#I tried so many new and different things for these panels. I was a little nervous implementing them. But im having a lot of fun with it!

[lilybug-02]

Eimmet High...temmiE high. OMG!

Part 28 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

Next update may take...much longer! I have finals and an internship and not to mention I have to draw- A LOT :')

[cherrysnax]

im sure this feeling will pass but I feel like im not made for comics

[catchingdaydreams]

Dungeon Meshi spoiler

Theory time : Laios greatest desires

It's been bugging me about what Laios greatest desires are as there are different ways to portray it. So here's my interpretation.

Firstly I want to acknowledge that Laios is still or some what is still the ultimate monster. Whatever he wrote down in his book describing the ultimate monster abilities (not physical appearances I'm focusing on) came true in one way, shape and form. Firstly, the ability to consume the lions desire in the first place. Secondly, in the side stories his poop actually creates a forest. Now the quote "can change shape" actually occurs twice throughout the series (so far).

Firstly turning into the monster and secondary, turning back to a human. The second time was not an act of the Lion as said quote "no magic works on it", thus it is completely Laios doing to shape shift freely. It's also interesting to note that both times he sheds his skin when changing into a new form. Like why this specially? Funny enough we do see this other time, as he turns into a wolf in his dreams to save his friend from the nightmares.

Furthermore, while turning back into a tall man, he isn't completely monster free. His aura remains that other monsters still recognize and therefore fear him.

The idea that weaker monsters fear stronger monsters to the extent of avoiding them is mentioned many times throughout the series. For example Senshi talks about how delicate the food chain is and that a stronger monster (squid/ krachen one) caused an imbalance to the abundance of other species. Naturally dragons are known to be one of the strongest monsters in the dungeon, as Thistle set a variety of different species to kill his party. Yet a common thing arises, coexist is near non-existent as power overall dominates all (either by kicking others off their territory or eating the weaker one). This Laios presence being the ultimate monster is not only removing other strong-ish monsters but disrupting the overall food chain.

Now that I establish what I think Laios is I want to drive it back to what his ultimate desire was. Here are some common ideas that I've seen from others on what his curse was:

To never turn back into the ultimate monster again.

Laios has repeatedly mentioned that he wanted to be another race and fauns over Falins chimera form. So never being able to shape shift again could be his curse.

Never will be full.

This theory stems from when Laios is still eating the dragon despite his friends being full/stick from overeating. They make a comment of concern when Laios says he's not really full yet. There is also speculation from one of the panel of Laios being dramatic as he tried to eat a walking mushroom.

Monsters fearing him and/or fail to cultivate them

In my opinion all of these are correct. Yet how?

Laios cannot eat monsters anymore

It was the main driver/theme thought the series from him and his group to eat monsters to survive. Yet little by little Laios ambitious desire to eat monsters for survival quickly became for the pleasure of taste. This isn't a bad thing, as I would like to clarify. Yet the Winged Lion doesn't really have a grasp of humanity and sees desire as desire, thus is exploiting Laios to go down a gluttonous path. And it does this by offering/guide them to a variety of monsters and access to water and basic needs for cooking. This though doesn't work as Laios is Laios. He isn't selfish. His desires for monsters mixed with the need for acceptance is heavily stated with wanted to integrate and cultivate monsters up on the surface. Furthermore, as he's not alone unlike other dungeon masters such as Thistle or Mithrun, his actions are quickly dispelled if they are reckless. For instance Senshi makes a very important note of keeping the ecosystem in balance and to not over take/kill species as it would upset the food chain. Without his party, gluttony would further be his downfall.

Yet becoming the ultimate monster can also be seen as a gluttonous ideal. He's a apex predator, thus like an actual apex predator no one is able to challenge him / prevent him on what he can or cannot eat eat. The only downfall to his survival is his abundance of prey. Heck being able to eat the lion's desire also alludes to his power of gluttony too.

So with the curse, wouldn't it be ironic to prevent his desire to eat monsters. Being the ultimate monster is now a double edged sword as prey escapes him. He cannot share his desires for eating monsters amongst his people anymore, thus the quotes or trial and error from the epilogue pages. Even if he gets his hands on a monster he cannot truly enjoy eating it, as it never makes him full, which can be interpreted from the epilogue page as well. One might look at the page and interpret as him getting ill from eating the walking mushroom too.

Basically, Laios, as a monster, cannot be a part of an ecological process such as a food webs. He wanted to be accepted and liked by his peers, now he's rejected by nature. Forced to crave for the taste of monsters flesh but it remains elusive.

Forever unsatisfied

By ones desire

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[pluckyredhead]

Please ship Orion and Lightray with me, thank you

If you've been reading my Fourth World posting, you might have noticed me mentioning Orion and Lightray's relationship. This is because they're in love and I'm obsessed with them. Please join me in grumpy/sunshine-but-they're-alien-demigods hell, with visual references below.

So Orion, as we know, is the son of Darkseid who was raised on New Genesis but has always felt different and monstrous compared to his peers. Lightray is his best friend, who thinks Orion is just the best thing since sliced bread and says so constantly.

This is literally how we're introduced to them, in New Gods #1:

Lightray: Don't be sad. Hug time! Orion: Hugs are not for one such as me. But you're still my best friend. Lightray: Please let me enter your chambers. Orion: NO THEY ARE TOO DARK. Lightray: D:

This panel, from #6, sums up their whole dynamic really well:

Lightray doesn't crave battle the way Orion does but he is determined to stay by his side, while Orion doesn't want Lightray to fight beside him because he thinks Lightray is too good and pure to be tainted by violence.

Zero personal space.

So one of the things about Orion is that his real face is sort of brutish and not traditionally handsome (the eyebrows are WILD), but he uses his Mother Box (like a living pocket computer that loves you) to make himself look more like the people of New Genesis. In #8, he gets into a knock-down, drag-out fight with his half-brother Kalibak that nearly kills them both, and Mother Box can't maintain the illusion (and also his face is, like, pulverized). And then this happens:

I WEEP. LIGHTRAY LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE, ORION.

New Gods was canceled soon after this, but when Kirby returned a decade later, he went all in on the homoerotic devotion. So Orion goes to Apokolips to kill his dad and rescue his mom, and who do you think follows him?

That second panel makes me laugh so hard. "Here, honey, you forgot your Scooty Puff Jr!"

My favorite thing about this is that Lightray is playing dumb. He shot at Orion earlier and then said something vague about missing on purpose...but he didn't:

HE REALLY TRIED TO WOUND ORION ENOUGH TO STOP HIS SUICIDE MISSION. And the way he just shuts his eyes and takes Orion's anger because he doesn't care what happens as long as he saves his friend's life...! (Orion doesn't hurt him, they just touch each other a lot.)

Anyway they argue for multiple pages, with Orion insisting that Lightray go home and Lightray insisting that he stay, until finally:

This is so intensely romantic and also so unintentionally hilarious that I can't stand it. The homoerotic gazing into one another's eyes and then the stupid mutual thumbs up! Whatever is going on with that closeup of Orion in the second panel! I die!

...And you know who else dies? Orion! Or at least he comes very close (it's unclear), but is rescued by a freedom fighter named Himon and nursed back to health by Himon and his daughter Bekka. We get a little romance between Orion and Bekka, but we also get Lightray coming to visit:

That is some FULL CONTACT wrestling, boys. Orion pinning Lightray to the ground while telling him it's good to see him is so much, but the fourth panel is even mucher. My goodness.

And then things get serious, because they both believe they are going to die in the upcoming battle (they don't), so they bid each other farewell and Lightray leaves, and then:

Orion yells after Lightray how smart and funny he is and then collapses in despair because his friend is gone. "HOW LIKE A WANDERING STAR HE SEEMS." Oh my god, Orion.

That's it for Kirby, so I'll move on to other writers and artists, but I want to clear that I'm only sharing the most intense scenes between them. There are so many panels, from Kirby and others, of Lightray faithfully following Orion around, joyously welcoming him back to New Genesis, gently teasing him, and talking about how brave and noble he is. And of Orion only smiling for Lightray, going feral when he gets hurt, and telling him he's too good and pretty for battle. And of the two of them touching each other. A lot.

Literally just two random examples. THEY DO THIS SHIT ALL THE TIME.

The next really big moment comes in New Gods (1995), where the Source (basically God/Heaven) becomes corrupted and Lightray goes evil and Orion has to beat him up to stop him and I will never ever ever recover from these pages:

"You want the beast? Do you like it?" on its own is...hoo boy, SOMETHING. But it is eclipsed by the tremulous "Maybe...maybe if I can just hold him" and Orion gathering Lightray up in his arms while telling him he loves him. LIKE. THIS IS SO MUCH. (P.S. Lightray's fine don't worry. And yes, he does want the beast.)

Then we get to Orion (PLEASE read this comic) and the biggest smile Orion has ever smolt:

Look at how happy he is!!! You need to understand that his mother died in his arms ten minutes ago and he's still like "Lightray! Omg hi!!!" (To be fair, his mother was terrible.) Plus bonus unnecessary touching, Lightray's love language being gifts, and Orion giggling and twirling his hair while going "Omg you're so smart."

(Also, when Lightray mentions his "brief but troubling visit" to Apokolips in the second panel, what's not saying is that he put on a silly disguise and went to see a fortuneteller to try to figure out if Orion's mom was lying about Darkseid not being his real dad (she was; again, she was terrible), and when the fortuneteller is like "You DARE come to Apokolips?!" he goes "I would dare anything for my friend!" I know you would, honey. I know you would.)

The next bit requires some explanation. So, as briefly as possible: Orion kills Darkseid (or so he thinks), takes over Apokolips, and tries very hard to change it for the better. He also accidentally gains possession of the Anti-Life Equation, the formula Darkseid is always searching for that eradicates free will, and gradually is driven to use it to FORCE everyone on Apokolips to be good. And Earth. And New Genesis.

Eventually, Orion is seemingly killed, but actually he's been teleported somewhere unfathomably far away, where he realizes what he's done and sinks into suicidal despair. In the midst of this, he manages to both destroy the Anti-Life Equation AND save all of reality (and nearly die in the process), but he still thinks that because he used the Equation, he's irredeemable and doesn't deserve to exist.

So when he's teleported back to Earth and captured by a human who blinds him and rigs him up to a torture device so that he can drain Orion's life force and use it to be eternally youthful, Orion just...lets it happen. Because he thinks he deserves it. For SEVEN MONTHS.

But eventually he's like "Wait...I deserve this, but probably whatever is being done with my energy is not good and I should stop it." He tries to escape but only manages to let out a single scream.

Luckily, Lightray has been searching for him nonstop for those seven months, despite the face that Orion is supposed to be dead. And then we get this:

To be clear: this is sweet, gentle Lightray absolutely obliterating the men who kept Orion in the torture device.

Nakey.

Lightray gives Orion the crushed remnants of his wrist cuffs, and Orion does a magical girl transformation about it:

For everyone playing along at home, that's the second time Orion has canonically told Lightray that he loves him.

Anyway, Orion goes off to get revenge on the guy who did this to him (it's very satisfying, please read Orion), and then he's depressed some more until he has some brotherly bonding time with Scott and finally feels well enough to go back to New Genesis. His last line of dialogue in the series is "For it is late, and the sunrise and friend Lightray await us in the gleaming city of the gods." OKAY!

Tragically, almost every New Gods appearance after this is complete dogshit, although there is a great moment in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (a Rebirth series) where they need information from Orion but he's comatose so they bring in a telepath and the only word he can get out of Orion's mind is "Lightray." I'LL BET.

IN CONCLUSION: Orion and Lightray love each other so so much and I believe it is honoring Jack Kirby's legacy to think about them smooching. It's what the King would have wanted!

[agustdef]

Will You

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Black!Reader

Genre: Fluff; Idol AU/Idolverse

Word Count: 3k

Warning: Light Language

Rating: PG-13

Beta Reader: @hobeemin

A/N: This was due to idk and I have so many ideas that I simply didn’t write a ff that ended up posted for much too long. So here’s to hoping to finishing these ideas.

“And without further ado, I am more than happy to introduce you to our keynote speaker Ms. YN LN.”

Clapping fills the room, and Jungkook joins in a beat late. His mind wandered as he’d listened to the other speakers for almost an hour. They’d all had interesting things to say, but something about being in a room with all these people with a person at a podium felt too much like school. Plus, a few of them seemed just to enjoy hearing themselves talk.

He refused to admit that to YN, though.

His beautiful girlfriend tried to give him an out when he said he’d come with her for this event. Told him how boring it would be and that she didn’t mind if he just did something else until she was done. Of course, he pushed for it, and she relented with one final warning about how he’d be bored as hell. To a degree, he’d known that going into it, but he wanted to support her. And to see her in her element.

Though they both work in the same industry, they’re on different ends of it. Jungkook as an artist and occasional writer, while YN worked legal. Their first encounter was when an American artist friend of his invited her out to dinner as a thank you for helping him with a contract issue with his label. They’d made him promises and tried to backtrack when it was time for the new contract. YN worked at a firm that specialized in that kind of thing, though they usually worked with smaller artists. His friend had been her big break, bringing in business and a promotion.

Of course, Jungkook was too much of a punk to ask her for her number at that meeting. He was too nervous about if it was forward, and he didn’t want to mess with the mostly professional nature of the event. But he got her card, and that was enough.

Until they kept bumping into each other at the more business-like industry events. Well, half bumping into each other and the other half him hunting down her name on programs and making sure to show up to those panels or events. It made him feel like a little bit of a stalker, but to combat that, he finally got his shit together and asked her out after running into her at a restaurant. 

Grateful to not be turned down was an understatement.

As they got to know each other, he felt himself fall hard and fast. She was perfect. Not in how one thinks when they hear the word, but in how that worked for him. That made their relationship work through the lows as well as the highs. 

I love you slipped out of his mouth five months in. 

If that didn’t explain why he put himself through this boredom, nothing, else would at least not in a way that made sense. His members still sometimes looked at him crazy with how he felt about her and how he could only sometimes find the words to explain it in a coherent way.

“I promise to try not making this too boring for y’all. I can not, however promise it won’t be boring at all. My line of work has to have some pitfalls besides all that paperwork,” YN joked.

The entire room laughs. It’s not the funniest thing in the world, but the way she delivers it and the energy she exudes as a person gets to people. It’s why Jungkook lets out a laugh that’s a little too loud and draws the attention of those around him. And of YN, though she doesn’t look his way to make that clear. He just nose from the way she pauses for a second longer, and her smile widens. 

Embarrassed isn’t even the right word for him at the moment. Part of him wants to flee the room, but he stays in his seat. It helps that anyone who side eyes him switches to being shocked to see him there. Being identified as a member of BTS is what he can handle; being embarrassed is not, despite what his variety show content and the lives over the years might suggest.

To let the feeling pass, he focused on the stage. Well, on YN.

“For those who don’t know me, I’m YN LN, and I've been working at Heights Law for the last six or seven years,. We specialize in fair contracts for indie artists. From things with their label to tours, merchandise, the people they hire, and even contracts between members if it’s a group. About thirty-five percent of those we work with don’t even have a label they’re signed to and don’t want to. And then about twenty percent of our clients are more mainstream artists looking for the same services.

We don’t work with any sort of label because we feel it ties us to worrying too much about keeping on their good side when trying to figure things out. And while we are not on a mission to do anything that would be, for the lack of a better word, line crossing with the people we are trying to get to sign the contracts, our clients come first. That’s made us stand out in a way y’all may have heard about a time or two. I’d like to personally apologize for making you sit through articles about a certain label trying to screw over up and coming artist Minx and all the weird things that were honestly not so weird about her tour rider.”

Again laughter, but with some whispers and grumbles thrown in. That entire situation had everyone in the industry confused as hell, and for the last few months, they thought Minx was trying to be greedy until everything was settled and it was shown that all her asks weren’t as crazy as they’d seemed. Even Jungkook found himself looking at YN like she’d lost it with every new bit of information that was released. He’d asked her about it, but she gave him a look, and he had to wait out the outcome like everyone else. 

“And for this, I think Minx is the perfect situation to discuss. I mean, when else will you see how things can go when a former lawyer turned pop star wants to sign with the label she used to work for but knows all their tricks.”

That was all it took to have people enthralled. After everything settled, everyone still had a million questions about it, but they were still waiting for someone at the firm to answer them. Jungkook had the fortune of dating YN around the time, so he got her to tell him, and Minx had invited them somewhere and told him more. So, he knew everything.

Which meant he could just stare at her. He didn’t think of himself as the type to be much of a creepy person, even if him trying to run into her wasn’t a clear indication of that. That and that looking at her was one of his favorite pastimes. 

YNs cute.

He would and did use a million words to describe her. But the first thought in his brain when he saw her was how cute she was, and he felt his heart triple in size from that alone. Her genuine smile and soft features do a lot to counteract the fact that she’s only an inch shorter than me, which throws people off when they meet her and had only seen her face before.

Those legs of hers, when she wears heels, drive Jungkook absolutely feral. And he has to fight off the thought of them as his mind spirals. He focused instead on the light tint of pink pushing through the brown skin because of all the bright lighting, the way there’s a stray piece of hair not as curly as the rest that she swears isn’t from heat damage, and she can fix, the soft red of her lips, and the way every part of her body seems light and open as she talks about a subject she loves. A look he’s familiar with and is how he knows she looks at him. 

More than anything, Jungkook is sure that YN loves him as much as he loves her, and like a revelation, he knows how much that is. How much space that love takes up in him, to the point that sometimes it feels like it’s overflowing. Right now, it feels like it’s overflowing.

“Questions?”

That one word pulls him out of his head, but he looks at YN with a clarity he didn’t have a few minutes ago, let alone a few hours ago.

Someone clears their throat, but his eyes don’t leave her.

“Why not just go with what the label wanted? I mean, sure, Minx had the background, but that shouldn’t make her any different than any other artist. Should she not be thankful to get into the place twice on different sides of it?”

There was agreement in the crowd, but it died out quickly with everyone else's quietness drop quiet.

Despite the shift in vibes, there’s a smile on YN’s face. 

“Why do you think that? Is it because others don’t have that same knowledge? I can see how that could be seen as unfair because it is. But because she has the background,, she used it to help herself best,, which made it so we could best help her and those in the future. However, I can assure you that they changed their contract language a lot since then. Height and many other firms who deal with them and this kind of thing all saw a shift for the better and for the worst with them. So, while you may wonder why Minx didn’t simply take what she should be lucky to have gotten from them, I hope you’re settled by the fact that unless the rare thing happens. Someone else does the same thing, no one else will be able to give the insight on how to best make the next contract work for the client in the way she did.”

The response is assertive, sarcastic, and professionally annoyed. It doesn’t leave room for anyone to say anything that doesn’t make them look any more like an ass. But the man at the podium opens his mouth a few times to try and figure out what to say. In the end, he walks away from the mic with his head down. Jungkook is sure that if it weren’t for pride, he would walk out of the room altogether.

“Any more questions,” YN said after a moment.

There’s one that Jungkook has. One he needs answered, but he finds himself glued to his seat.

Several people go up and ask their questions, all of them better than the first one, though some of them toe the line. There are also a few that Jungkook would deem flirting, but they don’t bother him. Not with the thoughts swarming around in his head.

Before he knows it, she answers the last question, and everyone is dismissed. A few linger to talk, but with this day being so packed, everyone wants to rush off to the next talk or event happening.

He sits in the seat for about fifteen minutes before she walks up to him, and when she puts her hand on his shoulder, he looks up at her startled, even though he watched her approach him.

“Ready to go?”

Jungkook’s mouth opens and closes as he stares at her. He feels all over the place, but none of it’s uncertainty or doubt.

“I have a question,” he managed.

“Huh?”

“I have a question. I didn’t get the chance to ask it in there. I was… I’m nervous to ask it, and I couldn’t do it in there.”

YN frowned. “You can always ask me anything, my love. No need to be nervous about it. Plus, I’m sure yours is better than some of the bullshit I get asked in general when it comes to work.”

For a moment, Jungkook says nothing. All he can do is stare at her and try to keep his breathing normal. The latter is the hardest part, but YN takes his hand in hers and squeezes it tight.

Taking a breath, he gets to his feet, takes both of her hands in his, and stares into her eyes. He’s more than sure about what he has to say.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

Question nor answer was said with any hesitation. However, Jungkook could tell that YN was still trying to process what was happening. He was too, but that wasn’t important now.

After a second, Jungkook released one of her hands, and with the other firm in his grasp, he led her out of the room. He hears her ask a question, but it doesn’t fully register in his brain. All his focus is on weaving through the crowd of people and out the door of the convention center. The place isn’t as isolated as some can be, so he walked past the parking lot where his car is and made his way past the hotel they were staying at.

“Where are we going?”

“Jungkook?”

“Jay?”

There’s a loud exhale too, but Jungkook paid it no mind. He’s on a mission. 

“For goodness sake, Kookie.”

YN matches his pace though she’s clearly confused by what the hell is happening. He knew he should say something, but couldn’t find his words just yet, so he kept walking until ten minutes later, they were in front of a popular celebrity-use jewelry store.

A few of the things he bought for himself and others - YN included - were from here, so he had a code that they gave him to get in. The door buzzed them in, and the moment that they walked in, there was a person there and ready to help. Though it might not be obvious to most, it was clear from the knowing smile on the woman’s face she knew what was up. 

Didn’t stop Jungkook from being so flustered, though. 

“Hi. Engagement rings. I mean, we would like to see engagement rings.”

Without a word, she directed them to the back of the store. They followed close behind her, and when they entered the room, she’s taking them to another person is setting down a tray of rings, with others sitting on a cart behind him.

Yeah, she knew.

Once everything is on the table, the man leaves, and they’re directed to sit. The woman who welcomed them stands on the other side of the table.

“This is a collection of all the rings we sell in the store. Though there are others, we can have custom made if what you see in front of you isn’t the right fit or you want a mix of styles. There’s a mix of the traditional sort and the non-traditional. Some are even without diamonds. Please, take your time to look through them and see if something catches your eye.”

Then she’s gone, and all the sound goes with her.

“We’re doing this?”

“You asked me.”

“True.”

Jungkook finally turns and looks at her, and despite all the nerves he’s feeling about if she’ll take it back, there’s a smile on her face. And a lack of anxiety like what’s going through him. Though he can tell, she’s a little thrown off by it all.

“I did. And I want to.”

“Then we better start looking, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

All the tension that was once there leaves the room, and they both turn their attention to the hundreds of rings in front of them. It’s an overwhelming site, but they dive into them. Jungkook tries to get YN to try some on, but she says that she doesn’t want to just yet, so they set them on the empty tray right in front of them. 

Each one feels perfect to Jungkook, but not right. More of the diamond rings that look how he’s used to seeing American engagement rings look like end up on the tray, which isn’t much of a shock with YN’s usual preferences.

A tray marked as morganite is second to last, and Jungkook almost avoids it, but then one ring calls to him. His eyes zone in on it, and he reaches for it just as YN gasps. His neck nearly breaks when he turns to look at her, but the slight pain means nothing as he follows her gaze to the ring he was reaching for.

Without another thought, he picks it up, takes her hand, and slides it into place. Though it’s a little loose, it fits her finger. The oval champagne colored gem is on a white gold band and surrounded on either side with diamonds that fan out, almost like leaves on the stem of a flower. They wrap perfectly around her finger and stop before they reach the palm side. Everything about it is YN. Is them.

“Perfection,” YN whispered.

“Yeah.”

And like the whirlwind that this was, Jungkook was happy to find that they had the same ring, the right size, on the premises, and he paid for it right then and there. It only left YN’s finger so they could clean it, and then it was on again.

They walked out of the room, and both were on a cloud. All those nerves Jungkook felt before were gone, but something else replaced it.

“I guess we have a wedding to plan. I can’t imagine when we’d even have it,” YN said.

“Now.”

Not the least bit startled, she turned to him with a raised brow. 

“Now?”

“I… I don’t know. Maybe?”

Silence sat between them for what felt like forever, and then YN turned her attention back to the jeweler.

“We need to see wedding bands, too,” she said, then turned back to Jungkook. “And you need to start making phone calls.”

[yesbutmakeitgay]

Pain Is Just A Simple Compromise

Carol Danvers x Reader

We’ve Loved A Thousand Lives

Part 1

Summary: Unconnected oneshots exploring your relationship with Carol amongst many universes. Same beginning, different story every time.

A/N: First installment of a new collection I've been working on. Every part is individual and can be read in any order. Content warnings will be noted in each part.

Angst with a happy ending.

Word count: 1.9k

Masterlist | This collection | AO3

Captain Marvel enters her ship after another successful mission wanting for nothing more than to relax and rest while reaching her next destination, that is until she senses someone else’s presence in her space home.

She walks slowly, pointing one of her lit up fists in a general forward direction, "I know you’re in here, who are you? Who sent you?" she warns the intruder.

A human silhouette appears in her line of vision, it’s arms up in surrender. She continues to walk towards it until she can make out the person’s face.

"It’s just me," you announce, hoping that’s enough to deter her threatening state.

Carol sighs in annoyance and puts her fist down, you do the same with your arms, "How did you get in?" she questions in a harsh tone.

"Kamala…" you hesitate, unsure if you need to elaborate on your answer, her eye roll and cursing under her breath tells you, you don’t.

"What do you want?" she follows, clearly angry.

You try to keep your voice as neutral as possible, "I wanted to talk."

"Now’s not a good time."

"It’s never a good time, is it?"

"Make it quick, I have somewhere to be." Carol is growing more impatient by the second.

"Oh, good, I was just on my way to wherever it is you’re going." You sit down on the couch making sure to exaggerate your motion, so The Captain knows you’re not leaving anytime soon.

Accepting her defeat, Carol walks to the control panel of her ship to set the coordinates for her next mission, "I’m gonna take a shower, you make yourself at home," she grumbles, still annoyed.

When Carol comes out she searches for you on the couch, but doesn’t find you there, instead, she walks towards the noise coming from the kitchen.

"I made your favorite," you bargain, in hopes that a warm, home cooked meal will make The Captain a little more amicable.

"Thanks," she responds dryly, but you don’t miss the way her eyes light up when she sees the dish.

You both sit at the table and eat in silence. When you’re done, Carol attempts to get up and clear the plates, but you stop her with a hand on her shoulder, "I got it." You feel how her entire body stiffens under your touch, so you let go immediately.

You do all the dishes and tidy up the small mess you made, along with the bigger mess that was already there before you arrived.

Carol leans on the counter, her features slightly softer than when she first saw you, "So…?" she asks expectantly, when she receives no answer, she presses harder, "I thought you wanted to talk."

You stand still in front of her, your heart pounding in your chest, "I figured when we got to this point I would know what to say," you begin slowly, "I’m sorry for the way we left things off."

She lets out a humorless chuckle, "You’re sorry?" she mocks, "you show up to my home after 4 months and all you can say is you’re sorry?" Her voice gets louder, not holding any of her emotions back. "I looked for you everywhere, I called everyone I know! Have you any idea how worried I was about you?" Tears are now streaming down her face.

"I didn’t know what else to do, I didn’t have a choice," you plead, trying to maintain your composure.

"You are unbelievable!" she yells back, "No goodbyes, not even a note? You could have said something!"

"No, I couldn’t," It comes out as a whisper, "I tried, but you wouldn’t listen," she scoffs, "you weren’t eating, you weren’t sleeping, you barely acknowledged my presence. You were working yourself to death." She takes a few steps away, her head down and her back facing you, "Carol-"

"Don’t," she hisses, her voice is laced with poison. She turns back to look you in the eye, "Leaving on the day of our anniversary sounds like a very conscious choice to me."

There is silence for a moment, the air so tense it feels like hours.

"I didn’t leave on our anniversary," you pronounce every syllable carefully, she frowns with a mixture of anger and disbelief, "I left three days before that, I couldn’t bare the thought of spending it alone, so I left."

Carol sits on the couch, her face full of confusion, you can almost hear the millions of thoughts going through her head, "It took me three days to notice you were gone?" she whispers, a loud sob escaping her.

You take a cautious step towards her, "I couldn’t help you, but I could make you realize that you needed help, I’m so sorry, angel," you tell her softly, no longer able to hold back your own tears. She nods shakily, barely registering your words.

After some time you collect yourself again, "It’s getting late, you should get some rest, I’ll take the spare room." She nods again and goes to her bedroom wiping her tears away.

You stand still until she closes the door and take a deep breath. A familiar feeling of fur helps you settle your emotions, "I missed you too, Goose."

When you wake up, Carol is already gone to her mission. You decide to make yourself useful and clean the place up for her.

The Captain returns to her ship, she takes her boots off and pulls her suit down to her waist. You walk out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel covering your lower half, unaware that she was back already. When Carol sees you she instantly turns around mumbling some apology, you rush to cover yourself, "I didn’t think you’d be back so soon."

"It’s okay," she quickly reassures.

You run to the spare room to put on some clothes you borrowed. When you come out Carol notices her sweater on you, but makes no comment about it.

She walks into her bedroom to find a change for herself, "Did you wash my sheets?" she asks plainly.

"I did, they were getting a bit musky."

"Thanks," she mumbles, somewhat ashamed of the state of her home, you simply nod in response.

Later that evening you sit at the table again to have dinner together. You try to make small talk and she attempts to humor you, but the interaction is awkward, as if you had never spoken to each other before. You are close to giving up when you notice a red stain on her t-shirt.

"What’s that on your shoulder?" you worry.

"Huh?" Carol looks at where you’re pointing.

"Did you injure yourself?"

"I don’t think so."

"Let me have a look," you insist, already getting up from your seat. You pull up a chair beside her and lift the sleeve off her shoulder. Right underneath the stain you find a prominent cut, still bleeding.

"It’s a nasty one, let me clean it up for you."

"You don’t have to do that," she’s quick to respond.

"Do you not want me to?" you challenge her.

She stares at you for a moment, "Fine."

She’s hesitant at first, but as you get to work on patching her up she relaxes into the familiarity of your touch.

"All done," you chirp with a satisfied smile when you’re done.

You look up from her shoulder, your faces impossibly close and before thinking twice she leans in to kiss you. Once she realizes what she’s done she pulls away, "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that."

You linger for a bit, "It’s okay," you whisper into her ear before walking away to store the first aid kit.

A few days go by and you fall into a routine, one far from the perfect harmony you used to have before, but it's a good start. Carol goes from planet to planet completing her various missions and you stay on the ship making sure it remains in livable conditions.

"Incoming call from Earth," the spaceship announces, you’re in Carol's room tidying up and decide to take the call there.

"Hello?" you yell out, waiting for the image to load. A smiling Kamala greets you from her home, "Hi, baby, what's up?" she blushes at the pet name.

"Hey! Just checking in, it's been a minute."

"How sweet and pure of you to worry about me without any ulterior motive," you tease her, fully aware of her intentions.

Unable to keep it together, she drops the act, "Have you talked to her? Did guys make up? Tell me everything!"

You chuckle at the girl's antics, "Um, yes and no," Kamala looks at you attentive, "we talked, but I wouldn't say we made up."

"What? Why? What did she say?" The girl can't help herself.

"It's complicated, a lot has happened," you pause, "she did kiss me briefly, but I haven't dared to bring it up again."

Kamala's eyes light up, "She kissed you?" she repeats with the biggest smile on her face.

"Yes, it was nice." All of your confidence is suddenly gone.

You continue talking and catching up together.

When Carol gets back on the ship she finds it is suspiciously quiet. She calls out for you, but receives no answer, prompting her to search for you all over her home, unsuccessfully.

The worst thoughts start running through her mind, she rushes to her room for a communication device and finds you sound asleep on her bed. She lets out a relieved sigh trying to be annoyed at the sight, but coming up empty.

She pulls the covers over you and goes to lay down on the other side of the bed. You instinctively cuddle into her, still in your unconscious state, and she can't even try to deny you, she holds you closer and places a kiss on your forehead.

The next morning you wake up before Carol, it takes you a moment to realize you're in bed together and she has her arms around you. A part of you wants to stay and enjoy the moment, but you decide against it, not remembering how you got in that position in the first place.

You carefully get up and make your way to the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

Right as Carol's alarm goes off, you use the laser to get Goose to make coffee the way your Captain likes it.

"Morning," you greet her when she comes out.

"Morning!" she responds in a livelier tone than usual.

You sit to eat together expecting to have another awkwardly silent meal.

"So, where have you been?" she requests after a while, "I really looked for you everywhere."

"I asked The King to keep a secret," you respond coyly, taking your time to make eye contact.

"Val?" she exclaims with her mouth full.

You smile proudly, "Mhmm."

"But I went to New Asgard, I was in New Asgard!"

"Oh, I know."

Her voice turns small, "I went to get help."

"And some help you got," you smirk.

"Watch your tone," your Captain warns, but you know she doesn’t mean it.

There is a calmness and a sense of comfort that you haven’t felt in a long time, "I’m glad you’re doing better." There is nothing but sincerity in your voice.

"Me too."

Goose hops on the table and drops something from her mouth, you both watch her hop off and direct your attention to the small object.

"Is that your ring?" Carol gasps.

"I didn’t know where I was going, I wanted to make sure it was safe," you put the ring on your finger, where it belongs, "I always knew I was coming back."

Let me know what you think :)

@unicorniusfallapatorius @cordeliasdarling

[circeyoru]

Entertainment & Attachment = Requested

[Poltergeist!Alastor x Medium!Reader]

The Request

For as long as you can remember, you were different from the people around you. No one understood you, no one could be by your side like you’d wanted. You couldn’t rely on others like a human should, as social as humans were made to be, you can’t be normal. You can’t make long lasting friends, and you can’t even rely on your family. For years, you thought you were an anomaly

In your eyes, you see things. Things others can’t. As clear as day, you’d see a transparent figure walking or floating around. Some were fine to stare at, but some were living nightmares to even spare a glance. As a child, you’d point them out and try to convey that there was something there to your parents or friends, they’d all say you were doing all that for attention

So as you grew, you learned to keep quiet about what you saw, even ignoring them altogether. You found out some time later that these were things called spirits, entities of the departed. Or what’s more commonly known as ‘ghosts’

You were lonely and so you did what you anyone would, seek companionship

You approached the little boy that was already in the storage room, he was quite harmless and rarely ever moved out of the room. He was aware you could see him, but he never made any movement to approach you. When you kneeled down in front of him and called out to him, tears came down his eyes and quiet sobs turned to cries. You tried calming him down, yet through his cries, you caught what would make your heart ache

“You noticed me! Someone noticed me! No one noticed me until now! No one cared that I died!”

“... What’s your name? Want me to make you a little burial?”

“What’s a burial?”

“It’s… Something… Something to honour the dead. A place for you to sleep and rest. To move on.”

“I… I want that…”

From then on, you’d try to approach similar spirits like that boy. It turned out, the spirits you saw couldn’t move on and stayed where they died or was most attached to. Hearing their stories was always hard for you, since you’d feel their emotions when they spoke to you like a tidal wave, but all was worth it when you get to see their figure fade to nothingness and a peaceful smile on their faces

While you studied and made yourself a stable lifestyle, you grew to be more adapt in your little world of spirits. You found yourself more at ease there because there was nothing to hide and you were accepted in a way. Everything was so very good for you, there were ghostly friends you’ve made that weren’t ready to pass on because they were busy to something, the most heartwarming ones were them staying to be their loved ones’ presence

There were many that wanted to communicate to spirits like you could hear them. You don’t feel like being a parrot since it lacked that emotional quality. So you built a radio box, or what’s more commonly known as a ‘spirit box’. A device that can allow spirits to communicate through radio frequencies, or something like that

It worked wonders and allowed you to communicate with spirits more easily as well. You slowly modified it to be smaller so you could carry it around, then perfecting it when it hang to your side like a handbag. It worked on electricity, but it has little solar panels so it could constantly charge when you out and about

Yet everything changed when you received a particular call from a homeowner. You made a visit, when you were there, they were positive that their house was hunted. Everytime technology was used, phones, TVs, and even the tablets, it’ll all glitch and malfunction. There was a foul stench in the basement that can never be cleaned. Mostly, the master bedroom and study was always cold

The family tried everything, even trying to renovate the place and destroy the house to build a new one over it. But mysteriously, the workers would fall ill, have unexpectable accidents, tools gone missing ot malfunctions. These were the better endings, at times, someone would end up dead

The parents begged you to do something, they had children, they can’t let this continue. You fail to understand this familial bond. Seeing the little children so close with their parents, how you envied them. But you don’t blame your ability to see or communicate with them, you welcome your title as a ‘medium’. That was in the past either way, this is the now

You couldn’t promise that you’ll ‘deal with the problem’ as they phased it, but you’ll try. Either way, you advised that it was best they were prepared to move out. You can’t say for certain, but you think this spirit was very very attached to the memories in the house, or the fact that it was once their possession

From the moment you stepped through the front door, you felt a heavy weight over your body, you felt a chill around you that was constantly shifting, even more around your little radio invention. You could feel eyes on you, staring at you like a predator has its next prey

You went to the basement when the family left you to your own devices. You had to cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief so you could stand and walk down the steps. The deeper you gone, the worse it got. You wanted to back away, but you couldn’t help it, you were worried for that linger spirit more so than the family

When you got to the basement, you noticed that it was quite empty and dusty. There was only an old table and a chair, you found a light switch and turned it on, the lights flickered on, but only dimly lighting up the room, giving it an eerie vibe

It wasn’t until you turned on the radio that the stench was completely gone. You were shocked yourself, but not of the lack of rotten smell in the room. More so on the transparent hand that tried to play with the radio while you were still tinkering with the dials

“I’m surprised to see one of these old machines. What with all those fancy technology, I thought radios went extinct! Hahaha! This has to be an invention of your own making. A very well made one I much compliment. Finally someone with taste!”

“What unfinished business do you have? I’ll try to resolve it so you can move on.”

“Oh, you can see me? And hear me? Why! This day is turning out to be quite entertaining indeed! My Dear, make no mistake. I have no unfinished business.”

“Then why haven’t you leave this realm when you died?”

“Because my death was one I didn’t expect nor did I welcome it. Imagine, you minding your own business and suddenly you were shot in the head and mistaken for a harmless deer. Anyone would be enraged by such a death. No, no. I don’t think I’ll ever move on. Though, thank you for asking and trying.”

“So you need to accept your death then.”

“Accepted? Hahaha! Dear, I have accepted my death! I deserve it quite honestly! Do you know why? Because I was the reason why many died.”

The spirit, or Alastor as he introduced himself, was a former radio host. That wasn’t the detail you focused on, it was the fact that he was once a serial killer. He wasn’t a vengeful spirit, more of an unrest one. So that calmed you down, somewhat

It wasn’t the first time you encountered spirits that were once dangerous human beings when living. You met some robbers and even human traffickers, but you listened to their stories and helped them pass on. There were always some that you couldn’t do much to help except warn others away from the area so the spirit wasn’t disturbed

But Alastor. He was the first serial killer you encountered. One so shameless in his crimes and prideful of his work too. He didn’t hide the gory details and his creepy human knowledge whenever you were around

As you didn’t stay at the house and would only investigate the house (him) for the duration of the afternoon, Alastor would talk your ear out the moment you step through the front door. When you left to stay at the hotel room you rented, Alastor would wave you bye and stay at the doorway as though he was the host of the house bidding his guest a good day

Of course, you couldn’t stay forever and you had to leave. With Alastor’s activity, you stayed firm on your advice for them to stay somewhere else that wasn’t this house. Then you left, oddly enough, you didn’t feel unrest that you left things between you and Alastor unsettled. Especially when you told him that was your last visit and he gave you a cryptic answer on whether he’ll continue to ‘haunt’ the house

“The family here will return tomorrow, will you leave them alone?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure, Darling, maybe I will and maybe I won’t. Who knows? I go where entertainment takes me you see.”

“Can’t you answer a simple yes or no?”

“Hm… Maybe!”

When you were back home, you noticed how spirits seem to avoid you a bit. Some even flinching and hiding when you walked pass. The moment you tried to approach spirits, they outright flee like you were a ghost scaring them in a haunted house. You were always left wondering if you did something

Still, it all made sense just as you heard the familiar voice of a spirit that should even be in your room. Looking up from your phone, you saw Alastor smiling down at you with his hands behind his back while he floated over your form on the bed. You took note of the faint trail of red smokey substance connecting him to your radio on the far end of the room

You quickly figured out that Alastor changed attachments, from the house he lived and killed in to your radio. When did it start? Perhaps the day after you saw Alastor, then he slowly moved attachments and connected to the radio. He was a beloved radio host during his glory days after all

“Darling, you approach other spirits too. Why not talk to some more actively ones instead of the common folk? I can provide some assistance. You see, I am quite feared and persuasive too. And I’m sure you know that I am no dainty stick figure. Your noble quest to help spirits pass on, I’ll lend you a hand! For my ongoing entertainment, I’ll protect you from anything. What do you say?”

Now you understood his answer. You were his entertainment and true to his words. He followed you, perhaps follow isn’t the right word. Attach, yeah

Note: Just a treat. I'm getting back my free time so I did this. Hehe. A bit long and boring though. Oh well

Circe Y.

My Works: MASTERLIST

Taglist:

@aconfusedwonderland @crowleysthings @donustellaron @mistpurpl3 @lucifers-silhouette @fluffy-koalala

[wandamaximoffsbadgirl]

Let's Talk About That

I came all this way just to feel this pain (4)

Warnings: talks of mental health (PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks), mentions of death/dying, anger issues, angst and fluff

Word count: 1,969

A/N: listen I love rewatching Marvel movies but having to watch civil war and pause every 5 seconds for the accords scenes killed me, but it would have bothered me if the lines weren't accurate so here you go.

May 19th 2016

You were in your office when Natasha came round telling you that you had to go to the meeting room. The secretary of state was here to talk with the Avengers. You knew this couldn't be good, but you got up with your laptop in hand just in case you needed it. 

All of you sat around the meeting room while Secretary Ross spoke, "The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes there are some who would prefer the word 'Vigilantes'." Your grip on Wanda's thigh tightens and her hand goes over yours. Trying not to cause a scene, but you must have squeezed a little too tightly. You release it completely, balling and unballing your fist.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asks.

"How about dangerous?" He replies. "What would you call a group of U.S. based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who frankly seem unconcerned with what they leave behind." Ross speaks freely, but you interject.

"Excuse me Sir, but if you'd have gone over my notes thoroughly about everyone's after mission session when things go good and when things go not great there is in fact a difference in their psyches. This team though we are enhanced individuals still have emotions and feelings. We still care about others and it's the exact reason we do what we do. Just because the world doesn't see them break down. I do." You stand up. "Tony has severe anxiety and suffers from panic attacks when things go wrong. Steve and Natasha have PTSD. Wanda," you look at her and she nods, " thinks every goddamn day about how she could have done better in Lagos. If she had been able to hold on a second longer than no one would have gotten hurt that day. Those lives every one of them rests on her mind." You tell him though he doesn't seem to care much as he shows a video, you sit back down, moving closer to Wanda and she holds your hand, your fingers intertwining. 

"New York, Washington D.C." He's showing the group's past failures as you look over at Steve and Natasha, watching their faces pale as both try to stay in the moment. "Sokovia." The battle for Sokovia from Ultron, the one you missed. You feel her hand squeeze yours as you move your other hand to her thigh to try and soothe her, "Lagos." The footage starts playing of the building that got caught in the blast Wanda had tried to contain. The close up of a dead girl in the ruble is shown and you can feel her shift as you pull her against your chest and whisper, 

"Don't look. I've got you."

"Alright that's enough." Steve calls out. I mouth a thank you to him as I let Wanda go once the footage stops. 

"Good to know we'll need a group therapy session after this." You say flatly. As you turn back to the front of the room.

"For the past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate, but I think we have a solution." He hands over a binder to you. 

"The Sokovia Accords?" You ask, thumbing through it with Wanda.

"Approved by 117 Countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead you'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations panel. Only when and if that panel deems it necessary." Ross informs you all. 

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve interjects.

"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple of mega 30 ton nukes you can bet there would be consequences. Compromise, reassurance, that's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." Ross states. 

"So," Rhodey starts. "There are contingencies?" 

"Three days from now the U.N. meets in Vienna to ratify the accords." Ross tells us and you see Steve finally acknowledge Tony sitting in the corner away from the rest of us. "Talk it over."

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asks. Ross stops his exit from the room. 

"Then you retire." Ross answers.

"Sir. I'm 19." You remind him

"Good thing you went to college already. Whole life ahead of you unlike the rest of your team." He says and you've never wanted to break someone's neck more and once he and his men leave the room, you hand your laptop to Wanda and have everyone back up from the table as you slam my fist into it, reducing it to rubble. 

"You're paying for that." Tony mentions.

"You pay me. So you're paying for that." You remind him and you're lucky it wasn't his face." You say taking your laptop back from Wanda. "Thank you sweet girl."

As the tension in the room simmered and Secretary Ross exited, leaving the group to grapple with the weight of his ultimatum, a heavy silence settled over you. You could feel the collective unease radiating from your teammates, each grappling with their own thoughts and emotions in the wake of his proposition. The mix of all the feelings makes you nauseous.

Turning to face your fellow Avengers, you could see the turmoil etched on their faces, the weight of Ross's words bearing down upon us like a crushing weight. But amidst the uncertainty and fear, there was also a glimmer of determination in their eyes, a silent vow to stand together in the face of adversity.

"We need to talk," Steve's voice cut through the silence, his gaze sweeping across the room as he addressed each of you in turn. "This isn't a decision to be made lightly. We need to weigh the consequences, consider our options, and come to a consensus as a team."

You nodded in agreement, your mind already racing with the implications of Ross's proposal. The Sokovia Accords represented a fundamental shift in the way the Avengers would operate, a relinquishing of your autonomy in exchange for the illusion of oversight. But at what cost? Would you be forced to compromise your principles, to bend to the will of bureaucrats and politicians who viewed you as nothing more than tools to be wielded at their whim?

As the group dispersed from the meeting room, each lost in your own thoughts, you felt Wanda's hand slip into yours, her touch a comforting anchor amidst the storm of uncertainty that raged within you currently. With her by your side, you knew that whatever decision we ultimately made, you would face it together, united in your commitment to stand up for what you believed in, no matter the consequences. And as you retreated to the solace of our shared quarters, you knew that your journey was far from over, that the road ahead would be fraught with challenges and trials, but that so long as you faced them together, you would emerge stronger, more resilient, than ever before.

===========================================================

As the team goes back and forth arguing sides of right and wrong and if things are better in your hands or in the U.N. Wanda speaks up, "You're saying they'll come for me." Before you can speak, Vision does beside you after you had nudged your way in when he tried to sit next to Wanda, "We would protect you." 

"They'll come for me too. Wanda was given powers by the mind stone." You flick it on Vision's forehead, he flinches a bit, but you know it doesn't hurt, not like your own, "But this stone in my chest is a ticking time bomb. Something I've never told you guys is I have never once used 100% of my power. I had talked with Thor who knew about the stones." You gently touch your purple stone, reacting to your touch with a soft glow. "This stone in the past was held and wielded by Celestials, Gods in their own rights, used to decimate worlds." You look around the room. Faces of various degrees of worried or scared or nervous. "If I were to lose control...there's a possibility there won't be an Earth anymore. I know how dangerous I am with this stone, but much like Tony's arc reactor, If we extract this from me. I'm going to die. Last time Bruce did a check up for me...the stone...the stone is wrapped around my heart and lungs. Bruce and I did some tests of moving the stone around and we came to the conclusion it's more than likely to make my lungs collapse and my heart stop if it's pulled out." You look down, unable to look at any of them. "If they take me it might be for the better, but no matter what. I want to keep fighting and keep helping. If I sign that...I'm signing over to my own arrest basically." 

"Well it sounds like that might be a good thing." Tony states. 

"Fuck you Tony! I've only ever wanted to help people! I never want to hurt or kill people! I'd rather just go live my life as a psychiatrist! Work a normal day and come home to a nice home cooked meal, but I can't just do that! You brought me into this world. Now if you want me to stand down, I guess you'll have to take me out." You state before leaving. You hear Wanda follow behind you, catching up as she holds your hand and arm. 

"That is probably the scariest couple with the powers they possess." You hear Tony say just before the two of you get out of hearing range.

As you two left the heated discussion behind, Wanda's hand in yours providing a grounding reassurance, a silent acknowledgment of the challenges you faced together. The weight of the impending decision pressed down on your shoulders, each step echoing the tumultuous thoughts swirling in your mind.

The two of you found solace in a quiet corner of the compound, away from the prying eyes and the cacophony of conflicting opinions. The moon cast a gentle glow over you as you turned to face Wanda, her eyes reflecting a mix of concern and determination.

"I can't believe they'd even suggest something like this," Wanda murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "To turn against our own, to put us in a position where we have to choose between our principles and our freedom."

"They're scared," you replied, gently squeezing her hand. "Scared of what we can do, scared of the power we wield. But we can't let fear dictate our choices. We need to stand up for what we believe is right, even if it means going against those we once called allies."

Wanda nodded, a quiet resolve settling over her features. "I won't let them take you, Y/N. No matter what they decide. We'll find a way to navigate through this mess together."

A mixture of gratitude and warmth enveloped you as you leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "And I won't let them take you either. We'll face whatever comes our way, side by side."

As the night stretched before you, uncertainty lingering in the air, the two of you stood united against the challenges that awaited you. The Avengers, once a symbol of unity, found themselves at a crossroads, and the choices we made in the days to come would shape the course of our future, both as individuals and as a team.

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

Bully

Summary- Gareth decides to take up a summer job as a counselor at his old summer camp. Unfortunately, he didn’t expect to see you there too.

Genre- Hurt/Comfort, Fluff

Warnings- reader childishly bullying Gareth when they’re kids

Word Count- 1.9k

Tag List- @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @munsonology @aidansloth @esme-viridian @toomanyfandomsimfanvergent

(tag list is always open, let me know if you’d like to be added 🫶)

Gareth wanted to laugh as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.

Jean shorts, sneakers, bright yellow tee with the camp logo plastered right on the front. The same as when he was a little kid, only now he was a big kid, and it looked just as ridiculous as it did then.

At least every other counselor was wearing the same thing.

He exited the bathroom and gave a few of the older counselors a wave as he made his way to the rec hall for orientation. He recognized a few faces from school as he entered the old building, just a few other people he would see in the halls in school. The place was just as he remembered it.

Yellow lights, wood paneled walls, and that familiar wet paint smell that seemed to never leave the halls. The nostalgia made him smile, remembering a few past moments from his time at summer camp. Swimming, hiking, and he always loved when he was able to look around the trees and bushes and bugs when they did nature walks. There was only one thing that he hated about camp and that was-

“Gareth?”

That voice made his body tense up immediately. He hadn’t heard it in so long, and yet he knew exactly who it was.

He turned and was shocked to see you standing there, same outfit as him, looking just the same as you did so many years back. You were older, but he still had that same feeling he did about you when he saw you last. And it wasn’t a good one.

“Hey,” You said with a smile, taking a few steps closer to him, “how’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since we were little, you look…” Your eyes graced him up and down, “older. Like little you just got bigger.” You giggled.

He pursed his lips and tried to look anywhere except for your general direction. But his mother raised him too well to be anything other than a gentleman,

“Thanks.” He said plainly with a smile, “You look almost the same too. Save for, you know, getting taller and older and all that.”

He couldn’t stand the fact that he was forcing himself to be nice to you, and he knows that he shouldn’t hold a grudge over something that had happened so long ago but he just couldn’t look past it.

You made his life miserable, and now here he was, in the same predicament as he was all those years ago. Stuck at the same camp all summer.

“Are you counseling here too?” You asked him, noticing his uniform.

“Yep. Figured it would be nice for some extra money.” He shrugged and glanced inside the small room, seeing the other summer counselors taking their seats, “It was nice to see you again. Maybe we’ll run into each other again while we’re here.”

“Maybe.” You said with a smile as you turned and walked your way back, entering one set of double doors as Gareth entered the other.

It was strange seeing him after so long, and you’re sure you could sense he felt it was strange too. Maybe for a different reason than you…

The room was quiet, and as Gareth looked around there weren’t many open seats, just two near the middle were left open and he felt hopeful until he saw you sit in one of them. One empty chair left, and of course it was next to you.

He groaned to himself, making his way to the empty chair and keeping sure to not acknowledge you and focus his attention to the front of the room. Though he could already sense your eyes on him. Only quick glances here and there, but you couldn’t help but try to get a better look at him.

He had fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat, not even paying attention to the camp director at the fronts yearly speech, announcing the new additions to the activities schedule and the new rules that had to be put in place thanks to a few of the campers sneaking off in the middle of the night to try and get to the kitchens for a midnight snack. He didn’t even notice his own name being announced until you nudged him with your elbow.

His attention was brought back to the camp director, announcing the two of you coming back to camp as counselors after being campers yourselves many years ago. But even the welcoming looks from the seasoned counselors and the much too bright smile of the camp director wasn’t enough to shake the bad feeling he had gotten since he saw you.

All those memories from years before had come flooding back into his brain after trying so hard to forget them. He remembered then why he hadn’t come back for so long.

He knew you were both grown now, just reaching the cusp of adulthood and having many of your own experiences as you grew up, but he didn’t care. That didn’t change the way you treated him.

When he saw you standing there in that hallway he couldn’t help the wave of unease that washed over him.

He didn’t see a girl he knew from camp nearly a decade beforehand, he saw the girl that made his life hell on earth for weeks on end.

The girl that would hide his change of clothes in the woods after swimming in the lake so he would be stuck freezing cold in a bathing suit for half the day. The girl that would accidentally step on his letters from home before he got to read them. The girl that time and time again would accuse him of being the bully just because she was a sweet and innocent little girl but he knew you were nothing close to sweet and innocent.

For the first time in his life, you showed him what hate felt like.

His zoning out has caused him to not realize the little start of camp meeting had ended, and he was one of the last people sitting in those uncomfortable plastic chairs.

He sighed and decided he wouldn’t let you get the best of him this year. He wasn’t going to let the bad memories of the place ruin his chance to many any good ones. He was no longer a scared boy, he was a man, or at least he was close to one.

Gareth stood up and walked out from the aisle of the rickety plastic chairs, following the other counselors outside to go to their selected cabins and meet the groups of kids they were each assigned for the year. He had only just stepped a few feet outside before he felt someone grab his shoulder,

“Hey,” It was you. Again. “Can i talk to you for just a sec?”

Gareth sighed and pulled his arm back, glancing over and seeing that the other summer counselors were still walking with the director,

“Sure.” He said to you, still trying to keep up with the group as you walked next to him.

“Look, i know that we didn’t get along all that well when we were kids-“

“That’s one way to put it.” He cut you off, and you could see that you being around was irritating enough to him.

“I know that i was a bitch to you, and i shouldn’t have been. I treated you horribly and you didn’t deserve that.” He could hear that you were being sincere, but he still couldn’t shake the fact that you had made him feel so horrible all those years ago.

“I didn’t. Why me? Why, out of all the other kids we were with, did you pick me to torment?” He couldn’t even look at you, keeping his gaze on the counselors a few yards ahead of you.

“I don’t know… To be honest with you, i didn’t even hate you. I don’t even think there was one time i thought i disliked you.” If there was any time to be honest with him, it was now, “I always thought you were really nice, and from what i remember you were pretty cool, for an eight year olds standards.” You smiled and let out a giggle to ease the tension but he had kept himself still.

“Look,” You quickly stepped in front of him, stopping your walk and making him finally look at you, wether he wanted to or not, “I just wanted to apologize. You didn’t deserve that, no one does, and i just wanted the chance to say that i’m sorry. So… I’m sorry.”

Gareth stood there and stared for a moment. You saw the puzzled look on his face and gave him a moment.

He wasn’t sure how to feel.

He was so angry at you for so long, years passing of him trying so hard to get rid of those terrible memories that you caused, and he wanted to still be mad at you but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to continue on with this anger he’d held onto for so long.

Though it can’t fix the damage you caused, it was still nice to hear you finally utter those two words he’d been waiting so long to hear.

All he wanted was an apology after so long, but now that he had gotten it, he didn’t know how he should feel towards you.

He looked you over for a moment. He couldn’t see that hateful girl anymore, all he could see now was a girl with a remorseful look on her face who very clearly felt so much shame for the way she treated him.

“Thank you.” He said plainly, not sure of what else to say that could make the situation any less awkward.

“Of course. I feel like an apology is well deserved for the way i treated you. And if you want to, maybe we could just use this summer as a fresh start with each other?” You wanted to be hopeful, and seeing his eyes finally lock with yours gave you the littlest bit of security you needed.

“Yeah.” He said with a smile, “I’d like that.”

“Me too.” You smiled back, “And i promise i won’t put a frog down your shorts this time.”

The two of you shared a laugh, and you thought you could see a bit of pink on Gareths cheeks as he looked down at his shoes.

“Good, that was definitely one i forgot about.”

You smiled and looked just up ahead of you at the other counselors huddled in a group, watching the girls and boys split up to their respective areas to meet the campers.

“I guess this is where we part.” You turned back to Gareth and gave him a small smile, “It really is nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too.” He smiled and nodded in agreement.

You reached your open hand out for him to take,

“Friends?”

He took your hand gently and shook it once between you,

“Friends.”

You held your hands for just a moment, enjoying the silence with one another before noticing the girls and boys moving further down the paths to their respective camps,

“I’ll see you around, ok?”

You smiled to him one last time, and he smiled back before his hand slipped from yours.

He watched as you quickly jogged to catch back up to the other girls, and he figured he should do the same, but he couldn’t help but stare with a smile for just another moment.

For someone he hated so much an hour ago, he even shocked himself with seeing how pretty you’ve gotten. A fresh start between you two would be the perfect thing in his eyes.

At least this time he’d be able to get to know a pretty girl.

(this was written for my summer camp AU event, if you’d like to request a fic or HCs for it please let me know!🖤)

[chadfallout76podcast]

"Deah Shroud!: A Nick Valentine Mystery" EXPLAINED and AMA

It never occurred to me to do this last year, but a lot of people have asked me questions about our Fallout 4 play in the last year in the Discord, so I wanted to open an AMA but also explain "Death Shroud!" and some of the broader themes involved in it.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Part 1: Pre-production

Before I get into the story, I wanted to explain how this production even came about. Over the years after working together on some official community projects with Wes Johnson through Bethesda, we became good friends. I took a couple of his acting classes and he talked about the Fallout For Hope charity initiative I started and asked for help in organizing the gaming community for his Alzheimer's Association fundraiser. The idea was to host a month-long digital event of discussion panels, game shows, improv and a play with as many different voices of video games, film and TV as we could round up. In our second year of his VoiceAPalooza fundraiser, I wanted to do an original old time radio show and see if could bring back as many of the cast that we could from Fallout 4. It was Wes who first suggested an adventure with his Silver Shroud character (that he voiced in Fallout 4's radio plays) teaming up with Nick Valentine (voiced by the amazing Stephen Russell). Valentine is, for me, one of the best written, unique companions in Fallout lore.

So, I reached out to Stephen Russell who had joined us before for charity work and he was all in on bringing Nick Valentine back to life! After that things moved fast with Bethesda's Pete Hines and Emil Pagliarulo joining us to have some fun for a good cause. We tried to get EVERY companion from Fallout 4 that we could, but schedule wrangling is tough, and some people are just impossible to track down or find. Matt Mercer would've loved to have joined us as Macready, but unfortunately scheduling didn't work, so the best we could manage would be a holotape (the only reason our snarky gun running merc had to take the big sleep in the story).

After having everyone plugged in to reprise characters, it was time to put fingers to keys and find the story...

Part 2: The Deep Lore

The origin of this story started with a thought: how would the NPC's and characters we love perceive modification of their universe by us? We, as players aren't the true creators of this universe or these characters (Bethesda is). If anything, we the players are the equivalent of "lesser gods", reshaping it in new ways, unexpected and subjective ways, and sometimes even chaotic ways (I'm looking at you avalanche of adult mods with realistic jiggle physics and Thomas the Tank Engine Vertibird).

It started with a mental image of the small ways in which we start out modding games, or even the first mods we (using the "Engine of Creation) actually create. I had a mental image of Magnolia doing her thing, singing away sultry in a crowded and smoky third rail when she looks one way, back the next and sees new curtains. A subtle thing, something a little startling, but in a universe where recreational drug use is met with a YEEE YEEEE WHEEEE...a change you simply dismiss as being overtired or a little too juiced.

I'm a sucker for old time radio. I grew up listening to classic radio horrors like The Whistler, Suspense, and Lights Out on vinyl records and cassette tapes when I'd spend summers with my grandmother on a little island off the coast of Canada. Getting the tone, feeling and sound to stage an old-time radio show was the easiest part of this whole process...it's baked into my brain lol. The key of course is finding the right narrative voice.

Enter: Bill Lobley. If you play Fallout 76, he is the announcer for the "Tales from the West Virginia Hills" holotapes, but before that he's a prolific voice actor, maybe best known for his role as the truly vile Jeremiah Fink in Bioshock: Infinite. He has a FANTASTIC transatlantic voice for old time radio and was perfect as narrator in the script.

Part 3: What Is Going On?!?!

I had the base idea, the voices to pull it off, but what was the meaning and message of the whole thing? I always start there. From a meta experience level, the story is about dealing with subjective reality that’s being torn apart. After Fallout 4 launched in vanilla, we the players changed that world and reshaped it with mods. The small changes in perceived reality are meant for the omniscient player (us) and are not meant to be perceived by the characters themselves...and yet, what if they were? And if they were...WHY?! The answer was right in front of me: there's a difference between something born into a world and something MADE into a world.

You take someone like Magnolia or Nick, both synths, that obviously weren’t naturally born from two people. They were conceived as an idea...a human idea sure, but still they were made, not born. Without even needing to say in the script, the Trickster from the Grognak comic books who shouldn't exist yet does IS also an idea. Some MADE into a world but not born...a different world sure, but still the creation of it. Nick, Magnolia, any synth as ideas themselves would sense that the world was wrong and being changed in a way no one else would because of fundamentally who they are and what they represent.

Everything that unfolds is because Nora as a keystone event in the Commonwealth, a focal point of the causal nexus making her a unique entity in that world. A causal nexus is the link between a cause and its resulting effects and ignore the science mumbo jumbo, because here's an example of how that works:

The Sole Survivor, Nora, listened to Kent's message, chose to answer him and put on the outfit of the Silver Shroud. As a unique figure she shifted perceived reality of everyone in the Commonwealth by becoming the Silver Shroud, acting like him and making people believe that a fictional character exists.

Unfettered belief and faith in an idea = manifested reality.

Rejected belief and faith in the idea = dispels that reality.

This HAS happened before in Fallout lore in the instance of people with horrifying backstories and personal tragedies choosing to become someone else such as the Mechanist (Fallout 3 and Fallout 4) or even the Ant-Agonizer (Fallout 3). This time however it was a unique figure who did this, a figure fated and meant to reshape the Commonwealth for good, bad or ugly.

This opened a door, the door through which another figure could influence and enter a new universe provided it take the form of something already in it...a reality side-step into the form of the Mechanist. Concurrently, the moment that happened, reality counterbalanced by making the Silver Shroud who was already believed to be real BECOME real as the ying to the Mechanist/Trickster's yang.

Now at home in reality, the Trickster found himself very much alive and unbound by story but had very little power to do much at all. He needed something more, an idea and faith that already existed in the Commonwealth with the infinite universe of ideas made, but not born like himself. His goal wasn't power, it was to sow chaos, reshaping reality into a realm for any and every idea despite the consequences to reality itself.

So what did he need? The belief in the Old Gods and a focus point of belief in the idea: a staff. The universe is as adaptive as it is remarkable and where the Mechanist had its opposite: the Silver Shroud, the Trickster needed its twin: enter Sheogorath...because what better staff to tear apart and reshape reality than the Staff of Sheogorath. There is a quest added in the new Skyrim Anniversary Edition in which you can build it for yourself with a few items: Branch of the Tree of Shades, Ciirta's Eye, Fork of Horripilation. In this universe it would have to fashioned with things FROM this universe.

Two eyes were needed:

The eye of a True Believer: Kent Connolly

The eye of a True Seer: Mama Murphy

Affixed to the top of a staff of the purest heartwood from a Twice Born Tree. Living wood from Harold, born a man who eventually mutated into a living tree.

Lastly, it had to be soaked in the tears of ages end: barrels of radiated blessed waters courtesy of the Cult of Atom.

The Trickster had no magic of his own in this universe in which to act, but thankfully courtesy of some powerful allies, he was able to make contact with shadowy cults and worshippers of the old gods who gave him the name of someone truly of faith in the old magic to make all of this work: Jebediah Blackhall, who in this spin of the universe did unfortunately get his hands on the cursed book: the Krivbeknah.

Finding allies was all too easy, as the events post main quest left the Commonwealth changed. To many, the Sole Survivor and his/her companions would be hailed as heroes. To others, they would be villains, particularly in light of what Nora CHOSE to do to the Railroad to end the synth threat for good. That's a lot of blood on the hands of heroes...

As the Mechanist/Trickster, Blackall and the Lombardos began using the staff, its changes and shifts in reality rippled backwards through time, as changing one specific thing would change its entire existence. You change some curtains and the manufacturer of those curtains only every made one pattern...the world object becomes changed universally. Tapping into the Engine of Creation to make these changes, leaves anyone MADE not born aware of them as they don't fit into the design as it shifts around them. Nick, Danse, Magnolia would all feel and see it, be thrown off for a bit before settling into the changed reality state.

At the climax when everything starts falling apart and you get everyone from GlaDOS and the Joker strolling on in, the only way to end it all is to separate the Trickster from the Staff and restore the saved intended state of reality. The Silver Shroud finds himself powerless against the Trickster...only someone from this universe would be able to intercede, hard wired into the Engine of Creation itself as an existing element connected throughout its framework and history. After sending the Trickster off packing to the moon (thanks GlaDOS), but its a little too late for reality. It collapses around them, finding themselves elsewhere...the point between the mind, creation and the outcome of reality.

After the Shroud fades away, Nick has the power and choice to roll the universe, his universe back along the tapestry of choices that led him here. They all were haunted by the choices they made the first time around, something Nora couldn't live with...that ultimately led her relationship with Danse to fall apart. So Nick decides to go back further, as far back as he can go and he finds himself back in his office with Ellie waking him up.

There are consequences to what he's done, that he's not yet aware of, ones that will become clear in our next episode. The synths remember, as he remembers...Danse, Magnolia and everyone else remembers the fall of the Institute. They all find themselves at their starting point, moving towards their intended fated position to encounter the Sole Survivor. For Nick? He's starting down the path that will led him to be held prisoner and meet the Sole Survivor for the first time.

As he'll soon discover however, things don't play out the same way this time. Moreover, while he was rolling back reality to an early saved state, he made a huge mistake and completely forgot about something and someone so incredibly important...

You'll have to wait to see what that is...

[thelioncourts]

You may have answered this elsewhere, but what are some of your favorite Jam moments, either in videos or in print? :)

oh, god, there are so many. I'm going to forget all of them, but !

s1 interviews where they talked about texting each other pictures and sam had his photos on live and jacob thought it made him incredibly interesting and they would update each other as they got new fangs in the mail.

their zoom auditions that landed them the roles, the deciding factor really wasn't how they acted as lestat and louis, but how they interacted as themselves with one another.

their date to the vampire boutique to buy vampire things and they bought candles they were supposed to light together but sam, ever the forgetful husband, lit his way before jacob and jacob was Disappointed.

speaking of ever forgetful husband, the reddit q&a where jacob was like 'oh sam is trying to get into the writers room' like the husband that knows everything or when asked about their first scene and sam said one thing, then jacob corrected it, and sam commented back like 'oh yeah jacob is right.'

jacob's teeny tiny teasy pics of sam from sdcc 2022 before any of us knew just how much they were going to ruin us.

"most fulfilling partnership...cREATIVE partnership"

when they got out to the main sdcc 2022 panel and sam was so nervous and jacob gentle started rubbing his back and they looked at each other and sam put a hand on jacob's thigh and AHHH

sticker shop date

l.a. date where they went to universal

walks along the beach in san diego

meeting in the rehearsal room all masked up and whatnot

eric's "the only difference between these two and their characters is that I've never seen these two fight"

jacob saying that sam's hair is really cool when it's put up

sam on ep2 of the iwtv podcast saying that when he met jacob he knew it would be really easy to fall in love with him...

jacob's one interview where he said that the coffin was comfortable when there were two people in it and associating sam's bday with valentine's day

jacob crying as hard as he did during the s1 finale because not only was it the acting, but it was also the acknowledgement that he would be losing this with sam in some way

prague dinner dates every single night........

taking delainey paddleboating in prague

the entire s2 finale reunion and how the mics were cut so they could have that moment, how they didn't really discuss it, how they just know each other as they do and it was them, and it was real

the tv insider jenga game where jacob was like 'what's my favorite snack?' and asking sam and then going 'why am I asking you?' but sam still answered anyway

when they walked up to each other at the s2 premiere for the first time (don't talk to me about it)

the entire s2 premiere, I am not allowed to Speak

the 92ny screening and every teasing little interaction they had on that stage, GOD

the interview where they talked about their dinner in prague and sam chose it as his last meal if he could choose one, even though he didn't like the food that much, but --

how sam said that filming s1ep5 it was so hard to see jacob as he was but jacob tried to alleviate his problems with it and so they have fun videos of jacob spinning and also sam took home his prosthetic eye

the locket bailey made with both sam and jacob's pictures in it and she showed sam and he was like 'oH MY GOD CUTE'

seine river walk, my beloved

clubbing in paris that I'm legally not allowed to talk about

swapping contacts, like who does that, why

sam saying that there's no one he would rather be nude and bleeding with

the paleyfest 2022 interview where bailey was talking about how sweet they are and jacob made the CUTEST face and then was like 'sam. are we best friends?' in the most giggly way and sam was just. so fond, so 'yeah, we're best friends'

in jacob's interview with autumn where she was like 'I tried to get sam to sing when...' and jacob just. fully knowing 'he's not going to do that' in the most deadpan way

the s2 premiere cute interview clips where jacob just goes and lays down and stares at sam (?????)

jacob talking about (during s2) how grateful he was to film with sam and how it felt like home and it was comfortable

the video with delainey where they go through several of the episodes and analyze scenes and they spent way too long giggling about bdsm and just reminiscing

the way any and everyone talks about them, it's so not normal (compliment)

I'm sure there are hundreds more, I'll add to it as I think of things

[klanced]

i just finally watched the batman (2022) and need a repository for my thoughts

anyway yes i know i am the voltron blog but you all must understand. and this is key to my lore. that i am an insane batman fan. i haven't kept up with comics in recent years but i am a total sleeper agent when it comes to batman and i've been waiting literal months to watch The Batman (2022) and i finally watched it last night and have been marinating in my thoughts since. and also my parents are tired of hearing my ranting and watching me walk around in circles.

ANYWAY.

-

cinematography

this is literally the best looking batman film in years, if not the best looking one ever. the color grading was like a balm to my eyes, especially after the slog fest that is some of the other superhero movies... even with the constant rain the city never looked washed out, reeves and his set designers made such awesome choices when it came to fluorescent and neon lighting... the DINER SCENE!!!!!!!!!!! also omfg the way they made battinson the Red and Black Batman like what an excellent color combination. i loved it. i need to buy some of the theatrical release posters post HASTE.

more than anything this movie was SHOT like a comic book and so many scenes looked like they were ripped straight from a comic book, like i could visualize the paneling and everything... so freaking baller.

my family wasn't super impressed but i think it's because they expected an action movie but No You Don't Get It. batman sees the world as a gritty detective noir movie but to everyone else in gotham they're living in a horror movie and that is BATMAN CINEMA!!!!

when the riddler was arrested i was like 'wait there's still 40 minutes?' and then i preceded to have my mind completely blown. i kept questioning what reeves was doing only for him to IMMEDIATELY correct me minutes later. literally, let this man cook he knows what he's doing. when bruce lit the flare i didn't immediately get it -- and then the little mayor's boy reached for batman without any hesitation. and then the crowd began to follow him, closing the distance. and then he began to lead them to higher crowd. And Then I Got It.

-

2. gotham

yes i'm devoting an entire section just to the city.

gotham city is one of the hardest things to get right in any kind of batman media. like gotham is Not Normal and that should always be something hovering in the background. but many directors just don't bother because gotham architecture is so fundamentally different from normal sensibilities that building lore accurate sets would be both incredibly costly and almost impossible to do. but matt reeves tried and the movie was so unbelievably better for it.

bvs gotham was basically just new york city and don't even get me STARTED on how futuristic minimalistic modern the nolan movies were. ugh.

but when bruce and alfred were in their penthouse suite surrounded by fifty layers of gothic style trim my dad verbally said 'are they in a fucking church or something' and like YES DAD! that's the POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotham is supposed to be borderline CAMPY GOTHIC like the city itself is not just a setting, it's a full blown supporting character. the city looking batshit is essential lore and PIVITOL to the world building that has produced a man dressed up as a bat to fight crime like you DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! batman is divorced from our reality but he is GROUNDED IN GOTHAM!!!!

actually side note i've been playing gotham knights on the PC and 1) the game is way better than critics gave it credit for and 2) GOTHAM LOOKS SO GOOD IN THIS GAME. THE LIGHTING IS CRAZYYYY. best adaptation of gotham city fr, i loved the arkham video game series but the panache. the style. it became so diluted after arkham asylum fr.

my one criticism is that reeves needed to make one more rooftop set it was so silly that all the characters kept returning to the same gcpd roof with the bat signal on it.

-

3. plot

FINALLY A MOVIE WHERE BRUCE IS A DETECTIVE. i've waited literal years for this. i do wish batman had been a little bit more active/proactive in the plot, i.e. not strictly following with riddler's games, but this is also early batman so i'm more forgiving of his rookie mistakes... however in the second movie i expect him to be on his BALL GAME!!!! give me plot-armor-borderline-prescient batman PLEASE MR. REEVES I BEG OF THEE.

LOVED this adaptation of the riddler. using the zodiac killer as an inspiration for the riddler was amazing, brilliant, showstopping, spectacular. and they kept a little bit of camp in paul dano's performance which i appreciate. i don't think we'll ever go back to batman forever levels of camp, but that's okay </3

there was a nod to the character of hush in the movie (at least that's how i'm choosing to interpret it) but i don't think they could ever use hush in the future because they already adapted so much of his gimmick for the riddler... but that's okay tbh i don't think hush is that interesting anyway.

at its core the batman was a buddy cop movie and i LOVED that. jeffrey wright KILLED it as lieutenant gordon and the dynamic between batman and gordon was amazing. excellent usage of our favorite future-commissioner, you could really see they already had an established rapport but their bond was becoming even stronger... their conversation in the interrogation room was so amazing, as well as their scene with the penguin.

my one criticism is that alfred became non-existent after a certain point. also lowkey the lego batman movie did a better job at the 'bruce realizes that his trauma has made him reluctant to form bonds or deepen them because of his fear of losing anyone else' subplot. lego batman movie on top!

-

4. characterizations

everyone and their mom has already talked about how this version of bruce wayne is more focused on developing his identity as the batman versus his identity as brucie wayne so i won't repeat those essays. but i will say that i have such high hopes for bruce's development in the sequel. like the way the movie ended with him emphasizing how he needs to become a 'symbol of hope for the city' reads to me as him preparing to finally re-enter gotham society as Billionaire Bruce Wayne and i am SO READY FOR IT.

but what i actually want to talk about is how amazing catwoman's development is. i love how much backstory they gave her in this movie. i will always love the nolanverse version of catwoman but you really learn almost nothing about selina in TDKR. but in the batman selina's is this fully fleshed out character. you can immediately guess what her life has been like. and her motivations in the story... the way she was prepared to run until she found annika... and then she immediately changed gears and focused on vengeance for annika and her mother... god, i love it.

cobblepot's character was also so, so good. you can intimately tell that he's a two-faced bastard who's spent years being a yes-man purely so he can climb the social ladder. i know colin farrell is going to rock the HELL out of that monocle in the sequel.

-

5. hopes for the future

i know it's too late but i reallyyy don't want joker to be in the sequel. i unfortunately think that's more or less guaranteed though since they've already casted barry keoghan. and his performance was really good. i'm just tired of seeing the joker in batman media. (inb4 keoghan absolutely kills it in the sequel and makes me eat my hat). i don't really consider batman to have one arch nemesis, only that the joker has consistently ruined batman's life more often than all the other villains.

literally the one hill i will die on is that reeves NEEDS to include robin at some point. PLEASE. you can't have batman without a robin, he gets so lonely. literally that's all i want. i want battinson to become a dad so, so bad. you have no idea.

and (and this is key) robin must be a kid. a pre-teen aged 14 or younger. "oh but that's so unrealistic, child superheroes totally break the immersion" well I DON'T CARE. FULL THROTTLE ON THE CHILD ENDANGERMENT. let children fight crime, for the culture.

[okay, okay. make it a robin origin story where dick grayson is introduced and is plot-relevant but he doesn't actively patrol and fight crime and only becomes robin at the very end.]

introduce robin in batman 2, and then have robin be a participating older teen/adult in batman 3.

my incredibly indulgent ideal batman 2:

at least two years have passed (bruce is more or less settled and has finally hit his stride). he has mastered air gliding and now attacks villains from the rafters instead of just constantly walking out of the shadows. i want to see arkham-level combat So Bad.

selina is mentioned, but doesn't really appear (and there are no other love interests.

actually wait i change my mind about joker. joker can be included in the movie IF the red herring "main plot" is that he's using a circus as a base of operations (because clowns and circuses).

i say red herring "main plot" because the movie starts with a joker crime spree, so you think the movie is going to be all about the joker, but then he leads batman to his circus base and it turns out that PSYCH! THIS IS ACTUALLY A DICK GRAYSON ORIGIN STORY. because joker's base of operations is haly's circus.

batman is snooping around looking for evidence and that's when he comes across dick grayson, age 10.

kid dick grayson. PLEASE. PLEASE.

batman decides to visit the circus as bruce wayne. You Know What happens.

plot plot plot

COURT OF OWLS SUBPLOT.

bruce has to balance hunting down the joker while also protecting this little kid he pretends he isn't totally attached to.

this is incredibly indulgent because i have no idea how you would balance joker screentime with that of the court of owls. idk. that's what's fanfiction is for i guess c:

i have decided that over winter break i am going to rewatch all the batman movies from 1980s onwards so i can revise my Batman Cinema power rankings. i will create some kind of metric or spreadsheet so i can grade and quantify each movie.

hell i should also replay all my favorite batman video games. because those are basically just movies anyway. and i miss kevin conroy :(

thanks for reading. god i love batman.

[kairiscorner]

Gabriel O'hara x Spider-Woman? They met while Gabriel was working on something for Miguel in HQ as she walked past the room and got curious. <3

JEKFKDKDKDKFK CUTEEEE @binibinileonara boutta get fed fr 🫂🫂🫂

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

he's... everything. – gabriel o'hara x spider woman!fem!reader

the clattering of tools and equipment in miguel's office, combined with cussing in spanglish and groaning with music playing in the background caught your attention; causing you to halt in your tracks and take a look inside. you peered inside miguel's office, knowing the voice that was muttering cuss words in spanish wasn't his—the voice was of a higher range than his. and when you entered the room, you sensed someone different, but similar, to miguel; a family member, you figured, was there.

"hello...?" you called out to the voice as you saw a couple of feet in boots underneath a control panel. the person who owned those feet halted fixing the underneath of the control panel and tried to sit up; though they banged their head on the control panel and cussed again in spanish. you watched as the pushed themselves from underneath the control panel and faced you with goggles on their face. it was a guy, he looked a lot like miguel from the face and hair color, he must've been a close relative of his. the man smiled up at you and lifted his goggles off his face, extending his hand towards you. "ah, i'm gabriel, gabriel o'hara. nice to meet you, um...?" he inquired you for your name as his voice trailed off, and you introduced yourself as spider woman—well, one of the many spider women.

his smile only grew wider as he heard you speak and felt you take his hand and shake it. he shook your hand a little longer than you expected, with him getting flustered about that prolonged contact. "hah, sorry—i, um, i get jittery and excited when around new people. especially pretty, capable new women i meet." he added with an awkward chuckle as you smiled at him. "no worries. so... whatcha working on here?" you asked gabriel as he sighed. "miggy lost his temper again and did a number on this control panel. i honestly don't get him, i've offered to buy him a stress ball, but he insists he's not stressed enough for it. yeah, no shit, he's beyond stress balls now and entering the realm of destroying expensive equipment to release his anger." gabriel said with a hint of fatigue in his voice as you listened to him.

you offered to help him fix up the control panel, or just keep him company so it doesn't feel too boring—which he accepted gratefully. you handed gabriel the tools he needed and helped him patch up some wiring from underneath the control panel with your webbing—it was strong enough, and it'd give miguel a harder time to total this thing again. all the while, you and gabriel chatted about all sorts of things, particularly shit-talking the ever grumpy overlord miguel. gabriel embarrassed miguel behind his back to you, telling you all sorts of funny stories about the two of them when they were younger, causing you to laugh all joyfully—laugh harder than you've ever had before, and in a genuine, real manner. gabriel, you noticed, was a darling.

he was sweet, though wouldn't take miguel's shit. he was kind, a little too kind that he forgets to take care of himself first; but what you really liked about him was how he knew how to be funny. every other guy you've met that was both nice and sweet like him always struggled to understand you, to really tickle your funny bone and open your heart up little by little, but not gabriel—gabriel was... everything you've ever wanted in a guy, and to believe he's related to miguel o'hara and you just met him today, why are your cheeks heating up when he's complimenting your voice and abilities?

when miguel came back, gabriel had soon finished up. he looked up at you a little too closely since you sat at a short distance from him—which... kinda made it look like gabriel was about to kiss you. miguel shouted at gabriel to look at him, and gabriel shouted back that he didn't wanna see miguel's ugly mug after fixing his mess. you giggled under your breath at their little exchanges, which gabriel heard and smiled slightly at, winking at you as he lifted his goggles up.

"gabri, get the hell down here once you're done." he told his brother as miguel looked up at you gazing at gabri involuntarily, with gabriel rolling his eyes, sighing, and reluctantly getting up to go back down from the platform. "before i go down, um... can i know if you, uh... wanna get some dinner together sometime?" gabriel asked with a smile as you nodded, smiling back at him with a flustered face. "of course, gabri." you responded to him as he felt himself get all flustered now at you copying miguel's nickname for him.

he chuckled and nodded with a broad smile on his face. "a-alright then! i'm gonna hope miggy's gonna break something else next time... so i can, y-y'know." gabriel said as miguel cleared his throat and furrowed his eyebrows, placing his hands on his hips as he waited for you two to descend. "okay, mig! jeez, i can attest to him wearing panties—they're always in a bunch up his su- ow!" gabriel cried out in pain as miguel threw a pen at the back of his head. you laughed aloud and asked him in between laughs if he was okay, with gabriel trying to play it cool and say he was okay with a wince. he really is everything—everything cute, cool, sweet, and... just a little bit of what a loser is like, a loser who's won himself a date with the prettiest, strongest spider woman around (and his favorite by far!)

tags !! @binibinileonara @ophanimgold

[barrenclan]

OKAY I TRY NOT TO PUT IN MANY POST-ISSUES ASKS BECAUSE I'M ON THE PATFW SERVER BUT GOOD LORD WHAT AN ISSUE

My gore tolerance is not the best so I was not expecting to enjoy this issue but this might be one of my new favorites to be perfectly honest. I wish that both canon Warriors and fancomics would feature stuff like different artforms more because I love the idea of these societies doing stuff like that instead of just suffering, and, while Barrenclan probably isn't holding auditions nay time soon, the second Deepdark suggested some acting I was absolutely delighted

My favorite thing about the play beyond the lore is just how unreliable Deepdark and his lackies are there. Like little things such as Deepdark hiding his name (which is something he'd of course do, both because nobody knows his old name and because he'd like to keep it that way), the less violent and more cartoonishly dramatic nature of the fight maybe making it easier to see Deepdark as a charismatic leader to be trusted rather than a ruthless murderer to be feared (I may be looking too much into this one), Prowl's anger at Longest Claw's murder being toned down to immediately admiration (and an immediate desire to follow Deepdark's beliefs when he hadn't really communicated what they are/what he'd "been lacking") and Spike's fear being turned to the same and Deepdark's "come and get me" being turned to a gentler "follow me" are all just really great touches which hide the true start of Defiance

Also most of my love for this issue is because of the acting component (I love me some theatre and some talking animals), but death being compared to sleep once again comes to hurt me. Honestly Rainhaze's "death is like falling asleep next to somebody you love" idea is vaguely comforting to me, but I adore him twisting that into complete denial of the brutality of what he's caused. He sees the reality of Dustfeather's death, and knows the reality of her shrieks before death, but he still tries to twist it into happy little yells of delight before she went to curl up to a loved one, so that he can see it as a good, peaceful death instead of the bloody murder of somebody who, as horrible as she was, still meant the world to him.

Anyways I adore this issue and I'll keep yelling about it in the discord but for now here's my many thoughts on it

I really wanted to draw some organs, and I blame the PATFW Discord entirely for encouraging me.

Deepdark might want to tell his followers where he came from, but he can't tell them the truth! No self-respecting cult leader would do that. Filtering this violent story into a morality play helps to communicate his message and mythologize his own origins. Spike and Prowl in those particular panels are acting as they would now, rather than they would before - Spike as brave and excited in front of Deepdark, and Prowl wholly admiring him.

And Rainhaze is doing just the same twisting, for his own memories! Hopefully it makes him feel better.

[necrotic-nephilim]

do you ship helena bertinelli with anyone? if yes, then which characters and why? what's your favorite helena ship? do you have any helena rarepairs? (i know you've talked about helena/steph and you're so right about it, it's a very interesting ship)

!!!! i have so many ships for my best girl ever yes oh my god thank you for asking.

my top pairing is probably Vic Sage/the Question. Vic is the basic answer, but man. i love them so much. no couple has matched each other's freak like that have. Justice League Unlimited is a great adaptation of Helena in general, but it also did a great adaptation of Helena and Vic's relationship. how he just dedicates himself to helping her with no expected return, but also wants to make sure she doesn't go too far in a hunt for vengeance that never ends for her. i think a lot of characters often want to change Helena or expect things out of her for their own needs, like the Batfam and the BoP. but Vic is one of the few people who just wants her to be better for her own good. when he tries to stop her from killing it's not because of his morals, it's because he doesn't want this crusade to consume her. and i just. man i think about them a lot. Helena rlly likes weird little men who give themselves wholly to her.

Zinda Blake/Lady Blackhawk is also a top ship for me. tbh i just like Zinda. but i do love how Helena and Zinda interact, being the more rough and tumble members of the BoP. they're both outsiders, in different ways. Helena is an outsider of the Batfam and Zinda is literally from a different time and an outsider to the current world. their friendship is so genuine and i think if Babs and Dinah can have. whatever homoerotic nonsense going on during BoP, then Zinda and Helena deserve some homoerotic nonsense too. as a treat.

if we're willing to count New-52 Helena, then i enjoy Helena/Dick/Tiger. i think Helena and Dick being a past relationship is really important in pre-Flashpoint for Helena's development, though i don't ship them as a serious couple beyond a fling. but in the New-52, i think this throuple be fun. Helena and Tiger respect each other as two very driven, no-nonsense agents and then well. they both clearly have some kind of thing for Dick. so it's fun finding the balance of how they could all work together romantically.

and ofc. it's a crime to mention Helena ships and not mention Renee Montoya/the Question. every time they interact it's really fucking gay. it's so gay that Kate Kane, Renee's own ex, assumed Helena and Renee were gay. i cannot be convinced against this ship. i genuinely think this ship should be canon. i mean. DC did tease us with this moment from an alternate universe and it's lived rent for me since. fucking criminal for us to only get one panel of what we could have if DC let Helena be a fruit in the main universe. being in love with Helena Bertinelli should be a right of passage for the Question mantle, i personally believe. if you asked me like. genuinely who i want to see Helena date in the current comics, Renee is my top pick. (i would say Vic but he's fucking dead and the New-52 butchered him so rip my mans-)

lois lane (2019) #10

besides those ships, just about every ship for Helena probably falls into the category of rarepair. like you said i've talked about my love for Helena/Steph before bc god. i think it should be a thing more people ship. once i finish the fic i'm writing about them i will convince others to like it.

i also think Helena/Cass could be fun. in a *lot* of ways Helena and Cass are narrative parallels to each other. Helena was a victim of her family being murdered at about the same age Cass was forced to be a murderer. Helena grows up to believe in lethal justice because of this, and Cass grows up to be staunchly against it. Cass' Batgirl suit was made *by* Helena. they both want to be protectors of the most vulnerable people. they balance each other out in a lot of ways and i think they should kiss about it.

also probably a rarepair, i think Helena/Lady Shiva is fun. their fight during Birds of Prey (2010) had... questionable moments for Helena's characterization, but i do love so much that Helena knocks Shiva off her feet and gains a deep respect from Shiva. like. Shiva gives her a nickname and shows her admiration. i would like to see fanfic where Shiva continues to be weirdly admirable of Helena and bothering her non-stop. they could be a fun fucked up toxic yuri moment. this is just. so gay to me.

birds of prey (2010) #6

my most rare Helena pair would probably be Helena Wayne, actually. but specifically Helena Wayne of JSA (2022). ever since, for some reason, it was made canon that the current Helena Wayne was named after Helena Bertinelli and took the name Huntress to honor her i *cannot* stop thinking about them meeting. because in-universe it makes *no* fucking sense for Bruce to name his kid after *Helena Bertinelli*, someone he's regularly at odds with and doesn't like. it's clearly an awkward explanation to try to make the whole two Huntress situation make sense. (it's almost as bad as Helena Wayne in the New-52 using Helena Bertinelli as an alias.) but because it's such an odd choice, i do think it could be fun for Helena Wayne, when she's back in time to see Bruce, to find Helena Bertinelli to get to know the woman she was named after and Helena Bertinelli just being. baffled by the idea of *Batman* naming his kid after her. it could be a fun fucked up moment.

my other super rarepair is Kara Zor-L/Power Girl. they had like. one meaningful interaction of JSA Classified and it's been PLAGUING me. something about when Power Girl doesn't remember her past and she's seeking a friend, she instinctively goes to find Huntress? but it's wrong bc this isn't *her* Huntress and neither of them understand why Power Girl would seek Helena out? god it's so good. i'm always a big fan of ships where one person in the ship is *so* obviously using the other person as a replacement for someone they lost and they both know it. it's such a doomed angsty thing where you could play with Helena actually really liking Kara, but knowing that she's just a replacement for Kara's Helena Wayne. good fucked up shit man.

and lastly: i really ship her with Dawn Granger/Dove. there's no canon basis for this, they didn't have a ton of interactions even when they were both on the BoP. but there's a very kind innocence to Dawn that contrasts Helena's violence really well. and i do love a ship with a corruption kink vibe to it. let Helena corrupt Dawn. i could write such fucked up porn about these two.

[phen397]

Sonic adventure 2 but told through notes I took while playing part2 electric Boogaloo

OK here we go again

Tails in the Chao garden is too cute

Love the way his tails sway and flop on the ground

Feed the children all the tubes

Only one though

He will be the most drugged up Chao at the races

OK

Time to leave

Sonic in jail

Amy from the sky

Have no fear Amy rose is here

How did she get that key card

"That black hedgehog"? Amy please come see me after class

Marry me if I tell?

Did sonic write the stuff in the walls

Nah he too dumb for all that math

Who built these ramps and loops in the middle of the ocean?

Guess gun did since their name is on everything

Thanks omachao I didn't know how to do a homing attack

Cuccked by a bot phasing put of existence

Can I just not hit ghost bot?

No omachao I haven't tried using the light dash I don't even have that yet

Oh hey light dash shoes

Go fast on rings

Lots of peacocks in this level

The seal is so cute look at him

Rocket time

Bigger rocket

I gotta ride it!?

Oh snap

To space baby

Oh God he jumped

Where did this stuff come from

Snowboard down tube to goal

Sonic seems to like taking panels off of gun's stuff

I am sure they aren't important

New gate in Chao space

The kindergarten

I am going to go get apple sauce and have a nap

Oh it seems to be empty

Little drawings of chaos on the walls

Wonder if these where drawn by fans

Chao bulletin board

What browser?

Different doors for things

Can't do anything cause I didn't bring a Chao

I am a teen just wandering around a kindergarten

Not weird at all

Let me talk to the principal

Lots to say

Now how do I get my Chao here?

Poor all the animals and tubes into one Chao

What could go wrong?

Maybe if I pick up a Chao and leave I can take him to the kindergarten

Nope

Next level time

In the forest

So far so good

Hi shadow I mean faker

Not even good enough to be my fake

"I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS" damn sonic let the man finish

Time to fight shadow

Did he just say he is the coolest?

Shit I fell

Wait for him to land after his attack then hit him

Do you even know who I am

Green forest

Yes

Yes it is

Close your mouth shadow please

Island gonna blow up

Soundtrack picking up for this epic race against death

Oh yea Amy and tails are here too I guess

8 minutes till boom

Epic vine swings

Love my naturally growing springs

Level done

More tubes for the child

Let's see how the child has grown

Race time

Mushroom forest this time round

Look at my child go

Not dead last so doing good

Ha some tripped

Cheer em on

3rd place thanks to a trip right at the end

Try again?!

So I need to win huh?

Fine I will be back

Island blowing up cutscene

Plane flies away

Pumpkin hill

Getting jiggy with it

Place feels haunted

Knuckles time

Shovel claws

I can dig now

I can dig up Graves

Ghosts not happy

This place feels familiar

How train why train?

Found all 3

Eggman psa

Creepy child

Eggman empire

Egg face in space

The ark

Laser beam

NOT THE MOON

24 hours

Gang saw it all

How did he get all that energy

Chaos emerald

Talis has one just cause

I am sure you saying something important tails but I can't hear you over the sound of your theme song blasting my eardrums out

Oh shoot the popo

Yes Amy you are an accomplis now

No backing out now

Ah yes mission Street

Right next to objective lane

If you hit side quest ally you went to far

Tails level

Gonna get so many tubes

Boosters

Fly high?

More like hover mid

Okay

Okay

Okay

Okay

Okay

Thanks tails

More tubes for the child

All for now But next time I don't know maybe the child attends class or smth idfk