#Man I hope none of the puppeteers got any burns from this scene or any other scenes that involves fire

[sealedsanctuary]

霹靂圖騰 Pili: Totem · 2001 - Mo Zhao Nu vs Zhi Mo

[its-me-im-coraline]

First impressions // All

words // 1184

warnings // not explicit smut, more like teasing of smut

pairing // none particular, gn!reader

author's note // if you want to be on the tag list let me know. this is such bad writing omg. I can not easily navigate a scene between so many people without it looking weird i am so sorry and i do hope you like it. sorry for not posting last night but as i said i was having a panic attack. anyway im better now, hopefully ill be able to post one more fic tonight

request // yeap, here it is

summary // The band might have considered more than once of ‘entertaining’ their best friend. After their I wanna be your slave video comes out, sweet ol’ Thomas can not help but suggest they encounter their reacting to the video clip and showing them some of their moves.

Thomas’ idea did not just come out of the blue. It was not a spontaneous thing to do, but a long time formulated thought coming into reality. In all honesty, Thomas, Victoria, Ethan and Damiano had thought about it before, plenty of times. Having Y/N stay with them any time they were at the studio house was flaring up these thoughts like crazy. It was not just one time that the four of them had talked about railing them senseless initiating something more sexual with them, only the fear that they would be pushed away, keeping them from making a move. But after having seen the anticipation from the promotion for theri video clip of I wanna be your slave, Thomas went out on a limp making a move for them all after the video dropped.

“Hey, Y/N, what are you up to?” There were no regards as to whether it was ok to get in or not. The man just sat on the bed, a phone in his hand with it’s screen lit up already.

“Not much, Thomas. I was just finishing some things up on my laptop. What are you guys doing here, all together?” It was not common for all of them to be in the room at once. Usually they only were all together in the living room or outside, the time in any bedrooms spent with two or three at the time and late at night when they couldn't sleep.

By now the other three occupied the small room, sitting anywhere they could: a chair on the desk, on top of said desk, the bed. “We were thinking, cucciolo.” The one to speak up now was Ethan, sitting on their other side, hand in their hair, messing with it just like he always did.

“Our video clip is out and we wanted to see your reaction.”

“I told you guys I’ll watch it when I’m done with the assignments-”

“Did you not just say you’re done?” Damiano had a sneaky smirk on his face, seeing how flushed he made the band’s friend, getting caught in excuses.

Maybe I just don’t want to see it around you, they thought, avoiding to speak, instead nodding their head.

“Then let’s watch it, puppy.” This time it was Victoria’s chance to speak up, taunting the poor person on the bed. The blonde was on the other side of the room but it did not stop her from making Y/N flush in their seat, only fueling her desire to film the up and coming reactions.

Before the video started everyone shifted. Damiano and Ethan were on the right side of Y/N, Thomas and Victoria occupying the left, all within reach of the poor puppy in the middle. They all knew how quickly they’d react to it all, squirming in their seat at the thought of Vic tasting them like a candied apple. “Do you like it, puppy? Want me to tease you like that?” said girl questioned, never weavering from the filming

It seemed like every little thought was simply worse than the previous, the tip of the iceberg being Victoria tied up, all so wonderfully. Such a sight for sore eyes. At it Y/N let out a strained gasp, unable to hold it in.”What is it, cucciolo, you want to be tied like that? I can do it for you,” whispered Ethan, hands quick to tie up Y/N’s with a shoelace he found a few minutes ago. It was not tight but it was enough to restrain their arms behind them.

“So good you are,” he praised, placing his hand in their hair, giving space for Damiano to put his on their thigh.

The video went on, all these scenes with Damiano screaming at everyone’s face simply heightened the already extreme emotions Y/N was experiencing. The man himself could only laugh at that, face coming close to theirs, just like he did for Thomas on the video clip, so assertive, dominating even.

“Are you enjoying yourself, puppet?” His words pierced through them, shivers overtaking their body, a feeling that could only be described as anxiety but also excitement accompanying it.

It was all a dream, or it felt like it. Such situation was too good to be true for Y/N, causing the fear of this being just a very realistic dream. But, Thomas’ kisses on their neck and Ethan’s light tugs on their hair reminded them of the reality they were living inside of. “Use your words, bambino,” said Damiano, the same smirk as before all over his face.

“Yes, I enjoy this,” they finally whispered, words forced out.

The next few seconds were quiet, only facial expressions portraying any reaction, all four of the band members just looking, admiring their beautiful friend and silently agreeing on their next move. It was when they saw Damiano and Ethan kiss and share that pink bubble gum that the band got entertained. Their lips got parted, cheeks flushed to the point of ‘burning’ to the touch, their eyes got wide, all but drooling over the scene unfolding in front of their eyes.

A shock wave shot through Y/N’s body as Ethan grabbed their head, tilting it back, the video clip still in the background, attacking their lips in a hungry kiss. It was hot, wet and sloppy, and it went on for a bit, until the tall drummer ushered his tongue into the mix, allowing the same type of cherry bubble gum from the video clip to move in Y/N’s mouth at once. They did not know what to do, their mind utterly blank and unable to decide on an action.

“Bite it.” Thomas let the two words out of his mouth, straight into their ear. He looked so shy and innocent most of the time, who would have thought he had it in him. “Now move your head, puppy, just like that,” he all but moaned, pulling them back towards him.

“So good for us all,” Thomas spoke again, now him being the one to kiss Y/N, ridding their mouth of the gum and leaving sloppy kisses from their lips to their neck.

Victoria was fed up with how long the escalation was taking, unable to wait a minute longer before she could have her second of fun. With that thought in mind, she pulled the phone from Y/N’s hands, shutting it off and setting it on the nightstand.

“You already know what happens after, pet.” Her voice was more demanding than anyone could anticipate, very bossy one could say, but Y/N was not going to be the one to challenge it.

“Tell me if you are uncomfortable, baby.” Y/N let out a small ‘do it’, opening up their mouth and just waiting, caressing Victoria’s hands on their face.

“Such a good pet,” she praised, going ahead to spit in their mouth before assessing her ‘art’.

“I think we need another ‘rehearsal’ to get it right,” smirked Damiano, “there’s just a few more creative touches we need to add.”

tag list: @bieberhoodforever @tabi-toast @ginny-lily @moriro-da-regina @the-killer-queenie @makapaka11 @teenyweenynightghost @superchrystaldrug

[babypandawrites]

Allies, Pt. 8

The Deserter

Pairing: Sokka x F Reader Warnings: Burn Injury  Word Count: 3,300 Summary: As usual, things do not go as planned. Lesson learned, going to a Fire Nation festival should always be tucked into the bad idea folder. 

-Navigation- | -Allies Masterlist- | -Atla Masterlist- 

Taglist: @boomeraangin​​

Eyes wide, Y/n snatched one of the pages hanging from the notice board before the others could see it. It was a wanted poster of her. It wasn’t the first time the Fire Nation put one of these out for her, but that didn’t make it any less alarming! She balled up the page as Katara approached the notice board, and shoved it into her pocket.  Grimacing, she moved to stand next to the girl. None of them saw that, right? “This should give us a good idea of what’s around here.” Katara noted, as she looked over the board.  “See if you can find a menu, I’m starving.”  The two girls ignored Sokka, as Aang rushed up to the board. He pointed to a colorful flyer that had been hung up. “I bet we’ll find something to eat here! The Fire Days Festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits… jugglers, benders, magicians. This’d be a great place for me to study some real firebenders!”  Looking at her friend, her eyebrows furrowed together. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Aang.”  Sokka pointed to something on another side of the board. “Yeah, you might wanna rethink that. Look at this.”  Y/n walked over to see it was a wanted poster of Aang, the boy soon joining as well. There was also one for ‘The Blue Spirit’- That being the masked person who ended up being Zuko- and a white haired man.  “Hey, a poster of me!” “A wanted poster. This is bad.”  Aang took the wanted poster off the board as Katara walked over to look at it.  “I think we better keep moving.”  “I have to learn firebending at some point, and this could be my only chance to watch a master up close.”  Katara looked at the ground, thinking for a short moment. “I guess we could check it out.” “What!? You want to walk into a Fire Nation town where they’re all fired up with all their, you know, fire?”  Crossing her arms over her chest, Y/n looked between Katara and Aang. “I’m gonna have to agree with Sokka on this one, this is a terrible idea.”  “We’ll wear disguises and if it looks like trouble, we’ll leave.” Katara suggested, as her and Aang walked over to Appa.  Sokka breathed out a sigh. “Yeah, because we always leave before we get into trouble.” 

On a hill outside of the town, Aang told Appa and Momo to hide, only one of the animals being successful in the feat. Y/n giggled watching Appa attempt to hide behind a small bush, he was truly adorable.  “Ready disguises!”  At Aang’s words, Y/n, Sokka and Katara pulled the hoods of the cloaks they wore over their heads. Aang had pulled the top of his shirt over his head in a completely ineffective disguise. He grinned at the three, as Sokka crossed his arms over his chest. Katara and Y/n laughed at the silliness of it.  “It’s like you’re a whole different person.” Sokka spoke sarcastically.  Aang started to lead the way down the hill. “Let’s go!”  The group walked down to the main square of the town, it was full of people. Several of the people enjoying the festival wore colorful masks.  “I think we need some new disguises.”  Sokka looked at his sister, somewhat annoyed. “Where are we gonna get masks like that?”  Nudging him gently in the side, Y/n nodded her head over to a stand a few feet away from them- It was selling masks.  “Get your genu-ine Fire Festival masks here!”  “That was surprisingly easy.”  Each of them had gotten masks to wear- Sokka wore one with a happy expression on it and Aang wore one with a sad expression. Looking between the two, Katara and Y/n took the masks off the boys and switched them, matching their masks with their moods. Walking further into the town square, Aang pointed ahead.  “Hey, there’s some food.”  “Finally!” Sokka rushed up to the food stand. “What do you have?”  The food merchant grabbed a small bag, steam came from it. “Flaming fire flakes! Best in town.” Sokka grabbed the bag from him. “I’ll take ‘em!” He stuffed them into his mouth, but quickly started to scream and huff, steam blowing from his mouth. He partially removed his mask to cool his tongue. “Aaaaah! Hot! Hot!”  Katara crossed her arms. “Flaming fire flakes, hot? What do you know.”  Y/n snickered. “Never would have guessed that.”  Aang looked off to the side, and started to walk away. “Hey, look at this.”  The three followed after him, stopping near a puppet stage. The audience in front of the stage was composed of children. The curtain in front of the stage drew open, and a puppet of the Fire Lord appeared. The children cheered.  “Don’t worry loyal citizens! No one can surprise the Fire Lord!”  Behind the Fire Lord puppet, a puppet of an earthbender rose up, with a rock ready to strike the other puppet. The children in the crowd cried out warnings. The Fire Lord puppet suddenly turned around and torched the earthbender puppet with a gout of flames. As the children cheered at the display, the group turned away from the performance, and followed Aang as he led them to another area.  “Aang, hold on! Where are we going?” Katara questioned as they walked.  “I don’t know, but there’s a big crowd so it must be good.”  “Knowing the Fire Nation, it’s probably an execution.”  Y/n furrowed her eyebrows together under her mask. “The Fire Nation doesn’t hold public executions..” She mumbled to herself, following after her friends to get a better look at the stage.  A firebending performer stood on the stage, manipulating flames for the crowd's delight. He extinguished the fire and produced a small flock of white birds that flew off the stage.  Aang partially took off his mask, watching the birds fly away. He turned back to the stage, a large smile plastered onto his face. “I gotta learn that trick!”  “Thank you! For my next trick I need a volunteer from the audience!” Aang’s hand shot up in the air. “Oh! Oh! Me! Me!”  Sokka looked at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”  “I want to get a closer look.”  Y/n’s arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  “It’s better that we don’t attract any attention to ourselves.”  The performer pointed at Katara, after she finished speaking. “How about you, little lady?”  She backed away, shaking her head. “Uh…”  “Awww, she’s shy. Leeet’s give her some encouragement, folks!”  Someone in the audience pushed Katara to the edge of the stage, where the performer grabs onto her and hauls her up.  “Awww! That could’a been me.”  The performer ushered Katara to the center of the stage, sitting her on the chair that had been brought out. “This next trick is called ‘Taming the Dragon’. You will be my captured princess!”  He used a maroon ribbon to tie her to the chair, before beginning to bend a huge fire comet from the fires that stood atop the pillars of the stage. He looped it close to Katara then moved it back away. He controlled it by a flame rope that connected to his hand.  “Don’t worry, young maiden. I will tame this fiery beast!” He continued to control the fire comet. “It’s too strong, I can’t hold it!” “We gotta help her!” There was a hint of panic in Aang’s voice.  “No, we don’t want to make a scene!” Sokka tried to stop him.  “Yeah- Aang, it’s just a performance-”  “The rope, it’s breaking!”  The rope the performer was using to control the comet broke, the flames charging at Katara. She cringed and cried out. Aang airbended himself up, Sokka, Y/n and another man failing to restrain him. He dropped down in front of Katara, and created a whirlwind that dissipated the comet in a shower of confetti.  The performer looked at Aang. “Hey, you tryin’ to upstage me, kid?”  The crowd started to ‘boo’ Aang, and as he did a little dance to amuse them, Sokka and Y/n hopped up onto the stage to untie Katara.  “Hey! That kid’s the Avatar!” Someone shouted from the crowd. This caught the attention of three Fire Nation guards, who started to weave through the crowd to get to the stage.  “I think it’s time to go.” Sokka said, as the group removed their masks.  “Follow me! I can git ya outta here!” The man who tried to help stop Aang before called out to them. He stood near a broken wall at the back of the stage, waving them over to it.  “There they are!” One of the guards shouted as they got to the stage. They ran through the broken wall, and once they were through the man threw a smoke bomb at the guards to obscure their view. The group ran through squares and alleys, the man who helped accompany them. A guard pointed at them, as they passed him.  “Over there!”  “I’m calling Appa!” Aang got out his bison whistle and blew into it, as a group of guards started to pursue them.  “I hope he can really hear that bison whistle!” Sokka commented.  “This way!” The man turned into an alleyway, that was a dead end. “Okay! Not this way!”  They turned to leave, but the exit was blocked by guards. The man threw another smoke bomb at the guards, allowing the group to run past them. They ran into another alley, but it was also a dead end.  “Appa! Down here!” Aang called to the bison as he arrived just in time. Appa landed between the group and the guards and hit his tail against the ground, blowing the guards out of the alley.  They all got up onto Appa and took off. The man who had helped them used a bomb like object to set off fireworks that had been in the alley. He removed his hood as they flew away.  “Nice touch setting off the fireworks.” Aang commented, watching the fireworks go off.  Sokka looked at the man, impressed. “You seem to really know your explosives.”  “I’m familiar.” He turned to face them.  “You’re a Fire Nation soldier!”  “Was. My names Chey.” 

The group settled around a campfire that night. Chey was speaking with them.  “I serve a man. More than a man really, he’s a myth, but he’s real, a living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general, or wait, was he an admiral?”  Sokka looked at the man blankly. “He was very high ranked, we get it.”  “Yeah! Way up there! But he couldn’t take the madness any more. He’s the first person to ever leave the army- and live. I’m the second, but you don’t get to be a legend for that. That’s okay though. Jeong Jeong’s a firebending genius. Some say he’s mad- But he’s not! He’s enlightened.”  “You mean there’s a firebender out here who’s not with the Fire Lord?” Aang stood up, excited. “We’ve gotta go see him! He can train me!”  “We’re not gonna go find some crazy firebender!”  Chey stood up. “He’s not crazy! He’s a genius! And he’s the perfect person to train the Avatar! That’s why I followed you into the festival.”  Sokka also stood up. “Look, thanks for the help, but we’re leaving for the North Pole in the morning.”  Aang furrowed his eyebrows together. “Sokka, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me.”  “It can’t hurt just to talk to him.” Katara said, standing up.  “That’s what you said about going to the festival! Why doesnt anyone ever listen to me?!” Sokka turned to look at Y/n, who has yet to speak. “Come on, Y/n, you’re with me, right?”  She was silent for a moment, thinking. “Well… Aang does need to learn Firebending eventually… Hmmm..” She shrugged her shoulders.  Groaning in frustration, Sokka turned to stalk away from the group, but stops having nearly run into a spear. Suddenly, they were all surrounded by men wearing straw hats and armor, each of them wielding a spear.  “Don’t move!”  They were led through the forest by the rebel men, after a long time walking, they came across a small shack that had been settled at the bottom of a hill.  “Go on. He sees you only.” The man who’d Y/n had learned the name of was Lin Yi, spoke to Chey.  “Oh that’s okay, we can chat later.”  “Is that where Jeong Jeong is? I need to talk to him right away.” Aang tried to walk towards the shack, but was stopped by a spear shaft blocking his path.  “No! You wait there.” Lin Yi pushed Chey forward roughly. “Go now!”  “Don’t worry! Everything’ll be fine. He’s a great man, great man!” Chey walked down to Jeong Jeong’s hut.

Y/n had fallen asleep during the wait and in the morning had learned Jeong Jeong agreed to teach Aang firebending. She sat on the ground outside, doing some stretches while listening in on the lesson between Jeong Jeong and Aang.  “Widen your stance. Wider! Bend your knees. Now, concentrate. Good, good!”  “Wait! What do I do now?”  She glanced over to see that Jeong Jeong had begun walking away.  “Silence! Talking is not concentrating! Look at your friend,” He pointed at Katara. “Is she talking? What about her?” Then he pointed at Y/n, before pointing at Sokka. “Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he’s doing.”  “Hey!” Snickering, Y/n went back to focusing on her stretches.  Aang breathed out a sigh. “But what am I concentrating on?”  “Feel the heat of the sun. It is the greatest source of fire. Yet, it is in complete balance with nature!” “So when do I get to make some fire?”  “Concentrate!”  Katara, Y/n and Sokka all laughed a bit as Aang tried to concentrate, feigning innocence when he turned to look at them all. 

“This is the worst firebending instruction ever. All he does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate or breath.” Aang complained, as he held a leaf with a small hole burned in the center in his hand.  “I’m sure there’s a good reason.”  Y/n nodded in agreement with Katara. “There most likely is. Jeong Jeong is a Master, he’s bound to know what he’s talking about.”  “But I’m ready to do so much more.” His face lit up when an idea came to mind. Widening his stance, he began to take in deep breaths. The leaf he held started to smoke, before suddenly bursting into flames. With the leaf disintegrating, Aang was left holding a fireball in his hand. “I did it! I made fire!”  Katara took a few steps closer. “Aang, that’s great, but you should take it slow.”  Eyebrows furrowing together, Y/n once again nodded in agreement with the girl. “Yeah, this doesn’t seem like a good idea, Aang.”  The flame got bigger, in reaction to Aang’s annoyance with their comments.  “Careful!”  Aang regained control and reduced the flame to its former size, but he nearly fell into the river doing so.  “Now that’s firebending!” He shot a whip of flames into the distance, before beginning to juggle the ball of flame happily.  Y/n took a few steps back. “Aang, you should stop.”  “Yeah, you’ll hurt yourself!”  She was about to tell Katara to get back, but was a bit too late. Aang created a circle of fire around himself, pushing it outwards. The flames burned Katara’s hands, when she raised them to protect her face. Crying out in pain, she crumpled to her knees.  “Katara!” Aang and Y/n shouted in unison, rushing over to her. The latter kneeling down next to the waterbender.  “Katara, I’m so sorry.”  Sokka rushed over. “Katara, what’s wrong?!” He looked at Aang, clearly upset. “What did you do?”  Aang held his hands up in defense. “It was an accident! I was… Katara, I’m so-” He got cut off, from Sokka tackling him to the ground.  “I told you we shouldn’t mess around with this! Look at what you did! You burned my sister!”  Katara got up, and ran away. Getting up herself, Y/n rushed to grab her bag, before running after the girl. 

“Katara?” Y/n tentatively approached the girl, as she sat at the riverbank her hands dunked into the water. “I have some salve that should help your burns…” Trailing off, she watched in shock as Katara’s hands glowed underneath the water. They glowing stopped as she lifted her hands from the water, the burns on her hands now gone.  “That… also works.”  “You have healing abilities.” The two turned to see Jeong Jeong approaching them from behind. “The great benders of the water tribe sometimes have this ability.” The man took a seat next to Katara. “I’ve always wished I were blessed like you- free from this burning curse.”  “But you’re a great master. You have powers I’ll never know.”  “Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forced those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor’s edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart.”  Suddenly, the water in front of them is blasted with gouts of flame. Jeong Jeong stood quickly, taking a defensive stance before breaking the flames that threatened to hit him, Y/n and Katara. Fire Nation riverboats floated across the water towards them.  “Go get your friends and flee! Do not come back here or you will all be destroyed. Hurry!”  Y/n helped Katara off the ground, before the two ran back in the direction of Jeong Jeong’s hut, where Sokka and Aang should be. They ran up to Sokka, where he was preparing Appa to leave. He turned to look at them, worry written onto his features.  “Katara! Are you all right?”  “I’m fine, we’ve got to get out of here. Where’s Aang?”  Sokka pointed his thumb in the direction of Jeong Jeong’s hut, turning to Y/n when Katara ran down to it.  “What’s going on?”  She tossed her bag up onto Appa’s saddle. “The Fire Nation found us. Jeong Jeong is dealing with them right now but honestly I’m not sure how long that will last. We should leave and fast.”  “Right.” He nodded in affirmation, before raising an eyebrow. “What did you do to help Katara?”  “I was going to give her some of the salve I have for burns but, turns out she didn’t need it.”  “What do you mea-”  “Come on!” He got cut off by Katara, as she ran over and clambered up onto Appa.  Once the three were all up on Appa’s saddle, they went and got Aang, before leaving.  “Aang, you’re burned.” Katara said, once they were up in the air. His sleeve was torn, burn marks covering his skin. “Let me help you.” She opened her water container, before wrapping some of the water around her hand. It started to glow, as she placed it over Aang’s wounds. After a moment of concentration, she pulled her hand away and the wound was healed.  “Wow! That’s good water.”  Sokka looked at her confused. “When did you learn how to do that?”  She offered a shrug. “I guess I always knew.”  “Oh… well then thanks for all the first aid over the years. Like when I fell into the grease briar bramble and that time I had two fish hooks in my thumb!”  Y/n let out a snicker. “Two?”  “He tried to get the first fish hook out with another fish hook.”  “Wow.”  “Oh, and the time that big snake bit me! Thanks for healing that up. That was great. Really helpful.” He continued, as they flew into the distance.

[dragonnan]

Sharing Saturday - a List of Fic Recs

I haven’t restricted this to a number but I’m also doing my best to keep it from going out of control, too.  I pretty much just have 2 consistent fandoms that I read/write so if you like either the MCU or Sherlock then this is the post for you!

MCU:

Adventures Throughout the Multiverse (Series) by Aelaer Jumping into different dimensions always involves risk. Sometimes you never know what sort of troubles you will run into until you have arrived. Thankfully, alongside these dangers a sorcerer is sometimes lucky enough to come upon unexpected allies.

In which Stephen encounters characters from characters from JRR Tolkien to even his own doppelgänger in Sherlock Holmes. I LOVE these!! Not only supremely clever and lovingly researched but just straight up entertaining as fuck!  @aelaer writes some of the best Doctor Strange fic that I’ve read on on top of all that is a spectacular artist besides!

Omertà by HanukoYoukai After chasing down the criminal that took Uncle Ben's life, Peter is found by James Wesley, the right-hand man of Wilson Fisk--a wealthy businessman trying to clean up Hell's Kitchen. Having left a strong impression on the man, soon Peter finds himself working for Fisk, doing an internship for his business projects by day, and catching bad guys at night. If Mr. Fisk wants a few specific criminals delivered to him personally, who is Peter to object? All his boss wants to do is talk, after all, and ever since this internship began, things were finally looking up for the Parkers. Then Peter hears the whispers in the underworld about the elusive and terrifying Kingpin, and somehow there are rumors that Spider-Man is on the Crime Lord's payroll. When he decides to use his own judgement and go against Mr. Fisk's wishes, Peter suddenly finds himself neck deep in mob activity with no means to get himself out. To make matters worse, now Iron Man has Peter in his sights.....

I LOVE her writing - the interpretations of Peter Parker and fantastic and do right by him in a big way.  Peter is actually the teenager I expect to encounter - with all of the nuance and emotion that I want to see!  On top of that THIS is some top notch Tony Stark - again, very true to canon with his Stark snark intact!

Identity Saga (Series) by KitCat992 An organically developed, platonic slow-burn of Avengers-fam dynamic with a heavy hand of Irondad & Spiderson. Throw in an overdose of whump, a couple of cunning villains and a big-bad hiding in the shadows, and you got yourself this hot mess.

Another stunning Peter Parker writer and OH my gosh if you are an IronDad fan and haven’t read this yet like what in THE hell are you doing?? Strap that seatbelt tight and paste your eyeballs to this series you will NOT be disappointed!

A Twisted Upheaval (WIP) by silentsaebyeok “I’m afraid, Harrison, you’ve awakened a sleeping giant.” Wilson said. “Tony Stark will do anything and everything to protect those he loves. And with your carelessness, it is inevitable that my criminal empire will be brought to its knees. This is your last opportunity, your last chance to get this right. He is on our radar now.” -- The Kingpin runs the criminal underworld. He is the mastermind and the puppeteer. Tony Stark has been trying to find the elusive gangster for years, but with no luck. But then Peter Parker is kidnapped by an agent of the Kingpin’s, revealing the cracks in an otherwise unshakeable organization. Unlikely alliances form and friendships are made as the criminal underworld begins to unravel.

*Smacks my desktop* THIS story!! It isn’t even completed yet but this fic is top level epic! This one, along with Omertà, got me totally hooked on Wilson Fisk interfering with both Peter and Tony and boy does it deliver on those dynamics!!

Sherlock:

Got My Eye on You (Series) by 7PercentSolution These stories cover just about everything from Greg's POV, from the first day they met when Sherlock was 17 through the pre-John years, John's arrival, their work together, the fall and the reunion, covering events in broadcast series 1-3 (and 4 eventually). If you ever wondered why Greg Lestrade was one of the three people Moriarty targeted, this is your answer. 

Frankly I love everything I’ve read so far - the stories are incredible and deep and not afraid to dig into hard subjects.  There is a wealth of backstory and Sherlock’s younger years and all the hardships he dealt with.  I’m especially in love with the OC, Sam - what a treasured character!

It takes John Watson to save your life. by Sparkypip A series of One shots where John saves Sherlock's life in so many ways. Will be updated sporadically as and when I get any time to write. As always I like my characters hurt, so plenty of angst, H/C, whump and bromance (no slash) will ensue. Please comment if you can.

These were some of the first Sherlock fics I ever read and I have been hooked on this writer to this day!  SO satisfyingly whumpy and on top of that many of the stories have their own comfort follow up story!!

A Sharp, Dressed Man 'verse (Series) by sgam76

I just love this series to bits and while the author considers is a break from heavier subjects, don’t for one second think that means it can’t take a deep dive into its own mythology nor deliver a freaking spectacular tale!  I have loved vampire AU for a long time and this series is pure delight and hits every damn button for me! You want a cool interpretation of vampires? BAM! You want family dynamics to the extreme? BAM AGAIN!  You want exploration of creature angst? BAM BAM BAAAAM!!! I’ve already read through these three or five times and I can promise I will do so again!

The Chemist by TheGracefulBlueCat Sherlock returns to Baker Street and faces detox. But he feels too exhausted and bad to go through it fully conscious, so he - once more - uses his mind palace to distract him with an old case. But due to his drug issues and the tension between him and John things don't work as smoothly as everyone hoped they would, confronting Sherlock and all his friends with more of their demons than they would have liked to.

This writer is absolutely on-point with the writing of these characters - especially Sherlock.  It was primarily through this writing that I felt I got such a good view of why the interpretation of Sherlock as autistic makes sense - but that it is the only truly logical conclusion. Not to mention the fanart @ceruleanmindpalace (same person) creates will leave you breathless!!   

Who You Really Are (Series) by EnglandsGray So very like her, to take something he would otherwise find inconsequential – boring – and transform it into something he couldn’t live without...For Sherlock, after Sherrinford, none of the worlds he inhabits will ever be the same again. He can see a way to rebuild, but he is terrified.  For Molly Hooper, strength is something she feels she is losing by the day, but the time has come for her to stand her ground.

Ohhhh my gosh like deep dive right into the pit of angst! And yet so soft and precious.  This first story of the series is one that I’m still going through and it is unbelievably rich and welling with delicious plot stuff and relationship and hurt/comfort and just - you gotta read iiit!!!

He Is Different, This One by ASilvergirl How would the Serbian "interrogation" go if his captors knew that Sherlock was neuroatypical and had synaesthesia? This is an alternate version of the scene from "The Empty Hearse."

I mean, how could I not love this fic? For the record I’m still not even a little bit tired of fics that explore what may have happened in Serbia.  It is just one of the most unresolved moments in  the series - going from that damn beating to him walking in on John like I NEED MOOORE!!! And this fic gives me SO much more than I could have expected!  Plus I’m always doubly onboard with a story that depicts Sherlock as neuroatypical.

There are sooooo many more fics I could link!! As it is I’ve been at this for about 3 hours and I’m dropping to the floor.  But to see the rest of the stories I’ve loved please check out my bookmarks!

[spell-cleaver]

*for Luke Palpatine* Luke stared at the corpse at his feet unable to drag his eyes away. Vader's breathing was loud in the room, the smell for burned flesh nauseating. Luke puffed out his own breath, heart hammering, asking "Why? Why did you do that?"

This is an immediate continuation of Part 7.

Part 0.5, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Masterpost here!

Luke stared at the corpse at his feet, unable to drag his eyes away. Vader’s breathing was loud in the room, the smell of burned flesh nauseating.

Luke puffed out his own breath, heart hammering, asking, “Why? Why did you do that?”

Everything hurt, but he forced his gaze away from the medic long enough to sit up—only to stare again as Vader, ignoring his question, closed one metal, unyielding hand and there was a scrabbling noise in the air vents. A person of a vaguely humanoid species, with green skin and blueish scales up much of their back and arms, came flying out, sniper clattering out of their hand as they clutched for their throat.

Vader did not hold onto them for long enough for them to die there. He threw them into the members of the 501st who unleashed a barrage of stun shots into them, until Luke thought they might die anyway.

“Take the assassin down to interrogation,” Vader ordered. “Find out who she was, and how she got in, and also increase security on all wings of the Palace. Launch an investigation into how they  could come so close to killing the Emperor.”

Killing the Emperor.

Luke, staring at the floor in a mute state of shock, heard the words as if from a great distance. He could’ve died…

He’d come so close to dying…

“Get up.”

He snapped his gaze up in instinctive terror at that harsh voice, then cried out when the motion aggravated his lingering injuries. Everything still hurt, and tears filled his eyes when it increased.

He cringed away from that dark shadow standing over him,  but then the terrible voice from the vocoder sounded horribly soft. “Your Majesty, we need to get you to your quarters, so we can take care of the security matters.” He held out one black-gloved hand—the same hand that had dragged the assassin from the vents, screaming for mercy.

Luke said nothing. But when his gaze caught on the blood seeping from Vader’s shoulder, from the chink in his armour, he repeated his question: “Why did you do that?”

He’d thrown himself on top of Luke to stop the bolt from hitting him. And he’d been shot.

Vader had taken a shot for him—

“I swore to protect you,” he said. The vocoder did not betray any emotion in his voice, but Luke thought he sensed… something. “If it becomes necessary to lay down my life to accomplish this, I will gladly do it.”

What—

What the kriff?

Luke was Vader’s puppet emperor, surely? Luke had thought about it in detail. He was meant to be the kind face of the regime while Vader held the power, ordered him around, until he grew too old to be used in such a way and was conveniently disposed of, and the panic around the assassination of the young emperor allowed him to justify even harsher methods of ruling with his durasteel fist.

None of that could happen if Vader died for him.

So Luke stared at him, his shock evident, and Vader gestured gently. “Your Majesty, we must get you to safety.”

Still, Luke stared.

“Why didn’t you just deflect the bolt with your lightsaber?” he asked, seemingly fascinated by the tang of the blood, the dark, wet colour that was spreading across his sleeve, blackening the black. It was evidence, he supposed, that Vader was, actually, human.

Vader huffed a breath. “It is clear to me that using my lightsaber causes you discomfort, Your Majesty. I did not think it wise to exacerbate the situation more than necessary.”

Luke stared some more. He—

He what—

Vader hated him. Most of the scars on Luke’s back were from him. Luke— Luke suspected he’d known in advance about the Rebel attack over Sullust and done nothing in the hopes that the heir would die, and leave the throne empty.

So why—

Why did he care?

Inexplicably, tears filled Luke’s eyes again; his vision swam.

Why didn’t anything make sense?

“Majesty,” Vader said, and this time he was begging. The Force shifted around Luke, but it was just Vader, casting his senses out to test for any other threats that could threaten him—that could threaten his emperor. “Please. Let me keep you safe.”

Luke did not relax.

He didn’t relax in the slightest. He was still as taut as a bowstring, breath held tightly, not daring to waver his gaze from Vader.

But he accepted the man’s hand and, when he shouted in pain and nearly collapsed, he accepted the other arm that clutched his elbow, supporting him.

“I will send for a medic once you are safe,” Vader promised.

And Luke would never admit it, but he leaned against Vader a tiny bit as they walked, too tired and upset to walk for himself, and his childhood tormentor kept him steady the whole way there.

Send me the first sentence of a scene from this AU and I’ll continue it!

Beginning | Previous | Next

[nymphl]

Lie to Me - Hux x Reader x Ch. 13: Puppet & Puppeteer

A/N: Hi xD Here goes chapter 13. I hope to be able to update chapter 14 on Friday. I’m still working on chapter 4 of BB, but every time I get a scene done I change my mind regarding the chapter, so bear with me. In any case, I intend to give you a superlong chapter, something close to 10k or more... Let’s see

Story Summary: Falling for the enemy… That’s probably the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. Letting him live… for he should be dead. And you should’ve been the one to kill him. You had him, right there… and you let it escape through yours fingers. He lived. And now only the time could tell if you made the right decision — more likely wrong — by saving the amnesiac General of the First Order and telling him he was your husband. [Hux x Reader - Hux x You]

Warnings for the entire story: Will contain at times; graphic violence, sex, drugs and manipulation, coarse language and OOCness.

AO3 Tags: from enemies to lovers; eventual romance; memory loss; fake marriage; fake marriage becomes real marriage; rebellion; married couple; canon divergence; slow burn romance; politics; rebel alliance; resistance; first order; OOCness; eventual smut; eventual sex; power play; power dynamics; syndicate; lies; you lie; Hux lies; Hux backstory; manipulation; political alliances; political betrayals; secret organizations; tros fix it; anti tros; nobody likes general pryde.

Wordcount: 4578

PREVIOUS CHAPTER *** NEXT CHAPTER

YOU TOOK A DEEP BREATH…

…and cast a glance at your superior. Then at the windows. It was getting dark already, which meant you worked overtime again. It was not something you would usually complain about — and you were not —, but the circumstances were not exactly what you would call ideal.

Some sort of new illness — apparently a common cold, they had told you, that affected only alien species — killed a bunch in the last few days. As you mostly worked in the Pediatrics, you would not know that. So far, no child had been diagnosed with the symptoms she just described. At least, not by you.

You were very tired and worried. Your superior was withholding information from you and your colleagues and while you could understand how careful she was being about not causing unnecessary panic among the public, it did not hurt to spread the word among doctors.

“You should leave.” It was all she said while looking at you and another colleague. “The situation is under control. Having any of you sick for not getting proper rest would do no good right now.”

You even opened your mouth to ask for more details — you had to know, a new disease that affected alien species could be used as a motive for a riot. Even if Dantooine was a planet known for the pacific coexistence between humans and aliens, one cannot know… — but decided to let go. She would not tell. If you wanted to know anything, you would have to find out yourself.

With a sigh, you left her room and headed towards the exit. It was a surprise to find the General outside waiting for you. He was leaning against his speeder bike, the electronic cigarette between his fingers. As his eyes landed on you, he immediately shut it off and straightened his body, which made he look even taller.

There was no time to greet him, for he pulled you for a kiss. And even though your lids fell closed and you quickly gave in, it felt rather weirdly to receive this kind of attention out in the open; the General always struck you as a very reserved person. Yet, you kissed him back, your fingers finding their way into his locks. However, he quickly trapped your hands between his.

He broke apart, bestowing your jaw with a small kiss, getting closer and closer to your ear. You felt your face warming up at the sensations he was waking up your body to. A shiver ran down your spine when he let go of your hands and pulled your hair a bit more forcefully, angling your head better. His lips skimmed your ear and you almost moaned — all thoughts of propriety left your mind — when he pressed his body to yours.

“45 degrees to your right, Nonna,” he whispered in Ryl. His rich accent made you snap out of your haze of… whatever he evoked in you.

You fought not to furrow your brows and to keep your expression neutral — or as it was before —, however it was difficult as you spotted the same Duros of before. The one who had said how funny it was that he always got to beat the living shit of the men you loved.

Part of you was relieved there was a reason for his actions — for his acting weirdly. Part was… almost��disappointed that this show of affection was not natural and instead just another plan of his. 

Biting your bottom lip, you dig your fingers into his shoulders.  

“I thought she said a fortnight.”

He did not reply immediately. Instead, he kissed your earlobe lightly; his breath controlled as he ran his gloved fingers over your cheeks and then your neck in a small caress.

“She’s off world.”

The General gave you no time to reply, snatching your lips into an overpowering kiss that had you gasping in his mouth. Before your lids fell closed in their own accord, you saw the Duros’ own lips lifting in what you assumed to be a snarl and looking away. This time, he did not stop you from sliding your hands into his pristine hair, angling his head to your better pleasure.

You broke the kiss, but did not move one inch away. He rather felt your lips moving against his than heard what you said, “She’s watching us?”

His lack of answer was answer enough. You almost felt like asking when she was not watching the two of you — and whom else she did not watch in that kriffing planet. Your face grew hot at the idea of her spying on — literally — what you two did in the last few days. Talk about embarrassing!

“Come,” he said, breaking apart and offering you his hand, “Let us have dinner.”

He took you to the same bistro of before — the one in which you were surrounded by Aurra’s henchmen not even a week ago… or the one in which he set up for Aurra and her comrades, you were not sure anymore. The atmosphere was peaceful and if not for the despicable minion following you closely — he was not even trying to hide it anymore —, it would seem like any other date.

Date…

The mere word sent a shiver down your spine. It had been so many years since you last had been in anything close to a date that your heart almost sped up at the idea. It was something frivolous, you knew. Something silly, but the idea of the General courting you did funny things to you.

For a moment you almost forgot all about Aurra and her barely concealed presence. You brought the honeyed wine to your lips and sipped it lightly. You almost gasped — and made a mess of yourself — when his fingers reached for your hand across the table and he caressed the inside of your wrist.

“How was your day?”

The question almost felt genuine. And if not for the horrible man four tables away from you — looking at that kriffing menu for so long —, you would have believed he was interested in what you had to say.

You let your fingers entwine with his for a brief moment, before you broke apart. Although hilarious — mischievous even; it is, playing with Aurra’s perception of your relationship with the General —, the idea of faking it all did not sit well with you.

It made the blurred line of what was real and what was not between you even messier.

“Tiring,” you replied.

It sufficed. At least it usually did. He was not a man of small talk — a trace of his personality you grew rather fond of, each word coming from his lips was far more meaningful than with Aquilla, for example, and you did not know where the need to compare then came from —, but you figured out you would have to say more if you were to fool your old master.

“…and worrisome.” You brought the goblet back to your lips and took a more substantial sip now. “This new disease, it’s worrying me. There’s not much information about it yet… but it’s affecting aliens.”

There was a moment of silence — as you expected; of course, such topic would not be of his interest —, as he poured more wine for the two of you. Then, his impossibly blue eyes focused on you.

“How many aliens have died so far?”

You nodded; brows furrowed.

“How… How did you know?”

He did not reply immediately, nursing his wine in quietude. The waiter — this time a droid, which made a disappointed sigh leave you; back then, there was only sentient beings servicing you because it was part of Aurra’s plan, the General’s plan, you were not so sure anymore — came back and removed your plates.

You did not wait for his answer. There was something else bothering you right now. And as far as you knew, he may have heard somewhere the growing cases of aliens falling sick around the planet, it was not exactly state secret.

“That night…” You trapped your bottom lip between your teeth for a second. “That night was your or Aurra’s doing?”

Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw her henchman leaning closer, as anxious as you to know the answer. There was none though.

The General rose from his chair and like a perfect gentleman, he outstretched his hand for you to take. You knew what it meant. And it made your heart sink. He would not — and it was not a preference — reply to questions you already knew the answer to. What bothered you was the fact you did not knew if he orchestrated that night only or if everything else…

Could you live knowing that everything — you and your feelings for him, his feelings for you! — was nothing more than a carefully crafted plan of his?     

Before you left the bistro, you informed him you would need to go to the refresher. You assured — you wondered if you did or if he already knew you were buying yourself some time — him there was no need for him to wait you inside the building.

Splashing water on your face, you looked at your trembling hands. It could be from tiredness — you had been working overtime for a few days now —, or nervousness. Or both. Taking a deep breath, you shook such ideas — whatever they were — from your mind and exited the refresher. Instead of doing what you said, he was leaning against the wall as he waited for you.

You furrowed your brows and even opened your mouth to speak, but he shook his head almost imperceptibly. He offered his hand, entwining your fingers together as he dragged you towards the kitchen.

The droids and the few sentient beings working looked at you startled — a few even said customers were not allowed in the kitchen facilities. He did not pay them any attention as he continued to head towards another exit, diverting from furniture, huge cooking equipment and desperate droids trying to stand in your way. You felt in one of those action holomovies, escaping your nemesis through the kitchen instead of the front door.

A gasp left you as you noticed Aurra’s henchman was trailing right behind you. Not that close, of course, but close enough for you still glimpse him pushing humans and aliens — also droids — away as he pursued you.

You grabbed the General’s hand firmly between yours and started running. Your heart rammed against your chest as the chilly night breeze greeted you. There was no time to inhale it, though — nor to appreciate the stars in the sky — for your stalker also had left the building.

When you stepped towards his speeder bike, he shook his head. Both of you would be caught if you went for the most distant vehicle. And while you knew Armitage Hux was not a man who went anywhere without his blaster, the idea of stealing something made it all the more exhilarating — and not killing someone, even if that hateful man.

He chose the closest vehicle, an old, gray landspeeder. As he took off, you pressed the button activating the cloaking device.

For a moment, all you could hear was the sound of the henchman’s curses and of him firing his blaster blindly.

You cast a glance at the General; he had his brows at you. Before he could ask, you said, “It’s one of Aurra’s and it’s non traceable.”

There was no answer from his part, as usual.

Your lips tilted slightly upwards as you leaned against the seat and thought about how pissed off Aurra would be when she found out the two of you escaped her incompetent spy.

“That was funny.” You did not want to laugh, but you did anyways. The General did not accompany you, but his light, small, barely noticeable smirk made you sigh in contentment. At least, there was no need to kill anyone. “She’ll be mad at you.”

“Probably,” he replied.

His answer made you want to question him further about the nature of his relationship with Aurra and the Syndicate, but you did not want to end the light mood between you.

Besides, you were sure he would not give you the answers you needed. He would be cryptic — he always was.

Silence established between you as he drove away. Even if the landspeeder was slower than his speederbike you should already be home by now. It made you realize he was not taking you home.

“Where are we going?”

You expected him to keep silent, as he usual, and part of you worried about the places he may take you to — the General seemed to enjoy looking for trouble —, so you were surprised when he replied, “Crystal Cave”.

Your eyes snapped open at his answer.

No.

That would not do.

It was too close to Aurra’s hideout. Too close to the kriffing Jedi Enclave.

You thought he was looking for a way to get rid of her henchman and her overbearing control. Not to run towards it.

“They won’t look for us there,” he clarified.

It took you a moment to understand his reasoning. “You think he’ll go to our house,” you said. He nodded. “That’s stupid.”

Aurra’s men were stupid.

Invariably, she always ended up killing them for doing something totally out of expected — and it said a lot about them, for Aurra was the Queen of improvising. Unexpected was her element.

“What about D-Five?” You placed your hand over his forearm, as if that would make him stop. “He’ll kill him!”

There was no answer from his part, not immediate at least. He looked at you as if you had grown thirty heads at the same time, as if your concern for a non-sentient being was something otherworldly.

“D-Five can take care of itself.”

“Himself,” you corrected as he stopped inside the cave. He disembarked and offered his hand for you. He guided you through the darkened space towards a barely noticeable source of light.

Even though it was once famous for its Kyber Crystal, long ago they had vanished — either destroyed or totally used; you assumed it happened even before the Empire took the reins of Dantooine — and now it was only a common cave with bats and moss. No other life form took roots in the sterile environment. The water, however, was abundant and most of its ground could be covered with an antique gondola speeder.

“He’s a protocol droid.”

How could a mere protocol droid ­­— that did not even exercised his duty — ­could defend himself from a trained — even if a moron —, soldier?

“A modified protocol droid,” he replied, focused on piloting the water speeder. In spite of the flashlight, the cave was pitch-black and you could barely see anything. You had heard, however, the cavern had some living arrangements at the other end of the small river that run through it. You even wondered where in the cave he was taking you, but what you wanted to badly to know was what he meant by modified. Which kind of modification he made on D-Five? Some part of you did not even want to know. Curiosity, however, took the best of you.

“Which kind of—

Hux placed a gloved finger over your bottom lip, silencing you for good. The gondola speeder had come a stop. The slightly undulations made you hold onto his arms to balance yourself. He lost no time to pull your body to his. His closeness overwhelmed your every sense. Your eyes fell closed even before he took your lips.

You did not know if you heard or if you just imagined him saying something like You talk too much.

A contented sigh left your lips as you snuggled close to him. You traced the scar over his chest absentmindlessly; your hearing trained over the calming sound of his heartbeats. 

In return, the General traced circles over your nude arm slowly, the gentle rise and fall of his chest lulled you sleep. You were tired, but you did not want to give in just yet. Blinking lazily, you propped your weight on one elbow and took your sweet time admiring him. He had his intense blue eyes closed; ginger hair spread all over the pillow. With your free hand, you traced his face. You were not surprised to find the stubble gracing his features.

You liked it… As customary for any twi’lek, Aquilla did not have any facial hair — something you enjoyed greatly about the General. You blinked a few times, wondering where the need to compare them came from — next, you would be comparing how they behaved in bed. Horrified, you removed your hand from his face and placed it again over his chest. The cadenced beating of his heart had you focusing your attention back to the mental topic. 

Right… you were admiring his face and how quickly his facial hair grew.      

He had shaved just yesterday, and his facial hair was already growing. You thought that he probably shaved daily, it is if he really enjoyed that perfect and pristine appearance of his — which he undoubtedly did, if his own remark about how he should shave and trim his hair was of any indication. Personally, you thought he would look great with a full-beard and part of you was dying to ask him to…

“You should grow a beard,” you suggested even before you could get a hold of yourself.

His reply came quickly, without any previous thought, only to leave you a bit speechless at his vehemence, “Absolutely not.”

He removed your hand from his face, but he did not open his eyes to look at you. With a sigh, you entwined your fingers over his chest and placed your chin over them. Under the covers, you slid your legs between his, looking for a more comfortable position.

You reveled in the warmth his body provided, in the very peaceful atmosphere. It was so silent — the only sound was of the running water and the natural echo of the cave; it really had living arrangements, and even if a bit outdated, everything there looked better than in your own, pitiful house —, your eyes fell closed on their own accord. This time you did not fight it — it is, the sleepiness taking over you; you merely welcomed it.

When his hand fell to the small of your back and he lightly caressed your hip, your eyes snapped open. A small gasp left your lips when you saw his own cerulean orbs intensely focused on you.

“You’ll not escape physical training tomorrow, Mrs. Hux.”

You swallowed.

Part of you felt proud of yourself for your brilliant accomplishment the last few mornings — you maneuvered him; busied him with fleshly pleasures till you had to leave for the Hospital — and another part worried he would be much rougher than he usually was.

“Yes,” you replied, casting your eyes down.

However, what you wanted to say was that this very morning was not your fault. It was his. You could have trained — kriffs, in spite of your tiredness, you were even ready for it! — but he was the one to seduce you, to keep you in bed, till you almost arrived late at the Hospital — and if not for the speeder bike you would have.

You blinked twice when his fingers found their way to your chin and he forced you to stare at him. There was no time to voice anything, for his mouth fell upon yours in a slow, passionate kiss. You reciprocated it, pushing your body against his. If not for the thin blanket covering your bodies, your breasts would be pressed against his chest.

A pleased sigh left you when he let go of your lips to shower your jaw and the column of your neck with small, brief kisses. His fingers found their way to your hair, pulling it a bit more forcefully than customary as he bit down your pulse point.

You gasped…

…and grounded your hips against his. 

“Yes, what?” 

You bit your bottom lip.

Kriffs!

You were not about to address him as General when the two of you were naked in someone else’s bed. You were not about to admit that the mere idea turned you on — and you suspected, he was not unaffected by it as well.

“Yes, my Lord,” you tried instead.

It was all it took for him to move you under him and assault you mouth with a vicious kiss that stole your breath away. He settled between your legs, one hand pressed firmly against your hip to keep you in place and the other moved to your throat, pressing your windpipe in the exact way he knew to drive you crazy with want.

Albeit intense, the kiss was brief. When he released your lips and stared at you, you bet you had that dreamy look all over your face. He also removed his weight from over your body, lying by your side. A disappointed sigh left you; you already missed how wonderful it felt when his body was pressing yours against the mattress.

You shifted and the two of you were now sharing the same pillow. His warm breath fanned your face, his nose was almost touching yours, so close you were. His hands found their way to your hair, removing a lock and placing it behind your ear. Then his fingers were brushing your cheeks and finally your bottom lip. Your lids fluttered closed.

“Thank you for today,” you whispered, placing your hand over his. Your fingers intertwined together almost automatically.

“For running away with you and taking you in an old cave?” The bluntness of his question made you feel your face warming up.

You nodded, nonetheless.

“For the dinner…” You wetted your lips and looked directly into his eyes. “And for asking about my day. It feels good to have someone to talk to.”

Even if he did not mean it… Even it he was merely distracting Aurra’s henchman… Even if he… Even if… You were just grateful to have someone in your life. Five years was a long time. You missed sex — and it was mind-blowing, really —, but you missed having… just having someone. And if you would not sound so pathetic saying it out loud, you may have confessed a bit more.

“And thank you for running away too… That was thrilling.” You brought his fingers to your mouth, bestowing upon them a brief kiss. “And the cave is… It’s lovely…” You sighed contentedly. “I mean… I’ve never felt this happy,” you finally whispered against his lips. You brushed them together.

His brows furrowed; an unreadable look took his bluish eyes.

“What?”

He let go of your hands, but as he did not seem very sure where to place it, he rested them over your hip. The touch was so fleeting, it seemed as if he was afraid to touch you. Anguish seemed to take over his eyes — in the darkness of the cave, you could very well be hallucinating — and yet, he did not say anything.

Next, the General sat on the mattress; his back turned to you. A furrow took over your brows. You wanted to reach for him, to touch him, but you knew it would do you no good. He would only further distance himself.

You rolled on your back and breathed deeply through your nose.

“I know what happened to Emissary Syndulla.”

That was it.

His words — so quietly spoken, even if firmly — knocked the air out of your lungs. Your eyes widened, and your heartbeats became a mess. You sat on the bed, holding the blankets against your frame so forcefully, your knuckles went white. For a moment, your heart ramming against your ribcages was all you could hear in the silent cave — not even the sound of the running water made any difference now. In the next, however, you were shaking your head.  

“I don’t wanna know.”

He released a deep breath. His shoulders tensed visibly.

“You should.”

You shook your head again.

“No…” You outstretched your hand to touch him, and this time you did not retreat. You moved closer, your fingers brushing against his right forearm. “I meant it when I said I moved on… With you.”

He cast a glance at you over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed.

“You’re afraid.”

His words had you instantly removing your hand from him. You clutched the blankets, as if it would keep you safe. As if his words — and the meaning they conveyed — could only reach you if you let go of the fabric covering your body.

“You say you have moved on, but you’re actually afraid of being unable to.”

Your heart was now on the verge of escaping through your mouth.

“I know you draw mental comparisons between the two of us.”

Mother of moons!

If you were weak-hearted, you knew you would have had a heart-attack by now. Your lips felt very dry as you bit onto them forcefully. Without thinking — for you could not be thinking when you opened your kriffing mouth — you said the first thing that came to your mind, not noticing it would seal your fate forever.

“I would not give myself to you if that was the case.”

As his brows arched and his eyes acquired a much darker color, you knew you had screwed everything. Dragging the blankets with you, you rose from the bed and headed towards your clothes — you needed to retreat, to go somewhere — anywhere —, to put some distance between you in order to clear your mind.

Kriffs!

When his voice — toneless and detatched — left his lips, you froze in place, “Is that why you always refused me?”

Your legs were so weak right now, you had to actually place a hand against the wall to keep yourself in place. Your heart was beating wildly in your chest and your mind frantically looked for any plausible response — one that would not make you look like a lying bastard in his eyes — only to find none.

He also left the bed and walked towards you.

Your eyes fluttered closed.

Your breath seemed to have left you.

Your heart stopped for a moment, only to be back at a full galloping pace.

When he put you between the wall and his body, his hand over yours, you felt yourself tensing. He placed his mouth against your ear, his warm, controlled breath — so different from yours — grazed your skin, you could not help but shiver.

“I am giving you a chance to know what happened, (Y/N).”

You pressed your lids further together; your hand fell to your sides. You felt so weak right now you could have collapsed, and if not for his arm securely holding you up, you would.

“And I am refusing it,” you whispered, your voice barely above a whisper. You bit your bottom lip. This time you did not cry. There was no tears left to. “How long have you known?”

He turned you to face him; one hand still held you by the waist and the other grabbed your chin firmly, but not unkindly — but you were not exactly in the best emotional state to differentiate it right now —, forcing you to look at his eyes.

“I have always known.”

A/N - And that will be all for today, darlings xD. This chapter is one of my favorites because just like the rest of this story, I just sat down and wrote it. And when I was done I was like... HOW THE HELL DID I GET HERE? So... well, that’s how we’ve come to reach chapter 23 and now, after so many chapters and after almost 2 years I’m planning the ending of Lie to Me. 

[ivadeshin]

prompt fill: widomauk post-battle h/c

(for @caitercates, who is a gem)

Molly wakes up and hears waves crashing. Somewhere far away.

He rolls to his side to fall back asleep, but something sharp and unbearable strikes through his chest. Molly cries out and curls tightly into himself, brows coming together, and somehow that makes the ache in his head come to the forefront - is it new? Has it always been there? - almost audibly painful as if pressing from the inside out. He curls tighter, but it only makes his chest feel worse.

“Stop it,” a familiar voice says sharply, and something pulls his shoulder back to lay him flat again. The sheets feel cool and soft, damp in places, gritty in others. Molly frowns in discomfort, somehow unable to come to full consciousness. Maybe unwilling. Between his physical self and his physical environment, it might just be best to wait it out and check the conditions again in a few hours.

**

Molly’s head is... something’s wrong with it, maybe. It doesn’t feel like a regular headache. His chest, that feels familiar. The sharp hot burn of a slash, a blade most likely, but it’s... it’s his head, there’s a faint awareness that he’s not all there, like that precarious moment when you realize you’re too drunk but it’s too late to do anything about it.

Drunk. In the wagon with Gustav and Yasha after another night of just barely breaking even. Cheap ale. Yasha lets him lean half his weight against her in the walk back to his bedroll. How long ago was that?

“Yash,” Molly mumbles, hopeful.

“No,” a male voice says.

Molly knows that voice but he can’t place it. He tries to think of people he knows, to try to compare the voice, but all he can think of is dark soil under his fingernails, the Tower card under his fingertips, the swords in each hand, the...

“Jester,” he tries, and forgets who that is as soon as he says it. Jester helps, right?

“Jester already healed you. She’s got nothing left. Be still.”

Something about that voice. “Ace of cups. Reversed.”

“What?”

Molly doesn’t know.

**

Molly’s mouth is dry. He frowns and focuses on opening his eyes, on waking himself properly, so he can get himself some water. As soon as he starts to move, he realizes he’s sitting, propped up on pillows, and someone is moving, making the bed dip - he is on a bed - and when Molly opens his eyes, a human is there, a man, with red hair and plain robes and a cup.

“I know you,” Molly says, and the man looks quietly angry. “I do.”

“I know you do,” the man says, faintly accented, and holds the cup out to him. The cup is beautiful china, with a painted scene of a garden on each side. He looks at it for a while, trying to focus his eyes, before drinking. The water is tepid. He drinks more, and then there is none left.

Molly hands the cup back. The man takes it and gets up from the side of the bed, putting it on a small service cart that has a pitcher, more cups, each matching and without a chip among them. “They’re pretty,” Molly observes.

There is a line between the man’s brows, worry and anger both. He looks at Molly. “Can you remember your name?”

“Molly,” he says. Then, to be more exact, “Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

The man breathes out and seems to lose some of his anger. Some of his fear. “That’s something,” he mutters. The accent is from somewhere Molly can’t name.

“What else would you like?” Molly offers. He feels like he’d like to give this man enough to make him happy. Not just for the water. Perhaps they’re friends.

For a while the man doesn’t say anything, just looks at his face. The waves are still crashing. Beyond the windows of the room, to the left, far away. Molly’s eyes drift toward the light of the window, the moments before sunset, where he can see some sky and a tree that just barely reaches high enough to wave in the wind.

“Can you remember what happened today?” The man asks.

Molly tries. “This house,” he says. “Someone... awful owns it.”

“More or less,” the man agrees. “And you really don’t know who I am?”

“I do,” Molly says, although it’s not entirely true. “I know I know you.”

The man looks scared again. Hurt.

“Hrrrr,” an animal says, and Molly blinks as a cat he didn’t notice before hops up from the floor to the foot of the bed, arching calmly in a stretch and tilting its head toward the man. He seems almost embarrassed by the animal, looking away at first and then reaching out to stroke it. Molly watches this man in the robes pet the-

“Your robes,” Molly says, and tilts his head. “They’re nicer.”

The man’s eyes widen.

“They’re - you’re Caleb. Your robes were...”

“Last week,” Caleb says quickly. “The acid ate at them. I had to get new ones.”

Acid. Last week. He’s not sure about last week, but he remembers a beast that spat... something. Jester’s coat. Nott’s bandages. “A spider.”

“Ja. Yes.” Caleb moves closer, sits back down at the edge of the bed, almost within reach, and Molly finds himself wishing he were closer. “Do you remember now? Tell me more. Keep going.”

Molly finds this a little stressful, but goes along with it. “We had to go into its pit... to find something. That child who’d gone missing.” He reaches his hand out to the cat, who considers it a moment before picking its way across the bed and pressing its head into his fingertips. Molly pets it and gets distracted by the ornately stitched coverlet he’s under. “This is all expensive,” he remarks.

“This is the governor’s house,” Caleb says, and as soon as Molly hears it he knows it’s true. “The cultist.”

Molly frowns. “We came here to -” He looks to the door, looks around, but Caleb waves a hand.

“He’s dead.”

“Oh.”

“We have leave of the house for the night. Jester healed the servants, lifted their curses.”

Jester. “Get Jester,” Molly asks softly. His chest still burns. His head still doesn’t feel right.

“Jester already saw to you,” Caleb says again. “She’s got nothing left. You were - you didn’t see the people in the basement. They needed it more.”

If Caleb says it, Molly trusts it to be true. Still, it’s worth complaining about. “My head,” he says, and doesn’t say any more. The cat has noticed that he’s stopped petting him and has laid down opposite Caleb.

“You fucking terrified us,” Caleb says. That bite of anger is back.

Molly frowns and sits up a little straighter, in spite of the pain. “I-”

“You ran in and dropped like a puppet.” Caleb’s voice is unsteady. “You nearly died. If Jester hadn’t - your - the dagger itself was nothing, but the psychic damage it did to you almost -”

“I’m here,” Molly says, but that doesn’t seem to do it.

“Do you know how much it kills me to see you bloody on the ground, Mollymauk!?”

(tbc)

[daughterofsinsloth]

Hello. I saw your post about giving recommendations of skk fics and I seriously love them! Thank you ❤️ Is it okay to ask you if you know any skk fics that are complete multi-chapter? I had been trying to search them but I most see one shots and abandoned multi-chapters.

Hello hello anon-chan!!! thank you so very much about your comment!! It means a lot! :) Mmm… I jnow what you mean! I have a lot of favorite fics that are uncompleted! But let’s have some fate that they will be upload! 💪💪

Here some soukoku multi-chapter fics!

i won’t lie (i knew you belonged here) by mountainlaurels:

(AU/9 chpts) this one is my very first fic and the one that actually got me inyo skk. the writer has done a great great job bringing you to their wolrd. here we are on modern setting but abilities are still on. Chuuya works at a flower shop and Dazai at the cafe across the street.  their interctions are slow and natural. you cant help but ship them. the other bsd characters are all in and they are treated respectifully and well done as if they are the mains. i really like the story and how it grows to the finale.its well writen and the feelings are overwhelming! this has a spanish translation from the writer.

Intoxicated by setosdarkness:

(AU/21 chpts) a really really great fic! nothing less from setosdarkness! definatly read her other works that are currently on-going. they are awesome and cinematic-like. really welldone and well-written. the plot is a bit tricky but it keeps you on edge. you get into the characters and when you will finish it, you will be suprized. its a mafia!AU and everyone plays. its a well build game. you are gonna love it. there is also smut in it, but its part of the game too. the hole thing is a game that you cant helped it but fell willingly into it and you will be satisfied with it.

Find Something Worth Dying For (And Learn How to Live) by kibasix:

(17 chpts) read the name of the writer.. no thats it. thats my analysis. KIBASIX! we are talking about one of the best writers, in my opinion. I cant even explain how perfect this fic is! this fic here?! I cried my eyes out! i was waiting the next chapter like kids wait Santa. simply immersive. it was an absolutely agonized journey. it was like a dance between the feels and the rightness of their world. its chapter was more majestic than the last and the next was more painful than the last. the writer’s words get imprinted in your heart and mind and you cant help but want to read more, feel more, see more. it has a cinematic feel. it starts from the very beginning and we see skk relationship how it evolved and how it suttered  like you are seeing it live. a sad poem in a form of a fic. the characters are practically singing their emotions out, only to be ignored by their life. and yet the fate laughs at them as she entangle them together. I can talk for hours how they write each of the character like a living being, forgeting none, and how they give each one a right place and the spotlight they deserve! an amazing work that leaves you full and empty in the same time. this one has a smak 4 chpts sequel “

Sparks Like A Match (Burns Like A Wildfire)

“ and another sequel that is yet to come (I believe in you kibasix-sama!). also check their other works, both multi and one-shot!

Noir by Adargo:

(20 chpts) another gem. another feel train. noir is the color of skk and this fic is the sorry song of their lives. a corrupted fic that leaves you craving for more. here we read with the shadow of Corruption on our back and the characters live under it.  its one of the character lives under their own corruption and try to get out only to have an odd feeling at the end. it could be more chpts or only this this and the feeling will be the same. we never leave corruption, just learn to live with it in this noir world. although I would love to see more, when you finish it you can only mutter a “wow” and then never live properly again. rips your heart out and fixs it momentaly to rip it again later. you live and breath with the characters and in the end you breath a new air, a better one for me. this epitomy of angst heals you so amazingly. as the characters go a step foward you take one too and from then one your heart has a different weight. a truly and without doubt exceptional work.

A Hearts Desire by Kaokita:

(AU/6 chpts) a beautiful fic. prostitute!Chuuya  opens to us a world that we see journalist!Dazai to bark in and challenge Chuuya in a “bet of felling in love".  a proud chuuya is always  present but here it compinate with a kinda impulsive chuuya, exposed to Dazai's hungry feeling for actual feels. here we are talking about the dark world of the underground were a no less dark but bright light (dazai) comes to shake the everyday life of our protagonist. its well written and well build. doesnt leave you with a complain and brings you to another world. really enjoyable to read. spoiler oda and chuuya having seeeeeex

 Forgettable Significance by Witheryvine:

(32 chpts) after the anime, the feels start.  if you thought that dancing with angst was easy, then you havent read this own. betreyal and love complicate each other and come to you to cry with them. a really interesting work and stunning. it is overwhelming but you want it to be. there are things that are needed to be said, words that have to come to the light and the writer not only do that perfectically but also gives you more to heal yourself  and breath.  it takes a lot to take back someone who meant the world for you and throw you away, yet! the writer  has done such a nice jod giving as the feelings, thoughts and fears that you cant help but be one with it. the style of writing helps the fic to encrave into you and honestly i havent see many write it so good.

You Won’t Lose Me (So Don’t Leave Me Behind) by hybridempress:

(14 chpts) now it will be a terrible mistake to leave this out!from bottom to the top its a must read. an emotional roller coster with the best of fluff. emotions well hidden are suddenly out. too fast changes leave you breathless and the characters have to take fast decisions, act fast and start to live from the zero. a phychological rebirth thats requares a lot of courage to abandon everything so you can chase after an old wild dream in a form of a man, new to you but as old as time to your heart. along with sequel of it  “

You Have a Heartbeat (You’re Real, You’re Here, You’re Human)

” by mostladylikeladythateverladied they create a perfectly must read at all cost fic that gives you the most satisfying feeling of “ah thats how it should be done”. skk are a complicate pair but the writers give them to you bare to see and feel with them to all your might. p.s. that amazing scenes with sskk at the sequel cured my heart!

Sorrow Already Spoiled by Soukokuhell:

(AU/16 chpts) an awesome fic is here once again. this AU is really well written and well build around two people  way too hurt, who find love and healing together. trying to move foward but with the past to hunt them down. love and fear are walking together here. the angst is getting healed by the characters emotions and the lovemaking is great! with each chapter the characters are getting healed and at the finale you get to breath again. the fluff is in the love and devotion they have for one another.

All Aboard by Asmicarus:

(8 chpts)an action fic with a lot of feels. chuuya is suffering again and dazai is an asshole but you can see that there is much more behind them. Dazai’s manipulating nature comes out to play and although it fools everyone, Chuuya manage to sutter it to the ground with a few words. the remark is 10000000% what we all need and what Dazai needs to hear. he pretends to be human but chuuya leave him naked to the bone. from here the story takes another turn to dazai realizing what is happening and what he needs and chuuya finaly decides to take what he deserve.

Silver and Shining by ShesAParadox:

(25 chpts) okay thats a fic that i havent read in a long time, but i remember it still in this day how good impression it left me.  the protagonist is fate and the puppets are skk, but not like any other fic. here there are a little things they can do.as their lives unfold and hardships are presented to them continuously, it becomes apparent that they are both the best and worst thing to have appeared in each other’s lives. the well written text  gives you piece by piece their thoughts and mind, fears and love from the first meeting  are amazingly describe and it leaves you complete. it  happends what it should happen. 

Underwater by meupclose:

(11 chpts) one hell of a fic. here is hopeless chaise with mori as the hunter and dazai as the prey. chuuya is the ‘innocent’ love one of dazai who has been called to play the savior. oda feels rip you apart, every character battles with inner and out demons and dazai is having a crisis. yet! the writer never fails to right a complicated masterpiece where life and death are playing chess. the fluff and smut take the fic to another level as a celebration of life and mori is practically playing death himself. a foolish man who wants to be a god and dazai is the child here who is desperate to live. chuuya steals the spotlight and lead to the end. its an excellent work of a mad song with the most logical story in a world that rules are made to be broken.

from my prievious fic rec please read “own no doubt”, “shared gravity” and insomnia_productions.

Why most of them are angst-like I dont know and Im sorry dear anon-chan. Im terribly sorry! kinda..  nonetheless they are all amazing and you should read them!!!

thank you very much for your ask! I hope that my reccomendations were good and you enjoy reading them! Tell me what you think~~ have a wonderful day anon-chan!!!!bye bye :)

[moonlitalien]

Okay so, here’s my own tiny review (more like a rant lmao) of TLJ, don’t read if you haven’t seen the movie obviously!

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI SPOILERS BELOW

Because it’s a Star Wars movie, and because I’m a SW nerd, obviously, I HAD to see it on the first day, and I was so excited I barely even slept the night before. The thing is, in the end, I was oh so heavily disappointed. Now don’t get me wrong, I love SW and obviously I will see episode 9. And even that crappy Han Solo sequel, probably. Disney knows exactly what they’re doing, and of all the people I’ve talked to who have been so disappointed by TLJ as well, 99% of them said the exact same thing as me: “I used to love the old trilogies, and the EU - therefore, I will see any upcoming SW movie, even if I know it’s gonna be bad”.

I think that sums up my opinion of SW as a whole ever since Disney bought Lucasfilms. I don’t like Rebels, I don’t like the new trilogy, I don’t like how stupidly childish, sweetened down and cheesy they are, but I’m a victim of my own initial love for SW, so... :’)

...My biggest issue with the entire movie is that it didn’t feel like a Star Wars movie at ALL. I spent the entire movie being like, “Who the fuck are you?? What the HELL is this? Where the hell are you going??!”

Nothing felt like SW. It was an outrageous insult to every single old fan of Star Wars - they made up new species, new planets, new characters, and as soon as Leia and Chewie die in (I suppose) the next episode, there will be nothing left of SW at all. It’s gonna be a cheap, childish universe that has nothing to do with Lucas’ SW. Going to a casino planet? Oh, better make it a NEW boring, ugly planet that felt like something out of MASS EFFECT instead of SW, instead of making everyone happy and making them go to Nar Shaddaa. Same for that dumb crystal planet at end - why not make them go to a new ~old Resistance base planet~ instead of oh, idk, Hoth or Yavin, AKA some REAL Resistance planets from the old trilogy?

And the worst part? I spent the ENTIRE casino arc (and the entire movie, in fact) staring at the background and the extras, and.. I couldn’t spot a SINGLE alien I knew. No Twi’lek, no Togruta, no Devaronian, no Pantoran, no Chiss, NOTHING. It was either a bunch of ugly humans in ugly costumes or some unknown cheap-looking alien species. I THINK I saw something that looked vaguely like a Dug at some point, but that’s... literally it. I was so sad and so fucking disappointed.

Now, for a list of pros and cons for the rest of the movie:

PROS: - The scene where Leia uses the Force to bring herself back into the ship was absolutely incredible and brought tears to my eyes. The visuals were beautiful, it was just... perfectly executed. - LOVED all of the Kylo/Rey scenes, I’m honestly biased because Daisy and Adam are some of my favorite actors, and they were absolutely incredible in their roles. The hand touch was just... beautiful. When Rey feels the rain and Kylo does too because of their Force bond... It gave me chills. It was beautiful and so sad.  - Rose was easily the best developed human character in the trilogy and I think that says a lot considering she’s been here since, well, the beginning of TLJ only. Also, she was beautiful and adorable and really badass. - The space battles. Incredible visuals again. The moment where Holdo drives the ship into hyperspace straight into the Imperial destroyer was just so beautiful. - Yoda’s Force ghost. So beautiful and so sad, and I was so happy that they used the same model that they used in the first trilogy. - Luke’s death. Not the ACTUAL death, which was super badly executed IMO, but the final scene where he becomes one with the Force, with his theme song playing in the background - it made me tear up. It was SO beautiful and so good. As Rey said, there was no sadness, he passed away feeling whole again. - The last scene with the little slave kid telling the other slave kids about the Resistance and the Force, and that tiny moment where he uses the Force to grab his broom, and the last scene where he looks at the sky, it gave me so many prequels/original trilogies feels. 

CONS: (oh boy) - The really terrible conclusion to all the Kylo/Rey scenes, where they decided to just... kill off Snoke and make Kylo the big villain. Broke my heart. Really terrible writing, so predictable, again a representation of how stupid Disney’s view of the Force is: everyone is either black or white, and if there’s a SINGLE doubt about their alignment, it WILL be made clear at some point that they’re either super evil or super nice. Kylo was nothing but a sad boy, I was heavily disappointed that Disney chose to make him kill Han, and SO happy when he decided not to kill his mother in TLJ. I was almost starting to believe he could get a redemption arc, but no, it would’ve been too complex and interesting for the kiddy audience obviously. - Luke’s... entire arc?? Entire character?? Disney absolutely destroyed and burned down everything about Luke and the entire movie was just a fucking fiasco because of this. They turned the loving, friendly, ever hopeful little boy into a bitter monster who, for a second, would have been ready to execute a CHILD, his own NEPHEW, in his sleep. Into a stupid Force user who, after witnessing what the Jedi and the Jedi code did to his father, turning him into the galaxy’s most hated man, STILL chose to keep using the Jedi code and to teach it to his students. Ridiculous, completely OOC. - Whatever this mess of a story arc Poe got. Hundreds of people died because of him, including Rose’s sister. It was so OOC and such terrible handling of his character, I’m honestly speechless. - Whatever this mess of a story arc Finn and Rose got...? What was the POINT of this entire arc since it led to absolutely nothing except more pain and suffering? Ridiculous. - WHERE. WERE. THE. ALIENS. Seriously, FUCK OFF DISNEY. I’m so tired of all these humans. SO TIRED. The galaxy is NOT MADE OF A MAJORITY OF HUMANS, FFS. The casino was full of humans, the Resistance was full of humans EXCEPT THREE characters that I spotted in the background on top of admiral Ackbar (who fucking died too??), and even Phasma was also a human. When her helmet shattered, oh boy, I had this faint hope that she would be a Chiss, but NOPE. ANOTHER HUMAN. - Those marketing-driven scenes with the ugly birds (’Porgs’) and the uwuwu cute crystal foxes uwu like lol, go ahead, just buy plushies and figures of them, that was the only purpose of their appearance in the movie anyway. - Leia’s lack of love and empathy for her son. Luke’s unshakable need to remind everyone he needs to murder Kylo for the greater good. It was so OOC for both of them and CAN DISNEY JUST GIVE KYLO A BREAK LMAO. They turned what could have been one of the most interesting twist on a kid falling to the Dark side into a ridiculous evil puppet. Also, Leia has ONE child, and she would never hate him. OOC as hell. Next. - That dude from the casino whose name I can’t even remember, who helped Finn and Rose with the Destroyer and etc. Who the fuck. What the fuck. I just?? Why?? What was the purpose of this ugly drunk hobo besides making me hate Finn and Rose’s arc even more lmfao??? AND WHY WAS HE HUMAN AGAIN PLS REMIND ME? - NONE of the theories/questions were answered. Who is Snoke? Don’t know, don’t care, boom he’s dead. Thanks Disney. Rey is so strong in the Force because she’s related to Anakin? Lol no, she’s a random character with random parents. I was facepalming so hard.

I just. Oooh boy. This movie was a disappointment, It was exactly everything I knew it would be because Disney is bad at storytelling and likes to make everything easy and simple to understand for their stupid goddamn kid audience. Like go away lmao. I’m gonna sound like an old bitter harpy but the EU > Disney. SW was never supposed to be so easy to understand, it’s supposed to be complex, full of mysteries and theories. My mom and I regularly debate about Anakin and Padme and Obi-Wan and Luke and it’s been YEARS since these trilogies ended. That’s not going to happen with TLJ.

What I’m looking forward to in the next ep, even though I know it has 99% chance of not happening: - Leia getting a beautiful death, because she’s a queen, a mother, a legend and deserves the best death ever. - Hopefully a last goddamn chance for a Kylo redemption arc. Like lmao I know it won’t happen and Disney will just keep ruining his character but a girl can still hope. - More Kylo/Rey scenes since they were some of the best parts of TLJ. - More Rey/Finn/Poe scenes because we got nothing at all in TLJ except a hug between Finn and Rey at the end and like a two-word exchange between Rey and Poe. - More cool space battles. - MORE FUCKING ALIENS. FFS. JUST GIVE ME ONE TWI’LEK AND I’LL BE HAPPY. - An Obi-wan and/or Anakin Force ghost. - An interesting ship that isn’t necessarily straight (just saying this because I can FEEL the Poe/Rey happening even though they have 0 chemistry and it’s making me sad :’)) - PLEASE just tell me who the fuck Snoke is and tell me he isn’t really dead. Please. The ~supreme leader~ can’t possibly have such a retarded death with 0 background for his character. It makes no sense.

[dingoes8myrp]

My Beef with Alien: Covenant

I had a lot of beef with this movie, and I didn’t expect to, so it really hit me in the face and left an unpleasant taste in my mouth that’s still lingering two days later. While this wasn’t a bad movie by any means, I personally strongly disliked it and I think it marks the nail in the coffin of this franchise. My reasons why are in a spoiler-heavy review below.

The opening scene really set this movie off on a bad note, in my opinion. I felt like I was in detention sitting in this room watching what looked like a deleted scene from Prometheus they crammed in here to remind us who David is, which made his “surprise” reappearance later a total “No shit” moment.

When Michael Fassbender-As-A-Different-Android was the first person we met aboard Covenant, that was just confusing. Two different androids have never been played by the same actor in the franchise, so the fact that suddenly Michael Fassbender is playing both David and Walter was kind of “Huh?” It made me think “Well, the only reason they did that has to be because at some point in this movie we’re not going to be able to tell David apart from this guy.” That totally took the punch out of David’s sneaky “I’m going to pretend to be Walter to get off this rock” moment and the twist of “Holy shit, it’s David!” because, yeah, no shit. We saw that coming a mile away. It also meant for the first act of the movie I was trying to figure out if Walter was legit, or if it was David in disguise, or what.

Right away, the ship was met with some kind of catastrophe because of course it was. Some guy burns up in a cryo chamber and I don’t care because we have no idea who Deep-Fried is until several scenes later when we gather he’s Short-Hair-Girl’s husband and Underqualified-Billy-Crudup is now our captain. This film lacked the character development we saw in Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus, which made this feel more like some “Random Teens Get Together in A Cabin in the Woods to Be Murdered” movie, only in space.

Speaking of which, we have a totally bloated cast of characters, none of whom are developed further than a few stereotypical surface traits, if that. When everyone starts dying horrifically right off the bat, we learn everyone on this ship was married to someone else. So when a chunk of the cast dies, most of the remaining characters are left emotionally crippled because “Oh my God, my spouse just died!” Literally, if you’re not a shady android, your only options as a cast member of this film were to be an expendable spouse or a grieving spouse. This meant that every single character was making dumb snap decisions because “Ahh! The grieving!” or something. I don’t even think anyone thought it through that much, to be honest. Oh, and of course we have our two non-emotionally-crippled cast members (also married, but we don’t know that until they die later), but they’re just hanging out on a ship awaiting further instructions and have no idea anything horrific is happening because comm problems. What?

Okay, we know this is an Alien movie, which means several cast members are going to die horribly. But, could you maybe not slap us in the face by not even bothering to give us any character development at all? “Here, watch a bunch of people die in space because aliens” really isn’t what made the original Alien great. We had a competent crew with a comradery we got to see before everything went to shit, which made their motives and behaviors make sense. This was like watching an improvised Whose Line is it Anyway skit where everyone got handed a slip of paper with a vague character description, and no one had any clue what anyone else was doing. It was like Crudup’s Wife didn’t even know she was his wife and when she died he only just remembered it himself. When the two Flight Crew people were showering together that was a total surprise. Nothing about them expressed they were at all fond of each other, let alone a couple. The only relationship I bought was Short-Haired-Lady’s and Deep-Fried’s and we don’t even get his end of it at all.  

When we get to the “explore a strange planet” part of the story everyone’s brains just fall out of their heads, and this is before everybody’s spouses die horribly. I mean, I get that these guys aren’t yet aware of the dangers of Xenomorphs because these are pre-Ripley films. However, this is still a strange planet they got some kind of weird message from. You would think there’d be some basic precautions like “don’t leave anyone alone somewhere because some screwy animal could jump out of a bush and bite somebody” or “don’t clomp all over strange looking spores with your big ass boots.” I mean, it makes no sense that before they leave Covenant they all pack their weapons as if they expect trouble, but then tra-la-la around the planet with no concern at all for their safety. No shit they all start dying, because everyone’s kind of stupid for no apparent reason. Examples? Alrighty.

Captain Crudup commits two horror movie sins at once by suggesting they split up so half of them can investigate the strange noise, which comes in the form of a garbled radio transmission. Captain’s Wife tries to wander off alone and is saddled with Guy with Cigarette as a sidekick. Doesn’t matter because they split up anyway and he contracts the space asthma and doesn’t let anyone know. Captain’s Wife notices Cigarette Guy’s not feeling well, but ignores it. Meanwhile Obnoxious Dude does the same thing as Guy with Cigarette in his group, going off alone and getting space asthma and not mentioning it to anybody. Captain’s Wife then decides to bring Sick Cigarette Guy back to the ship so he can spread his sick to everyone else, and Panicky Blond Girl lets them in because she doesn’t have a Man in Charge to tell her not to, ‘cause comm problems and Dipshit Captain.

Everything goes to shit quickly as Panicky Blonde Girl tries to handle a back-burster and instead makes the ship into a fiery hellhole. Luckily they have the Covenant crew waiting in the wings in case of this exact thing… oh, wait. Comm problems, so no they don’t. So, we have aliens chomping and bursting their way through this group of useless dummies, but totally-not-a-surprise!David shows up to rescue them. Except David is shady as fuck from his intro and while this is noted, no one seems to care. No one asks questions about all the corpses outside his dwelling either. Seriously, how did these people get their jobs?

The absence of Shaw was troubling to say the least, and David’s “she died in the crash” story stank of bullshit. As David’s sanity began to reveal itself to be absent and the crew got picked off one by one I wondered what the hell happened to this movie. The end of Prometheus set Shaw up to be our answer to Ripley in this collection of films, and suddenly she was unceremoniously killed off-screen between films and we get new underdeveloped characters so we can devote most of our time to David, who has become both the protagonist and the villain. Why did we skip over the cool story we were promised at the end of Prometheus to get stuck with this half-assed slasher film that basically tricked us into watching it?

I had some hope when we got back to Covenant and Short-Haired-Lady seemed like maybe she’d be our new heroine. Except Walter was clearly not Walter because Walter’s wounds healed on their own and we got a whole scene between Not!Walter and Short-Haired-Lady that revolved around her patching him up. Also, why did no one test this fucker when he came hobbling up to the ship, considering the evil twin story we’ve been dealing with since David Single-White-Female’d Walter’s hairstyle? Unfortunately our heroine is also inexplicably stupid and doesn’t figure this switcheroo out until she’s trapped in a cryo chamber being put to sleep by this crazy dude.

I’m not sure what was supposed to happen with this movie, but I know what definitely didn’t happen. We didn’t get a kickass heroine beating the odds, nor did we get a resourceful crew pitted against an unreasonable alien villain. The aliens became a backdrop for David to do his thing in as he played God and puppet-master and we sat and watched the fallout.

Alien franchise, I want my kickass heroine. I want the aliens. I want the scrappy crew. As pretty as Michael Fassbender is, I really didn’t need David to have his own movie. Maybe this direction was great for some people, but not for me. Alien: Covenant, missing the point.

[mparyehx]

Night Terrors || Solo

Night One: The Unreal Hunt

TW: Ghosts/spirits/supernatural horrors; some body mentions; physical restraint; disturbing images and sounds; hunter/prey; stabbing; I think I got everything that might be an issue??

When the dream begins, there is only darkness; and a voice. The voice is terribly familiar. She had hoped not to hear it again so soon.

She is sleeping.

The darkness is everywhere. All around. Complete. It wraps like snakes she cannot see around her ankles, crawls between her legs, between her fingers, worming its way all around her body and encasing her in its endlessness. She feels the crushing weight of it, unable to tell where her body ends and the darkness begins, as though it is seeping into her, inseparable from her own flesh. The infinite black sea parts for only a moment as a coal-grey form takes shape in the distance. At first it is but a smudge on the dark canvas encompassing her, but it gets slowly closer, though she cannot say how it does so. It has no legs, no arms, no wheels, no hooves. It is an immobile grey mass, moving impossibly, a dark tumor on a darker world that is only distinguishable from the blackness due to its slightly lighter shade. It is not the color of concrete, or of the sky just before rain. It is the color of dead and decaying viscera, a rotting-flesh grey that churns the stomach just to look at. It is an unholy and unwelcome guest; the real reason she had returned to the island. It should not have found her here.

And it’s coming for her.

Again.

Running is impossible. Even if the darkness wasn’t lashed to her entire body, there is nowhere to run to. So she waits. She waits as the horrible formless thing swims towards her. Her heart does not beat in her chest, not here, but the rush of her blood is deafening in the stillness and the silence of this place. When the thing finally approaches, it takes on the vague outline of a man. At least, this is always how she had imagined it. From the sickly grey of its face a crack forms, an equally sickly grey and unnatural smile. The smile grows until it has taken over most of where the thing’s face should have been, too big and too much in the absence of any other features. The mouth does not move when it speaks except to split along the seam of what might be teeth to reveal a jagged line of inky darkness that made up the creature.

“Hello, Aryeh.”

The voice like the rough and acute sound of nails on a chalkboard, and yet a rumbling groan of heavy metal at the same time. It is wrong, and it cuts into her like splinters. Even here her hearing is far more sensitive than the average person’s. The creature uses that to its advantage.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Not long enough, she wants to reply. She can’t reply. The tendrils of darkness have fused her lips together. She has no lips. She has no mouth. There is no longer anything to tear open, even if she could.

“I’ve devised a little game for you, sugar. Wanna play?”

No, she insists through her not-mouth.

“Good. Now, let’s play. You’ll learn the rules as you go, I’m sure. I’d hate to think of what would happen if you don’t.”

The screeching, thrumming voice stops then as the impossible teeth on the impossible face start closing.

The moment takes an eternity. 

Two eternities. 

Never has anyone closed their teeth as slowly as this creature now does. It’s drawing the action out on purpose, she knows this, and she knows what will happen when the teeth come together.

And then they come together.

What should have been a clack of bone hitting bone is instead the nails-on-a-chalkboard screech that characterized some of the thing’s voice, and underlying that ear-splitting sound is a throaty, voiceless scream. She can’t be sure its not her own.

The sound crashes into her ears for an instant, then the scene around her is something else entirely. She can move now, has a mouth again, and the creature is gone.

No, not gone.

Watching.

It watches her from somewhere that she cannot see as she shields her eyes from the sudden blinding glare of streetlights. There is still dark, but she has been thrust into a pool of blessed yellow light. The light is dim, but it’s enough. Then it blinks out. Darkness. Blinks on again. Light. She looks around to see other streetlights, not all of them shedding that bile-yellow light - hadn’t it just been golden? - but the ones that do occasionally blink off, then on again. She looks down. There is concrete beneath her. White dashes a little further out. She’s on a street. She can move now, and she instinctively jumps out of the street to avoid any cars that might be coming. There are none. There are no headlights in the distance. Still, she remains on the comfortable familiarity of the sidewalk within the hazy little circle of dim, jaundiced light. Only then does she look around, looking for the thing she cannot see, and finds herself in a generic suburban neighborhood. Each house is an eggshell white, and a few have a warm light - a more welcoming light than that in which she currently stands - radiating from windows with crossed panes like the ones a child might draw. Each house has a dark brown door, a dark tiled roof. And the houses sprawl for what seem to be miles in every direction, each exactly the same as all the others. And through the windows, she can’t see anyone actually in any of the houses. There might not be anyone.

This is a dream after all.

But she has a strange feeling that she’s not alone here.

She starts walking.

It doesn’t take much walking to realize that no matter how many houses she passes or streets she crosses, she is getting no closer to the distant fog that seems to mark the edge of this strange little town. She tries one direction. Then another. Nothing changes. Just the same house over and over, the same number on each block, and no people that she can see.

But she can see something else.

In the distance where the road and the houses fades into the fog, there is a figure of rotting-flesh grey. For a moment, she fears this is the thing from before, the thing that she dreads. But no. It’s not. This one doesn’t feel like a puppet-master pulling the strings on her dreams, the passive creature that heightens her nightmares to unbearable levels. No, this thing is more malevolent. It might even be evil. She thinks it’s evil. It probably is.

And it’s coming for her.

Not quickly, though. She is relieved to see the thing is making slow progress towards her. But it is coming towards her. As the creature comes closer, she weighs her options. She could run, obviously, but that clearly would yield no results. She would go on running forever. No, she will have to risk the houses. That means leaving her little light post, and with the majority of the streets bathed in near-darkness, the idea of leaving her safe haven of light is unappealing at best. But it’s her only chance.

So she picks the closest house and begins walking up the walkway.

Immediately, she can tell that something is wrong.

The closer she gets to the house, the more the door and windows and roof don’t...look right. They look to be almost...

melting.

When she gets close to the door, about to knock, she realizes why.

The door is painted on.

The windows are painted on, the panes somehow luminescent.

Even the roof is painted on.

Her breath begins to quicken and she wonders how she didn’t see it before, her options now even more limited. The only real choice she has now is to run. The thing will chase her and she will run. The hunter and the prey. And if it catches her, well...what might happen then?

Knowing her dark muse, the thing will tear her to shreds. If she’s lucky.

When she turns back to face her pursuer again, it is suddenly much closer. There’s no way it could have crossed that distance at the pace it had been going. That means it has started moving faster, closing the distance between itself and her quicker with each passing second. No, it hadn’t been moving slowly earlier. It had simply been very far away.

Which means she doesn’t have any time left to think.

She catches a glimpse of the thing before turning and bolting in the opposite direction. It has the shape of a man, the same ghostly and sickening grey as the monstrous being from earlier. Maybe the two things are related.

Maybe they are the same.

Sometimes fears wear a familiar face.

It’s very disorienting to run by the same thing over and over, the view before you never changing. No matter how fast you move your legs, you never feel like you’re moving forward. Time doesn’t seem to pass, except that it feels as though hours have passed. Time means nothing at all. Time stops. But you don’t stop. You can’t.

She can’t stop.

Over her shoulder she can see the creature, running with legs of diseased grey matter that seem to waft and billow like viscous smoke as it moves. It never seems to come any closer. She slows down to see if the creature will too. It doesn’t. She races again, twice as fast now to make up for the lost distance. Her heart pounds. She has a heart now, can feel it aching with exertion and the fear that drops her stomach and tightens her throat. It’s getting harder to breathe. That makes her want to breathe more. Her heart thumps harder, trying to keep her going, trying to jump out of her chest because it hurts. 

She turns left. It follows.

She turns right. It follows.

She runs for ages and ages. She runs for eternities. She runs until every cell in her body burns and screams at her to stop. She runs. She can’t stop. She cannot stop. She runs. She doesn’t seem to move, but she runs.

Then something changes.

The glint of something shiny catches her eye a little ways away near one of the not-houses. She veers toward it, launching herself around the corner of the house as she stoops to grab it. In her hands is a large hunting knife, big enough to do some serious damage. As she admires it, she stops running and pushes her back up against the “wall”.

The situation has changed. She has a weapon now.

And she has exactly one chance to use it.

Behind the corner of the house, she waits for the creature to close the distance. It will barrel around the corner, expecting to run after her, and she will catch it unawares. The waiting is dreadful. It it goes on for yet another eternity. Time moves like honey, and moves endlessly, and every moment her heart flutters and her body flinches as she expects the beast to round the corner where she hides in the terrible darkness.

And then it does.

She flies at it with the knife, plunging the weapon as far into the thing’s chest as it will go. She braces herself for a scream of pain.

There is no scream.

There is no sound at all.

And then...laughter.

“Silly girl. You think you can hurt me? You think you can kill me? I’m almost disappointed that you fell for my little trap of false hope. I thought you were smarter than that.”

This close to it she can see that it is, in fact, the same thing from earlier. Or at least, it’s identical. And it has the same grating voice. She watches, feeling hollow, as it pulls the knife out of its chest with the sound of torn flesh and oozing blood. It does not ooze blood. Instead, putrid ichor seeps from the wound, the same horrible grey that makes up the thing. It smiles. It laughs. It keeps laughing as it oozes disgusting slime. The laugh echoes through the night, bouncing off empty roads and things that are not houses, and strikes her throat, her heart, her stomach. It tears at her ear drums, threatening. This is no laugh. This is a hunting call.

It will not die.

It cannot die.

All that’s left to do is run. Forever.

So she runs.

When she wakes up, Aryeh launches herself out of bed. She gets tangled in the sheets and tumbles to the ground, relieved to realize she had only been dreaming. Her body is fever-hot and damp with sweat. A dream. Just a dream.

She can still hear that laugh ringing in her ears and it’s like a punch to the gut; her legs want to get up and start running again. It’s several minutes before she can untangle herself from the sheets, several more to slow her harsh and fast breathing. Her heart still races and pounds, working overtime. It hurts. But she’s safe.

For several more hours she has to remind herself, but she’s safe.

For now.

[mrmichaelchadler]

“A Simple Plan” isn’t your typical Sam Raimi movie, and that’s why it’s his best

Whenever a new Spider-Man movie is released, it is inevitably compared not to the entire MCU but one single superhero film: “Spider-Man 2”. Writer/director Sam Raimi’s 2004 sequel, the one where Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) battles Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), was a box office smash and one of the best-reviewed comic-book movies. At the time, “Spider-Man 2” was the pinnacle of comic-book cinema. In his four-star review, Roger Ebert called it “the best superhero movie since the modern genre was launched with ‘Superman.’”

Fans of Raimi’s pre-Parker work weren’t surprised. His career began with a string of cult classics—the “Evil Dead” trilogy and “Darkman”—full of his signature sense of humor, hyper-zooms, cheap special effects and copious amounts of blood. His filmography reveals entry after entry of genre pulp featuring characters dealing with life-changing events.

While Raimi’s most well-known variation on that theme might be “Spider-Man 2,” his best is “A Simple Plan,” a slow-burning crime drama that opened in a handful of theaters 20 years ago.

A limited release that expanded from December 1998 to January 1999, “A Simple Plan” is Raimi’s most subtle, unstylish movie to date. Bill Paxton stars as Hank, a small-town husband and soon-to-be father who works at a feed store. Luck changes for Hank as he, his brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton), and their friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) find more than $4 million in an airplane that crash-landed in the woods. Small-town good ol’ boys turn into small-town criminals as complications pile onto the trio’s naive plan of keeping the money hidden from authorities.

Such a movie was different than anything Raimi had previously done. In a 1999 interview with Duane Dedek at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Raimi said “A Simple Plan” was his first attempt to put the script and acting ahead of his blood-soaked, B-movie style. While “A Simple Plan” underwhelmed at the box office, critics including Ebert called it “one of the year’s best films.” Further validation came when it picked up Oscar nominations for its screenplay (by Scott B. Smith, adapting from his 1993 novel of the same name) and Thornton’s supporting turn.

Raimi should get as much credit, not for “sitting back” as he suggested in that interview, but for using his style to his advantage. “A Simple Plan” is still very much a Sam Raimi production, from Danny Elfman’s score to use of dissolves; from panic-inducing tension to splatters of blood. However, those tricks aren’t over-exaggerated, nor do they distract.

Within the first 15 minutes of “A Simple Plan,” Raimi establishes the barren, snow-laden setting. The good-intentions-gone-bad theme appears as a fox captures a hen. Raimi juxtaposes the fox’s hunt with the introduction of Hank, a broad, idyllic man who follows the wisdom of his father.

“I remember my father telling me what he thought that it took for a man to be happy,” Hank says. “Simple things, really. A wife he loves, a decent job, friends and neighbors who like and respect him.”

After Hank visits his parents’ grave with Jacob and Lou (a town drunk who would rather piss in the snow than pay his respects), Jacob nearly runs over the fox. Jacob swerves, crashing his truck into a tree. Jacob’s dog chases after the fox, leading the three men to snow-covered plane surrounded by ominous black crows. As Hank enters the plane to further investigate, crows panic, clawing at Hank. A frozen-dead body stumbles off the pilot’s seat, its hardened blood crashing to the floor. After the scurry, Hank comes out of the plane with a couple scratches and a bag full of money.

At each turn in this setup, Raimi jolts the audience with his trademarks—a few zooms, jump scares and a little gore. However, the rest of “A Simple Plan” is rooted in examining the consequences of a literal jackpot falling in these characters’ backyard. As Ebert noted in his review, the advantage Raimi has here is a flawless cast with players who own their roles.

As Hank, Paxton plays the generic family man turned aspiring thief. Hank is a guy with values, spouting lines like, “You work for the American Dream. You don’t steal it.” However, newfound wealth makes Hank determined and manipulative. After finding the money, Hank quickly becomes hellbent on convincing his wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda) to go along with his plan. Paxton’s gee-whiz attitude helps sell Hank’s breathless lies. Hank frantically takes control of the situation as each new hiccup arises. No one—not family, Lou, a suspicious neighbor, the town sheriff (Chelcie Ross) or a supposed FBI agent (Gary Cole)—will get in Hank’s way. For an actor tied to delivering memorable lines like “Game over, man!” in “Aliens,” and playing support to spectacles in “Twister” and bigger casts in “Apollo 13,” “A Simple Plan” is Paxton showing his range. He plays up his blue collar attitude while trying to hide darker motives.  

In Jacob, Thornton embodies a depressed, virginal drunk. The lonely, older brother to Hank, Jacob has nothing, save his dog, spare mattress and messy apartment. Jacob casually admits these details as a way to confess that keeping the money is as worthless as his life. On paper, Jacob reads as the typical Thornton character: the good-hearted loser with a drinking problem. In contrast to Thornton’s profane and loud turns in “Bad Santa” or “Goliath,” Jacob is soft-spoken and aloof, helplessly stuttering, puttering and wincing. For those who think Thornton always plays the badass, Jacob is the direct opposite, revealing the actor’s too-rarely-tapped range. “I mean hell, Hank, I’ve never even kissed a girl,” Jacob says. “You know, if me becoming rich is gonna change all that, you know I’m all for it.” It’s heartbreaking because of the honesty in Thornton’s performance contrasted against how clearly Raimi and Smith foreshadow the tragedy to come.

As Sarah, Fonda is also given more dimension than the typical girl-next-door parts for which she was known. Sarah is introduced as a heavenly sight, an angel standing pregnant and naked in the room of her soon-to-be-born daughter. When Sarah is told about the money, she desires only to protect the small, nice life her family has. But like Hank, greed quickly infects her mind. While working at the library, her job comes second to investigating how the plane crashed. Soon, she’s making suggestions to Hank’s stories, enabling him with lines like, “Nobody’d ever believe you’d be capable of doing what you’ve done.”

In a last ditch effort, she pleads her case. Through tears, she wonders what life would be like without the money. “What about me? Spending the rest of my life, eight hours a day, with a fake smile plastered on my face checking out books,” Sarah says to Hank. “And then coming home to cook dinner for you, the same meals over and over again, whatever the week's coupons will allow.”

Briscoe, a character actor known for turns in “Twin Peaks” and “Sling Blade,” is the loudest of all the leads as Lou. But his volume is necessary to the story, further complicating Jacob and Hank’s family dynamics. As Jacob’s best friend, Lou is the brother Hank isn’t. “You know we don’t have one thing in common me and (Hank), except maybe our last name,” Jacob tells Lou. “You’re more like a brother to me than he is.” Unlike Hank, Lou keeps Jacob’s attention with silly jokes and stories. Jacob and Lou regularly hang out at bars, taking beers with shots of whiskey. Eventually, Lou bumps into another patron and starts a fight. Such a temperament is a risk to Hank’s plan of quietly keeping the money. Lou could ruin everything, and Hank tries to convince Jacob of Lou’s reckless nature.

As the typically typecast performers subvert expectations, Raimi also stays out of the way of the already gripping story. “A Simple Plan” isn’t Raimi having fun at a genre’s expense. Instead, he’s honestly respecting the reality of these characters’ world. Any trace of the CGI wizardry we’ve come to expect with Raimi’s movies barely exists here (a few puppeteers were hired to control some crows, but that’s about it). Raimi even sought advice from the Coen brothers on how to shoot naturally and most effectively in the snow; a trick the brothers learned while shooting “Fargo.”

Raimi foregoes the dark comedy and bloodshed of that Coen film for pulse-quickening tension borne from understandable, human decisions. Hank gets word that an FBI agent without a badge wants to investigate the crash site. Soon, Hank is balancing his family, greed and crimes—all while being cornered in the sheriff’s office. Yet, even in these jams, Hank still positions himself to get away clean. Each move, every bit of deception, piles up, forcing Hank and Jacob to face their lies. By the end of the film, the best Hank can hope for is a future filled with days when he manages “not to think of anything at all,” he says, “... as if none of it ever happened. Those days are few and far between.”

The days where Raimi would explore such themes with more restraint may be far behind us, too. By 2002, the director found the perfect showcase and budget for his style in “Spider-Man.” He perfected the mix of his signature ingredients (special effects, tension-filled action, casts full of scene-stealing character actors like J.K. Simmons) in “Spider-Man 2.” Raimi does deserve credit for delivering a dramatic, stakes-filled superhero movie before DC and Marvel thought to build its’ cinematic universes. But before Raimi got his Spidey sense, he found space for his style to roam rather than dominate in “A Simple Plan.” Stripped of extravagance and $200 million budgets, Raimi proved he could make a smaller, more dramatic movie that’s as good, if not better, than his cult classics and blockbusters. Hopefully, it doesn’t take him another 20 years to return to that quieter, simpler place.

from All Content http://bit.ly/2SvK0Wt

[just-a-libearian]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Film Summary: The Resistance attempt to flee from battle but find themselves stuck with limited resources and the First Order hot on their tail. Meanwhile Rey disturbs Luke Skywalker’s solitary island life in an attempt to learn more about the Force and its power to alter the fate of the galaxy. Trailer SPOILERS are discussed in the review below.

I didn’t get to see this until it was basically out of most theaters, so I went into this knowing that there were extremely conflicting views on this movie. Praise: -this film was visually stunning in ways other Star Wars films never were. I love the long shots of sunrises/sunsets, large landscapes, and distant planets from the past films, but this film, for me, had the most memorable shots, simply because they played with lighting and colors like no other Star Wars film has before. The scene where Commander Holdo light speeds through Snoke’s Dreadnaught was absolutely breath-taking, and shots focusing on a Leia floating in space utilized lighting and atmosphere perfectly. The scenes on Crait, a planet with red soil covered in white salt, had such contrasting and bright colors that not only looked amazing during battle scenes, but hinted to the viewer that Luke was astral projecting himself (he’s feet didn’t leave red prints). The scene with Rey’s reflection in the “dark side” hole was captivating as well -I was in love with Luke as a kid, so seeing more of his flaws and self-deprecating humor was exceptionally enjoyable to watch. I loved how tired, wise but also negligent and snarky he was. He’s still just as brave and loyal, and he’s still learning, which is depicted so well when he tries to burn the Jedi text and Yoda appears to help him. He’s most human in this film with flaws and honest concerns and hindrances -the stories of what happened with Luke’s temple were realistic and made me feel bad for both parties involved. You get Luke’s side of the story (which is part of the truth), Kylo Ren’s side of the story (as much of the truth as he knows), and the real, complete truth of the story. It shows that one small moment of weakness or even half a mistake can alter the fate of entire populations -I wasn’t a fan of Kylo Ren in the previous The Force Awakens, but the writers definitely made him more likable if not understandable. He’s still has his whiny scenes (firing all the walkers on Luke) and angsty scenes (a lot of them, but smashing his helmet in the elevator), but none of them gave me secondhand embarrassment the way his scenes did from The Force Awakens. He’s more of a person and not as much of a stereotype as the first film in the trilogy. He’s definitely not as rounded as I’d like him to be because many of his actions have simple reasons (murdering Luke’s apprentices because of Luke), but at the same time he has the mentality of a child in many aspects and is simply fueled by rage. He’s more complicated in this film, and I’m hopeful for the final film in this trilogy to develop him further -Kylo Ren’s take on black and white, good and bad, and wanting to start over anew with something in the middle is pretty groundbreaking for the Star Wars movie franchise. The other bad guys have been simply bad and the good guys have been simply good, so this adds a level of complexity that I can see people not enjoying, but I enjoyed thoroughly -as a kid, I cried every time I watched Obi Wan die in the 4th episode, so it felt bittersweet when Luke faded away, leaving his cloak to drift off in the breeze -I’ve spoken with others who say nothing happened in the film or nothing was really accomplished, but I disagree with that. The Rebellion is as weak as they’ve ever been by the end of this film which sets up for a devastating start for the next film. It’s the perfect underdog story (because we all know they’ll win in the end). Rey learned the first steps to being a Jedi (like Luke did in the 5th episode) and Kylo Ren’s backstory was explained more to give the viewer an actual reason for his outrageous aggression and bitterness for Luke. Snoke is dead and the First Order is left with an unpredictable Kylo Ren in charge. We got a lot of development for Poe as well, especially when it comes to his relationship with Leia and his view on heroism -little details like Kylo Ren not being able to fire on his mother, Luke mentioning how Han didn’t want Kylo to go with Luke but Leia trusted him completely, Luke kissing Leia on the forehead (like she’s done in past films), Han’s dice, and Yoda being the weird little puppet man he was in the original films -great moments like Leia walking in and shooting Poe and her scolding him about trying to be a hero. A mother-son relationship at its finest. It foils well with how she failed Kylo. Again, they make one of my childhood heroes flawed, and it’s refreshing -I loved the way the cinematography and overall writing was utilized to hint at Luke’s astral projection when facing Kylo Ren. Luke just showed up in the back of the cave, which they try to direct your attention away from later with Poe saying Luke had to come in from somewhere so there must be an exit. Luke not having a spec of shrapnel on him after getting bombarded with enemy fire. Luke’s short hair cut and overall younger appearance, which mirrors Luke’s appearance that Kylo Ren would recall from his training. The way the camera hyper focused on Kylo Ren leaving red footprints whenever he shifted his feet, yet the camera would show full body shots of Luke without him leaving any prints in the salt Critiques: -the moment where you believe Leia to be dead was breathtaking for so many reasons, but the horror and magic of it is completely lost when she floats back to the ship. I always thought it was cool that she had her own connection to the Force, but this didn’t seem to fit with what we know of her. I understand they needed her incapacitated to further the plot with Commander Holdo and Poe, but they did not need to go to this extreme. It felt cheap, cheesy, and unreal -there were little continuity errors such as Luke’s arm not falling and clanking on the rock when his body faded into the Force. Maybe his arm went with him? I don’t know, but then his clothes should have too -Rose’s character felt like she was supposed to balance both positivity and realism, but at times she teetered more towards reckless idealism. I’m okay with that as she added more depth to characters like Finn, but I don’t feel like she was really her own character, despite us watching her sister die, despite her role in the plan to board the Dreadnought, despite her story about fathiers, and so forth. When it comes to her most impactful moment of saving Finn, it was cheapened by a line about saving the ones you love and the two kissing. Although the kiss could have been taken as platonic, I felt like this came out of no where and was another matching of guy and girl without real chemistry or development between the two -bouncing off of that: little inspirational moments that ended up falling flat because they were surface level and not particularly thought out: ex. Rose and Finn freeing the fathiers, Rose pulling off the last fathier’s saddle, and finishing with, “Now it’s worth it,” because those animals can easily be rounded up by the authorities after they aren’t focused on catching Finn and Rose. Also, aren’t those stable kids going to get in serious trouble? How was this worth it? -there were moments I questioned the science of the film. Towards the beginning, the bomber ships are dropping bombs like there’s gravity in space. If there’s some technology that allows them to propel the bombs to the enemy ships below them, then that can be fixed with a simple shot focusing on the mechanics. Also, Rose’s sister and other bombers were exposed to open space. I can’t even come up with an explanation for this one. I get it’s science fiction, but I need some sort of consistency -cheesy jokes (like Poe teasing Hux’s mom) and cheap shots at the viewer to instill shock and relief (like Rose’s sister catching the detonator) -near death for Leia, near death for Finn, near death for Rose, near death for everyone! Another cheap shot at the viewers, but you can only do this so many times before it loses its effect -I thought the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren was an interesting subplot, but ‘m not a fan of how it was shot - never showing either in the same scene, relying on their intense stares and warped audio to depict their bond. I get what Director Rian Johnson was trying to pull, having the viewer as confused as the two characters, having them not be able to see everything like Rey and Kylo couldn’t see everything involving the other, having the viewer just as confused as the people that may come across Rey or Kylo talking to themselves, and (most importantly) having the scene where both Rey and Kylo appear together in Rey’s hut impactful because they are finally in the same room together. I get it, but it felt silly to have the characters say they could see each other but not their respective surroundings and other little details like that but not show us how it looks to them. I’m probably nit-picking here, but cinematically, these scenes didn’t sit well with me -others I’ve spoken to find it unrealistic that Luke would give up on Kylo Ren, and I’m inclined to agree with this for the most part. My brother pointed out that if Luke didn’t give up on Darth Vader in the original trilogy, how can he give up on Kylo Ren. Luke was young and naive in episode 4 and 5 and wanted revenge for Obi Wan’s death. Only after he found out Darth Vader was his father, did Luke make the choice to try and switch his father to the light side. When it comes to young Ben, Luke is much older, much more experienced, and not as idealistic. I can see Luke giving up on young Ben at the temple because it was a moment of weakness after Luke was terrified into action from a vision of the future. I can see Luke giving up on Kylo because he knows that Obi Wan tried to help Darth Vader and that didn’t work out, but if that’s the case, the connection needs to be made more apparent for the viewer. When asked by Leia if he was going to try to save Kylo, he could have said something hinting to the fact that he’s seen something like this before, and it didn’t work out. And even then, Luke was the one who eventually steered Darth Vader’s character to redemption, so why is Luke so stuck on giving up on Kylo, even when given the chance to simply talk to him on Crait? Is it because Rey’s visitation had no effect on him, and he’s just too tired and numb to the war and Jedi and everything and just wants it to be over? I’m not sure, but I would have liked to know -little things Snoke’s Praetorian Guard not jumping in earlier to protect Snoke. Like, it took a good few seconds for them to react to Snoke’s death, and you’d expect elite guards to have better reflexes Rating: B- because I feel this film broke from the Star Wars norm as much as a trilogy movie can, but it didn’t sacrifice anything I love about the Star Wars universe. There were some writing choices I didn’t agree with and I think I’ll need to see this film multiple times to process everything, but it entertained me. Let me know what you thought of the film.