#LOI Phase One Part One

[vase-of-lilies]

Levels of Intimacy-Phase One; Part One

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader (f)

Warnings: Death of minor characters, fainting, some swearing, heavy talk of tsunamis, power containing restraints, bickering, hydro-powers

A/n: Here is the first chapter of my new series Levels of Intimacy! It is quite a long chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyway:) I am so so so so so so sorry this took so long. I had to figure out the other chapters because I wrote 6,000 words of the first "level of Intimacy" (emotional) so I figured I would put it in different phases:) ANYWAY hope you like this series I have been working on! (Reposted because of blog deletion)

Control…

Something you wish you were capable of. When you were angry, or sad, panicked in any way there was nothing that you could do to stop the water. Not just from your eyes, but everywhere. It started small, just after the tsunami hit. A bright light filled your vision once the water calmed down. Never before had you seen such a beautiful light. 

A buzzing, electricity, floating? It all happened far too fast for anyone to see or feel or embrace. But it was slow motion for you as the power surged through your veins just like water rushes through a river, never fully stopping until it reaches a calm body of water. Even when it does stop, it never really does. A current flows beneath the surface of the water giving the fish below a place to swim instead of freeze. What is truly beautiful about this, is a phenomenon that not a lot of people think about. Water is everywhere. In puddles, in drinks, rain, snow, ice, even the cement that builds our work places, and homes. It’s everywhere. 

Whats even more amazing is the fact that water is connected. The water that can be drank by other people is most likely connected to the early times such as dinosaurs or even the water that flooded your home town off the island of Tahiti, where you, your mother and father lay un-peacefully rested. The wave not only of water but dread grew bigger and bigger as time went on, as time went on, so did the lives of thousands of people. You being one of the only survivors. 

As time went on, so did your life and your dreams. The survivors guilt that hit you the following weeks and months after the disaster kept you from going to work, showering, taking care of yourself. You felt as if you should have been the one to die, not your parents. Or the friendly neighbor just down the street. Even your enemies who have passed on. You felt the guilt ripping away at your skin every morning when you woke up. Woke up… Something that felt so wrong.

As time went on, you move to a different country. You were American born anyway, and living in Tahiti was something your parents had always dreamed of. Going back to the US for some comfort of a big city with no ocean in the center, felt like the next best option. However, the country side did no good. It was too dry, and boring in your opinion. You needed the ocean. Something you dreaded, but needed. It was almost a sense of control, not being so close that you could touch it, but being so close that you could control never to go near it. 

Giving you a sense of control also Brought you to the tower that most would call a beacon of light. Some would call a magnet of death. But to you, it was a place that you felt you belonged. With the freaks. The moment you walked into the tower sporting the large “A” at the top, you knew it was a regret, but you pushed through anyway. Setting your mind on finding Tony, or Steve or anyone who had a decent idea of what you could do was your goal. 

The woman at the front desk was… difficult. Not letting you get one word in. “Ma’am pl-” Once again, cut off by the woman at the desk. You anger was rising, and you were afraid you would cause something horrible. Pounding your fist on the desk, you demanded you see Mr. Stark. “I need to see him! It is very important, and at this point, life or death. Just get me an appointment with him, or Mr Rogers. Anyone!” You glared at the blond woman, glaring back at you with a stare so sharp it could cut through a layer of tempered glass.

With a sigh, she nodded. “You have ten minutes. Do you understand? He is a very busy ma-” 

“Yes! Im fine with that. Where do I go?” You proceeded to interrupt her this time. Pointing to the elevator, you immediately run to them, not even noticing the flood of security guards after you. Once the door closed, you let out a breath you did not know you were holding. “Dear god, how hard was it just to point me in this direction?” You ask aloud to yourself. Clicking the button labeled with an “S” at the very top, you assumed that was Starks office. 

The small ding once the elevator stopped moving up, and up, and up made you jump slightly. The water in your water bottle starting to bubble. When you entered the room, there were people already sitting on couches but they did not look like normal civilians like you. They were thee Avengers. 

“Can we help you Miss?” A strong, deep voice asked you as you rushed into the lobby, quickly stopping once you noticed everyone. “I- I- I need to speak to Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers. The receptionist said I had ten minutes and the security guards I fear are already here. Please this is urgent.” The begging in your voice was something that Steve recognized. He nodded to Tony, and gestured for you to follow him. 

“What on earth is so important?” You slam your water bottle onto the table, and you sit down. Concentrating on making the water start to bubble and soon the small bubbles exit the open top of the bottle. “This. This is so fucking important. I don’t know what happened to me, and I’m scared I’ll hurt someone.” Your voice cracks, sending a small shiver down Steves spine. Wanda was just the same way, Steve thought. Scared and unknowing of the danger of not being able to control something. Instead, being controlled by it. “Whats your name?” Steve asks, looking at you with a pitiful yet genuine smile. “Y/n, Y/n Y/l/n. I was struck by the tsunami that hit the shores of Tahiti and after everything, th-this curse was given to me an-and I don’t know what to do.” 

You stare at the water bottle that now sits empty, the water in a sphere just above the desk. Losing focus, the water was dropped, sending the liquid everywhere onto the floor. With a sigh, Tony groans as he sees the mess. “Ok, ok. Let me get you some water, that you’ll drink I hope. And then I’ll get someone who might be able to help.” Steve says as he instantly thinks of Wanda once again. The woman going through the same thing. Finding her inner peace with herself, and her acceptance of her abilities. 

As you help Tony clean up the mess you made around the floor below you, a woman comes in. A small smile rests on her face as she sees you, and your heart tugs at something. Something you have never felt before. You look up, and your eyes meet the woman eyes. If the energy coming from between you and the woman alike, the connection would be visible. The strong feeling that pulled you to look at her also pulled you to stand up. The beautiful woman standing above you looked like a goddess that had just lost her crown, but was still the rightful ruler of a kingdom. She looked like she was glowing…

She smiles and holds her hand out to you. “Im Wanda Maximoff, but please just call me Wanda.” Her voice is of a nightingale in love with its mate, the beautiful sound filling the sky when the two lovers are together. It’s soft, gentle and could even sing someone to sleep if she really tried. As you shake off your thoughts, you hesitate when you see her hand. Slowly taking a hold of it, she shakes it softly and pulls away. 

“Whats your name?” She asks, sitting down in the chair next to yours, smiling as she watches you sit down next to her.  “I- Im Y/n.” You hide your hands in your lap, scared that if you move anything something might actually happen. “That is a beautiful name.” She whispers, feeling the connection herself that was felt not even minutes earlier. “Thank you, I- I really like your name too. Is it Sokovian?” You guess, your mind some how feeling connected to her name as well. She nods her head yes, her smile widening as you recognize where she is from. But you mostly recognized the accent, putting her somewhere in the middle east. 

She slowly reaches for your hands, and you jump; Your hands flying away from her. “Hey, Im not going to hurt you…” She whispers, giving you a smile as she holds onto your cold and shivering hands. “You were in the Tahiti tsunami, weren’t you?” She asks, having no knowledge of this before. She could sense that you used to love the ocean, and loved swimming and playing in the waves. But once mother nature became too powerful, and you became too comfortable, all of that was destroyed by her and the city slowly rebuilt itself. Yourself included. 

You had to rebuild going outside again, getting up in the morning, eating, showering, even sleeping. Day in and day out was staring at the picture of your mother and father and the only thought on your mind was when the next natural disaster will hit you next. It was a trauma shake and Wanda knew what it was like. She was reading you like a book and was not hiding that she was reading your mind. Her eyes glowed a subtle red as she dug through your memories to the day that took everything from “Your mother and father… they loved you very much, I know they did.” Your brows furrowed as you watched her. “Y-you didn’t know my parents. You don’t even know me. I was just some victim of something I can’t control and I just have to hide myself away from the world. I thought if I came here I could get help, but it just makes me look like a freak.” A sigh exits your mouth as you pull your hands from Wandas soft 

Wanda frowns as you pull away, her eyes going back to the warm, green color it originally was. “You’re not a freak, you have a gift Y/n. Did you know that you can heal people too?” You tore your eyes off of the water bottle in front of you and looked at Wanda. “Pardon?” You asked, more confused than ever. She nods and calls Bucky in from outside of the room. “This is Bucky, and as you can see he has kind of been roughed up on our last mission. Why don’t you try healing his right arm?” You look at the big, burly man above you, and back down to his arm. Gently, you take his hand and concentrate on one skin abrasion. 

Not knowing where to focus your powers, you start with your heart. Seeking out every molecule of energy you had, your eyes begin to glow a light purple as do your hands around Bucky’s hand. As you feel the power surge through your veins and out of your hands, you pull away from Bucky and you look at his now clean and unharmed hand. He smirks at you, and turns to Steve. Not-so-subtly he says “Can we keep ‘er?” You brush off the comment, and turn your attention back to your hands. 

“D-did I just fix his hand?” You whisper, Wanda looking at you with a satisfied smile. She nods as she holds your hands, pulling you gently. “Y/n? What do you think about joining the avengers? We- well, I could help you control your powers, and you could help restore what Thanos and other villains have destroyed. You can help people.” Your eyes water as you stare at your hands. The hands that are both capable for hurting, yet helping people all at the same time. 

Without answering, gathering your things, or looking at anyone, you stand up and make your way out of the room to the nearest balcony. You needed fresh air, and even if it had to be salty fresh air, then so be it. Tears fell down your cheeks as you stared up at the clouds. “Why did you do this to me? Why me??” Shouting at the sky, you tried to gather your thoughts only ending up in panic attack. One that you might not be able to control as well as your other ones. 

You could hear your name, but it was an echo, and a muffle. It was there but it wasn’t. Quickly, the world around you was getting darker by the second, and the people shouting your name felt as if they were a million miles away. As your body hit the floor, the one person who was there to catch your head was Wanda. She was quick and agile as she reached you, being so caring and loving towards you. “We have to get you to med bay.” She says as she picks you up, sliding her arm under your legs and just under your back. As Wanda walked, the swaying of her body made your head roll to the side and you landed right on her chest; Her heartbeat calm and collected, and soothing to count in your head.

Med bay came quicker than anticipated and you were lowered onto the bed, your head softly landing on the pillow and a blanket covering your body. Subconsciously, you hand is drawn to Wandas once again and a small whimper leaves your throat as she pulls away. Bruce notices this, and tilts his head. “I think she likes you, Wands.” He chuckles and prepares his things for an IV and other fluids. Wanda laughs along with him sending jolts of joy through your body as you listen to her voice. But you still would not wake up from this dreadful state you fell into on the balcony. As your breaths even out, Bruce holds your arm and Wanda holds your hand as the needle punctures your skin enough to find a 

Bruce smiles as he enters your vein first try, and he brings the needle back, keeping the small tubing inside of your arm. A small groan sounds from your mouth, and you roll onto your side. The blanket keeps you warm but so does Wandas hand holding yours. “Its going to be ok, I promise you.” She whispers as she looks down at you with a small smile on her lips.

[agaypanic]

Making a Little Genius (Malcolm Wilkerson X Reader Smut)

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Summary: You and Malcolm have a big party with your friends and family to celebrate you getting engaged and graduating Harvard with doctorates. During said party, you and Malcolm go to the bathroom to have a different kind of celebration.

A/N: based on this ask and this ask, plus some others i probably forgot about. Idk anything about doctorates, graduating college, or tbh probably anything in this fic. Year isn’t specified, but malcolm + reader are like 25. Francis is about 29, Reese 26, Dewey 19, Jamie 10, and the new kid is like 6. I made the newest kid a girl bc i feel like lois deserves it. You don’t need to know any of this, I just thought I’d say just in case lol

C/W: unprotected p in v sex (wrap it before you tap it!), breeding kink, dumbification kink, degrading kink, semi-public sex (empty room at a party), mommy and daddy kink

***

Malcolm had been eyeing you the entire day. It started out innocently. In the morning, he watched you fondly as he helped you decorate the house for the party you were having today. Malcolm paid extra attention to how the engagement ring he had given you shone in the light. After all, it was part of the reason you were having a party in the first place.

At first, Malcolm was against a big celebration. The last thing he needed was his crazy family, mainly his brothers and their children, messing around and breaking everything valuable around his house.

He finally knew how his parents felt about him and his brothers.

But you were always able to convince your boyfriend, now fiance, to loosen up a little. Which was why your little backyard was now crowded with your families and friends. Malcolm tried to stay close to you, but eventually got distracted by Jamie trying to give their little sister Maggie a string of firecrackers. Usually, he wouldn’t be so concerned, despite every Wilkerson child’s destructive streak. But Maggie had grown out of her phase of putting everything in her mouth and had now become very interested in fire and “making things go boom!”

When Malcolm was finally able to wrestle the tiny explosives and lighter out of Maggie’s hands, you were on the porch cooing over your new soon-to-be niece. “I can’t believe you’re a dad now, Reese.” You said, letting baby Olivia grab at your fingers. “It’s like you’re a real grown up.”

“I still have my moments.” Reese smiled with a shrug. “Don’t tell Jen, but sometimes I let Livvie lick the spoon a little when I’m making cakes.”

You snorted, surprised that that was the best example of mischief Reese was able to come up with now. You weren’t going to complain though. It was definitely better than his days of fighting rabid packs of dogs and beating on his brothers. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“What secret?” Malcolm startled you, making you hold your future niece extra close to you. When you realized it was your fiance who had snuck up on you, you relaxed a bit and smirked at his brother.

“Nothing. Just that Reese isn’t the bad boy he used to be.” You chuckled before catching a glimpse of what Malcolm was holding. “Where did you get firecrackers?”

“Maggie.” He sighed, jerking his head towards the house. “Come on, help me find a place to hide these before we have to buy our neighbors new mailboxes.”

Carefully, you handed Olivia back to her dad before following Malcolm inside the house. While wandering around, looking for a place to hide the tiny explosives, you and Malcolm basked in the rare moment of solitude after hours of being surrounded by your family. 

“Olivia’s the cutest thing.” You said as you opened the medicine cabinet in your bathroom. Malcolm nodded, watching you sit on the counter. “Just think. One day, we’ll have some little geniuses of our own running around.”

“Oh yeah?” Malcolm smirked, closing the cabinet and moving to stand in front of you. “How soon do you think?”

The look in his eyes made you smile coyly. “I dunno.” You shrugged, wrapping your arms around Malcolm’s shoulders. “After we’re married with better health insurance would probably be the ideal scenario. But…” You trailed off, letting a hand play with the hair at the nape of Malcolm’s neck.

“But…?” Malcolm encouraged.

“But,” you repeated, lips inching closer to his. “There’s no harm in practicing.”

Malcolm pulled your body against his as he kissed you feverishly. His hands roamed your body, groping your boobs and hips before hiking the skirt of your dress up. You moaned into Malcolm’s mouth as he squeezed your thighs and rutted his growing erection against you. Overwhelmed by desire, you did your best to move your hips in time with his to relieve your aching need for friction. 

A whine escaped your lips as Malcolm pulled your top down, making your breasts victim to his licks and bites that were now trailing down from your neck. “Perfect tits.” He muttered against your skin. “Gonna be even more perfect when I make you a mommy.” 

While Malcolm pinched your nipples, your somewhat shaky hands traveled down to unbuckle his belt and pull down his zipper. You reached in and started palming him through his boxers, and you bit your lip from how hard he was against you. 

“You want Daddy’s cock?” You moaned in response. You never thought that Malcolm would have a daddy kink, or that it would make you this horny. Yet here you were, tugging at Malcolm’s clothes just enough to allow his cock to spring free and spreading your legs as wide as you were able. Malcolm pulled your panties to the side before fisting himself, staring at your pussy that was begging for him. “God, you’re so wet, baby. Gonna fill you up so good.”

When he was fully stiff, Malcolm slowly guided himself into you. It took all his strength to not immediately ram into you; you just felt so good. He started with slow thrusts, allowing you to get used to his size while also trying to release the mutual desperation. 

“Mal…” You sighed. “More.”

“Oh yeah? You want more? Want Daddy to fuck you harder?”

Too overwhelmed to speak, you instead nodded furiously and swung your arms around his shoulders to brace yourself for what was to come. 

Almost instantly, Malcolm started pistoning in and out of you. You’d never understand where he got the stamina for such a rapid pace. Maybe all the coffee he consumed during finals had made him permanently jittery and speedy. But you weren’t about to complain, not when the drag of his cock against you sent electricity up your spine.

Malcolm reached down to thumb at your clit, and he couldn’t help but let out a breathy laugh when he felt you squeezing him in response. “You like that?” Although the question was genuine, his tone was entirely condescending. It only made you wetter. You tried to respond, but all that came out was a cockdrunk babble. “What was that?” Malcolm slowed his pace a bit, making you whine in protest.

“Fa-...” You could barely finish the word. The hand that wasn’t playing with your clit cupped your face, squeezing your cheeks and forcing you to look at Malcolm. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for you to continue, and all you did was grab his arm and try to move your hips to get him to keep fucking you.

Malcolm laughed, realizing what was happening. “I’m really fucking your brains out, aren’t I? Nothing but a cocksleeve for me.” His degrading just made you even wetter. Deciding to have some mercy on you, Malcolm started pounding into you again. “How much of a genius is this kid gonna be?” He panted, circling your clit vigorously. “Mommy’s a Harvard graduate, but gets too dumb to speak when I fuck her.”

“Gonna…” You took a deep breath, feeling yourself inching closer and closer to the edge. You had an iron grip on Malcolm’s shirt, no doubt wrinkling the fabric in your fist.

“Oh!” Malcolm looked at you with faux surprise. “Got something to say? Come on, tell Daddy what you’re thinking, if you’re even able to form a thought.”

His condescension spurred you on. “Gonna come.” You finally spat out.

Malcolm nodded. “Good girl.” His breathing got heavier with every thrust. “God, I’m so close.”

“In me.” You moaned. “Come in me. Please.”

“Yeah? Want me to fill you up?” Malcolm’s hips stuttered, trying to restrain himself from coming for just a little while longer. “Want me to make you a mommy?”

“Uh huh.” You whined. “Make you a daddy.”

The intensity of your orgasm made you shake, and Malcolm’s quickly followed from your cunt spasming around him. The foreign feeling of his hot seed filling you was intoxicating, and part of you hoped that you wouldn’t get pregnant right away so you could get more of this feeling. Malcolm seemed to like the rawness as well because instead of pulling out, he seemed to be pressing into you as much as he could. 

Even when you both came down from your climaxes, you didn’t want to pull away. But you both knew you had to eventually.

“I don’t wanna go back out there.” You mumbled tiredly into Malcolm’s shoulder. He laughed, seeming to share the sentiment as he rubbed your back.

“Yeah, I don’t know how we’re gonna explain us being gone for so long.”

“Or why I’m suddenly walking with a limp.”

Malcolm laughed again, lifting your head up so he could press a kiss to your lips. His gentleness starkly contrasted how he was a few minutes ago. 

He rubbed your hip, giving you a few more kisses before speaking again. “You really want a kid?”

You nodded, a grin slowly forming. “I wouldn’t mind a bit more practicing though.”

***

Malcolm in the Middle Taglist: @rattilol

[roominthecastle]

so....... RA 301, "Lone Wolf"

high points:

• the two Greys (a middle manager and a trainee acc. to the end credits lmao) tackling human abduction logistics - "Well, you got the 'leave him inside the house' part right." LOL I'm currently in my UFO/UAP phase again, so this little moment (along w/ that hangar full of retrieved alien spacecrafts) was a treat. This whole abduction storyline continues to simultaneously creep me out and delight me to no end. It's an odd but good feeling, and I'm excited to see how it plays out. FINALLY they made me interested in Ben & Kate again -- already one major improvement over last season.

• Alan Tudyk. In a suit. Thank you.

• the interactions btw Sheriff Mike & Deputy Liv retain their golden status. I just love them.

Mike: Look, there goes a damn government drone watching us right now. Liv: I think that's just some mustard on the window. Mike: That's what they want you to think. You gotta trust no one, Deputy. Head on a swivel. You ain't never really safe until you learn to look behind yourself. Go ahead, watch your back. Go ahead. Do it.

• Kevin and her lil' kitty towel awww

• "I had to stop because of you. I will always have to stop because of you." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is the stuff I'm here for. It reminded me of Hannibal: Tell me, Clarice. Would you ever say to me, "Stop? If you love me, you'd stop"?

The feelings, guys... the feelings I have are MANY and STRONG

but:

In general, Harry's characterization continues to frustrate me. We get a reminder how "going it alone" is hard-wired into his DNA. Even the two Greys are a brief counterpoint to this, presented as a team, supporting each other. But Harry still has to keep re-learning -- or more like re-realizing -- the basic tenet that confiding in Asta is the way to go, and we're already in S3. It just feels needlessly repetitive at this point. And hand-waving his behavior w/ "oh he just has the amorality of a child" is so... thin, such a basic cop-out. I know that emotional maturation is built on a long series of missteps, many repeated ones, but please let some stuff stick already so it can be built upon and keep things fresh. We have seen just how much development Harry's capable of in the character of Goliath. He is the best (a future) version of Harry and I'd really like to see him start moving in that direction now instead of coloring over the same lines ad nauseam.

That being said, the glorious clusterfck that is his relationship with Asta remains to be so fascinating. His alien core keeps crashing against his feelings for her and amidst all my frustration these moments somehow keep hitting the right sweeeet twisted spot for me????? I mean, apparently, he violated the Galactic Federation Charter 3 times already - for her. He def betrayed his own species - for her. First he was willing to save Earth - for her, now he would let the whole planet burn - for her. He then contemplates killing her to stop the fracture of his very being only to screech to a halt by her bed -- all of which is just...... WOW. He is so torn and confused yet so viscerally attached to her. He first calls her his kryptonite, then his Lois Lane. His core instinct is to protect her now and then try to fumble his way back to his mission, which is a complete 180 to how he behaved originally. So we def have development, I just wish they stopped trying to drown this precious nuance in a caricature. We have gold here, writers, let it shine.

[metisket]

book recs request ❤🖤❤🖤 🙏🙏🙏 in this case, book recs that you feel have inspired your writing style, or inspired your fics somehow?

Hmmm...this is a fun one but a tough one, because I'm not sure I'm really self-aware enough to know the true answer here. But I'll try! A lot of books/authors I believe shaped my writing style did it when I was pretty young, so we're getting some YA over here.

Robin McKinley

I must have read The Outlaws of Sherwood a dozen times between ages 10 and 15. I love me a hero who literally doesn't want to be here and got conned into this by pushy, well-meaning friends. Marian was the most badass Marian I'd ever encountered. Random, complicated, weird side-characters, my beloved. Cecily somehow speaking directly to whatever was unhinged about my own childhood feelings about my gender. Flawless, 10/10, should really re-read to see if it holds up.

This is not to minimize the ridiculous number of times I read The Hero and The Crown, The Blue Sword, Beauty, and Deerskin, because I also read them So Many Times that they've probably become a part of my psyche. Literally none of her heroes want to be heroes. But they've been informed that they are. Apparently. Ugh. Love to hate that for them.

Lloyd Alexander

I also re-read The Chronicles of Prydain at least once a year for many years. It has almost certainly messed with my mind. I was especially unhinged about The Castle of Llyr, because Princess Eilonwy. The best, the worst, the angriest princess. Love and respect. Taran I could take or leave, particularly during his Taran Wanderer phase (I was less sympathetic to his growing pains than I was to Eilonwy's), but The High King was a fantastic payoff, loved everything, no notes.

...Damn, I need to reread this series, also.

Lois McMaster Bujold

I didn't read The Vorkosigan Saga until college, but it immediately hit my brain hard. Fantastic characterization. The way she writes trauma and recovery from trauma, amazing.

Miles. What a character. What a mess. What a problem. He is only a little guy, literally and figuratively, and he's going to do his best to convince you that he didn't mean to offend that guy, set that building on fire, or end that empire. You know. Like a liar.

Sarah Rees Brennan

My number one fanfic influence--her style of writing is so delightful that, particularly when writing Harry Potter fic, I'd sometimes find myself paraphrasing her. I had to Sarah Rees Brennan-proof my fic to make sure I wasn't being an accidentally plagiarist, because her turns of phrase would just go subliminal in my brain. This honestly may still be happening, and if it is, I'm so sorry, Sarah, it's not on purpose.

My favorite of her books is In Other Lands, the story of a boy who is whisked away to magic school in magic land and is extremely annoyed to find himself there. Like why. Why is the plumbing medieval. Why don't phones work. Why is this magical Sparta.

...He's not wrong, is the thing. But he won't bend and he won't break and he won't leave, so apparently he's just going to have to fix the world himself. God help everyone! Love him. Love his friends. Love the entire world and setup and every single side character.

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I have been informed that you can see the Pratchett and Gaiman influences in my writing. I think this is a lie people have told me to make me feel better, but you know, I Want To Believe. So I'll include them.

Pratchett: Love for virtually the entire Discworld series, with an especially fondness for the Watch books and Susan. Still obsessed with Vetinari after all these years. What if Machiavelli but chill, though.

Gaiman: Lost track of how many times I've reread Sandman. The characters, the coolness, the weirdness, the meta! Especially obsessed with Death. Just someone being very calm and collected in the face of all kinds of horrifying nonsense. I admire that. Love nearly all of his books, but my favorite is probably Anansi Boys. Bet your stupid family drama doesn't involve gods. Or at least. I hope it doesn't.

Erin Morgenstern

I'm cheating by including her, because she didn't actually influence my writing, I just WISH SHE HAD. She can't, sadly, because my outline game will never be that strong. I know my limits. But DAMN. ENVY.

Both of her books are without flaw, but I did love The Night Circus just that little bit more, probably because I am weak to a circus. I firmly recommend The Starless Sea also, though, because it features an Unhinged Library. The characters and settings and descriptions--delightful.

But the best part is the WAY the stories are told. They're not chronological--they're like little intricate puzzle-boxes, where you open one panel, and there's a story, and you open another panel, and there's a different story, and by the fifth panel, there's a story that connected to the first panel, but also a little to the third panel, and--

LOOK, I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT. It should be confusing, but it isn't. It's perfect. Just the right amount of information at the perfect time connecting to other pieces of information in a complex, interesting, deeply satisfying way. I would kill to be able to do this. Kill. I actually tried to do this in 'Mirror Image', and I had to give it up, because the level of incoherence was off the charts. ffffffffffff howwwww does she dooooo eeeeeet.

Anyway, I think those are the big ones. Special mentions to: Tom Holt, a deeply weird writer who strongly influenced one fic in particular (Some Confusion, DGM), Patricia C. Wrede, because Dealing with Dragons in general and Cimorene in particular got to me, and Dennis Lehane, because a) his historical fiction is inspiring, and b) I love his handling of The Unhinged Friend in the Patrick and Angie books. The best unhinged friend. He booby traps his own home. Love him. What is wrong with him? We'll never know.

[greenjacketwhitehatdocmui]

DC: Absolute Power Rant

Warning: This is a rant about what happens to a certain character in the "Absolute Power" event. Feel free to skip it if you don't want spoilers.

I’ve heard a few things about the lead-up to the “Absolute Power” event that has (at the time of this writing) just started.  Once again, we have Amanda Waller doing what she thinks is right, no matter the cost in civilian casualties or other collateral damage.  I mean, it seems to be a given now that she’ll just learn to be cleverer about being so narrow-minded.

(I’m going to skip the part about the Failsafe robot.  Though, to be honest, Bruce should have really learned from the debacle that was Brother Eye and the OMACs.  But hey, we can’t skip out on potentially juicy event fodder, now, can we?  Ahem.)

In the lead-up to Absolute Power, Amanda Waller’s forces invade the island nation of Gamorra and apparently kill President Nakamura via violent defenestration.  Mrs. Nakamura’s final words were to have her son, Jay, try to get some help.

Jay is a metahuman, or post-human.  He can phase through objects at will, or as an unconscious defense.  In short, his body reacts to a threat by becoming intangible, often without him thinking about it.  Here’s an example from Son of Kal-El # 4, where the Kent farm has just been hit by an explosion.

Notice that Jay does not have time to think about turning intangible.  He’s probably in mid-word (Jon is currently trying to speed everyone out of the explosion) and doesn’t realize that anything is wrong.  Shrapnel is flying everywhere, but Jay is unaffected. 

A criticism of Jay’s powers is that they are ill-defined.  In fact, it feels like Tom Taylor created Jay this way in order to avoid any sense of peril, jeopardy, or even the slightest bit of harm.  It seems to boil down to “if it can hurt me, it goes through me automatically.”  In Jay’s words (when talking to Jon):

"I mean, with my powers.  I can't actually be hurt.  You feel like you have to protect the whole world, but you don't have to protect me.  I'm the one person in the world you don't have to worry about."

The only time we see Jay hurt is when he has to force himself to be solid, so that he can take his Mother’s blows.  It was either that, or Henry Bendix would kill her out of spite.  Other than that, Jay is effectively untouchable.  It’s as if Taylor didn’t want anyone to touch his precious pink-haired, perfect, cinnamon-roll of a partner for Jon.  He wanted to avoid the early Lois and Clark dynamic of Lois always being in jeopardy and having to be rescued.  Jay is the Lois of the relationship, only “better” by virtue of being unable to be harmed.

I don’t agree with the idea of the superpowered person with no weaknesses.  It’s a bad example of character creation.  It’s the creator’s pet of a character that you hate to see if, say, you’re running an RPG.

That said, in the Absolute Power:  Ground Zero prelude, Jay is shot in the ankle by a sniper.  Why?  Because his foot was tangible while he was running.

Um, no.  According to what Taylor has written, Jay’s power would have kicked in automatically, preventing any harm.  It’s more likely that he would have stumbled to the ground—and through it.  This is a better demonstration of how his powers work.

Now, if the comic had explained later that these were special bullets designed by Henry Bendix before his death, but never implemented, that would have worked.  After all, Bendix enjoyed making people suffer, rather than using a simple solution.  I.e., “why don’t you just shoot him already?”  It’s something that the co-writers could have worked out.  Instead, it feels like they’re trying to subvert expectations by rewriting Jay’s abilities into something more workable.

What am I trying to say?  If you’re going to create a character, make sure that they have weaknesses or limitations.  Doing a handwave of ill-defined invincibility makes the character that much harder to work with.

Comments? Questions?

--Doc

[godstaff]

Hey do you want to provide a in-depth analysis why you you prefer superwonder over clois, wondertrev, and wonderbat?

My analysis are always skin deep and, of course, biased according to my preferences.

First of all, I adamantly reject the couples of humans and supers. Not, as Lork fans suggested, because matters of eugenics (poor kids, they are grasping at straws trying to prove we, Superwonder fans, are evil). I'm not a nazi, looking for a superior race. It's only a matter of different physical characteristics. As a matter of fact, when a meta and a human share a bed, there's always the risk the meta could kill the human in their sleep. It is common the sleeping person turns, extends the limbs (sometimes violently), hugs the other...a lot of involuntary actions which could harm the human, even asphyxiate the partner by accident. Nobody can control the movements in their sleeping phase. I can imagine Scott Summers suddenly waking up in the middle of the night and opening his eyes without his protecting visor and blowing Jean's head by accident with the rays coming out of his eyes. Jean herself may be having nightmares of being attacked and projecting a repellent force field with her mind, causing Scott being thrown through a wall or being crushed. If the super has superstrength, the greater the risk. So, there's even peril with two metas sleeping together. Individual beds or even separated bedrooms are needed. Clark may have meteorism one night and kill Lois with one potent fart (one can only hope). Sorry to burst your romantic bubble, but each case must be considered individually.

Another instance in which there is a dangerous loss of control is when the meta indulges in their romantic urges. When the blood abandons your brain and goes to your nether parts, instinct becomes stronger than care for the other person. When you are two or three times stronger than your partner, like it may happen in human couples, it's not a big deal. However, when the difference is hundreds or even thousands of times, like "okay, dear, you can tumble a tractor tire at the gym. Quite impressive. But your partner can move the very planet where you and that tire are standing on." That's significant and very dangerous.

You can't expect, like Lork fans do, that Clark is always in control of his impulses and emotions in Lois behalf. Sex is one of the few instances in which you have to be able to let loose, to enjoy yourself, and Clark can't do it with a common human. Supes is always holding back in every other circumstance of his life 24/7 (world made of cardboard, remember?), let him have this one. It seems to me a selfish attitude from fans to relegate the main character to benefit a secondary one. The same goes to those willing to throw Diana/Wonder Woman under the bus to make Trevor or Batso look important.

A mortal human and a superbeing could never constitute a couple of equals. Nor soulmates, since their souls are focused on very different interests: a superhero needs to look at the World from a global perspective, not from the petty need for notoriety and what would be good for the front page of the paper the next day.

An elephant and an ant could never be more than friends.

Writers love saying "superheroes" are the modern gods and demigods. So, let's take a lesson from ancient Greeks, historical scolars and experts on everything regarding deities: Truth is their gods bedded mortal women and had children with them. The trick was they were forced to take a lesser form to be with the human. If the deity presented itself as a god, the mortal would burst in flames at the mere sight of the Olympian magnificence. Mortals couldn't be in the presence of the god in all its glory. Semele, the god Dyonisus human mother, made Zeus promise her he will appear before her like he really was. It ended badly for her.

Instead of posting idiocies like eugenics accusations to justify they have no real arguments to defend their position, this is what fans should focus on: The important thing in a comics book is the guy under whose name is the publication and the franchise, and this principal character can't and shouldn't be defined by the supporting one he goes to bed with. That's why James Bond is sorrounded by a constant carrousel of women. Ironically, the one time the importance of the female companion got promoted to principal, meant the demise of 007, as it should be, because his own survival wasn't his priority anymore.

SuperWonder is, IMHO, totally different. A true pairing of equals. Not only because of their matching powers, the easy argument other couples fans often use. They both are protectors, guardians, helpers, defenders. Their goals are similar. They won't hesitate to sacrifice in the name of justice, peace and truth or to give each other's life for their partner.

They don't have to hold back to be with the other, which is of great help when you want to share your life with your beau without restrictions. "Oh, yeah! because your only interest is for them to have sex...!" Some detractor might say. I say what's wrong with that? Don't you like to enjoy such liberties yourselves? Don't you want the same for your fictional favorites?

The whole planet is their oyster and they want to make it a safer place for all the people to share and enjoy. They communicate with monarchs and peasants all the same: they listen a lot more than they speak to understand our conflicted species.

They usually associate themselves and work with human heroes to give us the chance to admire someone of our own species as role models. Thanks to their upbringing they have strong family values and can't wait to form a nucleus of their own, when the planetary situation allows them.

Some humans, like Batso, think because they have more intelligence than the rest they have the right to tell the others what to do. Diana and Kal believe in sitting down at the side of the road to encourage and wait for those who take longer to walk the path. They know if we don't make it to the end together and convinced of what we do, it doesn't matter how fast we do the journey.

Because they began their relationship as friends with total honesty which later developed in love and care they concluded their relationship with humans should be based in those traits: honesty, love and care. Hence they ditched their secret identities and secret hideouts. This, in turn, made their loved ones be safer, because now the whole planet recognizes them as friends and is looking after their family and friends, warning the heroes when ill intentioned people is around those loved ones to hurt them. Around the Globe there's aproximately 1 billion smartphones and growing. All that people made possible to inform in real time of any event happening anywhere, covering the planet with a tight network of information.

Being romantically associated with humans significantly slowed them down. We humans are too prone to drama, mistrust and always want to have some kind of benefit ("what's in it for me?"), economical or otherwise, whenever we do something or engage in some project. Humans are a drag.

Regardless of our good intentions, a selfish strike is always there: a woman once told Clark that he being Superman and her won't ever work as a couple, because she isn't prepared to share him with the rest of the World.

Nobody could understand one another like Diana and Kal. They are each other's shelter from the storm. This is the main reason why I prefer them together above any other pairing DC may decree for them. Screw tradition.

The situations and characters here described are a projection of mine of how the infinite potential of Wonder Woman and Superman could be exploited if well written if the writers and DC Comics really cared for them.

Thank you.

Sorry for the wall of text.

[vampcubus]

Your fabolousness, ti's I poll nonnie back after taking a sabbatical due to some more tea I was unwittingly a part of.... if it pleases and sparkles to you and the court I'd like to share and update cause you can't make this shit up kids. So grab a cigarette or some popcorn and buckle up.

Remember that guy I was asking about ghosting? I dodged a train with that one. You see it's my personal hypothesis men have evolutionarily lost their brains to make room for something bigger: *the audacity*. This mother fucker. This man. He was using me to make his real goal jealous. See I was right, I was the side piece... and his main squeeze? A married woman. Well I make sound more treacherous than it was but they knew each other from college and were friends in that way a man and a woman are when they don't wanna say they fucking lest they scare off other potential mates. As observed in the wild aka a horny college campus. So anyways apparently they reconnected but she's happily married so he was talking to me to make her interested... how do I know all of this? I have another friend who is like a bloodhound when it comes to scandal. The girl is like fox news of gossip but she actually has credibility and reputable sources unlike them. So yeah I had to take some time to process that I was talking to homewrecker... and I mean the worst part is man told me to hit the gym. Him. Homewrecker. Told a fine bitch like me to hit the gym.... these men will wanna say they're Clark Kent's looking for a Lois Lane but fools aren't even impressive enough to be a Jimmy Olsen. Make wannaback hand some good old fashioned common sense into the idiots. Anyways, scandals from an old college friend group are something.... needless to say I delete Facebook, that den of sinners.... and I know we're not supposed to judge others but how can we not when they're that fucking stupid? Anyways poll nonnie out, keep slaying your fabolousness and gotta say love the theme wanted to say it when you first changed it, was a fan of the inuyasha phase but those are America's tits and I salute them. Nonnie out.

brother eughhh 😨 you fr dodged a bullet cus that is so crazy what. not him tryna make you insecure whilst he's using you to get with a married woman 💀 glad u got outta there babes.

also thank yewww, ngl i miss my inuyasha theme but YES THOSE ARE AMERICA'S TITS 🫡 and star and stripe has been running laps in my gay little brain.

[ultfreakme]

What are ur jon, hay, jonjay hcs

Hmmm....I think I answered before but I don't remember and it's lost in the sauce of tumblr hell and I think I may have new ones so here goes:

Jon

Anime stan, he especially likes shonen anime that everyone knows and talks about. He's the most mainstream fan ever so his favs are; Naruto, DBZ, Hunter x Hunter, One Piece, One Punch Man, etc.

He hoards. A lot. Like he has a candy stash in his room, he keeps buying and buying stuff, and Clois let him go wild. It's because he went YEARS without anything so he's very insecure about possibly going without nothing so now that he can, he buys and keeps a lot of things, his room is a mess.

He has a polaroid photo wall. Basic white boy things. But also because he wants to collect and make new memories. On that note:

He is a good photographer.

Wonderful baker, subpar at anything else.

Jay

I have a bunch of headcanons about his powers the biggest one being that he can phase things around himself, and with practice he can increase the radius. So at first, he can only phase stuff like his clothes and anything on him. Then, about a meter outwards. The more and more until he can phase out an entire concert stadium with a single touch to the ground.

He got better at English by watching Daily Planet and reading their newspapers. His mom had a dump of newspapers from across the world in her office and living room and once she got done reading them, Jay would pick those up and read. Hence, the Lois Lane idolization.

He did not like superheroes or care much for them. Still doesn't. His exception are Nia, Jon and Damian.

This is more JonJay discord server headcanon and I take no credit for it. But there's this thing where we think Jay and Luis(Red Sin) dated when Jay first got to Metropolis when he was in high school and they had a sweet relationship for the most part until grief put a large distance between them after Luis's parents died(and Jay was also dealing with Scale dying in The Revolutionaries).

Even more Jay headcanons

JonJay headcanons

They had a talk where they promised to put the world/the bigger picture over each other if it ever came down to picking between saving each other or the world. It was a horrible conversation which left Jon a MESS and Jay like silently falling apart in his head but they got better about it.

IMO they don't do nicknames. Jon tried once, but Jay "I cannot handle sincerity" Nakamura kept laughing so now it's just 'Jay'. Jon likes saying Jay's name anyways so he has no problems.

Their dates are like, fantastical but also not really. They're watching a waterfall thousands of miles away while sharing a lunch their moms made. They're going to a distant planet with a picnic basket.

Whenever Jon gets overwhelmed with the noises and the sensations, he goes to Jay's place and puts on his headphones. He could buy his own pair, Jay even recommended it, but what other excuse does he have to go to Jay's place(nevermind that Jon just crashes at Jay's place the second he starts missing him).

Jon impulse-bought a BUNCH of The Truth merch the first time Damian introduced him to him and he STILL has it but he shoved it into a hidden box(he does NOT want his bf to know he was like, a superfan for a while).

Jon does grand gestures but Jay does little things that Jon doesn't even notice until it gets pointed out. Like they'd got to a restaurant and Jay always gets room temp water because he knows Jon likes it better. He gifts and wears unscented shampoos and deodorants because the artificial scent gets to Jon sometimes. Whenever Jon sags under the weight of superman or is having a bad day with it, Jay conveniently needs help with making something for Sara, or moving some boxes around, or needs this photo for Truth article- stuff that makes him be Jon for a bit instead of Superman and Jon doesn't even realize.

They are HORRIBLE at double dates. Neither of them are the best at socializing and they both get sarcastic and lost in their own world. hhhh this is a Bernard hc too sorta- but the one time TimBer and JonJay go on a double date(idk bi solidarity Jon was trying to make connections), Bernard was super excited to meet Jay because he listened to The Truth before. But Jay was kinda stand offish and could not take a joke with the conspiracy theories so by the end of it, Bernard was like "okay Jay's a bit of an ass" and Jay came out of it thinking "wow Bernard sure is a character(side-eye)". Tim and Jon's buddy-buddy meeting ended with both of them gaining a rival and bitching with Kon and Damian respectively about how much of a loser their brother is (dw Bernard and Jay make up once Bernard starts being sarcastic back at Jay and Jay learns to push back on the 'actually, you're wrong--' instinct).

[idreamofhamandcheese]

find the word tag (again)

tagged by @the-stray-storyteller <33

sorry this is so long i cant edit lmao

Wilder: ok i literally wrote a book 2 years ago with a mc with the last name Wilder. So. also this writing is traaashhhh but whatever we evolve

I cleared my throat and leant into the microphone. “This is Delta Foxtrot One, Wilder speaking. We’d like to bribe you to-”

“Woah! Okay.” Wren appeared beside me, pushing himself towards the mic. “Hey, Reggie, it’s Wren. We’re in a tough situation here, and we’re hoping you can help us out.”

“Wren! Man, the screens are blaring about you guys all day here. The hell you do?”

“It’s not important, dude. I don’t wanna get you any more involved than I have to. What’s it gonna take to make the questions not happen, Reg?”

“I don’t know, man,” the guy, Reggie, answered. A hearty sigh shook the speakers. “I could get in a lot of trouble for this. Y’all are criminals. How do I know you’re not gonna blow us all up?”

Wren took it upon himself to take a seat in my captain’s chair. Another strike against him in my book. “Listen, we’re the good guys here, I swear. You know there’s something up with Wright. You can believe it, can’t you, Reg? Just let us through. Nobody has to know. We’re prepared to pay.”

“Look, kid, I like you, but I don’t how how I feel about-”

I bumped Wren out of my seat and grabbed the mic. “Five grand.”

There was a heavy pause. “Deal,” Reggie said.

Empty/ Tight: from current project. very unedited

“Frances.”

From nowhere or possibly hell, Gwen had apparated in front of me. She was wearing the sort of scowl that could burn your skin off and a satiny black dress so tight I truly worried for her organs.

“Gwendoline.” I let Elodie take Lois off into the crowd. Gwen was my dragon to slay. “Can I help you?”

She grabbed me by the arm, suddenly and violently, her deadly acrylics bearing into my skin. I tried to wrench my way out of her death grip to no avail and found myself being marched through the crowd, which parted with the sheer force of her fury, and straight into the women’s bathroom.

It was still loud in there, but muffled, the singer’s pounding synonyms blurring into one. There were a few girls huddled around the mirror, and they all looked up on cue as we entered, mascara wands frozen midair. Gwen pulled me into the empty stall and released me with a force that sent me stumbling, yanking the door locked behind us.

She spun to face me dead on. “What the actual fuck do you think you’re doing?”

I rubbed my sore arm. “Partying?”

“You need to back off my boyfriend,” she said.

I stared at her. There were a lot of words springing to mind, approximately none of them appropriate. “You-- are you saying that you think I want your assface boyfriend?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid, Frances--”

“Beg to differ!”

“--I know Cal is kind of the hottest guy in school.”

“Gwen, I’m a hotter guy than Callahan Huxley is.”

She pursed her lips. “Look, I don’t really give a shit if you like him, because at the end of the day, he’d never go for you.”

“God, I’m devastated.”

Gleam: from backburner project which is sitting in the abandoned complete first draft phase. maybe ill pick it up again one day idk.

Reza stepped closer. I tightened my grip on my gun, the leather of the holster bearing into my hip. He looked around, surveying the windows above us for prying eyes. He dropped his voice. “Is there somewhere more private we can speak? It’s a rather… sensitive matter.”

I cut my eyes towards his, sharp. “Absolutely not.” I stepped around him, forcing him to turn his back to the wall, entrapping him between myself and the dead end. “This isn’t Claw turf, Ansari. You come to my town, you play by my rules.” Not to mention that there were at least three heavily armed girls in my office at that very moment who would rip a Black Claw to shreds on sight.

He huffed out a staccato breath through gritted teeth, as though he had been struck suddenly. Reza Ansari wasn’t used to being told no. “Fine,” he spat. His countenance was slipping. “We’ll play your way. I want to get out of this shitthole as soon as possible, anyway.” I bristled at the words. Lower Persepolis had a fine membrane of ash that clung to every surface, the water here running a little cloudier and the alley cats more scarred. It was certainly a far cry from the gated Claw estate. But it was my home.

I nudged my coat aside to allow the gunmetal to gleam in the grim light. “Careful, Ansari.”

He laughed quietly, more to himself than anything, and drew his gaze from my hip to his foot. He pulled at the fabric of his trousers, exposing his ankle and the glistening silver blade strapped to it. He let the fabric drop and met my eyes, his lips tugged into a wry smile. “That’s one of five I have concealed on my person. Can we talk now?” 

Bruise: current project againnn

“Tell me about it.” I pulled myself up to standing to meet her eyes. “I--”

I froze.

Those eyes.

I’d seen them before.

Sharp. Darkly intelligent. Smudged with jet-black liner and eyelashes invented for batting. Teetering on the knife-edge spark of life you didn’t get from pictures.

I stumbled backwards blindly, the edge of the well hitting the small of my back hard enough to bruise.

She tilted her head at me, cropped, obsidian curls tumbling like a crawling nest of ratsnakes, the pitch-black ones you found in the canyons back home. The moonlight bounded off her smooth, marrless skin. 

My breath quickened because hers couldn’t.

I was face to face with a dead girl.

The words slithered out of me. “Margot Aoki.”

tags: @calloumii @minutiaewriter @avocado-frog @moondust-bard

Your words: spider, jaw, fang, detective

[ocean-anchored]

Dear Future Self.... November 29, 2022

I’ve been putting off writing lately. I’ve found that most of the time when I go out, whether for walks or even if I’m just in the kitchen baking or making something I dont tend to listen to music or anything. I just think. All the time my mind is just going from topic to topic and at times I stop and think hey maybe I should just grab my laptop and write and get these thoughts out rather than them just bouncing around in my head for weeks but then I never do.  I dont know why, maybe because I’ve said before that it’s just in the moment. I feel like when I sit down to write that all the true thoughts that I want to remember to write, vanish and then I’m left with writing random ass things that sure may have some importance but maybe don’t get to the root of some feelings. Let’s start with a quick recap of where I’m at because I already know BRIEFLY looking back at January, my life is absolutely different. So the roommate life is still going well. Living with Dillon & Cody have probably been one of the more surprising turn outs, as much as I really do everything for Dillon and sometimes too much because he’s a grown baby boy, but we really do all work well together under the same roof. It’s been nice. I’ve now transitioned from what was my part time job, to my full time job, with my part time job being what my full time job used to be. I now work for Ed full time from home and I work for Chrystal part time. It’s been a big change but also for the better. The learning curve is massive though. Ed is brilliant and I at times am concerned that I dont understand half the stuff that he does or says because he’s so beyond intelligent and business minded that I really hope to learn and soak everything up by working for him because this whole job could change my life. I love what I do. There’s such a variety of work, managing his founders list which seems to always be increasing, helping with LOIs and connections with his company branch, this whole GSU side is crazy awesome and I’m stoked to be apart of this. It’s been a nice start and good first month into things, and I know it’s only going to get more busy and more hands on but I’m excited. It’s still nice to work for Chrystal and stay connected with that company. Today she told me that Danny said yesterday to her that he really misses me and he’s really sad that I “moved on”. Nice to hear that, it makes me feel like I really did make an impact on him and his company and I know what a good employee I am. But it’s nice to still be connected and be able to come in on my own terms and help, it’s a good backup and filler for sure.  Family life is good for the most part. I miss steven every single day. Like really if anything maybe there’s one day that goes by but at least every other day there’s something that I wish I could send him, or I just miss being around him. I miss our relationship so badly. He was my best friend. I go through phases of being really angry at him though. Angry at the way he treated me, the way he put me in the middle of this condo shit when it was completely wrong to do so. It’s so wrong to lump everything and everyone together but that’s just him never dealing with anything. He was so angry at meliss and just because I chose to still have a relationship with my sister over cutting her off simply over money is nonsense. That’s now how we were raised and thats what gets me. Hes acting like Steve and that’s what makes me so angry. Angry that he literally threw away our relationship AND his own relationship with his mother. The guy literally doesn’t talk to his mother, father or nearly any of his siblings. Like how the fuck are you not broken and miserable? That’s fucked to me that someone can live happily like that. Seeing mom on mothers day and even her birthday with the absolute shit and pathetic msg he sent her, not only broke her but it broke me watching her receive that. She doesn’t deserve that. It’s really tough. Some days I find myself wanting to text him on holidays or even Amanda and wish them a happy holiday and then some times I wish I could text them something bitchy like “regardless of you not acknowledging my birthday or anything, I still wish you a merry christmas” but who knows. Some days I just want to text him and tell him how badly I miss him but for what? I dont know. Its heartbreaking though, I’ll tell ya that. Anyways, meliss and I have gone through some ups and downs. The downs haven’t been bad really, it’s just been some periods where maybe we dont talk which is just odd because we communicate every day in some form but honestly this year has been huge for growing together. Shes struggled a lot and she’s closed up at times but then we’ll go out and have this huge challenging talk that just by the end of it Im like damn she’s my best friend man. Like I can’t talk to anyone like I do her, she really is my soul sister. I’ve been getting a bit more time with mom the last few weeks. I’ve started to go to church again, which honestly I’m happy for. I never felt pushed or anything, just have felt like I want that connection and I’ve gone through phases of relying on God vs sometimes I do forget to talk to him throughout the day but going to church helps bring me back to that and to the roots. I really hope to find some community and a good group of people as I continue to go. The messages have been so damn good and convicting, it’s really such a good church.  Divorce is on it’s way. I finally paid off Vivant so my credit is finally coming back up to norm, boy did Travis really fuck me over man. As much as I seriously hated my life and what I went through, I learned so much of what I will never put up with and so much of things to be cautious of. Let alone this poor woman of 28yrs knows the whole processes of marriage, buying a house, selling a house, divorce and all that inbetween. I’ve lived through a hell of a lot the last few years for being 28. I dont feel that it really burdens me much anymore, saying that I’m divorced but maybe some circumstances bring different feelings. I now just have to go in person to sign and bring my marriage certificate and hopefully soon everything will be final. I can’t wait for that to be 100% closed off. I really do want to have some sort of celebration when it’s finalized and courts are official with the divorce. Thankful for the hell it put me through to figure out who I am.  I’m still learning to be on my own. Now that I have a boyfriend I’m still finding that some days I’m looking for that void to fill but I’m conscious of it. I’m still working on being my own person and being comfortable being alone and doing my own things, surviving and providing for myself and not relying on anyone. Being with someone that accents my life, doesn’t make it a burden or a chore. Where I’m happy alone but share happiness with another person. It’s been a fucking learning curve though hasn’t it. Some days I question love. I mean I think I even wrote about it at some point earlier on that I said that I love him, I haven’t said it to him per say but I wrote it. & now being 4 months in and him talking about how he wants to “tell me how he really feels” in person (which seems to not happen cause hes not the best at expressing his feelings) I sometimes wonder if it is love. I wonder if im in love or if I simply love him. I just find some of the bigger issues between us which always boils down to communication and wanting to spend more time with each other which I guess is the better side of “arguing” if you will, but sometimes it makes me wonder if we’re to be together long term. I want to say that I can see myself with him forever, he absolutely has the heart of gold and all the boxes of long term, ideal husband material but there’s some things that just make me question. Like today for example. I express how I haven’t been sleeping because I think I have a lot of anxieties coming back up and keeping me up and he keeps asking about them and telling me that I can talk to him about this but then when I do, he blankets the entire thing with assumptions that it’s related to Steve ruining every holiday and that I just dont like this holiday season. When yet if he read my text, each item I expressed had nothing to do with my past and was just actual things and places I’m at in life here today, this year. And it wasn’t an encouraging text, it felt like he just wanted to say oh itll all be better soon its ok.... so how am I supposed to feel if Im sharing what things make me feel sad or what things cause anxiety and you dont A seem to really even read my msg and B even ask me a question. I challenged him that he doesn’t ask me anything. I know I wrote about this before, and we’ve have conversations about majority of everything I’ve written or complained about and it’s definitely all been better as we’ve communicated more about it but this is one thing I hadn’t brought up. He barley knows anything about me, not even just as a past growing up or anything with Steve but like doesn’t know shit about my family, doesn’t know details about me, what makes me really happy, what I want to achieve in life, where I see myself in 10 years, what my goals are. Like he just never asks questions about literally anything and it makes me feel like he doesnt care to know, makes me feel like I’m again just this warm body to keep him company. As much as Nate was shit with physical and emotions sharing, he was damn good at asking questions and getting to know me. I know it comes with time, but to be “official” for 4 months in which we’ve spent one of four of those anniversaries actually together, not that that’s a big deal but for someone that tells me he cares so much about me damn he’s sometimes so fucking lost with showing it. I just hope it comes over time. Only this last week has our intimate side of our relationship actually taken a turn for good and has made me feel like okay there’s hope. I was almost getting to a point of questioning if we’re intimately compatible and if it was going to be a forever issue which would be something I’m not sure I could deal.  Anyways. My laptop is about to die and I’ve written a lot. In this very moment I’m content. I’m okay. I’m pleased with my life but I wouldnt say I’m terribly happy. Im not depressed but I’m not over the moon about things. I wish it wasn’t winter and I wish the sun was up more. I wish for a lot of things but I am grateful. I am beyond grateful for where I’m at and how far I’ve come. Thank God for the support system I have and that I’ve been able to continue to get up every single day and push through because damn did I really wonder if I was going to make it out of that relationship, let alone through that divorce and here I am in a better place than I ever have been in my life and for that I am very grateful. 

[vase-of-lilies]

Levels of Intimacy-Phase One; Part Three

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader (enhanced)

Warnings: Mental health issues, locked gloves and collar (for containment), lots and lots of fluff!, cuddling, pet names (little one, sweetheart), Wanda be fricken adorable, some PTSD, processing past issues, talking about hard stuffs :( (If I missed any, please let me know!)

A/n: The meditation talking part they do later on in the story is called Processing. It is a way to find trust in people that have most likely betrayed you or you already have trust in. I wanted to add that little bit because I have actually been in a processing once before and it was absolutely magical. I looked at something that was not working out for me and I found the cycle in which I locked myself in. I was able to break down the issue at hand and find the root of things! I just wanted to share that little bit:)

Translations: majhen - Little one

Your eyes fluttered open, a small groan finding its way through your throat. As you look around you, the room is still normal yet something about the feeling was different. Wanda… She had softly wrapped her arm around your shoulder as you slept, soon falling asleep with you in her arms. It was something you surely didn’t expect but certainly didn’t mind.

She was a comforting person to be around. Especially when you were in her arms. It was an embrace that you didn’t want to leave and wanted to suck in as much as possible. So, laying on the woman’s chest, you listen to her heart beat and count each one. Each one by seven. 1…2..3…4.5…6..7…1…2…3…4.5…6..7.

As you wait for Wanda to wake up, your thoughts went a little too far. All you thought about was what you could have done differently to save your parents. You wanted nothing than to hold them in your arms again, and wanting to hear their loving and praising words. Again, your thoughts went too far. ‘They would be scared of me… would they even love me with this, curse? Could I heal the past and never think about them again? No. I can’t do that. I can’t forget them.’

You talked to yourself as you stared at the gloves on your hands. God, you wanted them off your hands. So fucking bad. Your thoughts were interrupted by the soft voice of Wanda calling your name. “Y/n? Are you awake already majhen?” She smiles as you look up at her. “Yea, it was just a little bit ago. How did you sleep?” You ask, trying to maintain a conversation. She replied with a smile, “I slept great. You are a wonderful cuddler.” She teases you, and smiles as she hears your soft giggle.

You sit up a little more, scooting over so she can sit on the bed with you. She can tell something is bothering you, even from the small amount of time you were in her presence. As her fingers softly brush through the ends of your hair, she asks you, “Are you alright, majhen? You seem… distant.” She observes your hard gaze, landing on the gloves locked around your hands. “I see now. Do you want these off?” She gently takes your gloved hand in hers and rubs her thumb over the outer layer of the tech filled glove. You nod, tears beginning to sting your eyes. “I promise I won’t hurt anyone, I- I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

It’s true. You didn’t want to hurt anyone, and Wanda could feel that too. “I know you won’t sweetheart, I know. These are just precautions but I don’t think Tony will mind if we take them off.” She smiles as she retreats from the room to find Tony. Once she got the keys from him, she stops at a vending machine to get you a snack. Goldfish. “Hm… Seems appropriate…” she mumbles to herself as she presses B and then 7, watching it tumble to the bottom of the large box. Once the package of goldfish were in her possession, she walked back to your med bay room with a smile.

“I got you a snack. I thought you might be hungry,” Wanda said as she entered the room. She was happy to see that you had gotten yourself out of bed and was standing near the large open window beside the bed. You jumped when you heard her voice, but were relieved once you were able to identify who the voice belonged too. “Oh, thank you but-” before you could protest, your stomach answered for you, growling in a low tone that made Wanda chuckle. “Come on sweetheart, eat.”

With a small sigh of defeat, you surrendered to Wandas kind gesture and sat back down on the bed with her. She handed you the pack of gold fish and giggled softly. “Goldfish? How’d you know they were my favorite?” Wanda chuckled as she sat in front of you on the bed, taking your hands in hers and unlocking the gloves. “Lucky guess?” As she takes off the gloves, you feel a spark in your heart. It was a spark that could only really be felt from a lover and a true soulmate. “Wanda? Have you ever been in love?” You ask, completely out of the blue. She stops as she walks behind you, moving your hair over your shoulder. “Once. A while ago, but sadly he’s gone now.”

You turn your gaze down to your lap, feeling Wandas sorrow as she unlocks the collar around your neck. “But thats over with, and I have found other things to love.” She changes the subject and absentmindedly starts braiding your hair. “Am I ok to put some healing crystals in your hair?” She asks as you eat your goldfish. Shrugging your shoulders, you nod. “Sure, I could use some healing.” You laughed, and you smiled even bigger when Wanda decided to join in with laughter too. “You know,” Wanda started. “You are a wonderful person to be around. I know what it feels like. To feel like you don’t belong. You have this gift, yet you are seen as a threat. I know. But now that you’re here, you have nothing to worry about, or fear. You are safe in the hands of all of us.”

Her words entered your ears and you smile through each sentence. Wanda makes her way back around to the front of you, taking your hands in hers. “You are safe, and I know that you will do great things while you’re here.” She smiles, giving your hands a small squeeze to let you know she’s there. “What if I hurt people? What if I get so caught up in my own thoughts that I endanger everyone around me?” The worst possibilities started to flood your mind, becoming almost impossible to cease. She lets out a soft sigh, her breath fanning on your hands. “When you’re around me, you won’t have to worry about that.” She says, the phrase comforting.

“But what of the time that i’m alone?” You ask wearily, anxious of any out come that may happen if you are alone and get stuck in your mind.

“Close your eyes for me, and I want you to picture a room. An empty room with nothing but a soft and comfy chair in the middle. What color is this room? This color should be something that makes you happy, or gives you a feeling of joy when you see it. In my case, my room would be red. It makes me happy and at home. Whats your color?”

You are slightly caught off guard by the sudden question, but you quickly answer with, “Blue. Like the ocean.” Even though you are more scared of the ocean than ever now, you still feel at home when you think of the ocean.

“Good,” Wanda smiles. “Now I want you to pick three people. Three people you trust, and these people can be anyone. Your parents, your friends, the old woman just down the street, and even a dog. But pick three. These three people that are now in your blue room have vowed to keep every secret you tell them. Good or bad secrets, they keep them. They discuss amongst each other and decide what you should do with these secrets. Whether you tell them to someone outside of your room you trust, or even the same people with in your room. Once these secrets get out it feels like a whole different world. You have put up these emotional barriers to protect yourself, right? Now that you have people in your room to help with these, you don’t feel so alone and blocked off.”

You really thought about what she was saying. “I have put up an emotional barrier because I didnt feel safe…” A self realization hit you and you nodded as you wanted to hear more of what Wanda had to say.

“Now that you have all these secrets out, I want you to thank all of the people that came into your room. Tell them each goodbye and that you trust them. Now that you are at peace and alone in your room again, watch the colors of the walls change around you from blue, to red, yellow, orange, any color you choose. These can all be linked to emotions, memories- good or bad, or even people. But when you need to calm down, come into this room and invite your support group back into the room. Tell them how you feel and that you are having a hard time controlling your powers. They will help you, they will tell you everything is going to be alright, because everything will be. Once you feel ready, I want you to open your eyes and look up at me. Ok?”

When the time came when you felt ready, your eye lids fluttered open. Wandas beautiful face appeared in your eye sight and you smiled at her. “How do you feel little one?” She asks, the nickname hitting you in your heart; Sending jolts of happiness from your heart to your head and back again. “I feel… free, a-and…” You stop, not sure of what else you feel. “Just good.” You finish, smiling brightly.

“Im so glad sweetheart. You know you deserve the best, right? There is so much out there for you to see, experience and feel. You just needed a little help and a friend, I can tell.” Her lips tug into another smile, her thumbs softly rubbing the soft skin of your hand. Gently, you pull away from her grasp and softly wrap your arms around her neck. “Thank you Wanda… for everything.” Whispering in her ear, you lay your head on her shoulder. Smiling when her lips press a soft kiss to your head. “Its my pleasure. I am always here for you when you are feeling down or helpless. Even happy, i’m here for you. Just know that you are not alone in your life. You have people all around you to help you. Ok?”

She looks down at you, her eyes meeting yours. “I understand, thank you.” You smile, taking her words to heart. Going back to your mental room, you cheat and add one more person. Wanda. Her help and her trust worthy smile and attitude was just the add on you needed. As you close your eyes, you slowly start to doze off on her shoulder. “Goodnight little one, sleep well and I will see you when you wake.”

Wandas fingers trail through your hair, brushing the knots out as you slept. The crystals she out in your hair were amethyst; something that could help you sleep peacefully. She wanted nothing but happiness for you and even though you both just met, there was nothing wrong with how you felt about her. The growing feelings between the two of you, and the growing friendships of the avengers were just what you needed to recover from such a traumatic time in your life. 

Healing people, and controlling your worst fear is the most control you have ever been in. Thanks to Wanda Maximoff. Your saving grace, and your emotional partner. “Thank you Wanda.” You whisper in your sleep, making the woman above you smile and press her lips to your head in a small kiss. “You’re welcome little one.” She whispers back, sending a spark of her own magic to your mind so you experience nothing but good in your dreams to come. 

[skylarmoon71]

Lance Sweets (Bones) - Crossover AU - Chapter 15

Lois helped you get cleaned up, and you’re all once again in the living room. Lois is smiling at the way you look at Clark. 

Almost like he’s family. She understands.

“Well, since you’re already here, why not stay for dinner. Then maybe Smallville can share all his kryptonian knowledge.”

Her invitation brings a smile on Clark’s face.

He expects nothing less from Lois.

“Make yourself at home, we’ll get started on dinner.” Clark informs.

“Yeah, how about lasagna Clark.” Lois calls. Clark leaves a kiss on her cheek as he heads for the kitchen.

When he’s gone, Lois nudges your arm. Maybe she sees how eager you are to talk with him, be around him.

“Why don’t you offer him some help. I suck at cooking, he’ll appreciate it.”

Your eyes light up and you nod.

“Y-Yes I will.”

You head for the kitchen and Sweets smiles.

“They’re so cute.” Lois gushes.

He chuckles, shaking his head.

~~

The dinner that followed was fairly quiet. You’re a bit lost in your thoughts, and so is Clark. Maybe that’s why you both ended up in his barn after the meal. He was telling you about his childhood.

How he grew up. All of his experiences.

“I really never thought I’d meet anyone else.”

Clark turns, taking in the hopeless look you wear as you stare at the expanse of grass on his farm.

Sweets is below bailing hay. He sort of insisted that it was a task he always wanted to try.

“There were a lot of kryptonians in Smallville. Not all good. After what happened in the phantom zone I got a bit paranoid.”

“Is the phantom zone real?”

Your astonishment draws his attention.

“It is. You’ve heard of it before?”

“My dad used to tell me stories. It’s a prison for really bad people. To us they were sort of like bedtime stories. Mostly to keep my brother out of trouble. But I can’t believe it was true. Are you saying that you’ve been there and you escaped? Only members in the House of El had keys to access that or leave. Are you saying that you’re..”

Clark looks down.

“My biological father was Jor-El.”

At this point you shouldn’t even be surprised. Still, the more you learn, the crazier it all seems.

“I can’t believe it. Jor El, to us he was like an ultimate warrior. He protected us, kept the planet safe. You’re the son of one of the strongest and most honorable kryptonians to have lived. That’s incredible.”

“It sounds like you’re giving him a little too much credit. Sometimes the trials he put me through were selfish. I went through a lot because of him.”

You can’t hope to know what that was like.

“Regardless, he usually came through in the end. He played a part in turning me into the person I am today."

Despite all of that, there’s respect in his tone. One that’s similar to what your father always used when he talked about Jor-El, or when your brother would gush about his missions.

There’s a strange sense of nostalgia when you’re with Clark.

Like you’re home.

“This is tougher than it looks.”

Sweets call pulls both your attention. Apparently he’d removed his shirt at some point. When he turns to you, his exposed chest makes you take a much needed breath. He turns back to his task, and you’re fortunate. Your heart is slightly racing again, and the familiar burn in your eyes is all the indication you need. You close your eyes, not before Clark caught the red rings of your irises of course.

It takes a moment, but you feel the heat dissipate, and you open your eyes, massaging the bridge of your nose.

“Sorry..” You mumble.

You aren't sure why that happened. A lot of strange things have been occurring with your powers lately.

“I guess you’re going through it later than I did. You skipped the awkward high school phase.”

“What are you talking about?”

He suddenly looks uncomfortable.

“You just..How did you..when...”

He’s pointing between you and Sweets, struggling to put the words together and making hand gestures.

“How did you use it the first time?” He finally says.

“I was angry. It only ever came out when I was agitated. That was weird.”

He’s not sure if he’s the one that should inform you of the reason. But it’s not like there are many options. There’s a chance you might do it again, so it would be wrong of him not to say anything.

“It’s hormonal.” He blurts out.

You look over at him.

“Hormonal?”

He nods, still refusing to make eye contact.

“When we get..excited, our body reacts to it.”

There’s a pause, because you still look a bit puzzled. But it slowly clicks, he can see it on your face. Your cheeks burn red and Clark clears his throat.

“Anyway, just be careful in the future.”

“Y-Yeah.”

There’s no way to make the conversation any less uncomfortable. 

[ntshastark]

MAWS s2 liveblog: 2x05

turns out i'm not getting any notifications from serializd, which kinda defeats the purpose of having the app at all (i used to use tv time but then they completely ruined their desktop ui), so i'm apparently 3 eps behind and had no idea

ever since the dcu superman film set photos came out i've been on an early!clois fic-reading binge (mostly rereads, it's the first time i do this) and it highlights so much everything this adaptation missed out on having........ the rivalry, the identity porn, the banter........ i know i talk about this every time i watch this series, but they've literally taken out every shingle one of my favourite things about early!clois (which is my fav clois era!!), and i just can't understand why someone would do this on purpose!!! i mean, we could be having this

"oh but it's a kids cartoon" you say. well, then we could be having this

i just. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO SAND OFF LOIS' EDGES SO MUCH, THIS IS NO FUN!!!!

and i have my complaints about clark, especially how they handle his secret identity and make him look stupid, but i'm overall much more flexible about his characterisation (in that i have my personal preference but am ok with a bigger range of the 'is he truly clark or superman' spectrum) than i am about lois' (in that she is My Girl, and she needs to be mean, tired of everyone's shit, and at least a little bit scary, otherwise that's not the woman me and clark fell in love with!!)

==

OH HEY

SPEAKING OF 'SHE'S MY GIRL AND THEY SHOULD LET HER BE MEAN'

SHE'S FINALLY HERE (i think?)

(and she's just? walking around town?? in earth clothings???)

==

AND SHE'S MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

==

oh

hm

idk how i feel about this

i mean, i was a sucker for karolsen in cw supergirl, but that was a very different jimmy (and, i'd wager - and hope - a very different kara)

(also i 100% thought maws!jimmy was gonna be gay tbh)

==

i genuinely hate how this series treats his secret identity (which, again, is one of my favourite parts of superman lore. so. targeted attack, i tell ya)

(and you know what else gave me a watered-down lois and a clark with a crap secret identity??? man of steel. how is this series so completely opposite in tone and yet still keeps so many of the same sins??)

==

🤨

she did say her name is kara, but i remember fake-out supergirl in smallville, so i'm not holding my breath

==

my mind cannot comprehend giving someone mint chocolate chip as their first ice cream, the first time i ever actually saw mint chocolate chip ice cream for sale i was a full grown adult

==

^ exact opposite reaction i had two days ago when i started mulheres apaixonadas only to find out the pairing i'd been looking forward to the most are first-degree cousins

(yes, they end up together. and yes, i dropped the novela. can't stomach incest ships, it's why i never started house of the dragon despite loving royal intrigue stuff)

==

wait, wasn't he married??

==

oh god... did they mention his full name the other times he showed up?? bc i thought it sounded familiar so i googled it and it's fucking cyborg superman, i'm so fucking stupid

==

omg silver st cloud!!

was i supposed to recognise the other two as well? bc i'm really bad with names (as i've just demonstrated) and also not all that knowledgable about minor dc characters

==

oh i was wondering about that

==

[banging head against the wall] WHY DO THEY HAVE TO MAKE HIM SEEM SO STUPID

==

so pretty tho......

==

why is everything so bright.....

also that hot dog looks dry af

==

see, this is what you get when you skip all the fun identity porn phase. the masses don't even think lois and superman are fucking.

==

and she's also stupid!

==

genuinely, can you imagine any other lois lane getting told this???? i get they want to make their female lead relatable in her struggles or whatever, but ughhhh

like, where's this energy

and i get wanting to have a younger lois who's not so established in her career in order to give her conflict and opportunity to grow stuff, but the attitude!! smallville!lois didn't even want to be a journalist (which is a creative decision i'm also not a fan of), but she was so absolutely lois in the way she acted, y'know? not a single person who knew that girl would be surprised to find out she'd bagged a semi-god! meanwhile this lois has just. such loser aura.

and i know they're aware of this because that one episode with the multiversal lois league or whatever was basically all "yeah, this lois is kind of a loser when compared to the other ones, but this clark loves her anyway!!"

==

oh she's so angry!! i love her!!

==

ok great scene

==

hard to connect emotionally with this scene when i basically agree with everything she's saying

==

uh

==

why is she speaking english instead of kryptonese tho

==

oh she looks cool

==

OH SHE'S STRONGER THAN HIM!!!!!!!!! GO KARA BEAT HIS ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

==

well. it's definitely not what i was expecting. but i guess it fits with how they were developing krypton, and it's definitely interesting! i was worried about kara having been shown as a baby while leaving krypton, that maybe they would've made her grow up in the ship with only false memories, but she's... immersed in the culture, i guess... somehow... it's definitely not what i would've guessed, and whether i like it or not is gonna depend on how they deal with it (if this was mainverse kara i definitely would've hated it, but an au is au, so let's wait and see)

tbh i was worried she'd get the the cartoon!starfire* treatment and be depicted in an overtly childish manner (which is. not exactly unheard of in this series), so her instead being an imperialistic war criminal is better than what i was expecting lmao

(*= whom i love! but whom i met 1. before knowing anything about the original kory, and 2. as a child. and who's also done irreparable damage to mainverse kory, so can't blame a girl for being afraid)

now i'm curious about her "father"... she said her and clark are the only kryptonians left, but it could be something similar to the jor-el hologram thing, i guess. i know zor-el has been depicted in a more villainous light at some points so who knows, might even be his consciousness inside a robot or whatever

anyway, it's an interesting change. has potential. at this point i don't really trust this series to explore it as deeply and seriously as i would like, or to not fall back into the tropes i was afraid of as soon as her redemption arc is over and she becomes jimmy's born child-friendly yesterday girlfriend, so i'll not keep my hopes too high, but this could be fun!

[the-winds-of-kushala]

I had sudden IDEAS here, so more random little writing pieces for ya'll:

At first, Kon was wary of this weird kid that had walked into the Kent Farm doors covered in a shock blanket and clutching at Clark like the man was the only thing keeping him up. He and Superman may have mostly mad peaceful with the older Kryptonian's idiot phase of misplaced anger towards his clone, and after Dinah made them both sit down and talk, they came to an agreement to be better, but there was still a certain part of him that seemed to be on the waiting for the shoe to drop. Would this be it? Was he about to be replaced, like he'd heard Jason and Tim talk about their successors to the Robin mantle?

Except, instead of anything Superboy might've expected, Clark gently pulld the boy free from his side, held him by the shoulders as if he might shatter at any moment, and spoke a gentle "Danny, remember when you asked if I had more kids? Well, this is one of your new brothers. His name is Conner."

And suddenly things made a startling amount if sense. That was his father(?)'s voice for 'this is a traumatized child and I'm trying my best to be strong and kind when I really just want to tear their abusers to pieces'. So Conner did the first thing that came to mind. He grabbed "Danny", held him gently by the shoulders, and pulled him into a hug, as Clark turned around to go find Jon, Ma and Pa Kent, and possibly call Lois. "Welcome home, little brother" with emphasis on the "little" part. The boy was alarmingly scrawny and small, even for a 15 year old boy. He barely reached his chest, and yet the way he hugged him and sobbed what felt like an entire year of trauma and heartbreak threatened to leave his ribs aching for a while. Ok, possible meta, or Kryptonian. Noted.

Danny looked up at Conner, who held him so carefully, like Jazz used to do (like she would never do again, thanks to Vlad...), and broke to splinters, carefully held in the other boy's arms as he broke, fell to pieces, and slowly gathered his shards back up as best he could right now. His core felt sharp with grief and anger, but the Kents seemed to have an almost magical way of easing his sharp edges and helping him refocus his anger into other, more productive ways.

While Batman and the rest of the Justice league hunted down Vlad and the Fenton parents, Conner and Jon taught him how to fix pa Kent's tractor when it broke down. They taught his how to till and sow, and care for crops. And when he was ready for it, when they came to know his secrets, they offered to train him. To give him the support and help he had needed so desperately, in situations like the rise of Pariah Dark, or Dan's terrible implications.

Once more the Kent Farm shook with the laughter and the impacts of superpowered teenagers tossing each other around and flying each other into the ground and all over the sky. Kon and Jon both came to learn the various ways to goad him into play fight and sparring practice that helped all three of them bond, especially little Jon, who liked to bite him and then running away, which would have his Ghost instincts flare with bite-playful-chase brother-tickle fight, and he'd be off chasing him, until Kon tackled him to the floor, and it would devolve into a free-for-all that would end with Clark and, to everyone's surprise the first time, Jazz's ghost, coming in to break it up by grabbing the kids by the back of the neck like misbehaving kittens. Jazz liked to pretend she was the responsible older sibling, but one time Danny took a page out of Jon's book, bit Jazz and ran away with her on his tail, throwing ectoblasts and fire at him until Dad grabbed them both, gave them the biggest hug his full Kryptonian strength was capable of against mostly indestructible ghosts, and the whole Kent family devolved into happy tears, ending in a cuddle pile with Ma Kent's famous pie and a movie playing on TV.

One day, Clark and Lois sat Danny down on the kitchen with them, to tell him how they would support him no matter if he decided to join the Justice League or not, and, if he did, they would be proud to let him wear the Crest of the House of El, if he wanted to. A month after that, and Phantom showed up to deal with Klarion, wearing a brand new far more armored suit, proudly displaying the familiar Crest for the House of El, going on to establish himself as a reliable Young Justice and Justice League member, and certified heavy hitter, along with being incredibly skilled with his ice during rescue operations.

I have a crackish idea: Danny gets adopted by the Superfam, and they know about his powers and stuff, and eventually Danny decides to go under a new hero identity. He doesn't wear the Superman symbol, but he's not in his Phantom form either, preferring a costume similar in style to Kon (his old one, with the leather jacket) to make it harder to pick out who is who. But people still figure out that there's a new kid around, it's not hard to count them all after all. But he has- seemingly- all the right powers, and he looks an awful lot like his brothers... Who knew Superman had so many children?

And that's how Dannay gets mistaken as a (half) Kryptonian superhero.

(Also, Lex meets Danny out as a hero once and just stares at him for like half a second and is like: "You're not Kryptonian-"

And Danny replies: "NO ONE WILL EVER BELIEVE YOU."

And you know what... he's fucking right.)

Also one day Clark asks Danny if he wants to wear the symbol and panics when Danny cries because he's worried he's insulted the boy somehow, but really, he's just so happy to be part of the family. :')

[phantom-le6]

Ramble of the month September 2023: Phase 3 of the Batman Begins-Led DCEU

As I said last month, my aim for my September ramble is to continue looking into my hypothetical alternate superhero film universes by moving on to phase 3 of a DCEU in which Batman Begins led the way.  Having outlined phase 1 in March of this year and phase 2 in June, I am glad to be retaining a consistent pacing with my rambles on this subject.  However, I’m also concerned about my lack of anything more varied to discuss, and hopefully by October that will have changed.

So, first things first, as with last month’s exploration of phase 3 of my 90’s based MCU, let’s start with a quick re-cap on the previous phases;

Phase 1:

2005: Batman Begins

2006: Man of Steel

2007: Wonder Woman

2008: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern

2009: The Flash, Man of Steel 2

2010: Aquaman, Justice League

Phase 2:

2011: Wonder Woman 2, Green Lantern 2, Green Arrow

2012: Hawkman, Batman/Superman, Aquaman 2

2013: John Constantine, The Flash 2, Suicide Squad

2014: Justice League 2, Green Arrow 2, Batman: The Long Crusade

There are several key difference between the two phases.  The first phase was very much about establishing the lead heroes that would then form the Justice League and doing that with those heroes.  It also featured a slow build-up to the production of superhero films on a very regular basis.  Phase 2 then expanded on this by adding in more heroes, while at the same time straining the relationships of lead characters with the public in their universe and with each other.  By the tail-end of phase 2, Batman has seemingly betrayed the Justice League in an adaptation of the Tower of Babel story arc, been slightly vindicated by a few leaguers being mind-controlled and having to be stopped by Green Arrow in that hero’s second film, and we’ve the Suicide Squad rolling around as well.

All that being said, we’ve also had Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow and Batman gain their first proteges in phase 2, setting up for another form of team-up ensemble film, which is part of the phase 3 overview outlined below;

Phase 3:

2015: Shazam, Man of Steel 3, The Atom

2016: Wonder Woman 3, Batgirl, Teen Titans

2017: Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Shazam vs Black Adam, Suicide Squad 2

2018: Justice League: Darkseid Rising, Aquaman 3, Doom Patrol

As you can see, phase 3 continues to introduce new heroes alongside those already established, and at the same time, we’re also getting a mix of new and existing team combinations.  However, how does this all work in detail.  Well, let’s dive into the films of the third round in this alternate DCEU;

Shazam (2015) Directed by David F Sandberg

Billy Batson/Shazam = Zachary Gordon/Zachary Levi

Dr Thaddeus Sivana = Stanley Tucci

Freddy Freeman/"Shazam" Freddy = Chandler Riggs/Adam Brody

The Wizard = Forest Whitaker

Darla Dudley/"Shazam" Darla = Quvenzhané Wallis/Meagan Good

Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel = Halston Sage/Michelle Borth

Eugene Choi/"Shazam" Eugene = Hudson Yang/Ross Butler

Pedro Peña/"Shazam" Pedro = Rico Rodriguez/DJ Cotrona

Rosa Vásquez = Marta Milans

Víctor Vásquez = Cooper Andrews

Shazam is one of those films from the real DCEU I would avoid changing too much just because Shazam isn’t my strongest area of DC lore to conceive any alternate ideas around.  That’s not to say I haven’t done so later in my ideas for this hypothetical film run, but rather that I wouldn’t have much luck changing the original film substantially.  As such, the director would remain the same and so would most of the cast.  The few I’ve changed have been down to either casting the actors from the real film elsewhere in this hypothetical film universe, or the fact that this would now be a 2015 film instead of a 2019 one.  The story of the film would also be about the same, but some of the references to other DC heroes might different based on the events of earlier films.

Man of Steel 3 (2015) Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Kara Zor-El/Supergirl = Dakota Fanning

Brainiac = Paul Bettany

General Harrison Hardcastle = Neal McDonough

Capt. Nathanial Adams/Captain Atom = Matt Bomer

John Corbin/Metallo = Orlando Bloom

Leslie Willis/Livewire = Danielle Panabaker

Claire Selton/Volcana = Kirsten Stewart

Martha Kent = Diane Lane

Jonathan Kent = Kevin Costner

Jor-El = Russell Crowe

Dr Emil Hamilton = Richard Schiff

Perry White = Sam Neill

Jimmy Olsen = Rider Strong

Cat Grant = January Jones

Steve Lombard = Josh Brolin

Capt. Maggie Sawyer = Jeri Ryan

Insp. Turpin = Colin Farrell

Bibbo Bibbowski = Luke Hemsworth

Discounting the Batman-Superman joint film from phase 2, this is our third solo instalment for Superman, and while film 1 was very much like the 2013 Man of Steel made a bit brighter compared to what Snyder did, the second film was a more classic Superman versus Lex Luthor and Metallo with an assist from the Martian Manhunter.  Film 3, however, looks at Superman after his bout of mind-controlled criminality in Green Arrow 2.  His relationship with the public and the governments of the world is strained, and when his cousin Supergirl crash-lands on Earth and accidentally does damage due to her newly manifested powers, things become even rockier.

To this end, a small super-group is formed by the US armed forces under the orders of General Hardcastle, which brings in military superhero Captain Atom at the head of a small team of otherwise villains sent after Superman.  However, little does anyone know that Supergirl has been tracked to Earth by Brainiac, and when he arrives, the true heroes and villains are dictated by who is willing to refocus on this new threat and who isn’t.  Most of the cast is retained from past films, with the Supergirl-to Volcana portion of the cast being all new.  As for picking Mr del Toro to direct, those who have read my previous rambles will know I’ve gone through Roland Emerich, Ron Howard and Rob Marshall on the films where Superman is somehow in the title.  This is because I think Superman is someone who benefits from a regular change in director to add some variety to the character.  Also, the man did great work on Blade II and also has prior comic-film experience from the original Hellboy films, so it’d be interesting to see him deal with a less anti-heroic protagonist.

The Atom (2015) Directed by Michael Nankin

Dr Ray Palmer/Atom = Tom Ellis

Jean Loring = Morena Baccarin

Norman Brawler = Elden Henson

Paul Hoben = Dominic Cooper

Professor Hyatt = David Hyde Pearce

David Clinton/Chronos = Richard T. Jones

Prof. Martin Stein = Victor Garber

Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm = Nick Jonas

Because of the power-set and civilian occupation of the Atom, I figured the director should be someone with some experience of dealing with the microscopic and forensic.  In short, it needed to be someone who had dealt with an episode of CSI at least once.  As a result, I landed on the idea of Michael Nankin, who helmed the Star Trek-homage episode of CSI in its ninth season, making a cinematic directorial debut on this one.  The film is basically about Dr Ray Palmer becoming estranged from his wife as he cracks the means to shrink a human being, and then works to stop the time-travelling Chronos with the aid of Firestorm, a superhero composed of two beings in one.

As the film goes on, Palmer learns his wife is outright cheating on him, and when faced with Chronos has to ask the question; should he co-opt the villain’s time-travel tech to fix his marriage, or is that too close to Chronos’ abuses of the tech?  In that sense, I would really want to see this film look just at the disintegration of a romantic connection without trying to set up an alternate one.  Not all superhero romances have happy endings, and it would be good to showcase how life in super-tights can mess up a personal life well into the supposedly “happily ever after” stage.

Casting-wise, I kept the role of Stein the same as what Arrow-verse series the Flash gave us, but then picked a number of different actors for other roles based on who I thought might look right for the parts, be the right age, etc.  Several of the actors people will know from other superhero-related productions (Elden Henson was in the Netflix Daredevil series, Morena Baccarin is known for her roles in Gotham and the Deadpool films, and of course Dominic Cooper played the 1940’s/50’s version of Howard Stark in the MCU).

Wonder Woman 3 (2016) Directed by Patty Jenkins

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

Hippolyta = Connie Nielsen

Donna Troy/Wonder Girl = Ciara Bravo

Dr Alannah Troy = Demi Moore

Hades = David Tennant

Artemis = Rachael Taylor

Dr Julia Kapatelis = Rita Wilson

Vanessa Kapatelis = Elena Kampouris

"Sarge" Steel = Jeremy Renner

After having done two period-set Wonder Woman films under Trek alumni Gates McFadden, this third instalment of the Amazon’s solo adventures is handed over to Patty Jenkins and comes into the modern era.  In this film, Wonder Woman hasn’t made the same efforts as Superman and the Flash to rebuild her bridges following the mind-control incident in Green Arrow 2.  As a result, she is operating almost Batman-style within Washington DC, posing as an archaeological expert while secretly foiling crime.  However, this is interrupted when she discovers that one of her colleagues, Dr Alannah Troy, has sired a young girl with the Greek god Hades, and now Diana’s half-cousin is being sought by a cult bent on freeing Hades from Tartarus.

Except for Wonder Woman and her mother Hippolyta, this film is all-fresh casting, and the character of Alannah Troy and the new Wonder Girl origin are my own ideas, albeit slightly based on events from the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated shows.  This is because Donna Troy’s origins get very confused in the comics, and I think having Diana and Donna be cousins via their godly fathers provides a decent simplification for cinematic audiences.

Batgirl (2016) Directed by Gates McFadden & Reese Witherspoon

Barbara Gordon/Batgirl = Bella Thorne

Alysia Yeoh = Lana Condor

Reese Conroy = Ross Lynch

Dr Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn = Margot Robbie

Dr Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy = April Bowlby

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Det. Harvey Bullock = Donal Logue

Det. Renee Montoya = Penelope Cruz

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

The Joker = Willem Dafoe

Keeping with the idea of female-led franchises on and off-screen, we come to a solo film for Batgirl.  This one is helmed by Gates McFadden and Reese Witherspoon, the latter being someone who I am aware started her own production company to try and put female-centric stories on the big screen.  As such, I’m thinking she might well jump at the chance to co-direct a Batgirl solo film with another female director.  The plot would differ a little from the comics; instead of trying to clear her father of a crime he didn’t commit, Barbara initially becomes the Batgirl in homage to Batman.  Only when her father is kidnapped by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn does Batgirl take her role more seriously, stepping up to become a true superheroine and in the process shifting from hero worship of Batman to seeing him as a friend and ally.

Now while the Joker is included in the cast, this is just for a flashback montage that explains why Harley is coming in as Ivy’s partner-in-crime on her first DCEU film.  Rather than taking her through a relationship with the Joker over a film or two, we just treat it as something that’s happened between The Dark Knight film and this one.  Casting-wise, everyone from Jim Gordon on-down is from past films, leaving just Barbara, her friends and the female antagonists as new selections.  Bella Thorne takes the lead role due to her youth, resemblance to the comics character and good acting ability, while Margot Robbie is one of those bits of real-DCEU casting I agree with enough to retain.  As for taking on April Bowlby as Poison Ivy, I know she’s landed more serious roles since her time on Two-and-a-Half-Men, and I’d be curious to see her take on Poison Ivy as a role.

Teen Titans (2016) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Richard Grayson/Robin = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Koriand'r/Starfire = Elle Fanning

Donna Troy/Wonder Girl = Ciara Bravo

Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash = Calum Worthy

Raven = Maisie Williams

Victor Stone/Cyborg = Ashton Sanders

Garfield "Gar" Logan/Beast Boy = Dylan Sprayberry

Roy Harper/Speedy = Cameron Monaghan

Aqualad/Garth = Luke Benward

Trigon = Viggo Mortensen

Psimon = Matthew Grey Gubler

Gizmo = Peter Dinklage

Jinx = Naomi Scott

Mammoth = Adam Joseph Copeland

Shimmer = Anna Faris

Grant Wilson/Ravager = Andrew Garfield

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke = Daniel Day-Lewis

Dr Silas Stone = Rocky Carroll

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

It’s a sad truth in cinema as we know it that the Teen Titans have never had a serious film of them released cinematically.  The only cinema versions to date have been “kiddy-fied” cartoon disasters, and the two serious animated features that have been done have been for direct-to-home-release only.  As such, there was no way I’d conceive a hypothetical live-action DC universe without seeking to address this foolish oversight on the part of DC and WB.  To show just how seriously I take this, I’ve even put the great Steven Spielberg at the helm, because frankly I think it would be good to have someone of that calibre lend their directorial weight to the project.

Plot-wise, you start out with the apprentices of the major heroes meeting each other and trying to team up, but something goes awry, and earns them some condemnation from Batman.  A few months later, the demon Trigon begins trying to invade Earth, and his daughter Raven comes to Earth ahead of him to recruit heroes against the threat.  With Batman taken out early on and the rest of the Justice League engaged, it falls to the Titans from the 1980’s comics run to assemble and meet the threat.  The Fearsome Five are incorporated as pawns of Trigon, while Ravager tries and fails to collect a bounty on the Titans.  His accidental death while pursuing this then leads to a credits scene in which his father Deathstroke takes up the contract, setting up for a somewhat inevitable sequel.

Batman and Alfred are brought in from past films, as are the apprentice heroes and Cyborg’s father.  The rest of the cast is all new to this film.  I won’t go on at length about their respective resumes; suffice it to say that past experience combined with looking like, or having the potential to look like, the relevant roles has led me to each name on this list.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow (2017) Directed by Matt Reeves

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

Roy Harper/Speedy = Cameron Monaghan

Tobias Whale = Marvin "Krondon" Jones III

Brunno Mannheim = Joe Manganiello

Whisper A'Daire = Emilia Clarke

Kyle Abbot = Ed Skrein

China White = Kelly Hu

One of the major watershed moments in comics history that has yet to see a film adaptation is the arc in the Green Lantern-Green Arrow combined comic of the 1970’s where Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy turned out to have developed an addiction to drugs.  When considering films for this alternate DCEU, even though I’ve never read the story, I thought some version of it should be done in film.  To that end, we have this concept, which I would have directed by Matt Reeves (haven’t seen his Batman film, but I enjoyed his Planet of the Apes work).  In this film, Roy Harper is recovering from injuries sustained in the early scenes of the Teen Titans film.  When his doctor cuts off his pain killers prematurely, Roy turns to illegal drugs to compensate, then develops an addiction.  The film then showcases Green Arrow mishandling things, Green Lantern not doing a good job himself by taking Ollie off to fight the drug pushers, and Black Canary being the one to do right by Roy, leading to both of them becoming estranged from Green Arrow.

Our heroes and the drug-dealing China White are all brought back from past films, while the rest of the cast list is new.  Mannheim is incorporated to provide links to the world of Superman, while Whisper and Kyle are nods to Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Shadows.  Tobias Whale, on the other hand, is borrowed from the rogues gallery of Black Lightning, largely in homage to a similar character appearing in a Justice League Unlimited episode that featured Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Shazam vs Black Adam (2017) Directed by David F Sandberg

Billy Batson/Shazam = Zachary Gordon/Zachary Levi

Black Adam/Teth-Adam = Dwayne Johnson

Isis/Adrianna Tomaz = Michelle Rodriguez

Osiris/Amon Tomaz = Miguel Gomez

Freddy Freeman/"Shazam" Freddy = Chandler Riggs/Adam Brody

The Wizard = Forest Whitaker

Darla Dudley/"Shazam" Darla = Quvenzhané Wallis/Meagan Good

Mary Bromfield/Mary Marvel = Halston Sage/Michelle Borth

Eugene Choi/"Shazam" Eugene = Hudson Yang/Ross Butler

Pedro Peña/"Shazam" Pedro = Rico Rodriguez/DJ Cotrona

Rosa Vásquez = Marta Milans

Víctor Vásquez = Cooper Andrews

For Shazam’s second solo outing, I felt like that needed to be something different, and after seeing the less-than-brilliant use of the JSA and the Tomaz family in the Black Adam film, I knew what the different thing had to be.  So, step one, keep Sandberg directing.  Step 2, have Black Adam appear in his fictional nation and free it in brief, then he lets himself be caught invading another country so he could be taken over to the United States, who he learns has been complicit in Kandaq’s problems prior to his liberation of his people.  When Black Adam breaks free, he clashes with the Shazam family and later recruits Kandaqi-American mother-and-son Adrianna and Amon Tomaz.  In this sense, the film is a kind of Shazam-centric variant on the Superman story “what’s so funny about truth, justice and the American way?”

In terms of cast, most of it remains the same as the real DCEU, with a few changes here and there.  Yes, my picks for the Tomaz family are of Latin extraction instead of middle Eastern, but considering Dwayne Johnson is of Black Canadian and Samoan descent, I think it’s hardly vital we get like-for-like in actor nationalities/heritage.  That said, I would be insisting on some dialect coaches so you can be convinced Black Adam is from an ancient middle east nation instead of the USA.

Suicide Squad 2 (2017) Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Sameer Park/Copperhead = Sendhil Ramamurthy

Siobhan Smythe/Silver Banshee = Katie McGrath

Dr Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn = Margot Robbie

Giganta = Hayley Atwell

Enchantress/Dr June Moone = Keira Knightley/Natalie Portman

Slipknot/Christopher Weisz = Adam Beach

Sportsmaster/Victor Gover = Xavier Samuel

Cheshire/Jade Nguyen = Rila Fukushima

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

General Harrison Hardcastle = Neal McDonough

Vandal Savage = Gerard Butler

This is our second DCEU film of the phase, and overall, with Guillermo del Toro at the helm.  This time, though, the focus is on villain-team the Suicide Squad.  For the squad’s second outing, they’re caught up in a manhunt, or rather woman-hunt, for Wonder Woman after the events of that hero’s third solo film.  General Hardcastle, having been disgraced in MoS 3 for his attempt to go after Superman, tries to dupe Amanda Waller into having the squad bring in Wonder Woman.  However, little does he or the squad know that immortal Vandal Savage is planning a major coup, and pursuing Wonder Woman could be the very thing that allows him to succeed.

For all intents and purposes, this film is meant to be a kind of warped superhero universe variant on ‘The Fugitive’ with a little James Bond/Raiders of the Lost Ark thrown in on the third act.  There are a few new names in the cast, but most are brought back from prior films.  Among the new names is Katie McGrath, the actress who played Lena Luthor in the Arrow-verse series of Supergirl.  As the actress is apparently Irish, I’ve shifted her into playing Silver Banshee in this film.

Justice League: Darkseid Rising (2018) Directed by Ron Howard

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Dr Ray Palmer/Atom = Tom Ellis

J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Carter Hall/Hawkman = Sullivan Stapleton

Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl = Jessica Alba

John Stewart = Derek Luke

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

John Constantine = Matt Ryan

Zatanna = Katrina Law

Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning = Jamie Foxx

Steppenwolf = Ciarán Hinds

Kalibak = Liev Schreiber

Scott Free/Mister Miracle = Charlie Cox

Barda Free/Big Barda = Lindsay Kay Hayward

DeSaad = David Wenham

Darkseid = Bernard Hill

This is our third Justice League film, and having thoroughly shaken up the League and the DC universe over a few years, this instalment creates a bit more chaos.  In this film, Steppenwolf launches an assault on Earth, and in the process the latest iteration of the Justice League ends up scattering.  One group seeks out Batman, and together with additional heroes of his choosing mount a counter-strike.  The other group ends up meeting heroes from New Genesis and learning that Steppenwolf is only the tip of the sword.  This sets up a major multi-film story arc that runs for most of the remaining phases of this DCEU.

In terms of direction, I’ve already used Ron Howard in this hypothetical film run on Man of Steel 2, and I think this would be an interesting project for him to helm.  Everyone from Steppenwolf on-down in the film casting is new to this film; Ciarán Hinds is retained from the real DCEU as I think he was let down by that Justice League film and not the film by him.  As for the selection of Lindsay Kay Hayward, that was based on a search for a truly tall actress to play Big Barda without necessarily having to revert to effects or trick camera shots.  As for Bernard Hill, who better than Theoden of Rohan from LOTR to be playing an alien monarch like Darkseid?

Aquaman 3 (2018) Directed by James Wan

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Mera = Felicity Jones

Vulko = Jonathan Frakes

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Tempest/Garth = Luke Benward

Jackson Hyde/Aqualad II = Caleb McLaughlin

Tula/Aquagirl = Lily-Rose Depp

Siren/Hila = Felicity Jones

Nanaue/King Shark = Sylvester Stalone

King Ryus = Dolph Lundgren

Capt. Leron = Matt Smith

Nereus = Domnhall Gleeson

Gamemnae = Laura Haddock

For our third Aquaman solo outing, the directorial reigns shift from Vulko actor and Trek alumni Jonathan Frakes to James Wan, director of the real DCEU’s Aquaman film.  The plot is a loose translation of the Obsidian Age arc from the Justice League comics, with the ancient Atlantean sorceress Gamemnae appearing as a present-day foe and opposed by the full aqua-family, including a second Aqualad and introducing Aquagirl.  Casting-wise, it’s mostly people I already chose for the past Aquaman instalments mixed with real DCEU casting and a few new ones.  Also, while I chose each cast member for good reasons that trump all else, I can’t deny the slight misfortune in selecting someone with the surname Haddock for a film whose characters are all somehow aquatic in nature.

Doom Patrol (2018) Directed by James Gunn

Dr Niles Caulder/The Chief = Pierce Brosnan

Clifford Steele/Robot Man = Johnny Whitworth

Larry Trainor/Negative Man = Alessandro Nivola

Rita Farr/Elasti-Girl = Alyssa Milano

Mento/Steve Dayton = Nathan Fillion

Bumblebee/Karen Beecher = Kyla Pratt

Vox/Malcom Duncan = Donald Glover

The Brain = Jean Reno

Monsieur Mallah = Omar Sy

Laura De Mille/Madame Rouge = Sophie Marceau

Emil LaSalle/Warp = Jean Dujardin

Otto Von Furth/Plasmus = Til Schweiger

When it comes to films about misfit adventurers in a world of super-beings, James Gunn pulls them off better than most at times, so I thought it’d be interesting to see him tackle the Doom Patrol in film format.  This film is very much a one-off and does a run-through on their origins while pitting them against their arch-nemeses the Brotherhood of Evil.  With the antagonists being mostly French with a single German member in the comics, this was an interesting one to cast outside of the hero team.  Mind you, casting for a brain in a robot body and a man wrapped in bandages is also fun because appearance is less crucial.  However, I think the end result is pretty good.

So, that’s the full run-through on phase 3 of my Batman Begins-led DCEU.  Hopefully, I won’t come back to this or my 90’s MCU until the new year, and I’ll have some more varied topics to discuss in the last few months of 2023.  As to whether those hopes are justified, we’ll have to wait until October to see.  Until then, ta-ta for now.

[iamnikoli]

AY22/23 Sem 2 Module Reviews

The overloading sem. I initially took 32MCs but I dropped to 24MC by week 5 because I couldn’t cope with the workload. It was difficult to simply adopt an S/U mindset and I found myself with very little free time. I also felt like I couldn’t enjoy the extra mods I took out of interest, so the overloading didn’t feel worth it. As a DSA major, I took HSH1000, HSI10000, DTK1234, MA2001 (which were pre-allocated to me because I was even-digit). I also bid for ST2131 (because a lot of DSA major mods have it as a prerequisite) and SP1541 (to S/U).

DTK1234

Module Coordinator: A/P Hans Tan

Tutor: Angela Tay

Lecture Topics:

Week 1-2: Intro Segment - Design Doing, not Thinking (Norman Door) Week 3-4: Segment 1 - Systematic Creativity (come up with problem statements, solution statements) Week 5-6: Segment 2 - Empathize (Empathize with user) Week 7-8: Segment 3 - Do, Undo, Redo (Prototyping) Week 9-10: Segment 4 - Evaluate with People (Evaluate prototype with user) Week 11-12: Wrap Up Segment - Thinking about Design Thinking

Deliverables:

Intro Segment + Segment 1-4 Individual Learning Activity (ILA) - 6% x5 Intro Segment + Segment 1-4 Team-Based Workshop (TBW) - 6% x5 Interim Design Thinking Journal (DTJ) - 15% Final Design Thinking Journal (DTJ) - 25%

Other Comments:

Most people dread this module, and for good reason. This mod is just a lot of fluff and you’ll need good smoking and bullshitting skills to do well, no cap. The ILAs are generally quite doable and you don’t need much time except Segment 1 ILA. The TBWs are either worksheets and class participation through activities and discussions during the fortnightly tutorials. You might find some other reviews saying that how well you do depends on how much your T/A likes you. While I don’t advocate sucking up to your T/A, I think it doesn’t hurt to talk and connect with your T/A, and just participate actively in tutorials :)) As for the module content itself, it really is a lot of fluff and talks about the different phases and steps in design thinking. Just use common sense to figure out how to smoke and “relate” the design thinking concepts to your user and your solutions/problem statements. The DTJ is an extension of this, so you’re expected to reflect and consolidate whatever you learnt or did. Just to be clear, the interim and final DTJ are the same document, just that you do like the first half of the DTJ in the interim, and you do the second half + revise the earlier parts from interim based on your T/As feedback. There’s also a 100 sec video that you have to submit in the final DTJ. 

Note that in my semester, unlike the previous semester we weren’t given any of our scores, I only got my overall banding (BE, ME, EE) for the first half ot the semester which included ILA x3, TBW x2 and Interim DTJ, along with some comments.

I actually have very little to say about DTK lol, just don’t do your ILAs last minute, participate actively in the tutorials and smoke smoke smoke and you should be fine HAHA

TLDR:

Module content is fluff, just smoke through your assignments Try to consolidate and flesh out the design thinking concepts in your DTJs (and maybe ILAs) Make your T/A like you

Grades:

Expected grade: B+ Actual grade: A

HSH1000

Module Coordinator: Prof Loy Hui Chieh

T/A: Nicholas Loo

Texts:

Week 1-2: The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas Week 3-4: The Epic of Gilgamesh Week 5-6: Hind Swaraj (Gandhi) Week 7-8: Xunzi Week 9-10: No Exit Week 11: A Number Week 12: Sexual Politics of Meat

Deliverables:

Fortnightly quizzes (best 6 out of 7): 35% Peer Reviews and Surveys: 5% (note: these are just surveys about the mod and your peers, the peer review scores given by your peers don’t affect your 5%, as long as you complete your peer review of your peers you will get the full credit) Tutorial Preparation Tasks: 5% Tutorial Participation: 15% Meme Competition: 5% Group Discussions Summary x4: 20% (5% each) Final Project: 15%

Other Comments:

I’m honestly quite meh about this module. I think the texts covered are interesting but way too long (80-100 ish pages especially for Gandhi and Xunzi). Most people complain a lot about the quizzes whenever HSH is mentioned, and rightfully so. The quizzes are incredibly painful to do, if you actually try to do them well. You have to understand and analyse/scrutinise the texts and lecture recordings. Here’s a snippet of my work process for the quizzes:

Attempt the quiz myself, with justifications for each choice (whether a statement is right or wrong) written down

Discuss the quiz with my group, and note down the group’s consensus+justifications - this generates Attempt 1 of the quiz (note: you get 3 attempts for each quiz (best score of 3 taken), if Prof Loy is nice he might give an extra attempt)

Analyse Prof Loy’s written replies in the forum to all the hardworking students that asked questions about the quiz. Gather the quiz answers from two of my friends who’ve discussed with their own groups.

Psycho-analyse everything with one of the two friends while taking everything into consideration - justifications for a selection, what Prof Loy says, tele poll (take with a pinch of salt though), the answers generated between the 3 groups. This generates Attempt 2 and 3 (we used the two attempts for different permutations of the answers we weren’t confident about)

I initially put the tele poll answers for one of my attempts, but they were consistently lower than my Attempt 1 and 2. You can probably get a median score if you follow the tele poll, but to really do well I feel that you really need a good group of friends to discuss with. More importantly, you and your group should ideally justify/discuss the quiz answers factually or based on some grounded reasoning (eg. this was said during the lecture/shown on the lecture slides, or this appeared/did not appear in the text and in the context of the chapter/paragraphs, this deduction makes sense). Btw you don’t have to read the whole text before trying the quiz, just watch the lecture recording for a general understanding first, and ctrl-f and read the paragraphs around the paragraph discussed in the quiz sections. As for the rest of the mod, it’s pretty easy. There are tutorials every fortnight, and you have to submit 3 annotations on Perusall before every tutorial (this counts for your tutorial preparation marks). Tutorial participation was very chill, because we would all get full marks as long as we turned up and we all contributed during the group discussions. Tutorials with Nick Loo were quite fun and you can tell that he’s passionate about the mod. He would usually go through some interesting questions and responses by us from Perusall, and then go through some content and skills before making us discuss questions in our groups. Overall, tutorials in HSH are a lot more chill than HSA or HSS where tutorial participation is more harshly graded.

Group Discussion Summaries (GDS) were 400 word responses to one of the three or four questions given. It’s quite OTOT, your group just has to submit it by the week after the tutorial. Your experience with this portion will vary depending on your groupmates. I had very hardworking and smart groupmates so this was easy, while one of my friends had to tank the GDS because his group was lazy and uncooperative. GDS was usually a 2 hour affair every even-week weekend night. Most people should get full marks or close to full marks for GDS anyway. Chop chop finish to focus on your other stuff~

The final project has two versions, a generic one provided by Prof Loy, and a T/A specific one. Choose the T/A one (duh bc your T/A is gonna be the one marking). Mine was on exhibit curation, so I had to do a 700-word write up on two exhibit artefacts chosen for a theme related to what was discussed in any of the texts (you can choose your theme). I did mine on passive resistance which was discussed in Gandhi, then in the writeups I expounded on how each artefact showcased passive resistance in their own way, and linked it back to its relevance to society/me, ala HSA1000 style.

TLDR:

Quizzes and the final project make or break your grade Workload depends on how much effort you put on the quizzes. The tele poll answers usually suck lol Discuss quiz with friends (side note: i noticed those who didn’t tend to do a lot worse for the quizzes)

Grades:

Expected grade: A- Actual grade: A+

HSI1000

Lecturers: A/P Ryan Bettens, A/P Adrian Lee, Mr Siva N.

T/A: Sankar (for workshops), Dr Angeline Shu (Exploratorium 1), Dr Ng Yee Hong (Exploratorium 2)

Lecture Topics:

Week 1 – L1: The Founding of Modern Science Week 2 – L2: The Baloney Toolkit Applied to a Simple Investigation Week 3 – L3: Scientific Explanations and Models Week 4 – L4: Experimentation and Uncertainty Week 5 – L5: The Science of Climate Change Week 6 – L6: Modelling Climate Change Week 7 – L7: On the Mongering of Doubt Week 8 – L8: The Reliability of Climate Change Predictions Week 9 – L9: Our forests, fragmentation and connectivity Week 10 – L10: Restoring Green Spaces & Human-Wildlife Coexistence Week 11 – L11: Climate Change, the Hinterland and the Sustainable City Dweller Week 12 - L12: Fallacies in the Name of Science & Module Wrap Up

Deliverables:

Weekly Quizzes - 1% x10 Exploratoriums (Labs) - 5% x2 Workshops - 10% x3 Midterms - 15% Finals - 35%

Other Comments:

Prof Bettens did Block 1: The Scientific Method (L1-L4), Prof Adrian Block 2: Climate Change and Misinformation (L5-L8), Mr Siva Block 3: Climate Change and Biodiversity (L9-L11).

I think this module started out really promising, with very useful skills like the Baloney Toolkit, but it progressively got more boring and fluff. The workshops and labs were super annoying because they were in 3 hour blocks, so timetabling was difficult.

The weekly quizzes are very doable, just watch the lectures/read the notes and attempt. You get 10 attempts per quiz anyway, and you can see your results on Examsoft right after your submission, so you can tell if you’ve hit full marks or not. I used about 3-4 attempts every quiz. You should aim to get full marks for the quizzes because most people would be getting full marks anyway.

The labs and workshops are also quite chill. The labs are slightly easier because you just go there and play do the experiments, and fill up a vanguard sheet with explanations, drawing and other details about your thought process in the experiments. The workshops are also okay, you just need to participate actively and do whatever’s required. Workshop 3 had a field work component, so during recess week, my friend and I went to Labrador Nature Park and Labrador Nature Reserve to gather data and photos (they will have instructions on what to do). The field trip and report was (in my opinion) the most sian part of the module, because I was already so busy but I still have to go all the way to Labrador to measure tree heights??? Well anyway for the workshops, most people seemed to get about 7-8/10. And I have to say that my workshop T/A, Sankar, is a very chill guy who loves animals, he’s super funny too so the workshops are always fun.

Midterms and finals are the differentiating components. They are open-book, closed-internet exams, and you do it on Examplify (the same as the weekly quizzes). You only have 2 minutes per question for both exams, so ctrl-ing F everything isn’t going to work. You have to roughly know the course content, and know which lecture notes to ctrl-F from. Also, from Lecture 7 onwards, the lecture notes weren’t that helpful, and for Block 3 no lecture slides were given. For Block 3 especially, you have to watch the lectures and take down notes, and also save the information about certain policies (like SGP2030) from online because these are tested but only mentioned in passing in the lectures. I recommend collaborating with friends to split the workload in making the lecture notes. Try to get notes from seniors as well, because these can be useful. Overall, the tests weren’t super difficult for my semester.

TLDR:

Weekly quiz must get full marks Labs and workshops are chill, just participate actively in the latter Make your own lecture notes (recommended to split workload amongst your friends) for the second half of the lectures No time to Ctrl-F every question in exam, you need to know the course content roughly and which lecture notes to Ctrl-F

Grades:

Expected grade: A- Actual grade: A+

MA2001

Module Coordinator: (The one and only) Prof Wang Fei

T/A: Peng Fei (but I mainly attended the tutorials run by Zekun)

Lecture Topics:

Linear Systems and Gaussian Eliminations (Linear systems, elementary row operations, row-echelon forms, Gaussian elimination)

Matrices (Matrix operations, inverses of square matrices, elementary matrices, determinants)

Vector Spaces (Euclidean n-spaces, linear combinations and linear spans, subspaces, linear independence, bases, dimensions, transition matrices)

Vector Spaces Associated with Matrices (Row spaces, column spaces, nullspaces, ranks and nullities)

Orthogonality (The dot product, orthogonal bases, least squares solutions, orthogonal matrices)

Diagonalization (Eigenvalues, eigenvectors, diagonalization, orthogonal diagonalization)

Linear Transformation (Linear transformations from Rn to Rm, ranges and kernels)

Deliverables:

Homework - 6.25% x4 Midterms - 25% Finals - 50%

Other Comments:

I have a confession to make. Despite my grade for this mod, I still feel like I suck at linear algebra. I found vector spaces (chapter 3 and 4) to be the toughest because it was difficult to understand the rationale behind the various matrix operations as well as the mathematical terminologies. I feel that if you can understand vector spaces, the rest of the topics are quite manageable.

The workload is generally okay, you have two 2 hour lectures every week, as well as a 1 hour tutorial every week. You’re allowed to tutorial-hop and you can attend any tutorial slot you like, even if it’s not the one you registered for on ModReg. I took full advantage of this, and by a stroke of luck, the first tutorial I went to was Zekun’s. I found his teaching to be very effective, and he even offers consults to students. Guys please take full advantage of your T/As hahah make them work for their $40/hr pay but Zekun was very helpful and I feel that I learnt a lot from his tutorials. Of course, make sure you attempt the tutorial questions before tutorials (which are selected textbook questions) to maximise your learning.

The 4 homework assignments given often have a few difficult questions, and I highly recommend checking your answers with friends to make sure you didn’t make any mistakes. As with most math mods, the median for the homework is usually quite high, either full marks or a few marks from few marks so it is paramount that you try and secure close to full marks if possible.

Midterms and finals were generally quite tough. I didn’t do very well for midterms, I got 32/50 when the average was 29, upper quartile was 35. I think it was due to a lack of understanding of vector spaces, plus computational errors can really cause you to get penalised. I focused a lot on proving questions by practising the textbook questions, but the paper was mainly computational questions (like 34 marks out of 50), while only 6 marks were proving and 10 marks true-false questions. For finals, there were 70% computational, 20% proving and 10% true-false questions, so I changed my strategy and tried all the past-year papers and selected textbook questions to really make sure I get the computational questions right. These are quite standard so you just have to learn the different ways they ask the questions and you should be fine. Don’t worry too much about the proving questions, most people can’t do them anyway, but to really do well, you shouldn’t leave these questions blank. For the true-false questions, if you don’t know just guess and pray that luck is on your side lol.

I can only say that making full use of my T/A, working together with friends and a strategy of focusing on computational questions plus whacking and brute-forcing my way through the tough parts of the paper is probably how I could get the grade that I got.

TLDR:

Focus on computational questions, but try not to leave the proving questions blank in exams Work with friends on the homework assignments Attend tutorials and ask your T/A for help because clearing your doubts early on (especially the topic of vector spaces) is essential Brute-force and just whack if you don’t know the answer

Grades:

Expected grade: B+ Actual grade: A

SP1541

Module Coordinator: Ms Brenda Yuen

Tutor: Ms Isabel Poh

Deliverables:

Book Chapter Reflection - 5% Science News Article - 20% Revised Science News Article - 30% Oral Presentation - 25% Reflective Commentary - 10% Interaction and Engagement - 10%

Other Comments:

This module basically teaches you how to turn research articles (which are meant for specialist readers) into popular science news articles for common people like you and me. They introduce you to various science communication strategies like explanatory strategies and evaluative language.

I didn’t like this module and it had quite a heavy workload. Two 2 hour sectionals every week and you’re expected to do readings and prepare some answers for the discussion questions. This module is just very dry and not enjoyable :( As for my tutor, I don’t really have much comments, she was helpful and answered all of our questions. But yes this module is really boring and I don’t think her style of teaching helped.

I honestly put very little effort into the assignments because I was planning to SU, and especially after I got 66.3/100 for my first science news article submission. They do take some time to do, especially if you’re planning not to SU as you might have to go through a few drafts. You may consider consulting the NUS Libraries Writers’ Centre. I didn’t bother because I wanted to focus on my other modules. For my second science news article which I really didn’t change much and just added some stuff that was required, I got an even more tragic 65.6/100 lol. Ironically, my book chapter reflection and reflective commentary got really high marks at 94/100 and 90/100 respectively (not me spending only 30 minutes on the 300-word reflective commentary :’)

The 8-10 minute oral presentation (I got 71.3/100) which is based on your chosen science news article isn’t terribly hard, just do your best and try to be natural, don’t use any scripts. How natural you are depends on your knowledge about your chosen research article topic, so choose well.

TLDR:

Prepare an S/U for this mod

Grades:

Expected grade: B Actual grade: B+ (S)

ST2131

Module Coordinator: Prof Chan Yiu Man

T/A: (Unnamed for...reasons...)

Lecture Topics:

1. Combinatorial Analysis (Permutations and Combinations) 2. Axioms of Probability 3. Conditional Probability and Independence 4. Discrete Random Variables 5. Continuous Random Variables 6. Jointly Distributed Random Variables 7. Properties of Expectation 8. Limit Theorems

Deliverables:

Timed 30 minute online quizzes - 5% x4 Midterms - 20% Finals - 60%

Other Comments:

This mod is really just self-study lol. Prof was quite good at explaining stuff and he would elaborate on stuff with detail so you won’t get lost. However, be warned that the Prof is essentially a boomer the Prof speaks quite slowly and you’ll probably be better off watching his recorded lectures at x2 speed.

I have,,,no words for the tutorials. My T/A was so bad that I don’t know and don’t want to know her name. She was basically talking to her computer the whole tutorial and didn’t explain stuff clearly. I tried giving her a second chance and went up to ask her questions about some of the working after the lesson, but her explanations are very confusing and I left the tutorial room even more confused than when I entered the room .__. I ended up tutorial-hopping and going to the Prof’s tutorial slot instead, which was much better, though there was another T/A who I felt I liked best but unfortunately I was not always free for his timeslots. Anyway the tutorial questions are taken from the textbook and the tutorial answers are uploaded on Canvas so a lot of my friends ended up skipping the tutorials and self-studying.

Quizzes were generally okay except for the last quiz. I got 2/5 for the last quiz (oof) and it seemed like most people got around 2-3/5 also. It was tough because it covered chapter 6 and 7 which were difficult topics, and we probably didn’t have enough practice. Also another comment on the quizzes is that they are mainly in the second half of the semester (the quizzes were held online over the weekend of week 5, 8, 10, 12) which added a lot of unnecessary stress because the second half of the semester tends to have more assignments for other modules. It also didn’t make sense to leave the chapter 1 quiz to week 5, chapter 2 to week 8, chapter 3-4 to week 10. I would have liked a more even distribution of the quizzes over the semester. We were warned not to discuss quiz questions but tbh the quiz questions are mostly the same, usually with different values in the questions, so :)

The midterms were quite easy, and most people scored well for it. Contrary to some other sources, the median was about 22-24 according to the Prof (I heard it from the horse’s mouth). I got 27/30 which was decent but not amazing.

Finals is, as usual, the make or break. I did both the textbook questions (with solutions found online) and the past-year papers, but I think the past-year papers had very different topics and different focus areas and I couldn’t do most of the past-year papers. (Do note that this mod is run by the math department in the first semester, so avoid all sem 1 papers if you’re taking it in sem 2.) I went for a group zoom consult with the prof, armed with a few past-year papers I was unsure of and even he didn’t know the approach to answer the questions. That was the moment I realised that doing the past-year papers were probably not helpful and I should focus on the tutorial questions along with the textbook practice questions. In the finals, the first 3 questions were quite easy and standard, but the last 3 questions were apparently difficult for most people. As it turned out, 2 of the 3 questions appeared in the textbook practice questions in a similar fashion, and I was able to answer them pretty well I think. I only didn’t know how to do the last question which was a proving question. I essentially left it blank :/ But I thought most people would have found the paper easy because the ‘difficult’ questions weren’t really unseen, guess not hahah

TLDR:

Be prepared to self-study. If you get a bad tutor, don’t be paiseh to tutorial hop Make sure you score for the earlier quizzes Keep up with the content, and dedicate more time and effort for Chapter 6 and 7 Do the textbook practice questions to prepare for exams

Grades:

Expected grade: B Actual grade: A