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its-dean · 11 days ago

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Interstella: How am I supposed to feel?

Just this past week, there was a special one-day screening in theaters of a "remastered" version of Leiji Matsumoto's Interstella 5555. On paper this is a really exciting thing to have happen, as it's one of my favorite films/anime/albums of all time. To me, it's such a breathtaking experience to sit through that I could gush about it for the amount of time it would take you to watch the whole thing :.)

But there's something more to this news that makes the whole situation feel rather... complicated in my eyes. To put it in short: this re-release, rather than being a remaster by traditional means, is one that's forced forward by the power of generative AI (you can notice it especially on Stella in the screenshot above). Just from watching the trailer on Daft Punk's Youtube Channel, things felt unnaturally crisp and, in a way, kind of "alien" to the original version I was so used to. I know that's a pretty personal takeaway for me to present you with, but it did alarm me with just how many keyframes I saw that looked very "unnaturally altered." Don't get me wrong, the picture quality is better than I've ever seen, a real shock to the system, but knowing the history behind this film and its production so well I just can't help but think about how this level of quality was something I was literally never meant to see.

This post is gonna be very different from what I usually like to share online, but since the announcement was made and the actual event has since happened, the thoughts have just been stirring in my mind nonstop. I wanted to put my thoughts out there for once, mostly because of how much this film inspires me.

The film itself is a visual masterpiece that I can't recommend enough. Headed by Leiji Matsumoto, an absolute visionary in the world of classic anime and one of my favorite artists in terms of his pure drawing style. I love a lot of his work, even as far back as Captain Harlock and the original Battleship Yamato, both from the '70s (though I'll always say that Interstella is my favorite project he was ever attached to). Considering he just passed away a little over a year ago, I'm a bit torn up over whether or not this AI driven re-release was really the best way to honor all of his hard work...

And then, if we're gonna talk about what you'll be listening to, you've got Daft Punk with Discovery, which is literally my favorite LP of all time(though I'd say in large part it's thanks to this film). I'll be honest, this post is about the visual film rather than the music, so I'm not going to be talking so much about them here. All of their songs are still there and in perfect condition, and considering these two broke up over 3 years ago I think it's an overall amazing feeling to see their music still being promoted like this (especially when it's Discovery).

It's really exciting for me to see Interstella getting a visual "update" such as this. The entire film is crafted to be a very "flow-based" experience unlike what you'd see in traditional anime/cinema. There's not a single word of spoken dialogue, and things are kept at a very brisk pace with high frame rates and detailed compositions. Not to mention the fact that the entire film is a well thought-out commentary on the music industry's hidden faults: exploitation of talent and destruction of creativity. It's a message that's unfortunately proved itself to be a timeless one, something I think we all need to refresh ourselves on from time to time. Reasons like these are why I'm really glad that this re-release even happened at all, because I think it's a wonderful thing to celebrate this type of creative and visual storytelling.

The debate I've been having with myself, though, comes from what I had mentioned before: generative AI. If you know the full story, they it might make more sense why the people who restored this thing chose to do it this way (well, besides the obvious $$$). Film restoration is a long and laborious process, but it becomes impossible to undertake unless you have the actual original film reel to work with. Toei Animation, the studio who produced the film, had scrapped the old master for the project, so there was literally no physical strip to be cleaned and re-scanned for this modern re-release. The best these new producers could do was to find a recording of the film, use it themselves, and pump that through an generative AI program. This type of approach doesn't make me feel like it was something they wanted to do, but rather saw this new technology as a means to bring easy profits, definitely a very artificial and soulless approach to promote and sell something that honestly didn't need to be remastered in the first place, but I'll talk about that later.

I should make it clear after saying all that, my opinions are very much rooted in all of these statements I'm making. I think it would be unfair for me to claim that I know all the sides of this story, but there are just those one or two key decisions made here that makes it hard for me to keep quiet. Daft Punk doesn't deserve any slack for doing something like this, they've been broken up for years and have already won me over time and time again through their music. And again, I think it's a wonderful revelation to be able to see this film shine again in theaters (even if it was only for one day). If any of you have pieces to this puzzle that might contribute to this rhetoric I'm winding here, definitely let me know by leaving a comment or messaging me. I'd love to learn more!

Because I wanna stay focused on the film itself, I'd actually like to transition to some of the more positive things I took away from all of this. I'll start with this: one thing I'm VERY glad to have noticed is that the remaster doesn't seem to be using AI to "insert frames." A common thing to see with a lot of these generative projects is a desire to have everything running at an unnatural 60 frames per second. The problem with this is that it forces these AI programs to try and fill in the blanks on their own, producing frames that were never actually made in the original animation sequence. This always end up resulting in movement that I think feels far too fluid to be compelling.

Unlike a lot of anime, and animation in general, Interstella already has quite a surprising amount of motion. I think it was likely done to try and tell as much story as possible, but there are so many sequences where I'm left surprised at just how many frames are packed into a single second of animation, lots of really quick camera panning too (High Life is a great example of this imo).

I think this whole idea of inserting frames to make things run at 60 fps is a very naive outlook on what animation is meant to offer. Letting your mind fill in the blanks is what animation is all about, and that's why elements such as breaking movement into ones and twos are some of the most powerful tools in an animator's arsenal. (This is a personal opinion I'd like to tack on, but I also think that seeing the "grainy-ness" which comes with older productions like this can make for a much more whimsical experience. It adds this dreamy, ethereal personality to certain key moments that's difficult to put into words, and it makes the overall watching experience feel much more memorable if you ask me). It makes me very happy to see that restraint from whatever team was in charge of putting this together, because Interstella is still a masterpiece in animation, even over 20 years later.

I really want to recommend that you watch this thing for yourself if you get the chance. Just get cozy, grab a good pair of headphones, turn the lights off, and take the time to appreciate this art in it's original form. The entire film is on Youtube and can be found very easily under a number of playlists, mainly because each single in Daft Punk's Discovery corresponds to a different part of the film. It still feels wild that there was this much I wanted to say about an event that's already come and gone, but I think I decided to take this leap to put some important food for thought out there, as well as to help you learn a little bit about myself. Animation has always called to me, and I've never found myself drawn to these modern-day trends that try to focus on building new spectacle from old works. Part of the fun with animation in watching it is thinking about the artists behind the screen, thinking about everything they were able to paint and produce using all of their effort. Whether it be art in a visual sense of the musical arts, as this film is built around, I hope you might give this film a watch if you haven't already. (And if you have, then why not go for a ride all over again!)

(When I rewatched it I could only think when Daft Punk made a cameo that their reactions are a self-fulfilling prophecy ,><)

#interstella 5555 #leiji matsumoto #daft punk

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haro-hawayu · 1 year ago

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Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning

Watched Digimon 02 movie the other day with my friend in theaters~ not gonna go too much into details but just some general thoughts:

Random thoughts as I recall what happened, things won't be in order tho... but just wanted to say that I went in 99% blind. I only saw that ONE trailer where I posted that one screenshot. I had no expectations, it was literally at zero.

Bolero was literally all I remembered of the beginning LOL

I cherished/delighted over/soak up every single moment that had Takeru & Hikari together in the same frame #takari

^ I will 100% screencap those frames when there's a digital release

^ I also guarded myself because I knew there wasn't going to "anything" significant happening (hi Digimon Tri), but hey, I still love them so

I'm pleasantly surprised by the Ken & Miyako moments tho.

I love the designs for grown-up 02 kids, they all look so good.

Love how Daisuke & Veemon just going about at their own pace, and not being too swayed by all the "what ifs"--also love their #ramen way

The shadow/trauma that haunts Takeru every now & then will always gut me TuT I want him to be happy forever (not in the Ukkomon way tho)

Ohhh it's Ogata Megumi. I think I forgot that she was announced to be the VA for Rui, but I'm glad I can recognize her voice.

And Kugimiya Rie's of course.

I felt this weird laugh-cry emotion inside whenever they did the digivolutions, how did we sit through all of them as kids?? XD

Every time I hear Wada Kouji, Miyazaki Ayumu, and AiM, I feel so so so happy, but also feel that bittersweetness (Wada Kouji forever)

Rui in the movie is just like... what if Ikari Shinji existed in the Digimon world instead? (LOL I love Ogata Megumi)

The whole Ukkomon thing was just really creepy (like maybe except for the very very beginning when they first meet, and the very very end when they meet again), like dang, it way dark as heck.

Rui's backstory was just really sad too. Like I said, really dark, especially when things literally started falling/melting apart...

I'm a little sad that we only got to see Taichi out of everyone in the older gen, but I think I can appreciate why this was only about the 02 kids. I'm just glad Takeru & Hikari exist in both gens.

Takeru is old enough to drive and I kinda love that? Boy's all grown up.

Love the cameos we saw around the world too.

Loved the scene when everyone's Digivices just lit up the entire world, so pretty~

Random thought: The biggest brain move they could have made was have the movie released on 02/29/24 since it's kinda around the corner--maybe for digital release XD

Final thoughts: I'm glad that this movie just came as just one movie. I don't think I can handle it if it went on as long as Tri did, so that nothing gets too dragged out and resolves itself in one movie. No offence to Tri--I loved how Tri started, but things got weird and the resolution was kinda lacking imo, but I still appreciate all the good I remember of it tho. I think for Digimon 02 movie, I was able to just enjoy it as a standalone or alternative episode without thinking too much of how it ACTUALLY fits in to the bigger plot. Like the beginning, they talked about a Route 1 or A, and there's also a "Route 2"--I just think of this as a different route that our Chosen Ones could have taken. In my heart of hearts, their bonds are real, and their friendships are forever whether they have their Digivices or not, and whether they are together or not (Kizuna, I'm looking at you).

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #anime #takari

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fly-pow-bye · 2 years ago

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After almost 26 years, Ash's journey will finally come to an end, and the next Pokémon series is going to star two brand new protagonists. I decided to talk about my personal history with the Pokémon anime. Maybe not that interesting, but I just wanted to put it out there.

I did say anime, but here's a small little paragraph about the video games, because that's how I got introduced to the series. Because I was still a kid when the first Pokémon game came out in North America, I just had to get Pokémon Red, and I did. I never finished it, but I almost never finished any video game back then. I also had Pokémon Yellow, but I did not get anything else.

I never actually watched the anime on Kids' WB, and I have sadly never watched Kids' WB when it was still on television, but I did have the VHS tapes. Those VHSes were amazing, and I'm so glad that Pokémon was big enough to justify them. I got to see Ash's entire journey through the Indigo League, one VHS release at a time, all in order. This was a standard for anime, and I knew this as I was also familiar with the original VHS releases of Dragon Ball Z, but it felt very special as a kid whenever a new VHS came out. I also watched the first three movies when they came out in theaters, and I remember loving them though I don't remember much about them now.

Then I discovered Digimon. I don't want to talk about Digimon here, this is the other -mon's special day. Then I went into a period where I didn't want to have anything to do with any "mon", "oh", or "cher" shows (though I did play the Yu-Gi-Oh card game). No more of those baby shows, I'm into Love Hina now! I don't want to talk about that, either. I can not really say why I got back into Pokémon. Maybe it's the nostalgia, maybe I wanted to know if Ash ever actually won a league, or maybe it's because children's cartoons got so good in the early 2010's that I decided to check out how the children's cartoons I watched that are still somehow on were doing. All I know is that it was around Pokémon Black & White's anime adaptation, and I ended up buying Pokémon Y. From Yellow to Y, I sure missed out on a lot!

I heard that Ash was getting into the Kalos League and placing pretty well in it, and I was curious enough to want to see if he actually won it. I wanted to know as soon as possible, and thanks to how the internet is now, I could watch the episodes almost as soon as they air in Japan. Granted, I wouldn't be able to understand the episodes as they were still in Japanese and, unlike most anime, Pokémon doesn't get the simulcast treatment, but I could understand the universal language of monsters who can say their own mostly-different-in-Japan name beating each other up with four different moves. One person is going to hold a trophy at the end of this, and it's totally going to be Ash this time!

...uh, second time's worth the charm, I guess?

I remember Sun and Moon being not as well liked for being more jokey than X and Y and I distinctly remember people saying it was a desperate attempt to get kids back from the then-"Pokémon killer" Yokai Watch. I personally liked what I saw of the Sun and Moon anime, and it also had some good Team Rocket moments. Don't mess with Mama Bewear. The Alola League episodes were fun, too, and the results made every news site even when it just happened in Japan.

Journeys, being the anime that took place in every region, ended with the Masters Eight, with all the region champions fighting for the chance to become the Monarch. It all ended with one final championship match: Ash vs. returning Monarch and nigh invincible champion Leon. I could give Journeys some flack for its not-so-great Team Rocket moments and the missed potential of Ash returning to places he went to, but at least I could say it ended with a good final boss fight for Ash with a satisfying ending.

This miniseries attempts to give the answer to a big question: "is Ash a Pokémon master now? What even is a Pokémon master?" Honestly, my biggest question going into this is, "what's going to happen to Team Rocket?" From what I've seen, I am not against thinking this is essentially just another season of Journeys, though it has been getting better with the last few episodes. As I am writing this article, the final episode has not even aired yet, but all I know is that this is the end of a supposedly less-than-a-year long journey that lasted almost three decades. Try to make sense of that.

The new series will premiere on April 14, 2023, and there's already been speculation on how much of a connection the new series will have with the original series. There's been a lot of talk about that hair decoration and those blue eyes, and I am not going to get into that here. This is beyond the scope of this article, but I hope the series can stand on its own, with Liko and Roy establishing themselves as new heroes that kids can look up to in a world they must defend. Will they succeed? Only time will tell.

#pokemon #anime #nintendo #game freak #ash #pikachu

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timemachinereviews · 1 year ago

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‘Wish’ Is an Utterly Magical Storybook in Motion

Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

I went into Wish one dubious adult and came out one overjoyed kid. Given how disappointing many of Disney’s recent titles have been, I didn’t exactly have high hopes for this one, but I still kept an open mind and I’m so so glad I did.

This is one of the most enchanting things I’ve seen on the big screen, and easily one of my favorite Disney titles.

Wish starts with the opening of a storybook. Unlike Shrek or Chicken Little, though, there is nothing sardonic about this beginning. If those films aim to satirize fairy tales, this one aims to celebrate them, and celebrate them this does. Wish feels very much like a picture book in motion from its visuals to its story, and many times, I felt like I was lying in bed with the lamp still on, flipping through the pages of a favorite fairy tale.

I'm incredibly glad I saw this one in theaters, because on a cinematic level, this was downright mesmerizing. Disney magic was practically flooding out of the screen.

The simplicity of the narrative definitely helps, too. It's a very straightforward story — an evil king, a determined protagonist, and several great helpings of magic dust — but this back-to-basics approach to the screenplay allows for some thoroughly transporting set pieces. I was there with the characters in that castle, that kingdom, that forest, I felt the same wonder they felt when they saw that blast of magic light suddenly shine through.

Wish's characters are utterly endearing and spending time with them is a joy. King Magnifico was a delightful villain who made me miss the days of a clear Disney villain, Valentino was a vibrant animal sidekick, and Star... Oh, Star. You won me over the minute you showed up on screen. It's impressive how much personality the film was able to give this non-talking character through visual means alone. Star is adorable, lovable, funny, and cute as all heck. Just look at his very marketable character design.

I also love the fact that Disney gave a protagonist friends, because a lot of their leads (Merida, Moana, Mirabel) seem to be completely friendless even if they've lived in their kingdom / island / town their whole lives. Asha's charming friend group adds a sense of familiarity and homeliness to the kingdom of Rosas, and unlike Strange World where the group appears for all of five seconds, Asha's friends actually help her out and push the story forward.

Of course, the most important character is Asha, and she's a terrific protagonist. The "adorkable" archetype can get seriously grating if done too heavily (ergo, The Princess Diaries) but Asha manages to be awkward and clumsy while still maintaining a great sense of sweetness, likability, and passion. All that makes her quick and easy to root for, and when she's singing her I Want song This Wish, you feel yourself pumping your fists with widened eyes and even mouthing along.

Ultimately, though, I think the very thing that makes Wish work so well is how wholly non-cynical it is. It's a Disney fairy tale about how our dreams and wishes make us human, and it's so unashamedly triumphant about all of it. There's no trace of sarcasm or mean-spiritedness in any of its bones, making it such an effervescent and exultant experience.

So I make this wish...

For Disney to make more films like this.

P.S. I made a video about Disney's 100 years — specifically, the years they released two films instead of just one! Check it out: tinyurl.com/DisneyTMG

#disney #wish #disney wish #ariana debose

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unabashedlycheesy · 2 years ago

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I saw both of these in theaters when I was a kid and they were instantly favorites, probably because they were so different from the standard princess movies so I was able to relate to them more. I was nerdy, introverted, and was usually on the outskirts of the "normal" societal groups (though still a strict rule follower so no issues with the law). I saw pieces of myself in these characters that I didn't see anywhere else and I definitely wasn't the only one. I'm glad they've become cult classics now, but they definitely deserved more press time when they were released

I’m sorry but Disney doesn’t deserve forgiveness for not taking the marketing of Treasure Planet and Atlantis as seriously as it should have.

Jim Hawkins and Milo Thatch deserve the world, the best two underrated Disney boys.

#treasure planet #atlantis the lost empire #jim hawkins #milo thatch

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bandomgay · 2 years ago

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THE ZANE LOWE INTERVIEW THOUGHTS ...

ALEX BEING CHEEKY ABOUT THE COMPLEMENTS PLS HES SO ❤️❤️❤️

zane is literally so sweet about how he approaches questions so differently from other ppl to Alex like I love the way he's adapting to Alex's personality and he makes Alex comfortable

Mirrorball and do I wanna know being the ones that set the stage for the album really shows and that really makes me think about Alexs love for the aesthetics of music and whether consciously or not and it kinda goes back to all am albums are essentially a place that you go to not only musically even though that's the art medium you r using to get there it's also visually a place and Alex knows that and he sees that actively while writing and reflecting

Zane pointing out JUST how sad mirrorball is AND RADIO WANTED TO CUT THE INITIAL INTRODUCTION and we learn (if you haven't already by inferring) that theres a relationship between the intro and "don't get emotional" like....that's fucking amazing like I was thinking it but him saying it blew my mind like reacting to music within music...and how it's represented in the video somehow gave me even MORE astounding love for mirrorball and what it means to me, genuinely a breathtaking detail

More speak of the unrealeased song!!!! Hopefully we get a b side maybe but usually it's released under singles so maybe not but we can hope since they're actively expressing interest in it

This may be way to opinionated sorry lol but Alex saying the end of the tbhc tour made him want to get back out there so like wildly getting that energy in and it sounds like he may have been going for a big studio stadium sound ("let's do summat BIG" , "all down strokes") it reminds me of Halsey if you guys keep up with them about their decision to go with the softer sounds of "If I can't have love" after realizing they were to caught up in their angst or the negativity of their life in a bad way which made it's way into their single "nightmare" and it reminds me of the end of the tbhc tour and it hurts to think about but I'm glad, even though all these songs are gut wrenching it's being put out in a healthy way now after reflection and there's a lot of talk of that in this interview sometimes subtle sometimes not

Also I think adding on the fact that Zane said it sounds like the band is fighting there way out of the songs but are not,if this isn't to far fetched kinda way reminds me of how reserved (prone to very outlandish/lh levels of self editing/self control)Alex is and how he's trying to combat that more recently (in interviews and in song) though they are small changes they make quite mighty strides in the long run

Love the ideas of the band itself being an instrument for something grander on this album it's like it's supporting an idea or a feeling and thats just how large that feeling is that the band itself is serving the songs and emotion

LOVE THE TALK OF BAND DYNAMICS LOVE THAT JAMIE IS STILL THE RASCAL DJJCJCJJDJCJDJJC them supporting Alex when he's doubtful about his ideas :')))) COOKIE MAKING THE BIG DECISIONS SINCE THE BEGINNING IS SO :)

Them talking about how crazy it was when it all first began even eluding to how stressful (even using the word traumatic which I agree with) that was being so young and having that much fame already Alex talking about how he literally doesn't remember playing the reading tent which is so :'(

ALEXS DEAD PAN "I think that were the intention" (or something along those lines) and Zane dying like u literally can tell if Alex is like being for real

ZANE BASICALLY TELLING HIM NOT TO BASICALLY RETREAT INTO HIMSELF WHEN ASKING HIM ABT MEMORIES IN A CAR ....Zane you bloody mindreader he knows fr (one of us! one of us one of us!)

MR SCHWARTZ STAYING STRONG FOR THE CREW.....love that Zane straight up asks who this is and Alex gives and very great metaphor that I actually got when I listened to it!!! Like I literally saw the same thing mentally like I imagined the crew putting the king's theater stage together when listening to it if that's weird idk (definitely something hidden in this metaphor)

THE RITZ TO THE RUBBLE BIT IS EVERYTHING TO ME..........OH MY GOD....A BIT BROADWAY ON THAT SONG HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!

And that concludes my mini analysis I hope u guys enjoyed reading that and have ur own thoughts u wanna send me or comment, sorry! if this post is too long I'm just :')

#arctic monkeys #Alex Turner #zane lowe #the car #!!!!#music analysis

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mimisempai · 3 years ago

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Love can build a bridge between your hearts and mine

Summary:

To allow Loki to repair his relationship with his mother and brother, Mobius accompanies him on a trip through time. Between Asgard in 2013 and New Asgard in 2023, follow Loki on the road to recovery.

Tumblr request : A Lokius scene where Loki brings Mobius back to Asgard and they meet Thor.

As always, I got carried away, thinking that if he could meet Thor, why not his mother too. Don't ask me about his father, I don't have much love, if any, for Odin.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32670202

2893 words - Rating G

Asgard 2013

"You're not the Thor I know at all, are you?"

Thor tried to put on a brave face, "Yes, I am."

Frigga continued, her tone filled with compassion,

Thor denied, "I didn't say I'm from the future."

Frigga shook her head and answered, "I was raised by witches, boy. I see with more than eyes, and you know that."

Thor attempts to hold back his tears and fails miserably, "I am totally, totally from the future."

They both hug each other.

They continued to talk, Thor recounting everything that had happened, Loki's death up until Thanos' death and what followed.

Frigga said softly, a hand on his shoulder, "Everyone fails at who they are supposed to be, Thor. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are."

Thor replied, a trembling smile on his lips, "I really missed you, Mum."

"I miss you too mother... I miss you both."

Mobius entered the time theater and his throat tightened as he heard Loki's last words. He had been aware all along of the sacrifice Loki had made in order to preserve the main timeline. But hearing the words from his mouth broke his heart.

He walked over to Loki sitting in front of the screen and put his hands on his shoulders. Loki leaned his head against Mobius' arm.

Mobius simply said, "I'm sorry Loki."

Loki waited a few seconds before answering, "I'm not going to lie to you and say that I don't miss them, I miss them every day and I regret that my mother died thinking that I didn't consider her my mother. But what I regret most is not being able to introduce you to them, tell them that I am happy, and that you are part of the reason for that happiness."

Mobius kissed the top of Loki's head, and they remained like that for a few moments in silence, in front of the still image of Thor and Frigga embracing.

Then Loki stood up, took Mobius' hand and said softly, "Let's go home."

Mobius nodded pensively.

As they walked hand in hand, his other hand in his pocket, Mobius felt the tempad under his fingers.

When they arrived home, after closing the door behind him, Mobius walked over to Loki, took his hand, and made him sit with him on the couch.

"Mobius? Is everything okay?" asked Loki, surprised.

Mobius nodded, looking serious, "Loki, how about a chance to see your mother and brother, to tell them what you need to tell th-hpmph!"

Loki had thrown his arms around Mobius' neck and was kissing him passionately. Mobius tightened his arms around him, responding to the kiss with the same passion.

After a few moments, they parted and Mobius continued, again serious because the subject required it, "However, I want you to be aware that this is not something we can repeat. You understand why don't you?"

"Oh Mobius, I understand, but just once will be enough for me, if only to maybe lessen that feeling of unfinished business between me and them. I...I-thank you."

Mobius wiped a tear from the corner of Loki's eye with his thumb and replied softly, "If I can make you happy, even just a little, that's enough for me. You can choose for yourself when and where you want to meet them. The important thing is that we don't do anything that might disturb the space-time continuum, okay?"

Loki nodded and hugged him in response.

"Now?" asked Loki next, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Yes. Just take some time to think about where and when you want to go."

Loki had watched the lives of his mother and brother several times. He just had to find the perfect time to talk to each of them.

"Can I see them each on a different date?"

"Yes, of course."

"Very well, then let's start with Asgard in 2013, just after Thor leaves my mother and returns to 2023."

Mobius abruptly raised his head, "Loki? Are you sure? That's right before your mother's-"

"Yes Mobius, I'm sure, I promise."

Mobius, passed his knuckles on Loki's cheek before taking the tempad and entering the date.

The timedoor opened. Just before crossing it, Loki stopped Mobius. "Wait, I think it's better if we go like this."

Mobius felt the now familiar sensation of Loki's magic flow through him and found himself dressed in Asgardian attire.

Loki looked at him with a smile, "If I had known what you would look like in an outfit from my realm, I would have dressed you in it long ago."

Mobius chuckled slightly, enjoying the sight of Loki in his prince's clothes before grabbing his hand and passing the timedoor.

They found themselves in the hallway of the palace where Thor and Frigga were. As the door closed, they had time to see Thor grab his hammer and disappear before their eyes. They had just enough time to hide behind a column.

Loki was frozen and refused to move. Mobius pushed him gently.

"I just told your brother that you know how to sneak around better, but that doesn't stop me from knowing that you're here... Loki." came Frigga's voice.

Loki slowly stepped forward, and whispered with a broken voice, "Mother..."

"Mother?" asked Frigga, "Didn't you tell me I wasn't your mother?"

Loki stopped, unable to take another step, unable to say another word.

Frigga continued to move closer, until she arrived in front of Loki. She approached her face to his and scrutinized his eyes.

"But you're not that Loki, are you?"

"No, Mother I-"

Frigga put a finger to Loki's lips, "Your brother just tried to deceive me the same way, you both have a tendency to forget that I was raised by witches."

Then, with a welcoming and fond smile, she opened her arms and Loki threw himself into them. "Mother, I have missed you so much."

"I miss you too, my son..."

She stepped back a little, took his hands, led him to a stone bench and made him sit with her. She kept his hands in hers and asked him, "Tell me more."

Like Thor, Loki told her everything that had made up his life since he had seized the Tesseract. When he finished, she put her hand on Loki's cheek and said softly, her eyes shining, "I always knew, Loki, that you could do anything, no matter what you set out to do. I'm glad I don't see that shadow in your eyes anymore. You look...dare I say it...happy?"

Loki nodded, "Mother I miss you in ways you can't imagine, believe me, but yes, I am... happy."

Frigga, a knowing smile on her lips, added in a slightly louder voice, "I have a feeling that the person behind the pillar over there is no stranger to it, is he?"

Following the direction of his mother's gaze, Loki turned his head just to see Mobius emerging from the shadows.

He rose to join him, took his hand and led him to his mother.

"Mother... you are right, I present to you the man who is one of the main reasons for my happiness, the man who now shares my life, Mobius."

Mobius, who remained true to himself, extended his hand in a straightforward manner, "Your highness..."

Frigga did not grasp Mobius' hand but instead embraced him, whispering in his ear, "Thank you." then tightened her hold before releasing him.

Seeing Loki move closer to Mobius as if he couldn't stay away from him, Frigga smiled fondly.

The three of them stood in silence, savoring the moment.

However, the sweetness of those few seconds was interrupted by troops running just below them, reminding them of the ephemeral nature of their situation.

Frigga nodded and said, "I think it's time for all of us to go our separate ways."

Loki, knowing what would happen to his mother, "Mother, I-"

Frigga shook her head, "Don't tell me, things are as they should be. I am so delighted to know that you are happy, nothing could have fulfilled my mother's heart more. I love you Loki, my son."

Loki threw his arms around her, "I love you Mother."

Meanwhile Mobius had made the timedoor appear, and was patiently waiting for Loki.

"Go, my son. I am proud of you."

After taking one last look at his mother, Loki walked over to Mobius, unable to stop his tears from flowing, Mobius took him in his arms, his gaze meeting Frigga's in which he could read the gratitude. He simply nodded and Frigga turned away and left.

Mobius asked Loki in a whisper, "Loki, sweetheart, I need you to tell me where and when we are going now."

Loki wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and told him with a hoarse voice, "New Asgard in 2023."

Mobius nodded, knowing exactly what moment it was.

He programmed the tempad and they both walked through the timedoor.

They arrived at a cliff above New Asgard, a few feet away from Thor and Valkyrie.

As they walked, their conversation came to their ears.

Valkyrie asked Thor, "What will you do?"

"I'm not sure. For the first time in a thousand years, I- I have no path. I do have a ride, though."

Thor began to turn away to leave and froze when he saw the two men advancing toward them.

"What sorcery is this?!!!" he cried out as he reached up to call his hammer.

Loki, seeing where this was going to lead, began to shout, placing himself in front of Mobius in defense, "Stop Thor, stop! I come in peace! Stop my brother!"

Thor lowered his arm and continued to move forward but less sure, eyes narrowed, until they were face to face.

"Ouch!"

Loki buckled at Thor's blow to his abdomen. He made a move to stop Mobius from rushing in and putting himself in danger. "That's... well... Mobius... that's normal... that's even standard as a way to greet each other between my brother and me-mmph!"

Loki found himself caught in his brother's crying embrace. "I thought you were dead!"

Loki pushed Thor away slightly, "Thor, listen to me, I am really dead, it is important that you understand this, I will be leaving again later but here I will always be dead."

"But what? How-..." Confusion was written all over Thor's face.

Loki pulled him to sit on a grassy mount not far away.

"Come brother, I will explain."

Mobius and Valkyrie stood there while the two brothers caught up.

After a few moments, Valkyrie, breaking the silence, asked, "So you and Loki..."

Mobius stared at her in surprise, "How did you...?"

"I hesitate between the fact that you rushed to save Loki from the God of Thunder, you a human with no power, or the fact that Loki who only cares about his own little self stood between you and his brother to protect you."

Mobius smiled and held out his hand, "Mobius, nice to meet you."

Valkyrie took it and replied, "Valkyrie, likewise."

Mobius continued, "And you and Thor...?"

"To think I was beginning to like you."

They were interrupted by Thor's thunderous laughter as he looked up at them.

"You... and him?!"

Thor stood up as Loki looked on in horror, and rushed to Mobius, opened his arms and exclaimed, "Into my arms my brother!"

Mobius, amused, found himself caught in the embrace of the god of thunder.

Loki breathed a sigh of relief as he approached them.

"So you're the genius who finally made my idiot brother see reason?" asked Thor, mockingly.

"Thor!"

"If by that you mean I was the one who made him see that he was better than what people wanted him to believe, then yes it was me, but the rest he did on his own." Mobius had said this, in a firm tone, with a defiant expression on his face.

Thor nodded with a knowing smile, "I can see how you won his heart."

"Thor!" exclaimed Loki again, annoyed.

Thor turned to Loki, a mischievous sparkle in his eye, "Loki, don't pretend, you're the one who told me just before that Mobius was-hmph."

Loki had thrown himself at Thor, putting his hands over his mouth and Thor burst out laughing. All this under the amused eyes of Mobius and the exasperated one of Valkyrie.

Thor pulled away from Loki and approached Mobius again, putting his arm around his shoulder and leading him away, "It's time I take my role as big brother seriously and do what the midgardians call the shovel-talk."

Loki raised his hand in protest, "Thor, no..."

Mobius turned to Loki, shook his head and gave him a smile that was meant to be reassuring "It's okay Loki."

Loki let them go.

After a few moments of silence watching them, making sure Thor wasn't hurting Mobius, he turned to Valkyrie, "So you and my brother...?"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and muttered, "I really wish your brother had hit harder before..."

Loki raised his arms in surrender, "Pretend I didn't say anything." He paused and resumed more seriously, "Shall I congratulate you, your majesty?"

"You have a problem with that?" replied Valkyrie in a defensive manner.

Loki shook his head and smiled amusedly, "Not at all, I know you will look after the people of Asgard as well as I or Thor would have. Probably even better."

Valkyrie just nodded once in recognition.

Loki continued to watch Thor and Mobius in the distance, curious about what was being said.

After a few minutes the two men returned to Loki and Valkyrie.

Thor clapped his hands together, "Well my friends, I think it's time to leave. I have a ship to catch," he pointed to the ship behind him, "She has a kingdom to rule and you two need to return to your time, past or whatever."

He walked over to Mobius and shaking his hand, he said, "Take care of my little brother, I know he makes people want to hit him sometimes, but he's a good person, I always knew that."

Mobius nodded, "He is. Take care."

Then Thor turned to his brother and hugged him, "Brother, I know nothing has ever been easy between us, but never doubt that you are my brother and that I love you." Loki tightened his arms around him, " I love you too brother." They remained in each other's arms for a few more seconds before parting ways.

Thor turned to Valkyrie, "Come my friend, accompany me."

As he walked away to the ship, Thor turned and called out, "Be happy!" he paused, and a mischievous gleam in his eye continued, "And invite me to the wedding, whenever and wherever!"

"Thor!!!" shouted Loki.

A thunderous laugh answered him.

Mobius and Loki watched them go away for a while. Then Loki turned to Mobius and said, "Take me home."

Mobius opened the timedoor and programmed the tempad. They walked through the door that led them directly home hand in hand.

As soon as the door was open and disappeared behind them, Loki leaned forward, closed his eyes and put his arms around Mobius' waist. He pressed his lips to Mobius' and kissed him, putting all his emotions into the kiss. Mobius' hands wrapped around Loki's waist in turn and they explored each other's mouths, their tongues dancing together in a loving rhythm. After a moment, the kiss ended and they simply stayed there, wrapped in each other, listening to their breaths settle. When Mobius caught his breath, he asked, "Are you okay Loki?"

Loki replied, his lips against his, "Yes love, better than ever."

**********

The next day in the archive room, Loki was putting away the various films in their respective boxes when Mobius joined him.

He was putting away the last one titled, Thor- New Agard 2023, letting his hands linger on the edge of the film case before closing the lock on the box and turning to Mobius.

"Aren't you going to watch them anymore?"

Loki shook his head with a smile, "No, because now I have other memories here." while patting his head before adding, "thanks to you."

He pressed his lips to Mobius' in a tender kiss before taking his hand and pulling him behind him without a backward glance.

Once outside, he asked Mobius, curious, "What did my brother tell you?"

Mobius looked at Loki with a smile, remembering the scene.

"I'm only going to ask one question, Mobius."

"Go ahead!"

" Do you love my brother?"

Mobius had replied tit for tat, "More than my life."

Thor stared at him for a few seconds and replied, "That's enough for me."

He paused for a moment and continued, "But... if you hurt him..."

In his eyes, Mobius read all the love he had for his brother and replied, "Never, I promise."

Thor continued, smiling mockingly, "Well, we'll wait a little while, so my little brother will get anxious.

Mobius chuckled and replied, "You may not be blood brothers, but you sure are a lot alike."

"Mobius?" Loki's voice brought him back to reality.

Mobius placed his hand on Loki's cheek and smiled fondly as he replied, "Your brother didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, that you're worthy of all the love in the world."

________

Whole series of one shots here : X

As always, bear with me as it is not beta'd I hope you enjoyed it 🥰

#lokius fic #loki series #loki #mobius m mobius #thor #frigga #valkyrie #established relationship #time travel #moki #wowki #time husbands #timefrost #loki x mobius #fluff #family

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2jaeh · 4 years ago

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milky way | youngtaek

you find unexplainable comfort in the words of your favorite poet, but he has a deeper connection to you than you think.

genre: fluff, a little angst

word count: 1.4k

author lin

Your favorite part of the day was curling up on the couch with a hot beverage, scrolling through your phone and having the television on low, offering great background noise so the apartment felt less empty. When the clock struck 7pm you knew you would be receiving that notification from the one person on Instagram that you cared enough to keep up with.

They were a poet who went by the name April and they were quite popular on the social media platform, despite never revealing any information about themself save for what deep feelings were incorporated into their poems. You found a great sense of comfort in their work and you were always anticipating to read their poems.

That day, April had revealed a poem titled 'Milky Way'. The post contained a plain white canvas with the words scribbled in black ink on the left side and a relevant drawing on the right - the standard format for all of their works. For this particular poem, the drawing was of a shooting star with a tiny person looking up towards it.

The poem described a relationship between two people that was so dazzlingly perfect that everyone around them was envious of how perfectly they were made for each other. Alas life moved to a point where the narrator could barely contact their lover and they slowly drifted out of each other's lives. The narrator still had lingering feelings for that person and could never truly move on. The final words of the poem read, Nothing without you, nothing without you…

April's poems always hit close to home and prompted you to think about your own life and experiences, but Milky Way in particular felt as though you yourself was the narrator in question. A few years ago you had also been in a relationship that was so full of bliss. The boy was named Youngtaek and you always joked about how he set a standard for any other guy you would ever meet, but it was true.

He was an aspiring songwriter and rapper and often wrote songs about you. He was someone that you could tell anything to and he would never judge. He always showered you with compliments that helped you find confidence in yourself. He encouraged you to try new things and a lot of milestones in your life involved him. Your first kiss, your first time and even your first experience getting chased out of a movie theater because he screamed too loud at the horror movie onscreen.

People who claimed the honeymoon phase didn't last forever clearly did not see the three years the two of you spent together. However, all good things must come to an end. Youngtaek left for Japan to further his studies while you stayed behind. You stayed in good contact for a long time, until you both started to live your own lives with different friends, different timezones, different lifestyles. It was a mutual decision to just end the relationship and move on, but your feelings for him could never disappear that easily.

Since the poem had tapped into an integral part of your mind, you decided to leave a comment. You never did leave comments on April's work - it was quite pointless considering they were so popular and your comment would just disappear into the swarm of others - but you were running on sentimentality at that point.

@______: Thank you for this, I wonder if the lover will ever know the impact they had on the narrator…

You left your phone aside and turned the television volume up to watch whatever game show was going on. Despite your eyes being on the screen, your thoughts were still filled with Youngtaek and the poem. The only thing that was able to snap you out of your own world was a chime from your phone. You grabbed your phone and opened up the notification.

@aprilpoetry: @______ I think they do now…

Your eyes widened at the comment before contorting into a confused frown. First of all, April didn't reply to their fans often so the interaction did catch you by surprise. Second of all, what did they mean by that? The message was so short and vague, but you didn't want to read too much into it. April was notorious for trolling and pranking their followers so you shrugged it off.

Your notifications were flooded with people liking and leaving congratulatory words on your comment. It was so overwhelming that you almost missed a direct message notification you had received. You opened the message up and you couldn't hold back the gasp that escaped your lips upon seeing it was from April.

@aprilpoetry: As you know, I will be releasing my first book this Friday. We'll be having a small party to celebrate and I'm looking to invite some interesting fans to join us. Would you be interested?

@______: Me?

@aprilpoetry: Of course. Your comment piqued my interest.

@______: My comment?

April was typing for a long time and you didn't know why you were becoming nervous. You couldn't even believe this conversation was happening. Your phone pinged and you looked down to see details as to when and where the party was being held.

@aprilpoetry: I hope to see you there

+++++

After days of deliberation, you finally settled on just going to the party. The interaction with April was quite strange and your curiosity really got the better of you. You arrived at the venue - a sleek dining hall decorated in black and white and adorned in pictures of the art that usually featured alongside April's poems.

You floated around the room, taking the drink that a server offered you and inspecting the snack table for anything you might like. Everyone else was already engrossed in their own conversations, presumably about April's poetry. You felt somebody stand next to you, but your eyes stayed fixated on the pink drink in your hands.

"The mini pizzas are really good." The person next to you spoke and you almost shuddered at the familiarity of their voice.

You looked up to see Youngtaek smiling down at you. He was wearing black turtleneck with a black blazer thrown over his shoulders. He looked older and much more mature than from when you last saw him. His hair was dyed bright red and his ears were adorned with pretty piercings. He still had the same sparkly eyes that you had adored so much.

"What are you doing here?" You asked in a small voice and he chuckled lightly.

"It's been a while hasn't it?" Youngtaek ran his fingers through his hair with a sheepish grin on his face, "well actually, we've been closer than we think."

"What do yo-"

"I'm April, ______," he cut you off and your eyes widened comically, making him laugh, "when I saw you comment on my post I couldn't believe it was really you.

"I actually refused to believe it was, so I invited you here to find out," he let out a nervous sigh, "I'm… I'm really glad you're here and you read that poem."

"I've read all of your poems," you admitted and now it was his turn to look surprised, "I've always followed your account and I… really love your work… Milky Way just hit very close to home."

"I missed you, every day," Youngtaek admitted, stepping closer to you, "every time I'd think I moved on from us but then you'd cloud my thoughts all the time, just like what I said in Milky Way."

"I missed you too," you smiled at him when you saw his eyes light up, "I guess it's fate that we found each other again."

Youngtaek grinned at your words before leaning closer and placing his lips on yours. It felt so familiar, the feeling of kissing him while soft music sounded from the speakers, yet butterflies still fluttered in your tummy. His hands came up to cup your face as you gently held onto his wrists. He pulled away just a few centimeters away to admire your flustered face as his cherry lips curled into a smile.

"So are we doing this again?" You laughed lightly.

"Only if you want to ______." Youngtaek grinned, softly running his hands down your arms.

"Of course April Poetry."

#youngtaek #son youngtaek #golden child #golden child imagines #golden child scenarios #golden child fluff #golcha #golcha angst #golcha scenarios #golcha imagines #gncd #gncd imagines #golden child x reader #golcha fluff #golden child youngtaek #golden child tag

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movienotesbyzawmer · 3 years ago

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August 30: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

(previous notes: Mission: Impossible III)

I bet the powers that be at the Mission: Impossible movie factory didn't lose any sleep over the stupid colon in the title that screws everything up. I mean, just look at that up there with the colon after my date, then the colon in the middle of the OG title, and then it's like, well, you can do whatever you want with punctuation but we're adding a subtitle after it now and you just have to deal with it. On posters and stuff it's just "Mission: Impossible" and then underneath those words they put "Ghost Protocol" so they don't have to deal with it. What a mess. I tell you it is a damn mess is what it is.

Anyway, we have arrived at the M:I movie that, more than any of the others, just really hit the spot for me when I saw it upon its original release. I saw it at the end of a frustrating and tiring work day and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. At some point in the middle I realized that I was enjoying it thoroughly without having to tolerate the kinds of flaws that were apparently part and parcel of this kind of movie. Maybe there were flaws that I just wasn't registering. We'll soon see.

Continuing the tradition of making very hip choices for the directing duties, here we have the live-action directorial debut of Brad Bird, who started off directing episodes of The Simpsons before moving on to no less than The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. Dude had two Oscars on his mantle by the time he showed up for this. Press play already!

Um Sweet Christ those opening shots look gook in 4K like HOO boy

Whoa, neat opening where Sawyer from Lost is chased off the top of a building in Budapest but his jacket deploys an air mattress right as he almost-hits, but then he's shot by Lea Seydoux in an alley, rat-a-tat-tat with the action here, like what is up

Simon Pegg is back, and he's being tricksy with the tech in a prison! He's opening cell doors and the prisoners are surprised and delighted with that twist! He plays them a jazz standard on the intercom and Ethan Hunt suavely emerges from one of the cells. Fun silly things ensue involving Ethan's rebellious and confident independent strategy and a small riot that seems kind of like a bar fight.

He has made a pal in the joint and he's breaking him out. Some kind of cool tech creates a really sweet vortex-y hole in the floor and they are swooped up by their helpers, it's fun.

We're introduced to Paula Patton who is a new team member, and then the credits roll, and they are spirited in a way that recalls the first movie, also showing real scenes from later in the movie.

Flashback to the thing that was happening with Sawyer shows how that botched operation, something about a file and a courier, got Sawyer killed because lots of bad guys were all over the place there. AR contact lens technology figures prominently, and that is a good idea (plus we totally might have those soon, right?).

0:18:16 - Once again we begin the movie without the leading lady from the previous one, but we're starting to get an explanation here. Or just a tease of one I guess.

And quickly we get a sneaky-style self-destructing message that sets up that Ethan has to disguise himself as a specific Russian and sneak into the actual Kremlin. This movie 100% gets what a Mission: Impossible movie is supposed to be.

This time, they aren't using fancy masks or voice shifter things, just costumes and a fake mustache. They comment about that in the dialogue but don't explain why.

0:24:52 - Dialogue mixed SO QUIET here I have no idea what SP just said. It seems like you're supposed to have heard it.

But that is quickly forgotten when they use the coolest spy gadget of them all - a screen that is placed in a corridor that makes the guy at the other end of the corridor think it’s the corridor, but it's a screen and SP & Ethan are hiding behind it and it is super super neato I love it

Then just when it's cool that that is going well, it's suddenly cool how NOT well it's going because someone is spying on their spycraft! The thing they were going to heist isn't there, and someone deliberately makes their comms thing be heard by the bad guys!

And THEN we see something we really didn't think we'd see and it is kind of mind blowing - Ethan escapes from the Kremlin with a very smooth quick-change of his disguise that we see him do in all one shot… but then the Kremlin totally explodes and it explodes all over Ethan as he's running away! It looks amazing!

Right after that there is some fun with subtitles - Ethan is in the hospital all damaged and concussed and stuff, and the news is talking about the obvious big story, and the subtitles are in Russian. At first I was like, "hey is my home theater tech busted?" but no, the subtitles become gradually more in English as Ethan starts to come out of it. Then we see with subtitles that Ethan is reading lips about the police people that want to be bad guys to Ethan.

After Ethan escapes, we shift to a wholesome-looking Russian family we haven't seen before. The scene is a nice little piece of drama about how the dad sees the Kremlin news and wants to get the family out of there, and very quickly that goes south and thugs have them all at gunpoint, it's nicely done

Ethan is being extracted by two new characters played by accomplished, Oscar-nominated actors Tom Wilkinson and Jeremy Renner… the conversation is dire and I don't want to type during it gahhh gah gah gah I am watching because holy shit this goes south too! TW informs Ethan that the DoD is going to frame him for blowing up the Kremlin and his only choice is to escape. He's telling him HOW to escape in a funny way, but they are attacked and it's visually very interesting and TW is headshot and they are in the water and it is such bad news for Ethan and his new colleague played by Mr. Renner, I probably typoed a lot during that because it was so hard to look away.

So Ethan is on the hook for the terrorist attack of the century and he's being chased by a little battalion of thugs who just shot that important spy boss, and he's in Russia. It is very not good for Ethan.

He's with JR and JR is playing a different character for him. He's a bookish analyst guy who feels very out of place in action-land.

We're learning about the main bad guy, Hendricks, who was the guy that screwed everything up in the Kremlin. He's a super-smart theoretical physicist or something who has big, well-thought-out ideas about destroying the world with nukes, and he took nuke codes from the Kremlin. So things are just really really hairy and it's effective storytelling is what I'm saying.

Also effective is that they met up with SP and PP on a neat secret train car thing that is well appointed with spy gear

And VERY VERY EFFECTIVE is what happens next, which is a series of establishing shots of Dubai which KILL ON MY TV. I am glad I have a 4K panel, kids. This begins what I recall as being an extended sequence of sweet-ass suspense. Ethan has to break into a server room by climbing the outside of the 130th floor of the Burj Khalifa using glove-gadget tech that will hopefully work. There is at least some actual Tom Cruise clinging to the side of that building. It's so cool looking. And to make matters worse, a dust storm approaches! Or should I say "to make matters even cooler looking". Yes I should. Please read that part.

Paula Patton's character seems underdeveloped so far, especially compared to her teammates Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner.

Jeez you guys, if you like suspenseful action scenes about barely surviving climbing a skyscraper this movie is for you.

1:05:34 - In the middle of a tense conversation we see that they were using the maskmaker but it wasn't working. They just don't want us to have mask fun in this movie. They hate mask fun. Why does Brad Bird hate mask fun.

Oh then this scene which is neat - bad guys are meeting with LS… but Ethan and JR are taking their place, and PP is taking LS's place for the real bad guys one floor down. The movie explains it better than me, but it is pretty exciting, the two meetings happening at the same time with opposite trickery.

Hah, SP does a sweet fake-hand trick to get the diamonds from the bad guys so he can get them to Ethan and JN, and JN is doing the thing where he uses the contact lens tech… gosh why are you even reading this, just watch the movie. I really like the tricksy espionage.

It all falls apart because LS spots the contact lens in JR's eye. The plot is moving along in a way that, I'm once again noticing, would normally require more half-assed-ness. It's just a solid spy plot. Which probably makes these notes more boring. Poor you.

LS dies by getting kicked out of the open window of the Burj Khalifa with a brewing sandstorm in the background! Neat looking!

And then a thing where Ethan is in a thick dust cloud and he's tracking the important paper thing with his tracker device, and it starts moving quickly at him and we realize just as it's too late that it's in a car that's gonna run him over! Then that mechanic gets used in a car chase in a dust storm, which we don't see very often outside a Mad Max movie, and that climaxes in a really cool looking collision, followed by the reveal that one of the nuclear code bad guys was Hendricks in a supermask. So we DO like mask fun after all! Except why do we care that it was Hendricks?

A scene where JR is confronted for maybe being a double-crosser has a beautifully choreographed gun-get-grabbity-grab thing that was probably super fun for the actors.

1:27:05 - JR tells a story that at first we think is that family we saw briefly almost scramming, but no, he's talking about Ethan, and what seems to be a story about Ethan's wife (Julia from the last movie) getting killed in Croatia, and Ethan killing six Serbians for revenge, and that's why he was in prison in the beginning? It's still a little mysterious and kind of complicated. It doesn't quite fit with what we think we know.

Dubai imagery is pretty. I have been to Dubai. I am standing by for your marriage proposals now.

I didn't really follow how we got to this point, but Ethan went for a walk and met with some underworld Dubai person and made a deal the ended up with a huge cache of spy gear and a private plane to India. I went to India like right after Dubai. I have my own car and a job kind of so you might need to calm your hormones at this point.

A probing exchange with PP establishes that indeed Ethan's story is that he killed the men who killed his wife. Doesn't really seem legit, though. There's more to the story, clearly.

One of the tech things they play with on the plane is the most magic-seeming one. It is a suit that looks like tight chain-mail, and it floats over a cart, like a magic carpet that you wear.

We're introduced to Brij Nath, whose name I had to look up so I could tell you how it is spelled. He has an access code that they need, which seems like they just kind of simplified the situation, and he's one of those only-kinda-bad bad guys that's really just a pawn, for our heroes as well as for these storytellers.

The wearable magic carpet gadget is fun and funny! SP has to remote control JR wearing the floaty-suit and JR is trying not to freak out too badly, and maybe on purpose it recalls the scene from the first movie where Tom Cruise hovers parallel to the floor.

Hendricks is now in a secret room in the place where they all are, and he has a bad-guy briefcase computer and orders some subordinates to do something with a virus, and I don't actually understand what's really happening but am I to believe that Ethan et al are thwarting literal nuclear terrorism here in Mumbai? Right here at this pleasant party at the palace of an only kinda-bad bad guy?

1:48:30 - Ha, the climax of the wearable magic carpet thing involves JR barely surviving by doing an acrobatic stunt that seems oddly intuitive and satisfying. You'll just have to watch the movie to know what I mean.

The spy-tech car they have is rad.

They fail to prevent the launch of a nuclear missile! We see it come out of the sub and start missiling toward its destination which we have learned is California! Hendricks mutters things about how that should get the ball rolling making world powers hate each other and nuke each other and may there be peace on Earth, he also, yes, says that.

A chase on foot has Ethan and Hendricks suddenly brawling on an exotically elegant robotic parking ramp. Platforms move around mechanically and transfer unmanned cars to different areas, and it is against that video gamey backdrop that Ethan and Hendricks struggle to get that sinister suitcase which is all bouncing around that environment. Unexpectedly, Ethan's hope of grabbing it is thwarted by Hendricks suicide-jumping down several stories! We see it! He definitely does that! Ethan drives a car off a thing to follow him, plummeting down hood-first, and the airbag saves him! He gets the briefcase and barely saves the day in time!

Again a denouement making it very clear that everything is really shockingly okay and tidied up. Even the thing with Ethan revenge-killing Serbians and the thing with his wife is cleaned way up, but with an elegance and sweetness that elevates this movie above the others. She's not dead after all, just fake-dead for her protection. And they're only where they are in Seattle so he can glimpse her lovingly across a marina.

So! I feel strongly that this is the best Mission: Impossible movie! It is an extraordinarily deftly-constructed spy thriller! It's got all the funnest types of things that are in the other movies, and other fun spy thrillers, but with so much less garbage! They did a great job and they should be proud.

#Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

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is0gild · 4 years ago

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Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 30

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 5,379

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Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Chorus?! That's bullshit! There must be some mistake, lemme see that thing," Lea snatched the paper off from where it'd been taped to one of the auditorium doors, causing it to rip a little as he did so.

Sighing, I stretched a hand out to try and retrieve the cast list from him, "Don't be silly, it's fine. It makes sense."

He yanked the sheet out of my reach, squinting at it with a perturbed frown before scoffing. "Makes sense my sweet ass. Where's Marluxia? Me and that cotton-candy-haired punk are gonna have words."

"You'll do no such thing," I finally managed to get my hands on the paper, prying it free of his fingers. Seeing it was now horribly wrinkled to boot, I grimaced and taped it back to the door, doing my best to smooth it back out. Then I slipped my hand into Lea's and started half leading, half dragging him back towards where he'd parked his car. "And it does make sense. They don't know me. They've never worked with me before. On top of that, I did choke a bit at the start of my audition. They can't trust a starring role to someone that's inexperienced and that they're unfamiliar with, not until I've shown them how I do in a background part as well as shown them that I'm capable and that they can rely on me."

"But you were the best one at the whole damn tryouts!" he huffed back. "What are those numskulls even thinking? I tell ya, if I were the director, it woulda been no contest. You'd be the leading lady like that," his fingers snapped.

"You're sweet and not at all biased," I rolled my eyes with a soft snort. "...honestly, I'm actually a bit relieved to be starting in chorus. I'd rather take it slow, ease myself back into theater and not take on too much responsibility right out the gate. It'll give me a chance to feel it out and see if this is something I really want to pursue. And if it is, I just have to put in the time, do the grunt work and by the next time they're putting on another production, maybe then they'll have enough confidence in me to give me a lead part."

Lea harrumphed. "They better. Otherwise I'm gonna kick Marluxia's stupid butt."

I hid a small grin behind my fingers, "He might not even be the one directing next time."

"Don't care. His ass will still be the one I kick outta pure spite."

A snerk escaped me, followed swiftly by a tiny, bubbling laugh. Lea glanced towards me, the corners of his eyes crinkling. As we came to a stop on the passenger side of his car, he tugged on my hand, pulling me up against him. He slipped one arm around my waist while his other came up to tuck some of my hair behind my ear as he ducked his head down, kissing me thoroughly.

Breath? Gone.

Knees? Jelly.

Brain? Mush.

As he pulled away and I struggled to remember how to take in oxygen again, I asked, "What was that for?"

"Just cuz I can," he winked, planting a light peck to my forehead. "You know this whole dating thing we're doing? Huge fan. Ten out of ten. Would recommend."

Face warming, I gave a derisive snort. "Sap."

"Yes, but I'm your sap," he nuzzled his nose to mine before releasing me to unlock my door and hold it open for me.

"Sap squared," I promoted him with a chuckle as I took my seat, reaching for the buckle. "Cliché sap squared."

"Too true. And you wouldn't have me any other way," he beamed before shutting the car door. My eyes followed him as he made his way around to the other side of the vehicle, one corner of my lips twitching up.

No. I suppose I wouldn't.

"Alright, next stop," Lea said as he plopped down into his own seat, retrieving his shades from where he kept them tucked in the sun visor and slipping them onto his nose. Thankfully, it was only his aviators. But I seriously doubted I'd seen the last of those ludicrous heart-glasses. "Lay that address on me, chica."

I fished the little piece of paper it was scrawled on out of my pocket and he tapped it into his phone as I read it off to him. Then the device began reciting directions in a bored monotone, his engine roared to life as he started the car and we sped off. We hadn't even been driving for a full minute before I heard a… peculiar noise coming from the back seat. I blinked, then glanced back over my shoulder. Had I imagined it? ...no, wait! There it was again! And it seemed to be coming from the floor behind my seat, where piled in a rumpled heap was…

"Um…" I quirked an eyebrow at Lea. "...your jacket seems to be barking…"

"Hm?" He was keeping his eyes on the road, but I didn't miss the hint of a smirk tugging at one side of his mouth. "Oh! Yeah, that. It does that from time to time. Needta train it to be better behaved."

My eyelids drooped. "...maybe you should feed it or take it for a walk."

"Nah, that'd only encourage it and then I'd never be able to get the damn thing to quit yapping," he snerked as he stopped at a red light. Then he was reaching behind me to shove his leather jacket aside, revealing a big box, its lid decorated with a frilly bow on top. He hoisted it up with a small grunt and deposited it into my lap. "Here. Was originally supposta be a Congratz-On-Landing-The-Lead present, but now it's more of a Congratz-On-Being-Glorified-Scenery present," Lea chuckled, scratching his cheek.

I lightly swatted at his shoulder. "There are no small parts, only small actors," I quoted with a shake of my head before directing my gaze back to the gift. I could feel it twitching and shifting slightly in my lap as it gave another couple of muffled barks.

Gee. What could it be? I really do wonder.

(Note the sarcasm.)

I was just glad to see several air holes poked into the lid. Come to think of it, Lea had been keeping his windows rolled down too. Sighing and smiling despite myself, I lifted the lid up. Sure enough, a puppy poked its head out to greet me, one that was a super white ball of pure fluff. The same one that's stolen my heart at the pet store when Lea and I had stopped by a while back. The one I'd dubbed Marshmallow. "Lea, no. I told you already that my complex doesn't allow pets." My chiding words were at odds however with my delighted chuckle as I picked the little guy up to hug close. "You shouldn't have gotten me a dog."

"I didn't," he said brightly as the light turned green and he stepped on the gas once more. "I got myself a dog."

I stared at him blankly as I felt the pup flicking its tongue along my chin. "...so wait. In essence, you got yourself a gift to celebrate me being glorified scenery in the play?"

"No, I got myself a gift to celebrate you getting the lead in the play. Not my fault you failed to live up to your half the bargain," he tsked before laughing as I gave his shoulder another smack, this one with more force behind it. Then as we shifted lanes, he flashed a smug grin, "'Sides, keeping the furball at my place gives ya an excuse to come visit me more often."

Petting the puppy's soft fur, I snorted, "Manipulative."

"Hey, what you call manipulative, I call incentive."

"You're right," I hummed as my fingers scritched behind Marshmallow's ear, a sly curve to my lips now. "You're definitely not enough of an incentive on your own for me to make the trip."

"Rude! You're lucky I think you're so cute," he reached over to pinch my cheek. I ignored him, holding the dog up in front of my face so we were nose-to-snoot. Marshmallow wagged his tail, licking the tip of my nose and I heard Lea grumble, "Oh sure. You he gives puppy kisses while all he ever gave me was tooth hugs."

"Tooth hugs?" I echoed, brow furrowing slightly.

"Lil furball's been tearing the shit outta my ankles nonstop," his face pinched sourly and I couldn't help a small laugh.

Once I'd sobered, I said, "I thought you said Saïx would murder you if you ever got a dog. How are you not dead?"

He flicked on his turn signal. "Oh trust me, it's not for lack of trying on his part, but bastard's gotta catch me first. The trick is to never stop moving when I'm home. Stay in one place too long and I'll get pulverized. Also got six different deadbolts locking my bedroom door now to keep him out, though I'm just waiting for him to get pissed enough to Kool-Aid Man his way through our shared wall."

"Hope I'm there to see that," I grinned, shifting to cradling the puppy in my arms in order to maximize belly rubbing efficiency. "Surprised the little guy managed to stay quiet for so long."

"Me too. Squirt was yipping up a storm the whole drive over when I was coming to pick you up. Was worried he was gonna ruin the surprise. But musta just wore himself out eventually and took a nap or something."

"Mm," I just hummed distractedly. "Also kind of shocked you were able to snag him. We saw him at the pet store, what… two weeks ago? Would have thought someone would've adopted him already in that time."

"Heh… well, I didn't exactly pick him up today..."

"Yesterday?" I glanced towards him and he gave a weak chuckle, shaking his head. "Then when?"

Lea scratched a finger behind his ear. "Er… same day we went to the roller rink?"

I blinked a couple times, then deadpanned, "...as in the same day we went to the pet store?"

"That'd be the one!" he nodded as he pulled up to a stop sign, his hand coming up to pluck at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. "After you left to go home, I went back. Ya just liked the lil mutt so much, I couldn't help myself. It was an impulse buy. Five seconds after I became a proud, new dog dad though, I felt like a total dumbass. But woulda felt like shit if I'd tried to give him back, so..." he shrugged, "I kept him."

My gaze returned to Marshmallow as my lips pursed to one side. He panted happily back up at me. "...I didn't see him that one time Saïx had me over for dinner. How'd you manage to hide him?"

"Stashed him away at Xion's for the night. Couldn't risk you finding him and realizing what a twitterpated bonehead I was," he snerked as the car propelled us forward once more.

I bit back a little grin. "But it's okay for me to find out now?"

"Well yeah, course! Since you're my girl and all now. Back before we were dating, me buying your dog was weird and possibly a lil creepy." He shot me a smirk, "But now it's just sweet and endearing!"

"If you say so," I murmured, only listening with half an ear as I smooshed and squished the pup's face.

His head turned slightly towards me and I could practically feel the slight narrowing of his eyes behind his aviators. "...crap, I'm gonna have to compete for your affections with that damn fleabag now, aren't I?"

I struggled to keep a straight face as my finger booped Marshmallow's cute little nose. "Is it really a competition if you've already lost?"

"Oh-ho, I see how it is," he snorted as he checked the rearview. "Well don't be too alarmed if next time ya see me, I'm down one dog and up one pair of a brand spanking new white, poofy earmuffs. The two things'll be totally unrelated. Pure coincidence."

I gave a tiny, amused huff and rolled my eyes. Then I leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for the puppy. You're very sweet."

He ruffled his hair, "Shit, if it's always gonna make you this happy, I'll have to buy myself more gifts!" I made a noncommittal noise in my throat, all my focus diverted once more to playing with the dog. Lea gave a defeated sigh but smiled. Then he asked, "So… how's Anna been doing?"

I frowned slightly. "...okay. She's… better."

The altercation with Hans had been a few days ago now. By the time Anna had gotten through with him, he'd staggered out of my apartment with a limp and a black eye. I hadn't heard from him since, though part of me did wonder if he was just taking time to lick his wounds before coming back to further profess his supposed love for me. Guess it just depended how much of a hard time his parents would give him and how easily he'd break under the pressure.

As for Anna, once she'd spent all her rage on rearranging Hans' face and had nothing left, she'd proceeded to bawl her eyes out. She never took breakups this hard, but apparently she'd really thought Hans was it. The One. After such a rude awakening to the fact that he wasn't and having her heart shattered, I didn't blame her for having a bit of a breakdown. She'd ended up staying over and Rayne and I had turned it into a sort of a girls night to try and cheer her up. We'd binge streamed romcoms until 3 a.m. which honestly, with Anna wailing through every single one, I had no clue if they were making things better or worse. But she was the one who kept putting them on one after the other, so I'd just let her as I hadn't had the heart to deny her.

In the days since, it was obvious Anna was still down, even though she tried to hide it behind sunny smiles and loud laughs. Still, she seemed to be on the road to recovery.

"She's strong," I added softly after a brief lull, fingers absently toying with Marshmallow's paws. "She'll bounce back. Just needs a little more time, that's all."

Lea's phone suddenly gave a small ding, announcing that we had arrived and our destination could be found on the right. Luckily a spot had just opened up on the curb for him to turn the car into. I unbuckled my seatbelt as the engine shut down and opened my door, stepping out onto the sidewalk. My arms were still holding the puppy and I unfortunately had to concede that I probably shouldn't bring him inside. Spinning one-eighty, I set him back down inside the car and he immediately tried to hop out to follow me. My hands shot up to block him and he retaliated with sad eyes and a whimper.

Oh, this little con artist.

Laughing, I stroked his head soothingly, "Now now, Marshmallow, no need for all that… we'll only be gone for a few minutes, I promise."

"Awfully presumptuous of you, naming my new pupper," Lea teased as he appeared at my side now, a paper shopping bag that he'd retrieved from the back seat on his way out of the car now dangling by the handle from his fingers. Rubbing a curled knuckle over his chin as he glanced skyward, he smirked. "I was thinking something more along the lines of…" now he stretched a hand out, dragging his splayed fingers through the air as if the words themselves were magically materializing in front of our very eyes, "...Imperius, the White Death and Destroyer of Worlds."

I shot him a dull look. "...bit long to fit on a dog tag, don't you think?"

"Not if we use really teeny font!" his grin twitched wider and my eyelids just drooped in response. "Fine, fine, ya have a point. Hm… compromise? How 'bout... Marshmallow, Destroyer of Worlds?"

One corner of my lips turned up, "I can live with that." Giving the puppy one final scritch under the chin, I cooed, "Be back soon, Mr Worlds," before locking and closing the car door. As I turned to fully face Lea, it came to my attention that he was now scrutinizing me with a squint and a little frown. My eyebrows knit together. "...what?"

Without a word, he abruptly bent forward and friggin' licked the side of my neck.

With a small yelp, I squirmed and jumped back, hand flying up to clamp over the now damp skin as my cheeks threatened to spontaneously combust. Lea's face twisted in distaste as he spat and razzed his tongue, "Yeck, concealer. Thought so. Knew there was no possible way my masterpiece healed and faded that quickly."

Ah. He was talking about the Mother Hickey. I nodded with a sigh, "Yeah, Rayne helped me figure out how to cover it up."

Stepping closer, he hooked a finger under my chin to gently turn my head to one side so he could take a better look, muttering, "Hmph. Nice job, Raindrop. Matched your tone perfectly, never woulda even known it's there. But also… so not cool. I'm an arteest! A maestro deserves to have his pièce de résistance on display for all the world to see."

"Not when your canvas is my neck, maestro," I snorted, getting on tiptoe to plant a quick peck to his lips as I took the bag from him. Inside it was a powder blue sundress, a pair of ankle boots, and a phone book.

He gave a tiny pout, but it quickly melted into a grin as he took hold of my free hand, lacing our fingers together. "So… you ready for this?"

I spotted the little store we'd come here for and started walking towards it. "Ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

"Ya sure the dude even wants all this junk back? It's more than a lil used now."

"Well, it's a used clothing store, so I'm sure it's fine," I shrugged.

Lea chuckled, "That old phone book is rumpled from water damage and is practically a rat's nest. No, scratch that cuz calling it that sullies the good name of rat's nests everywhere."

"It doesn't matter," I exhaled heavily. "I told the man I'd bring it all back and that's what I'm doing. If he won't take any of it, then I'm happy to pay him back for it all with interest." On that note, we stepped through the automated sliding doors beneath the big sign that read Wandering Oaken's Trading Post.

The store looked the same as the last time I'd been here. The cluttered racks, the secondhand clothing all but bursting out of every nook and cranny, the rustic decorations on the walls and hanging from the ceiling… all of it exactly the same. It honestly surprised me a little. I would've expected some changes since it felt like my last visit had been absolute ages ago. I had to remind myself that in reality, it'd hardly even been two months since.

I hoped the man (employee? proprietor?) who'd assisted me back then wasn't also exactly the same as I remembered him. All angry and stocky and big. I gulped, feeling my breathing turn shallow as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Surely, he wasn't still mad and wouldn't rip me limb from limb on sight, right? And surely, my memory had to be lying to me and exaggerating. No one, not even Lea, was that hulkingly ginormous… right?

"Hoo-hoo! Big summer blowout! Half off swim su-" the familiar voice immediately cut off as its owner, that same man I'd recalled, locked eyes with me from across the store. "You!"

Nope. He was exactly as terrifyingly ginormous as I remembered him.

Suddenly - and I don't quite know how exactly, because I didn't remember moving - I was hiding behind Lea.

Huh. Seemed like my latent surprise teleportation powers had activated to catch me unawares once again!

Taking a deep, steadying breath to settle my nerves and get a grip, I slowly creeped back out from behind him to respond to the man with a shaky smile and a tiny, "Me?"

He abruptly came charging at me and I swallowed a squeak, screwing my eyes shut.

This was it. The final countdown. The last roundup. I could already see the fabled white light. Was already watching my life flash before my eyes. Could hear an angelic choir singing somewhere. All but feel the-

Those giant tree trunks he had for arms unexpectedly wrapped themselves around me, crushing me to him in a spine-cracking hug that lifted me several feet off the ground and forced a surprised grunt out of me.

Um…?

"What is this?" I wheezed as I was swung to and fro like a ragdoll. "I don't understand what's happening."

Lea snerked, being absolutely zero help as he simply crossed his arms and watched the absolute epitome of bear hugs continue. "Apparently, this is how he deals with shoplifters. His own unique brand o' vigilante justice."

"Well it's cruel and unusual punishment!" I croaked out, kicking my feet and trying to wriggle free. "How do I make him stop?!"

Miraculously, he chose that second to release me of his own accord, shooting me a big smile that took up over half his face, "Oh thank you, deary! Thank you!"

...okay, not quite the greeting I'd been expecting.

Like, at all.

Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as my hand went to rub at my elbow, "You, uh… you remember me?"

"Of course, deary!" he nodded eagerly, tapping his fingertips together.

I squinted at him uncertainly. "...and you remember that I… stole from you?"

More enthusiastic nodding, "Ya, ya!"

...was I the only one totally bewildered right now?

My eyes darted over to exchange a brief glance with Lea, who just shrugged his shoulders.

Oh good, so it wasn't just me then.

Looking at the worker once more, I hesitated for a split second before awkwardly thrusting the bag out to him, heart thudding loudly in my ears as I began, "Well I… I brought it all back like I said I would… even the phone book! It's all still in decent shape… er, except for the phone book, that is. I can compensate you for that though and… and the dress and shoes too, of course! That is, if that's what you'd prefer... and I'll even pay inter-"

"Nonsense!" he gently pushed the bag back towards me. "Keep it all, it's yours. And your munny's no good here."

I stared at him blankly. "...I'm sorry, I'm confused."

The man beamed at me now, "Your dress, deary! The one you left behind in the fitting room and said I could have? I must say, that had to have been some costume party you came from! I sold that gown for enough munny to pay for all four of my sons' college tuitions! So I insist, keep those items! And please let me know if you see anything else in here that you'd like, ya?" A sudden low chime rang out overhead, signalling that another customer had walked into the shop. Gracing me with one final warm grin, he then plastered on his customer service face and walked past me, waggling his fingers in greeting, "Hoo-hoo! Big summer blowout!"

Frowning slightly, I watched him go before I heard Lea say in realization, "...you left your wedding dress here."

My fingers twisted and fidgeted with the bag handles. "Sort of… yeah."

He shook his head with a snort. "Shit, El, a gown like that made for your upscale, hoity-toity, blueblood wedding? You didn't shoplift, you way, way overpaid!"

Feeling heat creeping into my face, I gave a tiny scowl and huffed, "Well, it certainly felt like shoplifting, the way he was yelling and chasing after me when I ran out the store!"

"Babydoll, you just lost some serious street cred," he chuckled, pressing his lips to my temple. "Seriously though, just ditching it in some random fitting room? You coulda sold that thing for bookoo bucks and made this whole striking it out on your own thing way easier on yourself."

"You said the same thing about my car back at my parents' home. But just like with the Ferrari, that dress was bought and paid for with my parents' munny," I sighed, crossing my arms. "I don't want to accept so much as even a single cent from them if I don't have to… I don't want to feel like I owe them anything. And I just… I didn't know what else to do with the dress, really. I just wanted to be rid of the wretched thing."

He tsked, tapping a finger to my nose, "Oh you. Always gotta do things the hard way, huh? Silly." Reaching for my hand, he then started us meandering about the shop, idly perusing the racks and shelves as he went on, "If it'd been me, I wouldn't have thought twice 'bout pawning that dress for some quick cash. What's the big deal where the munny came from? All that really matters is how you spend it to give yourself a better, happier life. Turn bad into good, ya know? I- sweet!" he cried out abruptly, eyes lighting up as he happened upon a clump of feather boas draped across the corner of a chaotic, jam-packed shelf. Snagging one that was made of red feathers marked with black stripes, he wrapped it around his neck with a flourish before batting his eyelashes at me. "How do I look?"

I rubbed my fingers over my tiny smile. "Beautiful. Simply gorgeous."

"Damn skippy!" he chirped, now spotting a full length mirror nearby and moving to admire himself in it.

From insightful to kid playing dress-up in under two seconds flat. That had to be some kind of record.

Seeing that the employee had returned to his post behind the cash register, I walked over to him. "Hi again. How much for one-"

There was a sudden giggle at my ear that was distinctly Lea's, followed swiftly by a second feather boa being looped around my neck, this one comprised of blue feathers with white tips. With that, Lea zipped off once more, this time heading towards what looked to be the toy shelf.

I blinked in his wake, then shook my head with a soft hum of a laugh. "I'm sorry, how much for two feather boas?"

"Holy shit, this orca action figure comes with a tiny machine gun! And-" Lea gasped, running back now to excitedly show it to me, "-it also turns into a goddamn freaking robot!"

Patting him on the cheek, I turned back to the cashier with a sigh, "And the toy too."

"For you, deary?" he asked, still happily tapping his fingers together. "Free of charge!"

My head rocked back slightly. "What? No, but-"

"Oh hell yes! Thanks, big guy, and have a great day!" Lea cut me off, snatching up my hand and bolting out the store, forcing me to stumble after him as the cashier called out after us to do the same.

As we exited through the automated doors back out onto the sidewalk, I said, "Lea, wait!" I dug in my heels, bringing us both to a lurching stop. Then I frowned over my shoulder back towards the little shop. "I'm not comfortable with this. He's only giving us this stuff because of that stupid dress and I told you already-"

"Don't look at it as benefiting offa your folks munny," he grinned, taking the bag from me to tuck the toy and his boa inside with the other stuff. Then he set to work uncoiling mine from around my neck. "Instead, try this on for size: ya did a good thing with that dress. Maybe even the best possible thing ya coulda done with it. You donated it to the worthy cause of paying for the education of that dude's small army of kids. And if that's not enough for you, here's another way to look at it: ya traded in a wedding dress worth a sultan's ransom and all you got in return was a handful of cruddy, secondhand junk that altogether costs maybe twenty bucks max. On the divine cosmic scale of ethics, I think you can consider your conscience clear and your heart light as a feather."

Now fully freed from the feather boa, I released a tiny huff through my nose as I watched him slip it inside the bag too. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"It's settled then," he beamed, slinging an arm around my shoulders and guiding me back towards his car. "Now onto the next item on the list!"

My head tipped to one side. "There's more? But with this place checked off, I thought that was the whole list."

"Maybe your list, but we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of mine. And first up is immediately correcting one epic fail on my part."

"Oh?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

He nodded, "Mm-hm! For ya see, I've been grossly neglectful in my boyfriend duties. Can you actually believe I have yet to take you out on our first proper date since officially becoming a couple?"

A tiny smile fought its way onto my lips. "For shame. The absolute scandal."

"I know, right? People are already beginning to talk, my good name is being dragged through the mud," he puffed out an overdramatic breath, shaking his head.

I laughed. "Well then, what did you have in mind?"

As we came to a stop next to his car, he tapped the window glass where Marshmallow was pressing his paws up against the other side while barking his little head off. "For starters, how 'bout we take this lil fellah to a park somewhere for a few hours? Once he's all played out, we can drop him off back at my place. Make it real quick, in and out before Saïx wakes up and realizes he's been unknowingly volunteered for doggo-sitting duty." Setting the bag down on the roof the car, he then faced me, taking both my hands in his as he idly started toying with my fingers and murmured, "Then I was thinking I could take ya somewhere nice. Maybe Le Grand Bistrot? And after that…" he gave a lazy shrug, that dimple of his emerging, "well, guess we'll just see where the night takes us from there."

My eyes crinkled as I stared up the few inches that separated us. "Sounds perfect."

It'd been one wild and, at far too many points, absolutely absurd ride that had brought me here. And it was far from over for I still had a long road ahead of me. I'd yet to even determine what exactly I wanted the future to hold for me, and that was okay. I could hardly be expected to have the rest of my life already planned and mapped out after experiencing only a couple short months of freedom. Come now, that would be unrealistic.

But it didn't truly matter that nothing was really decided yet. What mattered was that I was the one who would get to decide, no one else. And for the moment, I was just deciding to focus on what was immediately before me. Today, I had a date with my boyfriend. Tomorrow would be a shift at my job in a mall ice cream shop. And the day after would bring the start of rehearsals for community theater. All in all, it was nothing grand, nothing fancy… but it made me happy. And for now, that was enough. More than enough. I could figure out the rest in my own time, and that sounded pretty good to me.

In fact, it sounded absolutely amazing.

THE END

…sorta?

Author's Note: And thus we come full circle... it ends where it all began way back in chapter one... cheesy, I know XD Okay, I rarely finish stories and thus I don't have a lot of experiencing doing it, so factor that in however you will in judging this final chapter xD I know, it was stupidly, cavity-inducingly sweet and not a lot happened, but damnit it's my story and I'll end it how I want to! Oh, and the toy Lea found wasn't a reference to anything, it was just something stupid I found on the internet that I figured the goofball would go absolutely nuts over xD

So, you probably have questions about that "...sorta?" at the end there xD Well that, my friends, has to do with the good news I mentioned that I had for ya'll a couple chapters back! Although the big, main plot of the story is now complete, there will be *drum roll*... bonus chapters! Wooo! These are more like self-contained one-shots that generally have time passage between them anywhere from a few days to like a month with no real overarching plot connecting them, which is why I'm not considering them a part of the "main" story. However, I will still be just slapping them at the end of this story, keeping it all in one place as opposed to posting them as separate fanfics, just because I can! I do what I want, yo! These bonus chapters will cover various events (relationship and non-relationship alike) for our new happy couple - as well as some that are just for pure funsies due to random ideas popping into my head that I really wanted to write xD I just always write the "how they got together" story and have never written them as a couple, so I'm excited to finally have a good excuse to do that! Plus now I can share with you guys how things go from here - stuff like relationship milestones, fam drama, Elsa's further adventures in theater, and much more! If you guys have any ideas of your own for a one-shot you'd like to see, please let me know! I make no promises about actually writing it, BUT there's a very good chance I'll read your suggestion, the plot bunnies in my head will go wild and I'll have no choice but to write it anyway xD

ANYWAY! I already have written and completed a few of these one-shots, so my once-a-week updates can continue for a little while longer! But fair warning - when (not if, WHEN) my updates catch up to as far as I've written, my once-a-week updates will be reduced to whenever-the-chapter-is-frigging-done updates xD

Whew! I think that's a wrap! Thank you so much for reading my lil story here, I super duper appreciate it! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far! Seeing those lil notifications pop up always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

See ya next week for the first bonus chapter, which is a silly, for funsies one-shot xD I'll give you a hint... helmets are involved! Ooooo, what could it be?! Stay tuned and find out!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

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digitalhallucination · 4 years ago

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@thefleshmustgrow tagged me in 7 comfort movies. I'm not putting them in any particular order.

1. Castle in the Sky. Honestly I waited YEARS for a states release for this as a kid, my Totoro vhs tape had a commercial for it. (Honestly any Ghibli movie is comforting lol. This is just special for me.)

2. Lilo and Stitch. Stitch is friend shaped 💙. I just really enjoy all the personality everyone, and the animation itself, has.

3. Raggedy Ann and Andy. Glad I didn't see it as a kid, fear of dolls and all. Toy Story was hard enough for me to watch tbh. Much less the busy mess this movie has to offer.

4. The Book of Life. Please watch it! It's so good and underrated. I'm so glad I saw it in theaters, even if it was the smallest room they had.

5. Kubo of the two strings. Also rather underrated, but as "kiddy" than a lot of animated films so goes under the radar.

I should really watch Paranorman again now that I'm not Christian fungus brain rot.

6. Dumbo. I am glad Disney's addressing it's issues. A LOT of the film is out of date as is anyway. Are there even still circus elephants? A soft and strange movie from my childhood. I wore out at least 1 vhs tape of it.

7. That weird cgi Astroboy movie I think to much about even though it's not great.

No gif don't feel like digging for it

This was actually kinda hard. I always had to beg for tv time so shows were easier to bargain for than movies.

I tag: @enbyspringboi @rotking @dragabond @celestialmoonlights uhh I'm not really sure who all is active anymore. If this sounds fun to you, tag! Your turn now!

#sock talk #gif

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geek-gem · 6 years ago

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Transformers Dark Of The Moon

I've finally seen the movie again after these years. Let me warn you, spoilers and I have a lot to say.

Their is really a lot to say about this movie. But I'm glad I finally got my to do list of watching the first three Bayformers now.

Another thing I'll be honest about I was gonna play the Dark Of The Moon game on PS3 but it requires more MB's to clear out but I decided fuck it I don't care. Especially it's a short game but I'm not doing that shit. I just wanna watch this film especially remembering this is a long film.

But back to the movie. I'll be honest and I'm not critic and my opinion may be invalid because lots of people hate Bayformers. We have a new continuity with the Bumblebee movie which I think is the best decision this franchise has done.

To me this movie while I like the first film from 2007.

After watching this and I'm still having some feelings after being it. But I feel this is my favorite out of the Bayformers saga. This is basically where it should of ended and should of let the Bayformers end with dignity. Or at least until a new director came along like Travis Knight or others.

Especially like I remember a movie guy named Cure4 on DeviantArt but he's gone from that shit. I agree with him and I'm thinking this is the sequel the 2007 film should of had.

I'm pissed and I hate that Age Of Extinction was the follow up to this film. Despite how people feel about this film, my God Bay tried to redeem himself after Revenge Of The Fallen a film that is like some sort of weird parody there the video game tie in's I see as the best version especially the PS3/Xbox 360/PC versions and even the Wii/PS2 versions.

Another thing I wanna reveal when I saw this film for the first time in theaters I actually used this.

I seriously wore that and it worked and it was awesome. It was a experience despite I felt nervous. I was young but what the hell it's gonna be 8 years since the movie was released. Especially the 3D was awesome when I saw it in theaters.

But back to the movie again I'm sorry. I'm not gonna make this a full review I don't wanna waste anyone's time.

When I think about it Sam is a lot better in this film. While I do feel some moments could be worked on. He should of apologized to Bee after he meets him I know Sam's angry. Especially this development of Sam wants to matter. This is much better then what we had in Revenge Of The Fallen.

Carly I honestly find more likable then Mikaela. Seriously I do especially that moment where she literally tells Megatron that he will basically be Sentinel's bitch if he doesn't do anything. She basically treats Sam with a bit more respect and well I like the relationship more then what Sam and Mikaela had.

Lennox and Epps were always great. Especially Epps during the scenes in Chicago. Simmons is seriously entertaining in this and Dutch is a blessing.

Let me just talk about Dylan Gould. This guy he's been on my mind. I made two joke posts him deleted the first one of he's been waiting for that betrayal towards Sam.

Patrick Dempsey honestly and his portrayal of Dylan is a performance that left an impression on me. Because I was actually surprised by his reveal of who he actually was. But seriously this man is a dick and in a way I like him. Despite seeing in the film him talking about making tough choices and him being on the winning side. Yet over the course of the film he starts to take it a bit personal.

While I kept thinking before seeing the film he was enjoying it maybe. But my view on it changed. I just think Patrick Dempsey kind of owns the role.

Yes we should talk about the robots and let me be honest. What I love about this film it's basically the Decepticons strike back. They are basically winning in this film. I love the Chicago invasion scene.

I do feel like the entire Bayformers series yes their should of been more Transformers screen time. Especially the Decepticons in this case. While I feel in Revenge Of The Fallen I can tell Starscream feels like he's a little snarky in some parts. While I know he's kissing up to Megatron to cover his ass. I would of liked some what....I don't know more snarky shit or something Starscream would say or do. Maybe even during his confrontation with Sam he mentioning after the Decepticons win that he would overthrow Megatron and become the winner.

I remember when I was young when I saw this for the first time. For Starscream I had hoped he would betray Megatron yet that would be so much for one film. Because that's Starscream from G1, Animated, and other continuities. At least one last hurrah before he dies.

Especially I remember when I was young I wanted Skids and Mudflap, along with Leo to come back....I was young and I enjoyed Revenge Of The Fallen a lot more okay. Wouldn't mind Leo but their seems to be a bit much but what the hell I wanted Dinobots in this film.(well it's said Skids and Mudflap are shown as cars but they were supposed to die....they did die by Sentinel in the movie comic)

I dig Soundwave in this film. Even Laserbeak these guys are douches but would of liked to seen more Soundwave. Especially I like this little dynamic between Dylan and Soundwave I know that's weird of me to say. Would of liked to seen more.

Shockwave in this film seriously I was hyped for him when I was young and playing the prequel game. I feel it's stupid he's not as important. He should of had more lines and more interactions. I even agree with a comment on YouTube he should of been in the Africa scene.

While he is badass it's stupid how he goes out but give him a better send off and a fight with Optimus Prime. I wanted to see more Shockwave and I think it would of been better if he was voiced by Mark Ryan. Frank Welker didn't do a bad job and he actually had two lines spoken in English.

At least his driller creature is cool. But seriously after all the hype and I want to just put some promotional stuff.

Whatever if this one is official or not. It's just in Shockwave's own words......logical. Or my own words fucking logical.

The reason I'm saying Mark Ryan because of his English accent and I want to be reminded of Corey Burton. Sorry for sounding weird.

Let me say I feel Sentinel Prime is probably the best antagonist actually we've had in a Transformers live action film especially in the Bayformers. Characters like Shatter and Dropkick are great. Even Lockdown was nice. But I liked Sentinel. I'll be honest I was actually surprised when I witnessed his betrayal when I was young. I thought the Decepticons were gonna force him to use the Pillars maybe even Shockwave but what we got was something else.

Also I really liked the scenes with Optimus and Sentinel. I do feel we should of gotten more and had them be longer. Especially I like Optimus in this. I do see their was this father and son or brother like relationship that Bay talked about. But would of liked to seen more.

The other Autobots are alright cool. I do feel the whole Que/Wheeljack thing was just seriously stupid. Especially now before Bumblebee a Wheeljack design that was more accurate. Tragic about the way he died.

Looking back at the film theirs not a lot of Cybertronian scenes but they leave an impact.

Also I really wanna talk about the ending with Optimus, Sentinel, and Megatron. We should of gotten more Megatron I agree.

But the scene where leading up to Optimus killing Sentinel seeing it in action after going through the movie. It is awkward in a way.

Yet I'll be honest Sentinel basically deserved it. In fact of the Decepticons, and Dylan fucking deserved what they got. Because after everything they did their to me was not a way shit would end peacefully or something. Including your hearing this from a Steven Universe fan a show that deals with pacifism and other shit.

I do feel and I've talked about this before but I might delete it now because I'm gonna mention it here. But I feel if the scene went like it was Megatron who kills Sentinel or this dark idea of Sentinel killing himself or even himself dying from wounds. Especially giving Megatron and Optimus more of a fight even with Optimus haven't one arm.

Or hell seriously Bay should of gone with the original that was kept in the novel that Megatron teamed up with Optimus to kill Sentinel and Megatron would stop what he's doing. Also hearing that it would of explored Megatron more. That ending would have his look in The Last Knight make sense that he went to Cybertron after Dark Of The Moon and over time he decided to go back leading the Decepticons. Instead they had to kill him off and the whole Galvatron thing. Even though Megatron got what was coming to him.

Gonna be honest the Starscream death while I like the idea of Sam having the courage to take on Starscream and even killing him. But I do feel Starscream should of died a more I guess epic death.

Especially I weirdly wanted Sam to be all Cade Yeager shooting Decepticons and some how killing them. I mean you Sam jumping on cars and even sliding under them.

Gonna say before seeing the movie I kept thinking Dylan in his fight with Sam should of died a more brutal death. Such as Sam telling him to shut up after the messager comment and beating him to death. But Dylan's death is perfect. Seriously he gets hit in the face with some sort of pole thing and dies by the pillar.

Listen I'm sorry for rambling a lot. This became more of some review or reaction. The action was seriously nice and the special effects, score was always excellent.

Gonna be honest while I wasn't emotional much throughout the movie. Did feel emotional over the, "The fight will be your own" scene and felt a little at the, "No Prisoners Only Trophies" scene....that should of had more weight. I'll be honest when I was young I was expecting Sam for some reason come out of hiding yelling no in slow motion, surprising everyone then the Decepticon drop ship gets hijacked.

Gonna say did enjoy Wheelie and Brains I like them. Glad they we're still around in later films.

I think I've talked too much. Basically I think this is the best Bayformers sequel, this is what we should got gotten as a sequel to the 2007 film. It's better then Revenge Of The Fallen, Age Of Extinction, and The Last Knight.

My only weird complaint that isn't towards the movie.....Dinobots could of been in this some how.....during the battle of Chicago. We should of gotten Dinobots vs the Driller. Grimlock voiced by Vin Diesel or whatever I've had that weird casting idea I think for years. Or even Devastator in this because it's a huge open battle with so many opportunities. While I understand Michael Bay didn't wanna go larger like he did with Revenge Of The Fallen. I'm just disappointed that the next film we got after this was Age Of Extinction.

Tags dealt with sorry that got wrong, their was a lot to talk about. Glad I could talk about this and again I finished my to do list of rewatching the original trilogy. Bring on the new cinematic universe in the Knightverse that started out with Travis Knight's Bumblebee I'm ready for more excellent films.

#transformers #bayverse #bayformers #dark of the moon

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