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popculturebuffet · 1 year ago

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Into the Spider-Verse Finale: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse Review (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

In Memory of John Romita Senior 1930-2023

Let's do this one last time. I"m Jacob Mattingly, and for the past few months, i've been reviewing the first apperances of spider-men. I've seen them enjoy crackers and milk, knock themselves out on furnaces, drum to deal with their pent up angst, rage, get powers from a spooky god while buck naked, and crumple a pipe like paper in their hand. It's been a long, loving ride into comics that not only got my comics reviewing mojo back but allowed me to share one of my faviorite franchises with you fine folks, many of whom don't usually read comics.

So we've come to the end of this retrospective, a bit later thanks to all the chaos of me using, but appropriatley as the final review i'm doing from the only home i've ever known. After 561 reviews here, it's time to say goodbye and given this is both one of the best projects i've done in my career and one where i've finally started editing better, it feels like the note to go out on.

This review has also been super intemidating to start. I'm an animation and comics nerd.. and Into is easily one of the best animated films AND best superhero films ever. It's also MASSIVELY influental, something I didn't see coming when I walked out of the theater, but really should've and we're now starting to see in earnest now the production cycle has had enough time to catch up to this film being a MONSTER hit. From modern masterworks like Mitchells Vs the Machines and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish to upcoming possible greats like TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, it's very clear studios are now far more likely to break from the standard CG styles and do something fresh, and audiences fucking love it. I hadn't realized till this film how much you could play with animation, from the concept of ones and twos to making a comic book movie look like a comic book. Any time I paused while watching this it felt like looking at a panel. The art here is gorgeous and the script matches it. So the question was both what would I have to say about the film and would I be able to live up to it? The only way to find out. is to take the leap. So join me under the cut as we swing into the spider-verse once again and see what makes this film so great 5 years later. Also as a heads up spoilers for the sequel will be present so if you somehow havne't seen it, you've been warned.

Let's Do This One More Time.... To get into why this film happened we have to get into Sony's treatment of spider-man. Said treatment has been a near neverending cycle of doing something right with it.. only to do something that shoots what they did right several times in the foot, stabs it and lights it on fire. Sam Rami makes two great spider-man films? Let's overly interfere with the last one and weigh it down with a lot of stuff it didn't really need. Amazing Spider-Man was decent with two tremendous leads in Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone but had some places to improve like peter being a skater boy she said see you later boy? Let's get complicated with it, overly focusing on Peter's Parents, including PLANNING TO HAVE PETER'S DAD SHOW UP ALIVE, a mysterious man in a trench coat from a tie in novel, and make harry osborn into this.

It's hard to decide which is worse. I mean their both worse than that time Harry Got a Mustache in College

A very high bar no doubt, but it's hard to decide if modern pale emo kid or GNEEE GNEEE I'M THE GREEN GOBLIN GNEEE GNEE was worse. Though I think we all can agree sony deciding "You know this pathetic weirdo we just had kill one of our most popular characters? LET'S GIVE HIM A MOVIE" is just.. one of the most baffling decisions they've made. Popular Anti-Hero with his own history, rogues and dynamic outside of spider-man Venom makes us an unexpected hit? Let's give him a sequel.. which was actually logical. So naturally they also decide "let's make OTHER spider-man villians and anti heroes into their own movies" I mean who DOSEN'T want a kraven movie?.... me.. me don't want that. I want Kraven IN a movie, but why. And the less said about morbius that dosen't involve Matt Smith giving one hell of a performance or weirdly dancing to show off his impressive abs the better.

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Why wasn't the film just... Matt Smith as a more villianous version of morbius? A riddle for the ages. The point is sony has a GOLDEN franchise.. but often has no idea what to do with it. It's why when this film was pitched they were trying badly to find something to do with it, hence Venom. So since they had an animation division that while not terrible only really had one franchise of note, head of spider-man stuff Amy Pascal went to two of the men who'd made one of the most succesful animated films of the time and who were on a high point in their career and asked what they would do. These men.. were Christopher Lord and Phil Miller. The two had had a rocky start in their careers, show running the cult hit Clone High, which while well loved to the point we finally got a new season this year that was pretty dang good, wasn't exactly a big hit. Eventually though the two broke out with 21 Jump Street, a film no one had a ton of faith in hearing about it, myself included. The film was a comedy reboot of the old series, lampooning the whole premise and lamp shading the hell out of everything from this being a reboot, to our heroes not remotely passing for high schoolers, to high school drama itself, and not only revived Lord, Miller and Stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's careers. This naturally got a sequel, which was not only even better and more meta, cumulating in a hell of an ending lampshading the idea of this being a franchise, we also got one of the funniest scenes in the history of film. And yes that's a hill i'm wiling to die on.

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And even THAT woudn't be it as the two would go on to make the Lego Movie, a film that was both stylistically brilliant, hilarious and used the property brilliantly AND followed that up with The Lego Batman Movie. The two had a clear talent for taking a property, doing something fresh with it while honroing what worked so they were a no brainer to ask to do this. As for why would they.... IT'S SPIDER-MAN. If I got offered to make a movie about spider-man i'd do it. Who wouldn't?

Ironically though while Miller and Lord had the creative vision, something even I didn't know till recently is that they didnt' direct the film. In fact out of them only Lord wrote the film, co writing it with Rodney Rothman, who also co-wrote 22 Jump Street which as established above, is quality as hell. Rothman's Resume up to Jumpstreet isn't really anything huge, having done writing stints on underclared, the short lived ups animated sitcom Game Over, and having been a writer on Letterman, the last of which i'm mostly noting because he proudly revealed he was the one Chris Farley threw in a dumpster, but he clearly just needed more of a shot as both films he's co-written prove.

He also wasn't flying solo in direction, with his co directors, while also inexperinced in directing for the most part, having far more animation experince. First up is bob perschetti, who did the story for the original puss in boots and a smaller film called the little prince, and did tons of storyboard work for dreamworks, having worked on Shrek 2, Monsters Vs Aliens, Flushed Away and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which I previously covered. He was also an inbetweener on a smorgasboard of disney films.

Finally we have Peter Ramsey, the only one to have directed a theatrical film before this with Rise of the Guardians, and was a storyboard artist on a list of flims so massive and prestigous i'm just going to let this wikipedia screencap speak for itself.

Yeahhhh. See I point out the lack of direction credintials not to shame them, sometimes it can take decades before you get your shot, but more because it's so utterly shocking that as experinced as these guys are only one of them had directed before this. The film is gorgeous and groundbreaking.. and makes it that much more baffling it took this long for these three guys to get such a big , well deserved shot and given all have projects going on right now, I couldn't be happier.

So the production itself seemed to go smoothly for the most part. The only exceptions were Sony nixing a cameo from tom holland (as they found it confusing) and something massive: one year out from the film being released Lord and Miller felt the film wasn't working and thus decided to rewrite it. This itself dosen't seem too bad, a year seems like a lot of time... but in animation terms.. that's hardly anything and also heavily involved taking what they already had and figuring out how to recontextualize it. If you couldn't tell from going that far, the duo were fans, having read spider-man comics and done research for it, picking thier spider-men carefully. The results.. well the results are nothing short of amazing, spectacular or peter parker.

Taking the Leap: As I mentioned earlier Spider-verse.. changed film animation. This isn't hyperbole either; if you look at the bulk of this year's animated films their all more stylistic with many, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem and Nimona in paticular, using a combo of 2d and 3d animation and it stretches into last year two with The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots and in 2020 with Sony's own Mitchell's Vs the Machines. More studios are experimenting with their style and trying something diffrent and what's more remarkable is that.. they aren't just 1:1 copying spiderverse. Many have taken it's sketchy style sure , but no one's doing it the exact same way: Spider-Verse often resembles a comic book, TMNT a sketch book and nimona something else entirely. Each is drawn and rendered.. but each in a way all it's own.

It's not to say films before this didn't have their own style: as my friend Kammie pointed out in a long conversation about animation recently, Dreamworks has always had it's distinct character models and before this The Peanut Movie (one of my faviorite cg animated films ever) and Rango both tried to play with it. Peanuts in paticular also took a stab at emulating the comics it's based on. The problem was while both films were gorgeous.. neither really took off. Peantus was a modest success, but the Schultz family had no interest in a sequel, while Rango didn't really land at the box office. And when something fails hollywood tends to blame the work itself and not circumstance or

Spider-Verse broke that by not only being a mainstream hit but one that really worked the animation as hard as it could. It gets .. incredibly technical and even I wasn't aware of how much till going to tv tropes but simply: most animation is done on ones or twos. Ones means a unique image every frame, twos means a unique image every other frame. You usally use one or the other. Spider-Man.. does BOTH, which is as exausting as it sounds, using 2s on the characters and 1's on the character work to give it a more dynamic vision, and shaking it up when needed, such as having miles on ones for most of the film , the rest of the spider people on twos, and then miles on twos after the what's up danger scene. It's a LOT of dedication and that's not even getting to how every spider-person has a slightly diffrent animation style. The results are eye candy in it's purest form: every pause is a panel, every action catches your eye, everything works. And the panel part is paticuarlly notable as the crew did their damndest to make this LOOK like a comic in motion. It's something that , as many great comic book movies and superhero films as we've had.. you simply cannot do in live action. So if it's so obvious why did it take till 2018 to do?

It's likely other suprehero animated films had the idea.. but there was no way in hell they were getting the budget to do it. And if you've seen say the incredibles, mask of the phantasm of megamind, those budgets are already pretty damn vast for their times. Animation is a great medium.. but when it comes to film... the big studios get complacient really fast. Animated Films are EXPENSIVE and a huge swing like this is a radioactive spider-risk. It's why up until spider-verse most studios have stuck to their guns: Disney and Pixar have ocasoinal style shifts but you can genuinely tell when a film's by either stuido, Illumination basks in it's cheap but effective house style, and Warner.. well warner just dosen't give a shit in general why would it here. Dreamworks is the only one that really shook up styles and even then until this year they didn't shake up how they aniamted. After all if it works.. why fix it. And before anyone asks, no i'm not saying "ALL THESE OMVIES ARE TERRIBLE FUCK THEM AMIRITE". I'm saying that the industry got complacent and it's something I, an animation critic, didn't even realize till spider-verse's effects started being felt. Animation really did change because this one film took a leap and it's only for the better: Mutant Mayhem looks to be the best tmnt adaptatoin ever, a VERY high bar from an obessive tmnt fan like me, Nimona looks awesome, i've heard good things abotu Ruby Gilman from Kammie, and Puss In Boots was fucking magic. And while they all likely woud've ben good regardless, this leap has really changed things and hopefully will continue to from here on out as more and more new films catch up lead time wise. To quote Kammie

"The new giants of major western movie animation are Sony and Dreamworks, they're willing to innovate and take risks where most other studios falter and resort to retreading old territory or using stock plots. Do they still innovate technicalogically? Yes. Does that matter when you make movies that only look slightly more realistic than the last one you did? No. We don't go to animation for realism, we go to it for escapism, to see worlds that are utterly impossible and larger-than-life characters, find places that we can only visit in our dreams, to see sheer spectacle that's not possible in live action. Animation more than anything is only limited by technology, and it's a testament to it that most live action films have CGI, a form of animation, involved in making them what they are."

But animation is only half of it. How's the story? Good: But that's pretty obvious so let's go into our characters and what not shall we?

Miles Morales: Anyone Can Wear the Mask

So first up danger is our hero.. well one of many but Miles is our focus and was a perfect choice for it: his arc in the comics is a coming of age story in the vein of the original and ultimate spider-men (the latter being miles predecessor), and really explores what it means to be spider-man: in the comics Miles rejects the idea outright until peter dies.. and he realizes with great power comes great responsiblity and that he can be what peter was.. and then has to settle into the harsh realities of being spidey as well as the good it brings. Bringing a character like that into a story with a bunch of other spider-man all showing what it could mean with diffrent people was genius. The film also nicely tweaks things to make an already good story better. The first is miles age: in the comics he's currently 16-17.. but started out as a 13 year old. The idea worked, both to seperate it from the 16 year old peter he replaced and to make the danger that much more horrifying as it's happening to a much younger person and make some doubts about him doing it more understandable, but it works better to have miles as a teen here, to have him grown up just enough to understand a lot.. but still question who he is. It also allows the nice parallel of getting his powers around the same age as peter.

Another is that in the comics while Miles gets into brooklyn visions by lottery.. what that means for him really isn't focused on. It's hard, but he adjusts to it fairly well and the issue is more having to spider-man from a heavily montired private dormintory. Into instead explores what it would really mean for a kid from a working class family having to leave all the people he knew and grew up with to go to a fancy prep school where most of his classmates ignore him at best. In the comics Miles at least had his best friend going with him: here's he's just alone in an unfamiliar place he badly wants to leave.

I also like that his getting into the school isn't ALL luck. While he literally won the lottery, and yes they really do lottery children's chances for a better future and yes it's fucked up, his mom makes note of him passing the entrance exam and while trying to flunk out delbieratley, his teacher notes he got an exact zero... and then gives him a 100 as to get the answers THAT wrong.. you have to know all of them. Miles is a smart kid.. but he just hates where he is because he's alone. It's not helped by his.. let's say complicated relationship with his dad. Jefferson.. is not the most likeable guy. He's more than the comics where he's an out and out anti-mutant racist douchebag who outright abandons his son when he finds out (he DOES get better, but it's still a dick move), but he's still a domenering presence: when Miles brings up wanting to leave the school Jefferson is admant on him staying. He refuses to really.. empthaize with his son, being mad at his habit of putting up nametags, not really supporting his grafiti art (another deft addition to the character It ruly love), and not really getting him. Jefferson MEANS well: he wants miles to have a life jeff didn't. Like in the comics i'ts heavily implied Jeff didn't really start with anything nor did he or Aaron have the best life, having to steal to survive. He grew past it while Aaron embraced the criminal life style, but it's clear Jefferson WANTS his son to do better.. but is so stubborn and controlling he can't see that miles is miserable and that he needs to stop putting his foot down and start actually listening. The school WILL be good for miles in the long run.. but it's hard for him to see that without anyone helping him. It's easy to see WHY Miles prefers his uncle. Aaron davis isn't the best person, and we'll get to that.. b ut it's clear he loves his nephew and encourages him in school. It's just Aaron also takes the time to LISTEN, to try and gently push miles, asking him what he actually likes about the schol, encouraging him to make a move on his crush. Grnated the shoulder touch is a very awkward move no one should try and I never would, seriously don't touch a woman without their permission folks, but he means well with it. He also wants better for Miles.. he just respects miles more as a person. And with Miles feeling like one person but being shoved in another direction... being spider-man was the last thing he needed. Something I like about Miles as a character both here and in the comics.. is that being spider-man DOSEN'T make his life better at first. See even if most spider-men eventually get the lowered boom of someone they love dying, most get to at least enjoy it first. Looking back at the origins, Peter getting his powers takes a young nerd with no power and gives him all of it, Spider-Ham got a surrogate mom and teh power to crumple other peoples pipes like paper in his hand, while NOir's origin was.. less than ideal

He still got the power to fight back against a corrupt world, and Gwen much like peter got a power high. Miles.. never gets that in either version. In the comics he's utterly terrified and here he not only gets that.. but also gets humilated: trying the touch fails..as it likely woul'dve anyway, and instead messes up gwen's hair in the short run and makes it kick ass in the long run, sends him running in a panic from school security, and gets him stuck to about 80 dozen things. It shows the part most spidey origins and a chunk of superhero origins skip: that while getting powers is fun.. the learning curve usually sucks. Instead of the power high.. miles is just terrified by what he is and what he must do now and has no idea what he's doing. While most spider-man get the good of it first and have to learn the harsh realities of being a superhero later, usually with some horrific death, miles is one who from the get go realized with great powers comes a spinerett load of trauma. It's something the next film will deconstruct, but for now it's simply stripping that back and showing that while anyone can be spider-man.. it's not exactly a fun job as it is on paper.

So Miles goes to try find his uncle and when that fails, goes to the place he got bit by the spider..

Because he gets thrown into a supervillian battle, meets the real spider-man, and gets a hard truth from Peter Peter: You're like me. Miles: I don't want to be. Peter: I don't think you have a choice, kiddo.

It's not Blonde Peter being harsh or cruel.. he's just honest. You can try running away from powers, trying to live a normal life.. but eventually it catches up with you. Peter's tried to quit multiple times.. but it dosen't stick because great power, great responsibility. He can try and give up, leave it to other guys.. but at the end of the day having this gift means using it wisely.. and in miles case having it also makes him a target. And Miles ALMOST gets a mentor.. but then peter dies and gruffly tells Miles "You gotta save the world now slugger". Oh and not two seconds later he nearly dies getting chased by a superman. And he wasn't even supposed to be here today. Honestly I didn't even realize till I sat down to write this but the first half hour or so of the film.. is pretty bleak for miles. He gets power he dosen't want, has to watch the world's greatest hero die, and is left in charge of a major task that someone with a decades more experince died trying to do. Oh and he was told to keep it secret and can't tell those he loves. His life is just one hard long cruel cosmic joke.. and the sequel makes it even worse given we now know the spider wasn't even supposed to bite him and he gets BLAMED for watching someone die. Also just to get this out of the way now, while I was calling bullshit on Miguels claims Miles was responsible for Peter's death in the theater, I did watch the scene carefully just to throughly debunk this. And shockity shock... Peter would've died whether miles was there or not. The goblin suckers him slightly due to miles.. but it's nothing that really slows him down or injures him. What ultimately leaves peter at deaths door and weak enough for the kingpin to do his finisher on the poor guy is getting ganged up on by Prowler and Goblin, and then slammed into the collider. Aaron would've been there, Norman would've been there.. this all was supposed to happen, as tragic as it was. Fate changed by Miles getting bit.. but it changed this world at least for the better as it'd probably be gone along with 5 more spiderpeople and incalculable innocents. So in conclusion: eat a dick miguel, let's move on.

So with that Miles is left shattered and wonders home.. and Jefferson is warm and supportive and just kidding: he tells miles he made a commitment, rio has to give him a look like "come on" and when asked if he hates spider-man, while his child is clearly shaken by SOMETHING, his reponse is "well yeah".

And with the power of hindsight this .. really underlines why Miles has confidence issues the rest of the film. Why he struggles with his powers: he was already feeling out of place in his new school and having most of what makes him who he is questioned by his dad, and then he goes through spider-puberty and watches the world's greatest hero get body slammed into a science machine, gets yelled at by said hero that

Watches said hero get mob executioned by a villian he now has to stop, and then gets chased by his top enforcer while spooky but dope as fuck music played. It's a miracle Miles hasn't had a full on nervous breakdown after all this, let alone gets up, and decides he HAS to press on, visiting the memorial and realizing that no one else is going to come do this.. I mean they will but what makes it work is he dosen't know that yet. All miles knows is the one thing keeping the city from falling apart is gone, and he's the only one who can do this and as rightfully scared and afraid and alone the poor boy is... he has to try. He may not be quite ready to take the leap.. but he's ready to put a foot off the roof.

While miles has plenty of deadly and superior foes to fight.. his ultimate enemy is himself...

.... metaphorically this movie. Miles has the heart of a hero.. but is so scared by being one and so sure he CAN'T do it that it's a self fufilling prophecy. It's something expertly shown in how his powers work: he can't get his hands to stick or unstick on queue or his camo to work unless he needs it to flee. His powers are acting on his panic and anxiety. As peter points out with the sticking, it only lets go when you relax and Miles can't relax, he can't relax cuz he's a boinger.. and because you know, he's in a VERY stressful situation. Most spider-men at least get a few simple crooks before they get to the supervillians. Miles has to fight the sinister six on his first day. I'ts easy to see why he can't trust himself: if a peter ten years deep in can't do it, how can he? It's telling the one time pre-what's up danger miles really masters his abilities fully is with web swinging, when he just has a chance to relax and learn.

It's not helped by Miles essentially seeing the ghosts of his future right in front of him: Through Peter Prime, he's seen he can die easily. Through peter b. he sees even if he dosen't being spider-man might destroy his personal life. and through gwen he's seen how he could grow isolated and alone through tragedy. He sees his possible future in two people he grows to love, one platonically one nto so much both who we'll get to, and it scares him. It doesn't help Peter. B is the ONLY spider person willing to give him a chance: while Gwen likes him, she thinks he's not ready and the others all expect him to be spider-man NOW dammit, when all of them had a much less steep learning curve. Except Peni, her learning curve was basically "Suprise we released the spider your dad made into this room! Enjoy being radioactive!"

Into The Spider-Verse is ultimately a film about how others expectations of you can eat you alive.. and the only way to really escape that.. is to be yourself. Not to IGNORE that other people exist or be a callous jackass, but to trust in yourself you'll make the right call. To trust you to do the right thing when things are their darkest.

And it's ironic that what finally gets him to have faith in himself.. is the person who seemed to have the least faith in him. In the end the person who enrcourages miles is Jefferson. While miles has been having his arc.. Jeff has had his own, as miles has been mia since meeting peter. b, and then found his brother dead.. and blamed miles as spider-man for it. Thankfully this gets cleared up enough, but it clearly rattled Jeff enough to realize that holding fast and trying to be constantly authortive and unbending.. isn't working and never has. It's only by opening up does he not only finally close the gap with his son, even if that comes AFTER all this because you know, webbed up mouth and all, but makes miles finally have some confidence in himself. And the speeech itself is just.. beautiful.

Jefferson Davis : Look, sometimes... people drift apart, Miles. And I don't want that to happen to us, okay? Look, I know I don't always do what you need me to do or say what you need me to say, but I... I see this... this spark in you, it's amazing, it's why I push you. But it's yours, and whatever you choose to do with it, you'll be great.

I'll also give Brian Tyree Henry credit as he's just perfect in the role, being a hardass.. but in a way that makes it clear he's not 100% dick and here him opening up.. is beautiful. And it's really what miles needed: While Peter. B wasn't a TERRIBLE mentor, trying his best to encourage miles, what miles ultimately needed was the simplest message: be yourself. Which yes is INCREDIBLY common in animated media. But it's done well here. It also makes me wish the cut line with peter used in the trailers was used here as it really gets to the heart of the film: Don't do it like me, do it like you. Miles problem was that he tried too hard to be what others wanted and that people pushed him to hard to be somethign else, wether that meant instantlly accepting a hard situation in his new school from his dad or instantly fitting the role as spider-man from the other spider-people. it's only when he's told just.. do it his way that he finally can accept it.. and can finally CONTROL it. What I like is that while in a lot of other superhero films, miles suddenly being able to control his powers would be an asspull .. here it's CAREFULLY set up: Miles coudlnt' really control them because he was scared. It's once he lets go of his fear of death, fear of failure, and fear of himself.. that he can take a leap of faith. His ascendency to spider-man is also one of the best sequences in any animated movie. Not taking notes on that. It just is.

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Every fucking second of this is perfect. "What's Up Danger" itself is dope as fuck, and perfectly fits the song. Black Caviar's beat is pure magic and Blackways lyrics perfectly fit the confidence Miles finally has. Their a bit rougher than him but fit who he is NOW: he is the amazing, spectacular, the ULTIMATE spider-man. After a whole film of doubting himself, not knowing where to go or what to do or if he can do this... HE CAN. And he WILL. There's so many great moments: him spraypainting the costume, taking one of peter's looks and making it is his own with his own talent and passion, the now iconic upside down falling shot that graced every trailer, and him swinging and wall jumping through new york, finally embracing his power... all capped with him lifting the mask, panting in exaustion... and then smiling. He's got this.

The insuing big damn heroes during the brawl with the sinister six is great. He shows up invisible, easily turns the table on liv and shows up, and it's also heartwarming how rather than tell him to go home or any other such nonsense.. everyone is HAPPY he's here. They didn't put him back because they didn't like him.. they kept him back because they didn't want him to die stupidly. NOw he CAN fight and has the confidence and skill to.. their happy to have him.

I also like how while all the spider-people ge ttheir moments and we get one hell of a three on one battle between doc ock , miles, peter and gwen, the final fight, the true final test.. is miles alone. Everyone gets to shine as the villians get whittled down to one.. but ultimately the final battle only works if it's miles alone: one final test as spider-man: Miles vs Fisk. The All-New All-Diffrent Spider-Man vs the man who murdered the original. The Kingpin of Crime Vs your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man. It's a truly harrowing fight, one where Miles is often overwhelmed, but does what all spider-men do: get back, keep fighting. Do everything he can. With jeffersons support one last time miles goes from a scared child.. to catching this thief just like a fly.. complete with bug zapper. The touch of using the.. well shoulder touch is fucking amazing, hilaroius, heartwrenching.. and awesome. The man who killed his uncle, who nearly destroyed new york is down. The universe is saved... all thanks to brooklyn's own friendly neighborhood spider-man. Miles ends the film sure of himself, happy and with his father accepting him. He misses everyone.. but he'll see them again. He just might come to regret it but hey.. that's for next time.

As a quick epilogue, I ALMOST forgot to mention but Shamiek Moore is fucking perfect in the role. While Donald Glover would've been a great fit, Moore brings a youthful energy that perfectly fits the character. Moore handles the characters journey, the humor, and the heartbreak all beautifully.

Peter B. Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Mess

While this film is focused on the new kid on the webs, Lord and Miller still decided to include the Spider-Man everyone was familiar with. In fact.. they lean INTO how familiar we are to play with peter as a character. When they give their stories for the comics brilliant origin sequences, they both know to just.. gloss over most of the stuff we're familiar with.. and to basically apologize for the emo peter dance. Lord and MIller clevelry use the rami films as a refrence point. Then they do something ENTIRELY new in terms of adapting peter at this point: this peter.. has been at this for a while. It's something Insomniac would also use for their universe and honestly.. is quitely brilliant. In the comics.. peter HAS been at this for about a decade.. exactly how long has been kept vauge, but he's always pushing 30. Most adaptations though want to start with peter fairly early in his career: while some cartoons like Ultimate, Spectacular or Animated Series start with peter mid career, it's still fairly early and before he faces most of his arch enemies. It also makes sense: after all if your making a spider-man universe from scratch, why would you start with him already knowing how to fight these guys? The comics have the advantage of years of continuity, so writers can do what they want with the bad guys basically. But since a new continuintiy means you can do the latter from the top, why would you start in the middle of your story? It CAN work as shown here and with , while I sadly can't play them because no ps4 or 5, the insomniac games, but with the latter it works to the games advantage to have you play a peter whose already a kicker of ass first class.

Here though instead it's used for something even the comics often have their hands tied from doing: to show just how TIRED spider-man would be after a decade of this. While Blonde Peter is great at the job, has a loving aunt, and an adoring wife... he's still so very tired. He says so when fighting Prowler. It's clear the heir of "I can always do this, i'm spider-man" is as much a coping mechanism as it is determination. It explores the idea that peter's drive to keep going, to do the imposisble would wear him down eventually.. and given the crap he has to go through in the comics because writers think there needs to be added DRAMA, you can't blame him. Peter. B shows where this leads.. a peter who has 80 tons of broken bones, stopped taking care of himself, and is slowly falling apart after Aunt May's death, cumilating in pushing MJ away after she wanted kids.. and he was scared of it. Which given what his life is like is actually understandable. It's also a type of fear the comics have only been able to explore in AU's: editors have been dicks about the idea of peter having kids, and the one time he seriously was about ot have one before it was kidnapped, he was retired.. then it got kidnapped and disappeared because clone saga. Here we see the fear he'd have.. and peter sabotaging his own life as MJ seems relcutant as he is to divorce and the peter left in the aftermath is crying in a bathtub in his full costume

This is a peter who ONLY has being spider-man and we see how deeply unhealthy that is. Part of what makes Peter Parker so great, what's kept spider-man enduring.. is relatablity. Peter struggles with the same stuff most of us do: holding down a job, crappy bosses, relationship issues, juggling family with your life, friendships getting complicated... it's the ballancing act of having a regular life and also punching the kangaroo in the face while he's at it that makes spider-man compelling and it's finding new ways to do that, from having peter teach at his old high school to having him actually get a science job, that makes this character endure. Here though.. it's just Spider-Man and we see how unhealthy that is: May is dead, he pushed MJ and likely anyone else in his life away... peter only has being spider-man left, and action can be a reward but it can't give you a fulfilling life. This is a peter whose just going through the motions and badly broken. It's very telling that when Miles tries to use "With Great Power Comes Great Responsiblity" , the HEART of what spider-man, any spider-man, woman or ham, is, Peter responds with a very harsh "DON'T finish that sentence. I'm so tired of people using that". He's a peter whose so far to the edge he's willing to leave miles world to die just to get back to a life that's deeply miserable. In most cases spider-man would swing at the right thing but Peter B is just so very tired he just wants to go home.

But he's still spider-man.. and eventually realizes as much as he wants to.. he can't leave miles there and he can't leave this world to die. The movie is also good in not letting peter dangle off the edge of being absolutely awful too long. He refuses to save the world at first.. but it's clear Miles gets to him right away. He's still a mess.. but he's also Spider-Man. He's also peter parker. And May raised him better. The relationship between Peter B and Miles.. is fantastically done, with Miles slowly opening up his new mentor and Peter B slowly rediscovering what he actually liked about the job... and that maybe he CAN be a dad and spider-man. We see his humor slowly come back, him swatting the cape away from miles, gleefully pointing out what to do. He's still not the BEST teacher, wanting miles to just wait.. but when miles has to come along, he's grumpy for a few seconds then roles with it. We start with Peter. B seeing how worn down he is...but here we see all the experince and skill of his blonde counterpart. He's still the science nerd who can memorize a complicated password and can't grasp that miles can't. He's still a mess, trying to flirt with what turns otu to be his aunt's ex.. and also doc ock, but we see a subtle change, cumilating in the heartwarming scene of him and miles swinging together. peter may be a mild dick and a human disaster.. but he's a good man. By the time all the spider-people are together and doubting miles.. peter. b is the only one who sees how much this quest means to hte boy and is advocating for him. To them Miles is in over his head.. but Peter sees the spark in miles Jefferson does. He sees a kid who was thrown in the deep of this and the last thing MIles need is 80 people telling him he can't do it. It's likely that, just like Blonde Peter, Peter. B sees the pain and confusion that comes from starting as spider-man clear as day and if he can help miles avoid that, he will. Jake Johnson is phenominal in this role, helping show the depth behind this kind of peter. It best shows after the house fight: While Peter is trying to get Miles to stay behind and is willing to die to save his world... he's doing it for MOSTLY noble reasons. Miles really WASN'T ready and as Peter pointed out, he needed to be ready to just take a leap of faith. He's gone from wanting to abandon miles because he dosen't care.. to leaving him behind because he dosen't want his surrogate son to die horribly trying to fufill a promise he's not ready for. Granted like I said it's mostly noble: its very clear Peter. B is also doing this.. because he feels himself expendible. He has nothing to go back to, the others do. Miles has more to live for. If he dies staying here... what's he leaving behind? It's what makes his ending so rewarding: He sees miles finally take that leap and as I mentioned before he's nothing but happy Miles finally has got it and fights alongside his new son, realizing maybe he does want kids. He still plans to stay behind.. and the student becomes the teacher, with Miles pointing out he can't.. things with MJ aren't broken.. he still has time to make it right. He still has something to live for. It's hard.. but so was becoming spider-man for miles. If Peter. B is ready to die for this dimension.. he can live for MJ and for his protege. So he ends the film making up with her with Mj's smile showing she welcomes him back.. and as we'll see he really gets his happily ever after. But we'll get more on that next time.

Vault of Spiders

So now we've come to the other spider-people. First up our most prominent, Gwen, whose mostly taken 1:1 from the comics: She became Spider-Woman, then learned the great power great responsiblity lesson the hard way when she fought the lizard.. and he died revealing peter parker, her best friend who just wanted to be like her, leaving her alone. There's more to it, but that's best left for the next film when we get her origin in full. Gwen is done well here: the punk haircut fits her perfectly and Hailee Steinfeld is unsurprisingly awesome as her and gets Gwen's loneliness, standoffishness, and badassery perfectly, and we see her slowly open up to miles, with her doubts coming off less as bein ga jerk and more as being worried for him. We also get some nice subtle bits: while she mentions her best friends.. only WE know her best friend was a peter, and that being surrounded by about 4 of him and having to talk to aunt may, who she's also close to in her dimension, is likely a LOT for the poor kid. She also gets some genuinely cute moments with miles, from their first meeting in class, to the disastrous touch (and the later great brick joke of "you don't get to like it"), to the bus scene). Orignally the two WERE suppposed to be a couple.. but i'm glad they left the more overt romance for the sequels, as the films packed enough as is and it gives it more build. It's clear there's an attraction there.. there just isn't time for it given the possible dimensional apocalypse. That's what sequels are for.

That said I do think had they focused on just three spider-persons we might of had more of an arc for Gwen... instead we get a lot of personality but not who she is. I'd be harder on this.. but to the crews and the next batch of directors credit, they realized this and in the next film, and likely extending into Beyond, she's the deutragonist. So it's hard to be on this when they realized what they had next go round. The other spider-people on the other hand.. feel like a massive wasted opportunity. Casting wise it's all pitch perfect: Nicholas Cage is perfet for a noir parody and is utterly hilarious, John Mulaney's everyman voice is perfect for spider-ham, helping emphasise how weird this is, and Peni's serious nature and anime stylings are something the beloved Kimiko Glenn gets down perfectly. I was so happy to see her in a movie this size. And adaptation wise.. 2/3 ain't bad. Spider-Ham is pitch perfect from the source and Peni, while having her anime stylings here focused on a bit more, still has her science background and driven nature. Noir Peter though.. yeah while he's not TERRIBLE on his own in terms of actually adapting the character... it's wince inducing. I don't mind not going 1:1 and given the limited screen time I don't mind playing into the noir nature for laughs. My issue is more that Noir's world is so insanely dark, THAT could've been played for laughs instead. I mean again THIS is how peter gets his powers there.

Just have Nicholas cage casually rattle that off. I get not bringing up the rampant death but it just feels like a missed opprotunity to not really use anything from the actual comics other than the costume. The rubix cube joke is great. So you have three all time great performers.. but they don't get much to do. I was among the fans disapointed they weren't in the sequel, and only not as much as some others because I figured they were saving them for the sequel.. and after seeing the film and it's cliffhanger, that turned out to be EXACTLY it. It's a bummer they aren't in across but given how much it crammed into it's long runtime and how much it has left to go, and how the mystery of why noir and ham weren't with the society's whole creepy philosphy when their friends drank the kool aid is a neat hook.

They get great bits, Noir saying he has to burn his hand to feel something, Ham getting side eyed by the other two when he mentions he was a pig bitten by a spider.. which for those who didn't read the rest of the restrospective if your wondering ..

We also get a great drmatic bit. Originally in the scene where everyone sympathizes with Miles, Spider-ham made a stupid joke about his uncle frankfurter. it was funny.. but kinda wrecked the scene. So they instead switched it with one of the most heartbreaking lines in all of animation, which Mulaney NAILS.

Just the devistaition on that pig's face. And i'm hoping we find out what the fuck the story was there in Beyond.. but i'm perfectly happy with not knowing. Because it makes it that much more devistating. We don't know what he lost. We just know he hurts and that the hardest thing about being a spider-man.. is you just can't save them all. So naturally ham got a spinoff, Caught in a Ham. Caught in a Ham.. is decent a theatrical style short that explains what ham was doing. It's.. fine.. the various villian puns are fun and it clearly takes a lot from warner, but the animation is ENTIRELY cheap, and the villian, dr crawdaddy is just... what. Seriously you have so many fun animal versions of spideys rogues and better new foes.. and this is what you go with. And no making fun of how lame he is dosen't work. That jokes been done a lot. You have to do it well and they really didn't. Dr Crawdaddy is bad but it's not hialriously bad. Caught in a hami s okay but it was a massive disapointment and Mulaney deserved better.

So now we have those who can spin a web any size and catch a theif just like flies covered, we have to talk about one of spider-man's most important aspects The Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Look spider-man is popular for a lot of reasons: a deep facinating character no matter whose wearing the mask, a varied, visually intresting and cool power set, the idea that anyone can be spider-man. All this is true. But one of the biggest.. is his Rogues gallery. Spider-Man easily has one of the best rogues galleries in all of superhero fiction, with only batman providing competition. Just off the top of my head you have Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Doc Ock, Electro, Beetle, Boomerang, Scorpion, The Kingpin, Rhino, Hammerhead, Tombstone, Shocker, Vulture, Kraven, Mysterio, The Lizard, Stegron the Dinosaur Man, The Spot, The Gibbon, Mr Negative, The Enforcers, Mountain Man Marko, Chance, Venom, Carnage, Hypno Hustler, Rocket Racer, Sandman, The Tinkerer, The Prowler, Lady Electro, White Rabbit, Overdrive, Hydro Man, Chameleon, The Iguana, and of course his greatest enemy PAUL.

Or Maybe it's Zeb wells. Who knows? The larger point is spider-man has a LARGE pool of villians to tap, so Lord and MIller's Solution: GRAB AS MANY AS POSSIBLE AND DO WHATEVER. Yeah while like i've said The Kingpin has a full sinister six going, even if sadly never 6 at once as one dies and he kills another, it still counts as their still all under him and just let me have this for once dammit. Seriously if it's not an ongoing cartoon, they will NOT give us the sinister six. Even far from home came as close as we've got and still didn't think maybe one more? LET ME HAVE A PROPER SINISTER SIX IN MY SPIDER-MAN MOVIE DAMMIT.

That said they really only focus on three of the six: the other villians in Fisk's posse are more there just to hit things and give us enough villians so every spider-man can have a turn. And given Spider-man has guys like the rhino that would fit the mold better I question why they went with Green Goblin and Tombstone. With the former i'll admit to being biased: Norman Osborn is one of my faviorite super villians and Harry is certainly somewhere on the list. One of the first spidey comics I read was Amazing Spider-Man #39, and it's followup #40, one of the best spidey comics of all time and with one of the best covers too

This was boosted both by the first Rami film, where Dafoe does a truly amazing job, and the ultimate comics where Norman , while bulking up a bunch is a serious horrifying threat. Here.. h'es just a dummy dum dumb and I get it to a point, part of it is to emphasise the alternate nature of miles universe: in most the green goblin is spider-man's greatest threat, here he's just one of many and while a challenge, not his arch enemy or even in the running it seems. It just dosen't work for me. I'm fine with making some changes, but this one just didn't qutie work. He does look really impressive though and I do get this is likely a me thing and it dosen't really HURT the film, so while I may not like it a bunch I can't say it's as bad as some adaptation changes. I'ts no "Peter dosen't have change for choclate milk and gets thrown it by the robber who kills uncle ben" or making harry osborn into some sort of gneeing snot monster.. and that's bEFORE he takes the goblin drugs.

Tombstone also isn't handled the best, as he's fairly smart and chilling in the comics. I don't take it as personally but it's still iffy to take a black man and make him subservient to a white man. That never plays well. Hammerhead would've been a better choice and still been visually distinct. I

Finally we have Scorpion who I DO like, nicely meshing maximus gargan, the ultimate scorpion who simply had super strength and a scorpion tail styled chain, with the regular one, so now the tail is attached to hima nd baadss, but he's still mexican and still awesome and he gets a great fight with Peni and Porker.

That said while I have my quibbles.. the main three villians.. are fantastic and give me plenty to gush about. We'll start with the big guy. Like with the Green Goblin (and the Hobgoblin, who sadly still hasn't gotten a big movie role as of this review. Someday...), i'm a HUGE fan of the kingpin and he's one of my faviorite super villians. No question. Wilson Fisk is a truly amazing character with tons of layers, intimdating style and intresting dynamics with both spider-man and dardevil. From his first apperance under john romita to his latest crashing on Krakoa , he's a devious mastermind whose trained his body to perfection. Granted I grew up with Spider-Man TAS, where they cleverly made him big bad, so I had a good first intro, but most adaptations handle him well and what little iv'e seen of the mcu version in hawkeye (I still need to watch netflix daredevil) is fucknig magical. Denofrio is great.

Liev Schriber though.. might be the best. He gets Wilson perfect: He has his cocky attitude.. but also his cold detachment. He can brag about starting the collider one minute.. and casually tell his right hand man to "go kill that guy". He can joke.. but ther'es never a moment on screen when your not deeply worried about him being there. There's not a moment you don't get WHY this guy was strong enough, smart enough and nightmarish enough to finish spider-man. I also love the design taking from a comic by the legendary bill sienkiewicz of x-men fame

It perfectly fits and while his proprotions are off.. it helps sell how diffrent he is from everything else. This man commands every room he's in and is a true giant, a looming reminder of blonde peter's death and the ultimate obstacle in our heroes way.

What I like though as while they easily could've just made Fisk evil and called it a day.. it's VERY clear how well the crew understood him.. as they also humanize him. Fisk isn't igniting the collider to make money selling multiversal hot dogs or something. This version lost his wife vanessa and son richard during a fight with spider-man: she saw what he really was and left... and they sadly died in a car crash. It's a great twist too: the comics have always had Vanessa, when she was alive, be the one thing that could pull fisk back from his crime... if only for so long. She never liked it , never accepted it and never wanted it. Richard was a grown man hwo hated it but then joined it then betrayed his dad and got killed.. it's a whole thing. Richard Fisk is a mess.

Fisk is at his core a man who just wants what he lost back but is so blinded by a combination of Trauma Goggles (a term kammie came up with) and his own ego. He can't accept that it was his fault a tragedy happened, that his wife had every right to run and that it was simply horrible, cruel timing that killed his wife. It's the horrible irony in all this: Wilson Fisk is a man who needs to control everything so badly he will rip time and space apart to get back what he lost.. but can't accept that there's NOTHING he can do to fix this, and that it was always his fault. It's who Wilson Fisk is and who he'll always be. It's most heartbreakingly shown when the same events play out again, just with a new vanessa and richard.. but he just can't accept HE'S the bad guy in all this and he drove his family away. In the end he's left with nothing, his empire crumbling, his family gone.. simply because he coudln't let go.

Now onto his right hand man, Aaron Davis, The Prowler. Like Kingpin... hang on.. something seems mi

[THREATNING DUBSTEB BLARES]

Better. Anyways, I was a huge fan of the Prowler. See back when I was in I think middle school, possibly earlier I had this book.

I wouldnt' mind getting another copy or the updated edition at some point. I also had these for X-Men and Fantastic Four. It's part of what really got me into these characters, but the spidey one was near and dear to my heart even as it sadly eventually fell apart. It was a lovely big ole book with profiles for all of spidey's villains, some of his side cast, and what have you up to the early 2000's. It was great.

So it's there I met the Prowler... Good Ol Hobie Brown

Yeah before another hobie became your friendly neighborhood anarchist, the original was a window washer who really wanted to invent, but this being the 60's and many a man being a classist or racist, Hobie instead came up with a pretty brilliant scheme: rob a building using his various inventions and a badass looking disguise, and then return the money for a reward as Hobie Brown.

Unfortunately the building he picked was naturally the Bugle, his old workplace (Though to JJJ's credit, when Hobie had an altercation with his boss, Jonah took hobie's side. Jonah may be many things but Racist isn't one of them)... and he was VERY lucky that it was peter parker, having to pull his punches for obvious reasons , he encountered. Hobie thought he'd killed the poor guy, naturally he hadn't and when encountering peter as spider-man later, not knowing the connection, he confessed and explained things. Peter being peter, and once unmasked seeing Hobie really wasn't that much older than him and had been through the shit, let the guy go and Hobie eventually had a happy ending. So how does aaron fit into this? Well like i've said in this review and covered previously, Miles comes from the Ultimate Universe, so given the prowler had a dope as hell costume, name but not a lot of use, he was perfect to refit as Mile's first archenmey and most personal nemisis.

Uncle Aaron in the comics.. is a bit of a dick. While I plan to cover this arc at some point, as it's REALLY good, Aaron after some time in mexican prison, finds out there's a new spider-man and having stolen the spider in the first place and actually seen it bite miles in this timeline, puts two and two together... and then tries to blackmail his nephew into working for him to make himself the new kingpin, the old one having been blown up with a rocket launcher by Mysterio.

He also died but rather than go out heroically , as we'll get to.. he went out because his suit backfired because he was stupid enough to kill the man who made it while trying to murder his 13 year old nephew.

Yeah it's a lot, and again i'll get into it some other time, but the film made the understandable decision to take about 5 to ten percent of there, and used that percentage to make him infinitely more badass.

This Aaron is an experinced supervillian, one who gives Peter trouble and has awesome theme music. The Prowler in the film is animalistic, moving at less frames than the other characters and being purely terrifying. It sells what Miles is facing: an unstoppable killing machine who just wants him dead. Which completely contrasts who Aaron is off duty. To him.. this is just a job and killing people is just what he does. Kingpin says jump, he says "what spider-man?". When not he's the cool uncle who gets introduced to fucking hypnotize. He's a smooth guy who while having terrible advice about ladies, also has good takes like "Smart girls are where it's at". The reason Miles confides in him more than his dad.. is easy to see. Aaron actually takes the time to reach miles on his level and try to gently coax miles into not totally hating his new school instead of saying WELL YOU'D BETTER LIKE IT. I mean Jeff is the better person, no question, he's killed exactly no one and for a cop that's impressive, but Aaron genuinely loves and supports his nephew even more than originally. It makes the contrast that much more horrific, that this perfectly kind, cool as hell guy.. can also casually hunt what he can CLEARLY tell is a child like a monster across a subway. It's no wonder finding out who Aaron is really rattles the poor kid.

It also makes his face turn that much more effective: it'd be easy to assume given how UTTERLY terrifying the film made him that like the comics, once Aaron finds out he wouldn't give one iota of a shit that this is his nephew. Instead Movie!Aaron.. is utterly horrified. Mahershla Ali does a hell of a job conveying the man's horror when Miles takes off his mask in a last ditch effort not to get choked to death, with Moore likewise conveying miles pain and desperation incredibly. The animation is also flawless here as you can just see Aaron realizing what he almost did.. and what he's likely done to counltess others like miles. How many kids did he kill simply because they saw something they shouldn't have? The horror is clear... adn the tragedy all the more painful when Kingpin coldly snipes him. All his power.. and aaron dies, encouraging his nephew to keep going and to be better. Aaron is an incredible character here, suprassing the already great original and I look forward to seeing more of ali in Beyond.

Finally we have Doc Ock aka...

The casting was genius idea.. that i'm baffled WASN'T always the plan. Originally Ock was supposed to still be a man and a bit more big lebowski'ish. And while it means we missed out on Steve Buschemi as the green goblin, one of the directors suggested Kathryn Hahn, all around queen of awesome and perfect fit. It also fits the story better: Dock Ock being "Gasp" a pudgy guy who looks a lot like me? Not a huge suprise. But a scientest we simply see in the background and assume is someone shady, but turns out to be dock ock complete with soft robotics tentacles? Fucking brilliant. It plays genre expectations against us: normally the messy haired science lady is on our side, as peter assumed.. instead Ock is fully on board with this scheme and even actively decives kingpin to get it thorugh. Oliva is ock in every sense of the word and is easily our heroes most dangerous opponent that isn't king sized. It takes THREE spider-men to wear her down and a fucking truck ex machina to finish her. Hahn, as usual has a lot of fun with the roll and it's no shock disney wanted to get in on this, and I can't wait for Agatha coven of chaos after her amazing work on Wandavision. Hahn is just neat and Olivia is great. Also nice subtly saying gay rights with Liv being implied to be Aunt May's ex in this reality too. Did it also involve a nuclear explosion on an island off of canada? One can only hope.

Odds, Ends and Sick Beats

So character wise we only have a few left to go over. First up is Rio, Miles supportive kind mom. She dosen't get a ton to do here but what we see is great and like Gwen, it's clear the writers realized they didn't use her as much and the sequel dives into her more and makes her just as important as her husband.

Then we have Ganke. In the comics, Ganke is miles lego loving best friend, his closest confidant and he helps ease the tension of being spider-man.. but given said tension drives the whole plot here, I get why they eased back. The other reason.. is understandable if disapointing. See the MCU Version of Ned Leeds, Ned Lee.. is basically Ganke. Close friends with our spider-man? Likes lego? bit of a nerd? Serves as his "guy in the chair". All check. And ned is great, he's fantastic and if I ever get to the mcu trilogy, i'll defintely have plenty good to say. It just meant Ganke had nothing to really do and is thus off to the side for these films. It's disapointing but I can understand it.. and he still gets a great scene in the spider-people trying to avoid him.. also Peni was blushing like mad. I need followup on this ship next film crew.

We also have Stan's cameo.. which is heartbreaking, but man was it good and it served as a great tribute to the man without being meant as one. It also gently jabs at his huckster nature with the no refunds sign. Oh stan... I miss you man.

Finally we have the films soundtrack. It's so damn good and it uses music beautifully: It has standouts like What's Up Danger, which i've talked about. Sunflower which thematically fits the film and the miles gwen romance, and Hypnotize, which perfectly sums up who aaron is when he' s not stalking children like some sort of feral cat man. I was going to talk about it more in depth, but it's just fanatastic.. and frankly this review is both horribly behind as is. It's a great sountrack and an all timer, both in the music made for it, the ones chosen for it and the backing tracks. Stupendous

So that brings us to the end of this long look.. and it should go without saying by this far in.. this film is a masterpiece. It's great as an adaptation, phenominal on it's own, groundbreaking, and I'll be revisiting it again and I feel terrible I didn't because I noticed so much more the second time around. This project has been a lot.. but it's also been some of the most fun i've had ont his blog. As i've already announced... we will be doing this one more time for beyond, and possibly again for across' theatrical release as that seems like it's not going to be as soon as Sony hopes. Either way i'm still shooting for the films current release date in march, so we'll be back with this in november or december with some other spidey plans in the mix as well. So thanks for taking the leap with me.. and hopefully you'll stick around. Until then... thanks for reading... and remember.. anyone can wear the mask... especailly you.

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princess-of-the-corner · 10 months ago

Note

Idea for Princess Bee au:

Marinette realizes Chloe has really grown and changed and worked on her issues bc Chloe apologizes for bullying her for years

Like, after their kids become friends and they've started interacting more Chloe privately goes to her and says 'im sorry I bullied you for years when we were kids. I was taking out my own shit on you and that was horrible. I shouldn't have done that, and I deeply regret it'

Just a simple apology, taking accountability without trying to make excuses, and in private, without Adrien or someone around that Chloe might be secretly trying to impress

Bc like, a lot of how Mari sees Chloe has been colored by their past of being victim and bully. The only times she's seen the genuine good that Audrey tried to abuse out of Chloe were all tied to the Miraculous somehow, either bc of the Bee Miraculous or bc of her being Ladybug, someone Chloe very clearly admired.

It would be easy to look at that and think 'shes only being nice bc she wants to be Queen Bee/she doesn't know I'm someone she bullies under the mask' when in the few months between Chloe's trying to change and Miracle Queen happening that was all she really saw

(something which isn't helped by the meta aspect of 'the Status Quo is God' that the writers religiously stick to. I hate that in shows, where we get episodes of character development that feel like they don't matter bc all the episodes in between ignore that for the sake of sticking to the status quo until the finale happens)

Chloe apologizing for being a bully is something we never got in cannon, and I think it would go a long way to getting through to Marinette that Chloe has genuinely changed for the better over the years since they were kids

Oh yeah like ofc Chloé does apologize and like. There's probably two apology scenes?

One would be a quick thing when they first met again of 'sorry for being a dick I was dealing with a LOT as a kid but ya know got over it', but then yeah a second more in-depth apology somewhere down the line when Chloé's not caught off guard by her presence and knows that she's going to have ongoing long-term interaction with Marinette and the others where she /does/ have to properly own up to All That™ instead of just 'oh we ran into each other so say sorry without unpacking'.

And in between the first and second apology it doesn't fully sink in for Marinette yet. Not out of maliciousness or anything but like

She hasn't properly thought about Chloé in years. Maybe a passing thought but she never analyzed the whole thing. So the Chloé in her memory is the version she knew when she was still a teenager with a very black/white mentality and using that to make leaps in logic toward what Chloé did instead of recognizing her as a complicated person in a hellish situation.

Like, now as a grown adult who can understand things: If she took a step back and looked at what Chloé's situation was, she'd more readily realize the abuse happening and how it affected her, and that some things like 'working for Hawkmoth/Monarch' don't make sense without something else happening. Middle School!Mari just rolled with Chloé being a jerk like her mom and her dad spoiling her but clearly they loved her becuse ofc parents love their kids and clearly someone as bad as Chloé threw away all chance of changing simply because it was too hard to change her perfect life and it was easier to throw a tantrum and join the Villain over not getting handed a reward than it is to earn said reward.

But grown adult!Mari hasn't really taken the step back to really think about that. So the Chloé in her head is just a spoiled brat who refuses to change and betrayed the Team for petty reasons. And that persists for a while because this vision is so solid and she doesn't know the full story that when the current Chloé acts different, she's once again trying to tie the two together and assuming Chloé is just being fake nice.

She catches on eventually, of course. But there's the initial suspicions because of it

And to clarify: I don't mean this in any kind of salty way. It's just hard to see the change in something when the old version so solidly exists in your head

#princess bee

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thebookofcommonprayer · 1 year ago

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i'm answering this from my main; thank you for asking! here's my tweet for a little further context for everyone else:

essentially what i have going is that rusty and the boys live in death and decay in a miserable ramshackle apartment building in a bad part of denver (probably five points or capitol hill, i'm not sure yet, i'll have to do more research). rusty used to be the child star of the action/adventure show that his daddy produced and when he turned eighteen, hollywood realized that he's a terrible actor and jonas realized this too. he focused his attention entirely on funding jj's career, who became very successful for his science shows on documentary channels. jonas dies and rusty gets very little from his will. he uses this to very, very briefly live large and he tries desperately to make money by starring in terribly, critically-panned indie movies. he gets nowhere aside from briefly falling in love with one of his costars, knocking her up, and not trying that hard to make it work with her for the next several months. feeling miserable and confused and trapped, she leaves and abandons her twin infants with rusty.

so throughout the years rusty drags his kids from bad to worse places, getting constantly fired from wageslave jobs in fits of pill-addled hysteria or drunkenness. the boys are pulled in and out of school until they're around eleven or twelve and then they never go again. rusty continues to build up tolerances to prescription drugs and finally decides that things can't really get that much worse in his life and he maybe-sorta-kinda decides to try heroin via the ambiguously gay albino and little person duo that lives on another floor. and things obviously immediately get worse.

rusty's concepts of morality and shame and guilt are endlessly twisted past the point of no return after suffering so tremendously during his career and beyond that and even though he gets a little bit of welfare every month, it's not nearly enough to fund his drug habits and also pay his meager rent and also keep his children fed, and they're clearly never going to be able to go to college or amount to anything at all, so rusty starts to force dean into secondhand dresses and heels and stolen makeup and he sends him out into the streets with hank acting as his pimp (he's got more business sensibilities anyway and he knows how to handle money and sell a product). they both try very hard to make money for daddy even though this is really, really scary and weird and it feels so awful. they'll crawl back to the apartment at dawn and hand the money over and they always pray to a god who won't listen that it's enough.

over time, hank starts to pocket some of it so he can use it during the nights that he sneaks out. dean doesn't like it and he doesn't go with him, but he begrudgingly promises not to tell. if he's not trying to make awkward, insane conversation with the 24-hour convenience store cashier (21) a block away, hank will go see the gruff, ruggedly handsome former soldier a few rooms down from theirs who's been hiding out and doing spy work over the past six months. extremely sympathetic to the situation (despite not ever really letting it show), brock will let hank stick around and vent and complain and cry while cleaning weapons or doing paperwork. hank is absolutely crazy about him and whispers stories about him to dean when they're curled up in bed together, huddled on a twin mattress across the room from their father.

i have this idea that malcolm was also a former child star whose accomplishments were constantly overshadowed in comparison to rusty, who was always thought to be his much cuter, pluckier twin on screen. malcolm and sheila are a deeply codependent couple that also live in the crackhouse and they're trying desperately to scrape their way out of poverty and they've kidnapped the boys a few times for ransom, because they're really the only kids they've ever seen in the entire complex and they're very kidnappable. obviously, this never works and they're always quickly let go. malcolm is constantly overcome with rage that rusty pissed away all his money even after getting all the fame and glory over him and never being grateful for it.

there's a lot more to this whole thing knocking around in my head but this is all i have rn ... i'm thinking about it. i'm thinking about it hard

#i think the guild is probably just . child protective services #orpheus is a librarian. poor traumatized kids love libraries (speaking from experience)#there's so much i can do with this and it would be so fun as fucked up as i want it to be #commonasks

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tigergirltail · 10 months ago

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Past Self

It's been on my mind a lot as part of my Trans Journey, what if I had an opportunity to tell my younger self everything? What if I could gift her that insight and understanding twenty years earlier?

---

The door opens, and a crowd of children of various ages starts to walk in. Looking around at the rest of the gathered adults, I try to gauge their reactions. Some seem excited, others seem to just barely be holding themselves together.

I suppose when you're given a real opportunity to speak with your actual past self, it's hard to know what to say.

Most of the others look like they've chosen their clothes and done their hair to look as familiar as possible to their younger selves. Not me, though. I decided early on that if I was going to do this, I was going to go all out. No more hiding who I am. I had on my favourite purple and black dress, a simple necklace I'd picked out from a thrift store months ago, some elegant shoes with inch-tall heels, black lace fingerless gloves, purple nailpolish, I'd even made sure to do my makeup and refresh my hair dye for the occasion. Full goth witch look. …I should have worn a witch hat.

Gods, I'm going to be fucking unrecognizable to myself.

The first wave of kids have already found their future selves and are heading off to side rooms and sitting areas with them. I take one last steadying breath and look. If I know me, I'll be trying to blend in somewhere near the back of the pack. Unobstructive, anonymous, boring, and safe.

There I am. Bland, plain-coloured clothes, dorky haircut, and the eyes. I'll never forget how empty and dead my eyes used to look. He's standing around, awkwardly looking at people, trying not to have an anxiety attack, probably about ten seconds until he does.

I wait a moment for the crowd around him to disperse, and then I start to approach. Remember, confident, but caring. Don't scare myself off.

"Hey, kiddo. You look a bit lost, are you okay?"

He looks up at me, and pauses. A little surge of awe lights up his eyes. Even at that age I loved the goth look, I just couldn't find it in me to admit it.

"Yeah, uh…" He's struggling to speak. Maybe I overdid it.

"Looking for your future self, right?", I offer.

"Yeah, don't I… Am I…"

I have to brace myself to keep from crying. Of course he thinks his future self is dead. I thought way too much about suicide back then. Gods, didn't anyone think something was WRONG with that??

"I'm sure you're around here somewhere.", I reassure me. "What's your name?"

He hesitates before he answers. I have to suppress the urge to cringe when I hear my deadname cross my own lips.

"That's a good name." It's true, it was a good name. It just wasn't MY name. "It's been a while since I heard it."

That response throws him off. Here we go, now or never. Brace for impact…

"My name's Alexis, and I'm your future self."

Younger me's brain just… stops. He starts looking around, sure that I'm playing a trick on him, but all the other 'futures' have already met up with their pasts. It's just us two left.

"…But you're…"

I smile. Technically, I'm breaking every single letter of the Trans Prime Directive, but none of the 'pasts' will remember this as anything more than a particularly vivid dream.

"Yes, I am. And so are you."

She's standing stock still, struggling to process this. I see her eyes widen, and a little bit of light creep into them. That spark of life trans people get when we awaken. It hit like a truck for me, it must be even harder for her.

"No, I can't… But… But that's impossible!"

I reach out and gently take her hand. "It's… a lot, I know. How about we sit down somewhere and I'll tell you everything?"

She nods. She's gone nonverbal, I can tell. I lead her over to one of the open sitting areas, sit down with her, and try to project an aura of calm. She's staring at me intently, but trying not to look like it. It looks like I'll be taking the lead here.

"So, to answer the obvious question, I'm you in another 25 years, and yes, we're a girl." She's still struggling to process what she's hearing, so I continue. "The way we always felt more comfortable with other girls than with boys… The way we'd always stare just a little too long at a nice dress… The way we'd play with our hair in the mirror and imagine getting it cut to look like Cardcaptor Sakura… All of that meant something, something much bigger."

She's blushing now, burying her face in her hands, trying desperately to stop existing. Gods, I just want to hug her, but there's no way she'll accept being touched right now.

"You aren't going to learn this word for a while yet, but we're transgender. It's something beautiful, and it's a normal part of the grand spectrum of human experiences. There are lots of us out there, even in your time, and you're going to love being one of them."

When I said the word 'beautiful', I saw her peek out from under her hands. She's crying. That's probably a good thing.

"What… What happened to your hair??", she manages to ask between sobs.

I twirl some of the purple strands around with my fingers. "It's my favourite colour!", I answer happily. "I can't remember if it's yours yet…"

She's stopped crying, stopped hiding in her hands, stopped pretending she's not staring. "No, I mean… It's long."

Oh. Right. I smile, and silently laugh a little. "Well… Getting our hair cut sucks, right? So in about five years, you just… stop. You let it grow." I run my hand through it. "It's the first time we ever really feel happy about how we look." I see another little spark in her eyes. She's letting herself imagine. Maybe this will change something after all.

"S-so why are we… Why am I… What was that word? Trans…"

"Transgender?"

She nods.

"Nobody really knows the whys and hows, but basically, you're a girl brain in a boy body."

"But you look so much like a girl!"

"There's medical treatments for it. They can't do everything, but they can do a lot. Most of the rest is just clothing, hair, voice… You know, presentation." She doesn't know, but it's the best explanation I have in me.

"…Needles?" She looks a little nauseous asking.

"…Yeah, sometimes. They need to check my blood to make sure the girl juice is flowing right."

She suddenly gets really quiet. Poor girl still has a debilitating fear of needles. I should change the topic.

"We also have a job! And a romantic partner!"

"…Really?" She sounds more skeptical than curious.

"Yeah! Let me tell you about them…"

We spend the rest of the time we have talking about the life ahead of her. Learning to make costumes… Going to conventions… Getting into tabletop RPGs, meeting new friends, falling in love… Moving out east to find herself… Going to a college she genuinely loves… And the morning she's lying in bed and has that moment of grand revelation - the moment she awakens. The more I tell her, the more there's something in her eyes and voice that wasn't there when she walked in. Hope. Even if this all seems like just a dream to her, that hope might just become real.

It feels too soon when the alarm goes off for the three-minute warning. A temporal connection like this isn't sustainable for much longer. We pick ourselves up and make our way to the exit to part ways. She stops short of the doorway.

"…Promise this is all for real?"

I step forward and pull my past self, the boy I used to pretend to be, into a tight hug.

"I promise, it's real. You're beautiful, and you're brilliant, and you're going to mean so much to so many people."

She buries her face in my shoulder and starts crying again.

"I love you, Alexis.", I tell her. "And I'm going to be there for you."

We pull apart right as the 60-second warning sounds. I watch her leave through the open doorway, but as she turns back, I see something on her face that I could never quite do when I was her.

She smiles.

And in the year of 2001, in a warm bedroom, a teenage girl wakes up crying happy tears, and she doesn't fully understand why.

#trans #transgender #short story #short fiction #suicide mention #trans thoughts

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itslenagain · 1 year ago

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[ Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 ]

PART 7

(Nine years ago, in Los Angeles...)

"...after reviewing your application, I grant you legal guardianship of your two siblings, Miss Juarez." Ayana lets out a sob, and hugs her twin brothers tight. The judge smiles. "Thank you Miss Jones. Miss Juarez, congratulations. Court dismissed."

Outside the courtroom, Ayana hugs Bev tight. "Thank you, thank you..." she says. "You have no idea what this means to me."

"It was my pleasure to help. You have my number, please do not hesitate to call me if you need *anything.* I mean that." Bev smiles, a soft, sweet smile. Ayana survived foster care after both her parents died. Now, she's 19, and the new guardian of her 11 year old brothers. It will be the first time they've all lived under the same roof again in nearly 4 years. Bev watches as the family heads towards their car. Her heart swells.

But then, she returns to her office, and there's a massive stack of case files in a pile on her desk, more families praying for miracles. Good grief. A yellow sheet of paper on the corner of her desk sticks out at her. She reaches for it. A letter.

"Dear Miss Jones, the past 8 months working for you have been wonderful, but I am sorry to inform you that I have to move home as my mother is sick. Best of luck in your endeavors, sorry for the short notice." Shit. Shirley was a pretty good assistant. She opens her laptop and places a new ad.

"NOW HIRING: Legal assistant for up-and-coming family court lawyer specializing in adoptions and guardianships. Pay is above market rate for position. Duties include taking detailed notes, client intake calls, computer skills, coffee runs. Experience preferred, but not required. Immediate opening. Call Beverly Jones."

Three days later, she sits across from her most qualified applicant. She's short, with chestnut hair and big green eyes. Bev asks, "Do you have any background as a legal assistant?"

"I have an associates in paralegal studies from Portland Community College. I worked as a transcriber at a courthouse back home in Oregon, and after that I worked for a year as a paralegal at a big firm." She smiles.

"Why did you leave?"

"I wanted to work with one or two attorneys, not fifty. It felt incredibly impersonal. I believe family court is about building connections, and it's hard to build that when you've got to rotate through attorneys and cases on a regular basis."

"What makes you a good candidate to work on adoptions and guardianship cases?"

"For me, it's kind of personal. I was adopted as a teenager, which almost never happens. I'd love to be a part of the process that helps kids find families."

Bev gives her a comforting smile. "Thank you for being so candid. You sound like a great candidate. So, right now we're a small practice... it's just me, actually," Bev laughs, "I have a hole-in-the-wall office that I work out of. I'm a little overrun at the moment, so I've temporarily stopped taking new cases, but there are plenty on the books to work on in the meantime. If I were to hire you, when could you start?"

"Monday?"

"Okay, great! I'll give you a call later today to let you know." Bev stands to shake her hand. "Sorry, I'm terrible with names," she nervously chuckles.

"Oh, don't worry about it! I'm Joanne Faraday. You could call me Jo if you want, too," She adds with a wink.

(Mount Olympus, 4 years ago...)

"I can't believe I keep falling for his apologies," Hera says, sitting on the edge of her bed. Iris has slung her arm around her lady, listening. "He never changes. I don't know what to do."

"He might never change, Hera, but that doesn't mean you have to stay the same." She cups Hera's cheek in her hand and turns Hera's face towards hers. "I know you take your duties as a wife seriously, but you're so much more than a wife. You deserve to be happy." She smiles. "All the other Gods have figured out how to be happy. You don't have to be a martyr."

"I don't even know if I understand happiness," Hera says, dejectedly.

Iris rolls her eyes. "You're so dramatic! Come on, I have something to show you," she says, and in a blink, the pair are transported to the mortal world.

Hera looks around. It's some kind of party. The people are dancing, laughing, cheering. Everywhere you look, there are rainbows. "Iris, are they worshipping you?"

Iris laughs, doing a twirl to match the movement of the crowd. Her iridescent robe scatters colored light as she steps. "No, silly. This is what the mortals call *Pride.* The rainbow is a symbol of hope and freedom and love," she says, her dainty feet effortlessly bouncing about, like a ballerina. "I love coming here. I don't even really need to hide. These mortals? They don't care. They come to Pride to celebrate all the parts of themselves that other people are afraid of."

Hera watches Iris, stunned. She looks around the crowd, scanning euphoric faces. Non-binary people huddled around a roaming frog. Men kissing men. Women braiding flowers into their girlfriend's hair. People rejecting the gender roles and labels thrust upon them by society. Drag queens lip syncing upbeat music. She should be overwhelmed, but instead... she feels this peculiar lump in her throat. But it's a good feeling. She goes back to watching Iris, studying her dancing feet. She matches her step, and suddenly, they're dancing their way through the crowd. Hera feels alive. For the first time in centuries, she feels like she is home. Sure, there are queer Gods, but somehow, this feels different than anything she's ever experienced before.

Iris grabs Hera's hand, and she spins around, laughing as her body crashes into Iris's. She wraps her arms around Iris, gleefully soaking up the moment. Iris pushes a lock of hair behind Hera's ear, and she shivers. What is this feeling? Hera can't stop herself. She leans forward and kisses Iris. The crowd is whooping, but neither of them can hear it. Hera's heart pounds in her chest as she runs her hand upwards from the base of Iris's skull, tangling it in her hair. Iris puts her hands on Hera's waist and pulls her in closer. Hera could die right here, right now, and she'd be okay with that.

Iris pulls back, breaking out in laughter. Hera can't seem to catch her breath. "Damn!" Iris exclaims. "I mean, I had my suspicions about you, but I NEVER thought *you'd* make the first move!"

Hera's cheeks are flushed. Her body is on fire, some new, indelible brand on her soul. How did she live for so long without ever kissing a woman? Is it really this incredible every time? (author's note: yes. yes it is) She's shocked. Iris is watching, amused. Hera approaches a man in the crowd. "You, sir, can I kiss you?" The man looks surprised, but accepts the offer. Hera presses her lips to his, searching for the same spark. Nothing. Iris is howling, eyes watering from laughing so hard. No, it's not right. It can't be right. Maybe it's a fluke. She feels like she's lost her mind. She catches a woman in the crowd looking at her. She approaches the woman. "Miss, can I kiss you?"

"Is that even a question?" The woman licks her lips and grabs Hera by the hips, kissing her deeply. The fire, the passion! Hera never felt this before. This is the most bizarre day of her life and she knows everything she's done is completely and wildly inappropriate. And yet.

(3 years ago, Fort Lauderdale...)

"Hey, Kimberly, we're all going out after work tonight, do you want to come with?" Bobby leans over her cubicle, a tinge of nervousness clear on his face. "I mean, if not I guess that's cool... unless you wanted to do something with just you and me?"

Kimberly looks up. Part of her feels pity for him, the poor guy, he's putting it all out there and asking her out!

But, he's doing it while they're both on the clock, which is not cool. "Bobby, I'm a lesbian. I am going to a lesbian bar after work tonight."

".....oh," he says, a little tone of sadness. But then, he says, "...my girl cousin has been looking for a girl..." Kimberly gives him an intensely critical look. "Nevermind, umm, have a nice day," he mumbles as he retreats.

"Hey girl, getting the usual?" Tina, the bartender, takes good care of Kimberly.

"You bet!" She says, putting her card on the counter. "You'll never believe what happened at work. The guy in the next cubicle over asked me on a date."

"Eww, at work?" Tina pours a shot of vodka over ice, adds the soda. "Besides, I mean, has he never seen a lesbian before? You're pretty clockable."

"He was hoping you were cockable, too," Laura cackles from the other side of the bar. Kimberly shudders, remembering the night the two of them got too drunk together and Laura convinced her to dance on a table.

"Gross, dude!" Kimberly laughs. "What're you drinking tonight?"

"Cranberry juice on the rocks, babe! Jody and I are trying to have a baby!" Tina gasps.

"What?! Oh my GOD, congrats!!!" Tina pours a tall glass of water for Laura. "IUI?"

"First round! Crossing our fingers," she winks.

"Well damn, girl! I read somewhere that you can get acupuncture to help with fertility. I can give you the number to a great massage therapist, too...." Kimberly picks up her drink and heads towards a quieter table.

Kimberly likes being alone.

(Reno, 7 years ago...)

"Jo, you didn't sign up for this. You can go home." Bev hasn't moved in 3 weeks. Joanne tends to a pressure sore forming on her back, does the leg massage she read about to help prevent blood clots. "Really, I'll be fine."

Joanne ignores her, continuing her duties. She grabs the soft brush from the bedside table and runs it through Bev's hair. It catches on a tangled matt.

"I asked you to call a nurse for me. This isn't your job. Just leave me alone," Bev says, tears streaming down her face. Joanne comes around to the other side of the bed so she can look at Bev's face.

"Bev. I'm not going anywhere. It's not about money or a job for me. I'm taking care of you, like *he* is supposed to be doing," Joanne says, a sharp note escaping at the mention of Peter. At that, Bev begins to weep, her chest shuddering. Joanne feels a sharp pain in her chest. She's never seen Bev like this before. What the hell happened that night?

Joanne pulls the blanket back up over Bev. "Listen. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not going to let it kill you. A nurse will just come and do what I'm doing anyways, but a nurse won't answer your phone or pay your bills for you. You need me," Joanne says.

"Fuck you, Jo. I don't need anyone." Bev's whole body shakes with the force of her crying.

"I hate when you lie," Joanne says, and wanders out to the balcony, Bev's phone in her hand. 46 missed calls. None of them are from him. She feels herself filling with rage.

"Beverly, what is it this time?" The voice comes over the speaker. Joanne is immediately disgusted.

"It's not her, but holy shit, do you really think you can talk to her like that?!"

"Who is this? Where is Beverly?"

"Lying in bed fucking BROKEN. What did you do to her?!"

"You have no right to speak to ME that way. I did nothing wrong."

"Bullshit. What kind of MONSTER leaves their wife ALONE at the hospital! On their anniversary?!"

"Beverly told me she would handle it. I had a fundraiser to get to."

Joanne is furious. "Listen to me, you fucking twat. I know Bev, and I also know *all* of her passwords. I know about you. I know about the accounts in Beijing. I know about the illegal arms dealings you have approved. I have *proof.* And if I EVER hear you speak to Bev this way, if you hurt her *ever* again, I will make your life such a living hell that you'll wish you were dead." She slams the phone on the deck, shattering the glass screen to pieces.

Fuck, she thinks, I'll have to fix that, too.

(Athens, tonight...)

Bev dials the number again. It goes straight to voicemail. Joanne hasn't touched any of Bev's accounts. As the minutes tick on, Bev becomes more and more worried.

Back in the hotel room, Kimberly and Hera are starting to sober up. They lay awake on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "...do you think Bev wants to find Joanne to protect herself, or do you think there's something there?" Kimberly wonders out loud.

"I'm not sure," Hera says. "I knew Joanne was interested in Bev, but Bev is just so unreadable most of the time."

"Do you think she's gay?"

"She told me herself she's bisexual. I'm not sure what Joanne thinks she's lying to herself about. Maybe it's the husband."

"It's weird how she never talks about him and like it doesn't seem like he cares that she travels all over the place constantly."

Hera sits up. "...What if Joanne goes after the husband?"

Kimberly and Joanne exchange a look, then rush outside to warn Bev.

Bev is already gone.

[ Next ]

You are a divorce lawyer, the best in your field. You have just received word that you will representing the Greek goddess Hera in her divorce from Zeus.

#creative writing #writing prompts #writeblr #lesbian #writing #lesbian hera #fuck zeus #greek pantheon #greek mythology #wlw #sapphic #divorce #lawyer

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sab3rto0thed · 2 months ago

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i hate it when boys like me.

i know that sounds counterproductive because i love flirting, but i hate laying in their beds and pretending my heart works the same way theirs does. it doesn't. it hasn't in years. i think i was born wrong.

maybe it was my parents. they haven't loved each other since i was born. my mom always says i sort of screwed it up, because she stopped loving my dad as much when i came to life and so my dad stopped loving her. having kids is hard, i guess. it fucks you up. i never want kids.

but i hate when boys like me. i hate it when they smooth my hair back like i am something that is supposed to be held, like they have somehow missed all of my edges with their idealization. i hate when they say i was hoping the weed would make you more open to kissing, or sorry, i know you said that was too far and i shouldn't have done that, or you know, it actually hurts when i get this hard and you don't want to fuck. when is enough going to be enough?

it's important to note that i have no excuse except no, i don't want to, i have no idea what the fuck i'm doing here in your bed. no, dude, i wasn't raped, don't get any ideas. i was just fifteen and the power dynamic was skewed. but no one wants to talk about that when they're about to get laid.

they try so hard to make it sound neat and pretty. just once, they say, it won't go anywhere. or: come on, i've given you head, when's it my turn? or, my favorite: i'm not like those other guys, i won't hurt you like them.

well, no shit. the human condition dictates that no person can hurt another person in the same way they've already been hurt. that's why we adapt. if we were only hurt the same way over and over again, then shit, we'd never be hurt again. the excuses are god awful. i'm a writer, you can do better than that. at least make it impressive. at least make the regret come after instead of before. at least give me a day to enjoy it.

here's the truth: every time i lay in a bed with a boy, i feel gross for the next three days at least. sometimes it lasts for months. i lay curled up underneath my sheets and think: there's no way i can get up and do this shit again. i have to erase every facet of my past that i told him, reinvent myself so i am once again untouchable, make him more scared of me than i am of him. make the regret tangible, share it, give it away to whoever wants it.

i love flirting. i love when they protect me at shoulder-length, when they don't want to get too close to me because it's not going to be like that. i love when they tell me to go and don't beg me to suck them off or stay for five more minutes or whatever the fuck.

i can't bear the idea of being wanted, even without the sex. it makes me sick to my stomach when people offer to get me gifts or when they tell me they're proud of me. i like my loneliness, it is better company than most other things. i like driving alone and walking alone and working alone. i like not owing anyone anything, not my body or my brain or my money. it's harder to love other people. it's easier to watch from afar, to see their smiles and think: one day. one day i will be able to love like that.

maybe i won't. i am already nineteen, i'll be twenty in like five months, and i still have no idea what i am doing. maybe that's normal, but i just wish someone would sit on the floor with me and ask hey, what have the past eighteen years of your life been like? and i would explain to them that i have always been scared of everything, and whenever anyone takes my shirt off, i close my eyes and go limp, because that is what i was taught.

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casspurrjoybell-33 · 9 months ago

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Wreckless - Good Advice

*Warning Adult Content*

Emmett

Not all of his towers stand up... only about half do the first time but we get the front wall done and he starts working on the decorations while I take a minute to look for Quincy and Rhys again.

I spot them and wave and they head over and Rhys runs right up and sits down next to Finnegan.

"You have lots of toys."

Quincy is carrying a ton of stuff, including a big umbrella.

"You're smart bringing an umbrella," I tell him.

Maybe we should get one.

"Irish boys," he says.

"I swear to God that Rhys burns just watching the weather report for a sunny day. Umbrella works great but it's a bitch to lug around."

I thought Finnegan was bad but he is a bit darker complected.

I help Quincy get the umbrella set up so the shade falls right on the castle that they're busy working on.

Apparently they've decided to go fill the buckets together, one each.

Works for me.

Rhys comes over while Finnegan is turning over the buckets.

"I wanna get some toys, please?"

"I think you two have plenty for today but we can get you some as long as you leave all of Finnegan's here. Understand, Reese's Pieces?"

"Yes. I won't steal his toys and you get me some."

"Exactly. Now go play."

He scurries back under the shade of the umbrella and Quincy sighs.

"So much work but so worth it. It's hot... I'm gonna dip real quick if you don't mind keeping an eye on them."

"Go for it."

I watch Finnegan and Rhys while he's gone and they seem to be getting along.

The conversation right now, from what I can tell, is about the best moat excavation tool and whether or not they should try to dig it all the way to the water so that it will fill by itself.

A wet, much happier Quincy pops back into the chair next to mine.

"Much better, thanks. How long have you two been together?"

It's a fair question but not an easy one to answer.

"It took us forever. We danced around each other for awhile but we've been... lets call it... four months, total. And you guys?"

"About two years. This is our anniversary trip. We live just north of Baltimore, little town called Havre de Grace."

That's not too far, actually.

"I know it, grew up in Baltimore and still live there. West side just down past Security."

"It's a small world. Right?" Quincy says because that's what everyone says, when you find out you live within an hour of someone.

"It's nice to meet you and Finnegan... the odds of meeting another little... they're rare as hen's teeth. Are you Finnegan's caregiver or are you a daddy dom?"

I know just enough to answer that question... at least I think.

We have sex so it's...

"A daddy dom. You are too, right?"

"Yeah. I did caregiver with my first little and then I realized it was a lot more fun, if I got to fuck them. Releases some of the stress, you know?"

I've been called blunt and pretty straightforward before but Quincy may even have me beat.

"Hard to say no to that. Although it's taking us a while to work it all out. We're both new to this."

"Sex or littles?" he asks, laughing and he smacks his thigh.

"I'm kidding. Finnegan seems pretty easy-going. The older ones are little bit easier to handle than the young ones. They still have their own issues, though."

This is my chance to ask a question that's been bothering me for a while now.

"Finnegan falls out of little head-space so easily. I don't know if it's because me. I'm probably saying things I shouldn't be but he loves little-space when he gets there."

"The older ones struggle more with it in my experience. I'm not saying you're not messing up because you're new to this so of course you are. Hell, I still mess up sometimes. But I think the less difference there is between their adult persona and their kiddie persona, the easier it is to switch between them. Once you get a toddler into headspace, you can keep them there easily. Finnegan is a little more independent so he's doing some things for himself.... I'm guessing and it's much easier for him to do more than he should and ends up switching. It's also really easy for you to say things to him that you wouldn't really say, to an eight-year old because he's not doing baby-talk."

That all makes perfect sense.

"Thanks. I'll think about all that. It makes sense."

"He's not full-time, right? Is he full-time with you?"

Full time but not full time?

Huh?

"What do you mean?"

"Does he work?"

Too much and too hard.

"Yeah, he has a high-stress, corporate job."

"Are you home full time or...?"

I am not a kept man.

"No. I'm a mechanic."

"Thank God for normal people. Seems like everybody says they're a lawyer or doctor. You had me worried, with the corporate thing."

I know exactly what he's talking about.

"I have a Sliding-Company and Rhys is an Elementary-School Teacher. But when he's with me he is always in little-space. Do you guys switch? I'm guessing so, from what you said."

"Yeah. We just go with the flow."

We get interrupted by Rhys and Finnegan wanting us to look at the sand-castle.

"That looks great, boys," Quincy says and I tell them the same.

They're going to test the moat with water now and I wish them luck.

When Quincy and I get back to our deck-chairs, he apologises for the interruption and his.

"I'm sorry," Quincy says. "You and Finnegan might want to re-consider flipping around like that. But hey, you have to do whatever works for you guys. I'm not the damn 'King of Daddy-Doms' like all those kids on the internet."

He's funny.

"I've seen some crazy threads. I've been looking for information but it's really pretty hard to find and half of it sounds like it's been written by... I don't know."

"By high-schoolers, who think they're a little... when all they are, is pretentious assholes, who haven't grown the fuck up yet," he finishes.

"And they think they know everything. I got into an argument with a biological twelve year old once because he said he was a little and I said he was too damn young to be one. That's when I got off Reddit. I'm dry again. I'm gonna try to get Rhys into the water with me also. He needs a break but he's not gonna want to take one. Still, he's gotta be hot and sweaty."

"I'll toss Finnegan in too... maybe it'll be easier if they both go."

We walk over and spend a few minutes congratulating them on the castle and then convince them to take a break.

I ask Finnegan if he wants me to throw him in but he says he's going to be brave and do it all by himself this time.

We'll see if he finds the courage.

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cantbelieveimsayingthis · 1 year ago

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Sorry Not Sorry

Work has been an exhilarating whirlwind lately, and boy, is it kicking my butt! But guess what? It's all for a fantastic reason – we've managed to rope in a whopping 300 new recurring clients over the past three months! Pinch me, because I can't believe how incredibly thrilled I am right now.

Success is like that one special dessert you've been craving all week, and finally, you get a slice. It's an indescribable feeling that leaves you grinning from ear to ear. I can't help but to thank GOD for my achievements, savoring each moment

When I reflect on my journey, I can't help but be inspired by my mom's unwavering dedication to me. She sacrificed so much, putting her own dreams on hold, just to ensure I had a joyful youth. But now, I stand at the precipice of greatness, and I refuse to let my aspirations fall by the wayside.

Don't get me wrong; I love kids , but I've decided that I won't compromise my goals and dreams – not even for the apple of my eye. I want to blaze a trail of success, not just for myself but also for my family. I aim to be that catalyst of change, showing my loved ones that it's possible to follow your passions while creating a life that's both fulfilling and extraordinary.

So here I am, charging through the corporate battlefield, armed with ambition, grit, and the desire to leave a lasting impact on this world. I'm determined to carve my path to success, cherishing the victories and embracing the challenges that come my way.

To all the dreamers and go-getters out there, let this be a reminder that it's never too late to chase your dreams and make them a reality. Unleash your potential, fuel your passions, and let your fire burn brighter than ever before. With hard work, resilience, and a pinch of wit, we can overcome any obstacle and savor the sweet taste of success! Cheers to all the dreamers who dare to take the leap and build the life they've always envisioned. Onwards and upwards,

#business #entrepreneur

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tvdsure · 3 years ago

Text

i. habits of my heart

paring : eren x reader, levi x reader, (used in past tense) armin x reader.

trigger warning : after birth depression… i think that’s it. no sexual scenes.

summary : reader had a kid at twenty two and between trying to take care of elena and her unsupportive mother she just wants to give up.

honestly, i think this deals with a story more of my usual love one shots. i hope you like it + it’s heavily unedited i’ll come back later cause its 4 am.

so many people let me believe that i'm worthless. that i mean nothing beyond the amount money i make, or how smart i am, or how i dress. their words will forever stick with me. i'll always remember that no matter how hard i try, people have it harder and still go further that i ever can.

because if my mother doesn't love to remind me of it i don't know who does. which is exactly what she's doing right now. at a dinner. with my friends, no less.

"and if she'd just went that extra year, she'd be much better than she is right now. oh how i wish she had listened to us back then. instead she has a child..." i block her words out. i fought her endlessly on this, more than i can remember. thankfully, she never mentions elena in bad blood, she loves her, but the way she explains my pregnancy is more than enough to know she doesn't love me.

"thank you, mum." i interrupt halfway through her speech (that has switched to another subject).

"honey, you haven't even had dessert." i shrug, grabbing the two girls and we all get up.

"next time. thanks." she gets up, allowing clara and mary clean up the table as she walks us out. we were already finished eating but we were about to have dessert.

"thank you for having us, ms. ellison." she smiles, kissing the girls cheeks and then mine, but not before whispering something in my ear.

"don't interrupt me again, darling." i nod once and walk out while waving goodbye to her. once the door is closed i feel so much better.

"god," i groan, "that's was horrible." mikasa and annie face me sympathetically. i shake my head quickly as we all get into the car.

"no! don't look at me like that. i hate it already, i don't need sympathy." they both look at each other before nodding. "where do you wanna go? cause i haven't eaten a single thing that was served and i really need a change of scenery."

"yn..." i groan, knowing that means they can't go out. "i'm sorry! me and armin haven't seen each other for weeks and they're finally back from tour." my head perks up at the new announcement.

"they're back from tour?" mikasa nods and i start to drive.

"yeah. eren just texted me an hour ago. he's waiting back home." i smile, knowing how much elena adores eren, they've connected in a way no one else was able to reach her and i love that. monster because her own father doesn't have that connection with her.

"speaking of," annie starts and i immediately shake my head, knowing where this is going. "come on, yn, tim has to see her. it's been a month. he's her father, too, you know." if there's anything i despise, it's giving my daughter away for a whole week to her dad.

"tim texted me yesterday." my bottom lip is pulled in between my teeth. i know their reaction.

"yn!" they both shout and i park the car silently. i'm about to shut off the car before annie, from the backseat, presses my shoulders down. "we'll literally dismember you. he needs to see his daughter, it's not fair on him for you to do this." i sigh, knowing she's right.

"okay okay. i'll call him tonight." they both seem satisfied because we're finally out of the car and i get to see my daughter.

i check my phone for any text messages before getting consumed with elena and the band since they're back. apparently everyone texted me. i've had my phone on focus mode.

( 4 49 ) armin : hey pretty

i've missed you

we're here, can you guys answer the door

damn it i think we woke elena up

sorry, see you when you get back

( 4 55 ) jean : ynnn, we're outside

we're waiting and i don't like it

please answer the door for the love of god

eren just informed me that we are bothering

you while you're at your mother's

sheesh, have fun (haha as if)

( 5 03 ) 'we own a house' groupchat :

eren : y'all are so annoying someone open the door

armin : i think they're out

jean : i don't care, someone better let us in

connie : why are we texting here when we're two feet from one another?

eren : so that the girls could answer while we're suffering

historia : i’m not home

eren : clearly. if you were, your ears would be blessing by now

sasha : you’re all so annoying, the sparks key is tied under the mailbox

armin : that’s really smart guys

sasha : it’s was mikasa’s idea

eren : liar. i saw a tiktok about it.

historia : just open the damn door and shut up already

( 6 14 ) mum : you guys left so fast

what's wrong? is it elena?

call me when you're home.

( 6 20 ) lilly : im coming back to nyc tomorrow

can i stay over? it'll be fun. please.

i haven't seen you in agesss

the latest message, from lilly, gets me excited and i smile. while i attempt to text her back, my body crashes onto someone else and i’m almost positive i’ll be falling any second now. until i don’t.

eren yaeger.

“hey.” he barely lets out, letting go of me completely. he’s changed in the span of three weeks. he’s gotten taller, i think, and his hair looks… his eyes, his clothes… too much. he’s too much.

i can’t do this right now.

“hi. have you seen elena?” he nods, looking me up and down and i feel myself shy under his gaze.

“uh yeah, i put her in her room, she was asleep on the couch when we got home.” i nod and start to walk away. i know we have a lot to talk about, i know that, but i can’t do it right now.

“armin!” i smile once i’m greeted with the whole band as well as the girls sitting together. he quickly comes over to me, pulling me into a tight hug, swirling me around and i laugh a little. “i’ve missed you so much.” he nods, agreeing as he hugs me a little tighter.

“come on, armin. you’re hogging her.” i laugh at jean’s comment and let go of the hug with armin and instead jump into the slightly taller man’s arms.

“you guys have been gone for too long.” i say, letting go of jean and greeting the rest. connie, erwin and levi.

levi is their manager. and an amazing one at that. i don’t know what erwin is to the band but he’s everywhere they are so i don’t really question it. besides, he gives the best advice.

someone taps my shoulder from my behind and for a second i’m afraid it’s who i think it is. but it’s hange. i attach my self to them and they hug me back even tighter.

“how have you been? where’s my little sunflower?” they ask and i smile, knowing how much they love elena.

“she’s asleep. i’m good. i missed you too much though.” they smile, kissing my cheek.

“i’ve missed you even more.” and just like that we’ve all fallen back into routine.

me, armin, and sasha are on the white couch, my legs dangling on the blond’s hips as he bounces his slightly for my satisfaction. jean, connie and historia are on bean bags. hange and levi are on the chair in the kitchen (which is open so they’re practically sitting with us). eren, mikasa and annie are talking together.

they’re mostly sharing stories of the tour and what happened. i didn’t really have time to watch it, which is disappointing, but they aren’t leaving any details out.

“i’m glad you guys had fun.” historia smiles at armin and jean who immediately start ranting about it again. i love hearing these stories, even though they make me wish i can get away from here one day, i love knowing my friends have found their purpose. that they’re happy.

“you tired?” armin whispers to me while everyone is consumed in their conversation. i nod a little, swinging my legs off of him and onto the floor.

“i’m gonna go to bed guys.” they all say ‘good night’ before i’m off to bed. not really. it’s more of watching elena sleep while i cry myself to a deep slumber.

once i’m at my room i finally take a deep breath, letting all my tears flow. there isn’t a specific reason why i feel… heavy. i just do. i always do. and while i know everyone down there would do almost anything for me, including comfort me, i can’t burden them with ‘postpartum depression’.

yeah, i’ve officially been diagnosed a few weeks after elena was born. the doctor said it wasn’t that serious, though. nothing dangerous or harmful to me or elena, just some mood swings here and there, panic attacks, crying randomly, intense irritation or anger. nothing a few pills couldn’t fix. so now, every night i’m supposed to take a fluoxetine.

it’s nothing, really, it’s just some depression. i can handle it, and i will. i just tend to cry a lot which i don’t think needs to be mentioned.

i take the pill, and then another one, before resting next to elena, smiling as i hug her closer to me. i never thought i could love someone so much but she’s only seven months and i already love her more than i’ve ever loved anyone in my twenty two years of living. she’s my heart and soul. she’s my everything.

#aot x reader #pregnancy tw #eren x reader #attack on titan eren #levi x reader #love story #snk eren

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flowerflamestars · 4 years ago

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Main Issues with Feysand's leadership: it mostly consists on rather inmature, underdeveloped strategy that would in no way get a world leader very far in the real world (see: 'i schooled my face into a look of boredom'), seem content in making enemies left to right as long as they never have to step down from the pedestal that they've built, and see Illyria as a necessary evil, like wtf. In conclusion, Rhysand is a governor for Velaris, but is not fit to be the ruler of the Night Court.

Rounding caveat, because I know I’m going to get shouty: the dividing line between ToG and ACOTAR is that tog is a fantasy series with romance, and acotar is a romance series in a fantasy world. They’re not the same. I’d be totally fine with how the world building in acotar is v handywavy, because it’s still accomplishing what the books set out to do (tell a love story, hello acomaf) but- BUT, it’s not consistent. And that inconsistency wildly undermines the characters.

And god, if Rhysand as a ruler isn’t the heart of ???? spirit.

We’re not going to talk about how the plot of acotar only makes sense backwards (Hey, Rhys, why did you want to kidnap every month a powerless mortal girl???), we’re just going to talk about reputation.

So Rhys is a villain who we learn isn’t actually evil. A classic. He was made to do terrible things by Amarantha! He sacrificed himself to save his friends! Of course the High Lords hate him, they think he sided with the enemy.

That could have been the whole thing- the layers pulled back, Rhysand also a victim, a reason for the world to hate him but for Feyre to see otherwise.

OKAY BUT- then we learn? that Rhysand has been playing Evil Scary Jackass in all political situations? for his entire reign? that’s just what he does?

Round two: Rhys had to be Amarantha’s because he had to “shield the knowledge” of his friends and his capitol? city.

BUT- other people Under the Mountain, also accessible to Amarantha, know the IC??? have been acquainted with them for years? They’re not a secret. Mor was almost married out, Az and Cas are legendary, Amren is a story people tell.

And all those people are probably incentivized by the fact that, you know, they think Rhysand is an evil traitor.

Furthermore: guess who willing cooperated with Amarantha? The Court of Nightmares. Recall who, surprise in acowar, knows all about Velaris: Keir.

Round three: Sexy Evil Cosplay, wherein we learn that not only instead of just keeping it together in politics Rhys has adopted an entire secondary persona, we learn he also...uses this persona...to scare all the other highborn faeries into submission....so he? never has to talk to them?

BUT ALSO: this whole thing is undermined by, once more, Keir.

The whole game on the throne is to instill fear/ control of Keir. The whole Second Face. But Keir knows about Velaris? Keir knows exactly what Rhys stands for because Rhys and Cassian tried to rescue Morrigan from the Court of Nightmares when they were teens. Hell, Keir probably knew Rhys when Rhys was a kid.

It’s almost like eventually the person you pretend to be becomes who you are.

I think the Political Rhys vs Real Rhys started out as a plot point, but in character became this: not someone separate at all, but actually, Rhysand’s coping mechanism for making shitty choices.

See: if everyone in the Court of Nightmares bows, I’m ruling them. It doesn’t matter that women are being sold, that there’s servants and presumably totally normal people trapped in a mountain they can’t leave with people I think are monsters.

Let’s jump to Illyria.

How much easier is it, for Rhysand, half-Illyrian himself, to align wholly with the High Fae and say: no, it’s Illyria’s fault. They’re savages, they’re barbarians.

Easy as being a dick to other powerful men because it’s fun when they can’t fight back.

If the blame isn’t his, he keeps his army. He doesn’t have to fight a civil war that might swallow him whole, considering Illyria is the army he controls vs the High Fae soldiers left entirely under Keir’s rule.

If it’s Illyria’s fault he can successfully reimagine the past as he clearly needs to (someday, I’ll make a whole ass post about Rhysand’s mommy issues and how they creepily bleed into Feyre’s characterization, but one thing at a time).

If it’s Illyria’s fault, he can’t be mad about his Mother, daughter of a warrior race, offering him up for brutal, dangerous training. It’s the fault of Illyria. He doesn’t have to imagine he was learning those things, fighting in the mud, because it was the only way his mother could pass the legacy, could say, look, this is where I come from and someday you will have the power to make it better for your sister, for everyone.

He LOVED his mother. He wears the sacred tattoos, manifests wings, has Illyrian “brothers”.

But- It’s Illyria’s fault, so Rhys didn’t fail, Rhys is doing his duty by keeping them in line.

Which brings us to the war.

I’m unclear on why only the Night Court knew Hybern was coming, but let’s just accept that.

But it’s all about the Public Face, moving in the shadows, the two Rhysands. So for the months Feyre is wasting away with Tamlin, planning her wedding Rhys...doesn’t warn anyone. Doesn’t whisper to the other High Lords to shore up defenses.

He makes a plan contingent on 1)that creepy deal with Feyre that he can now both justify and doesn’t want to enforce knowing she’s his mate, and 2) long lost magical objects no one knows the location of, and that don’t belong to him.

Rhys got SO used to the All-Knowing Dickbag face, it’s like he started believing he was all knowing. He’s one of seven Lords, but he doesn’t talk to any of them, on the off chance they don’t do exactly as he says. He steals from Tarquin, a young High Lord kind enough to take a chance on him. He tricks Mor. He lies to...everyone?

And then it’s a big deal, a failure on their part, when at the FINAL HOUR AND LAST MOMENT BEFORE ALL OUT WAR, AFTER THE SECOND INVASION HAS ALREADY COMMENCED, when the High Lords don’t jump to trust Rhys.

A step back, a Feyre tangent: Feyre, younger, also deeply traumatized, falls into this hard. Rhys tells her he’s the underdog, and she believes it. He’s SO SO SO powerful he can take the voice of another High Lord, Feyre herself thinks he’s so magical the gap between him and his contemporaries is like that between humans and high fae-

But hey wait, they don’t trust him because he’s been a dick for five hundred years.

But hey wait, they came as their true selves, they don’t trust him while he’s WEARING ILLYRIAN WINGS- IT’S BECAUSE HE’S DIFFERENT-

No, it is not, but Feyre’s POV sort of wants us to think so.

And that’s where everything sort of falls apart.

The act of power has stopped being an act- it’s just their actions now. And they do not know how to stop.

Because they are in control, and they have to go on for the war. They have to keep making decisions, even if they’ve lost the thread, because they want to survive.

But they do survive.

And it turns out, even after that, they can’t put down the masks fused to their faces, because the act is the only thing keeping them together.

So the balls to the wall, We Must have the High Ground Even at Our Own Dinner Parties, The Center MUST Hold shit just keeps going: tearing down Lucien because he chose something that wasn’t their Court. Letting Illyria crumble because they don’t need the army right now. Banishing Nesta because she’ll never bow to authority.

All the weird, incestuous feeling inter IC drama.

But they’re the underdogs! the Heroes! It’s not their fault!

So they spend their time in Velaris, charmingly hanging out like they’re normal people, thinking they’re better because power is wielded on an unimaginable personal scale.

Rhys loves his people! Rhys sacrificed!

Rhys...careened from one war/disaster to the next, and then settled down to play house?

The narrative cannot decide: is Rhys really an underdog, devoted to his people? How about he helps every other city that Amarantha destroyed?

Is Rhys a Normal Guy who just wants to walk on pretty cobblestone and have a cute, happy family? Maybe, there should be a government so he isn’t solely responsible for everything?

Is Rhys the Lord of Darkness Redeemed by LOVE? Cool, let’s have him maybe he honest with Feyre exactly once, OR, at least talk about how him dying made her go off the rails and try to fix that with a bandage that isn’t baby shaped before Feyre’s 22nd birthday.

Canonically, becoming High Lord is a mystical, magical endowment. That then, for the most part, functions as some kind of mashup Monarchy/ Feudal Lordship.

If that’s what it is, why can’t we lean into that? Rhys who does want a normal happy life with Feyre, trapped by the weight of immovable magic destiny.

King Rhys, duty bound to his bloodline and his people, torn between different ways to rule.

Hell, Rhysand who really is a monster, because maybe Faeries are monstrous by human standards, who shows Feyre the beauty that lies beneath the brutality in a magic, surreal world where everyone is terrifying, but even monsters love.

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aestheticallyholland · 3 years ago

Text

NEVER NOT | THE DATE . . .

❃ PAIRING tom holland x fem!reader

❃ DISCLAIMER i do not own the artists (and the reader) that are going to portray the characters, but i do own some of the their names. the plot of the story is inspired to the book and movie 'to all the boys i've loved before' but with changes. the gifs and photos used in this series are edited by me but i get credits to the originals. also, this series is first posted in wattpad by me. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST IT SOMEWHERE ELSE !

❃ WORD COUNT 3.2k words

WANNA BE ON THE TAGLIST? feel free to comment on this post if you wanna be added to this series' taglist to get notified for updates !

NEVER NOT MASTERPOST | LEI'S LIBRARY

"Sometimes, the more you get to know a person, the more attractive they become." — anonymous

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

IT HAS BEEN THREE WEEKS since Tom and Y/N made a deal to pretend as a couple. Who would have thought that they would actually last a week?

As usual, Y/N did her morning routine during school days. Waking up, taking a bath, eating and going out of the house.

She ate the last piece of bread and cleaned up the table before going out of the house.

"Dad! I'm going now!" Y/N exclaimed to her dad who was still upstairs.

"Take care, darling!" He replied back that made Y/N smile before closing the door behind her. She adjusted her bag and walked going to school.

She sang some of the lyrics of never not by Lauv as she was walking until someone suddenly interrupted her and made her startle.

"Morning, love!" A familiar voice suddenly said and that made her almost fall.

"Holland! You twat." Y/N scolded him and that just made him laugh at her.

"Didn't know you had an angelic voice." He said and grinned at her. That made her cheeks blush and felt embarrassed when he heard her sing. No one has ever heard her sing except for her family and Erika.

"H-how did you-" Then she gasped. "You really are a stalker." She teased him remembering that she called him that before.

"Hey! I just want to walk with my girlfriend." He said. All of a sudden, Y/N's heart suddenly pounded so hard the moment he said that. It's as if they were really together as a couple.

No. No. No. No, Y/N. Stop it!

"Whatever, Holland." She asked and flipped her hair and continued walking. Tom just chuckled at her act and jogged towards her to catch up.

"Wait up, babe." He said and that made Y/N roll her eyes.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Going lunch with the one and only Tom Holland was far different from when it was only Y/N and Erika. Y/N was with her boyfriend's group of friends and that made her feel out of place.

As they were laughing and talking, Y/N just sat there awkwardly, not saying anything until she felt an arm around her shoulders that startled her. Tom was already noticing that Y/N was out of place so he did what he had to do.

"Are you okay, babe?" He asked with a concerning face and that made her smile at him.

"Yes, Tom. I just feel out of place." She whispered it so that his friends wouldn't hear.

"I'll make it up to you later." He said. "How about a date after school?" He asked her.

"Well, dating wasn't in the contract so-"

"Stop thinking about the contract for a while." He said. "Consider this as a two-week anniversary. My treat."

Y/N felt a slight blush coming from her cheeks but she shrugged it off and roll her eyes on him, playfully. "Alright, Holland." She smiled at him and he made an expression of joy.

"Hey, Y/N!" She heard Harrison called her and she looked at him with a 'what?' expression.

"Would you slap Tom for 100 dollars?" He joked and that made the other laugh at him except for Tom who just glared at his best mate.

"Shut it, Osterfield." Y/N heard Tom said.

"Who said that I wouldn't?" Y/N joked back and that made his friends laugh more. Tom looked at her like how he glared at Harrison and that made her smile at him wide.

"I'm kidding babe." She said and kissed him on his cheek which caused his friends to tease both of them.

"Shut it, you dweeb."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Hey, Aria. I won't be having dinner with you guys today, if you don't mind. I'm going out with Tom to have dinner together." Y/N said through her phone on her ear.

"My sister is all grown up." She started and Y/N could hear her squeal from the phone. "Of course, I'll let dad know."

"Thank you, Sis."

"And remember, stay protected!" That was what her sister said. When Y/N got what it meant, she was about to scold Aria but instead, the call had already ended.

"Why are people acting so weird today?" She asked herself as she kept her phone to her pocket until she heard her best friend's voice calling her from the hallway.

"Y/N!" She looked at where the voice was coming and saw Erika running towards her with a paper on her hand.

"Erika!" Y/N called back and Erika reached her and she panted at first from running.

"Why the hell were you running?" Y/N asked as Erika was trying to catch her breath.

"Maybe I should go back to track and field again. Damn, my back hurts when I run." Erika said and stretched her back. "But anyway!"

"I got an A+ for the first time of my life, Y/N!" She squealed and showed the paper that she was holding to Y/N's face. "See!"

Y/N got startled when Erika suddenly shove the paper to her face. "Oh my god, how did you do that?" Y/N asked while scanning through the paper.

"It's called, luck!" Erika exclaimed which caused people to look at her but of course, she doesn't care. "Anyways! Do you want to go somewhere after this?" She asked as she kept her test paper on her bag.

"Tom already asked me out for dinner," Y/N said and that made Erika put her hand on her chest.

"Are you ditching me for him?" Erika asked in a dramatic way and Y/N could just chuckle. "I'm kidding! Go have fun and stay protected."

Y/N glared at her. "I'm not going to do it with him!" She said and that made Erika laugh.

Erika saw someone behind Y/N and smirked. "There's your prince charming. I better go. Enjoy your date, lovebirds!"

Y/N turned around only to meet chocolate eyes looking at her. She smiled at him and walked towards him. He smiled back at her as he stopped walking and just looked at her.

How did she get this pretty? He asked himself.

What the hell, Tom? Another voice asked and he shrugged if off.

"Ready to go?" He asked her.

"Where are we going through?" She asked and they walked together going outside.

"To the restaurant you told me that you and your dad would go." He told her and his eyes widen.

"The last time I went there was a month ago." She said.

"And that's about to change." He said and placed an arm around her as they head towards his car.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It was past six in the evening when they've arrived in the restaurant. Y/N was too excited that when Tom parked his car, she suddenly went out first. She was so ready to eat whatever they're going to order.

This place was full of memories for her.

"Relax, Y/N." She heard Tom say and closed the door to his car to go to her

"I missed this place." She said. "Let's go!" She grabbed his hand and went inside the restaurant.

As they went inside, she could feel the good old vibes that she felt since she first went here with her parents. She looked around and saw a familiar face on the counter.

"Aunt Mary!" She greeted and the lady looked up from the counter. She squinted her eyes to see who it really was.

"Y/N?" She called back and Y/N nodded and walked towards her aunt. She wrapped her arms around her aunt and have a loving hug.

"How are you, my dear?" Aunt Mary asked.

"I'm alright. School is just driving me crazy." Y/N answered and she felt Tom going beside her.

"And who is this young man?" Her aunt asked.

"This is Tom Holland. My—"

"Her boyfriend, Ma'am." He interrupted Y/N with a smile and shook hands with her Aunt.

"My little girl is grown up, oh my." She answered. "Since when, dear?"

"Just two weeks ago, Auntie," Y/N answered.

"Well, I won't disturb you on your date tonight." Aunt Mary teased and turned to Y/N. "The usual, dear?" She asked and took out a pen and pad paper.

"Yes, please," Y/N said.

"How about you, Tom?" She turned to Tom to ask for his order.

"I would like some burger and just soda, please." He said.

"Alright. The usual table is waiting for you Y/N. And the jukebox is there too." Aunt Mary said and Y/N got excited once more.

"Thank you, Auntie," Y/N said and held Tom free hand and head towards the usual table that they use whenever they go in the restaurant.

Y/N sat down and Tom sat down in front of her. He noticed a small jukebox that was on their table.

"Are there jukeboxes in every table here?" He asked and observed the jukebox.

"Not all actually." She said. "When I was a kid, we would go here most of the time and it just happened that Aunt Mary works here."

"Is she like a relative or something?"

"She's my mom's best friend actually since their high school years." She answered. "So she's like my second mother."

"That explains why you're close." He said and looked at Y/N as she tugged her hair to her ear.

"She was the one who took care if me and Aria when my mom passed away. My dad became depressed for a few years because of that and couldn't concentrate on taking care of us."

Y/N could remember her dad becoming depressed when their mother died. He started to drink every night and she would usually catch him crying in his room with a bottle of wine on the floor.

"Your dad really loves your mom." Tom interrupted Y/N's thoughts.

"He does, really." She said and sighed while looking around the restaurant, how people and families are eating happily together. "There are so many memories in this restaurant."

"Like?" He asked.

"This is where my dad met my mom when she was still working here for a part-time job with Aunt Mary." She started. "My mom was a hard to get girl even though she started developing feelings for my dad." She chuckled at the thought.

"Your dad's a fighter then," Tom said and chuckled.

"Indeed, he was." She said and smiled. "They went on dates here until Aria and I was born."

"I wish I met your mom honestly," Tom said.

Y/N just looked at Tom and smiled. She likes that he was just listening to her and he liked that about guys.

She placed her head on her hands and just looked at him. "You're a good listener, eh?" She asked and Tom just chuckled.

"Indeed I am."

Y/N was about to ask something when she got interrupted by Aunt Mary's voice going towards them.

"Your orders are here!" She said with trays on her hands and she placed then down their table.

"Enjoy your date, darlings." Aunt Mary said before going away from them.

"Thank you, Auntie," Y/N said and Tom just smiled at her aunt.

They started to eat their respective food and Y/N was enjoying herself until she remembered what she wanted to ask Tom a while ago.

"How many girls have you been with before Camille?" She asked as she at her fries and looking at him.

He paused for a while to look back to the past. "Two actually, but the first one was like not an official relationship. We just both liked each other until it faded." He answered. "And the second girl was the first girl that I had an official relationship with until things got out of hand that I'd rather not talk about." He ate one of his fries before he continued talking. "Then there was Camille whom I've been with for almost two years."

"I didn't know both of you lasted that long," Y/N said. She only heard about the both of them when they were upcoming seniors and she couldn't believe that Camille finally got the one she had a crush on when they were still in middle school.

And the fact that she hated me because I got to have my first kiss with Tom was just unbelievable. Y/N thought to herself.

"I thought she was worth it until she broke it off," Tom said and looked down. Y/N looked at him with awe and placed her hand on top of his. Tom looked at her and he saw her smile at him.

"I'm starting to get over it though." He said and Y/N just giggled. "That's a good thing, right?" She asked.

"Yep. I like hanging out with you better." He said while taking a bite of his burger.

And that made her heart skip a beat. She felt her cheeks heated. "R-really?"

"Of course." He said with his strong British accent.

She shrugged off the feeling that she felt and tried to change the subject.

"The best part of this restaurant is the jukebox," Y/N said and looked at the jukebox that was on their table. "Do you have a coin with you?" She asked him.

He looked for a coin on his pocket until he felt a tiny circle and got it out. "Here." He handed her the coin.

Y/N got the coin from him and inserted it on the jukebox. She pressed the button where the music will start to play and it was perfect timing that the song that was playing Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke.

"Oh my god. This is my parents' song!" She said in a happy way and looked at Tom. "They used to dance this together when they come here." She said and had an idea. She stood up from her seat and Tom looked at her with confusion.

"What are you doing?" He asked and chuckled.

"Dance with me." She said and grinned.

"Really, Y/N?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Come on!" She insisted and grabbed both of his hands to pull him up from his seat. When he stood up, he placed his arms around her waist and Y/N placed her arms around his neck.

"This is nice." That was what Tom could only say when they were swaying around while holding each other. Y/N smiled at him and felt his shyness to dance. "The people won't mind, Tom. Don't be shy." She whispered in her ear.

"Who said that I was?" He asked and Y/N laughed.

"I can read your face, Holland." She said and they continued to dance until the song came to an end. She placed her head on his chest and could hear his heartbeats.

It was beating fast. She thought but she didn't mind it.

After the song ended, Tom guided her back to her seat like a gentleman. He sat back in front of her and was ready to go.

"I'll just pay the bills to your Aunt. I'll be right back." He said.

"I'll wait for you outside," Y/N said and got her stuff and went out of the restaurant first.

When she was outside, she looked at Tom was on the counter and was smiling while talking to her aunt like a real boyfriend he was.

It felt like it was a real date rather than a pretend one. From the dancing, to the opening up with each other and everything else. It was natural for them already.

What is this feeling? She asked herself.

She looked back at Tom who was already waving goodbye to her aunt and went out of the restaurant.

"What did my aunt say to you?" Y/N asked him and just chuckled.

"She asked how old I am." He answered and opened the door to his car for Y/N.

"Such a gentleman." She said and went inside the car.

"So where are we going now?" Y/N asked as Tom was driving.

"My house. I want you to meet my family." The moment he said that Y/N felt her hands shaking.

"W-what?" She asked.

"Yup, just for a while then I'll take you home. All of them are free tonight and tomorrow, they'll be busy again." He said.

Y/N just nodded but could still feel nervous. She had never had a boyfriend and now she's going to meet her pretend boyfriend's parents.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Good evening, mum," Tom said to the lady in front of him and she looked at him with a smile.

"Hello, Thomas." She said and noticed Y/N beside him. "Who is this lovely young lady?" She asked.

"Y/N Y/L/N. His girlfriend, Ma'am." Y/N said with a smile.

"Please, call me Nikki. I feel old when you call me Ma'am, honestly." She said.

"Mom, we were just here to drop by. I have to drop her off to her house." Tom said.

"Alright. Please drop by here soon, dear." Nikki said while she looked at Y/N. "It would be nice to have lunch or dinner with you sometime."

"I will definitely drop by soon, Nikki. Tom told me you're a great cook." Y/N said with a smile.

Nikki smiled back and wrapped her arms around Y/N to hug. "You're a great lady, Y/N."

"Thank you, Nikki," Y/N replied and pulled away from the hug to go beside Tom.

"We'll be going now, Mum," Tom said.

"Don't go home too late, darling," Nikki told her son.

"I won't!" He replied and led Y/N back to his car. She waved and smiled one last time to his family before going into the car.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tom parked his car right in front of Y/N's house and turned off the engine. Y/N removed her seatbelt and opened the door to go out and Tom did the same. They walked together towards the front door and stopped when they've reached there.

Y/N turned to face him and gave him a smile. "Thank you for the date, Thomas."

"You're really going to start calling me by that from now on?" He asked and that made Y/N giggle.

"I'm your girlfriend, so yes." She said and giggled more which made Tom smiled at her. He found her so beautiful when she laughs.

"But seriously though." She tugged a hair behind her ear. "Thank you for taking me to that restaurant and for letting me meet your family." She said.

"You deserve it, love," Tom said and Y/N felt a blush when he called her that endearment.

"I'll get going now, Tom." She said and unlocked the front door with her keys and opened it. Before closing, she turned around to look at him once again. "Good night." She smiled.

"See you in school, love." He said and smiled back.

Before she went in, she suddenly went near Tom and pressed her lips to his right cheek. She gave a smile before going inside her house and closed the front door.

Tom was left dumbfounded by the kiss and touched his right cheek like an idiot. He smiled to himself and chuckled because of her cute action. He finally walked towards his car while Y/N watched him through the window and saw him drive away.

She closed the curtain and walked up towards her room with a smile on her face.

❃ TAGLIST @allthisfortommy @kait4073 @lovebittenbyevans @l0ve-0f-my-life @spiitfiires

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x fem!reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland series

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