extreme relevance of teacher-student relationships in KFP4. I (somewhat) digress, though, because the idea of Shifu having to live at the Jade Palace with only Po for an extended period of time is hilarious enough on its own. Maybe that's what the short film is about!

The comedy is odd but has some jokes that stand out. Po maintains a healthy relationship with his inner sass, which I think makes him more fun to watch and kind of eradicates the man-child verdict. Some jokes don't land, of course, but I genuinely thought KFP4 had some funny moments. Mr. Ping was consistently awesome and Po had some good lines sprinkled throughout the film.

As for Mr. Ping, he and Li Shan are the subjects of the film's B-plot as they follow Po to Juniper City out of shared concern for their son's safety. In my mind, they don't add anything to the story that couldn't have been brought about by other characters, but they had their moments of being entertaining. I enjoyed their silliness and thought they had a cute dynamic if nothing else.

Speaking of other characters, I want to discuss KFP4's deuteragonist and why I genuinely feel bad about the way her character was treated.

I want to let it be known that I'm still not on board with Po passing the Dragon Warrior torch to another character. While I agree that his arc is now calling for him to have a student, I disagree with the notion of him retiring from his DW role.

As I stated in my first discussion post:

Didn’t the initial significance and nuance of the title come from the fact that there is only one person who can be the Dragon Warrior, because the concept of the “Dragon Warrior” isn’t so much a title as it is Po himself? The universe (Oogway) must choose the Dragon Warrior because they are a singular being of legend. It is one person, and that person is Po. Wasn’t the point of the first film that the title ultimately doesn’t really matter because there is no “secret ingredient,” so to speak? The title doesn’t actually give Po anything. “It’s just you,” Po says, and that was the resolution.

When it comes to Zhen as a character, contrary to what I predicted I would think of her, I thought she was okay. While I was still a bit distracted by how out-of-place her design looks, I wasn't truly annoyed by her at any point and she and Po had some cute moments. Even so, I think their relationship could have been a bit more refined and developed.

While it's evident that Po and Zhen are meant to have a teacher-student/mentor-apprentice dynamic, I think their relationship feels half-baked. There were parallels that contradicted one another and ended up being confusing come the film's conclusion, and the nature of their relationship seems to vacillate depending on the scene. Additionally, the strength of their bond goes from zero to one hundred within thirty-ish minutes and left me with a bit of whiplash.

We're shown that Po and Zhen care about one another, but we're never shown why. They have a brief conversation during which they bond over being orphans, and Zhen says at one point, "You're actually a good guy," but that's it. This obvious lack of development is a bit disorienting because we're later led to believe that Zhen and Po care very deeply for one another when there's almost nothing to back it up.

A scene that sticks out to me when discussing this is when Zhen attack-hugs Po in a way that explicitly mirrors Tigress's hug from KFP2. This happens around the beginning of the third act, and while it had the potential to be an endearing moment, I think it fell flat.

The impact of Tigress's hug was brought on by her character's hardcore nature and reputation of being heartless, further strengthened with the knowledge that she was hugging Po (which was obviously way outside her comfort zone) as a show of companionship and fundamental understanding. Tigress hugged Po because he needed someone to recognize his strive for closure.

Zhen's hug had little to no impact because she had no reason to do it and it didn't indicate growth. She hugs Po because she's sorry for betraying him and doesn't want him to be killed by the Chameleon, but neither of these things are newly-established via this hug; we have already gathered by now that Zhen regrets betraying Po and doesn't want him to get hurt.

The hug is far from the movie's weakest point, but I think it's unnecessary given the context. I'm big on hugs in movies (an underutilized form of platonic affection, in my opinion), but it didn't fit here. I don't hate it, and I see it as an honest effort to bring emotionality to Po and Zhen's relationship, but it seems arbitrary.

Zhen and Po's relationship has a lot of potential and I'd be open to seeing more of them in the future, but I think some more thoughtful development needs to occur before I can humor it further. Even so, I can see myself featuring Zhen in some future post-KFP4 one-shots—sparingly, of course, because we have a lot of Furious Five content to compensate for.

Overall, they had a cute dynamic and some sweet moments but I'm not attached. I'm on board with Po having a student but I think their relationship needs a lot more development, something that this film unfortunately didn't give them time to either accomplish or earn.

Now, onto the Chameleon!

The concept of the Chameleon's character is admittedly super interesting. She's the deuteragonist's fastidious mother figure who feels that Zhen owes her a debt and as a result holds her to an impossible standard. That dynamic had the potential to be so interesting but I didn't think it was explored at all. There is no indication of Zhen having any internal conflict about fighting the Chameleon, no emotional complexity between them at all; it's disappointing because I think it would've added a bit of earnestness to the film.

Additionally, the idea of a shape-shifting villain is versatile. A shape-shifting villain gives those telling the story a lot of room to experiment with the protagonist and different ways in which the main character can be challenged and tested. It's yet another good idea utilized poorly. Just one idea: the Chameleon could have disguised herself as one (or several) of Po's family, friends, etc. and brought to fruition a new arc with his character (seeing as he arguably doesn't have one in this film), but she only disguises herself as Zhen very briefly in the movie.

Furthermore, the Chameleon completely relies on the powers of previous villains to pose any sort of threat to the main characters. She summons Po's former nemeses from the Spirit Realm (despite there being little logic in doing so considering Kai's literal evisceration) and takes their kung fu abilities for herself.

An excerpt from my first KFP4 discussion post that I think is relevant to the point I'm trying to make:

I don’t think it would be in the best interest of anyone if the past villains were to come back in any way that’s not a flashback (even then, I’m not sure I’d see the point). In all honesty, I thought that the whole point of the villains was that they died and stayed dead. They were defeated by Po once and for all as a testament to the idea of establishing Po's character growth and journey as a person through the bad things he’s able to overcome. It’d be highly contradictory to the messages of the other films if these villains were to suddenly come back.

While there was an honest effort made to portray the Chameleon as intimidating, I never felt as though any of the characters were endangered by either her or her army of lizard henchman. She's a visually appealing character (aside from her eyes, which I thought more resembled those of a gecko than a chameleon) and I greatly enjoyed Davis's performance, but overall I don't see the Chameleon as a notable villain.

The return of Tai Lung (had he been on his own) had the makings to be an excellent story, especially considering the importance of teacher-student dynamics in KFP4. To see him interacting with Shifu would have been incredible and could have led to further closure on Tai Lung's end (because I think that's kind of what the team was going for anyway), but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see Ian McShane reprise his role, but I wish Tai Lung's characterization had been more reminiscent of the way he was in the first film and more complimentary of his overall character arc. Tai Lung isn't a one-dimensional villain with a singular goal and motivation, and I couldn't help but feel as though the complexity of his character was simplified for the sake of KFP4's narrative.

Tai Lung's presence in KFP4 may be odd, but Shen and Kai's appearances are even more so. Kai, if I remember correctly, was fully obliterated by Po, reduced to literal particles on screen (which is kind of wild now that I think about it). Shen being in the Spirit Realm makes sense all things considered; however, Po and Li had no visible reaction to his presence, which seemed a bit unlikely considering Shen's deeds. This plot hole can likely be attributed to the fact that Shen and Kai's cameos (to my knowledge) were last-minute additions to the movie.

I have to talk about the pacing. I have to. I'm sorry, bear with me.

To me, the film's pacing is erratic and disconcerting. While I can appreciate a quick-moving narrative that doesn't dawdle on storylines that aren't interesting/important, KFP4 kind of flings itself too far in the opposite direction and ends up being frighteningly fast-paced. Once the credits began, I felt like I had been holding my breath for the entire movie.

KFP4 is confusing because while the runtime is standard for a KFP movie, it feels incredibly short. At the same time, the film's story moves at a breakneck speed and leaves little time for heart and development. These things culminate into a barreling boulder of a movie that simply doesn't have time to let its characters, story, or audience take a breath.

A fast pace is not inherently negative, but I don't think it worked in the favor of KFP4. The KFP franchise has always been very emotionally grounded (and just very grounded in general), so to see a film in which emotion/heart takes an aggressive backseat in comparison to action and comedy is jarring. While I think it's unreasonable for fans to expect the same emotional integrity as the original films to be present in the current and upcoming ones, I still think there's room for Po to grow and I felt as though the notion of him developing further was brushed aside in this film.

As for Po's growth, I felt it was nearly nonexistent. The previous trilogy wrapped up his character's journey beautifully and I know that KFP4 was bound to struggle with this particular aspect of making another KFP film; however, just because the strongest pillars of Po's character are established doesn't serve as a valid excuse to reverse his development and repeat what he learned in KFP3.

In KFP3, Po learned firsthand that he is capable of spreading wisdom and teaching kung fu. He also learns that he is constantly growing and that change is inevitable; there is always something more to learn.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now."

"I don't want to be anything more, I like who I am!"

In KFP4, Po pushes against this narrative despite fully accepting it in KFP3, actively reversing crucial parts of his character development achieved in the latter. KFP3 was non-ambiguously about learning to cope with change and responsibility, and I can't help but feel like KFP4 is simply copying this message while not adding anything to it.

Additionally, I felt that KFP4's Po generally felt less personal than he has in the past. In every KFP movie up to the franchise's most recent addition, I felt very connected to Po as an audience member. I felt like I was truly seeing the world of KFP through his eyes. I consider this to be one of the franchise's most impressive feats; it's incredibly difficult to build a universe around a character without making the audience feel limited to one perspective and one part of the world.

With KFP4, I felt both limited and disconnected. The world didn't feel as vast and all-encompassing as it has in the past and Po didn't seem fully like himself. This could be me nitpicking (as I'm prone to do), but I can't recall a single moment in the movie in which Po was alone on screen. Scenes like these are crucial for me because I see them as a meet-cute between the character and the audience, a moment for us to cross the bridge into their world in a way that's silent and intuitive. These little bonding moments are absolutely integral to feeling connected to a character.

Po's dream sequence in the first KFP movie is one of the best examples of this. It presents his aspirations, alludes to his way of life up to the point of the movie, and showcases his personality. During Po's dream sequence, the audience is quite literally inside Po's mind; we're there with him, seeing what he sees, subsequently feeling what he feels. Po is a dreamer at heart and makes the audience feel like dreamers, too.

In KFP4, I felt like I little to no point of reference when it comes to how Po was feeling. I didn't feel immersed in him and his world.

I know I've been very "doom and gloom" throughout this post, which is an exhausting mindset for everyone involved. I want to end my critique with something positive because I think some praise is deserved. Let's just say the movie could have been a lot worse, the details of which I'm sure you're all well aware.

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read this unnecessarily long and detailed review. As long as I help someone translate their conflicted feelings into coherent thoughts, I'll call it a win.

KFP4 has its flaws and there are a lot of aspects that I dislike, but the I greatly admire and respect the hard work put into the film by those of the crew who put their efforts forward and tried their best to make it work. This does not at all excuse my issues with the movie, but it's worth saying.

As for the future of the series, I only hope that the next installment is more considerate of the franchise's origins and why Po's story is being told in the first place. I fully believe that another sequel could be good (even great!), but only given a strong, passionate crew with a great understanding of the characters and world (and I wouldn't be averse to some previous directors returning, just to put it out there).

Thanks again to those who took the time to read this crazy excuse for a movie review. Feel free to either disagree with me or add things in the replies/reblogs, I'm always looking for more thoughts to think.

Until next time!

[lokisprettygirl]

Close Ties (Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Modern AU) (Non canon) (18+)

Read Chapter 7 // Series Masterlist

Chapter 8

Summary : After your respective confessions Daemon sits you down to discuss the new development in your relationship with him.

Warning: 18+, dad's best friend trope, canon (we don't know her..don't like don't read), feeling of hopelessness, slight uncle kink if you squint, familial uncle niece sort of relationship but he's not really her uncle, there will be more smut later, significant age gap but reader is in her mid twenties, mention of infidelity, divorce, smoking and alcohol drinking, physical violence implied

Note : i know in fiction we tend to dramatize things (as we should sometimes) so this chapter might feel boring, underwhelming or a bit too realistic but that's how I wanted to keep it for this series. Not a fan of grown men acting like teenagers hence my take on this Daemon is different. Okay enjoy 😊

You were sitting in Daemon's cabin, your heart racing and palms sweating as you waited impatiently for him to return. Even as work hours had ended his work didn't stop. He had gone to meet some people and had asked you to wait there for him because he wanted to drop you home today.

And ofcourse discuss that unspoken thing between you two. You were kind of happy about the alone time you were getting to have in his absence because you needed some time to process what he had just said to you before he left. What was going to happen between you two now? All your life he has been your Uncle Daemon but now both of you had confessed to having romantic/sexual feelings for each other so where do you go from here?

As he finally returned your heart was pounding and threatening to explode in your chest, you couldn't bear the tension.

“Darling get your bag, your parents are back and they want to see you” he said as soon as he entered so you quickly got up from your chair and you were ready to go. On the drive back home you were quiet because you didn't know what to say, even he seemed lost for words, he wasn't even looking at you.

Was he embarrassed? God you hoped not.

“Ummm everything okay?” You asked finally as you couldn't bear the complete silence anymore,

“Yesss”

One word answer? Yeah you didn't need that right now.

“Mom and dad are fine right?”

“Mmmhmmmm”

“They have been going on a lot of trips lately..that's nice, dad really never had much time in his youth and she always wanted to see the world” he turned his head to look at you as you said that.

That's not the reason why they were taking trips together but he couldn't tell you anything just yet.

As you reached home you found your parents right in the living room so you immediately went in for a big warm hug..

“How's my sweetie doing at work Daemon?” Your mum questioned him so he smiled.

“She's a fast learner.. Doing really well” you looked at him as he praised you and he quickly averted his gaze. Truth to be told he was feeling a bit ashamed of himself at the moment, not because of the confession but because of the way your parents trusted him so deeply to take care of their daughter, especially your mum.

What would they think of him once they find out about this situation between you two and that he didn't exactly have innocent intentions for their daughter?

At the dinner table, you struggled to keep your eyes off of Daemon who had taken the time to shower and change into a comfortable white t-shirt and trousers. All you wanted to do was snuggle against him. However you couldn't help but feel as if he was ignoring you, you didn't want to jump to conclusions so you figured that he was probably just trying to not give away anything in front of your parents.

You felt a level of guilt as well, if you and Daemon choose to go down this path it might just wreck havoc all over again and you didn't really want that, you didn't think you'd be able to get over if he was to leave again..

After dinner you spent some time with your mum as she seemed a bit stressed..you had put down your head in her lap so she began to caress your scalp.

“You know you should dress more appropriately in front of Uncle Daemon” you gulped as she said that, you just had a sling night dress on that barely went past your thighs.

“What do you mean? It's just a night dress” you chuckled as you sat up suddenly,

“I know..you know we have never stopped you from doing anything. You're a good girl but he's just a man, a single one now that he's divorced..” you couldn't help but giggle at her words, she was your mother afterall, could she sense that her old friend was up to something? You hoped not.

“Mumma he's not like that you know that”

“I know..he's a decent man, always has been..but in the end men are just that ..men and he had a fling with Cass didn't he? How is she by the way, I haven't seen her lately" she asked you and Cassandra really was the last person you wanted to discuss right now.

“How was your trip?” you asked her to change the subject so she sighed deeply.

“Tiring” she smiled “I bought a souvenir for you from the states. While we were in LA..we bumped into Stella. What are the odds?” you gulped again as she said that,

“You did? Ummm what did she say ..How does she look now?” your tone was inquisitive, you had never really liked Stella even when everyone was besotted with her, perhaps you were just jealous. You remembered her being mean to you on occasions, she had that typical rich snobby girl vibe that you disliked so much. And you were jealous.

“Well she's still the same as I remember her..she asked about Dae, she kept saying that she always wanted him to go back to London with her as she liked it here but he never budged”

You rolled your eyes as she said that.

“Of course she did…I feel like she's the reason why he left, maybe she didn't like it here and wanted to go back to her home so she influenced him somehow..did you ever find out what had happened between him and umm dad?” you asked her so she sighed again.

“I honestly don't know..I have tried enough times to make your father open up to me but he never did, he and Daemon are sewn from the same cloth. Both stubborn and insufferable at times" you chuckled as she said that. She wasn't wrong though. You had asked Daemon about what had gone down between them but he refused to tell you anything. You didn't really understand why.

As you ascended the stairs and made your way to Daemon's room, you knocked on the door, but he didn't answer so you turned the knob only to find an empty room. He hadn't come back yet, he was in your dad's office downstairs discussing business.

You probably should have turned around and left but a part of you wanted to bask in his scent that was soaked in every inch of that space. You found his clothes that he had worn today scattered all over the bed so you picked up his shirt and wrapped it around your shoulders .

“God you're such a creep y/n”

You placed the shirt back down and took a seat on the bed in a sensuous position with your legs crossed and arms placed elegantly on the mattress ..or you tried. You still didn't know the nature of your relationship with him so this felt blasphemous.

A few minutes later he finally entered his room and as he saw you he gave you a small smirk,

“Mum thinks i should dress appropriately in front of you..is this not appropriate Uncle?” He walked towards you as you said that, the smirk stayed.

“A nighty that is barely covering you is sure as hell not appropriate love”

God you wanted to moan just from him using that voice on you.

“What are you doing here?” He asked you so you stood back up.

“Just wanted to talk about..you know what” he sighed as you said that.

“We are going to talk..I'm not going to cross a line and ruin our familial relationship for a few nights of fun” Daemon's voice was serious and firm as he spoke, and you could tell that he was weighing his words carefully. He reached out to grab his coat from the bed and wrapped it around your shoulders, covering your exposed skin.

“Who said I wanted just a few nights of fun?” you argued so he smiled,

“I assumed..you're still young ..i had all my fun in my twenties” he reverted

“I'm not a slut like you” he winced as you said that.

“Touche..first thing first you need to stop calling me Uncle when it's just you and me” he told you and you agreed.

“ Okay Mister Daemon”

“Just Daemon is fine”

“Okay.. Just Daemon”

“Sit down” you sat down immediately as he said that, he reached closer to you and at first you thought he'd kiss you but he just cupped your cheeks and leaned down to kiss your forehead before he walked away from you, pulled an armless chair from the corner of the room and sat down right in front of you.

“Do you know how old I am?” he asked you.

Stupid question you thought.

“Mmhmm freshly turned forty three”

“Do you know how old you are?”

“Will soon turn twenty six”

“That's eighteen years of age gap..almost a generation apart”

“I know..my math is not that bad”

“Don't get sassy with me right now” You bit on your lips to stifle the smile that was threatening to escape your lips “Your dad is wealthy and famous...you could have anyone in the world you'd put your eyes on. Are you sure this is what you want? Even if temporarily” His tone was a mix of uncertainty and genuine concern he felt towards you.

“If I could have anyone then why not you? All my life I have been around people who just wanted to use me because of my dad. What makes you think I'd ever want a boyfriend or a husband who'd marry me for the same reasons?” you answered him confidently and it made him smile. You were always such a good girl and that's what made this harder for him. He didn't want to ruin you.

“What makes you think I'm not doing the same thing to you? I'm certainly broke and homeless and I desire to regain the wealth and status again. Who is better than one of the most influential men in all of the UK to bring me back to glory? After all what's his is going to be yours someday” His voice was low and laced with a subtle hint of sarcasm,

“You won't do that to me” you said to him softly,

“Why not? Perhaps I'm just playing the long game..”

“You're not ..i have felt it..your care, your beautiful heart, I know you Daemon Targaryen” he couldn't help but smile at your words,

“I do care of course, but how do you know that I'm also not lying to you and using you for my selfish purposes?” he asked you so you smiled.

“Because i have known you all my life and a wise man once told me to look into the eyes of the person you are talking to and you'd know whether they're being truthful to you or not..that's how I know you're not lying to me..i see it in your eyes” his eyes immediately and so quickly teared up as you said that “Besides if you wanted to use me you'd have made your move the first night itself but you didn't, you waited for me to do so, that tells me everything I need to know about your intentions”

He smiled as he looked down, he was so proud of the kind of person you had turned into, perhaps it was your upbringing.

“Alright.. Do you understand the consequences of this thing between us?” he asked you, his voice was turning softer and softer with every question.

“I do”

“Does it scare you?”

“Yes, alot”

“Do you think we can go back to being just uncle and niece if you're bored of me after a few nights? When you see the real me and not the man you have built up in your fantasies? When the mirage is broken and I am all bare in front of you?” He looked at you with a mixture of hope and fear in his eyes, his feelings for you evident in every word that came from his mouth.

You got down on your knees and placed your hands on his thighs which made him shudder so he leaned back into his chair, he was hoping you won't see the erection he had now after seeing you in that position.

“I don't think we can just go back but what makes you think you won't be the one to get bored of me? I'm nothing interesting…especially in bed” his brows furrowed as you said that. He couldn't imagine you being anything but a submissive little freak in bed, you just had that aura surrounding you, he noticed how your face flushed every time he was tough with you at work or commanded you to do something.

“Then I'll teach you my ways, I'm certainly not a novice in that department. I stayed in a broken marriage for more than a decade with a woman that wasn't half decent as you...what makes you think I'd give up on a girl who's finessed so perfectly inside out?”

Your face felt warmer as he said that, no man has ever made you feel so desirable as he did in that moment and he hadn't even touched you yet.

“What if we have no chemistry in bed? And it's all just the forbidden aspect of the relationship that's pulling us to each other?” you questioned him so he chuckled in response.

“Entirely possible but you don't need to worry about that, chemistry is precisely why we are in this predicament in the first place” his tone was playful as he said that. Even if there was that one percent chance that you both would have no compatibility in bed he was going to build it up from scratch but he won't hurt you for something so superficial.

“Mmmhm..i didn't think of that”

“What are you looking for in this relationship? Considering we will get to have one” he asked another question, he could feel your fingertips caressing his thighs gently, the touch was making him lose his concentration.

“I date to marry .. always have”

“What if I don't want to get married again..ever?”

“Then we don't marry”

Why did this feel so normal he wondered? Discussing such heavy subjects with you came so naturally to him.

“What if I want children in the future?? Is it something you'd want?” he asked you so you smiled

“Mm never thought about it..what if I don't want kids in future.. but just me and you?” the smirk on his face reappeared as you said that.

“I have gone forty years without procreating..could easily go forty more”

He was a dreamboat wasn't he?

“Mmmm..I'd have to address you as Uncle in public still”

“That is highly inappropriate but we don't have much of a choice here. What if I want to take this thing slow and don't wish to defile you the moment I have your consent?” he asked you so you smiled.

“You can go as slow as you want as long as you are mine..all mine”

“Words have meaning you know..you can't just speak to me like that if you don't really mean it”

“What makes you think I'm playing with you for fun?”

“Because I'm insecure, I don't think I am what you deserve or need in your life”

You stood up and sat down on his lap as he said that, god you had envisioned this scenario a million times in your head so when it was really happening, it felt really surreal, your arms curled around his neck as you hugged him tightly.

She did a number on him but you won't allow him to feel that way ever again, that if he'd be yours for eternity

He wrapped his arms around your waist, the coat he had put on you was discarded on the floor, he could feel the heat emanating from your body as you clutched onto him.

"You're all i have ever wanted..i literally had everything growing up but you" you whispered in his ear so he put his head down on your shoulder and sighed..

“Thiss is not easy for me" his voice quivered slightly as he continued "Acknowledging or accepting that I'm lusting after a girl I have known since she was twelve..it's not easy. What would she think of me?” he said to you softly so you pulled away a little and cupped his cheeks, he was torn between his feelings for you and his own sense of morality, and it was clear that he was struggling to come to terms with the situation.

“I know..but I have lusted for you since I was twelve, when I didn't even know what this meant and that girl that you're worried about disappointing? She knew her Uncle Daemon would never hurt her, she trusted him implicitly with her life and her safety and she never would have judged you for choosing to love her differently when she's all grown up, an adult in her mid twenties. You are lusting after me ..I'm not that child you knew, i have grown in every possible way and you're attracted to that part of me..but you have always cared about me..all parts of me”

Tears slipped down his eyes so you wiped them with your thumbs before you kissed his forehead, always wanted to do that and it felt as satisfactory as you thought it would.

"Also..that twelve year old me would be screaming right now if she could see this" he chuckled as you said that but then his smile faded again.

“You're so young my darling pixie. I don't want to be a mistake you'd regret all your life or be something that ends up holding you back. You have so much potential and a bright future ahead of you, and I want to make sure you're able to reach it." The words slipped from his mouth with an almost paternal affection, and you could hear the genuine concern in his voice. He truly did not want to be the cause of any harm or regret in your life - he wanted the best for you even if it meant he'd have to suffocate his own feelings.

“Even if it turns out to be a mistake you should know I'd never ever feel regret for you..” you said to him so he placed his fingers on your chin and made you look him in the eyes.

“Time is going to catch up with me..I'd only get older and less attractive..you'd not even be the age i am currently when I'm already hitting sixty” he said to you but it only made you smile.

“Is that supposed to discourage me because you have only gotten sexier with age so far”

“Mmmmhmm? You are going to lie and tell me that I look better now when I'm all pudgy then I did before when I had visible abs?” his voice was playful but you could tell he was insecure.

“You have no idea how badly I want to snuggle against you and this thick body of yours right now”

He gulped in nervousness as you said that and then his cheeks flushed. Everytime Stella cheated on him, the men she chose were always shredded and jacked, so he killed himself everyday to look the same but he had given up now, he didn't have to impress her and he certainly didn't need to impress you..you were willing to take him as he was.

He cupped your cheeks and his fingers brushed over lips, eyes looked at you as if you were the best thing in the world.

“Besides, it's not just your body I'm attracted to ..it's you ..all of you Uncle..your age is the last thing I think of when I am thinking about you” You squeezed your eyes as the word uncle slipped your mouth, force of habit you feared.

“That's so dirty”

“What is?”

“You calling me that when you're dressed so immodestly and straddling me like that” he murmured against your mouth, voice barely audible.

“Godd are you going to kiss me or not”

“Patience sweetheart..”

“I have been patient enough” you leaned into him so he grabbed the back of your neck and pulled you away from his lips,

“Mmhm? Have you been a good girl?”

“So good.. uncle” you said it on purpose this time because he seemed to enjoy it, the hard on was a clear indication.

“I must be a complete degenerate to get turned on by that” he whispered as he kissed the corner of your mouth, being as teasing as he could be.

“I don't mind that at all”

“Ofcourse you don't..you were always a naughty girl”

Your breath hitched in your chest as he talked down to you. God you really didn't want to be patient, you just wanted him to take you in his bed right now

“Worry not though, I'll make sure you never step out of line without my permission.”

And you were a goner.

None of your antics worked on him because he made you get off his lap and sent you back to your room soon after that, you got to keep the shirt of his that you were going to snuggle around with until it would lose his essence.

That night, after three months of torture Daemon finally had the luxury of jerking off to your thoughts, the way that silk night dress clung to your voluptuous body but left a mystery enough for his imagination and how you were so desperate to be played with was all he needed to pump his hard and swollen cock into his fist. The truth of the situation that you were his supposed niece turned him on even more even though it shouldn't.

He pictured your sweet face moaning and groaning underneath him, chanting his name like a prayer and it didn't take much as he combusted and painted his torso with thick spurts of his release.

Lord, how was he going to keep you away from him? Leave you so untouched when you were so desperate to give into him?

He was being a tease, he wanted to keep you on the edge you figured and you just wanted to give him whatever he desired. The conversation he had with you had made you realize that he was so unappreciated so you were going to appreciate the heck out of him, worship him the way a man like him deserved to be worshiped.

You were going to make him realize why you are the only woman he'd ever need in his life again.

Next day at the office you pretended to be the good girl he wanted you to be, especially in public and more importantly in the workplace..you had to be extremely careful, there was a sense of taboo attached to your relationship and you understood that well, you also knew that whenever this thing would go out in public he'd be the only one to take the hit for it, he'd be blamed and shamed for corrupting you but you won't let him take the fall all alone..you'd be there for him.

“Your father is sending me on a business trip to Japan” he said to you as he placed some documents in his briefcase, it was 5 pm so you no longer had to pretend that he was just your boss .

“Whatttt? For how long?” You asked him hurriedly so he sighed.

“Four days, could be five” he answered you and he could see how sullen you looked all of a sudden. Did you really need him around you that much? Were you always going to be so needy for him? He didn't really mind that, it has been a while since he had wanted to spoil someone so badly.

“Ohhhh umm.. okay uhhh okay” you mumbled in your mouth as you jumped up to sit down on his desk. You felt saddened that he would be gone for four days and you won't get to touch him, or bask in his scent, you really were obsessed with him.

He smiled as he walked around the desk to stand tall in front of you and placed his hands on your thighs to pull you closer to the edge of the desk and into his body, the sudden action had turned you on immensely. His hands caressed your thighs before they trailed up to your bosom for a brief moment and then he brought them up until he had your cheeks between his palms.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” He whispered against your mouth and you had to remember to breathe because you were definitely going to pass out from how wrecked your nerves were at the moment.

“Mmmm please” your voice came out all whiny and it made him smile.

“Or i should take you home and kiss you in my bed while you're underneath me love” he whispered against your mouth and your whole body shuddered, even he was able to feel you trembling.

“Ohhh God yess…that..i want that”

“Greedy” he mumbled as he kissed the tip of your nose.

“Tease” you quickly replied and that made him smirk “I'd miss you.. alot..you're going to come back right?” Your eyes teared up so he placed his forehead down on yours, an action that felt very familiar to you.

“Come back To you..for you? Absolutely” he kissed your forehead before he suddenly pulled away from you.

“Oh I forgot to tell you something” he mumbled as he grabbed his briefcase from the desk so you stepped down as well as he was going to drop you back home.

“What is it?” you asked him as you grabbed your purse

“Your father wants me to take my only intern slash assistant on this trip with me..you know for learning purposes”

The scream of excitement that you let out was deafening, he was lucky his cabin was soundproofed.

Sure taking this thing slow was his idea but he had a feeling he'd be the first one to break that rule as he finds himself with you all alone on this trip in a foreign place where he didn't have to pretend to be your Uncle.

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Note: Hope this wasn't disappointing 😂 plenty of stuff to come..

Taglist

@serving-targaryen-realness @annoyingsweetsstranger @anukulee @mcufan72 @insertsomethingsillyhereple-blog @silentf @ajthefujoshi @stupidthoughtsinwriting @ammo23 @shuichiakainx @daddylokisqueen @ipostwhtifeel @anehkael

[nobodyexpectsthe]

rubs a hand down my face. okay, i finished weisshaupt and i've got feelings and they continue to be not great.

i'm very... underwhelmed.

so, my major complaint about this game has primarily been it has an issue with matching the tone of previous games. and i think weisshaupt just like... locked in for me that's not gonna change. people kept saying that weisshaupt was where the game got dark, and if this is its idea of dark i'm... not hopeful for the rest of it.

like, i'm gonna pull at this thread. mila and her dad.

i'm not saying i want the little girl and her dad to die horribly, but i am saying that it's weird that they didn't in a part of the game that was meant to be upping the stakes. mila just being there also felt so... tonally dissonant? how is this adorable little girl not dead. am i being lured into a false sense of security? was this a moment to get attached that's going to bite me later, because she and her dad lived & i foolishly drop my guard and think they're safe?

because otherwise they would both have died horribly to set the stakes and tone. we would have clearly been moving out of the 'everybody is bonding and getting to know each other!' part of the game and directly into the "oh fuck, shit is getting real".

in any other game, that reunion would've also had to have been something you earned. like... this should have been what haven was in dragon age inquisition, where all the calls you make decide whether or not she lives or dies. but there are no calls, there are no choices. other than punching the first warden.

which didn't really seem to affect the outcome?

but i don't think anyone other than some nameless grey wardens died?

i know, i know, dragon age games give you the illusion of choice. you can't do or say anything that is going to drastically alter and impact the story - but it was good at making you feel like you were an active participant in the narrative. this is not the case here.

like, you would have needed to do something to get that outcome. and you would've felt the weight of it when you failed. again, like haven. or even like adamant. there would be moments of choice that would make you feel like you were impacting the world, but as it is - i run from room to room killing bad guys, until i have gone through the end of the scene........ which i don't even need to pay attention to because the game has decided for some reason i have to have recaps at the end of every chapter and i hate that because it kills absolutely any momentum, immersion and investment.

i know there are big moves later on that will dictate whether or not your team lives or dies, but i'm gonna be honest - i actively hate that. because baking those choices into the story meant making a choice that everyone has to live and stay with you to the end, meaning that every other choice in the game that would have had the characters reacting naturally to your leadership and friendship gets tossed out the window.

which means yeah i'm not excited about this next part of the game being a fix-it felix story for our companions bc that feels like a rapid de-escalation of stakes.

like i appreciate everyone has their own personal plots and issues they need to sort out, but it's actually buck wild to go from "the goddamn world is ending" to "rook you need to play therapist for your new friends".

rubs my face

i don't know how to feel about this game. i think i'd like it if it wasn't a dragon age game and wasn't meant to cap off a story that's been running over a decade. it's impossible to meet these high standards, i know, but it just feels so different.

it genuinely feels like some executive played god of war ragnarok and was like "this is popular, this is what dragon age is now" (which like lets be real that's exactly why the game was started and scrapped twice, the refusal to just let the dragon age franchise stay in the goddamn crpg genre it was meant to) and then decided it was also an MCU team up movie.

i think what's compounding the issues is i continue to feel like there was a whole fucking prologue that was cut and things are happening too soon in the story for me to care about anyone. i am doing sidequests, i'm trying to bring everyone out to get attached, i actually do like the companions - but everything feels do disparate and there's such a lack of weight to it.

anyway, ending this rant with this: i don't blame the creatives. at all. knowing how the games industry works, none of these calls were in their hands and they were just desperately trying to get the thing out the door in the timeframe that was demanded of them. making a game with the kind of narrative depth that a dragon age game requires needs so much time, money, resources, and for the devs to be left alone with a product that isn't going to get jerked around constantly by executives that only know money and don't understand a goddamn thing about an enjoyable video game.

there is an enjoyable game here. there is.

i just really wish it wasn't the ending to dragon age.

[rainbowlapisart]

Now that time has passed I wanna share my thoughts on Deadpool and Wolverine as a film, though I will preface by saying it isn't very positive... also, I admit I was high in the theaters watching this, so please treat this post like what it is: just an opinion.

The opening dance sequence was of course amazing, though there was some noticeable CGI. And I think the concept alone of Deadpool literally digging up Logan's grave is a hilarious way to start the movie.

Unfortunately Deadpool feels lamer and more like an asshole in this one. Especially after his character development in the last film I just can't see him desperately wanting to join the Avengers of all teams. Nando v Movies mentioned this but what the hell even is the Avengers now? And why is Happy in charge of who gets let in? And why wouldn't they let Wade in? Yeah he's gross and crass but he has special forces training and is nigh-unkillable. Y'all let Hawkeye in but not Deadpool?

The setup is interesting though I can't fully get behind the idea of anchor beings-- and the further idea that their death leads to "associated" universes collapsing as well as theirs? I don't know, it comes off as "yeah we have all these other characters you care about but Wolverine is the important one so they'd die without him", which is kind of an insult to those characters and that universe.

I admit, I was never big on Wolverine as a character, I always thought he was cool as hell but the only movie of his I've seen was Logan, which was awesome. So I admit that it may just be a case of the movie wasn't meant for me, but still I am a Deadpool fan so of course I'm gonna see this anyways. Super glad we got a good suit for him but I wish we didn't have to wait until the very end for him to put the cowl on.

The Johnny Storm/Captain America tease and bit was really funny I will say. Personally I was too stoned to get the joke at first, I honest to god thought he was just Chris Evans, but now that I've sobered up the misdirect is really funny.

Deadpool is directly responsible for getting Johnny Storm killed. I know Deadpool is a murderer and maybe I shouldn't give a shit about this, but it just feels like an unlikable thing for him to do. Like... that's a guy. That's a hero. It's not like he was being an ass to Wade or anything, he was an ally to the two and got killed for no good reason.

There was barely any screentime for the side characters that were some of the best parts of the first films. After Deadpool 2 I was really excited to see the X-Force working together in the next movie. The dynamic between Wade, Cable, and Domino are really fun and I think this Wolverine would've fit right in. It feels like a missed opportunity to not have the X-Force be the team to help fight Cassandra.

Speaking of, how about those cameos? I never watched Elektra or Blade so these kind of meant nothing for me. I watched this with my dad and he got pretty excited. Laura doesn't really do anything that memorable other than talk to Logan, and of course Channing Tatum's Gambit is the best character in all of cinema. Completely and utterly obsessed with him and I need a trilogy about him immediately.

I didn't love Wolverine's whole "letting his universe down" thing. It gets hyped up so much then when we learn what happened it was a bit underwhelming. I just can't see a universe where the X-Men are taken down by a mob of humans.

I laughed my ass off lots of times. "The Proposal. :)", "Suck it Fox, I'm going to Disneyland", "There's only ever gonna be one Blade", "He has risen, babygirl!", and pretty much everything out of Nicepool.

In general it kinda feels like it's regressing what was so good about Deadpool 1 and 2. It also feels like it's more for fans of the Fox Marvel movies than Deadpool fans. I hope that since this movie is "Deadpool and Wolverine" that means we can get a more proper Deadpool 3 in the future that brings back those who I missed dearly.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Seeing the Wicked movie together feels like how Billy and Loki would reconnect after their latest friendship falling out tbh. I remember that Loki's at LEAST enough of a fan to know all the lyrics to The Wizard And I.

Maybe. I feel like the stunt Loki pulled on Kava is a little too extreme to be patched over with a movie date. To be clear, I don't think Loki was in the wrong-- and I do think that Billy and Teddy should be capable of understanding that, and forgiving them, but as rulers, they're in a tough position.

I don't think I've ever really written about this, but I was kind of disappointed and underwhelmed by Loki (2023). It was very well-written and I loved the artwork, and I thought the initial premise was really exciting, but ultimately, the series didn't have anything new to say or do with Loki's character. After so many stories about breaking the cycle of what it means to "be Loki", seeing them once again forced into playing the villain in order to save the day-- and bearing the brunt of everybody's consequential hatred-- felt like a step backward. It felt punishing. And it's ground that we've retrod several times since Agent of Asgard, particularly during the Aaron era, where Loki often appeared to be treading water until finally breaking through in the War of the Realms finale.

There is, of course, more to Loki than that, and I want emphasize again that it was very well-written, and the character felt extremely well-realized, but overall, the character ends in a worse place than where they started. And I think that was especially stark in #3, because Billy and Teddy are their established friends who have, particularly in War Of The Realms, been able to hold a very nuanced dialogue with Loki about empathy and forgiveness. To end the issue with Billy echoing that old, tragic refrain-- "damn you"-- was a little heartbreaking.

In Thor (2020) #24, and, subsequently, Defenders Beyond, Ewing set Loki back on the path they'd started down in Agent of Asgard, culminating in Immortal Thor, where they have evolved into a fully realized "god of stories" who can play multiple roles, including the villian, when necessary, without setting back their relationships or personal growth. Loki (2023) was a weird interlude between Defenders and Immortal that wasn't written by Ewing and doesn't quite fit into his vision for the character-- rather that try to resolve it, Ewing's mostly just stepped around it. It's probably a long shot, but I know Ewing likes Billy and Teddy a lot, so I'm holding out hope for a reconciliation between them.

[thealias0]

I might have came up with alternate resolutions for both The Giggle and Empire of Death in the shower

I think that those resolutions are both really underwhelming and deserved more. So, let's start what i came up with The Giggle.

Originally, The Toymaker was defeated by him just messing up. No clever play from anyone. 14 and 15 haven't displayed one of their biggest traits, which is their Time Lord super intelligence. They only displayed their ability to play catch, which is just such a waste imo. My proposal: Game of catch goes just like it did in the episode, but eventually 14 and 15 look at each other in understanding. They have cooked a plan. 14 catches the ball and throws it to 15, but he misses and ball falls off the edge of the rooftop. Both act shocked and 15 immediately sprints into the building. Toymaker looks at what just transpired and laughs and screams. "Go ahead, run if you wanna play hide and seek next. You will not escape me anyways." Turns to 14. "Are you proud? Your next incarnation revealed himself to be a coward! I expect many things from you, Doctor, but that sure surprised me. Now, you lost the game, so now's time for me to collect my reward." 14 smirks. "I wouldn't be so sure, as I believe... it is still falling" The moment he said that, the ball hurling from the entrance to the building hits The Toymaker and falls to the ground. In the way stands none other than 15 visibly exhausted from running and expression of relief on his face. Toymaker visibly angry, scared and confused asks: "Wh- What?! How did you... No... don't tell me-" "That's right, Toymaker" 15 expeled. "There are no rules forbidding the usage of time machines" 14 finished the thought. Then the flashback plays out showing the whole thing from 15's perspective. He runs as fast as he can straight to the TARDIS passing himself on the way, travels to the time and place where the ball is supposed to land, catches it, travels back and runs back to the rooftop passing himself on the way back. The rest transpires as it did in the original. I'm not claiming it's the best, great or even good alternate ending, but i think it would be more satisfying than what we got.

The resolution for Empire of Death is one of the most disappointing events I've ever seen in Doctor Who. It made Sutekth into a complete joke. Are you really telling me that the supposed most powerful being in existence. A god so powerful and terrifying that even The Toymaker ran in terror, wasn't able to handle a fucking rope? I don't care if it's a "smart rope" whatever that means. Toymaker was able to turn bullets into confetti, people into bunch of bouncy balls and implied he could turn galaxies into figet spinners or whatever. Sutekth is supposed to be more powerful than that and he couldn't do anything about it? Sutekth deserves much better than this. So this is what i came up with. It isn't nearly as detailed as the toymaker stuff, but i hope you'll enjoy the concept. So, i decided to actually use the spoon to save the universe in hopefully interesting way. I didn't think of any good scenario yet, but here's my idea for the concept itself. What if Doctor defeated Sutekh by using his power against him using the spoon. By that i mean that The Doctor could psychologically manipulate Sutekh into believing that the spoon through some classic Doctor Who technobabble, power of love and fairy tale salt spilling mumbo jumbo became an actual weapon capable of defeating him. Sutekh being a god and having power over reality itself could subconsciously make that story a reality and unknowingly empowering the spoon with his own power, which then Doctor could use to defeat him.

So that's what i came up. I am not a writer, so i apologize if that's an unbearable slop of a read. I'm not claiming that the dialogue i wrote is any good, as im just not experienced in writing. All i did here was not very thought through and only served the purpose of conveying my core ideas about the alternate resolutions for those stories. Hope you enjoyed and have a nice day

[keepthedelta]

i find myself becoming quite fond of oscar but i feel like i’m being gaslit about his level of dominance. i’m not the biggest fan of mclaren in general so i won’t pretend i pay close attention to their progress but both in 2023 and 2024 the conversations around that team had me thinking norris was in a lot more danger than it turned out stat wise. if anything i think mclaren will end up with pretty evenly placed team members and they might pass the lead on each other back and forth. i also lowkey feel like oscar was set up by the narrative that he was going to “ destroy” norris coming in as a rookie and now as a second year bc both times those stats came out all of a sudden it’s “ we need to have a conversation about piastri” and all these unfair criticisms of him. and then there’s ppl who keep extending said time with “ he’s still a rookie, next year he’ll do it” like give it up it’s been two years. he’s not even doing bad, i wouldn’t have thought much of the gap if it weren’t for the way ppl prop him up.

yeah this is very similar to how i feel about oscar. i like him, i think he's a good driver, i am generally hoping for him to do well. but the discourse around him is insane to me. broadly i think he had a very good rookie year but i think his 2024 season was deeply underwhelming to me. when he was on form he was excellent, his performance in baku in particular was superb (although i disagree with the argument that just because it was charles that he beat it's proof of his brilliance because charles, although an excellent driver, is not nearly as good as his fans think he is) but when he wasn't on form he was just a bit meh. i saw so many people talking about him completing every lap of the season like it was an accomplishment, but i just saw it as him having more opportunity than everyone else but still finishing 4th in the wdc (i know there's more nuance to it than that but still). it was just unimpressive to me.

some of the oscar hype is also just lando hate imo. people got very weird about lando and oscar was used as a tool in that. i still think he's a good driver, but his qualifying in particular was nowhere near as good as lando's, his race pace was generally a bit lacking in comparison to lando, and frankly his overtaking was a bit shit. he was at his best when he was driving from the front and defending imo.

while i don't think his flaws should be excused "because he's a rookie" i do think he'll continue to improve as he gains more experience. although he and lando are very close in age lando has much more experience, and oscar will gain more skill as time goes on. he's found himself in an incredibly fortunate position of having a very good car (although in some ways having such a good car shows his flaws very obviously), and he needs to take advantage of that if he actually wants to win

[nymphacae]

An Update

It's been a minute. I'll keep this as brief as I possibly can because this is really hard to talk about, but I'll still put this under 'read more' so you're not bombarded with personal shit on the dash.

The truth is, I lost my passion for art a while ago, and I've been struggling to get it back. It's hard when I'm so viciously repulsed by my own art that I get physically ill.

I have not been doing well, for multiple reasons I won't discuss in depth, I just never wanted to be open about it because the internet isn't exactly a great place to cast your woes. But after all this radio silence and worrying about people waiting on me, I'm stuck between wanting to be private and wanting to talk about what's been going on. When the thing is I can't talk about what's going on, really. It's all just too much.

My sense of reality, for one, has been VERY wobbly and I've been struggling with hallucinations, nightmares, and a severe paranoia that makes it very hard to interact with people. I have already made multiple attempts to take my life, one of which was nearly successful and debilitating. I'll spare the grittier details, but even this feels like a grossly-underwhelming overview of everything...I wish I could put this into some pretty-looking comic, or just present this in a more aesthetically-pleasing manner that isn't an ugly wall of text. But I can't, and this is all I have.

Truthfully, I'm scared to death to be this honest. This is already excruciating to type out. This isn't to summon a pity party, it's why I've held off talking about anything for so long - it's more just an explanation on the severity of the situation, and why things have been so stagnant.

I want to create art again, I think, but I'm trapped. I have ideas, but every time I so much as look at my art or I lift up a pencil, I end up getting sick. Being online at all results in panic attacks. I wish it wasn't this way, more than anything, but I've started to accept that this is probably just what I deserve. It's hard to explain.

I don't know...I don't have solutions or promises other than I'm still alive, somehow, and I'm probably working through it. I'm just sorry about the lack of development in anything, I wanted to do so much and it kills me that I haven't.

Blegh, this ended up being long. I'll wrap it up here, no point in saying much more since this is so gloomy. But, to my mutuals that I've seemed distant with because of all this: it is absolutely not your fault and I assure you that I've missed you, I've just been awful at maintaining contact during this time. You're all so amazing and talented and deserve all the support in the world. I hope you know that.