#also holy shit why do people like my designs-

[jules-ln]

Ok you guys I went to sleep at 1 am and woke up at fucking 5 am to watch arcane so here are my thoughts/review:

After I finished it, first of all, I was mad lmao, then I thought about it for a moment and I started crying, but like ugly crying with sobs and everything because holy shit Jayce and Viktor, then I stopped crying, thought about it a bit more, and I got mad Again lmao

Now spoilers

It was a fucking mess lmao

Like seriously what the fuck fortiche, what the fuck Riot, it was such a fucking mess, it was all over the place, the story was rushed, the characters arcs were rushed, there was a lot of things that felt very forced because they didn't have time to let it happen naturally and I can tell a lot of things that would've been good were left in the inkpot

About Cait and Vi: I truly and honestly couldn't have care less about them lmao

I know I know

But I already fucking knew they were going to end up together that Vi was going to forgive Cait for being a fascist etc etc, for me their arc was already finished and I didn't have time to care about them because I was more worried about what the heck would happen to the other characters and how in hell would they wrap up that mess. If they would've cut all their scenes and gave that time to Mel or something, I would've been so fucking happy

Also, the sex scene annoyed me so much lmao, I was thinking "IF YOU WANTED A SEX SCENE YOU SHOULD'VE ADDED ANOTHER SEASON FORTICHE! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT NOW!" lmao

Mel: I liked the concept of her arc, I like the theory, I can see their vision, what they were going for

But in reality it wasn't fucking that

Like, I like the idea of having Mel realize that she was much more than the daughter of her mother, that she had her own value for who she was instead of simply being the blood in her veins. But boy, it didn't feel at all like she realized that lmao

It just felt like she was "now I'm confident enough about myself to confront my mother because the writers said so" like what? This is what I mean when I say that a lot of things felt forced

Viktor: ok, ok I'm just like *heavy sigh*

To be honest part of why I was mad at first was Viktor's character, I was like "So what? You stop being a humanity loving pacifist to become a fucking control freak who hates free will and emotions just like that?" But then I thought about it, and if you frame his arc through Jayce, it actually made sense, because you see, everything he did was for Jayce. When he came back and went to build his cult, I mean, Commune, he was doing their hextech dream, the thing they always wanted, the thing Jayce always wanted

When Jayce went and rejected him by shooting him in the chest (thanks Jayce) he was hurt, he lashed out and wanted to get rid of all emotions, ironically it was a very emotional reaction. So then as soon as Jayce was back with him, he realized his mistake and stopped

So yeah, it makes sense, the problem is that I shouldn't have to stop and piece together a character motivation like that Fortiche what the hell. I know some people say "let the audience do some work!" But I feel like I'm doing all the fucking work here

What they did was great! Good! But just like Mel, give it more fucking time please

And the machine herald design was a bit ugly lmao, like his design in the game looks better, but thinking about it, and looking at the other robots design and how Viktor dresses in the series. I think it makes sense that this specific Viktor would design something like that

EDIT: Oh! I Also forgot to add:

My favorite scene of him was when Jayce was taking out all of those things one by one and Viktor waited until he was done to push them all back LMAO he didn't need to do that

Jayce:

Jayce, what the hell

Like, I understand why Viktor acted like he did, but like, what was up with you?

I mean, the end implied that he knew all along what was going to happen (machine herald, save Viktor etc), but like, why did he acted so angry at the commune then? He seemed so erratic and Angry like he didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew, and then he switched back to normal but like, what was up with all of what happened before? If anything, why didn't just he let Viktor get to the hexgate peacefully and then talk to him? Idk, it just seems to me like Jayce was the character the most affected by the crossfire of the plot happening because the writers had a very specific ending in mind and no time to get to that ending naturally

Also "hextech is bad" Then proceeds to let everyone keep using it lmao

Ambessa and Singed: of all the characters I think these one were the worst of all lmao

Like the plot completely changed Jayce and forced Mel, but like, these two just were put aside? Lmao

Everyone at Fortiche was like "Fuck Ambessa and Fuck Singed" which is a shame because these two were really interesting

Ekko and Jinx:

I think of all the other characters, these two were the best ones

I didn't feel like their arc was forced, it felt like they were given enough time, but you know why? Because their arc started in season 1, in this season they just finished it

The only thing I will complain about is Isha, because it just feels like they used her and completely discarded her after like a broken toy. Like Silco was waaay better handled than her

Heimmerdinger: I mean, I didn't care much about him lmao, he was only there because the plot needed him, and when he wasn't necessary anymore they got rid of him lmao

But it was less obvious than Isha at least

Viktor and Jayce: now, this is the part that got me fucking crying so much, and this along with Ekko and Jinx are the things that make me feel conflicted about this ending and not hate it as much as I would otherwise

It was all left ambiguous, and the cynical part of me thinks "of course they can't make it any more obvious because then the dude bros who main Viktor and Jayce in LoL are going to cry about how they don't want to play as a man who wants to kiss another man"

But if I take it at face value... Ngl guys, it was good

Like how Jayce chose Viktor after everything he did, how Viktor tried to push Jayce away to protect him but Jayce refused to leave, how all they wanted wasn't progress, or fame or power, but simply be together. And they got to be together in the end

Damn, I'm crying again

I JUST FUCKING WISH EVERYTHING AROUND IT WASN'T A MESS!

And I wanted to add, when everyone in Zaun went to help everyone in Piltover to deal with Ambessa, I wouldn't have done that, fuck them, they put a fucking fascist dictator on power, probably made a lot of people "dissappear" and just like that they are like "Guys, we're sorry, we need your help now :(" fuck that

In the end, it doesn't feel like Fortiche earned this ending. Season 2 should've ended with Arc 2, and Arc 3 should've been a whole season

And I can't give it a rating, because I don't know, I didn't like a lot of it, but there were some parts that I really fucking loved

But if someone asked me if it was worth to give the series a try, I would say yes, but don't get your hopes up for the ending lmao

[silverware-is-interesting]

i think something went wrong with my copy of krita.

ik it's like, really blurry, but i have a video version that's better quality, so i'll put that under the cut for anyone who want's to see it (there's no audio)

uh, yeah, the editing program i use really messes with the quality-

here. have the og image i drew for this too

[princess-of-purple-prose]

Does anyone have the tweet where it's like tri/stamp ep 8 baby vash BEAMING when luida says that instead of being handcuffed and locked up they're going to place a guard on him instead captioned "his bar for being treated well is in HELL" because I just watched that episode and am like. Shaking. Lmao.

[moonlightcycle571]

The Pros Of Being Omni-Lingual

Saw a while back someone saying Captain Marvel (or Shazam or Captain Thunder or whatever name you choose for him) is omni-lingual. I have no idea if it’s actually cannon, but it lives rent free in my head, and I got no plans of evicting it any time soon.

But anyways, the reasoning makes sense. He got his powers from The Wizard, to be The Champion of Magic, so it makes sense that among his other powers, he’s got all the languages down. And that works in his favour when connecting with Heroes

In general, people are more relaxed and open when speaking in their mother tongue, and with Cap knowing all the language cause of ✨magic✨, no one can blame him for knowing even the most top secret and heavily guarded languages (like Themisquiran, Atlanlantian or other).

See, when someone like Batman or Martian Manhunter speaks to you in your native language, it’s intimidating. When another JL member does it, it’s a pleasant surprise, but you can sense they aren’t that comfy with a language also do it for work purposes.

But when Cap does it? It’s “oh you speak …” “oh, I’m omni-lingual” type dialogue. If he gets a cult after mentioning that it was a gift from the Gods, then that’s a while other story

Pair that with his sunny attitude, and his golden retriever attitude, of course he gets people to like him. He’ll understand all the memes, have fantastic insight (Wisdom of Solomon) and political views (Whiz Kid radio host). To put it blankly, he has amazing conversational skills, and I am convinced that discussions can be the most meme filled talks or the most profound stuff you have ever heard, especially if it’s about Magic.

To get back on topic, these facts make him especially loved, not just by civilians he saves (head cannon that he knows what’s your preferred language of you speak more than one and reassures them in that language), but also by other heroes.

He can be seen with Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian (speaking Martian) while helping them cook some food from their home world.

Or with Supergirl in the lounge Kryptonian (Kal is great and all, as are the other supers, but Kryptonian is not their first language, not like her).

Or with Aquaman, talking about various Sea Gods in Atlantian. Whenever he’s got some Magical duties in Atlantis for whatever reason, he always gets invited for dinner with the Aquafam. He, Mera and Gar have the best Magic discussions

He tries to avoid speaking Themesciran, cause he’s a guy and he doesn’t want to disrespect their culture, but Wonder Woman is always more relaxed when speaking in her mother tongue. Most of the time, he will settle for Greek though (it’s her second language so it’s close enough). Although he did take it upon himself to teach Cassie when Diana couldn’t

For any of the Batfam, he switches languages, every other sentence. They love it, especially Bruce, Dick and surprisingly Alfred. It’s enrichment and tests their knowledge. When Clark and Diana aren’t here and his kids are in the watch tower, they go to the Captain to help with their language education (they don’t know he’s a kid, which makes Billy think he’s adulting right). Later when it was revealed he’s a kid, it makes the JL groan that a child was the better designated Baby Sitter (now Batman sends his kids in to hopefully adopt Billy)

When meeting new heroes, it’s the same shabang. He can instantly acclimatise to them and is just a walking talking Pitbull (looks scary, is a sweetie pie)

The lantern corps love him, and keeps sending him rings. My guy has to give the GLs a bad full of rings before every meeting (although they do wonder why there’s the a red, and sometimes yellow rings in the bag). holy shit I need to make a post about lantern corp and Captain marvel

But anyways, that’s just me ranting as someone who was raised bilingual and who definitely prefers English.

[arc-misadventures]

I don't know why, but I'm enjoying the thought of Coco and Jaune being bros.

99% Lesbian

Blake: Coco!

Yang: Hey, Coco!

Coco: Yes?

Blake: We need your help

Coco: My help? Well, first off: Stop wearing all black. Add more colour to you apparel; I recommend purples, golds, and perhaps some deep blues. I think those colours would really make you 'pop!' Otherwise you look like a poorly dressed goth girl hipster. And no, you do not look like a goth girl the way you are dressed, and most certainly a sexy goth girl.

Blake: That's not 1hat...

Yang: No. No, take notes you could use a make over.

Blake: Hey!

Yang: But, no this isn't fashion related!

Coco: It isn't? Then what the hell do you two want help with me, you utter fashion slobs!

Blake: Hey!

Yang: I know it's true that, Blake dresses like a slob!

Blake: Hey?!

Yang: But, does that include me too?

Coco: Only two people in this entire school have any sense of woman's fashion, and neither of them are you.

Yang: Who?!

Blake: Yeah, who?!

Coco: Jaune Arc.

Blake: Jaune?

Yang: Him, really?

Coco: He has seven sisters, he knows plenty about woman's fashion.

Blake: So you say...

Yang: Who's the other person?

Coco: Glynda Goodwitch.

BY: ...

Blake: I'm not going to argue against that.

Yang: She's drop dead gorgeous, what else do we need to say?

Coco: So, what do you need help with?

Yang: We need to help settle a bet.

Coco: A bet?

Yang: Yeah, Ruby said you weren't gay, and that you were in fact, bisexual. We called bullshit, she said it was true, so we made a bet on whether or, not you are actually gay.

Blake: So, are you bisexual?

Coco: No I'm not bisexual.

Blake: Ha!

Yang: I knew it!

Coco: But, I'm not... 100% a lesbian.

Blake: Eh?

Yang: Beg pardon?

Coco: I'm 99% lesbian, but I am 1%... straight...

Blake: You're 1% straight...?

Yang: So... you are bisexual?

Coco: No... I love woman 99% of the time. But, 1% of the time... I'm straight... exclusively for, Jaune...

BY: For, Jaune?!

Coco: For, Jaune.

Yang: How are you attracted to, Jaune? He's... he's...

Blake: He's, Jaune!

Yang: I was going to say a guy, but that's true.

Coco: Gods, does everyone have to pick on my, 'If I had to pick a dude?' He's a great guy, a bit of a goofball sure, and a dunce. But, he is a really nice guy once you get to know him.

Blake: And, because you know, Jaune so well he becomes the 1%?

Coco: Well, there's also the fact that he is the only person I can discuss fashion with; he has great taste, and has even convinced me to wear a helmet as part of my fashion assemble. I just started to enjoy being around with him. So the intrusive thought of us... 'mingling' just popped up. So, I'm 99% a lesbian, and 1% straight for, Jaune.

Blake: Oh, that makes sense. Somehow...?

Yang: So... did we win the bet?

Blake: We didn't bet anything, so we could call it a draw if we wanted to. Right?

Coco: I'd call it a dra...

Jaune: Coco!

Coco: Hey, Bunny Boy, what's up?

Blake: Bunny boy?

Jaune: I found another helmet you could wear! Only this time if completely covers your head, which of course would make it that it doesn't go with your current outfits design. But, that does mean you have to choreograph an entire wardrobe to fit the helmet. Of which, honestly sounds fun to do on it's on.

Coco: Oh-ho-ho~! Really now? Okay, show me this helmet you're so confident about?

Jaune: Tada~!

Coco: ...

Coco: Holy shit...

Jaune: You like it?

Coco: This is a old helmet, so I would have a more detailed lion head, and mane. The colours would definitely involve more gold, maroon, and crimsons.

Jaune: Red, and caramel browns, with complementary cream whites?

Coco: Oh that sounds perfect! Colours aside, what would this outfit entail?

Jaune: Boot's that are at least knee height...

Coco: High heels?

Jaune: Oh, but of course. Next should... Hmmm... Oh no...

Coco: What is it?

Jaune: Nora pulled a, Nora again. I'm sorry I gotta go. Shall we continued this discussion later?

Coco: No problem, Love. Have fun~!

Jaune: See you later, Mocha!

Coco: Hmmm... Should the face mask be a copy of my face, or should it be a generic face?

BY: ...

Coco: ...

Coco: What?

Yang: 'No problem, Love?'

Blake: You sure it's just 1%?

Coco: ...

Coco: Maybe... 10%...?

Yang: Coco's bisexual, but only for, Jaune.

Blake: Agreed.

Coco: ...

Coco: That's fair...

[room-surprise]

New Ryoko Kui Interview from Anime Expo 2024 (Summary/Commentary)

This interview is unintentionally hilarious. It's much shorter than the other interview, and every question was met with either a polite non-answer or a flat-out "No." Kui embodied this elf lady she drew for the entire thing:

Kui really wasn't having any of it. Every time the interviewer tried to ask a leading question about things the fandom thinks are extremely central to the manga, Kui basically answered no/I don't care/You're overthinking it/I wasn't suggesting what you're assuming I was suggesting.

My summary/commentary of the interview under the cut.

Please keep in mind these are my opinions, based on my knowledge of Japanese social conventions, and how I personally read the interview!

Q: Dungeon Meshi is about the power of eating in groups/family, do you have any food memories or recipes you can share with us that are important to you? A: No. (In other interviews Kui has stated that she doesn't like eating, other people seeing her eat, or watching others eat, and that she used to eat her meals in the toilet to avoid being around other people during meals. This is a common thing people who are shy, bullied, or socially avoidant do in Japan.)

Q: What meal in DM do you want to eat? A: None of them, I'm a picky eater.

Q: You obviously love TTRPGs. A: Uh...Not really... I've never played one, I just read about them for research purposes. (In other interviews Kui has stated she's never played a TTRPG because she doesn't have friends she can do it with. The fact that so many people in the world do have that many friends they are that close to was very shocking to her. She was amazed that people would actually role-play in front of other people. This, plus other things Kui has said in the past ("I'm not good at human relationships"), suggests that she's not very socially active.)

Q: Your fantasy ecosystem is so complex, how did you build it? A: I though about it, and then I used my imagination. (This is kind of an ice-cold burn. Like a writer saying "I wrote one word, and then another, and then I kept adding words until the book was done.")

Q: Do you love monsters as much as Laios? A: No. But I do like them a lot, and I've loved them since I was a kid.

Q: How'd you design Laios' ultimate monster? A: I used the childhood memory of wanting to design the coolest, strongest monster.

Q: A lot of fans think Laios is autistic, especially because of his fight with Toshiro. A: I wrote him to be a normal guy that anyone can relate to. I don't think he's special or unusual. Both he and Toshiro have problems and they both need to work on communicating better. (Kui saying she didn't write Laios as autistic doesn't mean you should shit on other fans who read him as autistic. All it means is that he's not canonically autistic, and you can't say "Laios being autistic is the foundation of the entire manga." Kui saying that she didn't intentionally write Laios as autistic doesn't invalidate the interpretation, it just means saying Laios is autistic is an interpretation, and not a concrete fact. Also worth noting that labeling Laios as autistic might come across as very rude for a Japanese person. Kui may not want to call Laios autistic due to social stigma.)

Q: Tell us about the Senshi fanservice. A: Calling it "fanservice" feels wrong to me. He's just an older man who doesn't care if people see his underwear, something I've experienced in real life. It might make some people uncomfortable but Senshi's just living his life, I thought that was funny. Laios is a bit uncomfortable seeing people in their underwear. (Holy shit. This answer is the equivalent of Kui firing a shotgun directly in the interviewer's face and screaming "it's not fucking fanservice." She's being VERY direct for a Japanese person, and implying that she doesn't like people calling the Senshi pantyshots fanservice, that she sees them as comedy.)

Q: But Senshi's handsome isn't he? A: All dwarves are handsome :) (This is a complete non-answer, and after that previous answer, it's very likely Kui is trying to brush the interviewer off. This is most likely Kui saying "Please stop this line of questioning/I don't want to talk about this anymore.")

Q: What inspired Marcille's dungeon lord dress? Her friends all make fun of her but I thought it looked nice. A: There's no specific reference. I made it up to look like her mom's dress and added a childish head covering. The dress is totally normal, her friends making fun of Marcille is a joke. They're just not used to seeing Marcille in that kind of clothing, so it seems weird to them. They don't actually think the dress is that strange or uncool.

Q: Did you expect the strong fan reaction to Marcille and Falin's relationship? A: I don't think about how the fans will react when I'm writing. (Another complete non-answer. She doesn't want to discuss the topic of Farcille and avoids it like a landmine. Honestly, good for her. She wants fans to feel free to think what they want and have their own interpretations.)

Q: Will you write a spin-off about Izutsumi getting revenge on the person who made her? A: Maybe, maybe not. Probably not. I think Izutsumi's pretty happy as she is and just wants to live her life.

In short, Kui's reaction to a lot of the fandom opinion questions was:

EDIT: Also, looking at the headline/page summary for the article, it's uh...insanely misleading.

"We sat down with Kui-sensei at Anime Expo 2024 to discuss the community of food, why Senshi is so sexy, seeing neurodivergence in Laios, and more." Kui literally said no in response to all of those questions, this summary of their own interview implies that there was anything discussed, and not just Kui telling them "no" to each question.

[auraworkshop]

I ENTERED THE VOID

Through a lucid dream 🎀 !!

HOLY MOLY...shit ??

Okay so, I would like to start off by saying a big THANKYOU to Aura :)

Aura? Do you have any idea how powerful your lucid dreaming sub is ?? 😭 You sub literally gave me the vividest ( idk if that's a word or not lmao ) lucid dream I ever had.

I slept with your sub playing in the background when I woke up, o relized I was in a dream, A LUCID DREAM?!? 😭 It was surreal. It was so freaking vivid like it was more real than the real world 💀 In the past I have tried countless methods like WILD, WBTB, MILD etc. and never had such vivid dream that your sub gave me.. I'm literally being honest here 😭<3

Okay so after that, Without wasting a literal second I fell down so that I would end up in the void, but unfortunately it didn't work idk why, maybe I did it wrong or something but then I asked a stranger in my dream to take me to the void. They literally pushed me so hard and I fell into a dark place, YEAHhhhHh IT WAS THE VOID.

It truly felt like heaven !

Gonna mention few things that I affirmed for :

- IMMORTALITY

- GOOD HEALTH AND PHYSICAL PRESENTATION

- GOOD IMMUNE SYSTEM AND NATURAL DEFENSES

- NO DISEASE FOR LIFETIME

- POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND MOOD DESPITE THE CHALLENGES

- ENERGY, JOY AND VIBRANCY

- FEELING OF INVINCIBILITY AND PEACE OF MIND

- DESIRED PHONE, JOB, HOME, FRIENDS, DF, DB, WARDROBE, WHOLE APPERANCE

- TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE

- RELATIONSHIP

- MONEY

- PRINCESS TREATMENT

- LIL CLUMSY

- FEW CUTE HABITS

- ALL THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD

- EVERYONE'S CRUSH

- CHANGED BIRTHDAY, NAME, AGE

A piece of motivation for y'all :

It's not over until you win and yes, you could fail but you are not giving up GOT that? You will succeed and that's it PERIOD

And lastly "BE STRONGER THAN YOUR EXCUSES"

Just gonna deactivate now, and live my life. 🎀

SUCCESS STORY ♡

I am so very happy and proud of you. And yes, I designed the sub to be as powerful as possible, although I did tone it down a little bit because I was actually afraid I may make it too powerful in a way.

Your experience sounds incredible and I'm happy to know that I was a part of your journey.

I love your list !! ENJOY YOUR LIFE with those manifestations of yours <3

And I loving the energy, motivation and positivity from this message, I believe the last part of your ask will motivate a lot of people.

I also want you all to know that just be sure to always continue and never give up. Remember that your power is far greater than any circumstance or challenge you may be facing. You are a winner, a victor, and you are living your ideal life no matter what. You are always living the life you wish for, the question you have left to answer is whether or not you are aware of that fact. You can and will do it, there is no other possibility ! 🤍

Here's the LUCID DREAMING SUB they used

[jockwrites]

LUST - p.b

warnings: smut, (over 20 asks for smut.) cursing, drinking, straight people

part: 3 (last part)

a/n: this prob bad and i didn’t proof read so lmk ok bye im gonna go ahead and post this

two months. that’s how long it’s been since the last time you’ve spoken to paige.

since she left that night, you can’t say it’s been better, but you’re definitely learning how to prioritize yourself.

the way she hurt you did enough damage, and the guilt she left within you made your blood boil.

but you can’t deny you miss her, because you do.

besides that, you’ve seemed to find yourself within the time period between the breakup.

you dyed your hair blonde, got the belly piercing you’ve been wanting, & you’ve started to get your nails & hair done more often.

to you, life has been great.

but the only thing that’s missing is your girl.

the girl who made you feel special, loved, prioritized.

but you have to accept the fact that she’s gone, and you’ve been coping with it.

besides all of that, tonight you’re going to a “night out” event at a local bar. sounds risky, but you need it after everything you’ve been through these last few months.

as you shower, washing out the dirt that’s been accumulating in your hair, you hear an incoming call from your best friend.

you open the shower door, water dripping from your arms as you go to answer it.

“i’m in the shower lilly what do you want.” you speak, annoyed.

“who the hell pissed in your cereal,” she asks, giggling, “but anyway what’re you wearing honey bun”

“well if you would’ve let me shower and actually figure out what i wanna wear then i could’ve given you a proper answer.”

“chill outtt jeez but ok. also paige is going”

“and how do you know this creep?”

“welll.. it was kinda on my for you page..?”

“why is she on your for you page to begin with?”

“ok not the point. but supposedly she’s going because of her brand deal with madison reed to celebrate something.. like i actually have no idea but look your best and make the bitch jealous ok byeee enjoy your shower,” she rambled.

after she hangs up, you immediately turn off the shower & get out to dry off.

you have to look perfect tonight.

you dry yourself, looking in the mirror as you wonder how you’ll pull this off. you know damn well you wanna see her.

you walk out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around you as you go to check your closet for outfits.

you grab your phone, calling your best friend to find opinions on what to wear.

“heyyyy girl are you in a good mood now?” she grinned over the phone.

“ok so not funny, also can you help me with what im gonna wear?”

“of course i’m literally like a fashion designer.”

“ok so, maybe not that but whatever helps you sleep at night!” you giggled.

“ok anyway, try on the outfits bitch i wanna see them.” she squealed.

“okok, give me a second.”

you proceed to look through your closet, finding a orange, short dress.

“is this cute?” you ask your friend, showing it to your friend over the phone.

“omg yes!! try it on now.”

you let out a laugh, taking your towel off to try on the dress.

you step into it, pulling it up as you fondle with the straps.

“okay, how do i look?” you smiled.

“so. fucking. good.” she complimented.

“okay don’t make my ego high, but wanna see the other dress?” you giggle.

“yes!! please.”

“okay girl okay” you replied.

you find another dress, purple, short, tight, & lacy.

again, you mimic your actions earlier and show it to your friend over the phone.

“ok, how’s this?”

“GORGEOUS. try it on. now.”

“okay creep.” you insulted.

you try on the dress, not really liking it. but of course, you let your friend put her 2 cents in on it.

“i don’t really like it but what do you-”

“yes. wear that. NOW. wear. it.” she nagged.

“holy shit, okay. but are you sure it looks good?”

“i said wear the damn dress!”

────────────────────────

you sit down to do your makeup, going for a sleek, not too much look.

“i know you wanna see paige tonight.” says your friend over the phone.

you grab your concealer out of your makeup bag, rolling your eyes at her idiotic but true statement.

“and if i did? who would it hurt?” you asked groggily as you pat the concealer on your under-eye.

“well, not saying it’d hurt me, but might hurt you. but what do i know, you know?” she says sarcastically.

“okay lilly.” you sass, adding your final touches to your makeup with powder and mascara.

“should i wear pearls or diamonds?”

“diamonds.”

“gold or silver?”

“silver duh.”

“kk thanks pookie, im gonna go though, text me when you’re ready! bye honey.” you hang up.

after you hang up the phone, you grab your curling iron to add extras touches to your hair. you wanna look perfect tonight.

after you’re all finished getting ready, you grab your keys and head out.

you get in your car and get a notification from your phone.

“Paige💕 just added a new post to their story!”

ironic.

it’s a picture of her and brittany, her fashion designer or whatever.

you roll your eyes, turning on your car. as you pull out, you get ready for whatever’s in store tonight.

────────────────────────

you pull into the parking lot of the bar, noticing a familiar car. it’s her car.

you walk in and the first thing you notice is your best friend, lilly.

she runs over to you, giddy and grinning.

“oh my gosh you made it finally! i was like so bored and also i seen paige and she looked at me weird like bitch-” she rambled, under the influence.

“lilly, calm down. where is she?” you ask, grinning.

“she’s over there i think, she was talking to some girl. it wasn’t her cousin,” she air quoted, “some other girl. i don’t know her though.. but how are you pookie,” she giggled.

“some other girl,” you ask, genuinely confused.

“girl enough about her! can we grab some drinks please??” she pouts.

“i guess lillian,” you laugh.

“yay!” she cheered as she grabbed you by your arm to get drinks.

you walk with her to the bar, asking the bartender for a dirty shirley. paige’s favorite.

she technically put you on, they’re so good.

“thank you,” you gesture to the bartender after receiving your drink.

“so you gonna talk to paige?” lilly asks, slurring every word.

“i won’t talk to her unless she talks to me,” you roll your eyes.

“well, speak of the devil she’s walking over here!” she bursts.

you turn your head, seeing paige walking over.

“ok im going to find a boyfriend or something ill leave you two to whatever this is bye!” she squealed.

as your friend leaves, paige approaches.

“hey.. how you been? you look.. hella different,” paige tells you, looking you up and down.

“is that a compliment?” you roll your eyes.

“yeah, you look good as fuck.” she licks her lips, her eyes locked on your figure in your dress.

“why are you over here again?” you sassed.

“i just wanted to know wassup with you. i miss you man, i know i fucked up.” she looked down, ashamed.

“so why’d you do it?” you ask, sipping your drink.

“listen, it was a mistake. ion know if you’d be able to forgive me but im dead serious, i- i didn’t mean it. i was speaking out of anger.” she stuttered.

she seems so genuine, there’s no way you won’t be able to forgive her.

“we all make mistakes. i just don’t understand why you’d do me like that, seriously. after everything? really?” you asked, perplexed.

“i know, i know. but im for real, you the only girl i want. do you know how many times i’ve thought about you today? yesterday? last week? i can’t get you off my mind.” she expressed.

“i met a girl about a week ago,” you admitted, “nothing like you. they’ll never be like you paige, no matter who i meet.” you let out a breathy laugh, knowing there’s 100% truth to your words.

paige grabs you up from your seat, pulling you by your waist to her chest.

“everything’s okay, im here now. and if it’s okay with you, i wanna be here tomorrow to. i wanna be here everyday, with you and only you.” she promised.

you wanna kiss her, but with the fame she has itll be on tiktok in 30 minutes.

shes thinking exactly what you’re thinking, and with the thoughts you two are sharing, she pulls you toward the bathroom.

just like when you two first met.

when she pulls you into the bathroom, she locks the door behind you two.

you bite back a moan as she pushes you against the wall, sucking on the soft spot of your neck.

“i missed this. fuck, i missed you.” she spoke hungrily against your neck, her voice raspy.

“fuck, paige i missed you too. so much,” you breathed, needy for her touch.

“you want me to fuck you in this bathroom?” she huffed as she pulled up the hem of your dress.

“fuck. of course i do,” you gasped. the sudden gesture catching you off guard.

“mm, i know you do.” she groans as she sinks to her knees, pulling down your panties.

she looks up at you before placing her tongue flat against your clit.

no warning, just getting straight into it.

you throw your head back into the wall, the ecstasy of her tongue arousing you.

“oh fuck paige, just like that, shit,” you whimpered loudly, raking through her hair as she works her magic below you.

your hips buck against her face, her tongue swirling around your clit. you’re starting to get dizzy from all the overstimulation.

she sucks on your clit, lapping her tongue in your folds.

her tongue flicks against your clitoris, making your breath hitch.

she grabs your calves, holding your legs in place while she eats you out driving you senseless.

“stay still,” she whispered against your pussy, the vibration driving you insane.

she dips her tongue inside you, gripping your thighs desperately.

“fuck, paige i’m trying-” she slides her tongue up your pussy, leaving a line of spit as she inserts two fingers inside you, cutting you off.

“holy shit, i’m gonna cum,” you grunted.

“do it, right here,” she rasped out, sucking on your clit eagerly.

she speeds up the motion of her fingers inside you, curling them as she hits the exact spot to make you cum.

she continues to lap at your pussy, sucking on your clit constantly.

“shit baby, you taste so good,” she moans against you.

as you clench against her fingers, she removes them.

she continues to pleasure you with her tongue, making up for the loss of her fingers.

“paige, fuck! i’m gonna cum,” you cried out, your knees going limp.

you finally reach your climax, your body coated in a thin sheen of sweat. the time slows down for you, your pulse beating faster and faster as your vision goes static.

paige looks dead in your eyes, pulling herself back up.

“i don’t wanna lose you again, i love you,” she whispers against your neck, pushing your hair behind your left ear.

“paige,” you breathe, your chest heaving. “i don’t wanna lose you again either. i love you,” you profess.

“good,” she kisses you, cupping your cheeks as you taste yourself in her mouth.

after the intense sex and encounter, you try to freshen yourself up by fixing your dress & hair.

“stop, you look perfect,” she calmed you.

“we can go back out now? how long have we been in here?” you giggle.

“it’s alright baby, i got it.”

as you two walk out, you realized the party kinda died down.

paige looks down at you, smirk apparent on her face.

“you tryna go home so i can show you something?” she grins.

“that’s a crazy question, duh.”

a/n: i finally finished this holy crap. anyway hope you guys enjoyed i can’t write long smut so this is all you get until i learn how to properly write it 😞 ok bye thanks for waiting bc my asks are horrid and you guys rushed me to finish this :-| also not proof read i don’t feel like it ahahah…………

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[apollo18]

Not enough of the concept of Billy being nerfed by magic/god bureaucracy rather than limiting his abilities for plot alone. Like ex: he’s only allowed to use his abilities to a point that maxes out with the abilities of the most powerful people on that planet to prevent a champion from being OP or disrupting any cultures with a strength/battle based system of government and starting a god war on accident with that planet’s deities.

This is why people confuse him with a kryptonian, he typically has the same strength levels as Superman and gets restricted to some of the abilities they have in common because Superman happens to be the strongest hero he’s around at a given time and doesn’t do magic.

Anyway here’s billy info dumping to unnamed members of the league:

“So you’re not just holding back on Superman when you’re sparing or dealing with him on red K, you physically can’t be stronger than him? Why? What sense does it make to have a ‘champion’ that can’t be stronger than the strongest person in the room?”

“I know you don’t understand my whole deal and stuff and honestly the books plus Solomon’s wisdom is really complicated so I only halfway get it and there’s people present who think the whole ‘gods and goddesses’ thing are bullshit or just metas who were worshipped and don’t understand interplanetary and inter dimensional god politics so… uh?”

Okay, got it! Think of it like this. It’s my biology going ‘hello look at me, I do not threaten your position in the hierarchy or your followers’ but I also will not be subjugated by you.’ But you guys don’t really do that and your gods don’t mess with earth a lot so it kinda hinders me when you need more muscle than- like- Sups can provide and there’s a being without innate or holy abilities causing trouble.”

“Oh man. Is that what your beef with Black Adam is about, biological hierarchy bull shit.”

“Oh no, I was literally built to kill him but I don’t want to do that- but also hitting Adam feels really good because I was designed to kill him so… yeah… ,”

“… designed?”

[victoriadallonfan]

Let's Talk About the Alien vs Predator Films

Talk about wasted potential, am I right?

I'm struggling to format this in an interesting way, since so much has been covered over the past 20 years since the first film was released. You can read my thoughts on Aliens Franchise and the Predator Franchise as well.

Note that it doesn't include Alien: Romulus, but suffice to say it was a good movie!

I think the best place to start is with covering the themes of Alien and Predator, and the history before these films were created (and the failure of Fox).

My fellow AvP enjoyer @agendergorgon has already posted some thoughts on the topic, giving me a lot to think about, so check out their blog too!

For the purposes of this review, I am not going to include Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, nor Alien: Covenant.... mostly. The AvP films really don't take much of anything beyond the first two films, though I will touch on Prometheus when it comes to religion.

Ditto for the Predator films, but that's because Predator wouldn't get a third film until 2010, 3 years after the AvP duo.

The themes of Alien Franchise:

I'm sure the first thing to come to mind is that the Alien series is about sexual assault, and you'd be correct. The xenomorph is designed to be extremely phallic, the facehuggers quite literally rape their victims, Burke locks his victims (including a child) in a room to be raped, Ash tries to murder Ripley by thrusting a rolled up porn magazine down her throat etc etc.

Some of you might also remember how Aliens was noted by James Cameron to be a criticism of the Vietnam War, Corporate Greed, and the callous arrogance of the US Military. The xenomorphs represented the innumerable "faceless" soldiers that could overwhelm more advanced enemies with ambush tactics and numbers, Burke thinks only in "goddamn percentages" and how this could benefit himself and the company, and the Colonial Marines are not only woefully mismanaged a newly brought on commander but also completely delusional with their own sense of invulnerability, only to break and panic under pressure once they meet a foe who is determined to fight to the death.

(I will NOT be tackling the fucked-upness of comparing people fighting for their independence vs a fucking Xenomorph, because holy fucking shit, it is literally the opposite AND worse counterpart to having the Predators be colonizers)

But, in the broader scope of the series, Alien - and the xenomorph - represent the uncontrollable, unfathomable, unknown. What are they? Why were they there? What are their motives? How did they end up in that ship? Were they built? How do they 'see'? Why did the xenomorph spare Jonesy the Cat? Are they intelligent life? How on earth do they function with their bizarre biology?

We don't get any real answers to these questions in the original films. The whole point of these movies is that there are things that mankind does not understand, and the horrors of space are vast. And equally terrifying is the arrogance of man (and synth kind) to think they can harness this horror for profit at the expense of human lives.

The themes of the Predator Franchise:

There's been tons of articles on how Predator is either a reconstruction or deconstruction (depending on who you ask) of the 80's action hero flick. A team of muscle laden, big gun toting, sweaty men spouting off one-liners as they mow down their enemies in a secret CIA led operation during the Cold War, interrupted by the presence of an intergalactic hunter than treats these badasses like mere toys. The massive Arnold Schwarzenegger is smacked out like a mouse facing off against a particularly cruel cat, needing to rely on tricks - not his brawns or guns - to stay alive and eventually defeat the Predator.

Others might point to its related take down of machismo. The opening scene is rife with characters testing each other's physical strength against each other such as with Dillon and Dutch, Ventura and Dutch have a small face-off in the helicopter as they try to make a pecking order, Ventura makes a whole speech about being a "sexual tyrannosaurus" and then mocked about sticking a gun up his "sore-ass", Hawkins repeatedly tries to make pussy and sex jokes, and they end up with a single woman in the group who is treated more like an object and baggage than a person for much of the movie. All of these men are emasculated by the Predator, some of them not even lasting a single second to its predations (both in tech and physicality), all of them losing any sense of quips and confidence, and the sole woman of the group survives because she didn't fit the movie's (and Predator's) mold of "tough as nails". When Arnold/Dutch is rescued by helicopter, it's not a cheerful one; he's haunted by what he endured and remains silent as the film pans into his thousand-yard stare.

All of this applies to Predator 2 as well, amping up the violence, dick measuring, and rules of the Predator targeting anyone who thinks they are tough shit for carrying a gun or knife. Even Danny Glover's victory is bittersweet, because he is now left in the middle of dozens of officer deaths, and entire subway car filled with corpses, and an antique flintlock pistol that promises the return of the Predators to Earth.

In a much broader sense, the Predator films are about the oversaturation of violence and lack of care for human life. Predator 1's main plot before he arrives is the CIA using Green Berets and then Dutch's special ops team to clean up their dirty work, giving them false information and not even reporting the Berets being MIA in furtherance of their Cold War goals (slaughtering guerrillas who were working with Soviet Russia). In Predator 2, the police are seen as being ineffective because they trample on each other's jurisdiction, with the Federal task force being willing to kill their own cops to keep the Predator existence a secret and letting it hunt people down for a better chance at capture and experimentation.

The Predator creatures are the epitome of such greed and arrogance. They are the General Zaroffs of The Most Dangerous Game, taken to a new height by showing that human lives literally mean nothing to them beyond a trophy hunt. They care nothing about our social lives, our politics, our loved ones, because for them this is nothing more than the equivalent of posh British Elite going on a Fox Hunt: cruel and sadistic, just to placate their egos. They will violate the corpses of the dead and taunt those in mourning, for the thrill of the game. And in that sense, the Predators are very human antagonists: they are not unfathomable nor are their goals beyond our understanding. The horror of the Predators is that they are creatures we can understand, communicate with, and even see similarities in their culture to ours... and that culture is putting us on a trophy rack alongside other skulls of creatures they felt a thrill to hunt.

So, did the Alien vs Predator films cover even half of these topics?

Well... kinda? Just... not well.

Not well at all.

The Build Up

Alien and Predator have a connected history dating back to the creation of the Predator itself. Stan Winston was on a flight with James Cameron some time after the famous director had finished with Aliens, and the director made a comment about wanting to see a monster with mandibles, which eventually led to the creature we know and love today.

Predator's debut on screen was also often compared to Aliens due to the superficially similar premise of a team of commandos going on a mission and fighting an unknown alien threat.

Despite what some people think, the AvP series wasn't started by the films.

Yes, there was a particularly memorable scene in Predator 2, where the City Hunter is admiring his trophy room and a xenomorph skull can be seen mounted on the wall (though, fun fact, it's actually an inaccurate depiction as xenomorph skulls look more humanoid facing), but that wasn't the first time the duo met in media.

And I'm not referring to the 1993 Arcade Game either (since that only came out a year after Predator 2).

The Alien vs Predator comic first appeared in 1989. And there were publications continuing ever since.

Think about that going forward. There was 25 years of content to choose from, storylines they could adapt, interesting forays into the cosmology and interactions between Yaujta, Xenomorphs, and Humanity.

The movies used exactly none of it (barring 1 thing: the Predalien).

Alien vs Predator (2004)

The plot of this movie is that Weyland-Yutani corporation detects a heat bloom under the ice in Antartica that reveals an underground pyramid, and in a race against his competitors, Weyland rounds up a team of elite experts led by Lex Woods to investigate the ruins (and find that the Predators have left them a convenient tunnel to enter the deep ice). Only to find out that this was a trap, as the pyramid comes to life activates a Xenomorph Queen, unleashing a brood of facehuggers on the helpless crew, all the while the Predators hunt them down. After a spectacular shitshow and release of the Xenomorph Queen, Lex and the last Predator (Scar) have to reluctantly team up to escape the pyramid and blow up the xenomorphs, ending in a final battle with the Xenomorph Queen. Scar perishes in the fight, but Lex manages to send the Queen into the depth of the artic ocean, and is rewarded by the watching Eldar Predator with a spear for her troubles. A post-credit scene reveals that Scar had a chest-burster inside of him, birthing the Predalien!

Rewatching this movie, I'm surprised at how good it looks. The opening scene of the satellite in space, several shots of the ship (and spaceship), the frozen tundra, the set pieces like the Xenomorph Queen Prison, and the CGI!

The CGI! Of 2004! I was shocked that they looked so good for something that is 20 years old now, but they did really well for themselves.

But it was the practical effects that blew me away the most. The shifting Pyramid is absolutely iconic and the abandoned whaling station is suitably creepy. The face-huggers look amazing and the xenomorphs are just *chefs kiss*. It's so funny seeing these Xenomorph effects compared to that of Alien:Covenant, and seeing how much work bodysuit and puppetry can do to make a monster look so much more terrifying than a CGI creature.

I know a lot of people didn't like the Predator's bulky appearance in this movie, but honestly... I dig it? It makes sense that not all Predators are literally built the same, and that the ones who would choose to go hunting in the artic would be the bigger ones who could hold more body heat. And the movie does a really great fucking job of making these Predators look badass and distinct from each other, with Celtic having the coolest mask of the whole group.

And the way the movie is shot is really fantastic! There are a lot of wide and tracking shots where the movie lets the atmosphere do the work instead of badgering us with words, taking its time to build up tension and soak up the visuals. One of my favorites shots they did was slow roam through the Predator ship as the systems come to life and we get to see holograms come on-line, feeding information directly into their masks. Equally good was when the Xenomorph Queen is awakened to cackling electricity and ominous lighting, showing us how vast this chamber is and how huge this Queen is in comparison to the one Ripley faces.

The same goes for most of the actions scenes, with a decent amount of cool slow-mo shots for things like Face-huggles launching themselves, Predators leaping across chasms, and showing Scar's impressive athleticism when he leaps 10 meters into the air and stabs a spear through the Queens skull.

And I can always rewatch the first time Alien Meets Predator Fight. God, that score! The music is just so damn good!!! You really feel like you are watching two massive horrors from space finally finding themselves sharing a space together.

Honestly, the Predators using the Xenomorphs as some kind of fucked up exotic pet for hunting trials and training fits the lore PERFECTLY. It’s actually a literal fox hunt not just metaphorical (and of course, in typical Alien fashion, it all went to shit).

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

"Wait, Ridtom/VictoriaDallonFan, are you about to say something nice about AvP:R?!"

Well, after turning up the brightness and hanging blankets over my windows and then watching the movie underneath more blankets... yes!

For one thing, the Alien and Predator effects are spectacular! Some of the best work I've seen in the franchises! The fight scenes are creative and use really cool set-pieces like the sewer and power plant, where we get to see Wolf (the name of the Predator of this movie) absolutely kick ass and slaughter his way through hordes of Xenomorphs. Not that the xenos are left in the dust, as they get plenty of murders on screen and even outsmart Wolf on occasion.

I actually like the Predalien design and the idea that it’s more intelligent than the average Xeno, including holding personal grudges and understanding Predator behavior.

And the Predator tech is really cool too! We got laser grids, land mines, power fists, converting the plasma caster into a plasma pistol And I love the moment where Wolf kidnaps one of the human protags to use as live bait. Such a dick thing to do but so in-character.

Even the bits we get of Wolf mourning his fellow dead hunters was a neat addition.

And to be honest, I didn’t mind the idea of seeing an actual xenomorph infestation in real time, in a small town. I think that sort of setting would be really fun for a one-shot story.

And… that’s it. That’s all the good stuff.

What Went Wrong?

I compiled a list of sources where I got a lot of information on the AvP production: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4

Note that a lot of these are 20 years old so I apologize for the outdated and honestly abhorrent word use that some articles and videos may use. And another apology for using the Xenopedia wiki, it was just a good shorthand for other information.

In short: Fox fucking sucks. They will absolutely self-sabotage themselves in order to make a (perceived) profit. Tom Rothman is the most well known (and he’s gone to Sony as of now), but Fox has had a looong history of being stingy and terrified of any risks for their films.

The sheer amount of drama involving Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection is an insane rollercoaster.

AvP removed pretty much any sense of horror and purposely had the design of the Predators to be more “human” and “heroic” (hence the weird human eyes and bulky physique), with a PG-13 rating for more audience numbers. While the human characters aren’t bad, they are not unique or even memorable (barring the fandom romantic tension between Lexi and the final Predator). Also, it was very weird that the Predators couldn’t kill a single Xenomorph, meanwhile the Colonial Marines couldn’t trip without blasting apart swarms of them. It felt like they really wanted to save money on the film in that regard.

AvP:R was even worse, with it being filmed with such a lack of lighting that people could not actually see any of the movie, and even modern advancements in color grading make it a strain. The human characters are awful, just absolutely boring and unremarkable beyond being veiled callbacks to characters from Alien, and we get a bunch of stupid Dawson’s Creek drama involving teenagers who look like they are 30 years old fighting over a girl who has no personality because she was written to just be “hot girl”.

If the story had focused entirely on the wife coming home from the war and dealing with the fact that her own daughter doesn’t feel close or comfortable with her after years of being gone, there could have been focus and themes and yadda yadda yadda.

Also, while this movie at least has horror aspects, did we REALLY need to see the Xenomorphs eating the fetuses and belly bursting out of still screaming mothers? Like, there is horror and then there is just being gross.

Final Thoughts

I often wonder if AvP took the wind out of the sails of Prometheus. Both play with the idea of humans worshiping aliens as gods, because Ancient Aliens is fucking everywhere, but it’s really hard to take Prometheus seriously when you remember AvP did basically the same setup (with arguably smarter characters).

And these movies have really soiled the idea of the AvP franchise barring the video games and comics. There’s apparently an AvP anime locked up in Disney Vaults and so far, both franchises have kept their respectful distances from each other.

However, with the recent successes of Alien: Romulus and Prey, there’s been a bit of a stir with some comments hinting at a potential AvP future.

Who knows. It’s been 17 years, perhaps 3rd time is the charm.

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

MWIII Campaign Thoughts and Reviews

(Played in the recruit difficulty because I suck at FPS games, and I want to explore and spent time in the campaign without dying too much). Leave some thoughts!

⚠️SPOILER ALERT⚠️

So… that was devastating. 

(+) To start things off, Makarov - Boy, holy shit. Yes. YESSS. They didn’t hold back with the new Makarov. He’s a mastermind, he’s a charming fella, he’s a psychopath lol. And the fact that he smiles a lot in this campaign just adds to the creepiness. I might get some side-eye here, but this Mak can go head-to-head with the OG!Mak. He’s always onto something, he’s proven destructive, had the 141 hauling ASS to chase him.

Makarov had stolen American missiles from ULF, caused false flag missile attacks on Russian Military base, and successfully orchestrated a false airplane hijacking, all under ULF's name - everything in the span of 48 hours since he got out of prison. I saw people saying that this Makarov ain't got nothing on the OG one has to be inhaling some shit copium because this is only in one single game and he's destroying shit.

I know just one game with rushed development won’t be enough for an iconic character like him, so I’m glad they didn’t kill him.

(-) I absolutely ABHOR, DETEST, LOATH the Open Combat Missions (OCM). It is so very not Call of Duty campaignesque. it doesn’t help anything with the narrative, and if anything, it even took away the narrative for us. The former missions in former games are iconic in their own way because the mission designer put a lot of thought into how the game will be played, the situations we found ourselves in.

But OCM's, we're like... Left to our own devices without any story-driven dialogues.

I think one of the reasons why MWII was so close to everyone's heart was because of the banters between the characters, especially in Alone. Here, because it's literally our choice and our time, it left us with no actual given time to know and love the characters more than we already did. Yes we love the characters, MW19 and MWII did that for us. But in this one? They said "character development is done, mate. Now go to war.”

Then again, is OCM a product and evidence of MWIII’s rushed development? 100% yes. I don’t give a shit if they cover it with “oowh we make OCM so you can play the missions differently each time without repeating the same mission over and over again!”. Let me ask you this, Activision - Have ‘repeating the mission over and over again’ been a problem with us campaign-enjoyers? No! I played the MWII campaign like 5 times, in all difficulty (except realism I still love my life), and I enjoyed it, because the mission designers took a lot of time and thought to it instead of just creating a map, putting a bunch of loadouts scattered around the area and throw us in it. So yes, it’s clear that OCM is a product of rushed development. It sucks the life out of the campaign missions.

Some people may enjoy it, but I play the campaign exactly for the linear style missions, not DMZ style.

(+) Look, I said it before that I will go to the campaign with the lowest expectation possible. I expected Mak to be sub-par, I expected them to play safe with the characters, and BOY WAS I WRONG. Setting aside the point above where the character feels stuck on the character development (which is a huge minus btw), all the characters have time to shine in their own missions, especially Price because I feel like we play him the most. However, I do also love the fact that the girls get shit done here. Farah and Laswell did their work so beautifully and apparently it was revealed that Laswell will be a MP operator, so that’s cool. 

(+) Ghost being a menacing presence, can stood his ground. Price being level-headed though at the same time unhinged as usual. Gaz being the voice of reason throughout the entire fucking game LMAO. Soap being the brave man he is, the passion and fury is evident throughout the campaign. Farah being badass and dependable as usual. Alex being the main supportive guy to Farah (Faralex is canon at this point argue with a wall). Nikolai being our most reliable get-away guy.

And of course, Graves and Shepherd being the fucking goofy ahh duo I actually find interesting. The trial cutscene was such a goofy scene LMAO the fact that they backstabbed each other in the ass is real funny. I side with Graves though. However wrong and unhinged he may be, Graves is just a guy doing his job and did what he’s told to do.

(+) I love the fact that Mak tried to frame Urzikstan to pin the blame on them. It's exactly what the OG!Makarov did but in HD. The Passenger mission is phenomenal and more damn traumatizing if only it was a bit longer and more stretched. There are many more reference to the OG games and I absolutely love it.

Now…

Soap’s Death

Remembering all the MWII missions with Soap... It hits differently now, man. 

(-) I've read a lot of people's arguments about it that the fact that it happened is just for shock value and kind of disappointing. Because let’s be real here, Soap is an SAS who got the name Soap because of how much of a slippery bastard he is. Granted, Mak is an ex-Spetsnaz and can fight with Soap. But how he went down in a goddamn takedown without any chance of fighting is just… it’s not it.

To add to that, the reaction from the boys is just... Underwhelming? Like I get it they're battle-hardened SAS soldiers, but let them show some damn emotions for fuck’s sake. One of the main reason why the OG!Soap’s death is really painful is because of Price’s reaction to it. How he said “NO. NO NO NO SOAP!!” While he shook Soap’s lifeless body in the table. At least let Price kneel to him, straighten his body, touch his vest. Close his eyes, gather Soap’s hand and PUT HIS GUN ON his chest all the while Ghost and Gaz knelt beside them. I do love the fact that they literally went to Scotland to let go of his ashes with Ghost holding the urn though. I cried in this scene. 

And the fact that it happened with the shortest campaign out of all the reboot MW games, it just felt rushed. Yes. It’s completely rushed, there’s no doubt about it. Again, the result of rushed developments.

(+) Now, with that said, I kind of want to shed light on how Soap is literally the youngest guy in the group. He had so much to live for. He's a sunshine in the middle of this gruff emotionally hardened man. He's such a joy to be around. He's brave. He's fresh. The fact that he's got so much to live for adds to the sadness and bitterness, which I actually like.

Sometimes I do kind of like those kinds of deaths, where the character is too soon to die,  because it hit so much harder and in a different way than the OG! one. We got to see the OG!Soap went from when he was an FNG, turn to a captain, to a man of fortitude that  earned Price's honor and sacrificed himself to protect Price. We saw how he developed and changed. We saw his entire career with us throughout all the OG!MW trilogy.

Reboot!Soap's story barely even started, and the fact that he's still so young, imagining how he'd be one hell of an officer, how he'd lead his team in the future. 

OG!Soap’s death is sad because all the times and memories we’ve been through with him, but Reboot!Soap’s death is equally sad for the times we could’ve gone through with him.

I want to say this though, some people said that Soap's death is sudden, but I wouldn't agree with that. I think the telltales are all there.

In the helicopter scene after Price and Soap caught him in Verdansk, Mak literally SAID HIS FULL NAME. That is a literal pinpoint death sentence from Makarov. And how emotional Soap’s reaction is compared to the other boys when the airport blew up. The signs are literally all there! I saw it coming actually. 

So is Soap’s death rushed? Yes. Could it have been executed better? Yes. Is it for shock value? Yes. But is it as sad? Yes. Honestly, I blame the rushed development and due dates for this. Activision is a cash grabber who wanted a yearly release so they can catch more money. I fucking bet my ass that initially they didn’t want to kill Soap, but it’s like a last-minute decision to make this game actually look like it’s worth 70 dollars. 

Like by the end of the game, nothing has been accomplished. Big Bad Guy is on the loose, and we lost Soap. Yea we did stop some of Makarov's attacks, but we ended with a loss. It's a completely sad ending. I just wish we get to continue with more missions after Soap's death like in OG!MW3 though :(

WHAT'S NEXT?

Now. Shepherd is positively fucken dead. Price is now an actual criminal and a fugitive. He just killed a 4-star US Marines general in his own office. Price is entering his insane and unhinged era. I do wonder if he'll go even more unhinged than this.

The story will undoubtedly continue in the MP seasons (although probably only 2 seasons that mattered because it'll also undoubtedly be filled with skins and collabs and shit). I think it will also focus more on transitioning to the next CoD games, which will be Black Ops (It is confirmed that for the 2024 and 2025 CoD, it will be Black Ops games).

We're talking future here, so if there's going to be a CoD MWIV, It might be possible that this is the game where we'll finally defeat Makarov while the 141 copes with losing Soap. I do wonder if Price will become too unhinged and will get rid of everything on his way to kill Mak. Price's reckless acts will become too much for Gaz that it's starting to hurt other people and himself, and Gaz will do something against Price's command or wish - and Ghost will have to choose a side. Now that's the kind of drama I want to see.

What do I score this campaign, what do I score this campaign... The story is actually good, but because the development is evidently rushed, the packaging feels a bit hollow. It's a 7/10 for me!

---

Wait you know what

We get to pet a dog named Riley. 10/10, Game of The Fucking Year.

Reboot!Logan/Hesh (?) 👀

---

So there it goes! If you've read this far I love you and Activision will pay for my therapy (ʘ ͜ʖ ʘ)

[toorumlk]

Hi I'm so freaking obsessed with your twitter.

Also what's your favorite Romione moment in the books and why?

ohohoho thank you, friend, i’m quite proud of some of the stuff i’ve posted on there B)

and as for my favourite romione moment in the books, when i read the question i first blanked out for a couple minutes, thinking of a bunch of smaller, sillier scenes. but then i remembered that i do have a favourite and it’s from chapter 11 of DH, when remus visited the trio at grimmauld place and filled them in on he goings on of the war -including the implementation of the muggle-born registry. ron’s response upon hearing this (after his immediate outrage) was

and it’s not just the hand holding and the “‘you won’t have a choice’ said Ron fiercely” that played out so vividly in my head like this:

but this scene demonstrates so perfectly the political weight of this pairing (muggleborn/blood traitor) which i think is the immovable narrative foundation of romione. all of their silly moments and idiosyncrasies aside, there is genuine narrative purpose behind this love. ron has always had an astute understanding of the blood supremacist politics of the wizarding world (need i remind that he was ready to curse shitco at the ripe age of 12 for calling hermione the in-universe slur) and just how wrong it is. ron is a pure-blood wizard and by design has so much privilege in this society bc of it, but by virtue of having parents like arthur and molly, he’s grown up knowing the importance of fighting against blood supremacist ideology. always.

so, after hearing about the completely horrifying muggleborn registry ("People won't let this happen," said Ron. "It is happening, Ron," said Lupin.), he immediately turns to his muggleborn best friend and love of his life and says “i’m making you a family member, i’m going to use the protection my family-name has and use it to protect you from the awful injustice of our situation, no you won’t have a choice but to let me help you”

i remember having such a… visceral reaction while reading this scene like holy shit .. these kids, THESE KIDS!!!!! this is the bone-marrow-deep love that makes me feel insane. this dynamic of the blood traitor/muggleborn always there, from CoS all the way to the epilogue. We get to see that romione is the story’s pure blood/muggleborn that finally made it (rip jily and tedromeda :(). we see it in hermione keeping her muggle last name after they get married (oh my god these two actually got married) and we also see it in the hyphenated Granger-Weasley (granger being first!) in their kids’ last names (oh my gof these two had TWO kids). they are a true symbol of change and progress in their world.

also this is one of those moments where i’m so glad that our only window to romiones relationship development is through harry’s narration because it so brilliantly shows the readers this blossoming love story instead of just telling us about it because harry obviously doesn’t have access to the inner thoughts of his two best friends, he can only witness them fall deeper in love. showing the audience acts of love is always more powerful and my god is this an act of showing your love to your beloved.

(and not to go on an unrelated tangent, but this is exactly why i could never ship my girl hermione w any DE or DE-adjacent character. no fucking way. not when the concept of a muggle-born registry exists in this universe, not when the antagonists in this story wish to eradicate people like her from their society. idk about the rest of y’all but im going to keep taking the narrative seriously bc the worldbuilding obviously has real world ties/implications and i like engaging with the canon. tangently to the tangent, i saw someone (a ron basher) on twitter say that ron, OUR RON FROM THE ABOVE EXCERPT, was “one bad day away from becoming a death eater” ohhhh ohhh i ought to beat you with sticks bc HUH? this is the same kid who said he would’ve boarded the train back to kings cross if he got sorted to slytherin, the house notorious for birthing DEs, at the tender age of 11)

anyways, all this to say is that romione is incredibly, realistically, materially romantic and i love them and i love their love <3

[scmg11]

KATE BISHOP x READER

SEX EDUCATION (PART 3)

A/N: HELLO PEOPLE! I MISSED YOU SO SO MUCH! I am so sorry for disappearing again, but college is so freaking hard!

Since I took a bit of time off studying to relax a bit, I took advantage of it with proofreading a few stories I already finished writing, so here's a new chapter for you!

I want to be honest, I wrote this chapter probably around 5 or 6 months ago and I seriously forgot how long I made it 😂 so I may got carried away a bit, I think?!

Without further ado, ENJOY! ❤️

Sending so much love to all of you patiently waiting for my update, I love you ❤️

[1/3]

-

Summary: Y/N and Kate are in San Francisco on a school trip, but this won't stop for some shenanigans, will it?

Warnings: smut. The fluffiest smut I ever wrote.

Word count: 25293 words.

-

"Okay guys, I know the bus trip here was tiring, so you have around 5 hours to rest a bit before we are meeting back here for dinner."

Y/N waited for all her students to take the elevator and go to their respective rooms before smiling at Kate when they were the only ones left. She pressed the elevator button and waited for it to arrive, the loud ‘ding’ echoing in the oddly quiet lobby a bit later and both walked in, before pressing the button to their floor and waited for the elevator’s doors to close to assess the elephant in the room, "did that really happen or did I lost my mind and imagined Yelena and Cassie here?"

"I wish it was the latter, except you loosing your mind babe of course. Anyway, no, you didn’t imagine them. They are actually here."

"I guess we underestimated their ‘we wish to be there with you guys’ too much." Kate chuckled as she wrapped her head around the absurdity of it while staring at the numbers on the elevator’s display as it ascended to their floor.

"Yeah." Y/N sighed out loud, thinking about everything over into her head and massaging her temples gently to relieve a bit the incoming headache, "I also can’t believe Maria gave them the go-ahead to be here!"

"Well, they could’ve easily just ignored anything she told them and came here on their own."

"I don’t know why but it seems something they would do." Y/N and Kate chuckled at the accurate possibility while shaking their heads fondly at their best friends’ antics.

They both exited the elevator as soon as they heard the loud ‘ding’ and the doors opened and walked towards their designated room, Y/N opening it and moving to the side to let Kate enter it first, smiling fondly at the archer’s ‘thank you’ as she passed by her, before doing the same and closing the door behind her. "Hello lovebirds."

"Holy shit-YELENA!" Kate exclaimed as Y/N and her jumped up in fright at the Russian making her presence known by sliding out of her hiding place in the en-suite with a smug grin on her face, before clenching their fists and got ready to fight their intruder. "Babe, you can relax, it’s just Yelena and Cassie."

"I know, that’s why I didn’t move." Y/N let out through gritted teeth and relaxed only when Yelena laughed heartily at the joke and walked towards her to hug her tightly with her still in her combat position.

"C’mon Y/N Y/L/N I know you want to hug me back. Don’t deny it." Y/N sighed loudly before caving in and relaxing her hands she had been keeping in closed fists between their bodies and slung them around Yelena’s torso to hug her back.

"What about me?" Kate asked with a pout at Yelena after embracing Cassie when she saw Yelena walk past her and sit on their bed with a smug grin on her lips and a totally not innocent glint in her eyes.

"No hugs for you. You tend to cling onto people when you hug them."

"You are making it seem like it’s a bad thing!" Kate countered back with a toothy smile before rushing towards Yelena when she sighed loudly with a fond roll of her eyes as she opened her arms to silently give Kate her permission to hug her.

"Ugh." Yelena groaned loudly when Kate crashed over her body forcefully and made them both tumble back on the mattress, "Kate Bishop, always so gracious." Yelena teased Kate as she caressed her back softly before feeling other two bodies slump onto Kate’s back and consequently crashing down on her body, making her groan a bit at the added weight on herself.

"She loves us." Y/N told Cassie and smirked widely when Yelena groaned at them to get off of her, staying for just a few more seconds still before moving away and sitting on the bed comfortably with her friends and girlfriend. "So, we have to assume you guys are here without Maria knowing, right?"

"It will come out as shocking, but she actually knows we’re here." Cassie answered with a bright smile, lifting her hand up to high-five Yelena and making Y/N and Kate chuckle at their childish behavior, but also smiling fondly at them for finally bonding.

"Yeah, she allowed us to stay here with you guys while you are on this field trip." Yelena explained further as she shrugged nonchalantly, both Y/N and Kate eyeing the two blondes suspiciously.

"That’s it?" Y/N lifted her right eyebrow up in question, meeting Kate’s eyes for a brief second to find the same amount of wariness and doubt in her beautiful ocean eyes before staring Yelena down with an hard gaze and an unamused expression glued on her features. She watched as Yelena met her gaze head on, making Y/N smile warmly and shake her head at her knowing she would never make Yelena cave in and confess her secrets that easily since she was a Black Widow and had to endure a really tough training. But she knew Yelena would never lie, that was one of the many beautiful qualities she had, among being a loyal friend, a literal puppy that needs to be protected despite her ‘I’m a badass that never smiled’ façade and so pure of heart both Y/N and Kate, alongside the other Avengers, found really shocking to witness after all the atrocities both Yelena and Natasha had to endure, but neither of them lost their heart and somehow made it grow ten sizes as they protected it at all costs. "So you are telling me neither of you bugged her that much to the point of her caving in and sending you here?"

"No." Cassie answered right away as she avoided both Y/N’s and Kate’s hard gazes and sighed out loud when Yelena answered Y/N’s question at the same time as her.

"Yes. And it worked perfectly! Can you believe she actually lasted only a full day? I usually need a few days to convince Kate and she is the one that caves easily the most to any kind of request!"

"That’s not true! I only do that with Y/N whenever she ask me something." Kate countered back with a frown before smiling at Y/N lovingly, who awed at her and leaned over Yelena to reach to Kate sat on her left and pecked her lips softly.

"Ohw that was so cute!" Cassie exclaimed with literally heart eyes while Yelena rolled her eyes and pushed the two apart forcefully with her hands on their foreheads.

"Ugh, get a room." Yelena groaned before dodging both Y/N’s and Kate’s punch with a small laugh.

"Well if I remember correctly, we are in our room." Y/N answered with a smug smirk and watched as Yelena rolled her eyes and grunted out as she waved her off before crossing her arms petulantly.

"Wait hold on, speaking of which, how did you manage to book a room together?"

-

"And we’re finally alone!" Y/N groaned and leaned her back on the door after closing it, before humming in appreciation when Kate leaned into her body and cuddled her.

"An entire day without doing this." Kate trailed off to pull her face away from its hiding spot in the crook of Y/N’s neck and laid a small peck on her lips, both girl humming in appreciation when both their bodies warmed instantly as a comforting, loving blanket wrapped over them.

"I missed your beautiful lips." Y/N murmured on Kate’s mouth after pulling away from another loving peck, before leaning right back to kiss Kate slowly and languidly. "You are so beautiful baby."

"Look who’s talking." Kate giggled cutely when Y/N bracketed her face and squished her cheeks, taking a few seconds to admire the adorable view before laying another gentle peck on her lips standing out from Y/N squishing her face. "I love you."

"I love you." Kate parroted with a toothy grin that Y/N was sure was outshining the sun and that was so contagious that she couldn’t help but mirror right away. They had never been so happy.

"Where are Yelena and Cassie?" Kate asked curiously after sharing another cute and loving peck with Y/N, pulling away just a bit to give them the opportunity to talk freely. They stared intently and lovingly into their eyes for a few moments, nuzzling their noses from time to time and smiling sweetly at one another as soft giggles left their lips at how happy they both felt with one another before Kate kept going, "we lost them before dinner with the class. And as much as I love them and I love them staying here, I don’t want them to pop up out of nowhere while I’m spending quality time with my girlfriend. They tend to have a really bad timing and I don’t want to be rude or something like that if they pop out of nowhere. I just want to stay with you alone without any interruption or annoying kids wanting to play stupid games with their favorite teacher."

"Damn, someone is a bit annoyed. Upset. Irritated even." Y/N chuckled as she pushed a strand of black hair behind Kate’s ear when it fell on her face after she jutted her chin out petulantly. Kate then sighed loudly while leaning her cheek on Y/N’s palm, that stood still waiting near her face after pushing her strand of hair back to see if the archer would lean into her touch and smiling brightly as her stomach erupted in wild butterflies when Kate actually did that, before turning her head around and laying a soft kiss on Y/N’s palm’s skin, making both their stomaches flip over themselves at the cute, adorable and loving gesture of her kiss.

"I’m not, I swear."

"Well you just called your classmates annoying when they all love you so so much. Maybe just as much as I love you." Y/N smiled sweetly and tenderly down at Kate and pecked her lips quickly when she saw a bright grin took over the archer’s frown she had been having on since she stated Yelena and Cassie have a really bad timing and that her classmates are annoying, especially for wanting to play with Y/N. Even if it was something not every student would do since they were talking about playing with a teacher, Y/N was their favorite teacher, the whole school’s favorite teacher and despite everyone wanting to spend time with Y/N annoyed her because it takes her away from her alone time with Y/N, it actually warmed her heart, knowing Y/N being so loved by others.

"Ohw babe! Stop I’m blushing!" Kate giggled cutely when Y/N grinned back at her and peppered her face with tender kisses. "And y’know, they’re not annoying. It’s just that we spend very little time together together. Most of the time we have to act like we don’t know each other."

"I know how you feel babe. But we have a job. We just need to put up this act for a bit more. But just like you, I want to cherish every single moment we spend alone because I want to savor every aspect of being your girlfriend, babe."

"Me too, baby." Kate leaned over and kissed Y/N sweetly, her hands bracketing her face gently as she leaned her body more into Y/N’s one, completely pining her onto the door’s wooden surface. "As soon as we complete this mission, I will treat you to a real date. As much as I love our cozy dates in our house, I want to spoil you by taking you to fancy places and laugh at snotty people flaunting their money during my mother’s boring parties. Or stealing- or borrowing, like I like to call it, my mom’s private jet to take you to Paris or Rome and have the most romantic date ever there as we stroll down their streets, hands in hands." Kate explained as her eyes shined brightly with all the love she had for the Y/H/C girl and stared tenderly at her.

"Really?" Y/N felt tears prickle behind her Y/E/C pools, watching as Kate nodded gingerly with a sweet smile before leaning over to kiss her hard on her lips, "fuck- I love you so much."

"Just as much as I love you, baby."

"How about we change into our pajamas and cuddle on the bed?" Y/N suggested with a big smile after sharing another peck with Kate and watched as she mirrored her grin and nodded before laying another sweet and tender kiss on her lips, making both their stomaches erupt in wild butterflies as their heartbeats raced wildly into their ribcages. They enjoyed a bit more of the cozy bubble wrapped around them in their embrace for a bit more, hugging each other closer to just exist together and nuzzling their noses together gently as soft giggles left their kiss swollen lips and their chests filled with a giddy and happy feeling swirling around there. They had never been so happy with someone else and never felt so full and understood by someone else in their lives, "we can catch up on Only Murders In The Building as we just get cozy in that giant bed!"

"Oh yes! I need to know who is the killer! We are just a few episodes in the first season and I’m already completely absorbed in it!"

"Me too! Ugh and can we talk about those three idiots? I want them in my life to entertain me!" Y/N added as she pushed herself off the door when Kate disentangled her body from Y/N’s one and grabbed her hand to lead them towards their suitcases to grab their pajamas and changed in front one another.

"We already have them babe, their names are Yelena, America and Cassie." Kate pulled a joke as she slipped her jeans off and folded them neatly before placing them on the armchair on her left, "well we also have Kamala, Shuri and Peter." Kate snorted at her own joke and lifted her shirt up her body, leaving her in her underwear as she folded her clothes.

"You’re right babe, we are basically surrounded by idiots! Wait- does that makes us idiots too?" Y/N asked as she thought over her question and turned around after taking off her own pants and blouse, before gulping loudly and forgetting everything at once when she was met with the heavenly sight of Kate’s round, full, firm but soft ass in a pair of blue, lacy panties, now sticking out a bit more due to her bending over her suitcase to place her t-shirt on top of it.

"I don’t know, I guess? I mean I like to call us idiots whose care about each other. So yeah, we are idiots too. To some extent, at least." Kate turned around with a giggle as she was finished and gasped gently under her breath when she is met with Y/N’s hungry eyes staring at her ass before taking advantage of her turning around to sweep her them up and down her body and drinking her in slowly.

"You are a piece of art baby. The most beautiful masterpiece existing." Y/N spoke out after a few more seconds of ogling Kate’s body, before meeting her eyes and smiling lovingly at her, "sorry for interrupting you, go on."

"You didn’t interrupt me babe. You just gave me a boost of confidence. Damn!" Kate exclaimed with a wide grin as she walked over Y/N, placed her hands gently on her hips as Y/N circled her own hips and then pecked her lips tenderly. "And y’know, since we are talking about masterpieces, we need to talk about you then. My gorgeous baby." They shared another cute peck before putting their pajamas on and settling comfortably on the bed, Y/N immediately opening her arms and welcoming Kate that immediately slotted into them and cuddled her, both letting out hums of approval at the warmth surrounding them instantly.

"How was spending some time with your classmates?"

"Pretty good. Like I said they are not annoying. They are cool. I wish I had friends like them in high school, we have a lot of fun."

"Why? How were your friends like in high school?"

"Annoying and spoiled rotten." Kate stated plainly as she rolled her eyes, making Y/N laugh softly under her breath at her girlfriend’s gesture, before groaning and grunting loudly as she recalled her time spent with who she used to call ‘friends’ and shivered with a grimace before continuing, "they are like all rich people. They are always thinking about themselves and that’s what they always did and always will do. If you had a problem, they would have faked being interested in your problem for just a few seconds before disregarding you and your problems and start talking about their new highest score in polo or showing off their new ring or t-shirt that costed more than a giant apartment in Manhattan!"

"Uh ew, that’s disgusting!" Y/N grimaced alongside Kate as she shook her head disapprovingly.

"The same went with when talking about important charities where it was imperative donating to help people out. They just laughed me off saying they would have donated 100.000 dollars or so before telling me to shut up about the importance on donating and helping people out."

"Kate that’s awful!" Y/N admitted as she caressed her left cheek tenderly, "how did you put up with them?"

"I didn’t, most of the time. I usually spent my days doing archery or martial arts training. I only hung out with them when my mom forced me to go out and be a teenager." Kate admitted, looking into Y/N’s eyes as she played with a strand of hair and rolled it between her fingers. A few seconds of silence passed by them just exiting quietly before Kate’s gentle laugh stopped it.

"What?" Y/N smiled lovingly at Kate’s giggles and felt her eyes literally shine with love as she stared at the archer’s beautiful features adoringly.

"I was just thinking about them also being homophobic as fuck."

"Really?" Y/N asked with a bit of worry in her tone, not really wanting to know if Kate was bullied for being who she was by her shitty old friends, but listened nonetheless.

"Yeah. A lot of them, along with a lot of old rich people, always thought about being gay was just a phase or something that would not look good in the public eye-."

"Are we still in the 1800s?" Y/N interjected with a scoff as she rolled her eyes annoyingly, making Kate laugh gently before laying a soft peck on her lips and switching her frown back into a small grin, then pulling away and continuing her with train of thoughts.

"That’s what I always thought! Anyway, I was just lucky my mom always accepted me for who I was. I remember the day I came out to her. I was super stressed and I was ready to pass out. She obviously started to worry and when I just blurted out I was gay instead of my prepared speech, she simply smiled tenderly at me and told me ‘oh honey, I already knew that. I’m glad you finally found the courage to tell me.’"

"Oh my god! I love her!"

"I was shocked! I stared at her for like- a solid two minutes as she just smiled at me. Anyway, she always supported me and alway put everyone in their spot when they tried to denigrate gay people. But that’s not the point." Kate shook her head to get back on track on what she was trying to tell Y/N, "like I said, being gay wasn’t well seen by snotty, rich people and although my friends oddly accepted me, I had to endure more times than I could count them making really tacky jokes about gay people."

"Can I know their names so I can hunt them down and punch them in the faces one by one?" Y/N interjected once again with her blood boiling over at those assholes Kate called friends as she hugged Kate closer, making Kate chuckle under her breath at her request.

"Next time my mom will invite me to one of her charity events, we are going to attend it so you can punch them in the face while I will enjoy the show." Kate promised with a sweet tone and a bright smile, making Y/N mirror her grin, then pecking her lips lovingly before pulling away to keep going with her story and train of thoughts. "Anyway, those things never hurt me since the girls that made those bad jokes were the same girls I was fucking in their cars or beds when no one was home."

"Oh my god! Are you kidding?" Y/N widened her eyes in shock and slacked her jaw while opening her mouth in an ‘O’ shape as she wrapped her head around Kate’s statement, before laughing loudly in shocked amusement.

"Nope." Kate stated as she dragged the ‘p’ out with a wide, smug smile and a mischievous wiggle of her eyebrows before continuing, "all the time the boys joked about gays, stating that, and I quote, ‘lesbians didn’t know how to make a girl come’. And while all the girls I fucked laughed nervously with nods, I was just staying in the corner in silence, smirking smugly at them. They would always meet my eyes a brief second before avoiding my gaze distressed as they fidgeted in their spots uncomfortably."

"Babe that’s just hilarious! I would have payed to see their reactions."

"They were priceless, let me tell you. There was one time where one of they guys was bragging about licking a pussy and even if it was his first time, he vaunted he did an amazing job. I was just smiling brightly as I stared at the girl he ‘did an amazing job’ on avoiding my gaze. The same girl that called me as soon as he left and begged me to make her come since he couldn’t do it and just faked cumming." Kate puffed her chest out and tilted her chin up proudly as a wide grin settled on her features, watching Y/N gasp in shock as she slapped her shoulder repeatedly in disbelief.

"Oh my god!"

"Just to clarify those two weren’t together. They just had occasional sex. I do not stand cheating." Kate stated as she nuzzled their noses together, "anyway, the word spread faster than those girl’s legs when they were with me between the girls of the group and I soon found myself fucking them in their cars, in their beds, once even in one of the girl’s dad’s office."

"I didn’t know you were a womanizer Kate Bishop." Y/N teased Kate as she caressed her shoulder gently with her pointer finger and smirked widely when Kate scoffed and rolled her eyes in fake annoyance.

"I’m was not. I was just having fun. I had the opportunity to boost my confidence in my sex skills when they were screaming how good I was making them feel while also relieving some stress from college and competitions with sex. Killing two birds with one stone."

"Hm, now I’m jealous Miss Bishop." Y/N teased as she leaned over and nibbled on Kate’s soft, plump bottom lip before biting down on it gently and taking advantage of Kate’s lips parting to release a small moan at her gesture to slip her tongue past them and lick her mouth’s every nook and cranny.

"It happened like 5 years ago babe. And it was just meaningless sex. You don’t need to worry."

"Well I’m still jealous. I want you all to myself."

"And you have me all to yourself. My heart, my body and my mind are yours baby. All yours." Kate reassured Y/N on her lips before pecking them repeatedly and making Y/N giggle lovingly into her mouth.

"Just like my mind, my body and my heart are yours baby."

-

"Good morning class!"

"Good morning Miss. Williams!" The whole class greeted Y/N in an happy choir and chuckled when Kate just grunted at her in response.

"It seems like Laura isn’t a morning person." Y/N noted out loud, making the whole class laugh heartily at her joke.

"Nope, I hate getting up early. I just want to sleep until noon, is that too much to ask?" The entire class nodded with a few sounds of agreement and Y/N rolled her eyes fondly at them with a small shake of her head.

"You would loose the aquarium if you sleep until noon."

"And we don’t want that, do we Miss Williams?" Y/N closed her eyes when an hand landed forcefully on her shoulder and what she clearly knew was a fake American accent reached her ears.

"No of course not."

"Are you joining us Miss Chloe and Miss Emma?" Amy asked gently as she eyed the two under cover Avengers enthusiastically.

"Oh please we’re not some old, boring teachers like Miss Williams here. You can call us just Chloe and Emma." Yelena told the teens as she stared at them with wide and eager eyes.

"Oh please, you’re more boring than every boring teacher." Y/N scoffed with a roll of her eyes, making everyone else laugh at her gesture as Yelena just smirked at her, "besides not all teachers are boring. I’m not, right guys?"

"Don’t try to corrupt them with that annoying happy face." Yelena place her hand on Y/N’s face and pushed forcefully like she liked to do all the time to mess with her, making her stumble a bit before regarding the teenagers staring at them in amusement with a grin, "it’s okay guys you can tell the truth."

"Stop harassing them and especially me!" Y/N huffed out as she pushed Yelena’s hand away from her face, staring at her down with an hard gaze before a big, bright grin appeared on her features when Yelena quickly placed her hand back on Y/N’s face and pushed her once more to stress Y/N’s words some more and chuckled alongside her, Cassie, Kate and the whole class, minus Mr. Wright that was nowhere to be found, maybe already inside making his own tour without waiting for everyone else, at the two best friends’ banter. Everyone noticed how the two of them seemed so close and that they loved each other truly, something that was really difficult to find nowadays. They shared a really deep, strong bond that everyone, especially the teens looking intently at their banter were really eager to also have in their lives. Kate stared at her girlfriend and her best friend joke around like they were two siblings warmed her heart to no end and smiled at her tenderly when the girl met her gaze after getting rid of Yelena’s hand again and mirrored her grin before dodging Yelena’s hand and pushing her away when she tried to attack her again. The archer really wanted to join their banter and when she noticed Cassie wanted that too, she nodded at her to give a silent permission and to give her a free pass to join the two best friends joking around childishly to make their banter ten times funnier than it already was. So Cassie nodded at Kate back and walked towards them two girls still fooling around before joining Yelena’s side and pushing Y/N on her left shoulder as Yelena pushed Y/N on her right shoulder, making Y/N widen her eyes in shock as she opened her mouth in an ‘O’ shape in bewilderment, making Kate wish ever more to join the banter in that moment. "You. Didn’t."

"Oh I did. And we can all confirm your face was priceless, right guys?" Cassie asked in amusement as she swept her gaze all over the teen’s eyes and watched as mirth dusted over their features as they tried to prevent laughs to leave their mouths.

"Oh no, don’t you guys dare to answer or as soon as we are back home I’ll make you guys write a 100.000 words essay about stimulating a vagina to make a woman reach her orgasm!" Y/N lifted a finger up in warning when she noticed a few guys and girls, Kate among them, opened their mouths to respond to Cassie’s question and although her threat made her students gulp in fear, it also only made Yelena and Cassie cackle loudly.

"I’ve never heard a threat being so funny!" Yelena laughed loudly as she patted Y/N’s back a few times before wiping away a tear that left her left eye.

"Yeah Lizzie, next time try to not include the world vagina in your threats. It makes them completely hilarious."

"Alright, thanks for the advice. Now let’s go or I’m filling out the form to leave you two here as new species in this aquarium." The class laughed loudly at her joke and Y/N smiled triumphantly as she moved to the front of the group of teens, followed by Yelena and Cassie, whose laid a sweet peck on Y/N’s cheeks, Cassie on the left one while Yelena on the right one, before hugging her tightly.

-

"Oh I have a really interesting fact about whales!" Yelena’s features lighted up like a Christmas tree when they were visiting whales’ section, making Y/N groan in frustration out loud.

"Please don’t." Y/N tried unsuccessfully to stop Yelena from speaking but the Russian pointedly ignored her and kept on, talking to the class waiting for her to speak eagerly.

"Did you know male whales have the largest penis in the whole animal kingdom?" Yelena smiled brightly in mischief as she wiggled her eyebrows lewdly, making the entire class laugh while Y/N groaned out again at her declaration.

"Great, now let them hear what the guide is saying."

"Oh please, I would be ten times better than her!" Yelena waved the blonde guide off as she explained facts about whales to the rest of the group they were in and Y/N rolled her eyes fondly at her.

"Oh really?" Y/N lifted her left eyebrow up inquisitively and watched Yelena expectantly and incredulously, "since when did you become an animal expert?"

"I didn’t, I just like to know sexual facts about anything really and to just annoy you with that." Yelena answered Y/N’s question with a nonchalant shrug and smirked widely at Y/N, who sighed out in fond exasperation.

"Great." Y/N smiled widely with a totally too sweet tone as she exclaimed her short, dry statement through her gritted teeth while clapping her hands not too loudly to not disturb the other aquarium’s visitors that were admiring the animals’ exhibition. She stared intently into Yelena’s eyes a bit longer, watching as her smile only grew bigger by the second and decided to let her share her ‘sexual facts’ about animals for hers and the whole class’ entertainment. Mr Wright wasn’t there so why not let Yelena entertain everyone with her witty comments and funny statements? She just wished she could use her real voice and Russian accent to make everything ten times better and funnier, "okay, go on. Enlighten us then."

"Okay, maybe we just want to move a bit further away from everyone else. I don’t want to gather an audience." Yelena just stretched her arms towards the far end on the left side of the room to stand there and turned towards everyone when they reached their designed spot, puffing her chest out a bit to make her look serious and gazing out at the kids staring back at her expectantly with a wide smirk, meeting Kate’s eyes for a brief second and seeing amusement and mirth in her ocean blue eyes, before focusing on someone else to not raise suspicion.

"Chlo she didn’t change at all. She is still so sure of herself." Y/N commented as she bumped her left shoulder on Cassie’s right one and heard the girl laugh loudly as she nodded in agreement.

"Let her be. We love her just as she is."

"I’m perfect just like this, idiots. Now shut up, I’m trying to have a lesson to share my knowledge with these amazing kids." Yelena punched both Y/N’s and Cassie’s shoulders before focusing her attention back on the class and stating right away, "male ducks have corkscrew-shaped penises."

"Fascinating." Y/N commented as she tried to lower her tone as she laughed while listening to Yelena deliver sexual facts about animals.

"Elephants have a prehensile penis that they can essentially use as a fifth leg. Their erected penis can weight as much as 30 kg and if you happen to touch it accidentally, it can twitch and knock you over."

"Okay, our needed break is over. Let’s continue with our visit." Y/N stopped Yelena as she opened her mouth to deliver yet another sexual fact about animals and ushered everyone else to move before smiling widely at Kate when she purposefully walked towards the back of the group to be as close to Y/N as they could be in public.

-

After sneaking into Mr Wright’s room to gain some informations about him and to tap his phone while Yelena and Cassie distracted him down the hall, Y/N and Kate slipped back into their room and collapsed on the bed exhausted with loud sighs. "Ugh, I’m so tired!"

"Me too baby." Y/N agreed as she cuddled into Kate’s arms and hummed in appreciation at the girl’s warmth and perfume wrapping around her like a comfortable blanket, making her feel fuzzy and cozy in an instant, "we’ve been walking around for three entire days for this school trip. I’m so sad tomorrow we’re going back home."

"Same babe. I liked it here and I really enjoyed Yelena and Cassie here too." Kate pouted adorably as she stared into Y/N’s eyes, making her let out an ‘aw’ at the cute sight in front of her before leaning over and pecking her lips tenderly, switching that pout into a big, bright smile that she instantly mirrored as her stomach flipped over itself at the sight of her adorable and cute, but also extremely hot, girlfriend.

"Yeah, me too. They are a pain in the ass most of the time, but we love them nonetheless." Y/N sighed out loud, agreeing with Kate’s words as she nuzzled their noses tenderly before pecking her lips repeatedly, then deepening the kiss with a deep hum when the archer slipped her tongue out to lick the Y/E/C girl’s seam’s lips to ask for entrance, Y/N granting it right after and both whined breathlessly into the kiss when their tongues met halfway and slid over each other greedily. They slowed their kisses down and pecked their lips repeatedly for a few more seconds before pulling reluctantly away from each other and went back to staring into each other’s eyes lovingly while their noses brushed together from time to time. "I really enjoy their company. They’re like family and them leaving to go on their own mission breaks my heart, but I’m positive this won’t be the last time they will join us here, trust me. As much as Maria makes it look like she is a tough badass, she has a big, soft heart and I know no one, not even her, hell I think not even Fury, can resist to Yelena’s pout! Add Cassie’s pout too into the mix and you will do everything they will ask you to do. So even if we will miss them a lot and we have to say goodbye to them tomorrow, I’m positive they will come back here to spend a few more days with us in the near future. I’ll give them less than two weeks and we will have them both here again. I’m betting my favorite leather jacket that America and Kamala will join them next time. And Peter too! Trust me."

"Oh that would be so cool!" Kate smiled brightly as she tapped on Y/N’s forearm excitedly as her eyes shined brightly with enthusiasm under the room’s lights, "I don’t know about you but watching Yelena and America bicker is almost as funny as watching Yelena and Cassie bicker."

"Oh please! Have you seen Yelena sparring with Peter? He gets on her nerves every time he uses his powers to dodge her punches and kicks." Y/N chuckled as she recalled all the times she witnessed that amazing and funny sight and shook her head gently.

"No! Why didn’t you invite me to watch such a wonderful show?!" Kate asked in fake indignation with a deep pout and smiled when Y/N chuckled under her breath and pecked her pouty lips tenderly.

"I’m sorry! As soon as we get back, I’ll prepare a fresh bowl of popcorn and we will enjoy the show together. You have to see the frustrated face and grunts Yelena emits every time Peter uses his powers."

"You are so beautiful my love." Kate spoke up out of nowhere when silence settled around them after Y/N and Kate chuckled some more, her eyes glued on the Y/E/C girl’s features as they took in Y/N’s beauty.

A dark, deep blush appeared on Y/N’s cheeks and neck and instantly detached her eyes from Kate’s mesmerizing ocean blue ones to look down at her hand playing with the archer’s shirt’s collar. "Thank you babe. But I’m not as much beautiful as you are."

"Hm, I don’t think so." Kate let out in a hum on Y/N’s lips before wrapping them on Y/N’s ones in a deep, sensual kiss, full of tongue and teeth, stirring a warmth in both girl’s stomaches as they enjoyed their closeness.

"I’m serious babe. You are beautiful, smart, cute, adorable, witty when necessary but most importantly kind hearted. I just- love you so much baby."

"I love you my beautiful, gorgeous love." Kate smiled tenderly and lovingly at Y/N as she nuzzled their noses cutely together and giggling alongside her at how happy and giddy they both felt in that moment. "Oh and by the way, do you know flattery won’t take you anywhere right?"

Y/N laughed at the knowing smirk Kate sent her way before dusting a lewd one on her own lips as she wiggled her eyebrows seductively and mischievously at the archer while her pointer finger moved down from Kate’s collarbone to her stomach, drawing teasing circles there over the black haired girl’s shirt. "Oh really? Ohw damn, I was hoping it would at least take me between your legs!"

Kate widened her eyes comically and gulped loudly at Y/N’s statement but it seems her brain lost her ability to function in that moment after those words reached her ears and she was able to only murmur out lowly, "oh."

"Too bad." Y/N shrugged as she kept on faking being sad about Kate’s question and sighed out loud dramatically for good measure, moving her hand up again to play around with Kate’s hair gently, "well, moving on-."

"No, wait!" Kate stopped Y/N mid-sentence before clearing her throat in embarrassment at her eagerness. "What were you going to say?"

"Oh no, you said flattery won’t take me anywhere and as much as I love listing your qualities, now I just want to cuddle."

"Y/N/N!" Kate whined in protest at Y/N’s stubbornness and clear teasing and slapped her stomach gently, making the Y/H/C girl laugh heartily at her.

"What?"

"You know what!" Kate stressed her words out and whined in frustration when Y/N’s laugh increased in volume, comically rolling her eyes after she stared pointedly into Y/N’s Y/E/C hues down but it only deepened the Y/H/C girl’s smile tenfold. She grunted out her disappointment and slapped her stomach once again softly, then laying her hand there on her abs and feeling it going up and down with each giggle Y/N emitted. "Keep going please. I want to know what you were going to say. I promise I won’t interrupt you and I will let you say what you wanted to say. I promise I will shut up. Now please continue."

"Are you sure?" Y/N asked in fake uncertainty, furrowing her eyebrows together and making Kate roll her eyes again, making Y/N’s grin spread back on her lips. "I mean, I can always tell you how beautiful you are. Or how hot you look during your early morning workout. But I don’t want to- y’know shift this loving bubble to a more sexual one since we are just cuddling and my words won’t take us anywhere."

"Ugh Y/N/N!" Kate leaned her forehead on the girl’s collarbone and slapped her stomach again, repeatedly this time, eliciting another fit of giggles from Y/N’s lips.

"I will just keep my words PG rating, I promise."

"No please." Kate asked in a rush to Y/N as she played with the collar of her shirt, her short, cut nails scraping the girl’s skin from time to time to tease Y/N a bit, eliciting a few goosebumps in the process and making Kate smile as she noticed she pulled the desired and yearned effect from Y/N, "okay, fine. I know you will keep this on forever if I don’t say it. I was kidding, okay? I was just teasing you a bit. Now please keep going. Especially the part about my early morning workout."

"Good." Y/N smiled and pressed an hard kiss on Kate’s lips before pulling away with a loud ‘pop’ and sneaking a hand behind Kate’s back to adjust themselves on their sides as she flushed their bodies together and entwined their legs, making them both sigh contentedly at their intoxicating proximity. "Okay well, like I was saying- you are always so fucking hot, but you don’t even know how heavenly it feels when you workout early in the morning and I watch you comfortably on the bed. Those wonderful thighs contracting with each squat and consequently giving me a great view of your amazing ass sticking out in those illegal tight yoga pants you wear, your mouthwatering tits wobbling after each small movement in that skimpy sport bra you wear and watching your abs- those fucking, marvelous abs that looks like they had been sculpted from the most precious and finest marble ever existed, contracting deliciously after each of the three thousands crunches you do."

"Fuck." Kate whispered under her breath as she panted heavily onto Y/N’s lips, both gravitating towards each other each passing second as the air thickened between them.

"Or how delicious you look when you change in front of me, especially when you get out of the shower."

"I actually change in front of you on purpose." Kate admitted shyly as she bit on her bottom lip to prevent her smirk to broaden while watching Y/N’s eyes darkening in an instant.

"Oh trust me, I do know that." Y/N admitted with a sultry tone before leaning over and biting on Kate’s bottom lip softly, eliciting a small whine from the archer in the process and setting both their bodies on fire, her own from that heavenly sound coming from her girlfriend while Kate’s body burned from the seductive gesture, "I just stare at you and your wonderful body as I hold myself back from jumping on you and fuck you senseless on every available surface. When you turn around I just pretend I wasn’t daydreaming about me fucking you, you fucking me, us fucking."

"Shit babe. Why do you hold yourself back every time?" Kate fisted Y/N’s shirt greedily and pulled her more into her body as she imperceptibly bucked her hips up to gain some friction on her now pulsating core.

"Because I don’t want to look like an horny teenager that can’t control herself every time. I don’t want to look desperate or just turned on all the time. But that’s just the effect you have on me babe."

"Oh Y/N/N." Kate sighed as she leaned their foreheads together, gripping Y/N’s shirt harder to keep her grounded while her arousal increased quickly between her legs, "you will never look desperate or horny to me. Ever. I pretty much feel just like you. I would spend every second fucking you if I could, but unfortunately we have to be ‘responsible’ and ‘have a job’-." Y/N giggled when Kate let go of her shirt to do quote marks with her hands and rolled her eyes to pretend to be annoyed by their job before settling her hand behind Y/N’s neck and caressed the skin there gently. "-but still, I would spend every single day worshiping you all day long."

"Hm, I wouldn’t be opposed to that." Y/N hummed lowly as her hands started caressing up and down Kate’s strong back steadily, feeling every bump of Kate’s defined muscles and shivering as she felt the muscles there stand up under her touch, "anyway, like I was saying- you look even hotter when you are sparring with someone else that isn’t me and I get to watch your wonderful body move gracefully around as you try to win the sparring session."

"I’m not gonna lie, I always put a lot more effort when I know you are watching me. I like to show off."

"I knew it!" Y/N exclaimed loudly before laughing alongside Kate at the archer’s admission before nuzzling their noses together. "I always had a feeling you were purposefully teasing me because every time I stopped by to watch your sparring session, you always seem ‘sweaty’ and have to pull your top off, leaving you in sports bra that always make my mouth water as I stare at your boobs."

"Oh yeah." Kate smiled mischievously as she recalled all the times she watched Y/N approach her during sparring sessions and tried to seduce her with pulling her shirt off or putting really tight yoga pants just to see her reaction and always reveling in her struggling to focus on the sparring session itself instead of her, "most of the times I wasn’t that sweaty to pull shirt off, but I did just to tease you."

"Hm, I wasn’t opposed to that." Y/N teasingly moved her hands up and under Kate’s shirt and bra to grasp her boobs teasingly, a mischievous grin on her lips.

"Oh." Kate moaned out loud when Y/N started massaging and kneading her boobs greedily without breaking their eye contact and instantly arched her back into Y/N’s wonderful touch.

"I was always daydreaming about touching your boobs while staring at them as you sparred with one of our friends." Y/N admitted as she never stopped her unrelenting movements on Kate’s boobs, pinching both her nipples just a moment when she felt them both stand up under her palms from her touch and basked in the wonderful screech of pleasure leaving Kate’s mouth, "I felt so dirty thinking about touching, licking, biting, sucking these wonderful boobs, thinking how they would feel under my mouth and my hands, if they were firm, if they were soft, if they were a combination of both. You don’t even know how many times I got mocked and teased for literally eye-fucking you in the middle of the Avengers Compound’s gym. Even Maria made fun of me!"

"Oh my god! That’s amazing!" Kate forgot about the incredible pleasure she was experiencing to start laughing heartily at Y/N’s statement, making Y/N stop her movements just a bit to admire how beautiful Kate looked as she laughed care-freely and her face contracted in pure happiness. "So did everyone know about you having feelings for me, except myself?"

"Well- pretty much, yes." Y/N giggled after pulling her hands out from Kate’s shirt and bracketed her face softly. "Like Yelena stated ‘I was too obvious to be subtle with my feelings’."

Kate laughed heartily at Y/N’s attempt to imitate Yelena as best as she could with a fake Russian accent while Y/N stared lovingly up at her as her heartbeat increased, warmth filled her chest and her stomach bursted with wild butterflies flying around. "That’s exactly what she told me many many times." Kate rolled her eyes as she thought over Yelena making fun of her, "she always told me I was stupid for keeping away my crush for you from you. Once, after she told me for the umpteenth time I needed to confess my feelings for you, I told her I didn’t have a crush on you. I enjoyed watching her face contort in confusion and shock for a few seconds before telling her I was in love with you. It was my first time admitting that out loud."

"I would have given anything to see her reacting to that."

"She stared at me like I was crazy for like- two seconds I think, before starting to make fun of me again."

"Oh yeah, that’s totally what Yelena would do."

"Do you want to know the worst part?" Y/N nodded as soon as Kate trailed off to ask her, trying with all herself to hold her smile in to stay serious.

"Yes."

"Hm, c’mere first."

"No, I want to know first."

"Nope, c’mere." Kate leaned over and tried to kiss Y/N once more but the Y/H/C girl teasingly pulled away with a big smirk and wiggled mischievously her eyebrows at her, mirth swirling through her Y/E/C eyes, making Kate sigh out loud desperately, "please, just one kiss. That’s all I ask. Then I will tell you everything you want to know. I just want to kiss you again. Please, please, please. Just one kiss. Please."

"Hm-hm nope." Y/N shook her head amusedly at the pout adorning Kate’s lips and at her adoringly pleading face and leaned a finger on her lips to stop her when she leaned over once again to try to kiss her again with a laugh. "I know how this will go. You just piqued my curiosity but you wanting a kiss will lead us to share more than a kiss and we will forget about this conversation. So tell me first, then you’ll have all the kisses you want."

"Hm, and what if I want more than just kisses?" Kate asked seductively as she hovered her lips teasingly over Y/N’s ones and waited patiently for her answer, that arrived a few moments later after Y/N looked down at her lips hungrily, licked her own lips and panted on Kate's mouth a few seconds without answering Kate’s question.

"Well, it will all depend on what you will tell me and how much more turned on it will make me." Y/N countered back just as seductively with a low, hoarse tone before biting down on Kate’s bottom lip and dragged it back before releasing it, eliciting a wonderful, raspy groan from the black haired girl that looked like she was ready to jump on Y/N and fuck her senselessly - she truly hoped it will happen, she just wanted to hear what Kate had to say first -.

"The worst part was that, that same day, after admitting out loud I was in love with you, she walked in on me masturbating and moaning your name out." Kate admitted after a few seconds of silence and blushed furiously as she remembered that moment.

"Oh my god, are you serious?" Y/N laughed heartily at that and clapped her hands in amusement, while her head leaned back to continue to giggle loudly in entertainment.

"Yeah. She teased me about that to no end, she still do it sometimes."

"Well to make you feel better, she once found a love letter I stupidly wrote for you and teased me about that from that moment on to no end. Every occasion was good enough to tease me about that. Me staring at you, you jokingly flirting with me while I melted on the floor, us sparring, us falling asleep cuddled on the couch after our weekly movie marathon. Every. Single. Occasion."

"Oh my god! It’s not stupid! Can I read that?"

"Yes, of course. It was obviously meant for you but I couldn’t find the courage to slip it under your bedroom door."

"Oh babe, you could’ve done it and we would have been together since then. Fuck, you don’t even know how emotional it makes me feel just knowing you wrote me a love letter. I can’t immagine how I’ll feel when I’ll read it."

"It’s just full of me gushing about you and how much I love you. Nothing you’ve never heard about."

"And fuck, it also made me so turned on." Kate admitted in a low tone after both stayed in silence for a few seconds, feeling her core clench in need for Y/N’s touch.

"Not as much as knowing, again, you touched yourself thinking about me."

"Ugh, which leads us to the fact that we both got teased by Yelena." Kate whined in distress as she thought over Yelena’s teasing, "you got teased for a loving gesture at the least. I had to endure Yelena imitating my moans all the time just because I couldn’t wait for everyone to go to sleep and I had to touch myself because I was too turned on to function."

"Why? What happened that day?"

"It was a Friday night and we were having a small celebrating party after Peter’s and America’s last successful mission. No one else was at the Avengers Compound except for us, Peter, America, Kamala, Shuri, Yelena, Wanda and Natasha. We were all pretty tipsy and at some point Peter suggested to play truth or dare with this new, great app."

"Oh yeah I remember that night."

"Do you also remember the last dare of the night before deciding to call it quits because everyone was just too drunk to keep going?"

"Not really, I was too much intoxicated myself, but I don’t know, I might remember it if you tell me."

"You got dared to give Wanda a one-minute lap dance." Kate simply stated, her eyes darkening as she remembered that moment like it was yesterday.

"Oh shit, now I remember it. We were laughing all the time while Natasha kept repeating ‘watch it Y/L/N’." Y/N tried to imitate Natasha’s voice through her giggles as she remembered that night too.

"Yeah, but you gave her a lap dance anyway. I couldn’t move my eyes away from you and your hips moving rhythmically to the music. As soon as we called it quits I flew to my room, discarded my pants and laid on the bed to touch myself while thinking about you giving me a lap dance. Just when I was about to come, Yelena barges in to ask me about something I clearly can’t exactly remember and watched me come with your name falling out of my mouth."

"Fuck- I would’ve given anything to be in Yelena’s place." Y/N stated dreamily as she felt her center beg for Kate’s attention.

"Just like I would’ve given anything to be in Wanda’s place." Kate admitted shyly as she bit on her bottom lip gently, staring at Y/N lustfully just as Y/N did.

"It can be arranged. As soon as we get back from this school trip, I will give you the best lap dance ever executed. But, on one condition." Y/N trailed off and smiled mischievously at Kate, waiting for her to urge her on continuing and smiling widely when Kate nodded impatiently as she gripped her hips once in pleading, "I get to be in Yelena’s position and watch you come with your fingers."

"Deal." Kate literally moaned out loud instead of answering normally, nodding eagerly at Y/N’s request. "Should we seal or deal with a kiss?" Kate asked mischievously with her eyebrow wiggling seductively after she regained all her cognitive functions, making Y/N laugh heartily at her girlfriend’s behavior.

"Alright, a promise is a promise. I promised you kisses after your story. And we also have to seal a deal. What better way to do that with a kiss? Or more, right?"

"I couldn’t agree more." Kate smiled brightly and moved a bit closer to Y/N, hovering her lips over Y/N’s inviting ones and licked her own instinctively when she felt them dry up from their proximity and for the electricity instantly charging up the air of the silent room and putting their bodies on fire.

"Well, what are we waiting for? C’mere."

"Wait." Kate stopped Y/N before she could close the gap between them by pulling slightly away and suppressed the urge to kiss Y/N’s pout away from her alluring lips by just bracketing her face softly and squeezing her cheeks gently, making Y/N switch her pout to a wonderful, bright smile and mirrored it with a just as happy grin, before moving closer again and nuzzled their noses together cutely, making both their stomaches erupt in wild butterflies flying around like crazy, "do you think we can, y’know, have sex here or do you think it’s too dangerous that someone could walk in on us or maybe hear us? I really want you right now, with our confessions and all of that, but I don’t want to risk our covers to blow up just because I was too much horny for you to think properly about our actions and about our actual jobs here. We are professionals but we are also together and, y’know, we have both needs and- and I really want to touch you right now, I really want to make you come over and over again on my fingers while you moan out my name. Of course we will try to keep it as quiet as we can but y’know what I mean. I want to lick you clean, drink your amazing juices up until you don’t have any other drop of cum into your body. I want to taste those amazing boobs of yours, kiss all over your soft skin while leaving love marks all over you just to tell the world, to anyone who ever wanted you or ever will want you that you are mine. I want to feel you squirm under my hands while I tease you to no end just to hear you whine, pleading me to make you come on my tongue or on my fingers, or both. I want to watch your face contort in pure pleasure as I deliver to you the best orgasm you have ever had, I want to feel your walls squeeze my fingers and your legs wrap around my head. I want to feel your clit pulsate under my lips as I suck on it thoroughly to give it the attentions it needs. I just want you in every possible way. Fuck, I love you Y/N. I love you so much I don’t even know if words can express how much I love you. But I promise you, I will try everyday to express my love for you and make you feel loved as you should. I will try everything in my power to make you feel like the queen that you are. I- hold on- where was I?"

"Babe, that was so touching." Y/N giggled gently at Kate’s question as she felt her eyes sting with tears as they glazed over full of emotions she felt for the archer. "I always thought your ramblings were cute but fuck, hearing you ramble about how you want me, how you want to fuck me, holy shit it made me feel so many things and I am so wet for you. But then you kept rambling about how much you love me and shit, I feel so overwhelmed right now. I just- fuck I love you so much babe. You have no idea."

"C’mere." Kate pecked lovingly Y/N’s lips softly before pulling away to bump their noses together cutely, "can I fuck you now?"

Y/N laughed loudly to cover her hard blush and slapped Kate’s shoulder gently in the process, "such a gentlewoman."

"Sorry, let me rephrase that correctly. Can I fuck you now, please?"

[2/3]

[mysteriouslyjovialcolor]

Las Vegas 2023

-This whole race was on YouTube!!

-Saw Logan in the intro and immediately lost it

-It feels so weird watching this in such clear definition

-“This town has waited 40 years for the pinnacle of Motorsport to return” On a Saturday night??

-Such a unique track shape fr

-Yuki P20?!??!

-Ohmygod, why are the McLaren in the back of the grid

-I’m going to cry, Logan p6

-Someone take me back to 2023 and make me watch this qualifying live

-“It is the childhood rivalry at the front of the field”

-So many celebrities in the garages

-Oooh the Alpha Tauri livery and the Ferrari rear wing! Hope those designers got a raise

-Ohmygod not even a second in and they’re both off the track

-I just watched Logan lose a place and make it back up, I’m never recovering from this

-VSC and everyone in the pits

-“Max I think we’re happy to say that you were ahead when you went off the track, happy to stay there” “Of course I was ahead” Confidence is so sexy

-“This needs to be addressed now. It is a joke if he keeps the position.” The rivalry is rivalry-ing

-Damn Yuki! P11!

-Oh shit Lando! That was so sudden! He must have hit that barrier really hard

-Ah yeah and looking at that replay? I wonder if he was injured

-Why do all the cars look so shiny

-Why wouldn’t the sphere just be showing live race results instead of the usual adverts?

-I love when all the cars zig zag behind the safety car, so cute

-“The question is, how early will Max bolt” “…And he’s gone already”

-Oh wow that overtake by Oscar?

-Feels like a lifetime ago, the last time I saw Carlos and Fernando fighting it out

-“Definitely looks like he’s on a rush on to get out of here” lol Max’ hate for Vegas is so real

-“Let’s go Lewis!” I say, five seconds before I realize the person he’s gone past is Yuki

-Five second penalty

-Why didn’t I start watching races last year? It’s not like I had anything else to obsess over then

-“Yeah that’s fine, send them my regards” Cold

-Ocon! Come on man, why’d you do that to Kevin

-Okay can’t even be mad about Oscar doing it too cause that was extremely cool

-Yes Kevin! He got back!

-And he’s lost it again

-Not Yuki falling back to last place

-“Carlos Sainz facing up against his childhood hero” It’s the race for childhood lores

-“Our first Saturday Grand Prix since 1985” Why??

-Seeing Logan and Zhou in the top 12. I am so extremely gutted to have not witnessed this live

-So many things happening everywhere in the track but all I can focus on is Logan in p6 and praying that he doesn’t fall too far back when he stops for tires

-Seeing Checo make up so many places also is making me feel a lot of feelings

-Don’t like seeing Daniel so far down :/

-Ocon! Come on not again! And on Logan?!

-Although…seeing Logan and Oscar right behind each other is definitely adds to the race of childhood lores

-Oh god can Logan at least stay in the points, he got passed by like three cars

-Oh Mercedes trying an undercut?

-“He looks like he might get this done on track”

-“I don’t think this is Max managing, this is Max under pressure “

-Love when Charles goes for it! That was amazing!

-Ohmygod there’s so much happening, I forgot about the penalty, also so many people coming in to box at the same time, the leaderboard is all mixed up now

-Lewis has a puncture?

-“There’s just so much action happening in this Grand Prix it’s difficult to follow it” Exactly!

-Holy shit Zhou p7?!

-“Car’s not stopping, *****” Haha the way that bollard flew off??

-The recovery drive from Checo though??

-Somehow Logan and Oscar have ended up one after another again

-Checo p2!

-I wonder how drivers who aren’t typically up front feel about having the chance to be at front during a race. Are they like “holy shit how am I running alongside the top three teams right now?” “Do I really have a Mercedes in my mirrors??”

-“As the world champion is on the charge begind him”

-Woah the speed at which he went past George??

-“Max Verstappen has the fastest lap of the race. Do not count him out of this one” I don’t think anyone can

-It’s so funny to me that Lance is p2. It’s giving Germany 2019 before he lost it in the end

-“Sainz, Russel, Verstappen” Honestly amazing how Carlos made it up there

-George and Max going past all cars ahead of them together. It’s almost like George is making way for him

-Oh bloody hell I spoke too soon, they’ve made contact

-“There’s Charles Leclerc making the pass on Lance Stroll”

-Red Bull double stack? Ooh yes!

-“This is what happens in a street circuit, they either behave themselves cause they’re worried about chaos or you get action for every minute”

-“Piastri is up 14 places”

-Can I just say, this safety car is so diva

-“Charles Leclerc has a new Red Bull to fight this time”

-“He just turned in onto my wheel. I guess he didn’t expect me to pass him there” The nonchalant confidence is even better

-“Late, late, late in the breaks, and later still for Oscar Piastri” Is it an Australian thing do we think?

-So cool seeing all the cars bunched up so close together

-“This is the resurgence of Sergio Perez” Yes! Let’s go!

-Ohmygod Checo!!

-Oh they are showing the race results on the sphere!

-Ah the Alpine’s are fighting

-Charles stuck in a Red Bull sandwich

-“Max Verstappen looking to demoralize the ones ahead even further” That’s so funny wth

-Ohmygod Charles how does one even make that pass??!

-“This is a three horse race” funnn

-“That’s one of those passes where I’m coming through or there’s going to be a lot of debris” it’s giving I’m not taking my leg of the pedal until I see god or the checkered flag

-🎶 Max! Max! Super Max! 🎶

-“Charles going right who is it? In the mirrors? It’s the world champion”

-“Let’s work together here. We can get him”

-✨Rihanna✨ (my brain just went blah blah proper name place name backstory stuff)

-“Stay with him. Double tow here. We work together” Damn that goes so hard

-The way the Red Bulls just switched around. Didn’t actually think Max was going to make it there actually

-The commentators: “Sainz, further back in the pack”

Me who has forgotten about every car but the top three: “Who?”

-“Hunt them down George” Oh alright then

-The way Carlos, Fernando, and Lewis went past Alex right after George did, that has got to hurt

-Woah Charles?? That was so unfortunate

-That was such bad strategy on McLaren parts wasn’t it? Why not change his tires to the right ones earlier?

-Haas, when I find you Haas

-Yuki?? There were like two laps left! What happened??

-“Bieber’s got the flag, has Leclerc got the move” Ha

-“Help to tow him along, might be useful” “Ok I’ll try”

-Charles actually might make it back to P2…He’s done it!!

-“He’s pulled it off. As he does. Max Verstappen finds a way to win”

-“Yes, let’s go guys, that was quite fun out there. At least I had fun”

-🎶 Vivaa Las Vegas 🎶

-“ Into the pit lane Max, or should I call you Elvis?” Haha

-Post race drivers>> (especially Logan) (I’m going to conveniently forget he didn’t end up in the points)

-Them being so confused by the post race spectacle of it all is so amusing

-Maxplaining and Leclarifying in full bloom

-“We go straight to the nightclub. Skip everything. See you tomorrow evening…or not!” He thinks he’s so funny

-“It was a nice race actually” It really was

[jacquesthepigeon]

I have personally seen cases where kids grow up as complete strangers to their heritage especially as is the case with my own cousin in California but that involved multiple factors

1) My aunt was isolated and practically estranged from boricua communities. There is a large latino population in California, yes, but it’s mostly Mexican, not a problem, but it’s drastically different from boricua culture. I cannot describe to you how sad it was to see her express relief at being around her people during holidays for the first time in over a decade.

2) Assimilation and shame was heavily encouraged. My aunt’s MIL, from Mexico, went as far as having her name legally changed to its English equivalent. Over the years since my aunt’s move to the states, there have been multiple incidents where she drastically exaggerated the state of the country and our living conditions (all way before the infrastructure, particularly electricity services, got noticeably Bad) based on sensationalist news articles. It got to the point where she called all of us “idiots” for staying.

Bringing it back to ML

According to a 2019 census, there were 71,500 parisians who reported being born in China, a figure that doesn’t account for descendants of chinese immigrants. That is a far cry from leaving Sabine isolated from her culture. She has ample resources to find and participate in a community of fellow chinese immigrants within the city.

In regards to assimilation and shame, just look at her fucking design and hobbies holy shit. It clearly doesn’t apply to her. As for her english (french?) name, it is a fairly common practice for people from various asian countries to adopt an english name. I’ve seen multiple explanations for this ranging from confucian self naming practices being influenced by exposure to western cultures all the way to workplace culture and convenience. In Sabine’s case, because her chinese name is so similar to her western name, I imagine it’s simply a matter of avoiding the headache of constantly correcting people on the spelling and pronunciation of her chinese name. It sucks that it’s something so many immigrants and even tourists have to do to be addressed respectfully but that’s also worth exploring within the narrative.

Which brings me to why it’s important that we recognize the crew’s intentions and POV when discussing how these characters and dynamics are written. They’re not considering any of these and countless other factors that affect how immigrants and their children interact with their own heritage. They want to be praised and lauded for being “inclusive” and “diverse” simply for commodifying a cultural aesthetic. They have no real concern for the people they’re profiting from or their lives and complexities.

So let’s assume for a moment that despite not being affected by any of the factors that I mentioned influenced my own aunt’s lack of educating my cousin about her culture, that’s still an issue that should be addressed specifically in regards to Sabine’s decisions in raising Marinette rather than pushing the blame onto Marinette for “not expressing interest” and learning on her own. The last few times my cousin has come to visit, we do our best to accommodate her and make her as comfortable as possible but when she inevitably lets it show that she is uncomfortable and would prefer to step away from the situation, my aunt has the nerve to shame her for not liking or participating in her culture. I assure you, my aunt was the only one blaming my cousin as we were all silently judging my aunt as she’s obviously the one responsible for it getting to this point, as we have been doing ever since we knew she wasn’t teaching my cousin spanish. So assuming this is the case with Sabine and Marinette, where Sabine had the means to teach Marinette at the very least the basics, and now Sabine is somewhat resentful of Marinette not figuring it out on her own, that is something that definitely needs to be addressed with close attention and care.

But they won’t.

Sabine is not a chinese immigrant in the interest of other chinese immigrants

Marinette is not a white-passing diaspora child in the interest of other white-passing diaspora children

There is no diversity or representation in this show that isn’t meant to turn them into props to make white men look better, be they fictional or real

That is the issue, not the existence of borderline caricature-esque immigrants or white-passing POC in the real world possibly getting representation. It’s not about them, never has been.