#IVE CAPTURED THE SLUG >:)

[kreepyveebs]

I found the real slug ehe~

[frigfridge]

galloping ghost arcade

i went there. it was cool. they have like 800+ arcade cabinets, and most of them actually work! heres some of the stuff i played

the outfoxies: very funny, very chaotic. better dynamic stages than smash bros. theres so much going on in this game and i gotta see more sometime

chimera beast: i love this game! i wish it got released. i love eating enemies to mutate and gain new powers. i also appreciate how getting hit just depletes the mutation meter instead of being instant death because i am secretly bad

space bomber: just delightful. i really enjoy the art style and the enemy capturing mechanic, though if nothing else you gotta take a look at the marquee

golly! ghost: this is actually the game i came to see, but i ended up disappointed. i think the cabinet might have been fucked up somehow because it was hard to really see the screen, like the sprites and diorama lights were both too dim. really unfortunate because the mixed-media visuals are like the whole point of the game

the first funky fighter: amazing to see this in person, its a blast. the cabinet has these huge, poundable buttons that make the play experience SO satisfying

bonks adventure: i am a casual bonk enjoyer so i was surprised by how different this was from the turbografx games, its got a bunch of weird score attack mechanics and unique level environments. definitely want to look into this one more

avenging spirit: super creative idea, i love games where you can play as the enemies. another hit from jaleco...

castlevania the arcade: real neat! once i got used to how the game tracked your “cursor” the whip controls felt pretty natural. i still got rocked by death though, i think there was a dodge mechanic i didnt have to use until then or something

ninja baseball batman: ive really wanted to play this because ive got a friend whos super into it and im glad i did. excellent beat em up, feels great to play and the art style is so charming

chocovader contactee: i was surprised they had something like this, its a japanese-only minigame compilation that relies somewhat on being able to read instructions. most of the games you can figure out without them, though. of course i like it

black heart: fantasy shmup with a unique aesthetic thats a little hard to describe, its like halfway between gritty and cartoony. i dig it, but the player sprite is pretty huge and ive heard it gets frustrating fast. also jeanne is cute

dolphin blue: metal slug-like where you ride a superpowered dolphin and blow stuff up. the 2.5d art style looks great and its lots of fun to ram into stuff with the dolphin

segasonic the hedgehog: unfortunately this one was also fucked up, the monitor was too dim and one of the trackballs didnt work properly so there was just an immobile mighty the armadillo onscreen for the entire credit. but at least i can say i have played it...

virtua racing: i have very little experience with steering wheel controls for arcade racers so i was bumping into shit the whole time, still fun though

dariusburst ex: just nifty to see in its original resolution

sinistar: terrifying

time traveler: another one that was really neat to see, but didnt hold my interest. also i think the game audio was muted because all i heard from the cabinet was the beeping noise

primal rage: doesnt seem that good as like. a video game. but i liked playing as the gorilla and making loud puke noises for everyone nearby to hear

vicious circle: unreleased killer instinct-ish thing? not that into it, though i like how cinematic it gets with the stage intros and such

games which i wanted to play but were out of order: lucky & wild, holosseum, carnevil, half-life survivor

[mrs-mikko-rantanen]

Conditioned

 2501 words. A little longer than I had planned but that’s ok I guess. I’d also wanted it to be a bit more “mind control” but it didn’t quite end up right. TW: Capture, choking, drugged, attacks, friendly fire, hospital.

 Adair followed Nyar as the captain pushed the door open, Thane keeping his gun trained on the door as the other two crossed the room to the figure lying on the floor. 

"Caelum, hey buddy it's me." Nyar had knelt to the ground, checking his pilot's pulse with one hand, the other still gripping his gun. Caelum let out a startled cry, wincing and recoiling from Nyar's hand. Adair felt his heart break a little for Caelum as he slug his own gun over his shoulder. The room was evidence enough that Caelum had been tortured and abused horribly during the month he'd been missing. The room was cold, with no padding anywhere in sight, meaning Caelum had likely spent most; if not all of his time here sleeping on the floor. Adair's nose wrinkled a little at the thought. It was also obvious that Caelum had been sick at some point in here, and the medic hoped that he didn't have any open wounds, any of which would absolutely be infected by now. 

          "Nyar, get the blindfold off him." Adair ordered gently, reaching over Caelum and cutting through the ropes that were holding his hands behind his back. 

         Once the blindfold had been removed and his bonds cut, Caelum's hands flew up in front of his face, his body curling up to protect his head. 

          "Caelum, it's ok, it's us. We're here to get you home." Adair said softly, trying to pull Caelum's hands away. "I just need to look you over real quick and then we can go, ok?"

         "No, stop!" Caelum wailed, slapping Adair's hands away, "Leave me alone!"

       Nyar grabbed Caelum's hands tightly, holding them out of Adair's way, "Hey man...hey hey, it's ok, we won't hurt-" he was cut off as Caelum broke free, scrambling into a sitting position and throwing a punch into Nyar's nose before he tried to back away. 

Nyar fell back a little, and Adair quickly grabbed Caelum’s arm. Caelum pried it out of his grip quickly, moving to back-hand Adair as he did so. Years of boxing in an underground ring and honing his reflexes were the only thing that kept Adair from getting hit. He leaned back quickly, Caelum’s fingers only just brushing against his nose. He took Caelum’s wrist again, loosely, as he called for Thane. 

“He’s in shock,” Adair explained quickly, “I just need him to calm down a little.” 

Thane nodded and knelt on the other side of the frightened young man, offering him a smile as well. “Cael, hey just look at me, ok? Just look…” 

Again, Caelum lunged to attack his friends and rescuers, letting out a pained scream as he clawed at Thane. Nyar had recovered by now, and wrapped an arm around Caelum’s chest, pulling him back away from Thane.

“GET OFF OF ME! LET GO! STOP IT, LET ME GO!” Caelum’s voice cracked as he struggled against Nyar’s grip. 

Thane frowned, looking to the door. “He’s making too much noise. They’re going to come investigate.”

“Snow him.” Nyar grunted, fighting to keep Cealum down, “Knock him out, MacClyde.”

Adair shook his head. “I don't think--”

“STOP! PLEASE, STOP! GET OFF ME!” Caelum was crying now, gasping and clawing as he kicked against Nyar. 

“I said knock him out!” Nyar shouted as Caelum threw an elbow into his side.

“I can’t! I don’t know if they’ve drugged him, I don’t want to risk overdosing him!” Adair shouted back as he and Thane fought to keep Caelum from hurting Nyar too much. 

Nyar let out an angry growl, shifting a little. “Sorry, buddy.” He grunted before wrapping his arm around Caelum’s neck, pressing his bicep tight against his throat. 

Adair felt a wave of horror crash over him, mixing with worry and guilt as he watched Caelum’s eyes widen and fill with panic. The mechanic tried desperately to free himself from Nyar’s grip, his fingernails digging into his arm and drawing blood in thin lines as his face went red. Adair met Nyar’s eyes, which were filled with question, and felt his jaw clench. It wasn’t long before Caelum stopped fighting, his hands falling limply to the ground, and his eyes rolling back as his head slumped to the side a little.

“He’s out.” Adair said, his voice flat.

Nyar nodded, his grip relaxing as he grabbed for the blindfold that had been discarded onto the floor. He tied it around Caelum’s mouth in a clumsy gag, then met Adair’s eyes. “We’ve already wasted enough time, we have to move, now. And we cant really do that again when he wakes up. We can argue in the car.”

Adiar’s teeth ground together so hard that the edges of his vision blurred a little as he helped Nyar haul Caelum up to drag him towards the getaway car. 

“Yes, Captain.”

Sometimes, he really did see exactly why Ewan hated Nyar as much as he did.

*.*.*.*

Caelum was warm. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt warm. He frowned a little as he shifted, trying to determine where he was. Nothing felt right. His brain was trapped in a fog and he had no memories past…

...Past Nyar trying to kill him.  

His eyes flicked open at the memory, and he blinked rapidly, a hand up to try to diffuse the light as his eyes adjusted. 

"Hey, look who's finally up!" He flinched away from the voice on his left. Thane. Thane had been there too. He'd held him down, kept his hands still while Nyar had wrapped his arm around Caelum's neck. If he was here now….

Caelum acted on instinct, gripped by an animal terror as he leapt out of the hospital bed. He ignored the shouting and the painful sting as the IVs and needles pulled against him, chaining him to the bed. He grabbed the front of Thane's shirt and slammed him against the wall, hard; once, twice, before shifting his grip so that both of his hands were wrapped firmly around the younger man's throat. Tears streamed down his face and he squeezed harder. 

"You're a lie!" He hissed, blinking through the tears, "You're a lie, you're a lie, you're a lie!"

Thane's fingers curled around Caelum's wrist and his mouth opened as he gasped, trying to force breath into his lungs. His face was red; eyes wide and full of terror and confusion. 

"You weren't there to save me." Caelum spat, "You were there to kill me."

The door burst open and Caelum's head spun around quickly to see Avanda burst in the room. He dropped Thane, who fell with a shuddering gasp and a fit of coughing to the floor. 

"Caelum, it's ok." Avanda said slowly stepping farther into the room now, "I'm not here to hurt you."

He almost believed her. 

Almost. 

It would have been much easier to trust her if he couldn't see the rest of them behind her, staring hungrily at him. 

"Do you know who I am?"

Caelum nodded, one fist raised to her, the other hand stretched out to shield himself from Thane, should he decide to get up and attack him again. 

"Good. That's good. Now I need to check on Thane, alright? I'm just going to lead him out of the room."

She waited until he nodded, then slowly helped Thane to his feet and ushered him out to the hallway before turning back to Caelum. 

"You're bleeding.  Can I fix that IV for you?"

"No." His voice was hard and his answer fast. "Stay back."

"Caelum, you're hurt. You need help. Please, let me-"

"I said stay back!"

"Caelum-"

He was on her in a heartbeat. She was pinned right where he'd had Thane trapped against the wall only moments before. 

"I said: stay back."

Avanda seemed calm. Especially for someone who's windpipe was being crushed by somebody a foot taller than them.

She reached a hand up to his arm, blinking hard and trying to form words. Her hand was trying to move his, but more patiently than Thane had been. 

"I'm...s-sorry…" She finally gasped. 

Caelum blinked in confusion as he felt something prick at his neck, and he released her to lift a hand to the needle that some one else had stuck him with while he was distracted. 

“I’m sorry,” She said again, stepping forward to catch him as he stumbled forward, “I’m so sorry, Cael.” 

Caelum let out a choked sob as he sank to the floor, staring at Avanda in terror.

“You lied...you lied too...no….”

“I’m sorry.”

Her face was the last thing he could see as the sedative pulled him away into the darkness.

"You lied."

*.*.*.*

"He's progressing well." Adair reported, flipping through Caelum’s file.

"And he's alone?"

"Yes."

"Good." Nyar nodded. “Good, I think he should stay isolated while he recovers.”

“You’re kidding.” Avanda scoffed, her arms crossed.

Nyar shook his head. “Not at all. He’s dangerous. It’s not forever, Av. He just needs some time to heal, that’s all the longer we’ll keep him on his own, I promise.”

“Nyar, that’s-” Avanda closed her eyes and shook her head, “That’s the last thing he needs right now, ok?”

Nyar scowled, shifting to face her better. “Oh yeah? Remind me, what happened when he woke up and saw Thane? Or what about both times he saw you?”

Avanda shook her head. “Nyar, he was still in shock, he’s been gone for a month, and who knows what kind of torture he’s been going through, of course he’d be scared!”

“Scared? That’s not scared, Av. That’s dangerous.” Nyar pointed towards the closed door separating them from the room where Caelum was, chained to his hospital bed.

“I hate to admit it, but I think Nyar may have a point.” Adair said slowly. “I mean look at how he’s been reacting to staff here during his recovery. Aislin can work with him fine, and he doesn’t fight Johnson at all. But he attacked you twice, and me once. I was there during the rescue, and he clearly misinterpreted some of the stuff that happened that night, so he thinks of me as a threat. As for you and Thane, I think it’s safe to say that whatever he went through, it was probably some sort of...conditioning based torture.”

The room fell silent. Avanda didn’t miss any of the quick glances that were tossed her way, or how Adair had paused before voicing his hypothesis. She sighed a little and chewed her lip, a scowl written across her face as she’s thought.

“He’s scared.”

“I know, Av but-”

“No.” She snapped, “No, you don’t know. You’ve never been through what he’s been through. You’ve never been where he is right now, you have no idea what it’s like to be terrified of the people you love for no reason.” She glared at everyone in the room, challenging them a little as she spoke. “So none of you know how scared he is right now. Or how lonely he is, or how desperately he just wants to feel safe.” She turned on her heel, heading for Caelum’s room as she rolled up the sleeves of her flannel. 

She pushed the door open slowly, stepping in and closing it behind her.

“Hello, Caelum.” It broke her heart to see him like this. He was one of her oldest friends, her brother. He was supposed to be cheerful and upbeat, never without a smile and a laugh. Not this traumatised shell with hollow eyes and a tear-stained face. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” His voice was rough as sandpaper as he shifted, pulling his knees closer to his chest as the short chains clinking slightly.

“I thought you might be lonely.” Avanda said gently. 

“I want to be alone.” Caelum whispered, “I can’t trust myself.”

Avanda nodded. “I know. But I trust you.” She stepped closer to him, moving towards the chair next to his bed.

Caelum fliched, pulling the chains away. “Don’t-don’t get too close to me.”

Avanda sat down slowly, resting her elbows on her knees. “I’m not afraid of you, Caelum.”

He looked up at her with sad, tormented eyes. “You should be.” He finally whispered.

Avanda smiled a little, sadly. “I’m so sorry, Caelum. I wish we’d found you earlier.” When he said nothing, she spoke again. “Do you mind if I touch you? I don’t think you need these chains.”

“No, please don’t.” He recoiled a little, holding his wrists out of her reach, “Please, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Ok. If they make you feel better, we can leave them on.” She waited for him to relax again. “Do you remember when I first got back from when He’d kidnapped me? How I couldn’t look you in the eyes or stand close enough for you to reach me?”

He nodded a little. “Yes.”

“Do you know why?”

“Because He’d--conditioned you to expect some sort of pain with me.” Avanda hated how guilty he sounded about it. Like he had been the one to hold the lighter to her skin or to blow the smoke in her eyes. How he blamed himself for details of her past that he didn’t even know everything about. She’d never told any of the crew exactly what had happened. Not the specifics anyway, just the basics.

“I wasn’t very easy to be around those first few weeks, was I? I think I may have even hit you when you tried to hug me.”

Caelum let out a huff of what may have been laughter. “No, you didn’t hit me. You just acted like a cat that didn’t want to get picked up.”

Avanda chuckled a little. “Maybe you’re right. But did you ever once think that I was dangerous? Or that I was going to hurt you? That I’d become another person completely?”

“No.”

“What did you think?”

He licked his lips a little. “That you were scared. And that-that I wanted to help you.”

“That’s exactly how I feel right now. Caelum, I know exactly how you feel. I know how scared you are; how terrified you are of all of us, of yourself, I know. But I also know that you’re not going to hurt us. You’re still the same old giant, friendly, sweet, hungry, goofball that I grew up with. And I know that you would never dream of hurting me, or any of the rest of us. You’re still my friend. And I’m not about to just give up on you.”

Caelum looked up at her again, searching her face for any sign of a lie. “Thank you.”

Avanda smiled at him. “You’re welcome. Do you want me to take those off now?”

Caelum glanced at his wrists. “Are you sure you feel ok with that?”

“Positive. I can always put them back on for you if you start to feel worked up.”

Caelum swallowed hard, then nodded a little. “Ok. Ok, yeah. Let’s give it a try.”

[tobacconist]

ive been writing a story in my head for the past two years, yet to write anything down about it

this is unrelated but important to the main story

in the year ??????? the great wizard ??????? compiled a book of wisdom called ??????? and founded the grand wizards college. these became the standard authority on all matters and for twelve years ended the intermittent wars which had been ongoing for centuries across all known lands under his rulership. he unified them under his great power and wisdom and dreamed of ushering forth an enlightened age and used his combined forces to fight ??????? , an evil wizarding sect who oppose his efforts to compile and disseminate wisdom and believe magical knowledge should be kept secret. they ally themselves with the ancient spider ??????? and with the beings of the malevolent planet ??????? the high wizard of this group is captured and arrested by ??????? s combined forces and he is sentenced to have his teeth, tongue, hands and genitals removed to prevent him from working his evil magic, and exiled to the island ??????? for the rest of his days. 13 years after the start of the wizard mandate over all known lands, it is discovered that copies of the great book have been corrupted, with significant numbers, names and grammatical particles changed. no one knows for how long this has been going on and it seems practically every copy is affected. ??????? is furious, as the prototype of the book was one of the casualties in the decisive war against ??????? and immediately sets to work trying to restore the corrupted versions. he orders that ??????? be brought before the court once again, as everyone knows he is responsible, but the island is found uninhabited, meaning he must have escaped some time prior. exhausted, the great wizard (who is by this point incredibly old) dies full of despair that all his efforts to build a unified society have been undermined. word arrives that the ancient spider has once again surfaced (for the first time since aforementioned battle) and resettled under the woods surrounding the twin kingdoms of ??????? , and that the evil wizard has also relocated there. he has regained his powers by surgically altering his feet so that they can function as hands, and fashioning himself a pair of false teeth and allowing a certain slug to live in his mouth as a tongue. he has also surgically altered his vocal chords, allowing him to pronounce phonemes of the ancient language; making him more powerful than ever. there is another battle, and he is once again captured (without protest), and this time put to death and his body utterly destroyed. but the damage is already done. the wizard mandate loses power and the known world returns to warring kingdoms. the great wizards college becomes a fortress city, and continues its war against ??????? but is plagued by internal divisions

[eugenesmorphine]

Breathe // Ronald Speirs Imagine

Taglist: @alienoresimagines​

  Breathe. Just breathe. Don't worry about the fact that the German Army just took you as a Prisoner of War. Not that you were a female United States Paratrooper. Not that they had just tied you to a pole in some random shed. Far away from your platoon and from the only man that you would want to spent the rest of your life with. Don't worry at the fact that you were most likely going to die. Oh god. I'm going to die. Not in the hands of old age and with the love of my life besides me. But young and in the hands of German soldiers. I'm only twenty four. I won't be able to make a family. I won't see Ronald again.

   I was pulled out of my thoughts by a slamming door and a couple sets of heavy footsteps. I looked up tiredly, my body aching and shivering. I've only been in this cold and secluded shed for near twenty four hours and they had already stripped me down to my underwear and bra and have already beaten me profusely. Trying to get information out of me in theses hours, in which I refused to give. Which I suffered from these consequences. I suffered horribly. I will never forget what these Germans have done to me. God I just want Ronald to find me. I don't want to be here anymore.

   "Where are your men?" The German officer screamed into my face. The spit from his mouth landing on my face. I kept my silence, feeling the blood from the cut on my cheek, split eyebrow, bloody nose and the mouth full of blood the dripped down my chin. I weakly just kept the same stern, cold look on my face, glancing up to look up at Kraut. And when he yanked my hair back, arching my neck out. I only winced ever so slightly, refusing to show any more signs of any pain or anything. It earned a slug across my face. My body fell to the side, then receiving a hard kick to my ribs. I small cry left my lips as the boot hit the same spot again. Hearing a loud crack and a sharp pain. One rib had most definitely just broke. I could only imagine the pain that was going to happen in time to come if Ronald and the others didn't find me. Now the fear was sinking in.

   I laid on the side for a few more seconds. "I can take it.." I said weakly, looking up at the German. I heard a scoff and he pulled me up and stood me against a wall. He hit me again. I looked back at him once more, blood dripping down my lip and falling onto the concrete floor. A placed a tired smirk onto my face as I spit the blood right onto the officer's ugly face. You could just feel the rage radiating off of him. Boy did I have something coming for me.

Back With Easy Company:

   Captain Speirs had been tearing their camp apart. Just trying to see if his love Y/N was around the camp somewhere. Trying to face away from the cold truth on the fact of her becoming a prisoner of war. Trying to push all the thoughts of losing her to the back of her mind. Pretending that she was just somewhere around camp. And or someone wasn't keeping track of her and lost her somewhere. Even though Y/N was a grown woman. Poor Ronald Spiers just wanted to make any excuse not to think anything but Y/N was now a prisoner of war. And she is now in a really dangerous situation.      But soon, he became angry. Very angry. Shouting at men viciously to help search for you. And when someone told him that you were missing and the fact that you could've been, (and must have been) a prisoner of war. Nixon and Winters had to hold him back. Because you know how this man can barely control his anger induced tendencies, he nearly ripped a poor replacements head off.

    "Speirs, you have to accept the fact that she could've been captured! And you can't attack our men because of what happened. What we can do is send scouts to check to see where she could be or could have gone. She hasn't been gone long, she couldn't have gone far," the redheaded Captain tried explaining to the now disheveled man sitting in front of him.    Speirs sat on a trunk, his head in hands, just taking in the words the other officer he was saying and not having any thoughts to respond. He was broken. He began to really understand the fact of the matter. Y/N was missing. She was a POW. She could die. He could lose the love of his life in any moment and he would never know. He could never feel her touch, her lips, hear her soft voice, or even see her beautiful smile. And for the first time, Dick Winters saw the side that Y/N did to him. Ronald Speirs really loved that woman, and even though he was terrible at showing his emotions, he was in love with this one female paratrooper. He looked up at the redhead in front of him with tears in his eyes. His walls began crashing down.

    "Dick, I can't lose her. I need that girl. Y/N is my everything, and god Richard, I'm so in love with her," as he preached to the Captain standing in front of him, his voice cracked. Though, the tears trying to be forced back, began to fall. And once the tears began to fall, they didn't stop. Ronald's face went back into his hands as he tried to stifle his slight sobs. Dick placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly.

    "I'm sending a couple squads out on patrol. They are going to search and follow anything that could lead to Sergeant L/N. We even have a dog that can and will sniff her out. Just please, we need you at your best in case of anything. And we don't need you being dishonorably discharged because you kill a replacement, " Dick spoke softly, adding a small chuckle at the end. Ronald returned the chuckle as he wiped his eyes. Looking up and nodded. Only hoping that his love would be found.

    A couple days had passed. For the first few days nothing about Y/N showed up or came up anywhere. Ronald began to seem quiet and quite scary. Although, then came the day, when the jeep came back and Webster had been carrying a smile and bloodied female in his arms. Just his paratrooper jacket that was wrapped around tightly to the female's nearly completely bare body. That was the day Captain Ronald Speirs ran faster than he ever did in his life. Even faster than he did back when he ran through Foy. Y/N seemed to have made it. He couldn't leave you now.

   He trailed on Websters and now Doc Roe's heals as they carried the now frail and battered female to a table. Laying her body down, that is when he saw her up close and a good look. Tears immediately filled his eyes. Dark patches of bruises littered all over her body. Her face bloodied from her split lips and other cut places. She was conscious, slightly. She looked over at him weakly as Doc put an IV in her arm and smiled softly. He smiled back as her gripped her hand, she squeezed his as Doc dressed her wounds and wrapped her ribs. She winced and tears fell down her face. Ronald sat there the entire time and spoke to her softly, whipping her tears and whispering sweet nothings to her. He had never thought that he would have to see her this way. It was an awfuls sight. Even the other guys had sorrowful faces. Though, Y/N was going to make it, the thought of a woman going through the things she had to go through was horrible in it's thought.

   Once the two of them were alone, the sat in silence for a while. Though, Y/N sat up slowly, wincing. And Ronald was quick to run to her side. She smiled at him and tried to shoo him away. But, Ronald , like the stubborn officer he was, refused and sill was at her side. "I lost you once, and almost lost you forever just because I let you out of my sights. I'm not ever leaving your side. Ever again," he said as he placed his forehead on hers. The two of them stared at each others eyes. He kissed her ever so softly. And held her like she was made of the finest glass ever. He meant everything that he said. And from the day, Captain Ronald Speirs was next to you and connected at your hip every single day. Not a day after then did he not stay by your side. He stuck to his word. Y/N couldn't be happier.

[kordeliiius]

finally trying to summarize what i have in mind for moon scholar for anyone who’s interested

ive pretty much only been drawing bits and pieces of what I think up so hopefully this makes things more coherent

slug bros bring legless phos to aechmea

ventri changes her mind bc she doesnt want phos to get grinded, phos says they'll go along with whatever she has in mind (this bit is kinda heated bc the trio is being heavily guarded)

aechmea agrees to further negotiation but if the slugs wanna stay humanoid they gotta b restrained so acu gets his tendrils chopped™, is sent to recover (good luck barb)

phos needs new legs SO snail bros suggest using agate shell bc they feel bad about roping them into this 

phos and acu chat for a bit before the attachment procedure, they're off to a good start considering phos doesnt remember meeting him before

legs acquired

something something getting acquainted with moonies (barbata, kima, quieta, and my addition of nymph)

negotiations begin with aechmea explaining to phos why the lunarians are capturing the gems in the first place like in “prayer machine”; since phos has never dealt with anything this heavy before, it's hard for them

they decide to go with operation betrayal and the moon gem squad is pretty much the same, except morga senior goes in place of goshe junior, and ghost secretly tags along before being separated from cairn

phos might get the pearl eye at some point so home base can see how they’re progressing on earth but im not sure if they’ll get it right away (and not everyone’s havin it)

also since they’re pretty weak, phos learns how to fight without getting shattered just in case

there is a language barrier between the gems and the admirabilis, so if they wanna talk, either phos or a lunarian has to be there. they do learn some phrases from each other however

basically: admirabilis <––> lunarian <––> gem

if they're next to each other then  they have mutual intelligibility

ventri’s arm grows back over the course of the story

im yet to decide on an ending but i thinking maybe phos works a few winters before anyone's gone for good

if you want an actual written piece that’s pretty spot on (only up to the slice™ but it’s still well-done) check this out!!

[thatwhichidarenotspeak]

Some of my favorite Carrie Fisher quotes

I always wanted to do what my mother did-- get all dressed up, shoot people, fall in the mud. I never considered anything else.

[on why gaffer's tape was sometimes used under her Princess Leia costume in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)] As we all know, there is no underwear in space.

I think of my body as a side effect of my mind.

[on success] There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap".

[on the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney] I'm now a Disney Princess!

[why Princess Leia never got her own light saber] Even in space, there's a double standard.

The father who flipped out about it [Lei's metal bikini in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)], "What am I going to tell my kid about why she's in that outfit?" Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn't like it. And then I took it off. Backstage.

[about shooting Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)] George Lucas up to me the first day of filming and he takes one look at the dress and says, "You can't wear a bra under that dress." So, I say, "Okay, I'll bite. Why?" And he says, "Because . . . there's no underwear in space." What happens is you go to space and you become weightless. So far so good, right? But then your body expands? But your bra doesn't--so you get strangled by your own bra. Now I think that this would make for a fantastic obit--so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.

[on being asked to lose weight for a part] They always do [ask me]. They want to hire part of me, not all of me. They want to hire about three-fourths, so I have to get rid of the fourth somehow. The fourth can't be with me. I made a joke!"

Don't slide through life. Savor it. Slow down. Be kind. Pay attention. Because this isn't going to happen again.

We treat beauty like an accomplishment, and that is insane. Everyone in L.A. says, 'Oh you look good,' and you listen for them to say you've lost weight. It's never 'How are you?' or 'You seem happy!

The only reason to go into acting is if you can kill a giant monster.

[on the order the Star Wars films should be watched] Watch the ones that I'm in and then you can do what you want.

[sanguineascent-blog]

JOJ Volume 1, issue 25

The collective fears of Valoran have been realized in Kalamandaas the standoff between Noxus and Demacia has escalated to all-out war. Initial estimates put casualties in the hundreds, with reports continuing to flood in. The High Councilors of the League of Legends called for an emergency assembly of League and city-state representatives as soon as fighting broke out, but they have yet to release an official statement.

It appears that Prince Jarvan IV of Demacia struck the first blow against General Swain of Noxus. According to eyewitnesses, Swain was making his usual rounds of the Noxian camp when he was ambushed by Jarvan, who was lurking in shadows nearby. The two became locked in combat, and soldiers from both camps immediately engaged each other in efforts to come to their aid.

“Jarvan has always been a bit of a hothead, but it’s hard to imagine him starting the fight with stakes like these,” commented Tryndamere, who has recently been in negotiations with Demacia following Freljord's ascension to city-state status. “Those two have always had a special hatred for each other though, if anyone would get to him, it would be Swain.”

Though battle between these embittered rivals has been heated, ambassadors from both sides have pledged that their forces will refrain from the use of unsanctioned magic.

Chancellor Malek Hawkmoon, spokesman for Noxus, called it a “steel and slugs” engagement, employing the Noxian military term for a physical-only wartime operation. This doesn’t offer much reassurance to neighboring villages, but it has bought the League some breathing space while it strategizes a response.

Neither army appears to have gained a significant advantage over the other. The bulk of the fighting has taken place on the fields just outside the village’s primary dig site, but the contested area is gradually expanding. Prince Jarvan hasn’t been seen on the battlefield since his initial clash with Swain, but Noxus’ Master Tactician has stridden the front lines, issuing commands and urging his troops onward.

Jarvan’s absence has caused a great degree of speculation that the Prince may have been killed or captured, but Demacian forces have not faltered. Their morale has been bolstered by Garen and the Dauntless Vanguard, whose efforts have stymied the Noxian offensive at nearly every turn. King Jarvan III has reportedly donned his own royal armor, although his exact position remains a mystery. Wherever he is, it’s fair to say Xin Zhao is at his side.

---

Since the death of Boram Darkwill two weeks ago, Noxian High Command has existed in a state of unrest and contention. Despite raging debates, the successor to the Grand General’s empty seat remains unclear.

According to Noxian scholars, the Grand Generals of Noxus have historically risen to power through unrivaled military success and support. However, Boram Darkwill’s unusually long reign saw the creation of the League of Legends. “With the oversight of the Institute of War, we have fallen upon a time of relative peace,” said Chancellor Malek Hawkmoon. “The role of High Command has changed. We negotiate, we manage the provinces and territories under the Noxian banner, we govern. We are peacekeepers. It is difficult to evaluate any one General without the visceral results that war once gave us.”

At the head of the dispute is the late Grand General’s youngest son, Keiran Darkwill. While he does not hold a General’s rank, he has an impressive military record. Keiran oversaw Noxus’ acquisition of Askay and Meland last year and is also responsible for driving back the minotaur tribes of the Great Barrier. “With the situation in Kalamanda grown dire, we have no time for games,” said Keiran.

“It is only right that the seat of the Grand General remains with the Darkwill line.” Darkwill’s eldest son, Draythe, has yet to address the public following his father’s death.

While Keiran Darkwill does hold a strong following, he is not without opposition. The death of Boram Darkwill has revived investigation of General Du Couteau’s disappearance, an effort driven by his daughters, Katarina and Cassiopeia. General Du Couteau was largely considered Boram Darkwill’s most trusted and skilled General until he vanished late last year.

“If my father were here today, he would stand the undisputed successor to Darkwill,” commented Katarina. “It is too great a coincidence to ignore that the two most powerful men in Noxus have been removed from their positions in so short a span of time.”

Even as High Command remains in turmoil, a great deal of interest lies with General Jericho Swain. As a League of Legends champion, he remains the most recognizable face of Noxian High Command and his military record is exceptional. “Even in his absence, members of High Command have voiced support to his name,” Hawkmoon said. “As it stands, Jericho Swain is the presiding General on Noxus’ only warfront. That is more than most Generals can boast.”

General Swain, occupied in Kalamanda, could not be reached for comment.

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus IV

 Epilogue

           As they exited the courtroom for recess, Kally wished she hadn’t worn a skirt. Everything was miserable enough without having uncomfortable clothing on the list.

           Nikhil, Merry’s little brother, looked terrified. His gangly limbs looked awkward and stick-figure in his charcoal suit, like someone decided to stuff a scarecrow with dowel rods. Although Merry was pretending everything was fine, there was too much talk of foster homes. Neither sibling wanted to be split up again. With Merry’s emancipation, it was looking more and more likely. If Nikhil stayed at his Mom’s, then Merry would be close by and could do some proper mothering from a distance. But, Mrs. Blythe had missed out on too many court dates concerning Merry’s abusive stepfather.

           When Nikhil went to use the bathroom, all of Merry’s feigned confidence deflated. She collapsed onto one of the benches in the eerily sterile, white hallway. Kally had to wonder why all government buildings thought white was a good idea. What a comforting color when you’re settling a violent family dispute.

           “They’re not going to let me take care of him,” Merry said.

           Her voice was as hollow as her expression. No humming. No “sweetie” or “bae.” Even her outfit looked really… not Merry: a conservative business suit that couldn’t cover her curves and her wavy hair twisted up into a bun.

           Kally wished she knew what to do. Pax would have cracked a joke, but she hadn’t seen him since their chaotic Christmas dinner. Calex probably would have known best, but he hadn’t been able to come back from Britain. He’d fought hard to scrounge up enough money for a flight, but his side job didn’t make enough extra to helping his father with the funeral debts, contribute to rent, and pay for a ticket.

           Merry had teased him on the phone, had told him it was fine.

           Now, Merry’s face was pale. There wasn’t a trace of a smile on her lips. Kally could tell she hadn’t been sleeping.  

           “I did a lot of research with Malcolm about the laws for this,” Merry continued, her eyes distantly staring at the sunlight trickling through the window. A beautiful backdrop of a parking lot. “If an older, emancipated sibling can provide for their younger sibling, they’ll sometimes let them live together, but, I disappeared when he needed me… They’re going to keep him in permanent foster care. He doesn’t even like his temporary foster family.”

           Merry’s eyes glistened.

           Kally took Merry’s hand and squeezed it. “Hey, we’re going to make sure you can see Nik.”

           Merry’s eyes focused. She forced a smile. Although Kally hadn’t seen Merry nearly as much as she would have liked—something about being grounded for eternity as punishment for “running away” for a few months and drowning under makeup school work—Kally could tell Merry hadn’t been taking any of what happened well. Not that any of them could, but what happened to Hiro haunted Merry. Merry did not like that she had the power to drive people insane. It especially terrified Kally when Pollux gave her a call on the camp phone to say that Merry was second guessing whether she could have driven her own father to beat her.

           With the two months of distance between them and the Battle of Saturnalia, Kally almost wished these monsters were the kind she could hit with a light javelin.

           Then, the recess ended, and everyone was allowed back into the courtroom. Kally made sure not to look Merry’s adoptive father or her mother in the face. She was afraid she’d punch both of them for what they’d done to their children and that didn’t seem like a great idea with so many deputies patrolling the halls.

           The judge, an elderly, possibly senile Hispanic man named Justice Jose, shuffled back into the courtroom. For the entire proceedings, Kally had feared he would pass out. He and his two deputies had been glistening with sweat and clearly sick.

           Now, however, he looked much better. Color had returned to his wrinkled complexion. She’d heard Nikhil make a half-hearted joke about the judge really needing to go to the bathroom when he called recess so close to the final hearing. Maybe Nikhil had been right. No upset stomachs allowed in the courtroom.

           There was something different about him though, something Kally probably shouldn’t have even noticed because it was so subtle: he was wearing thin, black gloves.

           When Kally glanced at his two deputies, something else weird happened. Already, she couldn’t really remember what they looked like. Now, she struggled to look them in the face at all, and not because she’d broken the law several times in the last few months.

           Each time she did look at one, she immediately forgot his features, beyond the fact that the deputy was tall and a male. Hadn’t one of them been a female before?

           Kally was so distracted, she didn’t register the court formalities. She was so conditioned to standing and sitting at mass, the motions blurred past.

           But, her mind sharpened when Jose said, “I think we’ve heard enough from the different parties. Normally, I might go through an explanation to Mr. Sukumar Priya and Mrs. Blythe as to why I find them unfit to raise Nikhil, but I believe we have covered that amply.”

           Merry blinked and glanced over at Kally. This judge had been very wordy, like Homeric epic wordy, before.

           “From her financial records and the amount of maturity and responsibility that this merry girl has illustrated—”

           Merry’s eyes widened. During the entire proceedings, they’d been referring to her by her legal name, either Maari or Ms. Blythe. The judge looked like he’d held off a smile at the comment.

           “—she clearly is the best option to take care of her little brother. We will set up another home inspection and check in the next month after.”

           Kally almost didn’t hear anything else.

           Merry’s jaw dropped. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

           Kally felt the same happen to her. She didn’t even catch the judge delegating the decision’s write up to a clerk, who looked confused and skeptical. Jose signed a paper and said, “This court is adjourned.”

***

           They were celebrating as they left the courthouse. Kally’s older brother, John, would be driving around to pick them up, and she knew she could bully him into taking them for dessert. He’d been a lot more protective and attentive since she’d been back, especially after the massive fight that Kally had with their mother. And the fact that Kally could barely move the first month with her broken ribs.

           When they turned to the parking garage, Kally froze.

           On the sidewalk, facing away from her, there was a person wearing a silk burgundy suit. His hair was gelled back into a perfect, short ponytail.

           Reflexively, Kally’s hand shot into her messenger bag. Her chest constricted, and she felt her rib pain return with her panic.

           She stepped in front of Merry and Nikhil, withdrawing her Argonaut statue.

           There was no way—she wouldn’t be able to—he couldn’t be alive—

           “Kall! Merry!”

           Kally’s vision had tunneled. She had noticed two figures standing on either side of Mr. Burgundy Suit, like henchmen, but she hadn’t registered them beyond the matching dress shirts.

           One of the two henchies—the tallest one—had broken off, rapidly walking towards her with a broad grin.

           There was no muzzle or straight jacket, but Kally still took a step backwards, horrified this might be a trick.

           His black hair had grown out. Instead of the military style cut he used to have, the bangs hung long, and would have concealed his dark eyes if the bangs weren’t so fluffy. The once-neatly trimmed goatee was longer too, giving him a look crossed between a disheveled, adventurer and a rock star. The scarification gleamed on his bronzed skin.

           Mr. Burgundy Suit whirled towards his rogue underling. “Axel! This isn’t the dramatic reunion we agreed to! We’ll never get this valuable opportunity back!”

           Axel ignored him. He also ignored the way Kally squeaked when he picked her up by the waist for a bear hug.

           Kally felt her cheeks warm up. The suspicion dissolved and she hugged Axel back tightly. “You guys are okay,” she whispered.

           Axel nodded. He held her for an instant longer, then slowly lowered her feet back to the ground.

           There had been no word from them since Christmas. Lapis hadn’t even come after Merry like he’d promised. They had no idea if the Romans had captured them, other than a quick message from Nico and Will assuring her that Frank had no progress on his hunt. But, she’d been wondering if the Romans and Greeks were covering things up or if any gods with a taste for Pax vendettas had achieved vengeance or if the Pax boys had disappeared into the forests of Belize like a bad folk tale monster.

           Kally was genuinely torn between giving each of them a kiss on the check or slugging them hard in the diaphragm. She’d probably have to do both.

           Axel gave Merry a warm smile. “It’s good to see you, Merry. And you must be Nikhil. I heard you two just had a major victory.”

           Nikhil had taken a step behind his sister, practically vanishing. He made a grunt noise. Kally felt bad. He’d gone through too much today to meet these maniacs. Though this was pretty tame compared to the first time she’d met the Pax brothers. Not enough flaming cars.

           Not that we need flaming cars, she thought, in case any Fates were listening.

           Merry’s eyes went glassy again. This time, though, she swayed softly to a tune she was humming. “You dodgy, wonderful works of nature.”

           Kally didn’t quite understand until Pax came over. Her stomach twisted to see him in that familiar burgundy suit with his hair slicked back. One resilient lock still popped out in the front, like a flag that said, I will never be tamed!

           Then, she saw what Merry had: Pax wore a pair of thin, black gloves. The same ones Jose had been wearing.

           There was no way for them to know about the verdict unless they were in the courtroom itself. Well, unless they had threatened the first person out of the courtroom, which is something they would do.

           Pax stopped a few feet away from Kally, giving her his most devilish smile.

           Behind him, a tall, gangly figure approached in a similar burgundy dress shirt with black tie.

           Last time Kally saw Alabaster, he’d been sickly pale and trying to hide his want as everyone else shoveled Christmas food into their mouths. Everything he ate had to be puréed.

           Although Alabaster was still pale like her—he’d always burn within ten minutes of sun contact—there was more color to his freckled cheeks. A thin scar traced where his jawbone had protruded the skin a few months ago. His wry smile looked far less painful as he said, “It’s good to see you Kally.”

           He could talk. Kally didn’t see any wires or anything.

           When he turned to Merry, he merely nodded his head and said, “Ol’Sissy.”

           “Proof that Kally has questionable taste in men,” Merry retorted, folding her arms and looking him up and down like the most disappointed of matchmakers.

           “Aw, Merry! I think Witch-Boy looks hot in a suit and tie,” Pax said with a wink.

           Both Kally and Alabaster blushed. Pax wasn’t wrong. They all looked good in a creepy Santiago’s men wore these when they were being evil way, and it made Kally want to slap them harder and demand where they’d been.

           “Who are these guys? They look like Agents of Shield villains,” Nikhil muttered from behind Merry.

           “We’re the psychopaths that kidnapped your sister and her hot friend,” Pax said.

           “So, demigods,” Nikhil said. He’d been taking some time getting used to the new knowledge of the world, but Merry, Dionysus, and Chiron agreed it was necessary if Merry wanted to have any hand in her brother’s life.

           “Fifty percent,” Pax agreed, gesturing towards Alabaster and himself. He pointed a thumb to Axel, and waggled it between them. “The other fifty is primordial awesome.”

           Axel shook his head, smiling.

           “You’re weird,” Nikhil said. His shoulder relaxed a little and he took a timid step out from behind his sister.

           She completely sidestepped to leave him fully exposed. Merry: ever the coddling caretaker.

           Pax wiped a fake tear from his eye. “We only just started talking and he already knows me so well.”

           “You must be Pax,” Nikhil said, pointing a finger.

           “I was story worthy?” Pax asked. If he were an anime character, his eyes would have sparkled.

           “You were warning worthy,” Merry said. “I know you didn’t just wear those to give Kally and me a heart attack.” She gestured at Pax’s suit and Axel and Alabaster’s burgundy dress shirts.

           “We’re rebranding,” Pax said.

           The stiffness of his smile made the unease return to Kally’s stomach. Something inside Kally said that Pax shouldn’t have been the one to answer that question. He hated those suits. He had sobbed to her when his father made him jell his hair back for their violent family reunion.

           The unease turned to nausea when she realized how much Pax really did look like his father. The more his face had matured from cute to handsome, the closer it got. With the stiffness of that smile, the way his shoulders were held back, and the disquieting confidence—

           Kally shook off the thought.

           Another one immediately clouded her mind. He was answering for Axel and Alabaster. They stood on either side of him like a pair of bodyguards. Pax also hadn’t tried to hug her or touch her at all. Weird to think that boundary respect would be foreboding but—

           “There are a few changes we’re excited to—”

           Merry’s eyes went wide. She held up a hand to cut Pax off. “Stop everything.” She took a step closer to Axel, rising on her tiptoes to examine him thoroughly. Kally wondered if she’d picked up on the same oddities and was about to call one of them out on it.

“Your neck.” She pointed a finger into his chest. “What beautiful creature got a hold of it?”

           Kally feared she meant that someone had strangled Axel. When she saw what Merry meant, Kally’s hand shot up to cover her lips, a habit that she’d been trying to break.

           There were at least four bruises, two just under his ear and two peeking out from his collar, with skin discoloration speckling the skin beside it. Kally couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed them before. They were—

“Are those hickeys?” the words blurted out of Kally’s mouth before she could choke them back.

Really. Obvious. Hickeys.

           Axel’s smile turned to a cocky smirk. He cracked his neck and glanced innocently off to the side. He didn’t even blush.

           “Witness his open defiance of societal standards,” Pax said, making a grand show-man gesture.

           “No,” Merry said in clear disbelief at Axel’s shamelessness. Her grin was enormous.

           Pax pouted and folded his arms across his chest. The perfect posture caved as he slouched gloomily. “He won’t spill. The worst part from this devious fiend? Yesterday, I was gone all day on boring business stuff, and he had a peace meeting with a praetor in the afternoon, and went to a Green Day concert with Grace at night. And Bast has constant access to the house. Could have been an actual empousa for all I know.”

           “I know who it was,” Alabaster said, feigning disinterest as he checked over some spell pouches along his belt.

           “You’re bluffing,” Pax said, “You just want something to hold over my head.”

           “You’re upset because you have no way to find out if I’m bluffing and can’t make me talk if I’m not,” Alabaster said.

           From the way Alabaster and Axel exchanged a glance, she could tell how much they enjoyed dangling this in front of Pax.

           The youngest whined and huffed.

           Kally’s worries melted at their ridiculousness. This was still them. Though, what had Pax meant by business stuff? Alabaster may be capable of becoming a reasonable member of society, but the Pax boys had spent most of their time training and doing street performances before she met them.

           “Oh Mr. Stoic, don’t you go thinking you can hide this from Auntie Merry,” Merry said and folded her arms across her chest. Unlike Pax, she looked more like a mob boss or a proper Queen of Gossip with the motion. Kally was always terrified of how Merry could twist people’s personal info—or assumed personal info—against them.

           Axel pulled out a packet of gum from his pocket. He gave her a grin as he withdrew a piece and slowly folded it into his mouth. “Gentlemen,” Axel said, “Do not kiss and tell.” He looked so proud of himself.

           He offered the gum out to the group.

           Nikhil timidly reached forward and took a piece. “Looking at your neck, I don’t think the person you’re interested in wants anything to do with someone who is gentle,” the kid said.

           Merry gave the most genuine laugh that Kally had heard since everything happened during the Festival of Saturnalia.

           A slight blush finally lit up Axel’s cheeks. Maybe he had to hear it from a fourteen-year-old.

           Kally could tell her face had gone bright red. She often forgot Axel was a Pax boy. When she first met them, Axel was always restrained by the stress of running from their psychotic father and New Rome, of struggling to keep his little brother safe and fed, of crumbling under the guilt of a failed army. He looked so much more relaxed, so much… younger, and, with the new hair, almost wild.

           She never considered how much of a terror Axel could be without those worries. Especially if he put all of his efforts towards charming over one girl. Kally had always assumed it would be Reyna, but Pax’s grumpiness and Merry’s conniving grin made her wonder.  Thalia hadn’t revoked her vows, had she? Not like Kally would have heard about it. She didn’t even know if Thalia and Euna had been talking.

           Anger threatened to bubble when she realized they had been keeping in touch with some of their other friends and not her.

           “Merry, lunch is on me if you can weasel information out of him. That’s usually my forte, but, alas…” Pax glared at his brother. “I’ve been a weasel failure.”

           “You can try,” Axel said. He pinched the gum between his front teeth and pulled it forward with his pointer and middle finger, the same way someone might hold a cigarette, then slipped it back into his mouth.

           “This guy is cool,” Nikhil said.

           “You’re forbidden from looking at him as role model material,” Merry said. “And don’t think you can distract us from the fancy get-ups with this information, at least not for long.”

           “Can’t I?” Axel asked, raising an eyebrow.

           “It’s dangerous when these two agree to work together,” Alabaster said, voicing exactly what Kally was thinking. “Shall we move this conversation to a restaurant? We passed an acceptable-looking ramen house on the way here, and I think Ajax just offered your celebratory lunch on him.”

           That felt too smooth. That ramen house was a spot Merry and Kally enjoyed visiting when they had spare cash from birthdays and could con one of their parents or Kally’s siblings into taking them. They hadn’t been able to go with Merry pooling all her extra cash to get a place for Nikhil. Mr. D was helping, but they all knew it would look suspicious if Merry didn’t come across as financially responsible on her records.

           Merry clucked her tongue. “As suspicious as ever boys.”

           “We’ll need to invite John,” Kally warned, desperately wanting to go, even if this whole thing felt weird. When it came to them, when did anything ever not feel weird? Plus, she still needed to punch all three of them for keeping out of contact for so long.

           “Augh, your brother is an ass,” Nikhil grumbled.

           “Language, sweetie. Remember the rule? SAT hot word with every cuss,” Merry said.

           “Fine. He’s a supercilious ass,” Nikhil said.

           “There’s my smart boy,” Merry said. She tried to pinch his cheek. Nikhil batted her away, clearly embarrassed around the older boys.

           Pax stood up straighter with excitement. “We’ll just have Alabaster talk to John. He’s white. White people like white people, right?”

           Considering John was a walking stereotype of racism, this was a scenario that Kally couldn’t scold Pax for saying that. It still made Kally cringe with secondhand embarrassment. She wanted to point out that John thought that Alabaster was a city-slicker pansy. The only thing that pissed her brother off more than race was the amount of money someone had.

           “I would like to think that Merry can do an exquisite job of broadening his horizons without my assistance,” Alabaster said.

           Merry’s jaw jutted to the side. Both she and Kally cringed at the old discomfort they felt whenever Kally brought Merry to her house. “That stubborn hunbun—”

           “Supercilious ass,” Nikhil said, looking proud of himself. Kally couldn’t help but notice that he’d put his hands into his pockets the same way Axel had.

           “—has commented that he doesn’t view me as Desi anymore, like it’s a compliment,” Merry’s voice was tight. “Though, I think it’ll do him some good to spend more time with you two. I heard he has a certain respect for Mr. Stoic.”

           Axel looked amused. The first time Axel met John, he’d sent John  running faster than a drunken centaur in fear. Kally had to hope, with Axel’s presence demanding respect, Merry’s wit, and Pax’s playfulness, John would become more open-minded over time.

           Alabaster, Axel, and Pax offered to escort them to the designated space that Merry, Nikhil, and Kally had agreed to meet John. They ought to start moving anyway, considering the matching style of the boy’s dress was drawing attention from the deputies just inside the courthouse.

           “So whose nicked money is paying for our lunch?” Merry hummed as they walked. Kally was ecstatic to see a slight dance in Merry’s step again.

           Pax inhaled sharply. “Merry, the person who this money belongs to is a perfectly respectable member of society. They would be offended that you insinuated otherwise.”

           Everyone laughed, though the ones coming from Axel and Alabaster sounded dark.

           Kally swallowed. At least for today, she wanted to have a “normal” lunch with them, as normal as they could handle.[1] Merry had her brother. Kally knew the boys were alive. Would they run out of conversation if they avoided anything serious for this round? Between Merry trying to worm information out of Axel and Pax teasing John, Kally felt the normalcy of the conversation was fabricated. She wondered if they could keep it to normal conversations, if they could make it through a meal without having a dragon attack. By the end of the day, Kally was shocked to find out that they could.

***

One chapter left before the series is done T.T Seriously guys, thank you so much for reading this far and dealing with all of my nonsense. *Pax sniffles* Okay, okay, saving it for next week. Tune in for the last chapter, Epilogue Part II!!!!

***

Footnote:

[1] Melbeta note, “I’m imagining as she says this a monster just bursts through the shop and causes destruction.” Jack, “That’s the movie version.”

[beautifullybrokenarchive]

5 times kissed (your turn!!)

5x KISSED | Selectively accepting       ( @lostsouldier )

I.

       The first time her lips press against him, she’s drunk and feeling just fine, laughing her night away with him, even as he teases her. They’ve grown closer in all sorts of ways, seen each other naked accidentally too many times, and had their fair share of awkward moments, but it’s all brought them to this moment on the couch. Together, drinking, sharing stories, and laughing. Bullet looks at the time with a sigh. “Gotta get to bed. Work early,” she mumbles and places a hand on his thigh to help push herself up. Before lifting off the couch, she turns and quickly kisses his cheek, for no reason in particular other than she’s grateful to have him in her life. “Night night, Buck-Buck-Goose.”

II.

       She doesn’t know the hows or whys, but one thing’s very apparent: Something’s wrong. He’s somewhat disheveled, pale, not speaking much, and when he does, he’s brushing her off. Typically apathetic to other people’s problems, she’s a little confused by her sudden urge to want to comfort him in any manner she can. When he dismisses her offers of a ear to bend, she doesn’t insist, recognizing that familiar inability to open up. Instead, a soft hand meets his shoulder and her lips press to his hair. “I’ll be in my room if ya change your mind. Come in anytime, okay?”

III.

       He’d done it. He’d actually done it. Caught her off-guard and made her speechless. He kissed her. Kissed her. Actually lips-to-hers kissed her and her mind couldn’t even comprehend it. And it didn’t, even as she softly went along with the action, so briefly, before he pulled away and they never spoke of it again.

IV.

       Damn Bucky Barnes. Damn him. Damn that smile, that laugh, and certainly damn the way he has with stealing all her words, softening her edges, and taking away her breath. It was supposed to be goodbye for the day, the night, just goodbye so she could go slug her way through work, but now she in the middle of the hustle and bustle kissing the man she’s been pretending not to care about for a long time.

And damn him, especially, for making her draw him back in when he breaks for air or logic or whatever reason pulled his lips from hers. She gives him two seconds before taking charge this time, arms slipping up his shoulders, bringing him closer, mouth against his, softly at first, but then… Then she lets loose a little. Just a bit, just enough to get him invested when she abruptly ends it with a crooked grin. “See ya.” and then she’s off.

V.

       There’s no avoiding things this time, not after what happened out on the street, and how it stuck in her head all day. When they see each other next, there’s more to their smiles than there was before, something else in their laughs. She might actually be blushing, maybe, a little, and he probably notices, but he doesn’t point it out. She doesn’t give him the chance. Swooping in close, she latches on to his broad shoulders, giving herself some support to step up on the tips of her toes to capture his lips. She gets so into it that she sort of falls against him, her giggles breaking the embrace, but he has her, steady as always.

“No more pretendin’ we don’t care.” It’s a promise she’ll keep. “More this, and honesty. Okay? But, like, so much more this…”

[richiestoziers]

wishing only wounds the heart

summary: will's wrist writes the words of what could never be, and his heart breaks every day because of it

warnings: crying, angst, sadness

read on ao3 here!

everyone is born with their soulmates name on one wrist, and their greatest enemies name on the other.

when will byers was born his parents thought it must be a cruel trick, a joke the doctors were playing on them, or perhaps the universe just hated their son so badly. on his soulmate wrist was written the name of a boy, and on the enemies wrist it simply wrote the shadow monster.

lonnie had cursed out the doctors and screamed cruel words at the sight, refusing to believe his son would be a queer. joyce sat on the hospital bed, sweaty from giving birth, and screaming to hold her baby and screaming at lonnie to shut up. when she got will in her arms and held that crying baby against her chest she promised to protect him no matter what, even if that meant covering his tattoos and making him promise never to tell anyone to save him from the bullying of children in the eighties. 

she wanted what was best for him, and this is what she thought had to be done.

will has known his soulmate his entire life, and he has never told his soulmate this fact.

why would he when he knows he isn’t his loves soulmate?

he was born with michael wheeler printed on his wrist, and he hates whatever higher being is out there for being so accurate, because he is in love with mike. he’s in love with mike, his best friend, who’s wrist has a girls name on it. he’s in love with mike who talks about how excited he is to meet jane ives and is used to will refusing to tell him his. he is in love with the leader of his party and the boy he spends his days and nights with riding their bicycles and him running through his mind. 

he is so in love with him, and he wonders what he did or what he would do to deserve this torture. it was rare someone wasn’t their soulmates soulmate, and the ones that did were forced to live their lives away from love or in a forced relationship. 

so will hides his tattoos with bandaids over them everyday, only seeing the mark of michael wheeler when he showers, any other time he covers it up and tries to deny himself his feelings and live in denial over the fact he will never be loved by the one he loves so dearly.

it’s a torture, that’s all his life is. it’s torture seeing his love everyday and being friends, nothing more, nothing less. it’s a torture sleeping over at his house and wanting to cuddle up in his body but knowing he never could. it’s a torture to go to school everyday with puffy eyes from crying every night and never knowing how to explain it. it’s all torture, it’s all screaming in the shower as he sobs and his mother holding him as he shakes in bed and grips his wrist and wishing any other name was printed on it. it’s a torture that he will have to see the name of the boy he will always love on him everyday, a constant reminder of the land of what might have been.

and there’s nothing he can do about it, no hoping and wishing on shooting stars, because the truth is printed on the other boys wrist he freely flaunts to give will byers a reality check that it will never happen.

he loves mike so much, but he hates him too for rubbing his love in his face. for showing his mark, his love on his wrist, and the worst part is he can’t even blame him. mike doesn’t know what it’s doing to will, and will hopes he never will.

he never wants mike to know the truth about his soulmate, because he can’t stand to lose him, even like this.

he goes missing and all he can think of is mike, his saving grace, the being that gives him hope in this dank and dark world he seems to be stuck in.

he sits in castle byers, cold and alone, border lining on getting hypothermia, and dreaming of michael wheeler. he thinks to himself happy thoughts, imagining mike looking for him day in and day out, dreaming of him and missing him and crying over his lost best friend. he holds himself and hopes it’s true, hopes that mike is missing him and dying inside without him like he is. he wants this all to be true, and in a way it is, but it’s also what drives mike to meet his soulmate. he doesn’t know it yet, but he did, she’s under a different name but he’s falling in love while will is falling apart and in the end will byers will always lose because boys like him never win.

he whispers to himself when he shakes and hides “mike wheeler, mike wheeler, mike wheeler.” and grips his wrist as he says this. sometimes he peeks at his other wrist and feels even worse. his greatest enemy is supposed to be a shadow monster, but this is not a shadow. this is tangible and human like and terrifying, and will worries that one day another monster will get him and be much worse and be a shadow.

sometimes he wonders if the shadow monster is himself, the boy known as mike wheeler’s shadow, following him around, trailing after him like a lost puppy. maybe he’s his own greatest enemy, maybe he’ll be mikes. 

he’s insecure and ashamed of himself and all he can think are bad thoughts, that’s what happens when you know you’ll never be truly loved. it’s all he can think about, even when he tries to be optimistic and always smiling, his mind is running with horrible thoughts about himself and the things around him and being taken by this monster makes things worse. no distractions, it’s him alone with his thoughts and the monster that is his mind. 

he’s only twelve years old, and his life is a greater nightmare than any adult could imagine. he wants his mom in these moments, he wants her to save him and take him home and wrap him in blankets and hold him until he falls asleep and save him from every bad thing in the world like a mother can do.

he loves his mother so, she tries so hard to protect him, but she can never save him from the constant heartbreak that is his life. no matter how hard she tries, she can’t change the fate given to her son, as much as she’d like to.

he’s saved and his life continues to be complete and utter hell, because even when he’s safe in the real world and in the arms of his friends he wants to cry when he smells mike and hears his stories and he wants to cry when he coughs up slugs and realizes his life will never be the semblance of normal ever again. 

he’s saved and he hears mike, dustin, and lucas tell him everything that happens. he missed such a grand adventure and pretends to be fine just hearing about it, but he doesn’t miss the look in mike’s eyes when he speaks about the girl names eleven. it’s the same look will gives mike, the same look he’s spent twelve years of his life wishing he would get from the boy. the girl isn’t jane ives, but she’s captured mike’s heart in a way will never would and he’s sad and mad and he wants mike out. 

he kicks them out as kindly as possible, says he’s sick, but he doesn’t miss the saddened look in mike’s eyes that makes him want to let them back in. he has to stay strong, he can’t stand to hear mike speak so highly of this girl, and he can’t stand to fall more in love with him when he knows he won’t be loved back.

“are you ready to go home?” joyce asks, and he nods but looks off to the wall and continues to think these torturous thoughts. joyce knows the look, she knows him so well, and she knows when he’s hurting himself like this.

she takes him in his her arms and kisses the top of his head, petting down his bowl cut and trying to comfort the boy. “i’m so sorry baby, i’m so sorry.” it’s all she can say, and will is too drained to speak or cry or do anything. he sits their motionless in her arms, the heartbreak numbing inside him as she takes him home

mike never leaves his side and protects him at every chance, and will thinks this is the closest he’ll ever get to mike loving him back. he takes advantage of it, the sleepovers at his house and the constant attention, he bathes in it and wishes this is what his lifetime would be filled with.

it comes at the cost of him mentioning eleven, the gone girl that took his heart, but it’s worth it when he hugs him and let’s him know he’s his best friend. maybe being a best friend is good enough, maybe that’ll be enough to appease will’s breaking heart.

he only makes one mistake in his lifetime when it comes to his love for michael wheeler, and that’s when he admits it.

he’s thirteen and it’s almost a year since the nightmare happened, and he stays at mike’s side constantly because his arm around his shoulder feels protective and a force field for every bad thing in the world. he goes to his house after school every day and they relax in his basement, eating snacks and laughing and playing games. it’s on one of these days it happens.

they’re stealing candy the wheeler’s plan to hand out for halloween and will grabbed a snickers and mike didn’t. 

“i’ll trade you the snickers for a kit kat?” mike asked, those were the only two they were able to grab when they sneaked past mrs. wheeler.

“no way! snickers are way better than kit kats.” will teased, trying to open his snickers. 

“exactly, please trade them. i’ll do anything, even go as far to tickle you.” mike knew will was extremely ticklish, and that was the thing he hated the most in life.

will’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened at the boy who had only gotten better looking in the past year. “you wouldn’t.”

“i would.” mike’s now deeper voice responded. “and i will!” he screams as he jumps towards will and tickles him all over his waist. 

he’s on top of him and his hands are bigger now and they’re making will laugh and scream and trying to get him to stop, and mike laughs with him until will bangs his smaller hands on his chest and begs him to stop before he pees his pants. 

mike does, and when will calms down from the attack he looks up. he looks up at the person meant for him but he could never retrieve. he looks at the handsome face he could never touch, never kiss, the lips that would never say loved him and the eyes that would never glance at him filled with love.

except, maybe will’s eyes are deceiving him, but mike’s looking at him. he’s looking at him in a different way, maybe not love, but in a way that means everything to will and nothing to him. he looks at him in a way that makes his heart flutter, he looks at him in a way that makes him say something he shouldn’t say. 

“i love you.” it’s breathy and sad and filled with hope, and will looks into mike’s eyes for some type of reaction.

he doesn’t get any, but he can’t be surprised. 

“i love you too, will. you’re my best friend.” mike smiles at him, getting off and walking away. 

it means absolutely nothing to him, and will stays there and closes his eyes and wishing that comment was used in a different way. 

he opens them and a tear falls out, he wipes it away before mike sees, and he thinks this is the final straw in his hopeful days. 

he numbs his heart from that day on and he loves mike all the same, because he can love him just fine, but now he truly knows he will never be loved back by him.

maybe being a best friend will be good enough, it has to be good enough, because that’s all he’s going to get.

[dezzyparrish]

Rambo, John J. ! (all 5 of the Bloods)

... This is not a review.  This is more of a rant.  Content Warning.  This post is going to have so many bad things in it.  Racism, mysogyny, graphic violence, rape, forced drug use, post-traumatic stress, torture, war, and hate.  I can’t stress this enough and I’m serious, there is some seriously ugly shit that I’m discussing. Don’t read if you don’t want it in your brain.

I also might need to get better at my Content Warnings, when I’m nervous I try to be entertaining, and the above elements are not entertaining subjects.

I saw Rambo: Last Blood while Physically Distancing (I misspelled that Psychically Distancing and it’s kind of appropriate too!)

If you have not seen this movie, don’t.  It leaves a stain on your soul.  I’ve been worried about even writing about it, because in the writing, I’m giving it attention and as POTUS45 has shown us in SPADES for the past 4 years plus, Bad Attention is just as good as Good Attention.

Sigh.  I hate this. It’s just a matter of time that someone is gonna discover this blog and give me shit.

So, the Rambo flicks.  I watched the first four. Except for the first movie, First Blood, they’re all mediocre to bad movies, but fun.  First Blood is a good movie, it deserves all the credit it gets.

I watched the trailers for Last Blood and was really interested in this movie.  It looked like a book-end to the long (damn near 40 year) story of Captain John Rambo.  When we meet John, he’s a drifter, a Vietnam Veteran only a few years out of his war.  He’s hitch-hiking and visiting his old brothers-in-arms from the war, finding that, over the years many have died, others are in the same PTSD place he’s lived in.  We learn, by “drifter”, we mean “homeless”.  He wanders into the wrong small town, the sheriff and his deputies arrest him, abuse him, trigger his trauma as a Special Forces soldier and a Prisoner of War, and Rambo snaps and falls into his dark and scary mental spot where he is *back* in the Jungle fighting for his life.  The movie ends with the Sheriff’s office destroyed, the Sheriff machinegunned by an M-60 and bleeding out on the roof, and John’s old unit Commander, Colonel Trautman talking him back to reality and the present world.  John gives a monologue that gives powerful voice to the injustice, frustrations and rage of the soldiers who came home from Vietnam only to find that they couldn’t really come home.  This was in 1982, and as a society, the US was still wrestling with the divide over Vietnam, First Blood is fully in the “Vets are forgotten and hated by their country” camp.  My personal politics have evolved over the decades but even today as a long-haired pinko almost-Commie in California I still find it powerful.  This is John Rambo’s first story, he came home from war and found no peace, no end to his war.

Rambo: First Blood part II went from a drama with a little action to a full blown blockbuster style action flick.  Trautman recruits John from jail (since.. in the first film he destroys a town, and shoots the shit out of everything) for a special mission to return to Vietnam and win the war by saving forgotten POWs.  First Blood part II is two hours of explosions, stabbity, arrow grenades, strafing the ground from a helicopter, betrayal from the CIA, Russkies!  blood, blood and more blood.  First Blood part II really establishes the franchise as movies that aren’t very deep and John Rambo as an Action Superhero (with an Action figure toy line and a Saturday Morning Cartoon).  It’s “fun!” and ridiculous.   Rambo kills the Bad Guy (TM) by shooting him *WITH AN EXPLODING ARROW*, blowing Bad Guy to Hell in a shower of gobbity bits.  John Rambo’s second story, he starts in social isolation (prison), gets dragged back into War, then ends up walking into the distance searching for peace.  Remember that, it’s gonna come back over and over again.

Rambo III finds John in a Monastery somewhere in the world trying to find peace.  Trautman finds him (which is another recurring theme.. no matter where John goes in the world, War finds him and drags him back) and recruits him to fight the Russians in Afghanistan.  John refuses and Trautman has to start the secret mission on his own, and is captured by the Soviets, drawing Rambo into the conflict.  We’re gonna pause right here to bring up some history and some theming..

Rambo III tried to pay off on two real life promises.  The first is a theme in the franchise.  First Blood was about Vietnam, which the Soviets are indirectly referred to as a power using the war as a proxy for the US.  The Soviets are at this point are indirectly an antagonist.  In First Blood Part II, we see a Russian Spetznaz (spelling) “advising” the Vietnamese army on how best to use all those American prisoners.  The Soviets aren’t the main antagonist of Part II, but they make an appearance.  Rambo III pays this off by finally squaring Rambo off directly against the Red Army in a slug-fest.  The Hollywood version of the prize-fight war between the United States and the USSR for the SUPERPOWER CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WOOOOOOORRRRRLD!  hypehypehype!  Rambo III also makes a second promise because in 1989 the Soviet Union was fighting a 10 year long Guerilla War against the Mujahidin in Afghanistan.  The US was supporting the Mujahidin fighters with support and modern weapons, tipping the balance against the Red Army.  Rambo III was supposed to be the cinematic Call to Arms for the US to enter Afghanistan and throw a knock-out blow against the hated Russians.  Except, in 1989, just before the movie was released, the Soviets *withdrew* from Afghanistan.  They ended the war and went home.  There was an historic profession of the last column of Soviet Tanks crossing back into the USSR, and in the last tank, the Red Army Commander was the last soldier to pull out in defeat.  Before Rambo III was released, but after it was made.  So that movie flopped.  It was a call-to-arms for a war that was over.

CONTENT WARNING: HARD CORE RACISM HERE

Ok, back from that aside. Rambo III starts to get more cringy, but we’re still in the ‘80s, almost the ‘90s and This was Reagan’s America as it became Poppy Bush’s New World Order.  So, John Rambo coming to Afghanistan and becoming a better Afghani than the people who live there is pretty par-for-the course.  I mean there’s a scene where John plays Horse Soccer with all the fighters and using a severed goat head as the ball.  Bloody, severed goat head. (Message: Brown People in other parts of the world are unsophisticated, and savage.)  John almost single handedly wins the sport for his team and is accepted as one of the fighters.. all the Mujahidin surround him with cheers and congratulate him in broken English.. because again, when you are in your home freaking country playing your own sport, you must try to appease the American Demigod by only talking to him in English, the language of Awesome!  There’s more wartime violence and torture with shooting, and stabbity and explosions.  

At one point John is wounded (OH NO) and has to crawl into a cave by himself.. bleeding and dying. He pours the powder from a bullet into his wound and lights it on fire to cauterize it. He’s all better after the scene transition.  Everything is good. Then goes back to killing Russians, rescuing Trautman and winning the proxy war against the hated Commie Red Russians.  This is John Rambo’s third story, he starts in social isolation, is dragged back into war, and ends up walking into the distance looking for peace.

John Rambo, Rambo IV is more of the same.  it’s the first Rambo movie I didn’t see in theatres but, I did cue it up the first time I saw it pop on to the streaming networks.  It starts the same way that al the previous installments do.  John Rambo living a solitary life, trying to come to grips with his life.  This time he’s back in Southeast Asia when some Christian Missionaries contact him to serve as a guide into Myanmar (which was in the midst of a Civil War).  John warns them off and refuses the offer.  The Missionaries go anyway and vanish into the jungle, taken prisoner by the Army (strongly implied if not outright mentioned, I honestly can no longer recall, of the Real World Authoritarian Totalitarian Government that siezed power at that time).  Rambo is once again pulled into a war to save the White Christian Missionaries from the Evil Heathen People. 

CONTENT WARNING - RACISM, MYSOGENY, RAPE and GRAPHIC VIOLENCE.

During the movie, somewhere in Act 2, we see the Missionary Woman prisoner of the Army, locked in a little bamboo cell just like the ones in the Vietnamese POW camp in First Blood Part II.  In comes the guard to get himself some rapin’ done.  Leering and laughing, the woman terrified.. and just as the music gets to it’s most menacing, guard gasps in surprise and Rambo’s beefy hand grabs his throat from the darkness.  Then, over the next 20 seconds, John Rambo digs his fingers into the guy’s throat, blood gushing and going everywhere, then Rambo tears his god damn throat out.  With his bare hand.  Rambo has murdered his way through two and a half movies by this point we’ve watched countless faceless goons, soldiers and thugs shot, stabbed, blown up, gunned down.  In fact the only movie where John Rambo doesn’t commit mass murder is First Blood.  One guy dies, by accident, by his own foolishness and John doesn’t kill him, dude falls out of his helicopter.  There’s an argument that the sheriff dies of his wounds, but if he did it was off-screen after the credits and we see him wheeled out by paramedics. But this poor bastard.. rapey guard, we get to linger on his very bloody, excruciating death for 20 fucking seconds.  I mean at least the previous 400 guys died fast.  During the Escape of Act 3, Rambo commandeers a mounted heavy machine gun in a truck and turns it on the pursuing soldiers.  This is a huge gun, an old Soviet anti-aircraft weapon designed to shoot down Attack Helicopters and the first thing Rambo does is turn it on the poor guy in the drivers seat of the truck  like a foot and a half away from the muzzle and vaporize him (at least he went fast, if gruesomely), then turns the gun on the soldiers, who attack in waves and we get a montage of dudes getting blown to little bitty pieces by a Heavy Machine gun.  Missionaries saved, woman’s virtue preserved, lesson learned (don’t spread the white man’s faith to godless heathens in a war zone).  and John Rambo walks into the distance, looking for peace.

CONTENT WARNING - EVERYTHING

Rambo V: Last Blood had some promise.  I saw the trailers and they showed John back in the US, on a farm, with a family.  I was looking forward to the book-end of John Rambo’s story.  One last fight for an old soldier.  John would likely die in the end, he’s mortal man after all, and looking back through the movie history, he had to be seventy or more by the time this movie opens.

HOOO BOY WAS I WRONG

Look, I’ve spent a LOT of words giving context in detail of the four previous movies, and I’ve been critical of all of them.  But even the most problematic of the Rambo Movies, there was a break in the cringe.  Maybe they’re a product of the time in which they were made, maybe it was that the violence just became cartoon-silly after a while.  The Rambo movies were.. fun.  Stupid, hyperviolent, problematic fun, but there’s a whole pop-culture subgenre of making silly references to Rambo.  From Hot Shots to Tropic Thunder, a thousand short comedy skits.  This movie though.

I can’t go into detail like I did earlier.  It’s that bad.  But John Rambo has finally found a home in the Southwest of America.  His Country has taken him back in.  He is a father-figure to a daughter who is on the verge of going to college.  He breaks in horses like a cowboy.   He has a tunnel complex dug beneath the whole of the property where he has every personal weapon known to mankind and a forge where he blacksmiths knives and a damascus steel letter opener as a “go to college present for said young adult adopted daughter.

Girl learns of her birth father in Mexico, just across the border.  Daddy Rambo warns her not to go “You don’t know the DARKNESS in men’s hearts, I do”.  Girl ignroes Dad (of course) and goes in search of birth Dad.  Mexico in this movie is a Brietbart/ Alt-right Nightmare of unwashed hordes on our doorstep. Tragedy strikes, birth father is a slimeball, girl is kidnapped, cartels are evil, huaman trafficking, graphic violence, forced drug use, and rape.  Rambo goes in to save girl and murders his way through dozens of thugs, using anything at hand.  He finds girl, takes her home and she dies on the way back, from an overdose of drugs and all the torment.

John Rambo returns to Mexico and takes his vengeance.  It’s like an ‘80s slasher flick except the camp counselors aren’t innocent teenagers but harden cartel gang members and we’re expected to root for the Killer.  This draws the rest of the Cartel Soldiers back to John at his farm as act 3 opens.  Entering the United States through a Tunnel, kitting up like a Fortnite Group and heading out.

There is 10 solid minutes of Carnage filmed with the most skill and care that the film-makers, including Sylvester Stallone who has now a 44 year career of movie making under his belt.

John has a closing voice over monologue after killing the Last Bad Guy (TM). The last scene is John Rambo rocking on his front porch musing about how he will *ALWAYS* defend his country against all its enemies.  He Lives.  There’s an opening for a Sequel.

I had to shower.  its been continuing to bounce around in my head, which is why I’m writing it down here.  Rambo: Last Blood, in ANY OTHER UNIVERSE would be nothing more than an underground film passed around White Power rallies, “here’s your copy of the Turner Diaries, Hitlers speeches, and watch this bruthr”.  It seems like I might have went on for a long time when I started out that I couldn’t add details, I didn’t.  This was without details.

So, avoid this movie.  Just. Save yourself the stain in your brain and not watch this movie.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #155 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #429.

Format: Blu-ray

1) Before anything else, I will say this: you never need to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture unless you are a MAJOR fan of the series. Wrath of Khan is a much better first film for the series and just a much better film in general, and the original motion picture has no bearing on the plot of ANY of the sequels that I’m aware of. Spare yourself the boredom.

2) I don’t often talk about how great the opening credits of a film are, but the movement through the stars and James Horner’s grand score creates a rousing score which helps you get in the mood for the space adventure to come.

3) The Kobayashi-Maru.

The opening of the film is great largely because it plays with expectations vs reality. You EXPECT Kirk in the captain’s chair, and while it plays out like a standard scene from “Star Trek” but it ends with everyone dead. And even though it turns out to be a simulation, the image of watching almost all the series regulars die before you prepares you for the darkness to come. It is an incredibly great and memorable opening to a film which can be described as the same.

4) Kirstie Alley as Saavik.

Despite being Vulcan (and, depending on what you consider canon, half-Romulan) Saavik has more in common with Kirk than she does with Spock. She may have the appearance of being a logical and decisive creature, but she is stubborn and proud. And I love her for that. I think Saavik as at her best in this film when played by Alley (she would be replaced in Star Trek III and IV). Alley gives Saavik a unique flavor, making her more than just your typical Vulcan and holding her own with the original cast.

5) The scene where Bones and Kirk “celebrate” his birthday is great.

This is the introduction of Kirk’s key conflict and possibly the best analysis of it the film features.

Kirk: “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor.”

Bones [later]: “This is not about age and you know it.”

Kirk’s conflict here is not about aging, it is about aging INTO something. About being stuck behind a desk and bureaucracy. Of becoming obsolete. Age on it’s own does not result in that, but the choices we make as we age. It is in this film that Kirk will have to determine his future when faced with a threat from the past.

6) Carol Marcus and her son David.

Both Carol and David as individual characters are interesting, but by balancing out each other (with Carol being well reasoned and patient and David being more like Kirk with his stubbornness/rashness) they create an interesting dynamic that entertains in a way beyond their relationship with Kirk.

7) Ricardo Montalbán as Khan Noonien Singh.

Montalbán takes a memorable role from the original series and in this film turns it into not only one of the greatest villains cinema has ever featured but also a career defining performance. Khan is able to be both chillingly collected and show off fear-inducing anger. His intellect, physical strength, and progressing madness/drive is showed off brilliantly by Montalbán. There is a ruthlessness to this character established as soon as we meet him (specifically with his use of brain slugs) that let’s us know, “Oh shit, don’t mess with this guy.” He is totally frightening, with many of his decisions and scenes making your stomach turn. Only open my third (fourth?) viewing of this film did I realize just how long his intro scene is, but it doesn’t feel long. It is perfect, and Montalbán captures your attention for the entire time.

8) Hey that’s...that’s Tony from the Witch Mountain movies!

I would not have noticed that if I didn’t watch the Witch Mountain movies in March for the (Re)Watch.

9) So usually at this point in the (Re)Watch I talk about the writing and performances of the main cast of a film. I find it nearly impossible to do that for Wrath of Khan however as the cast from the original series are such mainstays of cinema and pop culture I’ve no idea what to say. What on earth could I possible say Kirk, Bones, Spock, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov that hasn’t been said before? In my analysis of the 2009 film I probably will, but right now I think I’ll just say they’re great and leave it at that.

10) I love how Kirk is freaking out when Spock lets Saavik pull the Enterprise out of dock.

(GIF originally posted by @readysteadytrek​)

11) I love Saavik and Kirk in the elevator. It speaks not only to how rash she is (which I love on it’s own) but will later show how similar they really are. She doesn’t really believe in a no-win scenario and as we’ll learn later neither does Kirk.

12) I love when Spock hands the ship over to Kirk. There is no bruised ego (as he himself says), there are no hard feelings, it’s not an issue of power or anything. He knows Kirk is the best guy to take the wheel. He trusts Kirk and Kirk trusts Spock back and they can just cut through the bullshit and do what’s best for everyone. I’m a sucker for good friendships like that.

13) Damn, Spock.

Kirk: “I would not presume to debate you.”

Spock: “That would be wise.”

14) There is one scene early-to-mid picture which is recalled HEAVILY later on and I always think it is best when the ending of the movie ties into something at the beginning of the film. You want it to feel like one picture, you don’t want to be sitting at the end going, “Oh right, that part early on was the same movie.” Spock’s speaking of how...

And how he has been and always shall be Kirk’s friend tie together at the end in very heartbreaking ways.

15) I was always impressed with the Genesis visual, keeping in mind this was 1982 and CGI was hardly in its prime.

16) The very first encounter with the ship Khan has taken over - Reliant - before they know it is Khan is incredibly tense and Hitchcockian. Because we as the audience KNOW it’s Khan. Pacing is derived not from faster pacing but from slower pacing. The uneasiness simmers in our bones as Kirk unknowingly wanders into a trap, even though everyone seems to suspect something is up. And it features one of the best quotes in the film:

Khan: “Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish best served cold? It is very cold in space.”

17) And then Khan and Kirk finally encounter one another.

Montalbán and Shatner never share any scenes as Montalbán was making “Fantasy Island” at the time, but that does not undermine just how equally matched these adversaries are. Their very first encounter in particular feels like a chess game. It is not so much a battle of strengths as it is a battle of wits, yet still very interesting. And we as the audience really have no idea who is going to come out on top. Each is able to surprise and throw the other off balance, only to come back and deal another blow. It makes for great conflict. We know Kirk’s disadvantage: Khan is genetically engineered to be better than him. But in this scene we see a weakness of Khan’s which will become greater later on: his ego. He cannot see his own weaknesses and shortcomings. He is hundreds of years old comparatively speaking, so obviously some ways of thinking are foreign to him. But he can’t get past the fact he’s a genetically engineered super being to work on this. I love bad guys with flaws.

18) Oh no! Tony dies!

Preston [Ike Eisenmann’s character, after Kirk arrives]: “Is the word given, admiral?”

Kirk: “The word is given. Warp speed.”

[Preston dies]

Scotty [obviously torn up]: “He stayed at his post when the trainees ran!”

The fact that this death of a character we spent all of thirty seconds with packs such an intense punch speaks greatly to the craft with which this film was made.

19) The scene with Kirk, Bones, and Saavik on the scientist space station feels very Alien and I love it. For just a few minutes we are in a horror film, in an enclosed space where obviously SOMETHING is wrong and some sort of danger lurks. It is pulled off wonderfully well.

20) Part of the tension comes from the fact that we TRUST Chekov. He’s original series cast and he seems to have shaken the alien slug Khan was using on him. Why WOULDN’T we trust Chekov? Making the fact that he and his captain are still controlled later on all the more powerful.

21) This. Freaking. Scene.

This is when both are pushed to their furthest. Khan believes he has killed Kirk only to immediately learn he hasn’t, and Kirk is beyond pissed with Khan for all the death and destruction he has caused. This is where Khan accepts that he has defeated Kirk if only because it has become so difficult to kill him and it is where Kirk hates Khan the most (uttering the film’s famous line, “Khaaaaaan!”). But even through his hate Kirk is trying to play Khan. He is trying to get Khan in the same room with him so he can fight him face to face. But Khan is too smart for that and works against Kirk, leading to that yell. This is one of the best scenes in the film and it is because the conflict plays out so wonderfully.

22) The fact that David is Kirk’s son not only gives Kirk some personal stakes, but it ties into the idea of the choices Kirk must make in life. He is now dealing with two choices which are coming back to haunt him: how he handled Khan and not being a part of his son’s life. And that will directly influence the choices he makes in the future. Because life is too short.

23) This is so indicative of Kirk’s character.

Saavik: “Admiral, may I ask you a question?”

Kirk: “What's on your mind, Lieutenant?”

Saavik: “The Kobayashi Maru, sir.”

Kirk: “Are you asking me if we're playing out that scenario now?”

Saavik: “On the test, sir... will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know.”

Bones: “Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario.”

Saavik: “How?”

Kirk: “I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to rescue the ship.”

Saavik: “What?”

David: “He cheated.”

Kirk: “I changed the conditions of the test; got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose.”

Saavik: “Then you never faced that situation... faced death.”

Kirk: “I don't believe in the no-win scenario.”

24) The climactic chase through the nebula ties into Khan’s biggest weakness: his ego preventing him from admitting his flaws.

Spock: “He’s intelligent but not experienced. His pattern suggest two-dimensional thinking.”

I think this is the past scene to showcase space as a three-dimensional space. Ever watch a space film where characters encounter an asteroid field and think, “Why can’t they just go above or below it?” That’s what this film does. Like the initial Kirk/Khan mental face-off, the time in the nebula greats great tension from slowing down pacing while never being boring. There are surprises, there are twists, and they are on truly equal footing. And Khan, well he’s at his breaking point. How mad must this person be if even his crew - who were established to live and die by his word at the beginning of the film - are questioning his judgment? And what exactly will it lead him to?

That final visual of Khan’s face is also a great presentation of how he is on the inside. He is torn up and burned to a crisp with vengeance, and now he will die that way.

25) Spock’s ultimate fate.

First of all, he KNOWS what he’s about to do. You can see it on his face before he goes to the reactor room to save the ship: he is fully aware that this will lead to his death and it does nothing to change his decision. And even though Khan has died, he has succeeded in his goal to, “keep on hurting,” Kirk from beyond the grave by killing his best friend.

Kirk [trying to get to Spock]: “He’ll die!”

Scotty: “He’s dead already.”

There is this intense feeling of sorrow and helplessness as we watch one of the greatest - if not the greatest - characters to come out of the original series die, tying into the conversation he and Kirk had earlier.

Spock: “The needs of the many...”

Kirk: “Outweigh the needs of the few.”

Spock: “Or the one.”

26) David and Kirk unfortunately don’t get too many moment together, just the two of them. But he did help Kirk through this tough time in his life.

David: “Lieutenant Saavik was right. You never have faced death.”

Kirk: “Not like this.”

David: “You knew enough to tell Saavik that how we face death is at least as important as how we face life.”

Kirk: “Just words.”

David: “But good words. That's where ideas begin. Maybe you should listen to them. I was wrong about you. And I'm sorry.”

Kirk: “Is that what you came here to say?”

David: “Mainly. And also that I'm proud - very proud - to be your son.”

27) But of course, this is a sci-fi movie...

Death is not as permanent as we like to think.

The Wrath of Khan is quite possibly the best film in the entire Star Trek canon. It balances high-stakes action and adventure with the intelligence, philosophy, and thought expected from the series. Ricardo Montalbán is freaking fantastic as Khan, with the rest of the cast delivering standout performances as well. The direction and writing blend together beautifully and it is just an incredibly fun and well done film. If you haven’t seen any Star Trek and you want to, Wrath of Khan is a very good film to start on.

[fishtailhollywrites]

The day Papyrus found the human.

“HEY SANS, I MADE MYSELF LOOK LIKE A COOL DUDE!” Papyrus swirled around in his swivel chair quickly, looking up from the computer. Sans used to be outside of the room, but interestingly he was no longer there. It took a couple seconds for Papyrus to realize where his brother might have went to, and realized that he probably went outside to his post. When Papyrus checked his watch, he then quickly noticed the time.

It was 5 minutes after when he was supposed to be out on watch.

“SANS WHY DID YOU LEAVE WITHOUT ME?” Papyrus yelled when he knew he was right near Sans’ sentry station, and turned the corner to see his brother sitting there lazily.

“Oh, sorry you were so into your drawing thing that I decided to let you take a break, bro,” Sans said lazily.

“WHAT? ME! TAKE A BREAK?!” Papyrus looked at his brother incredulously. Sans shrugged with his legs reclined on his station, eyes half open.

“Yeah, bro, definitly! Like I feel you could take a day off if you’d want to!” The fact that Sans mentioned that idea to Papyrus made Papyrus quite annoyed.

“BUT IF I DO THEN WE CAN’T CAPTURE A HUMAN! A HUMAN WOULD WALK RIGHT BY YOU SANS, AND THEN WE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO CAPTURE IT! (AND ALSO I WANT TO MEET A HUMAN TOO, SANS, YOU KNOW THAT WAS ONE OF MY LIFELONG DREAMS)” Papyrus argued. Sans shrugged at his brother, and Papyrus walked up to the sentry, seemingly excited.

“I DO HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU, HOWEVER!” Papyrus chirped to his brother, who looked at him curiously. “WHEN WE GET HOME! IT’LL BE GREAT!”

“Ok, bro, feel free to show me it after we finish this, however,” Sans smiled at Papyrus, and Papyrus did the same, as Papyrus ran down the path on his everyday daily routine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple months later, Papyrus saw a human.

Yes, Papyrus saw a human. We’re not making that up. Like, seriously, it’s on the blog here @undertaleswitchtale. Calm down, and check it out.

Papyrus was going down a normal day that consisted of his brother hanging out around the station and Papyrus running up and down the paths of Magmount, laughing at the jokes that he thought about in his head. The only time he stopped “Nyeh”ing was when he saw an unusual shape on the path through Magmount.

He was almost certain it was a human. Papyrus quickly felt in his pocket if the picture he put in there weeks before was still there, and was happy when he felt the piece of paper right where it was supposed to be.

Papyrus’ plan was to give the human a whole lot of puzzles to make the human be friends with him. But when he made the beautifully crafted version of his Cool Dude picture by adding  a picture of spaghetti to the background, he changed his mind.

He decided to just go ahead and give the picture to the human. Clearly, the human would love the picture, and would be his friend. That’s the only logical conclusion to the problem at hand.

“Nyeh he he…” Papyrus said under his breath menacingly in the fog where the human couldn’t see him. The human whirled around, but only Papyrus could see it. He ran off and summoned at orange axe attack which flew behind the human where they couldn’t see it. They twirled around again, but couldn’t see the attack.

That's how great the Great Papyrus was. Clearly the most greatest of greatest.

Very much a Cool Dude.

Papyrus, cackling under his breath, said “Nyeh” over and over as the human ran in fright of his michevious ways. He thought the human running was halarious, and always hid just away form his vision. The human was lured into a corner, and quickly turned around again right infront of the “NO TRESSPASSING” door. Papyrus leaped behind the human as stealthy as a boney cat, and spoke:

“HUMAN,” He started his heroic speech when he realized his glasses were about to fall off. He had already started, and he timed it perfectly already and there was no such thing as redos. The Great Papyrus would and could not deal with failure, and needed it to be 101% right.

“TURN AROUND…” He went to grope on the floor for his glasses. He couldn’t not time this speech incorrectly, so he told the human what was happening.

“WAIT! HOLD ON! I NEED TO CONFIRM IF YOU ARE A HUMAN!” Papyrus found his glasses and shoved them onto his face as fast as skeletonly possible.

“HANG ON, I ALMOST HAVE IT…” Papyrus adjusted his glasses so they would fit perfectly on his nose.

“THERE!” The glasses were perfect now, and he could continue.

“HUMAN!” He wirled around dramatically, to see the human already looking at him. He looked down in doom, and was absolutly confounded that the human could foil his plan.

“OH NO! YOU WERE LOOKING ALL ALONG?! MY PLAN HAS BEEN FOILED!” He gasped dramatically, as the human looked at him plainly with no expression. Oh. That was because they had a gas mask on.

Maybe that’s why people didn’t tend to come to Magmount. Because it was dangerous. He’d have to work on a experiment for that, however. Papyrus reminded himself to keep that in mind for his next report.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER I’LL IMPROVISE!” Papyrus said in a positive mood as the human responded. He heard the human say something under their breath, but he was already pushing them into the NO TRESPASSING area, where Sans’ station was set up. “SO LETS BE HASTY!”

“WAIT!!!” Papyrus heard the human yell, but didn’t stop. He continued pushing the human through the paths of Magmount, and stopped right infront of where Sans was sleeping.

“SANS!” Papyrus yelled at his brother. His brother then opened his eyes and looked at the human, and closed them again.

“Hey” Sans talked to the human.

“SANS IVE CAPTURED A HUMAN,” Papyrus exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Ok.”

“SANS IT’S INFRONT OF YOU.”

“Ok.” He stood up and walked to the human, and stood next to Papyrus. Papyrus then realized that he forgot to sign the beautiful picture, and had to run back to the house before the human left. He stealthily took off as if he was the opposite of a snail (Papyrus thought this would be the fastest thing ever, and that nothing could be faster than that. Little than he knew, there was a thing called the ‘Cheetah’). He ran to the house, slammed open the door, grabbed a pen, wrote a insanly messy signature down, and ran back just in time to see the human walking away from the station.

“HUMAN!” Papyrus ran and caught up to the human. “I REALIZED TAHT AS MY NEW FRIEND WE WON’T BE ABLE TO TALK OFTEN, BUT FEAR NOT, I FOUND A SOLUTION!” He handed the picture to the human, just like all of the times he practiced infront of the mirror. The human studied it for a second and then looked up at him. “SO IF YOU FEEL LONELY YOU CAN LOOK AT THIS AND BE REMINDED OF MY COOLNESS.” Papyrus gave the human the most happy smile that he could muster.

“DONT LOOSE THAT PICTURE! AND SEE YOU LATER HUMAN AND YOUR SPOOKY FRIEND!” Papyrus took off like the opposite of a slug, clearly, and ran as fast as possible to where Sans was waiting.

He didn’t know that the human through the picture into the lava. And he never would know. Thank goodness.

Or we hope =)

[ggiame]

all the stuff under the cut

Everything is wrong at the moment, its 70 degrees in february, DT is president, and everything just seems transitional and out of place and temporary. I have 6 jobs right now. im working all the time and yet theres no money. i dont know. just having one of those weird surreal chunks of weeks that im trying to capture with a long text post on a public forum. here we go. 

(heads up, me and my therapist named and externalized my anxiety into a character I call ‘chanel’ after the terrible ex and I quote her for clarities sake when ‘quoting’ my anxiety. so yeah. thats who chanel is)

money:

none, somehow. 

work:

float sixty, leghorn chicken, aloft reception, pole teaching, online tutor, property manager, and also segway is coming back and also maybe still street performing? dude. 

okay highlights version

F60: my boss is Lia, a White Lady who used to work in the beauty industry and is On. a. Diet. She is neurotic and perfectionistic but also a weird hippie which is an odd combination of traits i happen to understand well so we get along nicely. She likes me and I like her. All of my co workers seem cool. Also There is a Cute Boy there who i know next to nothing about.

LH: wow okay its food service but i really like my co workers and also the food is decent but not addicting and i do make some tips. Im making friends there the fastest but its also the job im least attached to. conflicting feelings. 

Prop Man: oh my god. rats. broken washing machines. broken stoves. intrigue. sabotage. tune in sundays at 8/7c

My family was joking yesterday that i have the “Karlin Family Work Ethic” and that i was doing too much but somehow i still feel like a lazy, useless, slug who should really just work a little harder. Weird. 

The injury-----

The elbow is healing relatively fast. it still feels like a year and a day since i last climbed a rope. its probably two weeks out from being -mostly- functional. right now its int htat good enough for life but not for circus zone. Also now im kinda scared of going back up a rope. which is. not. good. but ill deal with when i get there. fear is the worst. ugh. 

FeElings-------------

Okay theres a lot of relationship feelings stirring around in my life despite the fact that i have no significant other and here’s why. 

boys: 

east coast boy- just as bad at keeping in itstouch as I am. is still wonderful. but its been so long theres really only echoes left. 

west coast boy: all that weird buildup for an extremely short lived fling that did next to nothing to release all that pent up wierdness. it continues. This boy is much better at keeping in contact.  its getting harder for me to keep talking to him as it gets clearer that neither of us is going anywhere soon. 

work boy: cute, seems cool, but i have no idea who he is at all. 

tinder boy: i like him a lot, but im not attracted to him yet and i dont want to do that to another person. also can i make myself be attracted to someone? thats playing with too many things. no answers yet. needs more pondering. 

Other work boy: Chanel  “he did not come to the diner with you on valentines day. has not liked any of your social media posts. probably hates you and also thinks youre ugly. its okay you probably wont see him for another two months.”

Girls and others:

Theres a couple straight girls im into and we all know how that goes. They have boyfriends. it sucks. 

the circus one:i havent seen this person in a frustratingly long time. dammit. 

also im still afraid of flirting with girls because of Amber Chanel B. the Ex from Hell. which is super awesome. 

not. 

The Room Mate:

1) is mysterious and doesnt say much

2) is clearly in a bad mood a lot. cause shes working sleeping or working out and never gets a second to herself. 

3) which totally means that shes mad AT ME ALL THE TIME 

4) and she has taken this super central place in my anxiety tornado which I am now worried that she is aware of and annoyed by. which is also part of the tornado. yeah. 

The pot: 

wow i started to get into serious problem territory this past month and i felt it building up to the moment. which happened a few days ago. i came to this conclusion

- I have the capabilities of controling and being responsible with my drug usage but my situation right now is making that difficult. The next time i end up on solid emotional ground ill stop until the cravings go away.- 

and here i am. the good weather is helping a lot and i finally felt ready to cut myself off for a while, so i smoked it all and now im out and well see how this goes. 

Bonus---Musings on hunger and stuff-----

So body talk. 

Ive been injured and unable to exercise the way i like

ive taken a job in a fried chicken place. 

so yeah i have some weight gain and acne and loss of muscle tone and its making my body image issues flare up. So ive been doing okay and I havent made myself vomit but I have been eating noticeably less and ive started to just kinda let myself be hungry more which is something i had forgotten about. 

and then i was thinking about it and I realize that im part of this weird subgroup of extremely priveleged people who also know what its like not to eat for 3 days at a time, or what its like to eat less than a thousand calories a day for more that a month, and that I got complimented for what that did to me. I would sleep through classes and almost pass out when i stood up all the time but i weighted 105 pounds and everyone said i looked great.  its a weird thing especially cause it was never really about how I looked, and was entirely about trying to control myself when i have needs that are at odds with my situation. 

Then i thought about last year when i was training so much that my body could not get enough food, but my anxiety and depression were at such a place that I could barely eat, and the way that kind of hunger was different. I had never vomited from hunger before but I got to find out what that was like. That was where the weed problem really started btw cause if I hadnt had pot last year I would not have eaten at all and would probably be dead. Having anxiety so bad that your stomach clenching makes you nauseous and then you get nauseous with hunger on top of that and then you have to fly to ankansas to be at your fav cousins wedding and manage to pull it off and not be a zombie. whew. 

Also I would like to thank lin manuel miranda because (along with pot) Hamilton is what got me through that experience. 

yeah.  

thats all for now. 

[kikidoodle]

thank u for the wonderful carrie fisher tribute, it's amazing. too many times ive seen artists draw carrie sexily in her princess leia slave outfit as tribute even though she said she hated it, completely distasteful/disrespectful imo. id think she'd like more pics of her strangling jabba to death, you do her proud!

Thank you Anon!!!Carrie Fisher, herself, has said some great things about the iconic bikini.  It’s at its best when you utilize it for what it is... a woman taking the very thing meant to restrain her and using it to kill her oppressor!  Fisher was not always fond of it, either. In Newsweek  in 1999, she said, "I remember that iron bikini I wore in  'Episode VI': what supermodels will eventually wear in the  seventh ring of Hell." She's also said that her favorite moment  in the "Star Wars" films was killing Jabba the Hutt.  "I had a lot of fun killing Jabba the Hutt. They asked me on the  day if I wanted to have a stunt double kill Jabba. No! That's the  best time I ever had as an actor,"  Fisher told The Guardian. "And the only reason to go into  acting is if you can kill a giant monster." WSJ: There’s been some debate recently about whether    there should be no more merchandise with you in the “Return of    the Jedi” bikini.        Fisher: I think that’s stupid.        WSJ: To stop making the merchandise?        Fisher: The father who flipped out about it, "What am I going    to tell my kid about why she’s in that outfit?" Tell them that    a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid    outfit, and then I killed him because I didn’t like it. And    then I took it off. Backstage.