#I think the closest we get is the banter in some of the comics?

[allcheers-allfears]

we were so robbed of seeing Jack’s perspective to his growing relationship with Ianto. I just think seeing a conversation (him and Gwen presumably) where he realises what’s happening (falling in love) and the implications (with a mortal) would just fuck me up and I need to experience it

[bitzandbotz]

Rolfe Dewolfe Headcanons!

He is my current microwave blorbo (he is rotating around in my brain rn) and I have many thoughts about him!

This post is sfw of course!

He has a huge inferiority complex and some major ego issues. Bro is a little delulu but we love that.

I headcanon that Wolfman (lead singer of The Wolf Pack 5) is his older brother. This is where a large majority of his insecurities stem from, as his brother is far more well-liked and successful than he is.

He struggles to emulate Wolfman’s natural charm and charisma, so his attempts come off as forced and disingenuous as a result… Just ✨neurodivergent things✨

Not a headcanon but he forged prescriptions for pain medication???? Back pain allegedly, according to the Smitty’s introduction tape at least. Perhaps he’s a chronic pain king who couldn’t afford them!

I know it’s heavily implied that Earle is his own entity and whatnot, but I personally prefer the idea that Rolfe is just using his puppet to vent his frustrations with… Well, himself! It’s his own way of trying to tell people he’s self aware, but everyone seems to take his outlandish persona seriously…

Going based on that headcanon, he’d have to have some good vocal range too. His singing voice might not be the best but he’s definitely got some good impressions up his sleeve.

He’s funnier when he’s being authentic and not trying to be funny, if that makes sense. His jokes on stage are all very corny but behind the scenes I think he has his own unique sense of humor that the others often miss out on.

He loves disco. Canon technically, but it’s cute enough to mention. He was probably going to a lot of discotechs back when he was younger, since he was likely a young man during the time period in which disco would be relevant.

Age wise I feel like he’d be somewhere in his 30s-40s. Gray is a common color for wolves but he gives washed up celebrity vibes, yk?

He could wear shoes but he chooses not to wear them, it’s a sensory thing. He doesn’t like how constricting they feel, and I’d imagine it’d be hard finding shoes in his size anyway.

He’s the typa fella to go to sleep with that old ahh nightgown and the long droopy hat and comically flap his jowls when he snores.

Him and Fats bicker a lot but I think it’s mostly playful banter, they’re the kind of friends who start fake beef with each other just for fun. Fats is probably the one he’s closest to out of the band members, since they have a mutual understanding of one another and what makes each other tick.

Absolutely a terrible shopper. Do not send him to the store (even with a list), he will buy the most expensive versions of everything and a bunch of stuff you didn’t ask for (he only wants the best for you but he can’t keep paying 50$ for orange juice 😭).

In denial about his wrinkles. He’s still fresh as a daisy, or at least that’s what he tells you. His rosy cheeks are real though, no makeup needed for those.

If he gets frustrated enough he’ll do that dog thing that’s not a growl but a little bit of a low rumble.

In high school, he was the “weird puppet guy.” It was like every social interaction with him was a dry run for his future standup routines, he’d never talk to anyone without Earle also being involved in the conversation. It was a comfort thing for him, and it made interacting with others easier, but most people thought he was just weird for it. Once again I say ✨neurodivergent things✨

Avid vest and bowtie collector of course. He’s like Saul Goodman if he didn’t wear pants.

He knows how to play some weirdly specific instrument that sadly wouldn’t fit in with the rest of the bands lineup, but it’s something you’d never know until you’re like shopping for a replacement for your instrument and you see him trot over to a fucking theremin and start making some alien invasion ahh music

[ask-underzom]

why was papyrus killed off? will there be a scene describing his death, what happened to him? and can we see how it effects the characters afterwards? (sans, undyne, alphys, MTT specifically since they were the closest)

Papyrus was killed off mostly for character building purposes with Sans. and also bcz i cant and refuse to draw him. 😭

I promise you its for good reason. He’s naive and eager to help people. Personally, id dont think hed last long without toughening up a little. I love papyrus, but a zombie apocalypse is not where he belongs. Its not where a lot of these characters belong, which is why they all depend on each other.

In the comic. or. book. or whatever im gonna do with this au, there is gonna be a scene about his death, and theres gonna be reactions to it.

For how it impacts the characters, id prefer to. write it rather than show it with images, because its a LOT to draw out.

For one;

Sans was devastated. He tried to save Papyrus in the moment, but in an attempt he had used more magic than hes used to. Since monsters have gone years without use of immense amounts of magic (Modern commodities made it easier to live), summoning a powerful magic attack blinded him temporarily and left him visually impaired. After it settled in, he stopped doing a lot of things. He stopped getting up for militia work, quit working in the lab, and refused to leave his bed. He was useless for months until Alphys proposed an elaborate plan to, hopefully, find a cure.

Undyne was upset as well, but took a different approach to it. Prior to the incident, she was full of energy and determined to get through it. She tried to remain positive and keep people looking up, but that all .. fell apart once Papyrus died. She continued her work, but she got meaner. Straight to the point, no time for chit chat. She got impatient and demanding. Whatever the militia had been doing before, they were doing tenfold now. It lost a few members. Unlike Sans, she became more cautious and careful. Any sign of danger? She’d go in first ti make sure the others didn’t get hurt. She wasnt reckless; she wasnt cowardly. Undyne saw that without Papyrus, things got more serious, dangerous. She acted accordingly to such.

Mettaton didnt get a chance to know Papyrus until after the apocalypse started and he was called to come spend time with family instead of travelling. When the commune started and everyone had to go into groups, Papyrus was originally ordered to stay at base and help ration. Occasionally, he’d dabble in medical work while helping others under the supervision of his father, Gaster, or he’d help in entertaining other and keep them distracted. Thats where he met Mettaton. They talked, they bantered, and they hit off. They made good friends, and it stayed that way. A couple months after the apocalypse started, Muffet had joined the group and took over Papyrus’s position, which pushed him to join the militia. Mettaton, among others, urged him not to. When he did join, Mettaton was pretty upset. They saw eachother less and less, but when they did, he acted in support. After papyrus died, Mettaton’s life didnt change much. His routines seemed more… lackluster. He didnt seem as happy and distracting as he thought, and his attempts to cheer everyone up went pretty sour. He didnt put as much effort into his job as he should have been. Luckily, he made good recovery after some time of grief. He confided in Sans and Alphys, where Alphys was more of a help than Sans was.

Considering they werent… the best of friends, he got over it quicker than the others, but he was still down,

Other notable characters;

Alphys, who was upset for Sans and because Papyrus was usually great to be around. She seemed more unwilling to work for a week or two.

Dentin and Sid, who liked having Papyrus around. Dentin smiled less and Sid became more irritable, but they got through it.

Grillby was upset and tried to get Sans to talk about it with him, but to no prevail.

The commune itself seemed a little down after that, but most of them made good recovery after a 1-2 weeks of grief.

[batpham-discord-highlights]

Freakshow & Jason

I

Idea what if Freakshow's orb/something similar works on Jason : I  but it takes a while for the group to realize he being mind controlled eoe

until the fact that he's completely silent and doing petty thieving or maybe even some dirtier work for freakshow uou

maybe its a fragment of the orb so it only works on one subject at a time. Freakshow didn't mean to use it on Jason(red hood) but found out it works. Maybe stole it and was caught but then it turns out it works eoe

Go

This is an interesting idea. And it’d be so different from his ‘normal’ criminal behavior. You’ve made me curious

I

LOL

yes because at first the bats think Jason lost it again

but then it gets stranger

Go

I think it’s like: “alright, Jason fell off the band wagon. What elaborate thing is he going to try this time?”

And then, “wait a minute… this doesn’t seem right”

I

yess

because it seems odd what he's stealing and why there is no banter when confronted… then realize he isn't in control

maybe to restore the orb or maybe restore some other artifact is Freakshow's goal

Go

Maybe

I

one to use on Phantom and maybe even more than ghosts

Go

Yep, you’ve got me intrigued

I

i just thought it be an interesting way to merge the worlds without any of the heroes really involved

Go

And Jason’s proved that he can rely on muscle memory when his mind isn’t there

I

like Danny Phantom n stuff

yes

lol imagine they do defeat freakshow and they see a picture of a white hair kid on a dart board XD

Go

And they’re like, should we go make sure this kid is okay?

At least investigate him

I

yes probably figured out through freakshows monologuing that "Phantom" is his next target

ugh damn cant explain my thoughts

I can see this causing a lot of inner conflict too. Because Jason would have been aware they thought he just went off the deep in. Also concern(especially Batman) there might be more relics that affect Jason like that too.

Go

Yep! Though, as a neat side note. In Nightwing: Blood Brothers (not brothers in blood- that’s a different storyline). Someone is impersonating Jason… and Dick is like, “was this you?” Jason tells him ‘no’ and that’s good enough for Dick

I

oooo

Go

It’s weird. Jason canonically thinks he’s closest with Tim (post crazy days) due to their shared ‘they’re living in Dick’s shadow’… but in reality, Dick’s probably the one who’s actually closest to Jason in the family

Save for Alfred

I

that's what it seems like to me LOL from limited view I had.

Alfred is the exception to them all

i would read just a comic of Alfred’s interactions with all the bats :I

Go

We just need a compilation of just Alfred’s sass

I

mmhm

that would also be good reference LOL

but yea i just thought this be a neat way to introduce the bats to Phantom. Ooo make them go to amity park....

I like thinking of setups for big stories.. eAe (my brain think in show logic LOL how to continue story to story )

Go

Oh, because the idea hit me. What if Freakshow ground up what was left of his orb and it was the powder that affected Jason?

I

Ooooo

Go

Also, I’m now convinced it’s red obsidian

I

maybe because Freakshow comes from a family of ghost obsessed parents he has recognize red hood was something ghostly

Go

Which is both stupidly hard and brittle at the same time

And is associated with spirits

I

and since it was already shattered

it probably wasn't that hard to ground up

Go

Exactly!

It’s also stupidly sharp

Uh, obsidian is the sharpest natural substance known to man. They were looking into making surgical tools with it

I

maybe trick red hood into going after him. amg imagine red hood not being affected at first because the helmet but once he takes the helmet off he inhales it. Making him bust out freakshow who just got arrested.

Bats assuming it was just a jail break because more than freakshow got loose.

Oooo

thats neat >:O

Go

Oh, if the dust from it is on the helmet and Jason accidentally inhales it while cleaning it…

I

yess

Jason probably feeling stupid for it though ToT

but eoe maybe the bats find the dust on the rag in his apartment

or safehouse he was last in eoe

once they realize he isn't acting normal even for Jason

Go

Either stupid or frustrated. He knows he needs to take precautions due to fear toxins and the pollens and stuff Ivy uses… but at the same time, stone dust. Why should that affect him?

I

yes maybe he just got into a fight with his family too well more an argument(probably with Bruce) while finishing his rounds so he was just angry and frustrated

Also why the bats think Jason might have lost it

Go

Yes. Especially if a physical altercation happened…

I

oo yes reason he was just so ready to rip off the helmet without a second thought and clean everything as normal

he was still just pissed off

which leads to him being controlled and lead to the bats thinking they caused Jason to loose it.. but then figure out something isn't right. Do some investigating of where he last been before this. After the fight.. finding the red dust on a clothes and some trace of it where Jason sat down.

Go

Poor Jason

I

they did assume he lost it

but perhaps focusing on the person Freakshow really wanted to target, will distract him some. Cause Jason probably heard a lot in that state.. and the picture looked like a kid.

all the other bats feeling so guilty for just thinking he lost it… especially if Jason calls them out

Go

Yeah - I think it’s stated in freakshow’s original episode that the other ghosts know what’s going on but had lost their free will… though Danny’s memories are hazy…?

I might be wrong

It’s been a while

And since it’s powdered, would the effects wear off after a while?

L

I would think so

I

its been a while too

yes i imagine so

so by the time the bats intervene/know what's wrong Jason is able to fight control. Ooo imagine him pretending he's not for a moment so he can get a drop on freakshow eoe

Go

He would do that

I

bats intervene just to find out the thing wore off and Jason was just fishing for more info now LOL

freakshow order Jason to attack he just dropkicks him instead like yeah... no : I ur dirty trick wore off

Go

“I mean, it’s fun to have an excuse to antagonize the bat and his birds, but you decided to control me, and I don’t particularly like that”

I

LOL yes Though he probably would have wanted to punch them all for taking so long : I  but that would make them think he was doing it because someone told him to and he doesn't appreciate that.

Jason’s memories hazy but very clearly remember moments of maybe like Dickie trying to convince him to stop, brief moments of Freakshow monologuing... and now he got the tailor end of what Freakshow was planning to do.

Gi

also if i may throw my two cents: Jason would snap out of it if he's being ordered to harm/kill a kid

I

of course~

lol just now imagining they go to investigate and Danny staying as far from them as he can XD because ppl that come from out of town asking about him cant be good : I

[clairecrive]

heyo! woman was so good- could you write a part 2 to it please? thank you so much!

"woman" - wolfstar x reader (part 2)

A/n: thank you so much to those who commented on part 1! I'm overwhelmed by the response it got and I'm so happy!

Warnings: mild angst, mostly fluff, Sirius is adorable, this is mostly about Sirius x y/n, but poly relationship none the less

Word count: 1.2k ish

Tags: @erinblack003, @girl22334, @blackpinkdolan, @seldomabsent, @andy-blur (let me know if you wanna be added or removed)

Part 1

HARRY POTTER MASTERLIST

Sometimes, y/n damned the day she said yes to those boys. Granted, it didn't happen often and it coincided unsurprisingly with every fight she had with them. Mostly Sirius to be fair. Remus hated arguing just as much as she did, only he did a better job in dealing with conflict. 

If y/n had to be honest, it was hard for her and Sirius not to clash. No matter how much she loved the boy, more often than not they'd argue. Usually, it started like harmless banter, Sirius loved to get a rise out of her since Remus was always so collected, and y/n couldn't hold her tongue if her life depended on it. Hence, their dynamic.

Those kinds of interactions though were never taken seriously by either of them. Not that they would admit it out loud, but they enjoyed them.

However, despite how Remus always tried to mediate between them on serious matters, sometimes it wasn't enough and they would apply that same dynamic to fights stem from more serious motives. Like it happened yesterday.

Laying in her bed, with the deafening silence of her dorm as a soundtrack, y/n could admit that she took Sirius bait. She was aware of her boyfriend's past and how difficult it was for him to express his feelings. Hell, her past wasn't as traumatic and she had a hard time doing that too. 

"Stupid," groaning at herself, she rolled around, unable to keep still for long. 

Truth is, she gave in to that part of herself that was always second-guessing everything good in her life and let her speak. Yes, after months of dating she still couldn't believe that two of the most amazing human beings on this planet chose her and loved her, but she wasn't so insecure about their relationship and their commitment to her. 

It was true that Sirius had a way of going about things that made him seem like a huge flirt but she knew in her heart that it was harmless. She could see it in his eyes every time he'd look at her or Remus. Least of all that Valerie. 

She overreacted.

"Fuck me," huffing in annoyance she couldn't believe that Sirius had been right all along, she had been a massive brat. 

"I think you're in the wrong place for that," Marlene's voice cut through the room startling her.

"Sorry Marls," she grimaced knowing that it was her shuffling and restlessness that woke her friend.

"I'm sure your loverboy would be more than happy to solve your problem. Just go to him." And giving y/n her back, she went back to sleep.  Y/n had confided in her friend, she usually liked to keep her relationship's problems between her and her boyfriends but Marlene had seen right through her. 

She let out a sigh, looking at the ceiling, she knew that she couldn't go on like this much longer. She never could sleep when she had a serious fight with her boyfriends. Trying to be as silent as possible and climbed the stairs to the common room. 

Trying to figure out the best way to approach Sirius after the fight, the best words to use, she almost missed the silhouette of a boy sitting in front of a fire. As soon as she had spotted it though, y/n knew immediately who it was.

Sirius always had trouble sleeping.

"Hey," not wanting to scare him, she quietly spoke to announce her presence before making her way to him.

"Hi," good thing she had spoken, 'cause Sirius appeared to be deep in thoughts and hadn't heard her coming down. "What are you doing here?" 

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

"Same."

Both of them were aware of the reason why both of them were too restless to sleep but it felt like the words needed to be said. Even if to just ease them into the conversation they knew they needed to have.

"Look-"

"Listen-"

Speaking at the same time like they were in some sort of romcom felt comical but also very in intune with them. Always clashing. 

Smiling softly at each other, they waited for the other to speak. Almost as if they had made a silent agreement, again, they spoke at the same time.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Sirius added confused. She did nothing wrong as far as he's concerned.

"I overreacted, I was a bitch," she started listing with the help of her fingers, "I threw a fit, do I need to add more?"

"Oh baby," shaking his head he took her hands in his before continuing, "can't blame you for that when I would have reacted the same way, can I?"

"It seemed like I don't trust you though," now it was her turn to shake her head and give his hands a squeeze, "which is absolutely not true. I know you're loyal."

"Surely, you must know how deeply I care for you."

"I do, I do," she insisted when she saw doubt still clouding his eyes, "sometimes I let my insecurities get the best of me. I'm sorry if I hurt you though, it isn't an excuse."

"We all got insecurities, bunny. And I'm the one who's sorry, I shouldn't have messed with you that much. I was being an arsehole and I ruined your surprise." He reassured her before his head hung low in shame. There's the thing about Sirius: he could be very forgiving when it came to his loved ones but never when it came to himself. 

"You were a bit of a moron, but it's okay. I didn't want to come off as needy, you weren't that  late anyway." Taking his chin between her fingers, she tilted his head up so that she could look into his eyes. There was nothing y/n hated more than Sirius being so intransigent with himself when he deserved nothing but love and happiness. Good thing that he had two doting and loving partners then, right? 

"Bunny," tightening his hold on the hand he was still holding, his eyes glowed in the firelight, turning solemn as the words he was about to share, " you're the most important person in my life along with the marauders. If you want my attention, you got it. Hell, you already have all my attention. You're always on my mind, and certainly in my heart. I love you, there's no one but you and Remus. I promise." 

Letting his forehead touching hers gently, he gave her a soft Eskimo kiss. This soft intimacy always melted his heart. Sure, steamy makeup sex was always a wonderful post-fight but this- this was way better. Sirius had had plenty of sex with other people, it wasn't a secret, but he had never had this kind of quiet, almost domestic affection. And it was what he craved more than anything. It was one of those things that you can't live without once you had it. 

"I love you too, Sirius. You and Remus are it for me." She promised while her fingers gently caressed his jaw. They settled in comfortable silence, enjoying each other presence, basking in the promise that this would be forever. 

"Did you and Remus open it?" Leaning back so that she could see him better, she asked after a while.

"Nope wanted to make things right with you first."

"Then it's not ruined. Just postponed." As if the last couple of hours didn't happen, y/n felt the excitement come back to her. However, the clock neared midnight and having things finally been set straight between them, the strain of the day was slowly dawning on them. And as a matter of fact, Sirius yawned in the cutest way. Nose scrunched, eyes watering, he looked so much like a puppy, one wouldn't believe it.

"C'mon love, let's go to bed, alright?" Leaving a kiss to his lips, she quietly coaxed him up from the sofa. 

"Can't we stay here and cuddle a bit more?" Groaning, he complained settling his head in the crook of her neck, refusing to let her go.

"Who said we had to part? I'm not letting you go tonight, but I'm sure Moony is feeling lonely up there." She said quickly pecking his temple, the closest part of his face she could reach and walked towards their dorm with him attached to her like a koala. 

"Mh yes, let's go then. Moony gives the best cuddles."

"That he does my love." She agreed giggling. Remus was the best at quite a few things but maybe they could explore them in the morning.

[doomedship]

hi hope ur doing well!, the episode just ended, and idk about u but I’m so disappointed, like I have my expectations low and still happened.

I didn’t recognize Lucy in this episode, I mean one of her closest friends gets kidnapped by a serial killer and she just wants to win a bet? And for god sake she was kidnapped by one too all I could think in those scenes with Nolan was just this could be triggering for Lucy, it’s like DOD never happened and it’s just a wasted opportunity to use her character, give her some depth. Idk the show just felt different, I don’t recognize the characters anymore :(

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Hey anon.

I'm sorry. I'm disappointed too. Unfortunately it's not the first time an episode has been billed as Chenford-y by social media promo but actually turned out to contain no more content than was already released. Clearly ABC marketing knows what gets people talking so they milk whatever they can but the show doesn't actually have this content.

As predicted, it was definitely more of the same Lucy-is-comic-relief, Lucy's not not involved in the core police plot, Lucy's not doing anything serious. Lucy's a jokester, Lucy just wants to win a bet with Tim.

I just want to pause and compare her behaviour in this episode with a moment from season 1.

In season 1, Lucy's trying to check all her boxes and she has an easy opportunity to write a woman up for driving without valid plates. Tim tells her to deal with it how she sees best. Lucy's conflicted, and despondent about passing up on an easy win, but in the end she says, "it's not me", to use the woman's difficulties to help herself. She does the right thing and gives a warning. The woman is so grateful.

That was such a simple, basic scene around such a simple, basic police incident and it was a thousand times more revealing about Lucy as a character than the fluffy window dressing we see now. Lucy had principles, Lucy had conflict, Lucy made a difference to people's lives. We saw all that and lived it with her.

Now, who is Lucy? What's she aiming for? What is she even a police officer for?

She doesn't really do anything for anyone anymore. She just serves as background content, a 30-90 second scene of light relief before we get back to Nolan's drama. She used to help people all the time, she was so determined to make the world a better place. Who was the last person she helped on the job?

Now her limited dialogue now is generally about herself, and it usually doesn't frame her kindly. It doesn't help that Tim usually puts her down somewhere along the way too.

The way they used to talk to one another was so varied. Sometimes they would banter but never just for the sake of it. Those moments slotted around the really serious things they did on the job.

Sometimes they would be so profound with one another ("grief is grief. It's a hole that can't be filled" / "addiction doesn't just destroy the addict") They were also angry sometimes ("I need you to train me, not get me killed"l because you can't handle losing your wife" / "you want to rake me over the coals for the next six months? Go ahead"). And just so genuine as well ("honestly, it's probably why you excel at being a cop").

We haven't seen any range of emotion from either character in a long time. It has all been flat, 2D, cookie cutter banter. It's like people who have never written for these characters before were asked to create a scene of generic banter between a man and woman in a police station.

It is such a waste, because we know for a fact both actors have the ability to play the serious stuff so beautifully.

[justthehiddleswrites]

Sweet as Sugar | Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Summary:  The reader is the TV host of a new comedy panel show. She has been asked to appear on an episode of British Bake Off for Comic Relief. She didn't know she would be on the same episode as the dashing Tom Hiddleston. She could be wrong but is he flirting with her? And how is she going to manage to screw this up?

Warnings: none

-

“All right, Bakers, time is up! Please place your bakes at the end. Paul and Mary will come by.”

You finished up icing your last biscuit right as those words came from Mel’s mouth. That was the fastest three hours ever in your life. You almost regretted agreeing to appear on Comic Relief Bake Off but then reminded yourself it was all in good fun and for charity. As an up-and-coming host of a comedy panel show, this was a wonderful opportunity. Plus, you loved to bake.

You glanced around the tent to see how the other celebrities fared. Dawn French’s apron was smeared with light strokes of blue and green from her icing. She looked as though she just ran a marathon but her globe cookies looked amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch behind did not seem to have fared so well. Half of his dragon cookies were not even iced, and some looked burnt around the edges.

“Did you set a blowtorch on them, Ben?” you hear the celebrity behind you quip.

You turned to see Tom Hiddleston mocking his friend across the aisle.  Damn, He looks even more handsome up close and personal. And taller, definitely, taller, you thought as you turn around.

“You are one to talk.” You gestured at his bake at the end of the counter. The edges look more brown than golden. A heavy layer of icing applied to the top as camouflage.

Tom smiles.

“I don’t know what you mean. Those are perfect.”

“That icing is not fooling anyone. And if you are you using it to hide your gray hairs, it’s not working. You look like Santa Claus.”

Tom shot you a confused look, and you gestured to his beard and hair. Powdered sugar coated his trimmed facial hair and icing has licked a few of his curls which has dropped off to the side of his face. It gave him a wizened look. Tom reached up and felt the crunch in his hair. He attempted to clean himself up before the judges came by.

“Ehehehe. No, but does it suit me? Do I have a career as a holiday Santa?”

You giggled and gave him a thumbs up, just as Mary and Paul come by to your table.

“So, what have you baked for us?” Paul asked.

“I made a walnut biscuit with a mocha icing.”

“Have you ever made this before?” Mary inquired.

“Yes, I have. It’s my mum’s favorite biscuit for tea time, so I make this biscuit a few times a month.”

You hear a low whistle behind you along with the words “show off.” You turned and shot Tom a withering look as he turned to look at Ben with an innocent look. You scowled before turning back to Paul, Mary, Mel, and Sue.

“Looks like someone might be a bit jealous,” Sue quipped, “Or perhaps a bit of an admirer?”

Mel joined in.

“You could do worse, darling.”

Grateful to turn your back to Tom so he can’t see your embarrassment, and you prayed this doesn’t end up in the aired special.

“Anyway, the bake looks good. The icing is glossy. Let’s see how it tastes.”

Paul and Mary each take a bite.

“That is scrumptious,” Mary responds and your face lights up.

“That is delicious,” Paul added. “You can taste the walnut. The biscuit is crisp and the mocha icing enhances the walnut. Well done.”

Paul extended his hand.

“Really?!” you squealed as you shook his hand with trembling fingers.

Paul and Mary smiled as the walk off as Mel grabbed three of you biscuits off the tray.

“So, Tom, what do we have here?” you heard Mary ask behind you.

You turned to watch Tom’s critique.

“The flavor is nice, but the biscuit is a bit burned. What happened there?” Mary asked Tom.

Tom rubbed the back of his neck out of nerves.

“Ehehe. I was distracted and left them in the oven too long.”

Benedict started to laugh.

“Sure, Tom. Sure.” Benedict threw him an “okay” sign for added effect.

The Signature Round was over and you were riding high. Paul only gave you a handshake, but your closest competition was Tom and Dawn. They led the four of you out of the tent for them to clean up for the Technical Challenge.

-

Benedict and Tom were in a corner, deep in conversation. You could see wild gestures and excited tones. You turned to Dawn and began talking about family and work. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Benedict pushing Tom out of the corner, urging him to join your group. Tom shuffled along. He seemed shy to interrupt the two of you.

“Hmhum.” Tom cleared his throat.

You turned and smiled up at him. Damn those eyes are so blue. His face softened as he returned your smile, crinkles forming around his eyes. Positively charming.

“Can I help, Mr. Hiddleston?”

“Please, it’s Tom.” Tom corrected, fiddling with his fingers. “You seemed to be quite the baker.”

“Yes. I used to help my mother bake as a girl. Now I use it as stress relief. You can always tell when things are bad when the apartment is covered in cupcakes.”

Tom laughed.

“I would love to see that sometime.”

You swallowed. Was he flirting? With you?

“Sure. Next time I have a big show, I will invite you over.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“I’m counting on it.”

An assistant announcing interrupted the conversation telling them they were ready for the next challenge. Tom returned to Benedict, and you watched him walking away. His languid stroll exciting something inside you. Dawn pulled you from your daydream with a sharp hit to your ribs.

“He fancies you.”

You feel the blood rush your face.

“Nonsense. He is a famous movie star and I am well…. me.”

Dawn rolled her eyes at you.

“Oh please. I know smitten when I see it and he is. And so are you. Don’t think you’re hiding it. missy.”

You prepared to snap back but the assistant insisted you leave to go back into the tent. Within a few minutes, they situated the four of you behind your respective workspaces. A gingham towel covered the ingredients for your next challenge.

“All right bakers, for your technical challenge you will be baking a Mary Berry recipe. You will need to make a Battenberg cake.” Mel announced.

You smiled. You made a Battenberg before. You glanced around to see how everyone else is reacting. Dawn looked confident. Benedict threw two thumbs up signs, while Tom is ashen.

“You will 2 and a half hours. Let’s send Paul and Mary away.” Sue added.

“On your mark, get set, BAKE!”

You whipped the towel away to reveal flour, caster sugar, almonds, eggs and the rest of the ingredients.

“What’s wrong?” you asked Tom as you hear grumbling behind you.

“I’m not good at maths.”

You giggled. Something this perfect man struggles with, how refreshing.

“Well, when you get to the numbers part, I will help.”

“Oh no, you two. It says, NO CONFERRING at the top.” Benedict popped off from the other side of the tent.

“We’re not conferring, Benedict.”

The two of you exchanged a wink before turning to mixing up your batter. The mixing goes along just fine. As does the bake. When it came time to the slicing of the cake, Tom beckoned you over.

“Okay, how can I get this into even pieces?”

You do some quick calculations and marked it out for Tom. Just as you were finishing up, Mel comes by.

“Back to your own stations, you two lovebirds. No flirting in the tent.”

Tom’s neck reddened at the comment.

“I don’t what you are talking about,” he deflected.

“Yeah, I can’t stand to look at his ugly mug.”

“Keeping an eye on you two,” Mel commented with narrowed eyes as she walked away.

You missed Benedict giving Tom the thumbs up sign. The rest of the time was a blur, and before you knew it, Mel and Sue were counting down.

“5..4..3..2..1! Hands up. Place your bakes on the gingham altar behind your photo.”

Mary and Paul came back in as the four of you perched upon stools. You noticed Dawn’s cake was leaning a bit while Benedict’s was a bit smaller than others. Paul and Mary came to your cake.

“It has a nice appearance. The crumb is nice.”

Mary started to pick at the layers.

“It appears this person has forgotten the apricot jam.”

“Yeah. It’s a shame. Lovely bake,” Paul commented before moving on.

They finished their tasting and critiques and started announcing the placings.

“And in second, this one.” Mary gestured to your cake and you raise your hand.

“Nearly perfect, but you just forgot the jam,” she continued.

You nodded.

“And in first place,” Paul commented as Tom raised his hand, beaming the entire time.

Once the day of filming wrapped, you went to pack your things up and head to the bed-and-breakfast the production put the celebrities up on for the two days of filming. You felt a strong hand grabbed your shoulder. You whipped around to see who it was.

“You know I will never hear the end of him of winning,” Benedict commented as he helped you lift your bag.

“Nonsense, Ben. I will only mention it every third day I see you.”

Tom was beaming from ear to ear, those crinkles once again in place. His once crisp blue shirt covered in a thin layer of flour, sleeves rolled up.

“Don’t think for a second, Tom, your win is legitimate. If it wasn’t for Y/N helping you cheat…”

“… advising me,” Tom interrupted.

“… cheat. You never would have won.”

You just stood there smiling as the two bantered back and forth. The two men got more and more heated and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know this is for charity, right? It’s all in good fun.”

Tom laughed too.

“True, but there is nothing wrong with a little competition. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Agreed, but having fun is my main priority.”

“Well, what if make this a little more interesting?” Benedict piped in.

“What do you suggest?” you asked, curious what he had in mind.

“Star Baker gets to make the other two do whatever him or he wants for 24 hours.”

“Personal slave,” Tom’s eyebrows raised, “this could tempt me. Benedict cleaning my house in a French Maid costume.”

“You are truly disturbed, Tom. You know that right?” Benedict countered, scowling at his friend, “Are you in?”

You looked between gentlemen staring you down for an answer.

“Fine, I’m in! What about you, Tom?”

“I’m in. Oh, this will make things so much fun tomorrow!”

“As the instigator of this horrible idea, I insist we seal the deal with dinner and pints. There is a place in town with a vegan menu.”

Tom and you grimaced at Benedict.

“Please tell me there is a non-vegetarian menu.” you asked.

“Of course. Thomas here loves his steak.”

“I’m in, if she is.”

“Sounds like a date. Meet in the lobby at 6?”

“Deal.”

-

At a quarter to six, you headed downstairs to the lobby of the quaint little bed-and-breakfast you were staying at in Somerset.  You changed out of your dirty clothes and put onclean ones Surprisingly, Tom was early too. Gone was the button down and slacks and in its place was a well-worn jeans, a sweater, and boots, Handsome as ever.

You hated to admit it but you carried a bit of a torch for him. While Loki may have been the gateway by now, you watched almost all of Tom’s filmography. Your friends mocked you. You could hear the mocking in your right now once they heard he was filming with you. And you were about to go out to dinner with him and Benedict Cumberbatch. As a once stand-up comedian turned TV host, you never imagined this in a million years.

“Hello?” Tom waved a hand in front of your face, shaking you from your thoughts.

“Sorry.”

You looked down, avoiding his piercing blue eyes.

“Where were you?”

“Oh, just thinking about what my friends and family will say when they see me lose to Loki on national television.”

Tom let a belly laugh go.

“Ehehehe. I’m sure you will come up with a witty response to whatever they say. I have seen your show. Hilarious.”

You leaned back to look at him.

“You have seen my show?”

“Of course. You know, they call you the next Jimmy Carr. But I would say you are better, particularly with your laugh.”

His comment prompted a belly laugh on your part.

“Fair enough.”

Tom held out elbow for you.

“Ready to go?”

“I thought Benedict was joining us?”

“He had a family thing come up. Something with one of the kids. He begged off. Just the two of us.”

“Oh,” you tried not to sound disappointed.

You weren’t. It was just with Benedict coming along it seemed less date-like. The corners of Tom’s eyes fall and you try to cover.

“It was just I wanted to see if he could give me any secrets about the new season of Sherlock. Guess I will have to settle with just Loki instead.”

You crinkled your nose at him.

“Fair enough. I saw a pub around the corner. I don’t know about you but all the baking today gave me an appetite and a craving for a pint or two.”

You nodded and the two of you took the short walk to the nearby pub. The place was filled with only locals. They took no notice of you and little of Tom before returning to the plates and glasses.

“I guess they aren’t easily impressed.” you comment as the two of you plopped down in a booth in the back.

“Lucky for us.”

A waitress stopped by with menus and took your drink orders. Tom ordered a pint for the two of you. Once the drinks arrived, the both of you ordered. Tom lifted his glass.

“To Comic Relief.”

You follow suit.

“To Comic Relief…. and new friends.”

You clinked glasses and take a drink. The rest of the evening was a blur of drinking, laughter, good food, and even better stories. Tom was perfect company and before long, you glanced around and the pub was deserted.

“I think we should head back.”

Tom looked at his watch and his eyes widened.

“Yes, we should. That early call time will hurt.”

You settled up the bill and stepped out in the air. The night grew chilly and even through your coat; you shivered.

“Chilled?” Tom asked as he rubbed your shoulders.

You warmed up but in the shoulders.

“Thanks,” you responded, hurrying along to get back to the B&B.

A few minutes later, the two of you arrived and stood in the lobby.

“Thank you for a lovely night,” Tom started, fiddling with his key. “Where’s your room?”

“That way,” you gestured down the ground floor hallway. “You?”

“Second floor. Guess it is goodnight then.”

“But not goodbye. I am fully prepared to kick your ass tomorrow and win that bet.”

“Not a chance. Good night.”

“Good night, Tom.”

You leaned in for a handshake while Tom went for a hug and you ended up punching him in the stomach with your outstretched hand. In absolute shock and embarrassment, you run down the hall without another word.

-

The next morning, you woke up and the events of last night came rushing back.

“Oh, God…” you groaned to yourself as you pulled the covers over your face.

You blew any shot at a relationship with the impeccable Tom Hiddleston to hell by your fiasco of a goodbye last night. You sat in bed and contemplated just calling in sick so you wouldn’t have to face the embarrassment of seeing him face to face. But then you remember Comic Relief and refused to let them down.

By the time you entered the dining room, everyone else was already eating. Dawn claimed the small table by the window while Benedict and Tom were talking in hushed tones at the table right by the food and coffee.

“Shit!” you whispered under your breath.

There was no way you could avoid them. You started at the end furthest from them and ending up by the coffee machine by the end. Their backs turned to you, so they had not noticed you standing there. although they spoke in hushed tones, you catch bits and pieces of their conversation.

“Come man, just do it,” Benedict urged.

“I will when I am damn good and ready, Ben.”

At that point, you jostled your coffee cup and Tom turned around. “How long have you been standing there?” he inquired.

“Not long. Just need my…” you hold up your cup, “coffee, so I can hand your ass to you today in the Showstopper.”

Tom smirked.

“We shall see. I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“I doubt that with the way you roll them up. Nothing can hide up there.”

Tom laughed as did Benedict. Maybe you hadn’t botched the whole thing. Tom offered you a seat, which you took. Once everyone finished eating, the production team led them off to the tent for the last challenge. Mary, Paul, Sue, and Mel were already in place.

“All right bakers,” Mel started. “for your Showstopper, Paul and Mary, request you make a three tier cake. It can be any flavor you like. But you must decorate the top with a personal interest.”

“Be it golf, drawing, or lawn darts. It must reflect you,” Sue added.

“On your marks, get set… BAKE!”

You get started right away; the timing of your cake was tight. You began mixing the batter for your sponge. Time passed by quickly and before you know it, you have 20 minutes to assemble your cake.

“Need some help?” Tom inquired from behind you.

You turned to see him putting the finishing decorations on a flawless tennis cake. How the hell did he do that so fast.

“And risk you sabotaging me, not a chance!”

You get the first two tiers together just fine but when you go to place the third tier; it slipped from your hand and smooshed against the cake stand, breaking into pieces.

“No!” you yelled as you watched victory slip away.

Tom and Mel rushed to help.

“It’s okay, love,” Mel reassured you. “Just needs some icing, and Paul and Mary will never know.”

“That’s right. Go whip up some frosting and I will get it placed up there for you,” Tom added.

You hustled to put the powdered sugar and liquid in the mixer, not paying attention in your rush. When you turned it on, it spit a fine layer of powdered sugar over your face and clothes.

“Shit!”

You regained your composure and in the final minutes you get your cake put together. It is not your original vision but at least you have something to present.

You were nervous when it was time to present the cake. The cake seemed to teeter back and forth as you walked to the table.

Paul and Mary were kind, but you could tell the cake disappointed them.

“The flavor is amazing. I just think the presentation is lacking,” Paul commented.

“Nice crumb but you could have tidied it up a bit,” said Mary.

You knew you lost when you heard the praise heaped upon Tom.

“Perfection. Flavors spot-on.”

The announcing of the winner seemed like a formality at this point.

“Now for Star Baker, this baker wowed us some chocolate delights both days. It is Tom Hiddleston!”

Tom stood up to claim his apron and did a little celebratory dance. Everyone gathered around to congratulate him and say thanks to everyone. When Tom came up to you, you stuttered step.

“You aren’t going to punch me again?” he commented, a huge grin on his face.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Not a problem. Hardly left a mark.”

You both laughed, and he pulled you into a hug. His arms pulled you deep into his chest and you smelled him in. A mixture of cologne and sugar. As he released, he gave you a quick peck on the cheek.

“Just as suspected, sweet as sugar.”

You blushed.

Before too long, everyone was on their way back home. You smiled at the memories of the past two days. You remembered the bet and realized you didn’t have Tom’s number. You fumbled into your pocket for your phone, hoping you that during the embarrassment of last night you got his number. a small piece of paper fell out. It was from one of the recipe pages.

I fully intend on collecting on my bet. Meet me at this address at 6 p.m. tonight. xx Tom

You rushed home and got yourself cleaned up and headed out the door, late. You finally arrived at the pub at 6:15 p.m. The eating area was crowded and you could not spot Tom. You headed further into the pub when you felt a hand grab your wrist and pull you into a booth. You stumbled and landed on Tom’s lap.

“Thought you stood me up.”

“I am not one to squelch on a debt. So, Mr. Hiddleston, what is your task for me?”

Tom feigned contemplation, rubbing his chin, drawing attention to his whiskers.

“Well, if it is okay with you and only if it is okay with you, you can start off by kissing me.”

Your eyes widen and you swallowed hard.

“Excuse me.”

Tom flustered, attempting to cover the perceived faux pas.

“Well, that is, I mean, if it is okay with you…. I would never… I mean I never…”

You stopped his babbling with your lips on his. He softened into you and returned to the kiss in earnest. When you two parted, you felt light-headed.

“Just as I suspected.”

“What?” you asked, eyebrows raised.

“Sweet as sugar.”

The two of you laughed.

“Well, what is your next task for me, Mr. Hiddleston?”

“Oh, I am just getting started. It might take longer than 24 hours.”

“I’m in for the long haul, if you are.”

“I am all in.”

[trainsinanime]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Episode 3

Man, Wandavision was so much better.

The one person I follow on here who also watches this show posts a lot about the politics of the show and how questionable they are, and I think there are some valid points to be made. But I think that this makes it very easy to miss the important truth: The show is amazingly committed to not saying anything at all. It’s mind-boggling.

A key element of this is how little America, as a concept, seems to figure into this. The show is all about two Captain America sidekicks, about his shield, about who gets to be Captain America, about the legacy and about the treatment of African americans… but it goes out of its way to never be about America. The new bad Captain America seems to work for a Generic Recurring Council, and also the german police (and in fact in the opening jumps out of a van that literally has “GRC Polizei” on its side).

You could maybe argue that there is a default assumption of USA-ness here; people keep talking about “your/our guys/side”, and that side seems to include the CIA. But that’s as specific as it gets, and since the other side is explicitly the fantasy evil against everything Hydra, that’s not really saying much. The scene where they introduce the new Captain America and introduce him as an all-american Hero is arguably the closest thing they come to saying something, anything, about the US as such.

Now, MCU Cap has never really been about America much. The closest he came was in the first movie, but even there, he fought Hydra instead of actual Nazis. Aside: ”The First Avenger” is easily the most pro-German american WW2 movie ever. Anyway, even then, he was on the side of the good guys, who happened to be Americans, but he wasn’t explicitly about the US, and in the movies since, he didn’t much touch on the US either; it was always about SHIELD and HYDRATE and Bucky. But in this show this becomes even more egregious, because they keep touching on stuff, apparently on accident, and then don’t do anything with it.

Isaiah Bradley is a big deal, isn’t he? You’d think he’d be a key piece to the question “what does it mean to be a symbol for America, and what is good and bad about that”. But in this show, he doesn’t actually matter. They bring him up because they know he’s important, but they don’t seem to know why.

Who does the new Captain America work for? You’d think it would either be the US government, or explicitly not the US government, but in reality it appears to be the generic world council of badness. Speaking of, what does it mean that there is a generic world council? There is a group called flag smashers who are against borders - or against the generic world council hoarding medicine, or something? It’s all stuff that seems meaningful, and you can read meaning into it (which never works in the show’s favour), but nope, it doesn’t mean anything.

The show seems scared of being political, in this political spy thriller about the meaning of a US symbol, and just ends up dithering about. Of course it’s impossible to be completely apolitical, so the show settles for what it assumes are default political statements nobody can disagree with - which are apparently, in the minds of the show runners, „US interventionism is good“, „everybody loves the US“ and so on. That sure is a choice.

So when the show talks about Captain America being a symbol or an icon, what it seems to talk about mostly is Steve Rogers himself. But that’s boring, because he’s boring, and the show has nothing of value to say about him anyway. „Steve sure was a good guy“ is the one and only note it has, and it bends itself over backwards to say it. When was Bucky into the whole stars-and-stripes stuff? Why don’t any of them remember Steve personally? Do they have opinions about Steve going back in time to destroy the legacy of Marvel’s first good TV show „Agent Carter“? …have the TV show versions of Sam and Bucky ever met Steve? The thing is that they talk about Steve as a symbol, but never as a person. The show knows that the shield is a symbol, and the man wielding it as a symbol, but it doesn’t seem to stand for anything. The shield is a symbol for the man who is a symbol because he has the shield, or something.

Okay, with that out of the way, some more notes:

The banter between Sam and Bucky is fairly good. If they had a better writer, and more of it, then we could almost say that the show had a strong point there.

Breaking Zemo out of prison is a stupid plot point, but Zemo makes the banter better, so I’m not going to complain.

I like Sharon. The mean reason why would be because she doesn’t care about the plot either, which makes her relatable, but honestly, she’s just fun here.

I do recognise the term Madripoor from the comics but I don’t care. Between you and me, I’m not sure I like the concept of „like Singapore or Hong Kong but everybody is a criminal“, it feels a bit racist to me. Are there people who have investigated the concept of the port city that is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, so to speak?

Zemo is supposed to be imprisoned in Berlin, but the uniform he steals to sneak out has the coat of arms of Hamburg. That’s completely unacceptable.

[cornfarm]

isjeishwish plz tell us more about anzai-chi

like her relationship with the another characters

also ur drawingstyle is 🥺🥺🥺

OMG i'm so happy you asked!!! i'm so happy people care abt her, and thank you!!!! :DD

i'll give some fun facts about her and then talk a bit abt her relationships! i wrote a LOT so i put most of it under a cut! i'll give anyone who reads it all a cookie lol

--

her planets name is mezpria! she calls herself a mezprian.

anzai is usually seen carrying around a mop. she usually has it slung across her shoulders carrying bags. shes very skilled in spearsmanship, so she sometimes swings around her mop for fun, and people with keen eyes for fighting recognize her precision with her strokes.

that being said, she does have a spear! i mentioned that she could channel thunder to strike, this spear is what allows her to do so. when she swings it and a certain speed, it creates a line of static, and lightning will strike whatever connects, or is closest to that line. because of how dangerous it is to be put in the wrong hands, she keeps it under her bed in her apartment.

her extensive use of it during the war is what caused her hearing problems. she's not entirely deaf, but she does miss things if people speak too quietly. she does know sign language! she teaches the yorozuya some so they can gossip about people across the room.

this does mean though, that she fights frequently with simply a mop. it's a similar gag to gintoki's wooden sword, but when people say she's holding a mop, she just tilts her head and says "this is a spear?".

this is her and her spear:

sougo thinks she's funny because hijikata HATES her. he's always pissed off about how she's skirting perfectly around the law, and manages to avoid being arrested. he even hates her more because he really likes a certain type of cigarette she sells. she sells them in packs of 20, and they're made from a type of fermented, then dried wheat from her home planet.

he'll come into the shop yelling about he's "gonna arrest her and she better watch out" while buying cigarettes. the only quality he'll ever admit to liking about her is that she never comments on his hypocrisy, and that she doesn't (outwardly) judge him for his food choices.

other than hijikata, the rest of the shinsengumi is relatively neutral about her. sougo does find her antics very amusing. he definitely comes to her shop like "miss anzai will you please teach me how to roll cigarettes <3" and then puts cyanide in one for hijikata. then when it's the one she picks up to smoke he punches her so that she doesn't. maybe he hangs around because he can sense how mischevous she is.

she's always eager to teach people things about her culture and how she runs her shop! as much as she's eager to teach sougo, she also ends up teaching shinpachi and kagura lots of stuff as well. she would never say she's maternal, or a mother figure, but there's something about the way she explains things, and brings them food, and gives advice that get a "thanks mom".

sometimes she gets it from gintoki too, but when he says it she looks at him very sadly. she HATES being called mom and scolds them for it.

speaking of gintoki, i'm tired of a harem, so he likes her! it's entirely unclear to everyone if she reciprocates. she shows just enough interest to suggest she might have feelings, but she's so distant it's hard to tell. even though his kids tease him by saying shit like "please don't lower your standards to someone as low as him," to her, theyre all secretly rooting for him.

she initially met them because she needed some people to help her move and decorate her shop. they asked her why she didn't hire a moving company instead. she says there wasn't a particular reason, but she had been lingering outside their shop for a solid week before talking to them. they definitely noticed and were like "whats with this chick", especially cause she would just stand there and stare up at the sign trying to muster the courage. she really wanted to meet people and try to make some friends!

she pays them so well they actually do an okay job! anzai thanks them, and tells them they're allowed to come by anytime, and she'll give them a discount for anything they'd like. they come by very often, gintoki particularly likes the alcohol she sells, as a lot of it is very sweet, so they frequently drink together at night.

she also brings them food often. it's an easy way for her to express gratitude and affection. she's pretty poor at cooking japanese food at first, but she learns quickly!

her and gintoki have a lot in common, the biggest aspect of their relationship being their sense of humor! she's always amused by the things he says, and it's very reciprocated. he likes that her humor is so similar- they end up bonding really quick. they do banter a bit, but a lot of their interactions are enabling each other. he teases her a lot.

kagura and shinpachi don't like the way they talk to each other. kagura says their weirdness rubs off on each other too much, whereas shinpachi is simply baffled about how there's someone who can match his energy so well.

heres a silly comic i made:

anzai does give him these judgemental looks sometimes, but they're done playfully. when he does cross a line and piss her off, she just disappears, always managing to be away when he looks for her. when they fight it's miserable to watch because gintoki's too stubborn to talk to her, and she's too freaked out by emotional confrontation.

they're all very thankful anzai is a little bit responsible and always makes up with them. gintoki frequents her shop and is like, "hey, i'm not here for you. give me 5 of those little bread things, three of them strawberry and the other two peach. that's what i'm here for, not for you. are you free later?" and then lingers around way too long.

she tries to give otae cooking lessons, masked by a "let me teach you how to make a classic mezprian dish ^__^" in an attempt to alleviate shinpachi from his despair. she manages to screw up even simple recipes so she just shrugs at him.

one time katsura's ronin try to assassinate her because they heard crazy rumors about her war crimes and exploits and she just looks at him like "can you stop trying to kill me please." eventually he's like "my bad lol we heard a bunch of crazy rumors about you" and she's like "those are all true :)"

she gets very silly and happy when drunk, so her and gintoki have a lot of fun drinking together. although sometimes she tries to tackle him, she doesn't have the arm strength when she's drunk, so he always ends up just swinging her around. she's definitely gotten a concussion at some point.

she also tends to crash with him, so when shinpachi sees her sneaking out in the early morning she always gaslights him into thinking he was seeing things.

hasegawa, gintoki, and her gamble often! she's pretty well off so she's not too worried about money, so she just thinks its fun. when they tell her to start stripping so they can continue gambling something away and she's like "absolutely not" and then takes her apron off.

i feel like i've spoken really only highly of her, but despite how she's generally liked and beloved by many, she's painfully distant. she's always a few steps out of reach from everyone, and because of that she feels like an outsider. heres another drawing of her:

most people call her anzai(-san), but otae and hasegawa call her yae, while kagura calls her yae-chan. sougo commonly calls her boss, and gintoki calls her a slew of shitty nicknames, most commonly with her lastname, since it uses the kanji for "toki". she calls almost everyone by their first name with no honorifics.

AND THATS IT!!! i can definitely think of a hundred more scenarios with her and different cast members but i've already written so much ;__;

if you've read this far i'm giving u ur cookie of choice

[prettywordsyouleft]

Bloodstone | Part 1

Summary: You knew all about the ring your grandmother had told you about and yet when the stone fell from it one fateful day, you weren’t truly prepared for its return, nor who it came back with.

Pairing: Kim Namjoon x reader

Genre: fantasy / romance

Warnings: talk of witchcraft, and a bit too much LOTR banter >_>

Index: Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

After the initial shock wore off and your legs regained their feeling, you cradled your hand to your chest, protecting it as you swiftly moved through the afternoon crowds to the closest subway station. There, you grew more apprehensive once the underground train hurtled its way across the grid to where you needed to be the most. After departing the subway, you walked as fast as your legs would carry you to the little shop at the very end of an alleyway, opening the door and listening to the bell above it chime in your arrival.

The store owner lifted his glasses further up the bridge of his nose in curiosity, only to sigh when he saw you there. Yoongi then narrowed his gaze at your evidently anxious state and stood up. “Are you alright, Y/N?”

“It finally happened, Yoongi!”

“What did?”

“The ring!” you cried, thrusting your hand out at the man as you approached the counter, looking at him for a cure. You were beyond reason now and your best friend merely contemplated the situation before him and then scrunched up his face in disbelief.

“Are you… high?”

“Oh my god, really?!” you breathed with frustration and Yoongi grimaced.

“Well, put yourself in my shoes right now. You sound really crazy.”

“Maybe I will go crazy. She always said it would test everything about me.”

Yoongi slumped back down on the stool behind the counter, though he didn’t shift his concerned gaze from your face. “Your grandmother? Didn’t she give you that ring when you were ten?”

So he did remember. Nodding with relief, you placed your hand down on top of the glass countertop, the overhead lights now illuminating your hand brightly. The tarnished silver reflected the light, the gaping hole in the center of the ring only further emphasised. Your best friend leaned in and inspected the wounded piece of jewellery.

“Maybe the stone fell out because this ring is ancient,” he offered but you shook your head adamantly. The ring was old, but it was strong. You had once tried to remove the stone yourself. It was wedged in there for good.

Or so you had thought.

“Do you remember what my grandmother used to say?”

“A whole lot of gibberish?” Yoongi stated with a wry smile and then shrugged. “I dunno, Y/N. I used to go to her house with you so I could get some sleep. Her couch was the comfiest…”

“Because she had put a spell on it for those who had tired bones could rest well,” you murmured and Yoongi snapped his dark gaze up to your face with surprise. You were equally astonished. “Please don’t tell me you never once noticed she was a witch, Yoongi.”

“I just thought she was kooky like some old women can be,” he sheepishly responded, scratching at the back of his head. “Really? She was a witch?”

“I wish she had taught me more than I know now. It was all good to warn me, but what am I meant to do without her powers?”

“What did she used to say?” Yoongi asked, pulling out a pen and paper from beside the cashier.

“That the stone in this ring wasn’t from here, and one day it would return to its world. She told me when that happened I’d have to be ready for a test that will challenge me in every way possible.”

“I feel like I just stepped into Lord of The Rings,” Yoongi muttered and you cocked your head to the side to give him an unimpressed look. “Look, hobbits aside, the information she gave you isn’t very specific. Where was the stone from?”

“She couldn’t tell me, just not from a human race.”

Yoongi visibly swallowed before continuing. “Okay, what about why? Why with its return to the world it came from does this affect you?”

“Because I wear the ring?” you guessed and Yoongi groaned, pointing at you incredulously.

“Yes! Why did you wear something so god damn dangerous for?! You could have said, no thank you grandmother, I want to live a normal life, instead of taking on the ring of Mordor and I don’t know, tainting us all with this quest of yours that you’re now on!”

Rolling your eyes at Yoongi, you shook your head. “Just because you run a comic bookstore doesn’t mean we live in a world where…”

You trailed off with the pointed look Yoongi gave you as he folded his arms over his chest. You let out a huff in defeat.

“So you wore this ring since you were ten,” Yoongi refocused. “And now today the stone disappears. Do you feel different?”

“Well, apart from the stress from losing it, no. But today isn’t just any day, Yoongi.”

You implored him to think and his mouth fell ajar, nodding softly. “It’s been a year since your mother…”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence the stone left this world exactly a year after my mother did,” you managed to say, blinking rapidly and looking up at Yoongi through an increasing veil of tears. “If anything, I would connect the two.”

“I hate that your words sound logical to me right now,” he admitted with a heavy sigh. “So we have no knowledge of what to do next, why this is happening, or anything really. How is this being prepared?”

You wondered the same thing.

Namjoon hadn’t stopped staring at the bloodstone since he first saw it. He had simply sat back down at his desk and cast his gaze upon it for an immeasurable while.

Whilst his body was completely still, his mind was anything but. Warnings of his father from the past flooded his mind, holding him back from the temptation of reaching out to inspect the stone closely. He had looked at it from almost every angle now, fascinated by the perfectly structured gem. He had never seen such beauty before and he had played a part in sending some of the rarest of stones to earth over the years. The red was not dark like a garnet and yet not nearly as bright as a ruby either. It was rich and full, enticing him to continue his examination. He wondered if the stone would be as warm to touch as it was to look upon. Blinking away his hazy thoughts, Namjoon clamped his hands to the base of his seat, pushing back the desire mounting within him.

He wouldn’t touch this stone.

But after another length of time and an equally strong longing to just pick it up once and then put it back down, Namjoon knew he had to put space between him and the bloodstone.

“You’re luring me in, aren’t you?” he murmured at the wicked thing, getting up and walking over to the farthest spot in his studio. However, he couldn’t train his gaze to stay away from the stone, chewing on his bottom lip in deliberation.

Was it really that bad? He had been told not to do many things in his life and found out later it was out of fear something bad could have happened. He had survived through them all. And where had the stone even come from? Could it have fallen from the Heavens? Travelled from Earth? Either place, Namjoon yearned to travel to. Especially after the loss of his father all those years ago.

He wished the man was here now to guide him away from the very stone he had warned him countless times to never get involved with.

“I won’t do it,” he concluded, nodding weakly at his decision. Turning to switch off the lights in the room so he could head into the main house he shared with his sister, Namjoon gave a final look at the red glow around the room and shut the door.

Only to re-enter mere moments later with haste. “I need to hide you in case Marian finds you.”

The fear of his sister touching what had been forbidden by his father made Namjoon dash around the studio, looking for a box and something to gently guide the stone into it. And, because he was so focused on doing just this, he wasn’t as aware of his actual surroundings, tripping over the leg of his stool as he hurried over to the desk.

It all happened too fast to prevent calamity. The tools he held dropped from his hands as he fell onto the desk, his chest being the first part of him to connect with the gem. An image of a human woman appeared in his mind right as he felt the stone absorb him entirely.

The studio was now empty of both the bloodstone and its keeper.

_________________

Part 2

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[mirrorfalls]

Lego Liveblogs ST: TOS, part 6 (of who-the-hell-knows-how-many?)

So... The Naked Time. Probably gonna be another of those episodes where Roddenberry was in full “but on this planet they have a cultural taboo against pants!” mode, but that shouldn’t disqualify it on its own merits. And... wait, is this the legendary “Sorry, neither.” episode?

Let’s find out.

* And we open up on Space Antarctica, where Redshirt #23 gets himself infected with the Thing in record time. This is gonna be fun. ** But for Christ’s sake, guys. If a mannequin was all you could afford for the “woman”, couldn’t you have at least covered the face up with a sheet of snow or something?! * Spock in civvies cuts a surprisingly... fine figure. * Okay, now I’m starting to see why so many reviewers call the Spock-Bones banter in these early eps straight-up racism. * Alright, I know I’ve said this about half the preceding episodes, but this one’s plot looks genuinely foolproof. Kirk and co. need to perform a conflict-free - but still tricky - scientific mission, and an alien pathogen’s just happened to slip onboard. No leaps in the premise, no stupid B-plots to screw up the pacing. Let’s do this. * Peak Trek Aesthetic; using a punchcard to get your lunch out of the replicator. * See, Mr. RedBlueshirt? This is why we always use hand sanitizer after being outdoors. * Gotta say, this is pretty well-written “madness” for a ‘60s pop-adventure show. Just take a guy’s lingering survivor’s guilt and dial it up to eleven. No random obsessions or nursery-rhyme chants or anything. * Guys, it’s a freaking butter knife. That thing couldn’t stab through a- ** Oops. * By the way - some people might consider it laughably cheap, but as something of an amateur germophobe I really like how the pathogen’s mostly depicted as this thing nobody can see but everyone can feel slithering over their hands. * “A valuable study. We may be seeing Earth's distant future.” This line seriously does not get enough attention in Spock retrospectives. * Somehow it never occurred to me that Sulu is the closest the bridge crew has to a jock. * “Bones, I want the impossible checked out too!” “Damn it, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a Scotsman!” ** Seriously, though - I like the general lesson here, that out on the Frontier you can do every procedure and double-check right and still get fucked over, because that’s what it means to explore the Unknown. * Bones why do you have bottles of Lysol just lying around in sickbay * Oh yeah. Shirtless Sulu o’clock. ** And now, The Line. Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting Nichols to sound quite that... schoolgirlish saying it. * ... do you guys not have security on the bridge or ** Okay, I’ll never say no to a Nerve Pinch, but you’d think there’d be at least one Phaser around... * Ooh, 20 minutes before the gravity whatchamacallit flambes the entire ship. Now that’s pacing. * This guy seems a little too conveniently (and maliciously) competent next to the other infected crewmembers... I doubt they’re going to go with a “Oh, he was faking it the whole time, did everything of his own free will!” twist at the end, so here’s hoping he won’t be the antagonist for the entire rest of the ep. ** OTOH, Scotty gets to be a hands-on MVP for a change, and who doesn’t love that? * Spock, let’s have some more of those Nerve Pinches, chop chop! ** At this point you can count every “Jesus, I’m retiring from this show the first chance I get” line on poor Rand’s face. * Oh for the love of- Were you guys seriously examining Sulu without any protection?! * And now we’re throwing the nurse at Spock. Honestly, every face Nimoy makes here should be its own reaction gif. ** Ohhh, right, this is the Spock-cries episode, too. Really should reread that anecdote sometime. * “I can't change the laws of physics!” That’s quitter talk, Scotty, and you know it. * Jesus, Bones, did you stick him with a needle or a branding iron?! ** Oh, so this is why so many recaps of this episode just talk about everyone being drunk... the pathogen is just water that’s evolved(?) to a different molecular form resembling booze? Sure, fine. ** Insert stock you’d-expect-an-Irishman-to-hold-his-drink-better line here ** (Also, I suppose the crew is lucky that nobody's the go-to-sleep kind of drunk.) * Ahh, our first taste of Spock backstory. Let’s have that good good angst. * Not that I mind a little violence between friends, Kirk, but are you sure you want Spock doing supercomputer-tier calculations while smashed out of his mind? * ... hm. On the one hand, Spock being (temporarily?) shocked back into sobriety on seeing Kirk succumbing is both emotionally touching and narratively efficient. On the other: more proof that when all else fails, all you can do is appeal to a Vulcan’s ego. * Wonder how big the Kirk/Enterprise tag on AO3 is... * Cheap religious symbolism ho! * Took ya long enough to get him an antidote, bud. * Well, that was quick. ** Uhhh, I’ll assume imploding engines are a good thing in this context. * Wait, are you serious? Time travel stuff in the last three minutes of the episode?! * Sooo... our heroes literally get a clean slate from everything that just happened. I guess they still have to live with the memories of it all, but really?

I’m really torn about this one. There’s only the slightest slip of a Lesson here (beyond “don’t take your fucking Hazmat suit off on an alien planet”, I guess), but it’s probably the series’ best-paced episode yet, with tangible stakes and unobtrusive comic relief... right up to those last three minutes, which throws all that beautiful buildup into a woodchipper. Deus ex Machina isn’t even a strong enough word to describe it - probably nothing is.

Ah, well. We’ve got solid proof that the writing team can build a solid start, if nothing else. One day they’ll stick the landing.

Next: In the main study of an exclusive private school in New York’s Westchester County, a strange, silent man sits motionless... what? Wrong Charlie X? C’mon, how different can they be?

[shady-art-blog]

L is for Loving a Lombax

               The injuries he sustained were too much for him to trudge back to his ship, instead remote calling Aphelion to his beaconed location before scrambling into the cockpit with Clank and setting off to some preset coordinates.

               Talwyn was comfortably nestled under the warmth of her covers, unaware of a ship touching down in the docking bay of the station until the sensor on her nightstand went off. She glanced at the projection emanating from said sensor with tired eyes, “Who could be here at this hour?,” she questioned while catching a glimpse of a familiar ship.

               “Why is Ratchet here?” She soon made her way through the corridors of the station in an oversized white t-shirt and black shorts, her now long hair somewhat decent in a messy braid. Once she reached the bay doors, she disengaged the lock at the control panel before proceeding inward.

               “It’s nice to see you Ratchet really, but…” she rambled on before looking up to see Clank with a worrisome expression on his robotic face as he was assisting an injured and bloodied Lombax struggling to even stand on his own as he clutched his open wounds on the right side of his upper torso.

“Ratchet!,” she exclaimed as she instantly was in high alert and practically lunged for the two, grabbing a hold of Ratchet as he was about to collapse to the floor unconscious.

               “What happened?,” she directed towards Clank as he still held onto the Lombax’s arm while the rest of Ratchet’s weight was nestled against Talwyn as she cradled him.

               “We simply went to Fastoon to find clues to Ratchet’s past. However a group of bandits had bombarded us before we had a chance to recover anything.”

               Talwyn then noticed a wetness on the side of her shirt and looked down to notice the blood from Ratchet’s open wound had seeped into her white nightshirt leaving a fresh blood spot, triggering a sense of alarm within the Markazian.

               “We need to get him to the medbay quick,” she exclaimed as she frantically tried to gather the Lombax in her embrace as she tried to stand on her two feet, her eyes brimming with tears.

               “Miss Apogee , I do not think that is…” Clank had muttered, but apparently falling on death ears as Talwyn continuously mumbled the medbay while struggling alone to get up with an unconscious Lombax in her grasp.

               “Miss Apogee!” That knocked her out of her supposed trance.

               “We require assistance. You are mentally unfit at the moment to assist carrying him, and I myself cannot help due to my stature and broken servo in my arm.” Talwyn stared at him for a solid while with tear stained eyes, processing what was said before moving forward with an idea.

“Call Cronk and Zephyr and tell them to get down here stat!,” she exclaimed. Clank soon ran for the closest comm panel and contacted the two warbots.

XXX

After nearly an hour and a half, Ratchet slowly regained consciousness. His ears twitched once they were able to sense a subtle beeping noise that eventually grew as his senses became more woken. The sensory of his body soon followed, detecting him laying on a soft surface with comfort surrounding his frame. Then his eyes slowly opened, exposing them to the supposed bright light where he was; slowly adjusting to the room he was in that mimicked a hospital room. He then noticed a weight nestled near his thigh. He looked to see that Talwyn sat near him in a chair with her head settled in her arms as she slept.

The sound of the medbay doors were heard as Clank entered through with his arm in a sling. He looked towards the bed and noticed Ratchet was staring straight at him.

“Ratchet, you are awake.”

“Hey bud.”

The vibrations of the Lombax’s voice was enough to stir the Markazian from her sleep. She groggily looked upwards from her hunched position, meeting the gaze of Ratchet who looked downwards when he sensed movement.

“You’re awake,” Talwyn muttered in a hushed tome. Ratchet reached for the top of her head and ruffled her messy brown locks, “Hey Tal.”

She gently embraced him, careful not to apply pressure to his bruised limbs. He tried to wrap his free arm carefully around her as he returned the gesture, the other arm was encased in a sling. Ratchet soon felt Talwyn trembling in his grasp, and soon followed with sniffling and wetness he could feel in the crook of his neck where her face was hidden.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she managed to sputter amidst her blubbering, while Ratchet rubbed his bare hand against her back for comfort.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

Amidst the hugging session, Clank had backed out of the medbay to give them some privacy. He would converse with Ratchet later.

The two pulled back with Ratchet allowing his hand to drift to the Markazian’s tear stained face and wiped a few away with the stroke of his thumb.

“How the hell did they overpower you?”

“They blindsided me; had no idea they were even there until I got attacked from behind the moment I entered the Hall of Azimuth.”

“But why you, people could clearly tell you’re a Lombax. Why attack?”

“Some bandits don’t give two shits who you are. They’re too blinded by wealth and would take down anyone who gets in their way.”

“I’d like to blindside them and kick their asses. Especially since they attacked a Lieutenant of the Polaris Defense Force.”

He had completely forgotten about that, with the promotion nearly a month ago, the title was too new to get used to. At least he could write off an assault charge for harassing an officer of the force, but then again, they still wouldn’t give two shits.  Silence fell between the two, basking in the moment of them being together. Ratchet still held a hand to Talwyn’s cheek as she leaned into his touch, while she placed a cold hand to his bare chest, which he didn’t mind.

“Sorry again for all of this, lucky I was within the Polaris Galaxy to get help.”

“Glad you were too.”

“Tell me Doctor,” Ratchet’s tone shifted from serious to playful, “what’s the status of the patient?,” he directed towards Talwyn. She decided to play along.

“Well, looks to be a hefty wound to the right side of the rib cage, nothing too severe. A dislocated left shoulder, several burns to the ligaments, and one bald spot on the back.” Ratchet grimaced at that.

“That bad?”

“Like you said, you were lucky. Clank got the short end of the stick with a shock to his sisterboards and a broken cervo, nothing I couldn’t fix.”

“Wouldn’t doubt you for a second.”

“You better not, or I’ll have you sleep in the medbay tonight!”

“So it’s a sleepover tonight is it?”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight until those injuries are mostly healed. Knowing you, you’d likely fly right back to Fastoon and show them bandits the business end of you wrench.”

“And you’ll likely tag along no doubt.”

“Of course, someone has to keep an eye on you.”

The two erupted in laughter at their banter until Talwyn emitted a loud yawn.

“It’s really late, we should turn in.” Ratchet nodded in agreement and slowly got up from the bed with Talwyn’s help, before heading out the medbay and to Talwyn’s room to rest.

 XXX

A little oneshot I decided to create after being inspired by an existing comic by @zombiy and @farorest titled @stellabris . By the way, definitely go check out their work, it’s amazing!

[renaroo]

That Time Ted Kord and Barbara Gordon Invented Sexting in the DCU

[Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #25]

There’s a lot of things I would like to end the decade on, and I’ve got a Cassandra Cain post I want to get up, but I am called to talk about one of the most important, most obscure parts of the DC Universe that happened 20 years ago. Also I’m shameless and encouraged by @secretlystephaniebrown​ and @shobogan​ so here we go.

DC, and most comics really, have this bad habit of minimizing or erasing past relationships of characters in order to “simplify” romantic narratives with an endgame pair. 

In some ways, I suppose I get it. There is a certain joy I can take from the notions of pure love and meant to be, and with these two characters in particular -- Ted Kord (Blue Beetle II) and Barbara Gordon (Batgirl I/Oracle) -- I have very passionate feelings toward other pairings with them.

But my god. What is lost in the world and in your perspective on both of these characters if you do not know their history together. No, seriously! It’s great!

Ted and Babs are both well established nerds in the DCU even before the 90s. On every team Ted’s a part of he is one-half prankster and one-half tech support, to his continued chagrin. And Babs’ technical skills and eidetic memory are among her most famous traits, even when she was the Batgirl of the Bronze Age. 

By the 90s both of them had also been through a lot -- Ted had gained and lost a dozen teams it felt like by that point, Barbara had survived her attack by the Joker but had only begun to establish herself more widely in the superhero community as Oracle, and the Birds of Prey were literally just starting out. 

Babs had Dinah, but was still not revealing her identity to Dinah, she needed a friend. And, online in a techie forum, she made one:

[Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #2] 

This friendship blossoms for a while as purely digital space across quite a few issues -- a lot of good issues of the early Chuck Dixon run which is an under-read treat these days, I feel. It still has its... Dixon on it, but the characters are great and this relationship is just one example of them.

Ted helps Babs out quite a bit and finally, they’re ready to meet in person.

[Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #15]

They’re honestly adorable, and pretty much instantly know each other’s identities. For one, Babs knows all the identities on the Justice League roster. For two, Ted can put together pretty quickly what tech-related superhero would have access to that kind of information.

For three, they went to a meet up in color coordination with their hero identities. Which of course is protocol in comics but still.

Point stands.

Ted stays in the picture for a long time after this, he’s a good friend and confidante to Babs and they’re genuinely interested in each other’s company. Platonically or romantically? It doesn’t seem to really matter until it’s finally the end of a long and tough arc, and Ted is forced back into wearing his Beetle suit again.

And they have a serious conversation about their relationship that ends like most interactions with Ted do: a good laugh.

[Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #25]

Ted and Babs actually relied on each other a lot as friends after that. Ted was Beetle on and off again, but Babs could tell that something was up and was firm in pushing Ted to go to a doctor to get himself looked at. 

If she hadn’t, Ted could’ve gone without treatment for a severe heart condition that had already cost him 3 heart attacks without him realizing it. 

[Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #40]

And, the first person he tells, is Babs.

[Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #41]

Unfortunately, about this time is where comics get. Weird and difficult because as writers move books or even just as storylines naturally shift for bigger parts of the stories, things get dropped unless it’s picked up elsewhere. 

A few comics like Formerly Known as the Justice League (2003-2004) would call back to their relationship and it would be in the pseudoromantic and fun banter that had had for the 90s and early 2000s, but it never picked up as a focus again. 

[Formerly Known as. Justice League (2003-2004) #5]

By 2006, Ted was dead, murdered by Max Lord after he got on the right trail for what was happening with Checkmate and the OMAC Project that Bruce had on the back burner. And he was alone, after almost all of the superhero community ignored or downplayed the importance of what he was finding (except for Booster). 

Unfortunately, that included Barbara.

She’s not outright dismissive and she’s not cruel or condescending to him in the ways other heroes are at the final hour, but her attention is elsewhere. They grew apart from where they were, Ted’s reputation was at an all time low to other heroes while Babs’ and the Birds of Prey were at their height. 

So she gave him the final clues that would lead to the discovery of OMAC. And would send Ted to his death. 

[Countdown to Infinite Crisis (2005) #1]

One thing I do appreciate, though, is that unlike a lot of comic character deaths, Ted’s did actually have impact, and it had it for years. Especially for those closest to him.

I could (and probably should) do an entire history lesson on Booster Gold and the impact their relationship has had over the years, but we’ll stick with Babs here, because Babs was allowed to grieve and honor her friend, too.

Something that wouldn’t happen in the future with other characters important to Babs’ life.

Ted was special, though, and Birds of Prey knew that and had an issue that spent a lot of very good time honoring that and his history with Babs and the rest of the team.

Which is where we get our confirmation that Babs and Ted were Cyber-Doing it before it was ever popular in one of my favorite exchanges of all time

[Birds of Prey (1999-2006) #96]

Now, am I going to wax poetically about the tragedy of Babs and Ted’s forgotten fling to force the diehards into multishipping admittance with my undeniable canon fact?

Yes.

I mean no! Not really -- I’m a diehard Boostle shipper who doesn’t budge for much and my shipping opinions for Babs are pretty firm as well. 

What I’m attempting to get at here is that they have a good history, that their characters and understanding their relationships with others, make them more interesting and complex characters with fun and joy to be explored in multiple angles, even when you have your penned, perfect ending for them.

And I think erasing that in favor of perpetuating this idea that people come out of the womb with this set romantic path that any deterrence there from has to be either meaningless or actively horrible is at best less fun you can be having in these expansive universes, and at worst actively hurtful to people’s world views and expectations. 

But also. 

Babs and Ted were actively sexting in 1999 and that is an important - neigh, historically significant -- event in the wider DCU so. 

Booster Gold has to have a storyline someday where he has to save this moment from never happening. And I will co-write it with you, Dan Jurgens, please. 

[056crowshit6556]

Disillusionment in the characters of Mitzi May and Mordecai Heller

I wanted to discuss what I find to be a fascinating relationship between Mitzi and Mordecai.

There’s no better place to start than with Ivy Pepper’s dream sequence in “Nightmare”.

Okay, so breaking this scene down. The three characters Viktor, Mordecai, and Mitzi surround a tree which represents Atlas, or at least, a conceptualized version of what Atlas has become, everything he built, and everything he represented. Ivy calls the thing they’re surrounding a “ghost”, and asks why they don’t turn around, i.e. move on with their lives. Why don’t they leave?

Mitzi and Mordecai are attached to the tree by a blue ghostly mist. It’s specifically attached to their eyes, showing how their connection to Atlas gives them��‘vision’, focus, purpose, and foresight.

I find it particularly fascinating that Mitzi and Mordecai are the ones attached to this tree by the soul sucking/soul giving light, but I think it’s appropriate considering that Atlas was their entire world. He is what connects Mitzi and Mordecai, which is what I’m going to try to explain through this post.

Both characters were born and raised in abject poverty (appropriately enough, one came from ‘northern’ poverty, the other ‘southern’ poverty— a subtle but efficient dichotomy between the two). Both had talents that Atlas fostered, both of them liked how Atlas made them feel special, both of them vied for his attention, which is the main source for the animosity and connection between them in the first place.

I’m interested in their relationship because I find it fascinatingly bitter, complicated, mysterious, and for some reason, very tender. Not tender as in affectionately warmhearted, but tender because both of them are a soft spot in each other’s memories. Mitzi acknowledges Mordecai as “a helping of salt to rub in her wounds” and Mordecai states that he has “mixed feelings” about this meeting. That I’ll explore in a moment, but first, it stands to mention what Mitzi says to Asa in “Heartstrings”:

“You only know someone until you don’t”

Which to me, might be a little tongue-in-cheek on Mitzi’s part, suggesting that she knows something about Mordecai that no one, not Asa or even us, the readers, fully understand. If there’s something about Mitzi’s character that has been shown so far it’s that she goes through the motions of social grace and banter while maintaining a sense of condescending, underlying humor about the irony of situations. This line went over my head until I went back and read it, and the subsequent scene of them talking in the car further adds to the implication that they know each other more intimately than expected.

Being taken in by Atlas, they were exposed to each other as a consequence of circumstance. They both shared Atlas to a degree which bordered on the unhealthy, because I don’t think they formed identities beyond the ones they formed in relation to Atlas. With the added fact that they were both fairly young and impressionable when Atlas took them in, and the subsequent familial rivalry and resentment their relationship created, there’s no surprise that they’re both disillusioned and blindly clinging to the dead tree as seen in Ivy Pepper’s dream.

The problem I see between Mitzi and Mordecai is that because of circumstance, they had to be vulnerable with each other, and even though jealously may have created resentment between them, I think the two flashback scenes in “Hamstring” and “Confessional” state multitudes about that resentment. It’s not just jealousy, (Mordecai asserts that he has no interest in defending her, which sounds petty and jealous although he could have valid reasons— it’s unclear at this point), but I figure that the other layer to Mitzi and Mordecai’s resentment of each other stems from the assumption that they were vulnerable with each other at some point. Whatever happened at this moment, which Mitzi refers to as a “bad memory”, altered their relationship in some form or another.

“What’s left to question between you and I?”

“That remains between us.”

I can’t imagine Mordecai taking too kindly to anyone he has to be vulnerable with, and I don’t think Mitzi would enjoy admitting she has weaknesses or flaws either. It’s one of the reasons I find their characters to be so similar. Neither of them like dropping their protective facade but I think in the past they did with each other. (Mitzi’s facade being a socialite debutante, Mordecai’s facade being a cold-blooded sociopath). I think they perform traits of those facades, but the problem is I think those traits were fostered and encouraged by Atlas, maybe without him even meaning to. It’s like...two children will act a certain way because they can tell those actions please their parent. It’s really sad and really distressing but that’s the way these two characters operate in the realm of the story.

The man Mordecai is interrogating, Grombach, states that Mordecai doesn’t seem like the “cake-eater” type, but he does fit right in with that crowd.

And Zib, who knew Mitzi before she met Atlas, states that she’s not the sleepy eyed girl he found in Georgia anymore in “Blood-money” (although I think Zib might be looking at Mitzi through nostalgic rose-colored glasses).

Case in point, Mitzi and Mordecai’s characters are alot more multi-layered and complex than simply a socialite-flapper and a triggerman-cake eater, although they did perform those roles reasonably well.

(That’s one of the reasons why it’s difficult to tell who is taking the gun in that particular flashback. Mordecai claims that Mitzi didn’t shoot anyone, so it’s reasonable to assume that Mitzi is handing the gun to Mordecai. (I could be completely wrong but it’s fun to speculate). She taught him how to maneuver, or at least interpret, social situations. In turn, he could have done something, or helped her, commit a murder. It’s ugly but that’s his speciality. If Mitzi is handing the gun to Mordecai and asking him to eliminate someone, then in such an instance she stops being “Atlas’s little wife” and starts being a boss. Maybe Mordecai trusted her judgement on it and the plan went horribly wrong, and so he blames her for it. There’s alot to unpack there so I’ll just leave it at that).

This idea of creating a persona is even perpetrated by Mitzi, who claims Mordecai to be her ‘little project’ in the mini-comic “Photoplay”— and although I’m sure he was reluctant at first, Mordecai allowed Mitzi to help him integrate into Atlas’s society— the 1920s flapper way.

(Not to mention that line from Mordecai: “You like it because he likes you to like it?” That sums up perfectly what I’m trying to get at— I’m not saying Mitzi’s interest in photography is a facade, or Mordecai’s interest in being a bookkeeper or a hitman is a facade either, but what I’m getting at is those interests were directly correlated to Atlas and were absolutely influenced by Atlas. They call each other out for using Atlas’s money or clothes, and I imagine there’s been other times where they purposefully nitpick the other when Atlas gave them a gift. It’s jealousy in its most blatant form).

That one line by Mordecai is so good because it encapsulates the way their relationship was at the beginning before “things visibly deteriorated.” They were both butting heads with each other, nitpicking the other because they knew how Atlas changed both of their lives. It’s so childish but definitely prevalent among siblings— Mordecai thought he had some sort of upper hand, that he was his own person, but Mitzi reminds him that he’s wearing Atlas’s shirts, inevitably reminding him that he can’t escape Atlas’s influence. We want to think we’re our own person, free from influences, but those closest to us inevitably remind us where and what we came from.

And neither Mitzi or Mordecai can hide from each other the fact that Atlas took them in and gave them financial security, food on their plate, clothes on their back, and a sense of purpose. He made them feel different than how they actually feel about themselves. This is expressed by Serafine to Mordecai in “Redivivo” and “Keepsake”:

“And like dat, he’s lit up a path out de black mire you got yourself in. Shinin’ a direction for you, real clear. His direction. But once you take dat direction, once dat light is on you, dat’s all you got. De other loa leave you. You are obliged to him only, always. Or else you are lost again.”

And in “Vestige”, Mitzi admits that she liked how he made her feel special.

Serafine sums it up pretty well: Mitzi and Mordecai found someone that ‘lit up’ the path in front of them.

I want to briefly mention their interaction in “Hamstring” and “Monomania”. Mordecai speaks very differently to Mitzi than the three other male characters in the story (I’m referring to Zib, Rocky, and Wick). It could be the mysterious nature of their relationship but the conflict it adds to the story is intriguing nonetheless. More so, I always got the impression that he spoke to her as an equal. Zib doesn’t like that Mitzi’s capable of deceit, Rocky places her on a pedestal and views her as a damsel-in-distress, and Wick sees her as the elegant flapper widow of the late Atlas May (and a romantic interest, not a business partner). The difference between the aforementioned relationships is that Mitzi and Mordecai don’t want anything from each other, and they call each other out quite bluntly— Mitzi tells him he can’t treat her as both an enemy and a confidante, Mordecai places some blame on her for Atlas’s death. So when I say that their relationship feels equal to me, it does seem that they have an equal amount of dirt on each other, but at the same time, they tell each other the truth. Two cats in the same boat and the boat’s name is Atlas? Such close familiarity means they can’t hide things from each other, not really, and they can’t raise their expectations of the other person when they already know that person’s limits. In contrast, Zib wants Mitzi to run away with him and forget Atlas, Rocky wants her approval, and Wick wants her because of his romantic interest in her. I’m not saying their intentions are wrong or mistrustful, in fact, they aren’t. All characters have motive, it’s what drives the story. The thing is, they’ve all created misconstrued personas of Mitzi, but I don’t get the impression that Mordecai has, and I don’t get the impression that she’s construed a false premise of him either. 

That’s the consequence of “growing up” together, building an identity alongside someone, and then, as Mordecai puts it, they witness each other’s identities “visibly deteriorate”— whatever happened between them before Atlas’s death was the incident which revealed each other’s vulnerability. Mordecai tells Mitzi to “keep her charade” out of the way, insinuating that he knows she’s capable of putting on appearances, but it’s a possibility that he’s trying to remove her from the bootlegging business because he doesn’t want to see what happened to Atlas happen to her. Personally, I would love to see the narrative ironically drive Mordecai to lose his current composure (a kind of karmic retribution for looting Lackadaisy’s storeroom, even if his underlying intentions were to push Mitzi farther away from the business, he still did a great job of putting her life in danger). I don’t know if that voodoo sigil Serafine carved on his chest is going to do anything, but if it did, it could make him behave in a way that would expose his charade as Asa’s hired gun as well as his persona as a cold unfeeling triggerman.

Mitzi continues to run the Lackadaisy Speakeasy out of commitment to Atlas; Mordecai continues to take out targets for Marigold out of commitment for obtaining the truth about Atlas’s death— but the problem here is that they’re doing these things in service to a ghost. Neither of them can make things go back to the way it was. Atlas is dead, and without him, they’re lost. Their current commitment to Atlas is commitment to his memory, which is why in the dream sequence they stare blindly into his ghost, tethered to the dead tree.

And clinging to a ghost is a dangerous path to choose.

The lines “You’re obsessive” and “You’ve brought [losses] on yourself in your persistence” stands out to me.

In my opinion, Mordecai is projecting when he tells Mitzi she’s bringing shame to Atlas’s memory, because in an ironic way he’s kind of doing the same thing? This is coming from the same cat bastard who was running ‘round the woods stripped down to his underwear killing people on Marigold’s behalf like he ain’t got no goddamn sense. Literally our first introduction of Mordecai’s character in the comic paints him as an incredibly unhinged individual, so I think the irony of him saying Mitzi is embarrassing is just as hypocritical as Mitzi saying he’s obsessive. It’s so poignant and so deliberate how they project these things onto each other.

(Mitzi accuses Mordecai of being obsessive and she’s right, but her reluctance to give up the Speakeasy is borderline obsessive too. On a brief side note, it’s sad to think about but I genuinely think he’s going to get himself killed because he can’t let go of Atlas. And likewise, Mitzi is going to get into some kind of trouble (either with Wick or the law) because she’s clinging to Atlas’s memory and everything associated with his memory. They’re both obsessive to a degree and it’s showing through their self-serving choices throughout the story thus far. I could be wrong about this but my assumption is that Mitzi refuses to give up the Speakeasy because she feels some sort of underlying guilt, and Mordecai refuses to give up searching for answers because of a sense of obligation; but as stated above, Mordecai projects his feelings of guilt onto Mitzi, and Mitzi projects her feelings of inadequacy onto Mordecai).

The big elephant in the room is whether or not Mitzi and Mordecai conspired to murder Atlas. Personally I think no, but I do think they did something that indirectly caused his death. Perhaps they took out someone together, and that created a chain of events which led to Atlas’s demise. That would further instigate their obsessive guilt over what happened, but it’s a mystery for now.

It’s because of their fixation on Atlas’s memory that they’re both attached to the dead tree in Ivy Pepper’s dream. If they weren’t, they’d be lost in some desolate exodus across the desert landscape, a wasteland similar to the one conceptualized by T.S. Eliot in his work “The Waste Land.”

A few lines from the poem paint an eerie landscape similar to Ivy’s dream:

and

lastly

“I was neither living nor dead”

It’s a common theme among modernist literature that, as William Butler Yeats stated in his poem “The Second Coming”, the “center cannot hold.” After the horrors of World War I, combined with the rapid growth of consumerism and materialism as well as a decline in religious faith, things seemed to “visibly deteriorate”, people in the early 20th century were so disillusioned with the state of things that they felt they had no “center” to keep them tethered to this world; in a sense, what could give them a purpose or sense of meaning? At the end of the 19th century, Nietzsche famously quoted “God is Dead”, but it wasn’t in praise of humanity for turning towards science and reason, but despair because it begged the question: If God is Dead, then what the hell do we believe in? What do we put faith in?

In the case of Mitzi and Mordecai, that faith was in Atlas May.

Trees make excellent visual representations of “centers” in storytelling because our ancient ancestors considered the tree to be their home, their safe haven, the “center” of their world. Why else do trees continually reoccur as symbols of centrifuge throughout mythology, storytelling, and religion? Why else would it be called the tree of life and the tree of knowledge in the book of Genesis, or the World Tree Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, or the Kabbalah in Judaism if it wasn’t alluding to the fact the we evolved as a species alongside the trees?

It makes sense that the story’s center is Atlas, represented by a tree— but that’s the problem— Mitzi and Mordecai are centering themselves around a dead tree. But the memory of Atlas is what continues to give their eyes “light”, and so they don’t look away to face the reality that they are lost in a habitual wasteland.

With Atlas gone, both characters experience disillusionment with either themselves, the world, and maybe even their perceptions of Atlas. Basically, they built their identities around him, and I think they gave each other their most honest representations— which resulted in a sort of strained tenderness between the two which defers foremost to bitter resentment.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #467

Top Ten Romantic Couples in Superhero Movies (& TV)

It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend. Woo, I guess? I dunno. I’m not generally cynical about holidays but Valentine’s Day does seem to be entirely focused on selling cards without any of the associated pleasantries of, say, Christmas or Halloween. I’d rather just try to be nice to my wife all year round. At least because of the apocalypse all the restaurants are closed so we can’t be tempted to pay through the nose for a set menu. Anyway, it gives me a strained excuse to tie this week’s Top Ten to something vaguely romantic.

Superheroes are often horny. This seems to be a defining characteristic of the artform. Whether it’s their descent from ancient myths, or their creators’ origins in writing romance books, or just a function of genre storytelling in the mid-twentieth century, there’s quite a lot of romantic angst in superhero stories. Pretty much every superhero has a significant other; Lois Lane even got her own comic that was actually called Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. It’s hard to conceive of many heroes without their primary squeeze, and often – as we get multiple media adaptations of characters – we can add diversity or a twist to the proceedings by picking a lesser-known love interest, or one from earlier in the character’s fictional history; for instance, Smallville beginning with Cark Kent’s teenage crush Lana Lang, or The Amazing Spider-Man swapping out Mary Jane Watson for Gwen Stacey.

Anyway, I’m talking this week about my favourite superhero couples. I’ve decided to focus on superhero adaptations – that is, the characters from movies and films based on superhero comics or characters. I find this a little bit easier as I don’t have a phenomenal knowledge of sixty years of Avengers comics, but I have seen all the movies a bunch. As many comics as I’ve read, and as much as I love various ink-and-paper pairings, I can arguably talk more authoritatively about the fillums than the funny books. And let’s be real here, kids: my favourite comic book romantic couple is Chromedome and Rewind in Transformers. Also if I split them in two I can talk about comic couples next year. Woohoo!

It really is hard thinking of these things nearly nine years in, folks.

So! Here, then, are my favourite movie-TV Couples in Capes. Obviously there’s a fair bit of MCU in here. And I’ve been pretty specific about “superhero” romances: so no Hellboy and Liz Sherman, sadly (and I do really like them in the movies, of which they really need to make a third). Some are civvies-and-supes; some are capes-and-capes. You’ll work it out.

Superman & Lois Lane (Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, Superman, 1978): who else? The most famous romance in all of comics, a combo so strong it remains the focus of pretty much every interpretation of the character, but arguably never better than here; so good are Reeve and Kidder that their fast-talking banter and inherent goodness set the template for a huge swathe of other comic adaptations to follow. She’s sarky and streetwise; he’s gormless and good-hearted. She leaps in where angels fear to tread, he’s an invulnerable alien in disguise. They have buckets of chemistry and an utterly believable (tentative) romance. They’re perfect performances and the scenes of Clark in Metropolis for the first time (including Superman’s balcony interview with Lois) are the best bits of an already excellent film.

Raven & Beast Boy (Tara Strong & Greg Cipes, Teen Titans Go!, 2014): on a totally different register, we have the comedy stylings of the Teen Titans. Raven and Beast Boy had a flirtatious relationship on the original Titans series, but on this longer-running and much more demented comedy follow-up, they were allowed to make the romance more official (I nearly said “explicit” but, y’know… it’s not that). The jokes and banter – BB the love-struck, jealous suitor, Raven the too-cool partner who feigns nonchalance – build and build, but every now and again they’re allowed a moment of genuine heartfelt romance, and it hits all the more strongly amidst the ultra-violence and outrageous comedy.

Captain America & Agent Carter (Chris Evans & Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011): the premier couple of the MCU, Steve and Peggy spend a whole movie flirting (she sees the goodness of him even before he gets all hench) before finally arranging a date that, we all know, is very much postponed. Peggy casts a shadow over the rejuvenated Cap and the MCU as a whole, founding SHIELD, inspiring dozens of heroes, and counselling Steve to her dying days. She remains Steven’s true north (like Supes with Lois, Peggy’s an ordinary human who is the actual hero of an actual super-powered hero), guiding him through the chaos and tragedy of Endgame, until they both get to live happily ever after. Even though he snogged her niece.

Batman & Catwoman (Michael Keaton & Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns, 1992): Pfeiffer delivers a barnstorming performance as Selina Kyle, all barely-supressed mania and seductive feline charm. The chemistry between her and Keaton is electric, and propels the film forward even when the Penguin-runs-for-mayor stuff gets a bit daft and icky. There are beautiful moments of romantic comedy when they’re both trying to cover up injuries they gave each other, and of course there’s “mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it” – a line that runs a close second to “dance with the devil” when it comes to Burton-Batman quotations (just ahead of “never rub another man’s rhubarb”). Burton, generally favouring the macabre villains over the straighter edges of the heroic Batman, nevertheless makes great play of the duality of the character, and how this is something he and Catwoman can share – both “split right down the centre” – but also how this means a happy ending for either of them is impossible.

Spider-Man & Mary Jane (Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002): whilst a lot of this is really down to the sexiness of them kissing upside-down in the rain, there’s a nice duality to Peter and MJ seeing through each other too: he sees the wounded humane soul beneath her it-girl persona; she sees the kind, caring man underneath his geek baggage. This arc plays out beautifully across the first two films (ending in that wonderfully accepting “Go get ‘em, tiger”) before sadly getting all murky and unsatisfying in the murky and unsatisfying third film. Still: that kiss.

Wonder Woman & Steve Trevor (Gal Gadot & Chris Pine, Wonder Woman, 2017): probably the film that hews closest to the Clark-Lois dynamic of the original Superman, to the point where it includes an homage to the alleyway-mugging scene as Diana deflects a bullet. Steve is Diana’s window into man’s world, showing her the horror of the First World War but managing to also be a sympathetic ally and never talking down or mansplaining anything. He’s a hero in his own right – very similar to another wartime Steve on this list – and very much an ideal match to the demigod he’s showing round Europe. And, of course, Gadot’s Diana is incredible, both niaive and vulnerable whilst also an absolute badass. There is an enduring warm chemistry to the pair, with a relationship which we actually see consummated – relatively rare for superheroes! The inevitability of his heroic sacrifice does nothing to lessen the tragedy, and no I’ve not seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet.

Hawkeye & Laura Barton (Jeremy Renner & Linda Cardellini, Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015): I love these guys! I love that Hawkeye has a relatively normal, stable family life. He has a big old farmhouse that he wants to remodel, he’s got two kids and a third on the way… he’s got something to live for, something to lose. It humanises him amidst the literal and figurative gods of the Avengers. And they’re cute together, bickering and bantering, and of course she is supportive of his Avenging. I hope we get to see more of Laura and the kids in the Hawkeye series, and I hope nothing bad happens to them now they’ve all been brought back to life.

Wanda Maximoff & Vision (Elizabeth Olsen & Paul Bettany, Avengers: Infinity War, 2018): theirs is a difficult relationship to parse, because they’re together so briefly. They cook paprikash together in Civil War before having a bit of a bust-up, and by Infinity War they’re an official couple, albeit on the run (and on different sides). That movie does a great job in establishing their feelings for each other in very little screentime, with their heroic characteristics on full display, before the shockingly awful tragedy of Wanda killing Vision to save the galaxy, before Thanos rewinds time, brings him back to life, and kills him again, and then wins. Their relationship going forward, in WandaVision, is even trickier, because we don’t know what’s up yet, and at times they’re clearly not acting as “themselves”, defaulting to sitcom tropes and one-liners. Will Vision survive, and if he does, will their relationship? Who can say, but at least they’ll always have Edinburgh, deep-fried kebabs and all.

Batman & Andrea Beaumont (Kevin Conroy & Dana Delany, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1993): woah, Batman’s back but it’s a different Batman, say whaaaat. Animated Batman has had a few romances, from the great (Talia al-Ghul) to the disturbingly icky (Batgirl, ewwww), but his relationship with Andrea Beaumont is the best. Tweaking the Year One formula to give young Bruce a love interest that complicates his quest is a golden idea, and making her a part of the criminality and corruptiuon that he’s fighting is a suitably tragic part of the Batman origin story. Conroy and Delany give great performances, him wringing pathos out of Bruce, torn between heart and duty (“It just doesn’t hurt so bad anymore,” he wails to his parents’ grave, “I didn’t count on being happy”), her channelling golden age Hollywood glamour. The tragedy of them rekindling their relationship years later, only to wind up on different sides again, is – again – so very Batman. It’s a beautiful, earnest, very Batman relationship, a great titanic tragedy of human emotions and larger-than-life ideals. And they both look good in black.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy (Kaley Cuoco & Lake Bell, Harley Quinn, 2020): this one’s a little bit of a cheat, as I’ve only seen the first season of the show, where Harley and Ivy don’t even get together. But in the wider, non-canonical sense of these being characters who are part of the pop-cultural ether, Harley and Ivy will always be a couple, I feel; and there’s definitely enough in there already to see the affection between them, not yet consummated. They adore each other, are always there for each other, and as the season follows Harley getting out of her own way and acknowledging the abuse of her relationship with Joker – and finally getting over it in the healthiest way possible for a bleached-white manic pixie in roller derby gear. And all through this, holding her hand, is Ivy. They’re utterly made for each other, and I’m glad that they do get together in season two. I hope that Margot Robbie’s rendition of the character can likewise find happiness with a flesh-and-blood Ivy. Hell, just cast Lake Bell again. She’s great.

Just bubbling under – and I’m really gutted I couldn’t fit them in – was Spider-Man & M.J. from Spider-Man: Far From Home. Like Batman, I’m comfortable including multiple continuities here, and those cuties offer a different spin on a classic relationship.

[camomills]

Title: Old Souls Relationships: Sinon/Lisbeth; Sinon & Agil Fandom: Sword Art Online Word Count: 1767 Summary: Sinon realizes she is allowing others to become closer to her, and that scares her. A conversation with an older friend might help assuage her fears. Notes: Made for SAO Pride Week 2020 - Day 1: Small Steps. This is a reworked draft from last year's SAO Pride Week that I turned into some Sinon/Lisbeth, mostly Sinon-centric. I also just really wanted to do something with Agil because I think he's a fun character, and I personally think his wise demeanor makes him a nice character to bounce off the younger cast.Thanks to redbluezero for beta reading!

AO3 Link

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The smell of coffee has always been one of Shino’s favorites. It reminds her of rainy days spent in the company of a book in her favorite bookshop, staring mindlessly at the steam as she waited until her drink cooled. It’s no wonder Dicey Café became one of her dearest places.

“Here’s your order!”

The company might have something to do with it, too.

“This one’s on the house,” Rika declares as she sets the cup on the counter, then winks.

From behind her, she hears someone clear their throat.

She slowly turns to meet Agil’s gaze, and sure enough, he’s scowling at her. The grip on the glass he’s drying has turned vice-like.

“That one’s on your salary.”

“Agil, c’mon! Let me be cool!”

They bicker for a short minute, Rika being cheeky whereas Agil is composed. The tone of the discussion is more akin to foolish banter between friends than a squabble between a boss and his employee, so Shino allows herself to laugh at it. 

Rika’s shift soon ends and she heads to the ladies’ room to change. As per usual these days, Shino waits for her so they can keep company to one another on the train ride back home. 

*

Yesterday’s commute was much like any other.

The train car shook and rattled against the steel and gravel tracks as the whirls of metal and the passengers’ chatter filled the compartment. The two girls partook in idle chatter, holding onto the same metal pole to keep their balance inside the box car. Shino’s proximity to Rika allowed the girl to filter the blacksmith’s words through the fog of sound.

Shino’s hands scraped against Rika’s on each stop. 

“So, so,” Rika continued telling excitedly, “he destroyed the best sword in my shop! My masterpiece, turned to smithereens.”

Shino let out a horrified gasp in jest.

“Oh, my. I lost my dear Hecate’s scope trying to help him out in BoB. I wonder if we’re liable for some sort of compensation?”

The two nodded in tandem over their two-person class-action lawsuit plans. They broke the comical act when the train stopped at the next station a bit too roughly, bumping them into each other. They couldn’t contain their chuckles at their own silliness.

“Ah, next one’s my stop,” Rika announced.

Shino knew. They’d been sharing this commute for a while. 

“I’ll be seeing you then. Until next time, Rika.”

Shino expected Rika to leave as the train doors opened, but she approached Shino instead. Rika’s arms bundled around Shino’s frame.

It’s a moment that allowed Shino to take note of a small list of Rika Things. Rika is only taller than her by a few inches, but it’s enough that it allowed her chin to rest on Rika’s shoulder slightly. The fake fur on Rika’s coat bristled against Shino’s nose, gentle and irritating— much like Rika herself, she thought. The pressure at the shorter girl’s back where Rika’s slender fingers intertwined was rough, yet fond.

A wave of warmth radiated through Shino’s body. She weakly squeezed Rika back.

“Until next time!” Rika said as she uncoiled her arms from around the other girl. 

She beamed at Shino before hopping through the train doors, waving as she exited at the station. 

That was the first time Rika had ever hugged her. 

Shino’s body wanted to feel elated, but her brain didn’t allow it; the affection in Rika’s gesture got muddled in her spiral of guilty thoughts. Since when did she allow people to get so close? 

Since when did I let myself want that?

The rest of her commute was spent staring out the cart’s window, hoping that the train’s AC would manage to cool down her emotions before long.

**

As the bathroom door slams shut, Agil rests his arms on the counter and leans against it, a hand sitting upon his bald head.

“Can you believe her? I offered her this part-time job because I knew it’d help her with college, but...” He throws his hands out, his fondness for Lis peeking through a smile fighting his scowl. “You know?”

Mm-hmm, Shino nods empathically, as she’s wont to do with Agil. The company that lures her in here, of course, includes both of the bartenders.

She had grown to care for all of her new friends, but she was caught by surprise at how much she related to Agil, of all people. He is the oldest in their merry band of players, by far, and despite that– no, because of that, they got along.

People her age, throughout most of her experience, were uncaring at best and cruel at worst. The adults around her, dry as they could be, served as the closest to good company she had growing up. There’s a bitter taste in her mouth as Shino realizes she’s grown more proficient in talking to adults due to the past cruelty of all the people her age in her life up until very recently. Thankfully, it’s easy enough to wash it down with the sweetness of the cappuccino Rika had mischievously handed her.

Agil, on the other hand, appreciates having a regular other than Asuna with whom he could default to intellectual conversation and wouldn’t call his establishment, ‘a dump’. How did Kirito manage to rope even Silica into it?

As their conversation strays away from Lisbeth’s demeanor, they fall to their more usual topics: Shino asks about how he manages to do latte art so perfectly every time and he asks if she finally reached the fourth chapter of the book he lent to her a couple of days ago. One “final” plea for him to try out Gun Gale, and his unacceptable excuse that he doesn’t have the time.

Mundane topics like that are their speed, but for once,  Shino has something less mundane in her mind. There’s something in that space, with the gentle ambiance music and the calming presence of a wiser friend, that brings her to feel that Agil is the right person, at that time, for those thoughts.

“I think I like Lis,” she professes like a secret she wished wasn’t true. It doesn’t seem to be the meat of what she has to say, judging from the way her jaw clenches.

Agil simply hums. He’d rather talk about latte art.

“Yeah, I figured. I mean, you really started coming here more often once she started working here.” 

He laughs, a wry, good-natured sound, hard to define between his fondness for the girls and his apathy for the topic.

“I mean… yes. But that’s not the point. How do I…”

 Shino gulps. Her gaze turns to the counter in front of her, where her hands lie. She fiddles with her fingers, watching as her thumbs graze each other through their rotations; staring at them without thinking about the words she’s about to say, are the only way she manages to go through it.

“I guess…  I don’t know if I remember how to be around people. Or if it’s... right, for me to be around people?”

She remembers what those hands did; the cold of steel and the heat of gunfire, the maroon of splattered blood and the gray of post office tiles.

Is it okay for a broken person like me…?

Agil would be lying if he said he’s particularly interested in involving himself in the romantic squabbles of teenagers. The other aspect of her plea, though, is something he’s unfortunately familiar with. He ponders, his face a mix of sagely and worried, as the soft thudding of her trembling hands are barely drowned out by the bar’s blues music.

“I was worried, too, back when I had to come back to my life after SAO.”

Shino raises her gaze to Agil’s eyes. 

“I mean, it's not the same thing, but… it’s hard being around people who judge you for what you went through, and trying to make connections when everyone thinks you’re screwed in the head is a pain in the ass. ‘The game where those freaks killed each other.’ ‘The murderer girl’.”

Agil knows what Shino did. Shino told all of them, eventually. 

“But everyone who spent those two years in the flying castle went through a lot of things they shouldn't have had to, and probably did some things they regret. To others. To themselves. I did, Kirito and Asuna did, and so did Rika. We talk about it…” 

His eyes turn to the ladies’ room’s door, where Rika is changing. He decides her past is not his to divulge.

“Uh. I guess all I’m trying to say is that you’re friends with people who get it, because none of us are sure it’ll ever be okay with people. So, we just stick together. I doubt Rika minds… whatever it is you're worried about? I think people like us have little besides each other.”

The last bit sticks with Shino. As she chews on the words once more, she stares at her hands. The weight they carry is impossibly heavy, but if what Agil says is true, then that means others, too, carry the same burden. 

Her trembling ceases.

He pauses. “Or something?” 

He’s not sure how much sense he is making. 

“I’m not sure how much sense I’m making.”

That gets a chuckle out of her, and that’s good enough for him.

*

Rika exits the bathroom, her former bartender-y, formal-ish ponytail from a few minutes ago undone into a mess of brown hair. Her lack of an apron reveals the cute hammer patterns on her graphic shirt.

"Are you two nerds done talking about nerd stuff?" She says, as if not just as much of one.

Agil and Shino roll their eyes.

"Yeah, we’re done with our nerd stuff."

Rika starts sliding her arm into her jacket, then turns to Shino. “Sweet. Are you ready to go then?”

Shino looks at Agil, who simply offers her a friendly wave and a knowing smile.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready.”

*

The two girls walk off together to the train station. The empty night streets give them quiet, with little to focus on other than the sound of boots hitting pavement, the cold breeze, and each other. It’s then when, bashful yet confident, Shino tries to interlock her fingers with Rika’s.

Rika squeezes her hand in return, rough yet fond. 

As Rika wordlessly taps her fingers on Shino’s knuckles, Shino realizes that Agil was right. There’s no way that those hands, fitting so perfectly together, were meant to be apart. Perhaps such heavy hands have no other pairs but each other, and that is fine.