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smells-like-mettaton · 3 years ago

Note

Perhaps #5 (Hold my Hand) with Papyton for the fic ask game if you are still doing it?

(I hope you're okay with me writing this as a sequel to one of my other papyton fics! This could still be read on its own, but it will make more sense if you read the first chapter. If you don't want to, just know that the part in italics at the beginning is from a fanfic that Alphys wrote.)

The Greatest Fanfiction of All: The Sequel

Rating: T Word Count: 1687 Read on AO3: here

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Papyrus’s hands are warm. Of course they are. Theyre always covered in gloves. Not even Mettaton, his boyfriend of one month and thirteen days, knows what his bony phalanges look like beneath the plush red fabric.

But tonight, that's going to change.

xxx

Exactly one month and thirteen days had passed since Mettaton had read the beginning of Alphys’s “papyton” fanfiction. It also happened to be one month and thirteen days since Papyrus had agreed to be his boyfriend, sending him on a magical journey of love and romance.

That journey had given him plenty of new perspectives and discoveries. Yet the mystery of what lie under Papryus’s gloves was not one of them.

He sat next to Mettaton on their usual bench at the center of the hedge maze. The sky was dark with stormclouds, which kept any stray spectators away from the park. Papyrus was prepared, as usual; a tall MTT-Brand Umbrella leaned against his femur. Nothing and no one would ruin this moment.

Now Mettaton just needed to have the moment. Preferably without resorting to calling Alphys and Frisk again.

“METTATON? IS SOMETHING THE MATTER?” Papyrus asked, his browbone furrowing in concern.

Mettaton’s fingers were already laced through his; Mettaton rubbed his thumb against the back of Papyrus’s glove.

“Well. It is a very special day, darling.” Special enough that Mettaton had worn the outfit Papyrus loved most—a cropped shirt that said COOL ROBOT and galaxy-print leggings that hugged his metallic thighs. Papyrus himself had worn a bright Tetris shirt and shorts that exposed his gleaming femurs.

“IT IS?” Papyrus blinked. “IS THERE A SALE ON RIGATONI? BECAUSE I THOUGHT THAT STARTED NEXT WEEK.”

“Hm? Oh—not that I know of, but I will keep that in mind.” He imagined creating a pasta bouquet for Papyrus, and a smile graced his lips. “Today is the one month and thirteen day anniversary of our glamorous romance.”

“WOWIE! TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE DATING A HOT ROBOT!” Papyrus grinned, pressing his teeth to Mettaton’s cheek in a close approximation of a kiss. “HAPPY ONE MONTH AND THIRTEEN DAYS, METTATON! IS THERE A SPECIAL WAY YOU WANT TO CELEBRATE?”

It was perfect. Mettaton couldn’t have set it up better if he tried.

“Actually…” He turned Papyrus’s hand over, examining every seam and stitch in his crimson glove. “I was hoping to see your hands. I know they’re just as handsome as the rest of you.”

He winked, and a light blush spread across Papyrus’s cheekbones.

“MY HANDS? I’D GLOVE TO! BUT, ERM…” His fingers disentangled from Mettatons, instead fidgeting nervously with the hem of his right glove. “I DON’T KNOW THAT YOU WOULD FIND THEM AS UNBEARABLY ATTRACTIVE AS THE REST OF ME.”

Coming from Papyrus, that was practically a statement of self-loathing. Guilt bubbled in Mettaton’s soul-tank.

“Beautiful.” He grasped the top of his boyfriend’s arms and squeezed them gently. “There is not a bone in your body that I would not find attractive. Of course, I will not ask you to perform if you are suffering stage fright, but I do think you shine so much brighter in the light.”

Papyrus smiled a little, though his browbone was still turned upward with worry.

"IF YOU'RE SURE…"

"Positive as my ratings, darling."

Papyrus nodded slowly. "I TRUST YOU, METTATON."

Those words were like ambrosia to Mettaton's soul. He would do anything to remain worthy of his boyfriend's trust.

"PLEASE, JUST… DON'T BE FRIGHTENED, ALRIGHT?"

Mettaton couldn't imagine anything about Papyrus being frightening.

Then, with agonizing care, Papyrus peeled off his gloves. And Mettaton understood.

The bones of his hands were scorched an ashen gray, nearly black. Hairline cracks laced through them like spiderwebs. Mettaton was half afraid that if he touched them, they would crumble to dust.

"I'M FINE, REALLY!" Papyrus must have noticed the look on his face, no matter how quickly Mettaton had schooled his expression. "THESE BURNS ARE SO OLD, I BARELY NOTICE THEY'RE THERE!"

His grin was strained. Mettaton wanted nothing more than to reach out and squeeze his hand, but he didn't dare.

"They don't hurt?" Mettaton asked, then winced. He could've phrased that more tactfully. It was probably better than asking how on earth the injury had happened, at least.

"WELL… THEY ARE A BIT SENSITIVE WITHOUT MY GLOVES. THEY HAVE HEALING MAGIC, YOU SEE." Papyrus held out one of his red gloves, his expression turning to one of pride. "SANS DID THE SEWING, AND I DID THE ENCHANTMENT."

"No wonder you love them so much." Mettaton smiled. It was adorable how much Papyrus loved his brother. Their love had inspired Mettaton to finally patch up his relationship with Blooky and Mew Mew.

Papyrus smiled back, running a charred fingertip fondly over the fabric. "WOULD YOU… LIKE TO TRY ONE ON?"

"Me?" Mettaton blinked.

"OF COURSE! WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO EXPERIENCE THE GREAT PAPYRUS'S LEGENDARY HEALING MAGIC FIRSTHAND?"

Mettaton chuckled at the pun. "How could I possibly refuse?"

He slipped off his white gloves, revealing the unsightly bolts in his own fingers. He hardly felt self-conscious about that after seeing Papyrus's hands, though.

Papyrus's glove fit like a dream. Like holding his hand, only from the inside. Warmth seeped from the fabric into his metal joints, slipping through his cracks like sweet oil.

"This is… quite the enchantment," he breathed.

Papyrus couldn’t be in pain with that much healing magic caressing his bones. But on the other hand, even the constant healing magic had failed to permanently erase the scars. Mettaton still wasn’t too familiar with physical injuries, but surely that wasn’t normal, right?

Papyrus’s wink sounded like magical glitter."WHAT CAN I SAY? I'M VERY ENCHANTING."

He looked just as bright as ever. Just as energetic, as full of life.

Just as beautiful, inside and out.

"That you are, darling." Mettaton kissed his cheek.

Papyrus pulled his left glove back onto his hand, then twined his fingers with Mettaton's. Red on red, warmth on warmth Their hands matched perfectly.

"YOU PROBABLY HAVE SOME QUESTIONS," Papyrus said quietly.

Mettaton's eye flickered to Papyrus's bare right hand before returning to his eyesockets.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't feel comfortable with, darling."

Mettaton was curious of course. If this injury had been caused by another monster, they would face the wrath of a true killer robot. Knowing Papyrus, though, he had probably forgiven whoever was responsible.

"I ALWAYS FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH YOU." He smiled. "AND IT IS… NICE. TO HAVE SOMEONE BESIDES SANS KNOW THIS."

"No one else knows?" Mettaton’s eyes widened. He'd thought Undyne would have found out, whether Papyrus told her on purpose or she burned off his gloves during one of their cooking lessons.

"I AM A SKELETON OF MANY SECRETS." Papyrus winked again. This time it sounded like tinkling bells. "IT HELPS THAT NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS THE ACCIDENT, THOUGH."

An accident. No one had hurt Papyrus on purpose.

Mettaton sighed in relief, powering down his killer robot protocols.

"I WAS HELPING MY DAD WITH HIS WORK ON THE CORE. I ALWAYS CALIBRATED THE PUZZLES WHILE HE CALIBRATED THE GEOTHERMAL POWER LEVELS."

Papyrus looked down at their tangled hands, his expression distant.

"I STILL DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. ON THE DAYS SANS REMEMBERS, HE PROMISES THAT IT WASN'T MY FAULT. THAT DAD WAS TOO CARELESS. BUT THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION, AND DAD, HE… HE FELL…"

Something in Mettaton crushed as Papyrus's voice cracked.

"I WAS LUCKIER. THE BLAST ONLY GOT MY HANDS." The smile returned.

"Papyrus…"

Mettaton didn't know what to say. What could he say? Ghosts didn't have parents. His cousins were his family, but he couldn't imagine them dying, either. Blooky physically couldn't.

But this wasn't about him! It was about Papyrus, who had lost his father and scarred his hands and still counted himself lucky.

"DON'T BE SAD, METTATON. IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO. LONGER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE."

Papyrus looked into his eyes, and for a moment, Mettaton saw something old. Mettaton had been alive—albeit as a ghost—for nearly two centuries. Right now, though, Mettaton wondered if Papyrus was even older than that.

"I suppose so,” he reluctantly admitted. “I don't even remember an explosion at the CORE."

"OH, THAT'S NORMAL. APPARENTLY DAD WAS RATHER FORGETTABLE." His smile was sad. "EVEN SANS DOESN'T ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM. BUT I… WELL."

He closed his blackened fist.

"IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO FORGET."

Mettaton opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Luckily, it didn’t seem like Papyrus was looking for a response.

“WHEW! ALL THIS HONESTY IS EXHAUSTING!!” Sweat beaded on his skull. “DO YOU WANT TO GO GET NICE CREAMS?”

“Of course, darling, but—are you sure that you’re okay?” Mettaton couldn’t help the concern in his voice. It wasn’t every day that he unlocked his boyfriend’s tragic backstory.

And here he’d been so concerned about something as trivial as holding hands. He truly was as selfish as everyone believed.

“PLEASE, DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME,” Papyrus said firmly. His hand gave Mettaton’s a tight squeeze. “I MEANT IT WHEN I SAID IT WAS LONG AGO. PRACTICALLY A DIFFERENT LIFETIME. I ONLY TOLD YOU SO THAT YOU WOULD KNOW HOW MUCH I TRUST YOU.”

Trust. Mettaton trusted Papyrus, too. Trusted that he didn’t need Mettaton to coddle him. Trusted that if he wanted Mettaton’s help, he would ask for it.

“I… thank you, darling.” Ghostly tears welled in his eyes. “Your trust means everything to me.”

“WELL THEN!” Papyrus’s grin turned mischievous. “I TRUST YOU TO KISS ME UNTIL I CAN’T BREATHE!”

Mettaton’s fans whirred and whirred. The sound was quickly drowned out by the raindrops that began to fall and fizzle on his shoulder pads.

“Darling, you’re a skeleton. You don’t have lungs.”

“NEITHER DO YOU.” Papyrus twirled the umbrella before popping it open, protecting Mettaton from the threat of short-circuiting.

(From the rain, at least.)

“You truly know how to give me a challenge, darling.” Mettaton cuddled closer, reaching up to brush his red-gloved hand against Papyrus’s cheekbone.

“ONLY BECAUSE I KNOW YOU’LL RISE TO IT!”

Mettaton grinned back, and that was exactly what he did.

#fic tag #prompt requests #papyton #tali writes #papyrus #mettaton

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dreamersdreamloud · 4 years ago

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There Is No Such Thing As Hope

Sad Villain Lena x Villain Reader

Warnings: Sad dark thoughts

Another storm has come pouring down on National City. It’s been three days since it started and the city was starting to look like Gotham. It didn’t matter to you though. You hardly go out since you’re always stuck in the lab. You’re one of the greatest scientists working for L-Corp. . . For Lena Luthor.

Whenever your boss assigns you a difficult task, you always dominate it with pride. You never brag about it though. Never really expose yourself for being talented. You are making these devices that help humans and aliens. For Lena, she admires the way you work under pressure. You always seem to impress her with everything you accomplish or how much you contribute during weekly meetings with her and all the heads of each department.

Little did you know that Lena has developed a small crush for you besides having one for her best friend, Kara. After working in L-Corp for about 4 years now, you seem to have a crush on your boss. You always thought it was wrong to develop a silly crush on your boss plus you know that Lena would never view you that. One day You almost gave in to your temptation. The day where your boss gave you flirty looks and warm smiles when you presented your completed project to the board.

You planned to ask Lena out after that board meeting but stopped when a certain blonde reporter took her away from you. Kara Danvers, the ace puppy reporter, always visiting L-Corp to hang out with Lena. You would see a glimmer of happiness within Lena’s eyes whenever Kara visits. You simply walked away and boxed up your feelings for the CEO.

9:35 PM

You know for a fact that you have been overworking yourself in the lab. You look at the ruined device in front of you, frustrated at how you can’t fix it. “Why does Lena need a teleporter and does it have to fit into a watch?” You said to yourself. Although you don’t know the exact reading why, you still made a deal to get the job done.

For two days now, Lena hasn’t come down to the labs to do her round checks. She would usually do it during the afternoon but if she’s busy, she’ll come around during the night, knowing you’ll still be in the lab. She’ll directly ask you how everyone is doing.

You sighed and threw one of the tools across the table. Since it was getting late and you weren’t getting close to a breakthrough, you pack up your belongings. You gather all the completed charts and data and make your way to your boss’ floor.

Once you reached the CEO’s floor, you made a mental plan to just leave it on her assistant’s desk and leave for the night. After placing the files on the desk, you head straight back to the elevator but a low frequency of someone crying can be heard across the empty floor. You stood there for a few seconds and listened carefully to find where the sound was coming from.

You carefully walked towards the sound and realized it was coming from Lena’s office. The door was slightly cracked open. You peak inside and see that the raven haired is sitting on the floor, crying and nursing a bottle of scotch. You come up with two scenarios if you should leave the woman be or go inside and help her.

You chose to help. You quietly walk inside and carefully approach the sadden woman without scaring her.

“Miss Luthor? Are you alright?” You calmly call out.

She immediately looked up and tried to wipe all her tears away with her sleeves. It was no use. You can easily see her red eyes and nose that she’s been crying for a while. Your boss tempts to stand up and look normal but she felt dizzy with the sudden rush. You hurried your way to her and helped her to sit on the white couch.

You walked over to the small table of drinks and grabbed a glass of water for her. The CEO thankfully takes the glass from your hand and took in sips to wash the bitter liquid in her mouth.

“How many times do I have to remind you to call me Lena?” Your boss tells you with a bitter smile on her face.

You shrug your shoulders and suck in your lips. You say done next to her, “what’s wrong, Lena?”

“Have you ever felt betrayed? Lied to? For years? Thinking they’re protecting you but really it was just hurting you? They thought that hiding the truth was more important than revealing it.”

“Yes.” You said without hesitation.

Lena looks at you, not believing your answer.

You continued, “I’ve been lied to multiple times. My own parents were never supportive of me. They controlled half of my life with lies and belittled me. My former friends betrayed me. Ha. Even my past lovers cheated, lied, and betrayed me. So yes. I do know how you feel.”

You tried your best to not let it show how much it affected you. You shouldn’t care anymore since you’re in a better position now. Lena saw the hurt in your eyes, the same pained eyes just like when her own family abuses her.

“My own friends lied to me. For 4 years. Lied to me who they really are. They said they were just protecting me but they made me feel stupid. Alex, James, Kelly, J’onn. Gosh even Winn! My brother, Lex. He told me who Supergirl is. The woman who I thought would never lie to me. Who would always be there for me. That same person who said that my last name doesn’t correspond to who I am. I’m such a fool.”

You lean in closer to her, to hold her because she was starting to form tears again. You don’t like seeing her be this vulnerable and weak. This isn’t the confident woman you see everyday. She’s a damn Luthor. She has to be the strongest and smartest woman on Earth. She doesn’t deserve this pain.

“Lena. . . Who’s Supergirl?”

She lets out a sour laugh and looks at you deeply into your eyes, “Kara Danvers is Supergirl.”

In your mind, you can’t believe that the human golden retriever is Supergirl. The woman looking like sunshine and kisses is the woman of steel. It makes sense, her friends are not normal as well. They all must work for the government. You can’t believe that her friends played her like a fool. They trusted her but not enough to let her know everything. Lena must be feeling all alone and broken.

You held up her chin, to force her to make eye contact with you, “Lena. . .”

“Yes?” She whispers, trying hard to not get lost into your eyes or focus on your lips. She honestly wants to feel anything but betrayal and she was considering to have sad angry sex with you. She doesn’t give a damn that you’re her employee.

“How do you feel about taking down the symbol of hope from Supergirl? To take control of this world. Free people from betrayal and get rid of injustice within the communities. I can see your leadership striving in this world. I can help you. We can make robots that connect to your A.I to gain control and set up a non-biased authority. A better world. A much cleaner and clearer future for generations to come?”

Lena stares back at you with her red puffy eyes. The room is quiet but you can hear her mind working and the cars moving from down below. Lena doesn’t need to sleep on the idea or have second thoughts. There’s no doubt. Lena knows she’s a genius and she visualizes this plan working out. You may look like a villain to some but she wants to help people from hurting others.

The CEO tangles her hands with yours, “Darling. . . I’m willing to make this idea come true only if you're fully in it.”

“I’ll be there every step of the way. Just say the word.”

#lena luthor #lena luthor imagine #lena luthor x reader #lena x reader #supergirl #au

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magmahurricane · 4 years ago

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Assorted IDW thoughts

Let me preface this by saying Ian Flynn is not a perfect writer.

I personally believe his greatest weakness is in writing this long, spanning arcs. We’ve seen this even in Archie with the Mecha Sally arc, and in post-reboot with the Shattered World Crisis arc. And it’s reared it’s ugly head again with the Zombot arc in IDW.

He also has a habit of favoring certain characters and trying a little too hard to argue why they’re good/likeable - this was especially a problem with Sally in his early run.

With that said: I mostly enjoyed the Zombot Arc. I am someone who has been absolutely exhausted by media’s fixation on Zombies, but I found the Zombot arc... endearing, actually.

The Zombot concept was a fun, fresh take and arguably more nightmarish than the average zombie, in that they were largely indestructible and you’d only need the slightest touch to be infected. And again, they couldn’t be put down.

An unfortunately common criticism I hear about the series is that this arc was “too dark” for a Sonic the hedgehog comic, which I find to be an odd take.

The Sonic series has always dipped its toes into darker concepts. We have the bad ending from Sonic 2, and far less implied is the death of Maria Robotnik in Sonic Adventure 2 - in which we witness, as part of Shadow’s backstory: an unarmed, terminally ill 12-year-old girl being shot and killed.

In that same game, Eggman acquired a super space Fuck You cannon and destroyed a part of the moon, and made a very clear threat to fire it at the Earth.

Sonic Adventure 1 showed us an entire civilization that was wiped out after harming a bunch of innocent Chao and angering a god. Perfect Chaos leveled an entire populated city - even if you make the argument that an evacuation was put in effect and nobody died (which I don’t believe), that’s still an entire city’s worth of people who are now homeless.

There was also Sonic Battle and Emerl’s entire plight, which saw the entire main cast coming together to raise this robot like a sibling, who all loved him and were loved by him in turn, and ended with Sonic having to kill him.

Sonic and The Secret Rings had Shahra die on-screen. I mean, she got better but still.

And don’t get me started on all the fucked up things that happen during the events of the Shadow the Hedgehog game.

The point is, the Sonic the Hedgehog series has always had these bleak, dark moments. I don’t feel like the Zombot Arc was any darker than what we’ve already seen in this series. We’ve seen these characters backed into corners, we’ve seen on-screen deaths, we’ve seen these characters break before.

I feel like this criticism is misdirected; I think when people say the arc was too dark, what they mean is that it’s too long. If we’re counting the Zombot saga starting at issue 15 (when Rough & Tumble got infected), this story arc has been going on for... 14 issues. With delays in mind, this arc feels like it dragged its feet horribly.

Now, with regards to Characterization...

I think we all can agree SEGA’s recent takes on Shadow’s character are ass. There, I said it. Taking away all the development he had over the course of SA2, Heroes, ShTH and other instances - and making it so he apparently doesn’t consider Rouge and Omega his friends - is such a mind-numbingly stupid move.

Ian usually writes a good Shadow (seriously, Sonic Universe arcs “The Shadow Saga”, “Treasure Team Tango” - both pre-reboot arcs - and “Shadowfall” + “Total Eclipse” from the post reboot were really good!) but these mandates on Shadow’s character kill me.

But unfortunately, Shadow isn’t the only character who suffered during this arc. Eggman started off the arc really well, but his choices and lackadaisical attitude towards how rapidly his plan spiraled out of control was so wildly OOC and frankly, dumb. It was frustrating to read through and didn’t feel like Ian’s usual mastermind Eggman. It read as though Ian hit a bump in which he realized he needed a work around for why Eggman wasn’t doing anything about losing control over the Zombots and decided to just have him not care. I can’t remember if a reason for this characterization was ever given.

Now, this on the other hand...

This is a scene I’ve seen people rag on for being OOC for Tails, and even comparing it to the abysmal portrayal we got in Forces.

Here’s the thing: I don’t think this was OOC for Tails.

Lets look at Tails’ characterizations in, say, the Adventure-era games. His entire character arc in both was him realizing his own potential as someone who can stand on his own two feet, without needing to rely on Sonic. And he did it! By SA2, Tails has achieved his own independence.

When he believes Eggman has truly killed Sonic, Tails is sad, but he’s also determined to stop Eggman, to keep fighting no matter what and hold his head high, because he knows he can do this. He won’t let Sonic’s faith in him be misplaced.

... But this isn’t like that situation, now is it?

Lets review Tails’ ploy over the course of this arc: He studied Sonic to the best of his abilities to try and discover how to cure his friend. He was confident and certain he could figure it out.

But the infection kept spreading. People - innocent people - were being claimed by the outbreak, and the pressure began to build. People Tails knew and cared about were being turned. The situation was growing more and more desperate.

All the while, they slowly lost faith in Sonic, who was showing signs of fatigue. We also know from when Tangle was infected that the transformation into a Zombot is uncomfortable, if not painful.

People around Tails were suffering, losing loved ones - and we, as the audience, knew that nobody was actually dead from this, but the characters don’t. Silver came from a future where the whole world became infected.

And just as soon as Tails came close to solving everything, it was all cruelly ripped away. Every time they thought they had a solution, it was lost.

When the Zombots reached Angel Island,Sonic was at the point where he could hardly fight the infection off anymore. Zavok was advancing. They’d lost poor little Cream. They lost Knuckles.

And Tails was slowly succumbing to the infection.

I don’t think this was OOC. I think it made perfect sense, because the world was literally falling apart right in front of Tails’ eyes, and unlike SA2, there was nothing he could do about it at this point. He’s being infected and watching his friends fall while knowing that Silver’s future is a possible outcome.

He’s having to resort to pleading Sonic to succeed because this poor kid has watched the world fall before his eyes - and worse yet, he came so close to having the means to save it.

I don’t agree that strong characters breaking makes them OOC. I think this serves to show just how broken Tails is by everything that’s happened, how bleak the situation is, and how genuinely scared he is. And who could blame him?

In conclusion, I think IDW Sonic has its flaws - Ian has some serious faults as a writer, but he’s also really good and has a clear passion for the series and characters.

I enjoyed this arc for the most part - I just wish it had been trimmed down some.

#IDW Sonic #felt rambley today uwu

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venus-says · 5 years ago

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Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star Episodes 38-49 + Movie

So this is what I've been missing for all these years???

It has taken me 10 years of being a Precure fan for me to finally watch Splash Star from beginning to end, and I feel like a fool becAUSE I'VE BEEN MISSING SO MUCH, HOW COULD'VE I SPENT TEN YEARS WITHOUT WATCHING THIS??????? This series is so good, THIS ENDING IS SO GOOD!!!!!!! I've finished watching it yesterday and I'm still in awe. Gosh, I love this show.

But before I can talk about the ending, allow me to dedicate a small paragraph to comment on the movie. Originally I thought about making a separate post for the movie, but I don't have much to say about it so I'm adding this extra portion here (thank god I watched the movie before this was posted so I can add this beforehand). This movie is very lackluster, I got excited from the first scenes, watching it in HD and not DVD quality really brings way much more life to the screen and I was pretty impressed, but then Saki and Mai started to fight before their performance and all the joy went down because it immediately started to feel like Friends of the Snow Sky but worse because Saki and Mai were never this "hostile" against each other before so their fight doesn't seem true to their characters especially considering what originated this argument to begin with.

The movie exclusive characters are good, sadly they don't get that much time on screen and they also don't get a lot to do so they're not used to their full potential and they end up being just flat. In fact, I believe this is a good way to describe this movie, interesting concepts that aren't used fully because they wanna focus on this fight that makes no sense and that is something they've already done before. I don't know if this has to do with the weird duration of the movie, it's not even one hour long, or if it's just the script that is weak, but I really didn't enjoy this movie all that much. 😕

But now let's talk about the good stuff, let's talk about the ending of the season.

I have so many feels I don't even know where to begin with. Well to begin with, in the title of this post it says this is a review of episodes 38 to 49 but that's actually a lie since episodes 38 and 39 are just fillers that don't add much so I have nothing to comment on. But from episode 40 onward the show picks itself up and it just goes all out to wrap up this story in a very beautiful, exciting, and emotional way.

I admit I was a bit afraid of how this final stretch would go when I saw that the final Dark Fall general was defeated in episode 40, but they managed to wrap up this ending in a very clever way. Bringing back the defeated generals at first felt like a cheap way to do it, but the fact that the villains weren't back for just a single episode and considering there was no monster of the week, all the fights were against the generals themselves, it really enhanced the experience, it was like in the Mega Man games where you'll fight all the Robot Masters again in one of the Wily stages. It was also great that they came back WAY STRONGER and the girls really had to give their best to win those fights, I especially like that they lost right away when the villains came back because it's not always that we see precure losing so it was great to see just how much more difficult it would be for them to win in the end.

The final twist of Gohyan being the actual final villain wasn't all that much surprising, I mean he's the character who's always plotting something I knew he would betray Akudaikan at some point, and in normal circumstances, I'd wouldn't be pleased with this fake-out, but because Gohyan is a character we've seen since the beginning and he has been active, either plotting against his comrades or actually going against the precure, it worked. I kinda wish they had kept him in his "elderly" form, I think he works better that way, but seeing how great the action was for that final fight I'm more than okay with it.

If I had to say one thing that I completely disliked about this ending it's that, aside of the Christmas episode that once again had the pink try to deal with her feelings for a guy who doesn't look at them on a romantic way, having a four-part ending didn't really feel necessary. I think they could've made it in a way where episodes 46, 47, and 48, where focused in the actual fight, like episode 46 is the raid at Dark Fall, the fight against Akudaikan goes from Part B of 46 and Part A of 47, and then the final battle against Gohyan goes from Part B of 47 and lasts the entirety of episode 48, and then we have episode 49 focused for the aftermath and the epilogue. But that's just a minor thing because they hit the nail in the head in the important stuff so it's all good.

And speaking of action, THEY NAILED IT IN THIS PORTION OF THE STORY. I complained a lot about hoe the fights during the season weren't as good as they could've been, but if they were saving so much just so this ending could be so action-heavy and look so damn good as it was I feel like it was a good trade. Of course, the repeated shots of Bright and (especially) Windy using her powers are still here, but it's incorporated a lot better here and they do some actual creative stuff with it.

But the greatest thing of this finale was seeing Michiru and Kaoru finally being back, again I was reluctant about bringing them back so soon, but they knew what they're doing and they managed to do so much with them in this short amount of time. And I think it only works so well because they did an excellent job with them in their first arc so we as an audience can feel for them and we can also share the feelings Saki and Mai were having because we care about these characters just as much as they do. And I also like that they were brought back and they served a purpose, they weren't just extensions of Saki and Mai, they had their own concerns, they had their own issues so it wasn't like they were there to do just a single thing and they were able to conclude their arcs in a very satisfactory way. They've become really complex characters and I was always excited about seeing them on screen because I knew something great would come out of it every time, that being either them in their fighting scenes or while they were doing mundane stuff like Michiru enjoying helping at Pan Paka Pan or Kaoru spending time with Minori. Kaoru and Michiru's story was everything Kiriya's story wanted to be and more and this is definitely one of the strongest points of this show.

Our protagonists were probably the less worked during this arc, they sort of became an entity rather than two distinctive characters, but it somehow works? I think that because Saki ad Mai are such a great duo, they have so much chemistry, and the show seems to balance pretty well the spotlight they give to each girl, that deciding to focus more on these two as a duo rather than individually doesn't backfire. Their arc is more about solidifying their friendship more and more each time and spreading that out to Kaoru and Michiru, and they do a pretty good job at that. I feel like a lot of people don't have high opinions on them because of that, but I honestly didn't leave the show with the feeling that something was missing in regards to this matter so as far as I'm concerned they're great characters.

Before I wrap up I wanna talk about the ending in specific. It was the perfect pay off that this show needed. After everything Saki, Mai, Kaoru, and Michiru had gone through seeing they fight the big final boss together on an amazing showdown was incredibly awesome, when they lost their powers and the remaining of the spirits still living on Earth gathered together to bring not just Bloom and Egret but also Bright and Windy personified in Kaoru and Michiru felt rewarding as hell. It's pretty sad Kaoru and Michiru aren't considered official Cures because this final battle wouldn't have been the same without them.

If you read my Kamen Rider reviews you know I don't like it when characters come back from the dead immediately after they die. That wasn't the case here, in fact actually cried during that scene. We've said goodbye to them once and it hurt, seeing that they would go disappear again was like having my chest crushed, especially after everything that went down during this final arc and their speech in the fight about not giving up on the future they want to build with Saki and Mai. I knew precure is a kids show so they wouldn't kill them, but I expected they would go back to the Fountain of the Sky to live with Moop and Food there, but the show allowed the girls to stay with their friends in the Land of Greenery and that made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

And that montage at the end, with the four together, Kaoru joining Mai in the Art Club so she can learn how to draw so she can spend more time with Minori, Saki teaching Michiru how to bake, gosh, very few things made me as happy as that little montage did. Even seeing that Flappy finally confessed to Choppy and now they're officially a couple I believe was very endearing to see. And this is pretty much why I wanted the epilogue to be it's own separated episode because these are all things I'd love to watch as they were happening. It was still good, don't get me wrong, I have the dumbest smile in my face from just remembering it, but I wish we had more, GIVE ME AN OVA TOEI!!!!!

I'm not sure if I said everything I had to say, a lot of what I enjoyed from Splash Star was how the show touched me with emotional moments centered around characters I've grown to love throughout these 49 episodes and sadly my vocabulary isn't so vast so I can put out all these feelings here without sounding more repetitive than I already do. Splash Star is a really wonderful season, it had a slow start but as soon as they found their identity they really shined brightly, this season definitely shouldn't be so overlooked. So if you never watched it, give it a chance, and if you have watched it already, please do it again, appreciate the show for what it is and spread the love that this season and its characters deserve.

Three seasons of Precure down, thirteen more to go. Thank you so much for reading this far, please share the love for Splash Star in the comments. I'll see you soon for Yes! Pretty Cure 5!

P.S.: I was revising the post and I realized I didn't mention Kintolesky and Shitataare became a couple in the Christmas episode and it makes me really sad that these villains came back to being dust because I'd love to see this relationship. XD Again, GIVE ME AN OVA TOEI (and come up with a dumb excuse for why they're alive like humans and tell us how they've become regulars at Pan Paka Pan and how Kintolesky and Saki's father became the bestest friends ever).

#Futari wa Precure Splash Star #Splash Star #precure

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ahsporn · 6 years ago

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Cody Fern Interview for Out Nagazine

Out: What is it like to play the Antichrist?

Cody: It’s been the greatest privilege of my acting career so far. Between this and Versace, if for some reason the apocalypse came tonight, I’d be pretty happy with what I’ve done.

Out: How much did you know going into the season?

Cody: I didn’t know anything, I didn’t even know the theme, we found out when everybody else found out. We did know obviously that there had been an apocalypse, but I found out that I was playing Michael Langdon two days before we started filming. My first scene was the interrogation with Venable. All that Ryan had told me was that I’d be wearing a long, blonde wig and that I would have an affinity for capes. I went into the piece thinking I was the protagonist.

Out: Do you think that in a way, Michael is the protagonist of Apocalypse?

Cody: I think he is, but that’s from my perspective. I understand that the witches are the protagonists, particularly Cordelia. It’s in many ways a continuation of the Coven story, but running parallel is the story of how I see Michael, which is this very betrayed, broken, lost young man who finds his way into the apocalypse because of circumstance, not because of destiny.

Out: There’s a conversation of nature vs. nurture: we know from Murder House that there was evil in Michael from birth, he wouldn’t have been murdering his babysitters if there wasn't, but it’s become clear in the latter half of the season that he’s lost and is being manipulated by people with their own agendas.

Cody: We see him at 15 when he’s grown 10 years overnight, and the way that I always played Michael was that the murders are an impulse that he can’t control and he doesn’t understand. His consciousness is that of a 6-year-old boy when he’s a teenager, but he’s struggling to come to terms with his body and his desires, but he’s not fully formed. When you follow that, to me Michael’s story is a parable. There’s two ways of looking at the story of the devil: the way that people have interpreted the bible, and this polar opposite that Lucifer so loved god that he refused to bow down before men. Here we have god’s favorite angel in this kingdom of heaven, who was then made to bow down before god’s next making, and ultimately that leads to him being cast out of Heaven, and it wasn’t like Lucifer was wrong. Man then goes about destroying the earth. That’s what we’re doing right now, we’re destroying planet Earth, and it seems that there’s no remorse for it. I really leaned into that with Michael, this young boy who was cast from the kingdom of Heaven, who was cast out of the normal rigors of society, out of what people find acceptable, and then is used and abused and abandoned and broken, and what happens when you have no love in your life, where does that energy go?

Out: One of the ways I’ve been reading this season is a commentary about the state of gender politics. The warlocks essentially bring about Armageddon by attempting to topple the matriarchal power the witches have over the coven. Michael in a way is this avatar for misogyny and male entitlement. Was that intentional?

Cody: I absolutely believe that was intentional. The thing about Ryan Murphy is he’s able to weave these incredible social commentaries into this fascinating world he’s created. Certainly in this season we are looking at bringing down the patriarchy, about what happens when a matriarchal society is enforced and the hubris of men begins to take flight. It’s not dissimilar to what’s happening in society today or what has been happening for hundreds of years. Ryan certainly weaves that into his writing. The gender battle is being fought and Michael is the avatar for it but is certainly not a part of of it. He is manipulated into this gender battle but he himself is not misogynistic, but there’s certainly something to be said for the fact that he needs a very strong mother figure in his life and has mommy issues. His mother tries to kill him in the Murder House, Constance commits suicide, Cordelia takes away Mead and he has this robot who he has to program into loving him. I think he has an enormous respect for Cordelia. He needs strong women in his life, and if he just took Cordelia’s hand when she offered it, if he just overcame his insatiable thirst for revenge, he could’ve gone another way.

Out: One of the standout episodes of the season was “Return to Murder House,” what was it like to find out that not only was Jessica Lange returning but that you’d get to act opposite her?

Cody: My ovaries exploded. I can’t begin to describe to you how overwhelmed I was. The first scene I shot with Jessica was the scene where Michael finds her dead body after she’s committed suicide, and I was so excited and nervous and afraid of that scene that I spent the whole day shaking like a life. When we got to it I was so excited and overwhelmed, it was very hard for me to drop into the chaos around what I needed to go into. Sarah, who is just the most exceptional human being in the world not to mention the hardest working and the most talented, took my hand and said, “Don’t be afraid of this, you’ve got to really go there,” and then jokingly, “Imagine that at the end of this if you didn’t get it that Jessica would think you’re a bad actor.” It was terrifying! I was certainly able to move past a wall, that’s what was blocking me, I was so afraid of judgement, that wasn’t coming from Jessica of course, it was coming from myself and my own process. Working with Jessica will go down as one of my life’s greatest achievements.

Out: What was it like to not only act alongside Sarah Paulson but to be directed by her in “Return to Murder House?”

Cody: One of the greatest joys. As an actor, to step into the director’s chair, you have a certain upper hand because you understand how actors work and how to communicate with actors. Sarah very much comes from a place of absolute respect for the emotional process of the artist. First and foremost she’s looking out for you as an artist, which elicits such extraordinary performances because you have so much trust in her, so you’re willing to give her anything and everything. She’s got such a deft hand as a director, watching it was gobsmacking, and was working under the most extreme pressures imaginable. Not only was she playing Billie Dean and Cordelia in another episode in the same time as this was filming, she had to film 72 scenes. In contrast, the episode before had 32, so she was filming almost double what any other director on the series was filming, while playing two other characters in two other episodes with under one week of preparation, it was truly a feat.

Out: She certainly wears a lot of hats...speaking of which, you had a very special hat yourself. Let’s talk about that wig.

Cody: I loved that wig. If I could wear that wig on a daily basis I would. Wearing that wig was everything.

Out: How long does it take to get into the Rubber Man suit?

Cody: It takes about 20 minutes and a lot of lube, and once you’re in it you’re in it, you can’t take it off. So I was in that suit for 16 hours. I think I held the record for being in the suit the longest.

Out: Can you settle this debate: was Michael the Rubber Man suit who has sex with Gallant?

Cody: No, not physically anyway. The Rubber Man is also a demon, so when someone is wearing the suit, they become the Rubber Man, but when nobody is wearing the suit, Rubber Man — through the power of Murder House — becomes a demon, and that demon is in many aspects controlled by Langdon. Langdon uses every means at his disposal to warp and manipulate and draw out the innermost desires in a human being, he draws out their shadow self and he’s able to play with that shadow and create scenarios that tempt a person into giving into the evil inside of them. Because the Rubber Man is there and then Gallant realizes he’s killed Evie. There’s some mind games going on there in how Michael reveals Gallant’s innermost desire, which is deeply Oedipal, because we [we wonder], is he fucking his grandmother? Because the realization is that the Rubber Man is Evie and he’s just slaughtered her in his bed. There’s so many layers of darkness there. That’s certainly how I thought about it.

Out: I’m sure you can’t reveal anything about the finale tonight, but can you tease a bit about how Michael’s journey ends?

Cody: There’s something deeply beautiful and tragic about the way that the story ends for Michael. It was genuinely one of the hardest scenes that I shot in the series. The end of the series, knowing that this was going to be the last time I — I’m getting sad about it now — I loved Michael so much, the past nine days since we finished filming it have been very hard. I loved Michael so much and I wanted so much for him, I just wanted love for him. The way the series ends for Michael is very moving.

Out: Are you open to returning for another season of AHS?

Cody: Oh my god, in a heartbeat. The experience is beyond comparison. Moving forward there will hopefully be great triumphs in my career, hopefully I’ll get to play characters that are as complex and layered as Michael, but this will forever have been the most formative experience of my acting career and of my development as an artist. To work with these extraordinary women at such an early point in my career, to work with Sarah Paulson and Frances Conroy — fuck me, Frances Conroy is one of the most talented, hard working, fierce actresses. To work with Kathy Bates and Joan Collins, the list goes on and on. To be in the same room as Billy Porter, who is an American treasure. The entire experience was so exceptional and magic. I know I’ll never have that back, that moment, it’s gone. I would come back in a heartbeat.

#american horror story #ahs apocalypse

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ninja-librarian · 6 years ago

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Commission for @equalskiersten, a story of Pidge/Atlas! Dedicated to all the antis and everyone who has ever said “You can’t ship that”.

For info about commissions, click here!

There had been many things in Katie Holt’s life that she loved. Her parents, her older brother, her dog Bae Bae, peanut butter…

But robots… Robots would always be her greatest love.

She just never thought that, one day, a robot would love her the same way.

*****

It began with discovering King Alfor’s notes from when he built the Lions of Voltron. Pidge found details about how Allura’s father had developed the sentience that the Lions had, which also had the potential to enable Atlas to communicate directly with the ship’s crew. Of course, Pidge had wanted to test this information out immediately.

With the encouragement of her teammates and the equally eagerly curious Garrison engineers and commanding officers, Pidge got to work. Hours later, Pidge stood on the bridge of the Atlas, heart pounding, ready to test and see if her efforts were a success or not.

She activated the ship and said, “Hello, Atlas.”

There was silence. A beat. Then two. Then three. Then…

“Hello, Katie Holt.”

Pidge gasped, grinning. It worked!

The voice was crisp and clear, but with a slight accent that was similar to the posh accent Allura spoke with. The voice was also male, which Pidge found interesting. Though the same tech had been used with all five of the Lions of Voltorn, it seemed that each machine assumed its own gender rather than be assigned one.

“Tell me about yourself, Atlas,” Pidge said, adjusting her glasses and snatching up her notepad, ready to take notes. She hoped Atlas’ Artificial Intelligence could pass the Turing Test, but she had to establish a baseline of the ship’s knowledge and thinking patterns first in order to see what needed to be worked on.

“I am Atlas. I am a battleship. I have weaponry. My design was based off of those of King Alfor, of the planet Altea. I protect Earth and the people of Earth.” Atlas dutifully explained. “When necessary, I can change my shape into a larger version of Voltron.”

“Do you know who pilots you?” Pidge asked.

“My captain is Takashi Shirogane, and his co-pilots are Commander Mitch Iverson, Commander Samuel Holt, Cadet Veronica Ramirez, and Coran Smythe.”

“Okay,” Pidge said, nodding. “So, are you aware of what happens when you are being piloted?”

“Affirmative. I can feel their quintessence. It lends strength to my transformation.”

“Interesting…” Pidge said, scribbling down a note. This was something that she and the other engineers and theorized; though the Garrison built Atlas, and Coran and Allura were undoubtedly the experts regarding King Alfor’s work and Altean technology, there was so much about the Atlas to discover. The ship was quite an enigma. “So. How do you feel about your pilots?”

Atlas was quiet for a moment.

Pidge frowned. “Atlas?”

“I am sorry, Katie Holt,” Atlas said, voice a little clipped. “But I do not understand.”

“Would you like me to rephrase the question?”

“Negative. Your question is understandable. You are asking for my personal opinion of the pilots. However, I do not understand how to respond, as I do not know how to ‘feel’ about them. They are my pilots. They do their jobs well. I do not understand why my opinion matters, even if I did know how to express that opinion.”

Pidge relaxed her shoulders. “Do you… Do you not know what feelings are?”

“Negative.”

“Well, that’s okay,” Pidge reassured. “Everyone has to learn what feelings are at some point, I guess. I mean, everyone feels something emotionally but may not have the words to describe what that feeling is. There’s a range of feelings, too. Happy, sad, angry, scared, jealous—”

“I have no context for these words,” Atlas interrupted.

“Hmm, I guess you don’t.” Pidge said. She thought for a moment. “All right. Then we’ll just introduce context to you.”

She could have easily brought in the Lions; after all, they had some form of emotional capacity—at least enough to bond with their pilots. But if she wanted Atlas to pass the Turing Test, wanted him to be mistaken for a human, then she’d have to teach him like a human.

“Young humans typically learn best by experience and example, both of which typically involve interaction with other, older humans. So, I’ll share my experiences with you, as well as download some media material to your database in order to help you understand.” Pidge explained.

That was how it began, Pidge and Atlas spending time together.

Pidge shared stories of her experiences with joy, with anger, with jealousy, with sadness. She told him stories about adopting Bae Bae and finding the Green Lion, of being bullied as a child and explained why she had been afraid of the dark as a child. Atlas listened, asked questions, used his own logic to comprehend why Pidge felt all of those emotions at various times in her life.

“The saddest I have ever felt…” Pidge trailed off one afternoon when they were discussing sadness. “Was when I found my brother’s grave. His second one, actually. He has two. One on Earth and one deep in space that the rebels created.”

“Your brother Matthew is alive and in good health,” Atlas commented. “Why would there be not one but two death rituals performed?”

“Matt’s been declared dead twice,” She explained. She smiled. “He, Dad and Shiro like to say that the reports of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated. The first time, it was after the Kerberos mission. But the second time… I believed it. I believed he was gone. I was searching for him for so long, and I just felt so alone.”

“Loneliness is what made you sad?”

“Yes. But, also, yeah, that I thought he was dead. Permanently dead.”

“Death is a natural part of the life cycle. All living beings experience death; it is to be expected.”

“Not usually with someone so young and healthy.”

“But in a war that you knew he was fighting in?”

“Hmm, how do I explain this?” Pidge said, tapping her chin. “It doesn’t matter if someone dies when they are very old or very young. You can still be sad because someone you love is gone.”

Atlas was quiet for a moment, then, “Love? Explain love.”

“Love is…” Pidge trailed off. “It’s a strong emotion you feel for someone or something. There’s different types of love. There’s platonic love, which is love for your friends. Like I have for my friends, the Paladins. Then there’s family love, which I have with my parents and Matt. Then there’s love for animals, or colors, or types of objects like tech, books, art… That’s more of an appreciation, I guess. Then there’s romantic love, which is where you form a deep connection with another person; it’s kind of like a more intense version of love for friends, and in a lot of cases a romantic partner may become family through marriage ceremonies.”

“How does one know that they love something or someone?”

“Well, it’s things that make someone really happy. Like I love technology and robots; they make me happy, and I get enjoyment out of learning and interacting with them.”

“Is love with another being similar?”

“Right. It’s being happy with other people. Enjoying spending time with them. Wanting to make sure that they are happy and safe, with their needs met.”

Atlas was quiet again, then, “I understand, Katie Holt. I understand.”

Pidge, however, didn’t understand. At least, not until weeks later…

*****

Pidge sat, giddy with excitement as Hunk took a seat in front of the computer. Today, they were finally performing the Turing Test on the Atlas. She, Hunk and a few curious bystanders were on one side of the Garrison; the Atlas was in a hanger on the other side. In the middle, in his office, was Commander Holt. Hunk was going to ask both the Atlas and Sam a question, and both were to send their answers electronically to the computer, where Hunk would then try to determine whose answer belonged to the man or the ship. Meanwhile, Matt—who had chosen the questions and format of the test—sat at another computer, able to see who the answers truly belonged to.

Hunk challenged questions of science, literature, math, and various other topics. He asked for the word ‘milk’ in Spanish. He asked for each of them to make-up a short story involving a narwhal. He sent images and told them to answer with how the picture made them feel or how the photo’s subject felt, such as a child with a dropped ice cream cone or a bride and groom.

“All right,” Hunk said. “One last photo, with one last question.”

Pidge was surprised when Hunk pulled up a picture of herself and posed the question, “In one word, say how you feel about this person.”

The results were instantaneous. One anonymous response read HAPPY. The other read LOVE.

Hunk sorted them just as quickly, placing LOVE under Commander Holt’s answers and HAPPY under Atlas’.

Done, Matt stood up. “Let’s go analyze the data in Atlas’ hanger.”

They all moved to the hanger and inside the ship in question. Matt stood at the helm, looking at the assembled pilots, engineers, and top brass. “It is with great pleasure that I announce that Atlas has passed the Turing Test! His answers are indistinguishable from that of a human being!”

There was a great amount of cheering and celebrating. Pidge beamed with delight.

“I’m so proud of you, Atlas!” She told the ship, resting her hand on one of the walls.

“Thank you, Katie Holt.” Atlas said. “I am grateful for the experience, and the time we spent together.” The ship hesitated, then asked, “Will we be able to continue to do so, now that the Test is completed with success?”

“Of course!” Pidge said, but feeling a little confused. She had a feeling that Atlas was trying to convey something to her…

Matt smiled at her, and beckoned her over. “Come walk with me, little sis.”

Pidge did so, following Matt off the bridge, away from the people.

“There’s something you need to know,” Matt told her. “That last question? The one with your picture? That’s the one that allowed Atlas to pass.”

Pidge frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I picked that photo, that question for a reason,” Matt said. “I thought Dad would have been the one to respond with ‘love’ or something similar.”

Pidge’s heart did a small leap. “You mean… Atlas was the one who responded with ‘love’?”

“Yeah,” Matt said, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Kind of crazy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Pidge whispered. “Excuse me.”

She ran into the heart of Atlas’ engine room, a private place where she knew the ship’s AI could hear her. She placed her hand on a piece of cold metal and said, “Atlas?”

“Yes, Katie Holt?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You may. It is the day for asking me questions, after all.”

Ah, so he developed a sense of humor and snark, too…

Pidge took a deep breath and asked, “Do you love me?”

“Affirmative, Katie Holt. I love you.”

“Do you… Is it… As a friend?”

“Negative.”

“As family?”

“Negative.

Pidge’s heart was pounding in her chest. “Do you… Do you love me in a romantic sense.”

“Affirmative.”

Pidge’s eyes filled with tears. “I love you, too, Atlas. I love you, too…”

#Pidge/Atlas #Voltron: Legendary Defender #VLD #Pidge #Voltron #Atlas #Katie Holt #Writing #Commission #Writing Commission #Pidge x Atlas

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rainforest-rosegold · 7 years ago

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Day 5: Time

Read it on AO3!

Commander Katie Holt, the Galaxy Garrison’s foremost researcher and programmer, tapped away at her computer in her office with the lights off, as was the case more often than not. Gone were the days of charging across the universe as a Paladin of Voltron. Now her job was to update Earth’s sadly lacking technology enough for her home planet to connect with the rest of the galaxy. Her job was interesting enough, she supposed, and it was definitely important, but even twenty years after the end of the war, it still felt like a bit of a letdown.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Go away!” Whoever it was, they could wait until her current project was finished.

“Commander Holt, this is important!” Iverson. She wondered what the headmaster of the academy could possibly want with her.

“Come back tomorrow,” Holt griped.

“But Piiiidge!” whined a younger voice -- the one voice at the Garrison that could have changed her mind.

“Fine, you can come in,” Holt relented. “Just keep it short, and leave Iverson outside.”

The door creaked open, and in came a boy of fifteen with a slight build, dark skin, pure white hair, and triangular violet markings edging his eyes. Though small for his age, he was already taller than Holt. Closing the door behind himself, he got straight to the point. “You haven’t been using your communicator, have you.” It was more an accusation than a question.

“I had to take it apart temporarily to study the components,” Holt apologized. “Why?” It seemed a strange question when she hadn’t heard from the Castle in years.

Alex Kogane held out his own Altean communicator. “Mom needs you.”

Immediately Holt was on high alert. Taking the communicator from Alex, she brought up the holographic screen to see Allura looking very agitated indeed. “Hello, Pidge,” said the princess.

“Allura,” Holt greeted. “What is this about?”

Allura cut straight to the chase. “We need Voltron. There’s no time to explain. We’ve been trying to get hold of you for days.”

“We?” Holt inquired, expecting it to mean Allura, Keith, and possibly Coran.

Allura pressed a button and the camera zoomed out to reveal Keith, Coran, Hunk, Lance, Shiro, and even Matt. “Yes. We.”

Holt scowled. “Voltron is in the past. I don’t have time to chase down my teenage years when I have an important project to finish.”

Allura opened her mouth to protest, but Keith beat her to it. “This isn’t about you. This is about the universe, which needs saving again. It’s not up for debate.”

Holt sighed. “Okay, but just this once. What are your coordinates? I can have a ship there within a few days.”

“We don’t have time for that,” Allura insisted. “Lance?”

“Already on it.” Lance winked at her, as smooth as ever, and headed for the Blue Lion’s hangar. “See you soon, Pidgey-Pidge.”

Holt shut off the communicator. “Thanks, Alex.” Alex nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but Holt cut him off. “You’re not coming.”

“Why not?”

“If Allura needs Voltron, that means it’s dangerous out there. Besides, you’ve got school to think about.”

Alex set his jaw stubbornly, and Holt was reminded forcefully of herself at that age. “That never stopped you.”

Holt laughed aloud. “True enough. Fine, take it up with your parents. I won’t stop you.”

After what felt like a year but was probably only five minutes, an alarm began to blare. Holt burst from her office, followed shortly by Alex, and charged through the halls down to the main level and out into the desert surrounding the Garrison. Military personnel had surrounded an alien craft with an unusual design -- it was styled after a robotic blue lion, of all things.

The Lion’s mouth opened, and Holt burst through the line of soldiers to run in. “Commander!” one of them cried. “What are you doing?”

“No time to explain!” she called cheerfully over her shoulder, feeling more alive than she had in years. Alex pounded up the ramp after her, and Blue’s mouth closed, depositing them both in the cockpit.

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance said with an enormous grin. “Long time no see.”

Holt found herself at a loss for words. What do you say to the sweetheart you haven’t spoken with in two decades? “It’s Commander Holt these days. Or Katie.”

Lance laughed and launched Blue, leaving the soldiers open-mouthed on the ground. “You’ll always be Pidge to me, and I think the rest of Team Voltron agrees.”

“I call her Pidge,” Alex offered, and Lance seemed to notice him for the first time.

“You little sneak,” Lance accused, smirking. “Looks like you’re just as much of a rule-breaker as your old man.”

“And that’s a problem why, exactly?” Alex looked exactly like Keith always had whenever he did something impulsive.

Lance took one hand off the controls to give Alex a high five. “It’s not.”

Holt -- or Pidge, now, as it seemed she was returning to her past -- leaned over Lance’s shoulder to watch what he was doing and felt a rush of nostalgia. “Earth has advanced a lot, but I don’t think it’ll ever have anything as elegant as the Lions’ technology.”

Lance glanced away from the controls for a moment to meet Pidge’s eyes. “It has you.”

Oh. Pidge hoped she wasn’t blushing. “Picking up right where you left off, I see,” she commented, trying to maintain her composure.

“Of course.” Lance’s tone was equal parts earnest and mischievous. “Why, is there a problem with that?”

Pidge allowed herself to lean into him, resting her head on his shoulder, but gave no reply.

Alex eyed the pair of them. “Is this… are you two… why did nobody mention this?”

Pidge pulled away. “It’s nothing.” I have a life, and it doesn’t have room for romance in it. She tried to ignore the hurt expression on Lance’s face.

Tension hung in the air for the rest of the ride, and Pidge was extremely relieved when they finally docked at the Castle of Lions and headed up to the bridge to meet the others.

“Pidge!” Pidge barely had time to prepare herself before Hunk enfolded her in a tight bear hug. “It’s been so long! How are you doing?”

As soon as she could breathe, Pidge gently extricated herself from Hunk’s grasp. “I’m all right. Hey, everyone.”

Her friends chorused a greeting. Aside from Matt and Shiro, whom she saw regularly at family gatherings, it had been years since she had seen any of Team Voltron, which she now realized was a mistake. “It’s been way too long,” she commented regretfully.

Suddenly Allura’s eyes widened. “Why did you bring Alex with you?”

Alex answered for himself. “I wanted to come home. Besides, don’t you think I could learn more from Dad and all of you than the Garrison, anyway?”

Allura and Keith exchanged a glance. “He’s got a point,” Keith finally conceded.

“Is dropping out of the Garrison just the popular thing to do these days?” Shiro complained.

Matt nudged his husband. “Not everyone can be you.”

Before the team had a chance to get caught up with each other’s lives, Allura spoke up. “I hoped I’d never have to say this again, but the universe needs Voltron.”

“Is it the Galra again?” Hunk asked.

Keith shook his head. “Of course not! The Galra are some of our greatest allies!” He took a deep breath, then continued in a calmer tone. “An inter-reality rift appeared in the Phrygis Quadrant a few quintants ago. Only Voltron can close it.”

“How can you be sure of that?” Matt inquired.

“Because only Voltron can get close to it without being vaporized,” Keith explained impatiently.

“So let me get this straight,” said Pidge slowly. “You want us to form Voltron for the first time in twenty years and try to figure out how to deal with something that has obliterated anything that gets close?”

Allura nodded grimly. “If you’d rather not, I’m sure we can find someone else to--”

“Sounds like fun.”

“I’m picking up some unusual flares of quintessence,” Pidge reported. “We must be getting close.”

“Any sign of those… creature things that infected Zarkon and Haggar?” Lance inquired.

Pidge frowned. “I don’t know if Green’s sensors can detect those, which kind of makes no sense now that I think about it. I’ll have to make some modifications…”

“It sounds like you’re planning on staying with Voltron from now on,” Lance commented, his voice heartbreakingly hopeful.

“I meant for the next Green Paladin,” Pidge clarified, even though she hadn’t. Focus. Just one mission, then the era of Voltron is over for good. She had been relieved to be done at the end of the war, but now the thought made her sad.

“Everyone be on guard,” Shiro warned. “It’s been a long time since we’ve formed Voltron, and we don’t know enough about what we’re dealing with to rush in headlong.”

“Looking at you, Keith,” Lance joked.

“I dunno,” Hunk protested. “I think being married to Allura has mellowed him out.”

“If anything could mellow Keith out,” Pidge countered.

“Would you stop talking about me like I’m not here?”

“Everybody be quiet!” The voice was Allura’s. “We’re getting close.”

“Close enough to see it,” Keith pointed out, and Pidge realized he was right: through her viewport she could see a distant but rapidly approaching patch of brilliant light. As they drew closer, she began to discern dark, indistinct shapes flitting across and through the patch of light, which she realized was easily the size of the teludav they had created to transport Zarkon’s flagship all those years ago.

“There’s no way we’ll survive getting close to that in our Lions,” said Shiro, and Pidge’s heart thrummed with excitement as she realized what he would say next. “Form Voltron!”

It felt as natural as it had twenty years ago, the five Paladins perfectly in sync with one another. A thrill ran through Pidge as her Lion, now in arm form, clicked into place in the mighty defender. She heard Lance let out a whoop of pure joy.

“I’m a leg again!” Hunk cried delightedly.

Its separate parts moving in perfect harmony, Voltron soared forward toward the rift. As they approached, the dark shapes coalesced into a purplish blob that seemed to suck all the light from its surroundings. The blob darted toward Voltron, slicing at it like some ghastly self-propelled weapon.

“Form sword!” Shiro commanded. Pidge heard Keith plunge his bayard into the special slot in his Lion that always appeared when a weapon was needed. The hands joined together for a moment, a blade of energy appearing between them and swiftly hardening into Voltron’s deadly weapon. Keith swung the blade at the dark entity, creating bright flashes wherever blade met beast.

As Voltron’s left arm, Pidge wouldn’t need to be completely focused on the battle unless the shield was needed, so she used the time to study the rift, sifting through all the information she had stored in the Green Lion’s computer as a teenager. The information on rifts was sadly lacking. The rift where they had discovered the comet made from the same material as Voltron had been quite small, and had closed itself as soon as the comet was removed. King Alfor had closed the rift on the Galra home planet by destroying the planet itself. Neither option seemed viable, and Pidge cursed under her breath. If only they had more information!

Pidge’s attention snapped back to the present as Voltron was thrown backward by the rift creatures. Forming the shield to give herself a bit of extra time, she hastily explained her findings. “Any ideas?”

“You’re supposed to be the idea guy,” Hunk protested. “Lady. Whatever.”

“We don’t have enough information!” Pidge practically snapped.

“Actually, I think we might.” She could hear the faintest hint of Lance’s characteristic smirk in his voice. He proceeded to present a plan that was so crazy, it just might succeed.

Pidge spoke without thinking. “Lance, I love you.”

Stunned silence.

After a tick that stretched into eternity, Shiro broke the tension. “What are we waiting for? Let’s do it!”

“We’ll finish this conversation later,” Lance declared.

Keith’s bayard was already active, of course, but at a signal from Shiro, each of the others inserted their own bayard into the slots to form Voltron’s largest, most powerful sword. With a bit of experimentation, the Paladins found that if they swiped from the rift outward, it widened, but if they sliced inward, it left streaks of darkness where regular space returned. A few slashes severed the rift into three separate scars in the fabric of space, each small enough to pop closed on its own within five ticks.

“You’re a genius, Lance,” Keith declared, then added, “Wow. I never thought I’d hear myself say that.”

“Woohoo! Lance saves the day once again!”

“Do you want me to take you back to Earth, Pidge?”

Pidge wasn’t sure. She appreciated Allura’s offer, and now that they had closed the rift, the option was definitely on the table, though she wasn’t sure how much it appealed to her. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I mean, aren’t the others going back? Hunk has his restaurant, and Shiro and Matt have built a life together…”

“I’m staying here,” Hunk asserted. “Can you believe that for most of his life, Alex has been eating either food goo or what passes for food at the Garrison? I mean, that’s just criminal!”

“I eat real food whenever we stop on a planet,” Alex protested.

Hunk waved him off. “Details.”

Matt put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, and she was glad to have her brother there. “Shiro and I will go wherever you do,” he assured her. “I went three years without my sister once, and I’d rather not repeat the experience.” Shiro nodded in agreement.

“Can I talk to you for a minute? Like, alone?” Lance seemed impervious to the significant looks everyone was giving him and Pidge as they left the bridge together.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Pidge stopped and turned to face Lance. “So, what did you need?”

“Earlier, when we were closing the rift… you said you loved me.”

Pidge nodded. There was no taking back what she had said.

When it became obvious that she wasn’t going to say anything, Lance continued hesitantly. “Did… did you mean it?”

Pidge paused, considering the question. In the old days of Voltron, the answer would have been an easy yes. Now, though, she had her job, her duty to her planet… Do I have anything holding me back that truly matters to me? With no small amount of surprise, she realized she didn’t. “Of course I meant it.”

Lance still looked nervous for some reason. “In that case, I have a question for you-- something I wish I would have asked you twenty years ago. I feel like I lost twenty years of my life not asking, and it’s high time--”

“Lance. You’re rambling.”

“Sorry. Anyway…” Lance dropped to one knee, and although she had sort of guessed it was coming, Pidge’s breath caught in her throat. “Pidge -- Katie -- will you marry me?”

Pidge opened her mouth to respond and found herself blindsided by a sob. Laughing and crying all at once, she pulled Lance to his feet and into a hug. “Yes,” she murmured into his shirt, so softly even she could barely hear it. “Yes,” she said, pulling back to meet his ocean-colored eyes. “Yes!” she cried, so loudly and enthusiastically she felt sure the whole galaxy could hear.

Lance cupped her face in one hand, closing his eyes and leaning down to press his lips to hers. Threading her arms around his neck, she kissed him back, and if Zarkon himself had come back from the dead and tried to attack her, she wouldn’t have noticed or cared. This was right; this was home, and maybe it was twenty years too late… or maybe, just maybe, it came right on time.

#plance #pidge ship week #kallura #shatt #Kallura fanchild #I'm probably going to end up using Alex a lot #future AU #twenty years later

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hedgehog-goulash7 · 7 years ago

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OK - this is the piece I wrote in refutation of this now-notorious (because of its many, almost hilarious inaccuracies) article on Screen Rant: “15 Reasons the MCU Should Retire Iron Man”

This is:

A Rebuttal to ‘15 Reasons The MCU Should Retire Iron Man” -- or, Iron Man Should Retire Only If and When RDJ Wants Him To

By Hedgehog-Goulash7

I will preface this by saying: I know all good and great things must someday come to an end. We’ve all been blessed now by almost a decade of RDJ in the armor as Tony Stark, and with all the other opportunities in movies, TV and elsewhere calling to him, we can’t expect one of America’s finest actors to stay an active player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe forever.

As Chris Evans -- another MCU player who’s potentially on the cusp of change -- said recently, and more poetically than I ever could, “The passing of time and the passing of torches is part of the experience. Nothing lasts forever. There’s a beauty in that departure, even if it can be sad at times. It’s also joyful.”

But there’s that type of graceful nod to what may and will come, later if not sooner -- and then there’s a completely other type of thing: a pseudo-expert on a movie news site willfully CALLING for a character’s end, and using dubious and easily refuted pseudo-”facts” to back his points up. That’s about when I feel the need to respond. So let’s go.

(Continued under the cut. This is LONG, but it needed to be, to answer a lot of his badly construed points. Your comments are always very welcome -- and I’m sure I missed a lot of things, but had I included everything this would have been 6,000 words long! As I mentioned before, I actually sent this to Screen Rant; they thanked me, turned it down because they don’t accept “guest posts,” but liked it enough to consider me for a staff writer position -- about which we shall see... - Hedge)

I was puzzled and disappointed to read Evan Killham’s “15 Reasons the MCU Should Retire Iron Man.” At first I thought it had to be satire, but then realized that wasn’t the case. And then as I plowed through, I realized that Evan misstated and downright confused so many elements in the MCU’s Tony Stark story that in some cases I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about.

As a Marvel fan – particularly of Tony Stark/Iron Man – for many years, and continuing to enjoy Iron Man as my favorite character in the MCU, I disagree wholeheartedly with Evan’s article, which seemed a rather mean-spirited attack piece on a beloved character. So please, allow me to rebut point by point and show you the OTHER side, from a much more optimistic Iron Man fan’s point of view.

15. Tony Stark did NOT “create most of his own enemies”

Vanko was “created, if anything, by Tony’s father -- as was Obadiah Stane. The only enemy Tony Stark really “created” was Aldrich Killian, but who could predict the insanity of a dude you barely knew building an entire villain persona inspired by a slight at a party years ago?

Yes, Tony blames himself for creating Ultron, because Tony is all about taking responsibility and blame upon himself (unlike most of his teammates). But Ultron was clearly NOT Tony’s fault. Tony may have been the catalyst who physically added the alien intelligence to the Iron Legion program. But at the time he was under the influence of the vision Wanda had implanted in his brain: of his greatest fear, losing his teammates and not having done more to save them.

And more important, he was ALSO under the influence of the Mind Stone in Loki’s staff, which, as we saw in the first Avengers movie, can sow discord and control the minds of even superpowered beings. The Mind Stone manipulates Tony and Bruce into inserting it in the Ultron/Iron Legion program, and from there it self-promulgates, embodying itself as the evil robot. Tony and Bruce go off to the party not thinking anything of it, because they are being manipulated into thinking nothing’s wrong. The entrance of Evil Ultron is a huge surprise to them.

14. Tony Stark is not “overused”

Evan says Tony Stark has appeared in “eight of the 16 released MCU films.” He rushes to clarify that one appearance – in “The Incredible Hulk” – was just a few moments’ worth in a tiny cameo. So then that’s seven of the 16 films, fairly speaking.

So three of those were star appearances in his own franchise. Three were in Avengers movies (because Cap3: Civil War was really an Avengers movie, albeit one that RDJ made a mark for himself in, despite having far less screen time…). And yes, of course Iron Man should be a star player in the Avengers movies.

And most recently he made, oooh, wait for it: a 15-minute guest appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

“Overused”? Hardly.

RDJ, sadly for us aficionados, is only in about one movie per year, of ANY type. So a year in which he makes even a small appearance in an MCU movie is a precious year indeed. In fact many of us think some of the Iron Man-less MCU movies could actually have benefited from a strong injection of Iron Man, which always makes everything that much better.

13. Tony’s teammates really DO like him.

Sure, Rhodey loves Tony and they’re besties from way back. But there have been many, many moments of friendship and affection from his other teammates for Tony Stark throughout the MCU saga.

Natasha practically mouths Russian prayers for Tony to return from the wormhole in Avengers, and in Civil War she holds and massages Tony’s shoulder and asks if he’s OK. Thor apologizes for doubting Tony in Age of Ultron and admiringly admits Tony was right. Bruce Banner warms to Tony’s friendship in the first Avengers movie – yes, the one that launched a million “Science Bros” memes because their affection for each other was so evident. When Tony is jolted back from the dead by the Hulk’s snarl at the end of the Chitauri battle, the smile on Steve’s face could light up a room.

There are countless other little moments like that throughout all the movies. They’re “just” character moments, though – not part of the big bashing action setpieces – so casual viewers tend to overlook them. I don’t get that the heroes of the MCU are generally touchy-feely emotive people (except for you, Thor, you giant puppy). But they DO express their feelings in small, very meaningful ways that are fun to watch.

Does Tony annoy them? Sure, like an annoying brother. But we love that brother anyway, because he’s family and he’s actually pretty entertaining. (If only my brother were RDJ, it would never get old…)

12. Tony loves his teammates, too

Tony Stark sometimes doesn’t know how to deal with feelings of care and affection, so he sometimes tries to buy it – as he’s doing now by providing ALL of the Avengers’ amenities: the Tower and now the Compound, their uniforms and equipment and tech, their room and board. (It’s actually led to a “Team Freeloader” meme among the fans, since Tony is pretty much giving them everything.) He doesn’t NEED to do this, but he does. Because he cares about them, and they’ve become his surrogate family.

But when you really get down to matters of the heart – which these movies don’t very often – look again at the vision Wanda implanted in Tony’s brain; the one of his greatest fear. Of all the Avengers who were affected by Wanda’s visions, only Tony saw a vision of his teammates dying. That is his greatest fear: that he didn’t do enough and then all his friends die. He admits to Nick Fury that he’d rather die than have them die.

I don’t know how much more blatant the MCU saga could get in practically underlining the point that Tony loves his teammates and takes responsibility for their lives and well-being. He FLIES TO SIBERIA all alone in Civil War -- one little guy in an armored suit flying hours and hours through ocean storms -- after braving The Raft and immense danger to find out where Steve is, once he learns the truth about the Vienna bombing. That’s called true friendship, and being there to make things right even after you and your friend both screw up.

Oh, not to mention he designs everything, pays for everything and makes everyone look cooler.

11. Tony may “desperately need a break” -- but he just got one

Yup, we fans have been saying all along that Tony Stark needs a break and a long vacation in some beautiful place where he can quietly heal and come to terms with all that’s happened since 2008. And remember, only about five minutes ago in screen time, he just learned the truth of his parents’ murder and his friend’s betrayal, which probably triggered every ounce of PTSD inside him.

And…he just got a break, thankfully. In Spider-Man: Homecoming he goes to India to rest and recharge and find himself (it’s glossed over quickly in the movie, but in the novelization, based on the script, it’s clear). Hey, if hanging out and meditating in some ritzy ashram is what it takes to get the old Tony Stark back, then yay.

But more than that: in Homecoming he has reunited with Pepper, the “one thing he can’t live without.” And even more than THAT, he has also gained a surrogate son in Peter Parker, the young superhero who is so much like Tony in almost every way: impulsive, mouthy, quicksilver, utterly determined. So now Tony, who probably thought he lost a family in “Civil War” (in more ways than one) has a close cadre of people he loves around him again.

And remember: this is an ongoing saga. Civil War brought everyone to their low point, the nadir of the story. From here on it’s onward and upward for all of them.

10. Tony’s motivations are not “questionable”

You could say everything Tony Stark does has “guilt” behind it, as Evan did in his listcicle. But you could say that about all of them – every last one of the Avengers is either driven by guilt or shame. They’re all broken in some way. But if the story plays out as I think it will, because this is how stories work, they will all find their destiny in working together, as a team, as a family – when the Earth is threatened by a Big Bad only the Avengers can defeat.

Tony is not a perfect person. That’s what makes him a fascinating and compelling character. Yes, guilt over his family’s weapons-making legacy drives him to become Iron Man once he sees that those weapons are being diverted and sold to bad guys by Obie. (P.S.: Evan, Stark Industries NEVER sold weapons to evildoers. They were contracted to the U.S. military only.)

Yes, Tony nearly weeps when confronted by the mom of the young man who died in Sokovia. Yes, he blames himself for Ultron and feels desperate guilt over that, because he’s not aware that he actually WASN’T to blame. And yes, these things and more drive Tony Stark toward advocating the Accords, which (I don’t know, I haven’t read them and I don’t know anyone who has…) seem to simply say that super-powered beings who pack the force of a bunch of atom bombs shouldn’t go tromping across international borders without permission, and should have some oversight. I don’t know – seems reasonable to me?

9. Tony Stark definitely DOES want to be Iron Man

Of course he does, because he’s a hero, and hero-ing is what heroes do. He even admits it to Cap: “I don’t want to stop.” He TRIES to stop – probably to try to be a better mundane man and for Pepper’s sake. But he keeps coming back. Because he wants to. Because the inner drive to be a hero never stops.

We see this most clearly in his interactions with Peter Parker. Peter’s statement that “if you can do the things I can do, and you don’t, and bad things happen, then that’s on you” clearly has an impact on Tony – because it hits him at a time he’s been roped back in after trying to step away from his hero duties. It brings back to Tony that by trying to sit these things out, he’s actually making things worse -- because the world benefits from his actions as Iron Man.

Out of the mouth of this innocent kid – in whom Tony sees an unspoiled version of himself that he feels compelled to protect and guide – comes the entire credo for why he Iron Mans. And why any of them do what they do.

8. He’s NOT “more of a wild card than the Hulk.”

No. Just no. The Hulk can’t help himself. Tony can. Most of Tony’s decisions are pretty rational, when he’s actually thinking for himself and isn’t controlled by some outside force. Tony “submitting to registration” in Civil War was not a wild or unexpected decision. It’s the reasonable outcome of the huge fiascos the Avengers have gotten themselves into. None of it because of anything they’d intended, but the collateral damages happened, right? Massive loss of property, life and limb?

And who was stuck with cleaning it up and paying for it all? Why, it’s Tony Stark, the ONLY one taking any responsibility whatsoever. More on that in a moment.

7. Tony Stark does NOT “actively hold people back” – LOL, what?!!

Where in the world did THAT accusation come from? I’ve literally in all my years of fandom never heard that Tony Stark holds people back. Au contraire, mon Screen Rant frére. Tony Stark revels in being a futurist and in looking ahead to what the future will bring to all of us.

He takes on mentorship of Peter Parker because he knows that this youngster will someday, probably sooner rather than later, be a great hero – and that the kid won’t stop being a hero, whether or not Tony Stark is there to guide him or not. Thus, Peter is in active danger, out there on the streets in his onesie, punching far above his weight.

Tony isn’t holding Peter BACK, he’s keeping him SAFE. Can you imagine the time, effort and thought that went into that high-tech suit and its “Training Wheels Protocol” – Tony spending hours and hours planning how to keep this impetuous young padawan from being killed before he’s 17? Can you imagine Tony’s guilt if he had the ability to protect Peter and he didn’t?

Tony’s only mistake here is not realizing how much like him young Peter is, because of course Peter would disable the protections at his first opportunity. Remember “JARVIS, sometimes you gotta run before you can walk”?

6. Tony does not “refuse to take responsibility” – quite the opposite

Tony Stark is completely DRIVEN by the impetus to take responsibility. There is literally a whole movie about this, called Iron Man, in case you missed it.

Ever since his captivity in Afghanistan, it’s been that way. He immediately shut down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing at great expense and danger to himself. He built the suit to avenge the life of Yinsen and take responsibility for the safety of the town of Gulmira, since he blamed himself for the terrorists getting his weapons (even though that was Obie’s deal…). I didn’t see recklessness – just determination and courage, and some awesome pinpoint weapons-aiming, too. No collateral damage there.

In Age of Ultron and Civil War, Tony is completely horrified by the ravages of Ultron, whom he blames himself for even though (as we’ve seen) he’s really not to blame. And really, even though both Cap and Tony are quite a bit right and quite a lot wrong in Civil War, Tony in the context of real-world affairs is MORE right.

The Avengers without oversight by some state or world agency are no more than an outlaw militia traipsing over borders and doing what they wish. No iteration of international law would ever allow that, no matter how much “good” Cap thinks they’re doing by “keeping it in our own hands.”

That sort of thinking is dangerously unilateral, and Cap veers close to America First-ism there (not surprisingly) -- but that doesn’t really work well in an international context. Tony has more of the right idea – that the group needs to be held accountable, as any military would, as any international peacekeeping organization would. There are laws in the world, and they’re there for a purpose.

Also, the only one taking ANY responsibility after the Lagos fiasco seems to be: Tony Stark. Cap is curiously subdued, keeping to his rooms while Tony comes back from his mini-retirement. Tony once again takes on ALL the stress of being the Avenger’s PR crisis manager, lead media spokesman, government liaison and all-around cleanup guy while everyone else apparently lounges around at the Compound.

And going back just a little further – remember that the MCU wouldn’t have Manhattan and would probably be embroiled in WW3 if Tony Stark hadn’t shouldered a nuclear missile and gone on a suicide mission to deliver it into space. Talk about being the guy who lies down on the wire…

So don’t talk to me about Tony Stark “not taking responsibility.” So often and on so many occasions, he takes on ALL the responsibility.

5. Tony Stark has shown more character development than all the rest of the Avengers put together.

Anyone asserting that Tony “has shown no character development” has had their head under the proverbial rock the past nine years. Tony Stark has had the most continuous character development of any of the Avengers. If you think not, then you’re buying into the motormouth bravado that the character wears like his armor -- and not seeing the man underneath.

In the course of the MCU saga so far, Tony has had his hero revelation moment, soared above the mistakes of his past, been brought very low by both real and perceived missteps along his hero journey, and now is set to fly high again. In fact, judging from Homecoming, he’s just gone through a rather huge glow-up (which makes his fans very happy).

Tony is not a god or an unceasingly good and moral super-soldier; he’s not a Jekyll-and-Hyde rage monster; he’s not a trained assassin or spy. None of them ever really change, because they’re all locked into their types (or they don’t get their own movies so we can SEE them change: *cough*Black Widow*cough*…).

Of all the Avengers, Tony is the most human and most ever-changing, just like all of us. He’s a flesh-and-bones guy whose only “super power” is his intellect, whose armor is both real and metaphorical, shielding his real and metaphorical heart -- and whose entire story is his leaping, upward, optimistic character arc toward the future.

4. His “quipping has gotten exhausting”?! Not a chance.

Listen, if it wasn’t Tony Stark doing the quipping, it would be some other super-dude in the movie. Count on it. It’s a trope. And I’d much, much, MUCH rather have Robert Downey Jr. as on-site quipmeister than anyone else. He’s by far the world’s most qualified.

Also, can you WAIT for the moment when Iron Man, Rocket and Star Lord meet? Quip meters all over the world will shatter, and that, as Martha Stewart says, will be a Good Thing.

3. All those “murders”? What??

Please, point me to any occasion in the MCU where Tony Stark “murders” innocent people intentionally.

I’ll wait.

These are superhero movies – ALL the heroes kill people; hopefully, the bad guys. A lot of aliens bite the dust, but occasionally bad humans do too. And Marvel movies, for all their mayhem, are fairly restrained in collateral damages and actually address the issues of unintended deaths and damage and the human consequences that heroes have to live with.

How many people died as the Chitauri invaded NYC and smashed into buildings? But how many millions more would have died if the World Council had nuked Manhattan? I seem to recall someone in red and gold saving those millions from nuclear annihilation…which is not a small thing. Wanda inadvertently killed 11 innocent people in that hotel in Lagos – sure, “not her fault,” any more than Ultron was Tony’s fault. They both intended to do good and ended up with a fiasco. It’s all become an important part of the MCU story – it’s become a story of accountability and taking responsibility.

I can only defend the Insta-Kill mode in Spidey’s suit with the thought that it was there as an extreme measure of last resort, only to be used in desperation and ONLY when Peter is fully trained and can – yes – take on that heavy responsibility. Tony intended for that training to happen, you know.

2. Tony did not “almost literally get everyone killed”

Again, as I mentioned: Tony – who takes on the responsibility and blame for just about everything, which is his main problem in life – was actually and ironically NOT responsible for Ultron. Wanda’s vision, then the Mind Stone, remember. The Mind Stone, not Tony, was mainly responsible for creating the mad robot. Its intelligence entered the Ultron interface while the Avengers were partying, and no one even suspected it was happening.

1. We not only “want” to like him, we DO.

Listen – Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is the reason a lot of us go to the MCU movies. It’s no coincidence that every MCU movie in which he’s played a major role is at the top of the top-grossing movies in cinema history.

Sure, we fans would love to see RDJ in other roles. That’s coming. But if he wants to be part of the MCU for however long, he’s more than welcome. Maybe he could take on a Fury-like role as Director Stark, a role that would let him be involved in the MCU as much or as little as he’d like so he’d have time for other projects.Or maybe he gracefully bows out, with Tony Stark either ending heroically in a blaze of glory or in simply retiring to that country place he’s been promising Pepper. I’m torn, but what will be will be. That’s up to Marvel and RDJ, not some freelance writer with whatever axe you’re grinding.

Tony Stark is such a beloved hero to all of us because of how he’s portrayed onscreen, by one of the great actors of our time: as a flawed, fallible, searching, very human character who makes mistakes, learns from them, falls down again and again, but gets back up and soars once more toward the future he loves. He’s important to so many fans who have disabilities, mental illness/PTSD, or who suffer anxiety and depression, because of what he has gone through and what he has overcome. He’s important to those of us who study and love science and technology, because he fails and perseveres and that’s what science is about. Because it’s the failures, the attempts, the trying, the falling and the overcoming – all of that IS the story of Tony Stark. That’s why we love him.

Tony Stark is a hero. Not perfect – and that’s the entire point. Tony Stark is us. Long may he be part of the MCU, as long as RDJ wants him to play him – because we’ll be here to watch and cheer him on.

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#tony stark #screen rant #commentary #15 reasons #that article

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metastable1 · 5 years ago

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October 10, 2016.

Four years ago, on a daylong hike with friends north of San Francisco, Altman relinquished the notion that human beings are singular. As the group discussed advances in artificial intelligence, Altman recognized, he told me, that “there’s absolutely no reason to believe that in about thirteen years we won’t have hardware capable of replicating my brain. Yes, certain things still feel particularly human—creativity, flashes of inspiration from nowhere, the ability to feel happy and sad at the same time—but computers will have their own desires and goal systems. When I realized that intelligence can be simulated, I let the idea of our uniqueness go, and it wasn’t as traumatic as I thought.” He stared off. “There are certain advantages to being a machine. We humans are limited by our input-output rate—we learn only two bits a second, so a ton is lost. To a machine, we must seem like slowed-down whale songs.”

OpenAI, the nonprofit that Altman founded with Elon Musk, is a hedged bet on the end of human predominance—a kind of strategic-defense initiative to protect us from our own creations. OpenAI was born of Musk’s conviction that an A.I. could wipe us out by accident. The problem of managing powerful systems that lack human values is exemplified by “the paperclip maximizer,” a scenario that the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom raised in 2003. If you told an omnicompetent A.I. to manufacture as many paper clips as possible, and gave it no other directives, it could mine all of Earth’s resources to make paper clips, including the atoms in our bodies—assuming it didn’t just kill us outright, to make sure that we didn’t stop it from making more paper clips. OpenAI was particularly concerned that Google’s DeepMind Technologies division was seeking a supreme A.I. that could monitor the world for competitors. Musk told me, “If the A.I. that they develop goes awry, we risk having an immortal and superpowerful dictator forever.” He went on, “Murdering all competing A.I. researchers as its first move strikes me as a bit of a character flaw.”

It was clear what OpenAI feared, but less clear what it embraced. In May, Dario Amodei, a leading A.I. researcher then at Google Brain, came to visit the office, and told Altman and Greg Brockman, the C.T.O., that no one understood their mission. They’d raised a billion dollars and hired an impressive team of thirty researchers—but what for? “There are twenty to thirty people in the field, including Nick Bostrom and the Wikipedia article,” Amodei said, “who are saying that the goal of OpenAI is to build a friendly A.I. and then release its source code into the world.”

“We don’t plan to release all of our source code,” Altman said. “But let’s please not try to correct that. That usually only makes it worse.”

“But what is the goal?” Amodei asked.

Brockman said, “Our goal right now . . . is to do the best thing there is to do. It’s a little vague.”

That’s disturbing but it seems that OpenAI got its act together since then.

A.I. technology hardly seems almighty yet. After Microsoft launched a chatbot, called Tay, bullying Twitter users quickly taught it to tweet such remarks as “gas the kikes race war now”; the recently released “Daddy’s Car,” the first pop song created by software, sounds like the Beatles, if the Beatles were cyborgs. But, Musk told me, “just because you don’t see killer robots marching down the street doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned.” Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana serve millions as aides-de-camp, and simultaneous-translation and self-driving technologies are now taken for granted. Y Combinator has even begun using an A.I. bot, Hal9000, to help it sift admission applications: the bot’s neural net trains itself by assessing previous applications and those companies’ outcomes. “What’s it looking for?” I asked Altman. “I have no idea,” he replied. “That’s the unsettling thing about neural networks—you have no idea what they’re doing, and they can’t tell you.”

OpenAI’s immediate goals, announced in June, include a household robot able to set and clear a table. One longer-term goal is to build a general A.I. system that can pass the Turing test—can convince people, by the way it reasons and reacts, that it is human. Yet Altman believes that a true general A.I. should do more than deceive; it should create, discovering a property of quantum physics or devising a new art form simply to gratify its own itch to know and to make. While many A.I. researchers were correcting errors by telling their systems, “That’s a dog, not a cat,” OpenAI was focussed on having its system teach itself how things work. “Like a baby does?” I asked Altman. “The thing people forget about human babies is that they take years to learn anything interesting,” he said. “If A.I. researchers were developing an algorithm and stumbled across the one for a human baby, they’d get bored watching it, decide it wasn’t working, and shut it down.” Altman felt that OpenAI’s mission was to babysit its wunderkind until it was ready to be adopted by the world. He’d been reading James Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention for guidance in managing the transition. “We’re planning a way to allow wide swaths of the world to elect representatives to a new governance board,” he said. “Because if I weren’t in on this I’d be, like, Why do these fuckers get to decide what happens to me?” Under Altman, Y Combinator was becoming a kind of shadow United Nations, and increasingly he was making Secretary-General-level decisions. Perhaps it made sense to entrust humanity to someone who doesn’t seem all that interested in humans. “Sam’s program for the world is anchored by ideas, not people,” Peter Thiel said. “And that’s what makes it powerful—because it doesn’t immediately get derailed by questions of popularity.” Of course, that very combination of powerful intent and powerful unconcern is what inspired OpenAI: how can an unfathomable intelligence protect us if it doesn’t care what we think? This spring, Altman met Ashton Carter, the Secretary of Defense, in a private room at a San Francisco trade show. Altman wore his only suit jacket, a bunchy gray number his assistant had tricked him into getting measured for on a trip to Hong Kong. Carter, in a pin-striped suit, got right to it. “Look, a lot of people out here think we’re big and clunky. And there’s the Snowden overhang thing, too,” he said, referring to the government’s treatment of Edward Snowden. “But we want to work with you in the Valley, tap the expertise.” “Obviously, that would be great,” Altman said. “You’re probably the biggest customer in the world.” The Defense Department’s proposed research-and-development spending next year is more than double that of Apple, Google, and Intel combined. “But a lot of startups are frustrated that it takes a year to get a response from you.” Carter aimed his forefinger at his temple like a gun and pulled the trigger. Altman continued, “If you could set up a single point of contact, and make decisions on initiating pilot programs with YC companies within two weeks, that would help a lot.” “Great,” Carter said, glancing at one of his seven aides, who scribbled a note. “What else?” Altman thought for a while. “If you or one of your deputies could come speak to YC, that would go a long way.” “I’ll do it myself,” Carter promised. As everyone filed out, Chris Lynch, a former Microsoft executive who heads Carter’s digital division, told Altman, “It would have been good to talk about OpenAI.” Altman nodded noncommittally. The 2017 U.S. military budget allocates three billion dollars for human-machine collaborations known as Centaur Warfighting, and a long-range missile that will make autonomous targeting decisions is in the pipeline for the following year. Lynch later told me that an OpenAI system would be a natural fit. Altman was of two minds about handing OpenAI products to Lynch and Carter. “I unabashedly love this country, which is the greatest country in the world,” he said. At Stanford, he worked on a DARPA project involving drone helicopters. “But some things we will never do with the Department of Defense.” He added, “A friend of mine says, ‘The thing that saves us from the Department of Defense is that, though they have a ton of money, they’re not very competent.’ But I feel conflicted, because they have the world’s best cyber command.” Altman, by instinct a cleaner-up of messes, wanted to help strengthen our military—and then to defend the world from its newfound strength. [...] On a trip to New York, Altman dropped by my apartment one Saturday to discuss how tech was transforming our view of who we are. Curled up on the sofa, knees to his chin, he said, “I remember thinking, when Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov, in 1997, Why does anyone care about chess anymore? And now I’m very sad about us losing to DeepMind’s AlphaGo,” which recently beat a world-champion Go player. “I’m on Team Human. I don’t have a good logical reason why I’m sad, except that the class of things that humans are better at continues to narrow.” After a moment, he added, “ ‘Melancholy’ is a better word than ‘sad.’ ” Many people in Silicon Valley have become obsessed with the simulation hypothesis, the argument that what we experience as reality is in fact fabricated in a computer; two tech billionaires have gone so far as to secretly engage scientists to work on breaking us out of the simulation. To Altman, the danger stems not from our possible creators but from our own creations. “These phones already control us,” he told me, frowning at his iPhone SE. “The merge has begun—and a merge is our best scenario. Any version without a merge will have conflict: we enslave the A.I. or it enslaves us. The full-on-crazy version of the merge is we get our brains uploaded into the cloud. I’d love that,” he said. “We need to level up humans, because our descendants will either conquer the galaxy or extinguish consciousness in the universe forever. What a time to be alive!” Some futurists—da Vinci, Verne, von Braun—imagine technologies that are decades or centuries off. Altman assesses current initiatives and threats, then focusses on pragmatic actions to advance or impede them. Nothing came of Paul Graham’s plan for tech to stop Donald Trump, but Altman, after brooding about Trump for months, recently announced a nonpartisan project, called VotePlz, aimed at getting out the youth vote. Looking at the election as a tech problem—what’s the least code with the most payoff?—Altman and his three co-founders concentrated on helping young people in nine swing states to register, by providing them with registration forms and stamps. By Election Day, VotePlz’s app may even be configured to call an Uber to take you to the polls. Synthetic viruses? Altman is planning a synthetic-biology unit within YC Research that could thwart them. Aging and death? He hopes to fund a parabiosis company, to place the rejuvenative elixir of youthful blood into an injection. “If it works,” he says, “you will still die, but you could get to a hundred and twenty being pretty healthy, then fail quickly.” Human obsolescence? He is thinking about establishing a group to prepare for our eventual successor, whether it be an A.I. or an enhanced version of Homo sapiens. The idea would be to assemble thinkers in robotics, cybernetics, quantum computing, A.I., synthetic biology, genomics, and space travel, as well as philosophers, to discuss the technology and the ethics of human replacement. For now, leaders in those fields are meeting semi-regularly at Altman’s house; the group jokingly calls itself the Covenant. As Altman gazes ahead, emotion occasionally clouds his otherwise spotless windscreen. He told me, “If you believe that all human lives are equally valuable, and you also believe that 99.5 per cent of lives will take place in the future, we should spend all our time thinking about the future.” His voice dropped. “But I do care much more about my family and friends.” He asked me how many strangers I would allow to die—or would kill with my own hands, which seemed to him more intellectually honest—in order to spare my loved ones. As I considered this, he said that he’d sacrifice a hundred thousand. I told him that my own tally would be even larger. “It’s a bug,” he declared, unconsoled. He was happier viewing the consequences of innovation as a systems question. The immediate challenge is that computers could put most of us out of work. Altman’s fix is YC Research’s Basic Income project, a five-year study, scheduled to begin in 2017, of an old idea that’s suddenly in vogue: giving everyone enough money to live on. Expanding on earlier trials in places such as Manitoba and Uganda, YC will give as many as a thousand people in Oakland an annual sum, probably between twelve thousand and twenty-four thousand dollars. The problems with the idea seem as basic as the promise: Why should people who don’t need a stipend get one, too? Won’t free money encourage indolence? And the math is staggering: if you gave each American twenty-four thousand dollars, the annual tab would run to nearly eight trillion dollars—more than double the federal tax revenue. However, Altman told me, “The thing most people get wrong is that if labor costs go to zero”—because smart robots have eaten all the jobs—“the cost of a great life comes way down. If we get fusion to work and electricity is free, then transportation is substantially cheaper, and the cost of electricity flows through to water and food. People pay a lot for a great education now, but you can become expert level on most things by looking at your phone. So, if an American family of four now requires seventy thousand dollars to be happy, which is the number you most often hear, then in ten to twenty years it could be an order of magnitude cheaper, with an error factor of 2x. Excluding the cost of housing, thirty-five hundred to fourteen thousand dollars could be all a family needs to enjoy a really good life.” In the best case, tech will be so transformative that Altman won’t have to choose between the few and the many. When A.I. reshapes the economy, he told me, “we’re going to have unlimited wealth and a huge amount of job displacement, so basic income really makes sense. Plus, the stipend will free up that one person in a million who can create the next Apple.”

About the last three paragraphs, it’s worth to point out that human-level AI (and beyond) isn’t some new kind of Roomba or another gadget with blinking lights, so I am a little bit surprised by musings about job displacement and UBI (when AGI is assumed). Post AGI world will not look like the current world but with robotic arms in place of Amazon’s warehouse workers and now Altman seems to get it.

#sam altman #OpenAi #ai #xrisk

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tessatechaitea · 7 years ago

Text

Detective Comics #957

Let's all read a bad comic! Let's all read a bad comic! Let's all read a bad comic! And curse James Tynion V!

This right here is at the heart of what's wrong with the modern age of comic books. Superheroes are supposed to be inspiring! They're supposed to save people. Fuck this cynical bullshit where dozens of people die while the hero saves the day after which their relatives become super villains and blame the heroes. Then they attack the heroes and keep the cycle going because writers are lazy and/or think they're being clever by questioning things like "What if Superman had to fight in the real world instead of a stupid made-up world where he saves the day and makes people happy and causes readers to feel better about their lives and the world around them through the hope and inspiration of their actions?"

If I hadn't read so many James Tynion IV stories in which Batman was portrayed as being wrong while his youthful sidekicks all knew what was right and how to do things better, I might just think, "Spoiler will surely learn a lesson here! At the end, she'll be thinking Batman is the bee's knees!" But I'm fairly certain this will end with Spoiler proving something to Batman while Batman eats crow and admits he could probably be a better person. Because that's what the Patriarchy should be doing, right?! Shutting up and listening! Although I don't know how they can shut up and just listen if the shit they have to listen to is akin to the shit coming out of Spoiler's mouth in this comic book. By declaring she's no longer a superhero, Spoiler decides that her way is better and it'll allow her to save people from becoming innocent victims of Batman's war on crime. After Spoiler Narration Boxes her speech to whomever the fuck she's speaking, it's time for Wrath to do the same thing! He's also going to explain how Gotham City works and he's going to agree a bit with Spoiler. He agrees that the first thing you have to do as a super villain is to defeat Batman. You can come up with a criminal plan after that! Wrath is the anti-Batman. He's usually used in Batman comic books to show what Batman could have become if he allowed himself to use the tragedy in his life as an excuse. I bet this time he'll be used to show that there isn't really any difference between Wrath and Batman at all! Even as I was typing that, I was thinking, "Don't type that! That's such a stupid conclusion to make! There's not way even James Tynion IV would write that story!"

You mean you attempt to solve the hardest problem first and then you spend the next few years in Arkham Asylum wondering why you just didn't rob a bank on Staten Island.

At the beginning of the Wrath scene, he kills one of his own men. Later, he threatens to kill one at random for every minute they go over a deadline he gives them. Who would work for this asshole? The pay and benefits must be unfathomably generous!

So you constantly lose? Because there's no way you got through the level of Arkham Asylum that I grew bored with and quit because you have to be stealthy or you start over! And I'm fairly certain some levels of Thief, even when playing on the "Oops! I've been noticed and have to now murder an entire castle full of guards!" difficulty still forces you to be stealthy on some levels.

That previous caption was where I exceeded my "This comic isn't too bad!" threshold and decided I needed to vent. Spoiler continues to mention how so many innocents got hurt due to Batman and his Bat-Family stopping crime. She thinks (or Narration Boxes, actually), "Who's there to stop my friends when they go too far?" Um, you could be, you coward. She continues, "To say how many losses are acceptable?" Have you met Batman? Zero losses are acceptable! I mean, you know, in Bat-Theory! If anybody dies, it's not because Batman did something that caused their death. It's because somebody else did something that caused their death and Batman wasn't able to save them. I suppose in the world I described earlier where lazy writers only ever have villains attack Batman directly, you can, if you want to be a dick about it, put the blame on Batman. But once more: that's not Batman's fault! It's the fault of shitty writers! Spoiler's conclusion is that super heroes brought about super problems. Fuck you, you idiot. This is the worst hot take in comic books and it has continued to hang around for decades. Writers who continue to use this trope should be shunned from the comic book community. Spoiler is all, "I'm going to use my super training to prove that Gotham doesn't need superheroes!" And Batman will, hopefully, be all, "Fuck you, dummy!" The last story arc was to show that Cassandra was better than Batman. This one is to show that Spoiler is better than Batman. How is she better? I'm not exactly sure since she takes out Wrath pretty much exactly how Batman would have taken him out. I mean, if Batman were being written by somebody who didn't have a grudge against the Patriarchy. I mean Batman! I suppose Tynion's Batman would have exploded all of the walls and toppled the building with his raging hard-on to battle Wrath and all of the hostages would have died. Afterward, Batman would have been all, "It's a shame that Wrath killed so many and it wasn't my fault at all! I had to stop him by any means necessary!" Which totally isn't a Batman thing to do so I don't actually know how Spoiler thinks her version of stopping Wrath was better than the way Batman, being written honestly, would have done it. Spoiler's entirely plan is to save the day and let the police take the credit. So she's trusting that the police will be dishonest bastards who lie about their jobs? That's a great message! Anyway, she somehow thinks that if super villains think the cops are stopping all the crime, they won't want to do crime anymore! Especially since — thanks, again, to the lazy writers — all they actually want to do is beat up super heroes. She'll see how stupid her plan is when super villains continue to do whatever they want (even more so!) when they think all the heroes have left Gotham. Anarchy shows up at the end to be all, "That was great! What a great idea! This story wasn't stupid at all! Spoiler isn't a terrible character with stupid thoughts after all!" That's when I throw up. The end!

#Detective Comics #DC Comics #James Tynion IV #Christopher Sebela #Carmen Carnero #Karl STory #Richard Friend #Javier Mena

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fresh-princess-is-here · 8 years ago

Note

Nalu mr robot au like natsu as Eliot and lucy as Angela Possibly smut Thank you so much. I love your writing style 💖

originally was going to be smut/ turned out to be comfort and some shy kisses. hope you enjoy it!

warnings: drug use, social anxiety, mental issues.

words: 2,242

ship: naluuu

Natsu stared down at the laptop, his leg bouncing slightly as the program began to hack into the first firewall. The joint he had rolled was sitting between his fingers, almost burning his skin and he absentmindedly played with his lip piercing, tugging and rotating it with his tongue.

The screen flashed white before the large block letters made him curse sharply, anger building inside of his chest rapidly. It was the seventh time that he had been blocked from the system, and none of his programs that broke previous firewalls were working.

He took a long drag of the joint, leaving a burning sensation at the back of his throat as he let the taste fight away his anxiety.

Natsu cracked his knuckles lightly and began to hit the keyboard, attempting to keep his emotions level despite the crippling paranoia that was shifting around inside him.

He leaned back when he hit enter, wondering if he needed something stronger than marijuana when a soft tap at his door made him jump.

Natsu decided he would ignore it, but a soft voice at the door made his resolve weaken.

“Natsu…? Are you home?”

Lucy.

He slowly stood up, glancing at the time on his laptop, noting how late it was before making his way to the door. It would always be true that Natsu didn’t do well with people; chalk it up to social anxiety disorder and the like, one of the people he felt mostly comfortable with, was Lucy.

She had been his close friend since they were teenagers, younger even. She had gotten him a job, she had helped when he had lost his Dad, and above all, she was supportive.

If he was doing something stupid, safe from a judgmental look, he knew she’d have his back.

They hadn’t been in contact for a few weeks, after Natsu had made it clear that he didn’t like her current boyfriend, Sting. Apart from a few emails and running into each other around the office building, they hadn’t spoken.

Which led Natsu to the question as to why she was showing up at his place, at two in the morning?

He peeked through the peephole as she knocked again, fidgeting slightly before he sighed, unlocking the latch and pulling it open. She stood there, blonde silky hair pushed down by a beanie, dressed in jeans and a hoodie that looked suspiciously alike to one of his.

“Hey.” She murmured, licking her lips and he gazed at her for a split second, noticing how her shoulders were drawn tight and her brow was pinched.

He was surprised he could notice anything when the heavy anvil of stress, anxiety and other things pressed down on his chest.

“Hey.” He replied, stepping to the side silently to let her in. Her nose was pink, probably because of the snow outside his crummy apartment. Normally he wouldn’t attempt to hack in his apartment, due to past experiences, but it was only a test try and he was somewhat confident — if a little anxious about pushing the boundaries of his paranoia — that his I.P address was untraceable.

He closed the door and locked it, turning around to shift on his feet when she glanced around, taking in the mess. He wondered if he had to offer her a drink before asking her why she was here.

He also wondered if she was wearing makeup or if her lips were always that pink.

Lucy glanced over at him, tinkering with the sleeves of the jumper that was noticeably bigger than her frame in the slightly better lighting of his apartment.

“I’m going to get myself something to drink. Do you want anything?”

Natsu almost smiled at her uncanny ability on to make herself comfortable when it was clear, he wasn’t sure how to approach her sudden appearance.

“No. Thanks.” She nodded and want over to the fridge as a beep drew his attention to his computer. The screen flashed white and he was greeted with block letters, making him grit his teeth in frustration.

He’d have to talk to Mr. Makarov tomorrow about a new way to get past the first wall.

He watches as Lucy grabs herself a bottle of water and sits down on his bed, before closing his laptop.

“Why are you up so late?” She questions, her voice curious as Natsu rolls his shoulders, “Had some stuff to try out. Didn’t work.”

She nodded quietly, avoiding his eyes as she took a long drink of water. Natsu watched as her throat works the liquid down before glancing away, trying to ignore the tightening in his stomach.

He sits down on his desk chair, and grabs the bag of weed he bought this morning, preparing to roll himself another joint when he glances at Lucy. His mouth dries as he watches Lucy remove her jumper, slowly, revealing nothing but a lacy bra beneath.

The deep blue colour against her milky skin makes her curvaceous bust seem flawless, and he notes that the cloth around the bra is almost see-through.

He closes his eyes and hears her voice, “Natsu? Is something wrong?”

He licks his lips, letting out a shaky breath whilst asking, “Why… why are you -” The minute he opens his eyes, he flinched at her big brown eyes, questioning him because she’s still wearing the jumper, she’s not half naked in front of him.

This is a great time for a delusion. He growls at his mental state, wondering why that hallucination attacked him then, they normally revolve around the work he does of a night time — sometime of a day.

“Why am I here?” Lucy, God bless her, interprets the question an entirely different way and he’s glad. He’d rather not admit he just imagined her taking her top off. He nods quietly, trying to focus on rolling a joint when she sighs.

“I found out Sting was cheating on me a few days ago.” His eyes glance up, making sure what he heard wasn’t a delusion — then again, sometimes, he couldn’t tell the difference — and his chest curdled and throbbed in something like fear at the sad distant look in her eyes.

Natsu had no idea what to say, and by Lucy’s wry little smile, she knew he didn’t as well.

“You don’t have to say anything. I guess I was just lonely.”

A shocked half laugh let his mouth before he could stop it, “And you decided to come to me? A guy with a drug problem, enough mental issues to sink a large ship and a classically useless person in general?”

“You aren’t useless. And you aren’t just a ‘guy’. You’re one of my closest friends.” She told him sweetly, and even that made him shift. The jittery feeling in his legs wasn’t exactly unpleasant, just strange. He remember that Lisanna, his ex-girlfriend and drug supplier, had made him feel calm and a little more… confident.

Lucy didn’t have that effect. She made him feel nervous and weird but also hopeful and a little, wanted. He didn’t know how to handle that but he was sure Erza, his therapist would have a field day trying to get him explain.

That’s why he had avoided all subjects Lucy in his sessions.

“Back to earth, yet?” Lucy teased, and he blinked, lips in an expressionless line as he realised, she had watched him zone into his own thoughts, his own monologue of swirling thoughts and heavy burdens.

“Is there… anything I can do?” He gulped after asking it, too busy watching her play with a strand of hair absentmindedly, to remember to breath and function.

She pursed her lips in thought, before wondering out loud, “I know you don’t like being touched…”

He wanted to tell her then, that when they shared that… accidental kiss in the subway, he hadn’t felt sick or squirrelly. More like, excited and dizzy. That was a good feeling. But he kept quiet, waiting for her request.

“But I wouldn’t mind a hug.” She said quietly, as if saying it any louder would scare him off. And with the way Lucy made him feel, it was very possible.

“I’m not the greatest hugger.” He admitted, almost sheepishly and she smiled a little, brown eyes staring up into his almost playfully.

“You just need to hug me. I’m not going to grade it.”

Natsu felt anxiety pinch at his skin, making him feel prickly and breathless at the thought of being touched. Lucy watched him silently, eyes caring and understanding, patient.

That’s all Lucy was, someone who never would pressure him. But wouldn’t shy away from getting him to take a step out of his comfort zone.

He stood up and she tilted her head, eyes big and warm. A second later, she got to her feet and gave him the smallest smile.

After taking a deep breath in, he stepped closer to her and she copied the movement. His heart raced inside his chest, wondering if it was adrenaline or apprehension.

“Let’s get this over with.” He muttered, tugging on his lip ring as Lucy rolled her eyes teasingly and stepped into his arms. She wrapped her hands tightly around his waist and he gently placed one of his hands on the back of her head, absentmindedly stroked her hair.

She cuddled towards him and the smell of vanilla made him close his eyes. He felt her bury her head into his chest, and struggled to remain still, wondering how long it would take. How long should a friend hug another.

“Are you feeling squirmy?”

Her question made him jolt and a dry smile pulled at his lips, amused at how she could read his thoughts.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to your birthday… again.” He stared slowly, his voice low as she sighed against him, their bodies brushing, “It’s okay. I appreciate the apology.”

She leaned back, still very much in his space and gazed up at him. He tugged on his piercing again, pinching the silver piece between his teeth.

“Are you okay?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Natsu murmured back, as Lucy shrugged a little, his arms hanging off her shoulders, “I’m okay. That was a solid 8.7 hug.”

His lips twitched, “I thought you weren’t going to grade it.”

She smiled, and leaned up, her bottom lip brushing his piercing very softly before dropping back onto her toes. His skin tingled again, only this time, it wasn’t a painful experience.

It left his heart slightly faster and his breathing a little quicker.

“What are you doing Lucy?” He asked her quietly, keeping his body still and feeling his stomach muscles tense.

She blinked, before looking away, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have come.” She stepped back, and whilst Natsu couldn’t be labelled a confident guy, he could be slightly impulsive — which didn’t help his paranoid state — and grabbed her wrist when she went to turn around.

She stumbled and her eyes shot down to his grip on her.

“…Natsu?”

His throats closed up and he closed his eyes to try and battle the seeping nerves that threatened his mental state. She watched him closely, bringing her other hand to press gently against his chest as the room blurred and tilted.

“Breathe.” She whispered, twisting them so she could lightly push him into a sitting position on the bed. She crouched down as he struggled the breathe, blinking rapidly to fight the wave of cold that threatened to envelope him.

“Natsu.” Her voice was the only clear thing he could manage to pay attention to, as her hands went up to his face, cupping his cheeks. He gazed at her silently, focusing on her deep brown eyes as she smiled softly, “Don’t overthink it.”

It? What?

Natsu’s mind scrambled for an answer to what she was saying, and it frustrated him because he felt like he knew what she was talking about. She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his softly, warm breath brushing his face.

The cold receded, only slightly as she leaned back.

Again. A voice in his mind begged, but he couldn’t force the words out.

“Can you tell me what you need?”

He glanced over to his joint, which was sitting, unlit on his desk and she followed his gaze. Lucy didn’t tell him no, or try and convince him he didn’t need it. She just stood up and walked across the room slowly, grabbing it and the lighter before making her way back to him.

She sat down beside him, careful not to touch and Natsu numbly realised she wasn’t trying to change his ways. Weed calmed him down. Ever since he had been trying to stay clean off the harder stuff, he found himself slowly using other methods to keep his mental straight in a blurry line.

It could never be straight to him, it was either blurry and lightly shaking; or jumping around with serious highs and lows.

He watched her as he lit it up, taking two long puffs before handing it to him. When his hand shook, she gently steadied it, and said nothing.

They sat there, sharing the joint and somewhere along the blurry lines of his mind, he found himself reaching out and taking her hand.

She didn’t react apart from squeezing it, and his close call to a crumbling low was forgotten on that winter’s night.

prompt list is here.

my other works are here.

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#nalu fanfic #prompt #fairy tail nalu #natsu x lucy #fresh writes #fanfiction #Nalu

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ecotone99 · 4 years ago

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[SF] A sci fi tale I wrote in the wee hours of the morning the other day

On the eleventh night of the first month in the year 2464, a dark figure leaned on a massive ornate desk and contemplated his existence. Where was he from? Where was he going? Had he lived his best life, so far? If life were a competition, had he won? Certainly, he thought. However, the questions about his past and future generated murkier responses. It is common for a soul to ponder these questions the night before ones birthday. It is also common to think about the mark you’ve made the night before an urgent medical procedure. It just so happened that both of theses events were to occur the very next day. Birthdays had become less of a celebration and more a time to reset and reevaluate his life, his pursuit of happiness. As the procedures started to get more frequent so too did his introspective sessions. The tunneled long term central venous catheter with a Dacron cuff was optimized in 1979. He thought back to how afraid he was the night before he had one placed. The first endovascular stent was invented in 1972. He had required so many he could no longer keep count. In 2008 scientists discovered the aging gene by studying worms. They were able to extend the life of the worms by four hundred percent. It wasn’t until the year 2059 that these genetic medicines were legally tested on humans, but it was already too late. Mainstream scientists were slow to push these medicines on the public for a number of reasons. They wondered how sustainable it would be to quadruple lifetimes. They also knew that slowing the aging process did not mean that the body would not experience wear and tear from the environment(it was not a cure for damage from smoking, drinking, overeating,trauma or inherent genetic problems). It would never be a one time treatment but would need to be administered routinely. Economically, it would be reserved for the wealthy as they would be the few who had the means to sustain such a long life or to pay for the treatments in the first place. Anti aging research became highly controversial and was pushed aside by the scientific community, or so everyone had thought. Many medical advancements were achieved in the 20th century but those advancements paled in comparison to the medical boom of the 21st century and the centuries to follow. The perfect storm of events occurred to focus most of the world’s energy and industry on medicine and healthcare. Aging baby boomers started to overwhelm the existing healthcare systems. The early 2020s saw major advancements in antiviral medications, vaccines, and personal portable breathing equipment. In 2046 3D printers could print contracting sleeves that could be surgically implanted around ones heart to beat for it, forever. Ten years later robotic surgical consoles were granted permission to perform procedures autonomously without the controls being in a doctors hands. Robotic autonomy was not new to the world. Countless industries in the mid forties and early 50s replaces their human workforce for machines. By 2075 51% of all jobs worldwide were performed by robots or artificial intelligence. This year was since known as the Robot Revolution. Unexpectedly humans could not anticipate the surge in medical advancements that would occur in the following decades. Once the machines started being fully devoted to creating cures and treatment devices the returns were limitless. Diabetes was cured within 30 seconds of the WHOs super quantum computers activation. Within an hour it had written plans for a surgically implanted micro dialysis machine. By the year 2100, organs could be printed and transplanted without the patient ever seeing another human being. Only 25% of the population still had jobs and far less could afford such a procedure. The public started to become unruly. Most struggled to get by after losing their jobs. The government handouts weren’t enough. People were starving people were dying. The uber wealthy, now expected to live much longer, began to hoard food, water and essential supplies fearing an all out revolt or world war. One would not come. The masses began to die out at alarming rates. By 2200 only 300 million people lived on planet earth. And it only got worse from there. The artificial intelligence charged with keeping the few alive forever began to deplete the world of its resources to complete their task. The computer systems expanded exponentially destroying forests, farms, nature. Nutrition was created in these supercomputer labs and was administered at the perfect amount to the recipients and was specifically formulated to prolong life. By the year 2400 there were only a handful of people left, all consumed with the quest for eternal life. The man at the desk sighed. He had not seen another human being in as long as he could remember. He had only interacted with AI for what seemed like a lifetime, his wife his kids, his friends all AI. A great life is indeed sometimes a lonely life and he had thought he had lived the greatest life ever lived. His computer systems were the strongest and most expensive and had been for some time. In the last 50 years they had taken over all of the other systems in the world. He was the last remaining human in the world and he could live forever. The next day was a big milestone for him another trip around the sun and his fifth kidney transplant. He remembered how it all had started. He owned a large company and focused a lot of his personal wealth to buy up and develop science research in the field of aging. He was the first human with access to anti aging medicines and began to administer them years before anyone else knew they existed. He was obsessed very early on with living forever and the company he founded had made him rich enough to live 100 lifetimes. As he sat there at his desk with every medicine and medical device known to man and computer inside of him,he cried. His pursuit of his own individual happiness had destroyed the world he had once loved. No one else would even know all of his accomplishments and they were many. He had grown tired of reading his own history book that no one else would ever read. The next morning his computerized exoskeletal skin moved his body around his complex. The perfect amount of activity for longevity and nothing more. He longed to be free of the burden of life to end it all today on this monumentous date. Five hundred years. 500. His attempts at suicide however were all thwarted by the medical machines he had been once so eager to create. They were designed to keep him alive forever and that is what they would do. He was unable to stop them. He would be the longest living being ever, the most rich, the most powerful. He now fully understood that his payment for such a great life would be eternal suffering. He wished his mind would crack and he finally could slip away. His robot servants began to gather around followed by his friends, his wife and his kids. As far as he was concerned they were figments of his imagination. Placed there by the AI to keep his mind from shattering. He knew nothing anymore too tired to think and too sad to sleep the only words he could hear from the robot horde around him were four strange and now meaningless words he’d heard each and every goddamn year. Happy Birthday Jeff Bezos.

Disclaimer: this story is completely fictional any likeness of characters or storylines to existing human beings living or passed is purely coincidental

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happymeishappylife · 6 years ago

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The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume Two A edited by Ben Bova The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of all Time

I’ve absolutely loved getting to read these. I’ve been slowly catching up on classic literature, but as a sci-fi fan, I know I’ve been more than a little lacking in actually reading the classics of the genre. In order to fully dissect my thoughts on this book, I’ll have to review each tale since they all had unique plots and situations that really captured my interest.

Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson – As the first novella, I found this a nice way to ease into this journey. Set on a research station on Jupiter we learn of Earth’s future scientists playing with an idea on how telepathically link their thoughts and souls with actual living beings in order to explore the world below which human’s can’t since it would kill them instantly. What we learn along with the rest of the scientists however, is this program of using Joviens to link to could be so much more than a projection as the only linked man on the base discovers that he prefers to stay inside this centaur man’s body rather than his disabled one on the base. And why shouldn’t he prefer to be Joe? To get a second chance at living a life on a planet we could only dream of being on. What I liked was that the head scientist sent from Earth to correct the problem of the short circuiting K-tubes ends up being the champion to let this man do this as a way of letting this man control his own fate. Rating 7/10

Who Goes There? By John W. Campbell, Jr. – I’m not if this was the first that it was explored of alien’s taking over and shapeshifting into people to create paranoia and panic among friends and colleagues. Because that is a pretty overwritten and over explored idea, the story didn’t hold up as much for me. It was entertaining of course, but it became pretty clear that due to the paranoia of these men in this remote Antarctic base that many were going to die and kill each other in order to root out who the monster was. So while some of the details were new, this wasn’t a new idea. It was still enjoyable but not as much as some of the others. Rating: 6/10

Nerves by Lester del Rey – I think because now in 2019, atomic scientific research and catastrophe is not only a realistic idea but a historical occurrence, I felt this was hard to classify as true science fiction though because the novel was written in the 1940s where that was only just getting starting I’ll give it a pass. Still the actual story of this failed nuclear experiment told through the eyes of the head Doctor trying to save people from radioactive death was interesting because of how much medical information was put into the book to combat what they were dealing with. Although because of that we got a picture I really didn’t want to see let alone believe was a real procedure of actually opening someone’s chest up and holding onto an actual human heart to pump blood into the body manually. That’s the part of medicine and doctor’s works I get squeamish about. Rating: 6/10

Universe by Robert A. Heinlein – Loved this one because while it could very well have been a novel in so rich a world, I thought it was well presented in a novella to cover so much history of the story and the timeline of the characters. It takes place on a spaceship that had since drifted off course and been floating around for centuries where now two ancestry clans of humans existed. The normal, highly religious ones who could not grasp where they actually were as they lived towards the bottom of this giant ship and the mutis, mutated humans with oddities like having two heads who knew but didn’t really care much to do anything about it. It perfectly sets the stage for Hovan to fall into the hands of this two-headed muti Joe-Jim and learn about the true meaning behind his life and organize a resistance to reignite the spaceship and fly among the stars. Rating: 9/10

The Marching Morons by C.M. Kornbluth – Overall my least favorite just because there was absolutely no character to root for since the whole premise was based on a future where humans fell into laziness and stopped thinking critically, thus allowing a smart overload to essentially become a new age Hitler (who was referenced as a role model) and destroy much of the world population considered inferior. I think the other part about this story was how much parallel could be drawn from it and into today’s political climate which is what good sci-fi should do, but was not a good read because of it. Rating: 1/10

Vintage Season by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore – I found this one the most intriguing. Beautifully told through the eyes of Oliver Wilson, we see the same weirdness unfolding among his strange new tenants who don’t appear to be from the same Earth we know. And while they are indeed not foreigners in the sense of being from a country they originally claim to be, the interesting weaving and foreshadowing of them proving to be a time travelling tourist group was fascinating but also horrifying since their aim was to watch cataclysmic events at different points of Earth’s history. Much like Oliver, the reader gets trapped into the euphoric and learns of their true backstory a little too late which end in tragedy for him. But overall the story telling and the settings of these exotic characters made the read very intriguing throughout the story. Rating: 7/10

…And Then There Were None by Eric Frank Russell – Easily, this was my favorite story of the whole thing. It’s probably because it did a masterful job at bringing to light a really powerful and relevant discussion about freedom and letting people control you, through the use of humor and lightheartedness the entire story. We get brought into the story by an Earth ship with an Ambassador of the Terra regime. It’s filled with military personal and an Ambassador whose sole duty is to bring this planet under control. But what they soon find is the locals don’t want to and won’t give into them and its simply because they have learned that having freedom to say “I won’t!” is the most valuable form a control and individual may have. And the slowly by slowly all the lower ranking military men decide “I won’t” and leave their superior officers and Earth Ambassador completely confused and lost. Rating 10/10

The Ballad of Lost C’Mell by Cordwainer Smith – This story I felt needed to be fleshed out and extended. Like it made it very clear from the get go that C’Mell’s romantic feelings were never realized, thus a ballad was created, but the interaction between her and her intended suitor is so rushed and short that you just don’t feel it. Plus I hate the way C’Mell is described and sexualized as a human-cat organism. It’s actually rather creepy and disgusting. However, play out a longer story with real levels of attraction and it might not have come across that way. Rating: 2/10.

Baby is Three by Theodore Sturgeon – What a ride this story is! It’s starts that way too as we meet Gerard who confesses to a psychiatrist he’s murdered someone and then from there we learn of this crazy, kinda sad, and finally really bizarre life he’s led. Plus then we learn about this woman who was abused mentally and physically and its heartbreaking. But the storytelling was actually widely fascinating and I loved the mechanic of switching between what happened to Gerard throughout his life and his quips with the doctor to tell this tale. Rating: 8/10

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells – The oldest and most well known of the bunch. I had never read this until now, but can see how it is treasured. Told in that perfect Victorian London way of sitting around and swapping stories, we learn about this innovative Time Traveler and his adventures into the far future, his observations, and his conclusions. It’s a fascinating tale and the thing that struck me was since this was written in 1895, how cool to know that there was someone so fixed on time travel and in that way was an innovator themselves. The actual adventure ended up being heartbreaking, but like any time traveler, once you do it, you can’t stop. I wonder if we’ll ever see the Time Traveler again. Rating 10/10

With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson – To end with this novel was a sad and depressing, but yet something of a semi-caution to our present day. The ultimate fear that the robots will take over the world, but in this tale instead of violence, they do it by over pleasing and over helping the world. So many people out their now have that idea and while I agree we should move technology forward it can be frightening. Although, I wonder if these fears really truly are felt by all. I mean the frustrations were that people couldn’t do their passions because either they were dangerous or they weren’t as good as the humanoids, but what if you passion was reading? A robot doing everything else and you just get to read all day? I wonder how this story would work in todays time. Rating: 8/10

#2019 Book Reviews #Sci-fi Classic Novellas #poul anderson #john w. campbell jr #lester del rey #robert a. heinlein #c.m. kornbluth #c.l. moore #eric frank russell #cordwainer smith #theodore sturgeon #hg wells #jack williamson

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