#also i wished the movie would actually mess jim’s appearance a bit

[pastasilly]

more screencap edits with my jim headcanon!

[mrkrychek]

Brighter than the sun (Part 10/10)

So this is it. This is the last chapter. I'm a little bit sad that this story found it's end. But it was a long journey to get here. Too long sadly. Even longer for me posting this also on Tumblr when it has been on AO3 for nearly a year.

I hope you enjoyed it and my mistakes weren't as bad as it seems to me. Friendly reminder at this point that English ist not my mother tongue. And I tend to make mistakes.

I would like to say thank you to the kudos and the few comments. Thank you very much for it! This means a lot to me!

At the end I have a tiny little wish: maybe if you have a few minutes it would help me if you could leave a comment on how you think the story was and if it was good to read or found some mistakes. Thank you very much!

Here you can find the last part

Warning: no warnings yet

Word count: 4492

Part: 10/10

Translation:

пожалуйста (pozhaluysta) - Please

The weeks passed, the Enterprise was nearly rebuild. Over these weeks you got closer to the crew because all of you'd met frequently at a bar to chat if you not met through your work at the station. Uhura and you've got the closest. You've became really close friends and you were really happy about that.

It was one of these nights you met with the whole crew at the bar, having some drinks and fun. You were sitting along with Uhura, Scotty and Sulu at a table. Scotty was talking about something Keenser happened a few days ago while they worked on the Enterprise. The poor one got sick again and refused to see the doctor even though it was obvious that he had a high fever. So it happened that Scotty had to catch him in a 'very 21st century movie worth move' (his words) before he would have fell down several meters – from what you assumed would have been just like 3 meters, but you didn't want to ruin his heroic story. Since then Keenser was tied up in med bay and wasn't allowed to leave for about another two days.

Sadly Pavel wasn't able to attend this evening with you because he was sent on a little mission at the side of Kirk and Spock to escort some important Andorian politician from Yorktown to a nearer planet for some negotiations with their population. He was just gone for a few days but you missed him already. As you found the solid ground for you friendship again and built an even stronger friendship than before, you couldn't help but being constantly by his side and missing him even just minutes after you had to separate. The others joked about you two being like one person actutally.

But by all the saying that you were just friends and acted like them, something between the two of you changed. It was strange that you somehow knew how Pavel was feeling some times. When he was down without showing it you knew. When he was overwhelmed by your sheer present you knew. And you gave him just what he needed. Whether it was a friendly ear, a shoulder to cry on or some space. You gave it to him just because you knew he needed it. It was just a mystery to you how this was actually possible.

As Sulu and Scotty were about to get a new round of drinks Uhura leaned into you with a little smile. “You miss him, aren't you?”

You looked at her a little bit confused. Of course she knew what was going on inside you. Sometimes you thought that she was able to read your mind because it seemed like she knew more than you. “How is it possible you be so calm with Spock not by your side? And I mean...Pavel is just my friend.”

The smirk appearing on her face made you even more confused. But you knew that smirk it was often followed by a 'Sure you're just friends?'. Not this time. “I just do. You know, over the years the bond between me and Spock grew quite strong. So strong that it allows us to send just short little telepathic messages to know the other is alright. It's rare that soulmates are able to do that and it takes sometimes decades to develop this power but here we are. Whenever he feels that I need comfort by him he reaches out to me.” She was right, not every soulmate couple was able to do this. As far as you knew it not only needed a strong bond between the two but also one part must been capable of telepathy. Spock as a Vulcan was.

“Wish I had something similar...” You admitted with a shy smile. You know that its was really rare to find you soulmate. But you knew that it was possible.

“Just take a look to what you have. Chekov is mad about you. All you have to do is to let it happen.”

“I'm not in lo...” You stopped yourself in midsentence. Suddenly you felt this warm feeling inside combined with some excitement. Where was this coming from?

“(Y/N), everything okay?” Quickly you shook your head to get you out of this thought.

“Uhm, yea. Sorry just got this strange feeling. But it's okay and gone.” Whatever it was again you needed to focus. “As I wanted to say I'm not in love with him so it won't happen. We're just friends and will always be.”

Gladly the both men came back before Uhura could say anything against your statement. It was a topic you liked to avoid because it made you feel a little bit uncomfortable. So the drinks Sulu was arranging right in front of your were just the perfect distraction you needed. Immediately you took one glass and raised it. “To this wonderful evening and never ending alcohol!” The other started to laugh but raised their glasses too. With one gulp you emptied you glasses.

“I see my crew knows how to get themselves off!” A familiar voice shouted from the entrance of the bar. The four of you turned your heads toward it. But actually that wasn't necessary because you all knew that it could have been only one person. It was your captain. And by his side was Spock. You felt your heart sinking because there was no sign of Pavel. Disappointment spread through your veins followed by worries that something happened. But wouldn't Kirk otherwise look heavy-hearted or so?

The both of them walked towards your table. Spock took immediately the empty seat next to Uhura, while Kirk took the one next to Scotty. With a bright smile he looked at all of you. “Hope you all are still in for more drinks. Sorry that we arrive so late but well the flight back wasn't very pleasant.”

As you stood up to excuse you because you wanted to leave – not saying that you wanted to look for Pavel – you stepped exactly next to your seat when someone was arriving so that you nearly run into them. “Oh sorry!” Gladly to your and their reflexes there was no bumping into each other. It would been a mess because their were having a lot of drinks on a serving trail.

When you looked up to the person you felt your heart jumping again. Damn heart why was it always doing this? It was just Pavel, even though the sight of him made you really happy. Maybe you could trow your intention to looking for him over.

“You're leaving?” He said with a questioning look.

“Uhm no I just...uhm needed to use the restroom” You lied though you know that at least Uhura wouldn't buy this accuse. With a smile he stepped aside so you could pass. Quickly you took the way to the restrooms. You looked into the mirror and wondered what just happened these past weeks with you. More and more you found yourself thinking of Pavel when he wasn't by your side. When he was your heart was beating so fast. You could tell that you were not in any way inn love with him. Shaking you head you splashed some water into your face and took a deep breath. Then you left the restroom again and headed for your table.

All of them were laughing. In the absence of empty seats Pavel took yours. When you came nearer he made the attempt to stand up for you but you gestured towards him that he should keep on his seat. Quite natural you sat down on his lap and smiled at him. “You don't mind, do you?” As he smiled at you and laid his hand down at your hip to keep you from falling down all he did was nodding. You laid one of your arms around his shoulder and neck and smiled back. “Glad that you're back!” A slightly cough came from across the table. You turned your head to look at Kirk. “Of course I'm also glad that you're back, Jim!” Everyone started laughing again.

“That's good. For a tiny moment I thought my Stellar Cartographer doesn't care about me.” Kirk joked and raised his glass. “To this wonderful crew I call my family! Cheers!” All of you raised your glasses and drank.

The night was so much fun with the guys joking around and you and Uhura rocking the dance floor. The more you drank the more loose you became. The glaces some males gave you and Uhura didn't bother you anymore, the both of you ignored them and just had a wonderful time. The only glance you couldn't ignore was Pavel's. It was the only glance you wanted to feel on you right now. And to keep it on you you caught yourself some times that you put on a little show for him. It wasn't probably the best - thinking about his feelings for you – but you couldn't help wanting his attention. The fault for this was only on him. Why didn't he changed out of the formal uniform he was wearing? It made him look so damn good and handsome. More than once you found yourself checking him out and biting your lip. You blamed the alcohol for this, being sure that if you would be sober you wouldn't act that way.

One by one the others left until it was just Kirk, Pavel and you. Though there were now plenty of empty seats you decided to keep on sitting in Pavel's lap. It was way more comfortable than any seat. And he wasn't complaining so what. But the time came that tiredness overwhelmed you and you had a hard time to keep awake. It wasn't unnoticed by the two others so they called it a night and left the bar.

Of course Pavel didn't let you walk home by yourself so he insisted to bring you to your quarter. What a gentleman he was. So perfect. When you reached your quarter he even came inside with you. You turned on the light just enough that you could see where to walk but low enough to not let it blind you. It gave your room a strange atmosphere. When you turned to look at Pavel you could swear that the air got hotter. In the pale light he looked even better than at the bar. The outlines of his face got more defined and hard. His eyes seemed to glow. It felt like something was magically pulling you towards him. But you resisted. Kind of.

“What in the name of god did I've done to deserve you in my life?” You whispered, not sure if he was able to hear. “You're too perfect, too precious for this word. I don't deserve to have you in my life because I'm such a horrible person.” Even though it was so dark in the room you could see his face tensing up than soften again. His hand reached out to lay down on your check, slowly stroking.

“You're not horrible.” He was wrong. Maybe he couldn't see or didn't wanted to. But you were hurting him all the time. You could see it, feel it. You provoked it tonight at the bar while you were dancing just for him. While sitting on his lap, your hand in his hair. You played with his feelings although you didn't want to.

“Why me? Why do you love me, Pasha? There are so many women out there. So many who are way better than me. Who don't hurt you. Why me?” When he wanted to disagree you laid a finger on his lips to hush him. You weren't finished yet. Maybe the alcohol made you saying things you always kept for yourself. “And why can't I get away from you? Why are you always on my mind since you came back into my life? Stop being there. I get head aches because you're permanently in there. Stop making me confused by it. Stop making my heart pounding so hard in my chest. Stop making me feel these strange things.” Your finger left his lips, wandering down his chin along his jawline. Down his throat. Over his chest. Playing with the Starfleet badge. “Why didn't you changed before you came to the bar? This uniform was way to overdressed for it. It makes you sexier than you should be. It makes me wanting to get it off you so bad. And I shouldn't feel this way. You're my best friend.”

Slowly you looked up to him. The expression in his eyes took your breath. His eyes were screaming at you full of hunger and lust but also full of love. Automatically you're thighs pressed together as if they could stop the warm, wet feeling that spread through your lower body. The alcohol may had given you the strength to speak your mind but your body was reacting all by itself.

Minutes passed without no one of you saying anything. You kept staring into each others eyes. All the talking was done. There were no words left to say. Without you doing anything you body started moving towards Pavel. One step towards him was needed to stand right in front of him. Your breast touching his chest. Your hand which was laying on the badge on his chest was moving upward, curling around his neck. He was not so much bigger than you but enough for you to get on your toes while you were dragging him down. It took just a split second then your lips touched.

First the kiss was sweet nearly shy. Then it grew more wilder, hungrier. Pavel put his arms around your waist, brought you more to him. You wrapped your arms around his neck to pull yourself closer to him. There had been many first kisses in your life before but non has felt like this. Somehow you felt like you were flying high above the clouds. Everything spun around you. You started to feel dizzy. You really needed to get some air so you broke the kiss. Neither of you opened their eyes for several moments. Afraid of losing this magical moment. Then you slowly open yours seeing that Pavel did just the same. Even in this pale light you could see that his cheeks were flushed. The sight of it made you arouse even more. You couldn't hide your desire anymore.

“I want you”It came harshly out of your mouth. You wanted to kiss him again but this time it was him stopping you. Backing off you looked at him with confusion. Was there anything you did wrong? It wasn't possible that he didn't want you because it was obvious.

“This is something I was dreaming of for so long” His confession sounded like there was something unsaid in it. Something you didn't want to hear. He put a hand on your head to let run through your hair. “You can't imagine how long. But you're drunk and I don't want to take advantage of it.” Another pause. His eyes drifted of to his hand which was still running through your hair. Actually you didn't feel drunk anymore. You felt much more sober after this kiss. The only drunk you were was drunk on him. But when he looked at you again you knew that the moment between was over. “You should go to sleep. And if you still want this in the morning when you're sober, I'll be waiting for you. Like I always do.” His last words were more a whisper than speaking out loud.

Without any other word he lead you to your bed, helped you out of your dress and into a way more comfortable sleeping shirt. When you laid down on your bed he gently covered you with you blanket. He kissed your temple before wishing you good night.

Just before he was about to leave you raised your voice again and called out for him: “Stay!” You weren't sure it was loud enough for him to hear because you drifted into a deep sleep right away.

-

After a few hours you woke up with a little head ache. The hangover wasn't as bad as you expected. Laying there in bed, staring at the ceiling you thought about what happened last night. You had a lot of fun and alcohol. A few jokes by Scotty or Kirk came to your mind and made you grin. And then there was a lot of dancing with Uhura. And there was Pavel. You sitting in his lap, running you fingers through his hair. Him escorting you home. His hungry eyes. And then the kiss. A moan escaped your throat by the sheer thought about it. His lips have been so soft but rough at the same time. His tongue in your mouth had been perky. His arm around your waist that'd pulled you as close as possible. You'd wanted him so bad, you'd been so wet for him. But he'd been the wiser one of you. Had pushed you away even if it has been obvious that he wanted you so bad too.

You sat up, seeing that the bed next to you was empty. Disappointment spread out inside you. So he didn't stayed. Of course he didn't. Probably the torture would have been to much for him. But he said that if you still wanted him in the morning he'd be there waiting. Why did he always torture himself with such a promise? He should have walked away from his feelings a long time ago. It would have been the best for him. You weren't good for him.

Slowly you got out of bed. Your dress was neatly rested on the stool nearby your bed. But there was something else. You walked towards it to get a better look just to discover it was the uniform Pavel was wearing last night. Was he still here? The sound of steady breathing was the instant answer to that unspoken question. When you walked around to your living area and the couch standing there you found him sleeping on it. He wasn't wearing more than a Tshirt and boxer briefs. The thin blanket he probably used to cover himself was laying half on the ground and was twined around his legs. So he did stayed. But as a gentleman as he was he kept his distance to you presumable because it could have been that you regret what happened the night before. Smiling you shook your head because he was really the sweetest guy in this universe.

You really should regret what happened but somehow you just felt happy. And truth to be told you knew the reason of it. Whatever made you push the fact aside that you had actual feelings for is guy. Not the feelings you had for you best friend. No you actually liked him a lot more than a friend. At some point and you don't know when you really fell in love with him. How could you have been so blind? Even after Uhura pointed it out to you so many times. You've been such a dumb-ass.

Slowly you got on your knees in front of him and watched him sleeping for a while. He looked so peaceful and beautiful. His hair was a mess, his Tshirt was a little bit shove up so his abs where visible and this little trail of darker hair which disappeared into his boxer briefs. You had to bit down on your lip to not moan at this view especially at the sight of his slightly arousal. How was it possible that you resisted him for so long?

Gently you started to run your fingers through his hair. They felt so soft . With a quiet grunt Pavel started to wake up. Wrinkles appeared between his eyebrows and on his forehead before he slowly opened his eyes. After he blinked a few times to see properly he turned his head towards you. A tired but happy smile came into sight.

“Vat time is it?” His voice was still a little bit throaty from sleep. Did he always sound like this when he wakes up? You hoped so because it sounded good combined with his Russian accent.

“I don't know. Probably still to early to get up. But I had enough sleep to sober up...” You eyes were searching for his, looking for a reaction before you continued. “I hope you're still up for your offer.” It took some time for him to put the words together and realize the meaning behind them. As his eyes grew big you knew that he got it. He slowly got up keeping his eyes on you. They were asking you silently if you were absolutely sure. All you could do was giving a quick nod before getting up, straddling him and kissed him with all that desire you felt. His arms came around you, pulling you closer while petting you back. Your heart burst into flames because of the pleasure you felt.

Moans escaped both of your throats as you started to roll your hips in his lap, his arousal clearly growing bigger. Both of you were very hungry and not really patient at the moment. You broke the kiss and nearly at the same time pulled of Pavel's shirt as he done with yours. It was very surprising how fast he undid your bra and tossed it away to your shirt. He bent down to take one of you nipple into his mouth. He sucked at it briefly before he let his tongue to lick at it. You let a little scream get out. A hand of yours gripped automatically in his hair. How was it possible that he pushed you just the right way the first time? It was like he knew exactly what you needed and wanted.

Your hips started to move a little faster in need. His groan sent a shiver down your you spine. You got up just enough to get a hand between the two of you and grab his dick through the fabric of his boxer briefs. Stroking him fast and hard just before he laid his hands on your hips, lifted you up just to press you down on the couch. A surprised gasp came off you. You were on the edge and you needed him right now. And by the look in his eyes he was exactly the same. So you got up to pull down his boxer briefs with his help. In a blink he also helped you out of your panties and spread your legs. Then he hesitated and looked at you. You could tell that he wanted to make sure that it was really what you wanted.

“Pasha, пожалуйста (pozhaluysta)! I need you right now!” Your begging came out harshly. He nodded before he bent down and kissing you wild. As you wrapped your arms around his neck, he carefully he pushed inside you. Instinctively you dug your nails into his back. The feeling of him inside you was nothing you ever felt before. It was like he fit perfectly, like your body was made just for him. Both of you moaned loudly when he pushed fully inside you. For a brief moment he just stayed in this position, looking into your eyes. You did the same with a smile on your face. This moment was just perfect.

Slowly Pavel began to pull out of you just to push back inside. Again you moaned loudly. It felt so good having him inside you. You began to move against him. It took you some time to find a common pace but as you did it started to feel even better for both of you. Never had you such a pleasure while having sex with someone. Everything seemed to be better with Pavel. Way better.

You were looking into each others eyes while riding each other towards your climaxes. It wouldn't last much longer. Pavel again bent down to you to kiss you quickly and the kissed down your throat and neck. You laid your head on the side to give him more space. His strokes got more rapid and hard as the nearer you came your climaxes.

And then he did something you haven't expected. He bit down on the space between you neck and shoulder. The pain running through you body hurt but also gave you some extra pleasure. You dug your nails again into his back surely leaving some marks. But it was the only way to ease the other feeling that suddenly rose inside you. It was like something inside you loosened and connected to something inside Pavel. It was like you were becoming one. And so felt your climax. You came along with Pavel in a way you never experienced.

When he let got of the part he just bit down to, he gently kissed it. You tried to steady your breath as Pavel did. Exhaustion made him lay own on you a little bit, trying not to lay to much weight on you. Your hands rested on his back slightly petting him. You were exhausted as he was but also so damn pleased. Slowly you brain started to work up what just happened just moments before you came. You knew that you read something about that. But what was it? Then it came to you like thunderstruck. You couldn't help but started laughing.

When you were just a little child your mother has told you stories of princesses who found their princes and lived happily ever after. You'd loved these stories even though you'd known that they weren't real. But she also told you stories of real people who'd lived life better than any fairy tale. People who said they'd found their soulmates. When you were just a little child you'd believed in these stories even your father had laughed at you and told you on and on that the were just modern fairy tales people had started to tell because they had got tired of the old ones.

Now at the age of 30 you found out the truth. These weren't just fairy tales. These stories about soulmates were true. Uhura told you she found hers in Spock years ago. Even though you heard her stories about this you still had a hard time to really believe it that it was true.

Now at the age of 30 you laid next to your best friend. After all this time and the fighting against your actual feelings, you let it happen and found happiness. The greatest happiness you could found. Because you found your soulmate in Pavel Andreievich Chekov.

[queenborhapreaderships]

rekindling the flame - chapter 1

Hey everybody! So this is that rami x reader (with a dash of freddie feels) I was talking about earlier! It’s not done, so I guess this is chapter 1? I’ve never cut a fic into chapters before because I’m a stubborn perfectionist but like. Eh. Ya know? Thanks to everyone who told me to go ahead and post this! Also, if anybody would be interested in a tag list, hit me up. I’ve never done one before but I think I can grasp the concept, haha! Anyways, here we go! (pls let me know if you like it, fr)

-description-

You're the daughter of Jim Hutton, so growing up was a roller coaster. With Freddie as practically a second father, things were never boring. But time passed and things changed. Everything changed. Not knowing how to process any of your past, you flee to the states in an attempt to write music and find yourself. It pretty much turns into instant isolation! That all changes when you get a call from your Uncle Bri about a movie being made on Freddie. Secrets come to light and you just might find yourself falling in love with the boy with the beautiful eyes along the way.

-word count- 2,987

ao3 link

You’re alone when you get the call. You’re alone a lot these days, but you work best without the distraction of friends pulling you out to party and get drunk every other night. Besides, you really want to focus on this latest song you’ve been writing. You just can’t seem to get the bridge right, the chord progression is off in the tiniest way and for the life of you, you can’t figure out why. Suffice to say it’s been driving you absolutely mad.

Your eyes light up when you strum the new experimental chord you’ve thrown in, but you’re interrupted by the harsh ringtone of your cell.

“Goddammit” you mumble to yourself and sigh as you put your guitar down on top of its case. You look over and feel yourself involuntarily smiling at the contact name. It’s Uncle Bri, you wonder what he’s up to these days. It’s been a while since you’ve heard from him. Too long, actually. That’s hardly his fault, you’re aware of the fact that you’re isolating yourself but you really can’t really garner up the energy to care, as bad as it sounds. You pull yourself out of your thoughts and reach over to answer the phone.

“Hey, Uncle Bri!”

“(y/n)! I’m glad I got a hold of you! How are you doing, my dear? We miss you!”

“Aww, I miss you guys too! I can’t complain! I’ve been working on my music a lot, so that’s been taking up the majority of my life at the moment” you sigh, suddenly wishing you’d have managed your time better. You really do miss your goofy Uncles.

“Ahhh, just like good ol’ Freddie, I see” you can hear the smile toying with his voice.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that”

“Well, I would,” he says triumphantly. “Anyways, do you have any serious, unmovable plans for the next, oh, say 8 or so months?” you can hear the grin in his voice.

“Um, not that I know of...” you say, although it comes out more as of a question

“Perfect! Then I’ll be flying you over here to the UK pronto. You’ve got work to do” he says and hangs up in a haste.

You pull the phone down and stare at it. That was. Odd.

It’s not until later you realize that this is all for that movie that you’ve been hearing rumors about for months. You weren’t sure if it was actually happening or not, you feel like you definitely should have considering who you are, but Uncle Bri certainly wouldn’t be uprooting your life for anything unimportant. You’ve settled into a nice routine over in the states. For a movie this important though, this central to who you are, you’d be upset if you weren’t involved.

~~~~

If you were being completely honest with yourself, you don’t remember as much about your father’s partner as you wish you did. Let’s be real though, he was practically your second dad, he raised you until you were almost seven. You have faint memories of calling him papa. Your dad didn’t love it at first, he was probably worried about what Freddie thought. He, of course, absolutely adored it and as well as he adored you. So, papa, he was.

The memories you do have, you wouldn’t trade for the world. For the entire world. Some of your favorites were Freddie making you breakfast and cuddling on the couch. He would always read to you before bed and find your favorite stuffed bear before tucking you in and pecking your forehead. Sometimes, your favorite nights, he would sing you to sleep. You were probably too old for lullabies, but Freddie never failed to deliver, not even towards the end. His favorite song to sing you was I Was Born to Love You. He sang it slow and soft, making sure you took every word to heart. Sometimes you dream about it, wishing for just one more day together with the two of them.

You don’t have much to do on the hellish flight ahead of you, so you pull up the folder you keep on your phone of pictures of your dad and Freddie. They looked just as happy as they were. You smile as you scroll through them, pictures the world hasn’t seen. Pictures of the two with their cats, pictures of all three of you together.

You feel your eyes mist up when you get to one of your favorites. At first glance, it appears to be the most mundane thing in the world, but to you it’s everything. Freddie’s balancing you on his hip and he’s got his other arm wrapped around your father, kissing his cheek.

“Oh, fuck” you mutter under your breath, tearing yourself away from the grainy image. You’re finally realizing just how difficult consulting on this movie is actually going to be. You miss your dad and you miss Freddie more than words can say.

You never really dealt with your fathers' death nearly a decade ago. Freddie’s death probably messed you up in more ways that you’re even able to conceptualize because you were so young at the time. He was just a part of you. A part of your history. A part of who you were and who you are.

You’ve got a lot of shit to work through, and god, you hope you’ll be able to hold it together for just a while longer. This movie is important to the two most important people to you. You’re certainly not going to ruin your chance at making it the best it can be because you can’t look at the main character of the film without losing it.

You swallow the lump in your throat and reach down to rummage through your bag for your headphones. You close the photos app and pull up Spotify instead. Zoning out and distracting yourself with music is always how you’ve dealt with the brunt of your emotional issues since practically the beginning of time. The second the first note rings out, you feel a weight lift off of your shoulders and you sigh in relief as you settle in for a long ride.

~~~

You’re pretty damn sure that finally getting off the stuffy plane and stretching your legs is the best feeling in the world. You’re instantly proven wrong though when you spot your uncles waiting for you. They’ve got a dorky sign with “(y/n) Hutton” scrawled across it with a few shaky hearts at the bottom. You can’t help but chuckle, your heart swelling at the gesture.

You quicken your pace and when they notice you barreling towards them, your clunky bags in tow, their faces light up. Their sign and your suitcases are instantly ditched in place of Uncle Rog opening his arms up for you to crash into. Of course, you do, without a second thought and you hold on tight. It feels like if you don’t, he’ll disappear right out from under you.

“Oh, love, how are you? How are you, really?” Uncle Rog says, pulling you away from him to study your face. You sheepishly avoid eye contact, aware that these two know you better than most.

“You know, we do worry about you. More than you think.” Uncle Bri chimes in, responding to your silence. He then reaches over and takes his turn to pull you into a hug. You close your eyes and bury your head in his shoulder. You barely muster the strength needed to keep your voice from shaking.

“I know. I just missed you guys, is all” you break away and get your bearings together. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice the two sharing a skeptical glance, but luckily they drop it for now.

~~~

To say the studio was huge would be an understatement. You’d never dealt with anything this major in your entire life, sure you’d been going to your Uncle’s concerts since you were little. That was different though, that was second nature. Music has always been second nature. This? This is a different world, man. There are more… rules. You’ve never been one for rules.

So far, you’ve been introduced to a lot of the key players in the movie, big execs and such. They’ve all been very graceful and polite if not slightly intimidated by you, which you find hilarious. You still haven’t met any of the actors yet, but you’d been given their names and have already done extensive googling. They all seem like the perfect people for the parts.

You’d actually seen a bit of Rami, Freddie’s actor’s, work in the past. The Night at the Museum trilogy is a goddamn classic and your friends have forced you to watch a couple of episodes of Mr. Robot. So you’re definitely excited, if not a little nervous, to meet the boys.

It’s almost like the universe can read your mind because when you and your uncles turn the corner, there they are. You can tell they’ve met before because Rami, and if you remember correctly, Joe are waving and they all walk over.

“(y/n), you haven’t met the boys yet, have you?” Uncle Bri asks, and before you have the time to answer, he’s introducing you to them respectively. You do your best to remember who is who, it shouldn’t be too hard but this would not be a great situation to slip up. There’s Ben, Joe, Gwilym, and finally, you reach Rami.

His eyes are even more striking in person. You think he’s saying something but you can’t hear a word of it. A poke on your shoulder pulls you out of your trance and you realize you’ve been staring at him for a longer amount of time than would be considered socially acceptable. You glance over at Uncle Bri, a thanks for snapping you out of whatever that was.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry! Zoned out there for a second, it was a long flight” you grin and do your best to sound casual but you’re definitely rattled from your mistake. You almost let out a sigh of relief when you see Rami’s warm smile.

“Don’t worry about it, I totally understand. You flew in from the states, right? That ten-hour flight can be brutal” you nod and he continues. “Anyways, I was just saying how much of an honor it is to be playing Freddie and if there’s anything you ever need or want to talk in regards of the script or characterization, I’m always here. You probably have more influence than me when it comes to that actually, but the offer is always on the table! The same goes for all of us.” He gestures at his castmates and they all nod accordingly. He sounds incredibly sincere and it’s impossible not to grin.

“I really appreciate that, guys. I’m here if any of you need anything too! If you need help going over your lines or if you have any questions about my uncles, dad or my experience with Freddie as a father figure, I’d be more than happy to let you in on everything I know” You’re not, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but why else are you here?

You hear a chorus of thank you’s and wave at them as they rush off to hair and makeup, already late. You look down and try to swallow a smile, you’d be lying to yourself if you tried to pretend it wasn’t endearing. The three of you continue down your path and you feel Uncle Rog bump into you.

“You okay, (y/n)?” he says, trying poorly to hide his shit-eating grin. Oh god, what does he think he knows now?

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired…” you taper off when you notice the look the two give each other.

“Okaaay, whatever you say,” he says in a sing-songy voice. You groan and roll your eyes.

“Well I don’t know about you two, but I’m gonna go explore the set,” you say, trying to get a minute to yourself. It’s just all been a little overwhelming and the last thing you need is your uncles scheming over whatever it is they’re scheming over because if there’s anything you know, it’s that look.

“Have fun, love. We’ll be here if you need us” Uncle Bri reminds you for the thousandth time. You thank him and wander off on your own.

~~~

As the days go by, you fall into a routine. They don’t need you there at a specific time so you definitely consider yourself lucky in that regard. All of the actors have to be at hair and makeup typically at around 6. You shuffle in at a comfortable 10, say hi to anyone who isn’t currently working on a scene, and hide away in one of the back rooms with the writers.

The script has already been put out of course, but they still meet every day to talk about potential revisions or go over their work with the rest of the cast and crew. While definitely on different sides of the globe from each other, what they do isn’t very far from what you do. At least it’s on the same planet. Which would be a first in this new world of Hollywood. So you’d say things are going pretty smoothly. You haven’t yet had to dig deep and reveal anything about yourself or your history that you didn’t want to.

Of course, though, the universe can’t let you stay comfortable for very long. It needs to have its fun in throwing you for a loop just once you think you’ve got things figured out. This loop comes in the form of none other than Rami Malek. At first, that is.

It starts like any other day. You come into the studio in your baggy hoodie, with your messy hair strewn everywhere, and your headphones in with the volume up as loud as it will go. You yawn and scrub at your eyes. You were up pretty late working on that same damn song, it’s just been eating away at you. The day you figure out how that bridge works will be a goddamn national holiday in your book. You groan and continue down the winding hallways.

When Rami comes up behind you and taps your shoulder, you jump out of your skin and your soul just about leaves your body. You rip your headphones out and turn around to see him giggling like a toddler and you gasp, grasping your chest dramatically.

Your heart flutters at the carefree expression on his face and you swallow down and try to ignore the emotions so obviously bubbling up to the surface. You can’t help but stare though, it’s not your fault that he’s absolutely breathtaking. You’re confident that his jawline could cut steel. This time, your admiration slides and he doesn’t notice because he’s still pulling himself together after the little incident.

He’s wearing Freddie’s angry lizard jacket and he’s got the fake teeth in. He’s the spitting image of Freddie and it honestly would have been a little jarring if it weren’t for him being so warm and open, squashing any possible nerves you may have before they even have the time to fully form.

“Sorry!” he chokes out, swallowing the last of his giggles. “I really didn’t mean to scare you, I thought you heard me walking up, but I guess not,” he says and gestures at your headphones dangling down and twirling together.

“Jesus Christ, Rami. You do know that you almost killed me, right? I literally almost died right here!” you say, still playing it up a little bit. You can’t keep a straight face for long though and break eye contact to laugh under your breath. “Anyways, what’s up? I haven’t seen you in a while! You look great, I must say” you point out, referencing the outfit.

“I always look great, darling,” he says, putting on Freddie’s accent. You raise your arms in surrender and he shoots you a grin. Suddenly he’s Rami again, just like that. “So I’ve got that one big scene tomorrow and I feel like something is off with my performance and I just can’t put my finger on it. I was wondering if you were free later tonight after we’re done shooting to go over the script with me?” you’re not sure if he’s doing it on purpose, but he’s giving you the biggest puppy dog eyes you’ve ever seen.

“Oh, I know that feeling,” you say, thinking back to your stupid song. Maybe you can play it for him and get his input? You quickly brush off the thought, this is about him, not you. “And of course! I’d love to!” You can’t even pretend you aren’t honored and a little excited to see him later. Even though you’ve fallen in love with your little routine, you have a real soft spot for this boy.

“Perfect! I can’t wait to see you then” he waves as he walks off. You wave back and once he’s turned the corner, you can’t contain your giddiness. Before you know it, you’re hopping and -hopefully- internally squealing like a schoolgirl. He’s just so cute, okay? It’s not fair. It shouldn’t be legal.

~~~

You spend the rest of your day curled up in the bean bag chair in the corner of the writers' room going over a thousand different scenarios in your head, both eagerly and anxiously awaiting the end of filming. You’ve really been thrown for a loop here, going from total isolation to the midst of practically a high school crush. You’re not even entirely sure why, there’s just something about him. You’re not quite sure whether you like it or not, but there’s one thing you do know. Denying it won’t get you anywhere, you’ve been down that road before.

[soundslikenerds-blog]

I Need to Talk About “Avengers: Endgame”

WARNING: THIS WILL BE VERY SPOILER-Y!

PLEASE, IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, DO NOT READ THE SPOILERS!

IT’S SO HARD TO STAY AWAY WHEN YOU’RE CURIOUS AS HELL, BUT PLEASE DON’T LOOK AT THESE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE!

SPOILERS WILL BE BELOW THE CUT, SO IF YOU DON’T TURN AWAY NOW, I CAN’T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SPOILERS YOU WILL SEE!

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!

OK!

I have an actual metric fuckton of stuff to say about this movie-too much, really. I won’t be able to hold it together for even a part of it, since I cried like a baby throughout 90% of this movie. I have a lot of words and a lot of emotions. Walking into this movie, I had a lot of theories. Some of them were true, and others were not. Some of them, I wished I had been wrong about. I steered clear of all spoilers, dropping off the face of the world once I heard that a leak happened, and I’m somewhat relieved that I can be back. It’s not gonna be the same, though. Never.

I’ve only seen the movie three times so far (I had to edit this twice while writing this reaction, ngl), so I’m definitely still missing some shit. I just haven’t been able to keep myself collected for long enough to write it all. I’m definitely going to see it again tomorrow, which is like opening a gaping wound and pouring salt, vinegar, alcohol, and tears into it. Why do I do this?

So, here it goes. It won’t be in order, but I’m just writing it down as it comes back to me (while listening to the Avengers Theme because I need to cry for a bit longer, I guess).

I was a bit upset that the movie didn’t open with the original Marvel fanfare. I was angry until I cried for the first time in the movie, which happened a mere 3 minutes in.

Clint’s. Fucking. Family.

When he starts running around, yelling for them, I was absolutely gutted. It felt like someone drove a knife into my back.

The Russo Bros.

JESUS. CHRIST. GIVE. THIS. MAN. A. BREAK.

GIVE. ME. A. BREAK.

Tony’s physical state in space was absolutely mind-boggling. I was crushed just seeing him like that, like a little skeleton man. I’m realizing as I write this that I can’t even think about Tony right now. Nope.

No.

Anyway, now that I’m crying, I might as well keep crying.

Nebula lifting Tony up into the seat like he’s a small child. YES, GIVE THIS MAN ALL THE LOVE AND CARE IN THE WORLD! HE DESERVES EVERYTHING GOOD! DON’T TOUCH ME, I’M CRYING!

When that little light hit Tony’s face, I was like, “CAROL! IT’S MY GIRL! WHAT A GODDESS!” and the entire theater erupted with applause. I was so happy I wasn’t stuck with a theater full of people with sticks in places they shouldn’t be.

STEVE SPRINTING UP TO TONY WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL, TOUCHING, WONDERFUL MOMENT, BUT THEN, THESE TWO FUCKERS FIGHT AGAIN LIKE 2 SECONDS LATER! DON’T TAKE MY LITTLE SHREDS OF HAPPINESS AWAY FROM ME, MARVEL, FFS!

“I lost the kid” -Tony, making me want to vomit because of the sheer emotions.

Pepperony reunion was beautiful. I cried. Everyone cried. Not everyone. Me and a few other people.

Tony losing his shit on Steve left me gutted. I just wanted everything to be okay between them, especially since both of them came so close to dying.

“I needed you!” -Tony, 2k19

“I need you two to get along” -Me, 2k19

“Up until this moment, I thought you were a Build-a-Bear” -Tony to Rocket, and the theater erupted in laughter. The Russo’s were trying to butter us up with as much funny shit in the first half as they could because THEY KNEW WHAT WAS COMING, AND NO ONE ELSE DID!

When I saw Carol’s tears in her eyes upon seeing Nick Fury’s picture as one of the vanished, I...ugh. No. I’m feeling a lot again.

She was so ready to kick some purple ass, and I was like “YAAAASSSS, KWEEN! Kill the evil grape!”

The fact that we saw the jump in the reflection of Steve’s eyes, my heart fluttered. What a beautiful...whoa. I was...the EYELASHES?! HeLp!

WHEN THANOS GOT HIS NOGGIN CHOPPED CLEAN OFF, THE WHOLE AUDIENCE LOST IT, BUT WE KNEW IT WOULDN’T BE THE END OF THANOS. The cheers were full of joy and also a bit of fear for what would come.

“I went for the head” -Thor, 2k19

Even though, I was fully committed to this movie, when the “five years later” faded onto the screen, I couldn’t help but read it in a Spongebob Narrator voice. OOPS!

Steve trying to be a little optimist in the absolute worst circumstances...ugh!

Joe Russo’s cameo. I was like, “yaaaasss, represent the LGBTQ+ audience” but I was also like, “you’re gonna kill me in this movie, aren’t you?” AND THE SECOND TIME I WATCHED IT, WHEN PEOPLE CHEERED BECAUSE OF HIM IN THAT SCENE, I JUST SAT THERE WITH MY ARMS CROSSED LIKE AN ANGRY BABY! I KNEW WHAT WAS COMING! I KNEW THAT HE WAS GOING TO STAB ME STRAIGHT THROUGH MY FUCKING HEART IN A LITTLE WHILE! The second time around, I was more excited to see Jim Starlin in that scene.

CAROL’S HAIRCUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seeing Natasha cry over Clint’s disappearance was...rough. 10/10 don’t like seeing my heroes cry because it turns me into an actual blubbering mess. Natasha was a strong, fierce, incredible warrior goddess, and to see her crumble over the stress was both so incredibly realistic but also heart-wrenching. She has done such a good job holding it together in the worst circumstances throughout these movies, but now we get to see her as just as vulnerable as anyone else. Natasha was a gem, and SHE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER. I NEED TISSUES. I’M CRYING!

On a side note: I love that new hair she’s rocking, ngl.

“I tell people to move on; some do, but not us” *chills*

I’m upset that the peanut butter sandwich wasn’t credited and had no appearances in the trailer. It played such a pivotal role. First, it was Nat’s. Then, Nat tried to pass it off to Steve. Then, Scott practically fell in love with it.

Scott, looking at that peanut butter sandwich:

While we’re talking about Scott Lang, I have to say that a lot of us in the theater cried like little tiny babies, when Scott and Cassie finally saw each other again. Five hours passed for him, but his daughter aged five entire years. That was heart-wrenching and also such a happy scene.

TONY STARK FINALLY HAD SOME HAPPINESS! HE MARRIED PEPPER, AND THEY HAD A DAUGHTER, MORGAN! I CAN’T! DON’T TOUCH ME!

Professor Hulk was both really unsettling, really funny, and everything that I wanted. I didn’t really know whether to laugh or cringe a little bit. It was really well done, and it made for some laughs, but ngl, I was a bit...disturbed by it.

The picture scene. Scott is just...the most relatable.

“Take the goddamn phone” -Scott Lang, leaving myself and the rest of the theater in stitches.

“Shit” -Tony Stark, 2k19

“Shit” -Morgan Stark, 2k19

Tony = Parenting Goals, leave me alone.

“I love you 3000” -Morgan Stark being the sweetest little peanut in the history of all things. Someone protect her LIKE THEY SHOULD’VE PROTECTED TONY! HELP, I’M CRYING AGAIN!

“But would you be able to rest?” -PEPPER GODDAMN POTTS, KNOWING THAT WE’RE GONNA EXPERIENCE THE WORST PAIN IN MERE HOURS!

*ahem*

Scott’s transformation between adult, child, old, baby, and back to adult was funny af. Every person in the theater lost their shit during that scene.

“Someone peed my pants” -Scott Lang...legendary

Steven Grant Rogers in THOSE pants. We all know which ones I’m talking about. The ones he wears when he walks outside the facility and is greeted by Tony Stark. I needed an inhaler because it took my breath away. Wow.

TONY GIVING STEVE HIS SHIELD BACK REPAIRED MY SHATTERED HEART AND CLEARED UP MY SKIN.

Scott sitting outside with his little taco, only to have it blown away thanks to Rocket and Nebula, OH LORD HELP ME! I nearly pissed myself, I was laughing so hard. Then, when Professor Hulk walks by and hands him a taco with this big ass green hand, everyone went from “lol” to “awwwww” like he was some giant green puppy!

Nebula throwing serious shade at Scott! LIFE!

“What’s up, Regular-Sized Man?” -Rhodey, coming in for the kill.

Prof. Hulk riding in the back of the truck with his thicc ass, the theater erupted.

VALKYRIE! WHEN IT PANNED OVER TO HER, EVERY SINGLE TIME I’VE SEEN IT, THE THEATER WENT FUCKING BUCK WILD! PEOPLE LOVE HER! I LOVE HER! I WOULD MARRY THIS FUCKING GODDESS!

Thor.

Wow.

Whoa.

Huh.

Like, when it showed him, I laughed because...it’s still the God of a man, Chris Hemsworth. At the same time, though, it made me so goddamn sad. The audience didn’t always know whether it was right to laugh or get a bit emotional about it. He feels like he failed his people and the entire universe. That’s a lot of guilt on his shoulders, and we know where this guilt REALLY belongs.

Peter.

Quill.

STAR

DUDE

HE IS A LORD NO LONGER!

Like, I love you, but this is on you, homeboy.

MEEK AND KORG!

When Prof. Hulk mentions Thanos, and Thor gets really quiet and teary-eyed, I couldn’t help but getting emotional about it. He feels like such a failure, and that’s heartbreaking.

He...is using Stormbreaker...as a bottle opener...wtf, Thor?!

“There’s booze” -Rocket

And that was the line that convinced Thor Odinson, the God of Thunder, the King of Asgard to join up with his team again and kick some ass. Really. I’m not lying. This is the true motivation for my dude, Thor. Wow.

“Jane put her hand in a rock, and the stone put itself into her” -Thor, 2k19

*THE THEATER LOSES IT*

Rhodey motioning what he wanted to do to baby Thanos was one of the funniest bits in the movie. I almost puked, I laughed so hard, and then the reaction he got from the other characters. Oh shit!

“See you in a minute” -Natasha to Steve, and the second time I watched it, I lost my goddamn mind. The people next to me were probably like “wtf is gonna happen?” because they knew I had seen it the previous night during the premiere. So when Nat is doing her little “hahaha, I’ll see you in a second” I was just over there dying, trying to hold back my gross sobs. Like I’m doing right now.

I can’t see the keyboard.

Seeing a different view of the Battle of New York was fucking stellar. I was dead. I knew that this was the moment I would get to see Loki being Loki. Wow. Much anticipation.

Prof. Hulk having to pretend to Hulk out left me shook. I couldn’t hear the movie because of the audience laughter.

Bruce and the Ancient One was a great little duo, and I would honestly pay to see Tilda Swinton just interacting with my favorite heroes all day.

“That suit was doing nothing for your ass” -Tony

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s Ass!” -Scott, speaking on behalf of everyone in the universe.

LOKI IMITATING STEVE WAS A BEAUTIFUL CALLBACK TO “THOR: THE DARK WORLD” AND I LOST IT. I LOST IT AND COULDN’T FIND IT FOR A HOT MINUTE! Then, Thor just slaps that Asgardian “shut the fuck up” mouthpiece on him, and I don’t get to hear Tom Hiddleston’s silken waterfall of a voice again throughout the movie. Who approved this? Like, I enjoy knowing that there was a reason behind said mouthpiece, and it was because Loki couldn’t stop running his mouth, but I just...I wanted more of Loki than I got.

Hulk getting mad about taking the stairs. That was a mood and a half.

When Steve got into the elevator, I was low-key hoping for another can of whoopass like in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” but what I got was even. fucking. Better.

Hearing Cap say “Hail Hydra” was just as bone-chilling as when I read it in the Captain America: Steve Rogers issue a while back. It was pretty intense hearing him say it, but I thought it was a cool hint to the comic. It gave me chills, but it was also…

Alexander Pierce, ugh! Listen, Robert Redford has always been-and will always be-a stone cold fox, but Secretary Pierce is the #worst. No one likes him. Seeing all these “long lost” characters was such a nice send-off for our heroes. This was the end of a decade-long saga, and this truly felt like a fan-service movie with a lot of heartbreaking moments that we didn’t want as well.

Seeing Tony have that cardiac dysrhythmia was not my favorite thing, but it was much easier than seeing...the INCIDENT AT THE END THAT SHATTERED MY UNIVERSE!

Loki’s eyes following the case when Ant-Man kicked it away left me cackling in my seat. Every time I’ve watched it, it was hilarious. Idgaf, every single time Tom Hiddleston is on that screen, he steals the show, even when he can’t speak.

God.

That man.

Help.

Hulk busting out of the stairwell and hitting Tony across the fucking room was hilarious.

Then, this little shit, Loki, picks up the tesseract and yeets himself right outta the movie like he was never there to begin with. We don’t see him another goddamn time. I was low-key hoping that Thor could’ve found a way to be in on the plan to get the tesseract so that he could’ve seen Loki one more time, but whatever. I’m not in charge of anything ever.

Like, we’ve gotten to see him as Loki for like a cumulative 4 minutes in two entire movies. How rude.

STEVE RUNNING INTO STEVE!

AND THAT FIGHT SCENE!

I was all kinds of whoa.

Me during that scene:

“That is America’s ass” -Steve Rogers, 2k19 or...2k12…? Help.

Steve and Tony going back in time to the 70’s was all kinds of tears. Like, Tony getting to see his dad got me all choked up. AND HOWARD’S LIKE “THERE’S NOTHING I WOULDN’T DO FOR HIM” AND I’M JUST CONFLICTED BECAUSE TONY SUFFERED BECAUSE OF HIS DAD, BUT I DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ANYMORE!

And when I saw Steve grab four of those vials of Pym particles, I was like “HONEY, YOU KNOW GODDAMN WELL YOU DON’T NEED THAT MANY! PUT IT BACK! DON’T BE LIKE THIS!” I felt like a mother in the candy aisle with a free range toddler.

Listen.

Now, here’s a question.

HOW.

THE FUCK.

DID PEGGY CARTER.

NOT SEE.

HER MAIN MAN.

STEVE.

AMERICA.

ROGERS.

????????????????????????????

Steve’s there like:

And my girl, Peggy, is just:

Completely oblivious.

Whatever.

1970′S JARVIS! FUCK ME UP!

Tony giving this “stranger” a hug after having a quick chat with him on an elevator was hilarious because Howard had no idea what the shit was going on.

Honestly, Nebula’s trip to Morag with Rhodey was nice and all, but I wasn’t as invested in it because I knew that it would tie into Thanos, and it did. I was just sick of seeing this purple nutsack-having face. I was done with him. THEN I HAD TO SEE PETER QUILL AGAIN, AND I WAS READY TO PUNCH A HOLE IN THE SCREEN BECAUSE I’M STILL MAD ABOUT INFINITY WAR! I will blame him for this until I die.

And then we get Nebula 1.0 meeting Nebula 2.0, and I was 10/10 uncomfortable. Not a fan. Not a fan at all. Negative fan.

Thor talking to his mom made me cry. Frigga is the goddess Asgard needed but not the one it deserved. AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

When I realized that Steve, Tony, and Scott went to NYC, Nebula and Rhodey went to Morag, Thor and Rocket went to Asgard, I knew. I knew that shit was about to go down on Vormir. I already knew that someone was going to die in order to get the Soul Stone, but I didn’t want to think about who it was going to be. AND WHEN I SAW IT, I WANTED TO FUCK RIGHT OFF OUT OF THERE. NO THANK YOU!

I knew that Clint and Nat would want to sacrifice their own lives to keep the other from doing it, and they’re two of my favorite characters in the MCU, far above many of the newcomers. They’ve been around since the beginning, and I have an even deeper connection with Nat because I could identify with her as a woman. She didn’t have superpowers, but she wasn’t the damsel in distress, and I found a lot of power in that.

That entire scene had me on the very edge of my seat, and it left everyone else in the theater the same way. Even going back to watch it, I’m still on the edge of my seat, even though I know what happens. The first time around, I didn’t know who it was going to be, who was going to sacrifice themselves for the Soul Stone, and I gasping for air every time one of them made a break for the edge of the cliff thing.

Thinking about that scene still gives me chills. Thinking about how Clint was holding onto her arm as tightly as he could and nat was sitting there, not even trying to hold on. Ugh. It makes me so fucking emotional. I don’t give a fuck. Natasha went out a fucking hero. She sacrificed herself for the greater good, knowingly. I know a lot of people are like, “they did her dirty” but I prefer this death to one at the hands of Thanos. She sacrificed for something she loves: her team, her family. She sacrificed so that Clint wouldn’t have to, so that he could be with his family when they were brought back. The MCU did Natasha dirty by not giving her a movie earlier on, but this death was selfless and heroic, just like Natasha. She died a hero, and no one can change my mind on that.

I’m crying.

Wait.

Ok, so seeing Clint break down and cry was not my favorite thing.

AND THEN THEY GET BACK, AND EVERYONE IS SO FUCKING SAD ABOUT NATASHA’S DEATH! SAME! LET’S BE SAD TOGETHER!

Steve cries: mood.

Hulk throws shit: mood.

So, gauntlet 2.0 is built, and Prof. Hulk puts that shit on and ruins himself. Good job!

Nebula 1.0, who is pretending to be Nebula 2.0, brings Thanos to the future, which is not the best. I was just in shock by the amount of fuckery going on. Like, I didn’t understand any of the time stuff, and if anyone claims they did, they’re lying. Or they’re smart.

Prof. Hulk reverse snaps his fingers, and everything is good again! Birds are chirping, Laura’s calling for Clint, the sun is shining, Thanos’ ship is shooting at the Avengers facility, and he’s being a little prick. Everything’s back to normal.

I was low-key nervous that Hulk, Rocket, and Rhodey were gonna drown under the rubble of the facility, and I was not impressed. But when Scott was like, “yo, I’m on my way,” I was ready for snack-sized Ant-Man to go full on King-Sized Ant-Man again. I was ready.

Thanos sitting outside on a rock, looking like he was ready to kick puppies or some shit. He just wants to be the worst version of himself, I swear to butt!

Thor, Tony, and Steve fighting Thanos was what I signed up for. Like, Clint’s doing the hundred meter dash beneath the facility, and he’s being chased by weight lizard/gorilla/alien hybrids. Then, we have the holy trinity putting Thanos in his place.

Wild.

STEVE.

ROGERS.

CAPTAIN.

AMERICA.

WIELDING.

MJOLNIR.

WAS.

EVERYTHING.

CHANGE.

MY.

MIND.

As soon as that hammer lifted up off the ground, gasps could be heard all throughout the theater. I heard people gasping halfway around the world. People woke up from REM sleep just to gasp. They didn’t know what they were gasping about, but they felt the power of what was happening. I died but was resurrected just to continue gasping.

When Mjolnir was thrown and bounced back only to show that it was thrown by Steve, THE THEATER SCREAMED SO GODDAMN LOUD THAT WE WERE ABOUT TO BLOW THE ROOF OFF THE PLACE. IT WAS LIKE CHRIS EVANS HIMSELF HAD WALTZED IN, PLEDGED TO MARRY EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE ROOM, AND ALSO GAVE THEM $38 TRILLION A PIECE. IT WAS MONUMENTAL. THE GROUND SHOOK. WE CAUSED THE WHOLE PLANET OF JUPITER TO QUAKE. SOMEONE SHOULD CHECK TO SEE IF IT STILL EXISTS BECAUSE THE CHEERS AND THE SCREAMS WERE ENOUGH TO BLOW UP THE ENTIRE PLANET. IT WAS THE WILDEST MOMENT. THE BEST MOMENT. THE MOMENT WE HAD ALL BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE CAP NUDGED THAT FUCKING HAMMER IN AGE OF ULTRON. THIS WAS THE MOMENT!

Then, we get one of the most epic scenes in cinema history.

Steve using Mjolnir and his shield at the same time, summoning lightning and kicking Thanos straight in the dick (figuratively). It was the wildest ride. I swear, people started punting each other across the room because they were so excited. I wanted someone to punch me in the face because I was so hyped. There was just a lot going on.

Then, Steve starts to lose to Thanos, and I was not ready. I was like, “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NOPE! I DO NOT LIKE THIS! I WANT TO LEAVE! STOP IT!”

“On your left” - Sam Wilson, 2k14

“On your left” -Sam Wilson, 2k19 or like 2k24 because it’s 5 years in the future. Or is it 2k23 because the 5 year skip came almost right after the events of Infinity War? I don’t know what year it is. Help.

Anyway. Beautiful.

THEN THOSE PORTALS START POPPING UP, AND I WAS LIKE:

I had goosebumps seeing ALL of these characters on screen. It was bittersweet not having Natasha there, but it was such a beautiful moment. That moment wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for her. I will give her credit always!

“AVENGERS...Assemble” -Steve “The Guy With America’s Ass” Rogers with the line we’ve all been waiting for since the beginning. It’s been a long time coming, but we got it...finally. Once again, the theater screamed, jupiter exploded, the farthest star swallowed itself, it was a lot.

Tony and Pepper fighting back to back in their suits.

Give my heart a break.

The all lady team up. I get that it was a bit on the nose. I feel like it would’ve been cooler if no words were spoken but all the female cast members just started to line up behind Captain Marvel. I was more than okay with this, though. That scene was cool as shit to see all my ladies lining up to kick some the purple nutsacks ass.

“I am inevitable” -Thanos, that little punk bitch.

“I am Iron Man” -Iron Man, 2008

“I am Iron Man” -Endgame, 2019

Everyone in the theater opening night was like “WWWWHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! YEAAAAAHHHHH!” including me when Tony snapped those little fingers. It was the best line that could’ve been delivered before that snap, but no one saw what was coming. People continued to lose their shit as Thanos’ army was dusted. It was poetic justice. And when Thanos got dusted, everyone continued to “WWWWWHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! YAAAAAAASSSSSS!” including myself. This changed the second night. As the theater erupted, my ass was sitting there like “NO, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN! STOP CHEERING!” as I’m holding back adult sobs!

Then.

The camera found Tony.

The cheering died instantly.

The theater got so fucking quiet.

I could feel my heartbeat in my throat.

I could hear the collective heartbreak around the theater.

We had won.

However, we also lost.

I can’t talk about it. I can’t write about it. I just cannot. Of all the people I thought would go, he was low on the list. I was almost certain that Steve would be ripped away from me, but I never thought that this would happen. I’m not okay. I’m really sad. I’m not smad anymore. I’m just sad as shit. Rhodey, Peter, and Pepper getting their moments with him only hurt my heart even more, and I can’t. I’M CRYING AGAIN! I’M NEVER GONNA STOP!

“You can rest now” -PEPPER POTTS

TONY STARK DESERVED BETTER! HE WENT OUT A HERO, BUT I CANNOT! I WILL NEVER BE OKAY ABOUT THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

“I love you 3000” -TONY FUCKING STARK’S MESSAGE TO HIS LITTLE DAUGHTER. I’M GONNA PUKE! SOMEONE THROW ME AWAY! I’M DEFECTIVE! HELP!

“Your dad liked cheeseburgers. I’m gonna buy you all the cheeseburgers you want” -Happy to Morgan, fucking my entire world up.

“Proof Tony Stark Has a Heart”

It was so touching to see that every hero was gathered there to pay homage to a hero. It was such a beautiful scene. Seeing everyone there just felt like the twist of the knife in my cold, dying heart. It was great. I loved it.

I’m convinced that the only people who didn’t cry in these scenes were stone cold killers, and I will refuse to believe otherwise until I’m dead and gone. Like, my father cried during these scenes (Nat’s death, Tony’s death, and Tony’s funeral), and it takes...a lot to get tears out of him. I cried the entire ending. Like, the scene with Wanda and Clint. Ugh. I can’t take this anymore. I didn’t stop crying, even as Thor was giving the throne over to Valkyrie (she deserves it, yaaaaaasssss kween), or as he had his moment with the Guardian’s of the Galaxy. I continued to cry when Steve and Bucky had their moment that parallelled “Captain America, The First Avenger”

“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back” - Bucky, CATFA

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you” -Steve, CATFA

“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back” -Steve, AE

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you” -Bucky, AE

I UGLY CRIED AGAIN BECAUSE I JUST FUCKING KNEW WHAT STEVE WAS GONNA DO. HE WAS GONNA USE THE FOURTH VIAL OF PYM PARTICLES TO DO WHAT HE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO. HE WAS GONNA GET THAT FUCKING DANCE! AND BUCKY KNEW EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING ON!

That’s why this little shit wasn’t surprised to see that Steve hadn’t come back on time.

I was high-key hoping that Bucky would receive the title of Captain America. He’s held the shield in virtually every movie he had the chance to. Both him and Sam Wilson hold the title in the comics, and I felt like this could be a new arc for Bucky. Like, he needed this redemption. It was still gonna be bittersweet no matter what because Steve Rogers has always been the version of Captain America I love the most. When Bucky urged Sam to go see Steve, he knew that Sam was the man for the job.

Old man Steve is a silver fox. Change my mind.

I think it’s partially the voice, ngl.

So, I really don’t understand the time stuff, especially with an old man Steve in the future, so I don’t really get how it didn’t change everything with him being old af during the events of the Avengers, AOU, CATWS, CACW, IW, literally all of it. I just...don’t understand? But I don’t care because at least he got his happily ever after. Steve was a man out of time, and he did his time as a hero. He deserved happiness, and he found that with Peggy. I saw that some people were like “BUT HE ABANDONED HIS FRIENDS!” Steve did his time, and he deserved to have his happily ever after, just like Tony got to do for a while with Pepper and Morgan.

And he finally got his dance.

And the credits.

The fucking credits.

All of the original cast members signed their names.

And of course, RDJ was last.

Everyone cheered, yelled, screamed, and cried. It was another earthquake, Jupitergate, Supernova kind of moment.

And that little sound at the end. Tony making his first Iron Man suit. I have a glimmer of hope that it’s Harley building his own suit to become Iron Lad because why would they put him in this movie if they aren’t going to do anything with him in the future? Each of these movies has had a post-credit scene with a hint as to what will happen in the future of Marvel, and a piece of me is so content if this truly just ended with a callback to the past, to the man who started it all.

I didn’t stop crying until I got in the car with my friends, scream-sobbed, and then had to pull it together in order to drive and not die in a fiery car wreck even though that would’ve been better than going back to the theater again and again to have my heart shattered even more.

I’m never gonna be okay again, but this is it. This marks the end of my childhood, even though I’m in my 20’s now. The comics, the movies, the merch, it all symbolized my childlike wonder. I know that Marvel will continue making movies, but these were the heroes I fell in love with. Before the release of the first Iron Man, I had fallen in love with the comic book personas of these characters. Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, FUCKING MOON KNIGHT (I need a Moon Knight movie, ngl) were all characters I fell in love with (there’s a lot more, but I’m too emotional to sit here and list every single one of them). Then, actors who felt like they were made for these roles brought my favorite characters to life. With this being the end of the superheroes I loved growing up, it’s essentially marking the end of my childhood. I grew up reading these comics, and I watched the movies as they came out in theaters with my dad. Now, I go with my dad, with friends, with my uncle, my brother. Sometimes I see them alone if it’s the fifth or sixth time seeing it. Still, this marks the end of an era, and I have so much appreciation in my heart for these actors who brought to life my heroes. I have so much love in my heart for Stan Lee, who made my life one filled with superheroes and childlike wonder. This journey has meant the world to me, but every journey has an end. I will continue to watch the movies that have come out and will watch the new movies as they are released, but there will always be a little something missing. Either way, I will continue to support this franchise for all the happiness it has given to me over the years and all the happiness it will continue to give.

RDJ, we love you 3000.

Excelsior!

[melypeira]

“Cold Zone Lovers”

An illustrated fanfic by lilacmel

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Summary:

"Friends will take your silence and your hurts, Sharing and trading passions and joys, Even naughty pranks and flirts, But careful of green eyed beasts it annoys. Specially when dealing with oblivious blondies."

An illustrated fanfic, for an idea I had in my mind for a while. End game was disappointing and not enough gay, so this is my contribution for pride month ;3

Fic also on AO3 (easier to read, but I needed an place to image host).

archiveofourown.org/works/19376977/

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“This human called Jim is a simpleton.”  Says one.

“You just don’t appreciate his effort trying to win over a lady.”  Speaks two.

“Surely, that woman is arrogant and vain.” Replies back the haughty one.

“Like you, you mean.” Sassed in return the mellow other.

A serious man walks quietly thinking to himself, while searching for someone. Said man has a strong silhouette, one so popular in North America that couldn’t possibly be unrecognizable. Well, except maybe with a hat and glasses. Our dear Captain America, with dark blond hair and the shapes Kim Kardashian would be jealous of, according to Tony/IronMan, AKA also known as Steve Rogers, could not believe what he was hearing, much less seeing. Walking over to the ‘Big ol’ Popcorn Mess Hall’, name courtesy of the host, he saw the most unimaginable view he could possibly think of in his long but short years of life.

Two branded criminals, the notorious Winter Soldier, Hydra’s soldier with a mechanical arm - very sought after by certain woodland creatures - and notorious frost giant, norse god of mischief and all around “pain-in-the-ass” for the avengers. Together, in a sofa, eating popcorn, sat Bucky and Loki, talking and watching – the shock- a comedy movie. Stunned still by this in the hallway, our American hero retires, forgetting entirely what he wanted with his traumatized friend.

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“Thor, we need to take action, I don’t mind Loki returning anymore, but I don't care where they're from, I don't enjoy bullies” Steve Rogers declares out loud. His mighty friend is sometimes an excellent judge and leader, but he can be overprotective, thinks the golden haired norse god. Master of lightning, ale and, now, of a slightly round belly - blame the later - Thor Odinson doesn’t see the point the captain is making against his brother’s associations. He is generally is just glad to have gotten Loki back, with all his little mischievous acts and fake-deaths, after all.

“Loki is free to do what he wants, meaning all things which will not hurt the midgardians or the sanity of the avengers, such is the trust my brother and I have made” claims the Asgardian king, stroking his fashionable braided beard while whetting his axe. Maybe the other blonde should spend his time caring for the borrowed Mjölnir instead of spying on his frost friend, muses Thor.

“You don’t understand, Loki manipulates minds, with or without the stones. Bucky has been far too much brainwashed by those blasted octopus loving bastards” May those days never come again for his dear friend; the young aged soul contemplates. He doesn’t want the other going back to such harsh settings as freezing, to heal in Wakanda, away from him.

“My brother has a powerful silver-tongue, indeed, but comrade Bucky is a fierce warrior, he can fend for himself in such matters”. Thor says while putting his axe in its weapon stand, leaving his comfy armchair.

“Then let’s prove that conviction. Come with me”. Rogers declares, turning and opening the door. He finds Tony outside, who clearly had listened in through his cameras and came to “gossip the juicy bits, Steve”.  Both the Son of Odin and the soldier ignore him. “I don’t see why the worries, I am kinda shipping this WinterFrost happening in my sofa” they can still hear nearing the end of the hallway near the elevator.

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“Hell, they are on the sequel today!” “How would you…nevermind, must be that little leatherless book of yours” Both blondes whisper to each other in the hallway, not very hidden as they think they are. Thor knew what Steve was saying, but watching was another thing altogether. It hit him hard how much he missed his comraderies with his brother, laughing and being “bitchy” as he heard Hawkeye saying. Seeing happening with the arm-armored brunette was jealousy-inducing.

Worse times were still to come, because this friendship became evident to other avengers, even the Wakandan people heard about it. The only ones not amused by the situation were still America's Golden Boy and now the Thunder God.

The interactions were everywhere, joking and pranks and even once in a while you could see Falcon/Sam joining with beers on the TV and Wanda sharing some wine and conversations on the bar with the two. That was only the eye of the storm, trouble was arriving at the horizon.

Then, flirting began. It was inevitable, Bucky has always been charming, Steve somewhat suspected gender didn’t matter to his friend - likewise for him - but why Loki of all of them was a mistery, even Wanda made more sense, seeing his usual type in the day. Thor meanwhile knew his brother enjoyed both the attention and the actual chasing game, often seducing and changing appearances for the sake of ‘a bit of fun’. He wondered what exactly in the scenario was bothering him, was it he missed his friends? Maybe Jane? The Snake-like sibling’s full attention. Or was it vanity, the feeling of being undesirable as he now is, missing his toned body looking at the brunette soldier.

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“Bucky, I know nobody is perfect, but the ‘safest hands are still our own’. So why are you playing right into Loki’s hands?" Calmly Rogers says, thought noticing his little slip, maybe Bucky didn’t even notice.

“Whadya mean pal? I wasn’t aware I was playing into something Steve, except maybe my games with Birdie Man” Bucky replies, somewhat confused but amused by his friend.

"I’m glad you’re back at the headquarters, and as much as I don’t like the idea of you isolating from others because of the past, I don’t think that bonding with Loki will help you at all. We all need family, I get it, but the Avengers could be yours, maybe more so than mine. They won’t judge you for your past” More fiercely, Steve declares.

“Wait a minute, hell Steve! Are you actually coming to me after all this mess, with we haven’t talked much about by the way, we are busy, I get it, to ‘order’ my friendships?? ‘Cause I might be unstable and lonely?” Finally understanding and somewhat angry, Bucky replies with a slightly raised voice.

“I never said that, but it’s for your own good. Loki is Thor’s brother but also a horrible being; in his mind we are all ‘dumb magic-less midgardians’ for him to play with” Harshly states the America Man.

“Are you sure? Have you asked or interacted with him? Besides the past? I was horrible to Tony’s parents too, wasn’t I?” Bucky unveils. “It’s different!!!” Struck back God's Righteous Man “Is it?”. With a somber look reminding of his Ghost days, whispers deadly the Winter Wolf, ready to pounce for flesh.

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Meanwhile, in a similar situation is the light blonde bearded god, with his frost sibling, on the rarely used garden.

“Mother would be disappointed in such an orchard” articulates the dark haired one, seeing his approaching sibling.

“Indeed” Concurs the peace invader. Silence reigns for a short while, the kind that is rare in this turbulent world. Still, even stillness needs to be broken eventually.

“Brother…I don’t know what scheme you…” “I don’t know what you are talking about Thor” “…but you need to stop it.” Urges strongly the slightly older one.

“May I remind you I am not a mind reader, much less know your mental monologue” Spats the younger adopted sibling.

“This obsession with the midgardian frozen warrior, I have seen it before. With Jane and many others” Claims the Asgard Golden child.  “Obsession? Please! Why so worried, do you fancy him? Should I go tell Jane?” Scoffs the slick haired one.

“I don’t, but you are playing with him” The raging thunder is burning inside Thor’s veins now, with the theatrical antics of his fraternal old playmate. “I honestly thought it was quite mutual. Shame, woe is me.  Tell me…do you enjoy spying on us Thor? Stealthy, you certainly are not.” The obsidian hair male talked as if in a play, long periods and sudden words, ending in a short haughty statement.

Giving no time for replies, he ignores the other’s angry sputtering and continues “Am I not allowed to have friends? Acquaintances? Relationships? You came here to stay with yours, to fight your silly battles with them, instead of staying with our kin-” Thor is momentarily happy to hear that part, but quickly gets angry again ”- and ruling, as you were supposed to be, as I am meant to be with you! Even leaving the invisible throne for Valkyrie to sit!!”

“I saw you smiling and I know…!” the axe-wielder loses his conviction midway, enough for Loki to take possession again of the discussion. The curly braided male should have known that in a battle of the tongues, the serpent hisses fast and non-stop. ‘Silence is golden’ indeed, ironically.

“OH, only mighty Thor can be happy!  With his little annoying friends! OH NO, not his brother, that one should stay miserable and, in the shadows and shackles, were he belongs" Loki pacing around the room, with a flourish in his limbs, mocking and hissing. “‘Brother everything's gonna work out fine in Earth’ ’Brother, we will fight side by side forever’ indeed, how fickle you are” Loki rants, each time louder with more articulation and acerbic words.

“ENOUGH! It’s because I wish it was with me!!!” Already regretting what came out his mouth, Thor closes it suddenly and contains his mortification.

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Muahahaha cliffhanger.

If you enjoyed please give a like here or there or share this around. I may keep doing this depending on feedback.

[dailybestiary]

Patch Has Issues: Dungeon #1

Issue: Dungeon #1

Date: September/October 1986. (I was just entering 3rd grade—a dismal year for me—and hadn’t yet discovered D&D at this point. I had just watched Optimus Prime pass away on the operating table during The Transformers: The Movie, though.)

The Cover:

(Use of cover for review purposes only and should not be taken as a challenge to status. Credit and copyright remain with their respective holders.)

One of the notable things about Dungeon was that the covers were actually commissioned for the magazine, instead of just vaguely connected to the issue’s theme like Dragon’s were. The late Keith Parkinson’s “Into the Flame” shows off the star of the issue, the red dragon Flame. Its very humanoid posture recalls Parkinson’s time doing draconians for the Dragonlance line. I’m guessing he was very proud of being picked to launch the magazine—this image is the first that comes up on his website to this day. (If you’re curious, Parkinson’s work in general is great if you like knights in bad weather and big humanoids, but he definitely leans hard into the all-women-in-fantasy-are-bikini-wearing-sorceresses trope, a habit that—like many ex-TSR artists—only got more pronounced as his career progressed. It’s no wonder he moved into video games.)

The Adventures:

“The Dark Tower of Cabilar” by Michael Ashton & Lee Sperry, AD&D, Levels 4–7

Our very first Dungeon Adventure is...*drum roll*...a converted tournament module that is pretty rudimentary: Defeat the vampire in his stalagmite tower-and-dungeon combo (I’m already thinking a stalactite would have had more cinematic appeal), and retrieve the crown that can prove your employer’s godson’s noble lineage.

Right off the bat, this adventure features encounters with fire drakes and lava children! Yep, you read that right—lava children. (Pathfinder fans will remember them from Misfit Monsters Redeemed.) Clearly Dungeon is not afraid of Fiend Folio weirdness.

Beyond that, the module screams “I was written for a tournament” with the number of traps and cursed items and red herrings involved, and not in a good way. Once we get to to the dungeon levels, as a reader I’m just listlessly going room by room till we get to the Big Bad. Overall, a disappointing start.

“Assault on Eddistone Point” by Patricia Nead Elrod, AD&D, Levels 1–3

Our first adventure by a woman author is only our second adventure out of the gate! This bodes well for the rest of the series—wait. Hold on. Is that Patricia Nead as in P. N. Elrod? I’ve never read her work, but she’s helmed some anthologies that Jim Butcher’s short stories have appeared in. I’m guessing this is an early cut from her? And frankly the hand of an experienced author is all over these pages—a vast step up from the previous article (whose authors, to be fair, seem like they were still in college, according to their bios).

So first off, this is a tidy little adventure: Check out why the team sent to repair a signal tower hasn’t reported back. (Even Bryce likes it! We’ll talk about Bryce below.) The NPCs aren’t locked to one location (except the hostages), so once PCs get to the tower, it’s up to the GM to position them and assign reactions. But the cast is small enough this doesn’t seem daunting, even for new GMs, and you could run this thing in a single night.

But where it really shines, as I said, is the deft authorship. Elrod very quickly delivers a tight sketch of the location: two city-states vying for market advantage, dwarves under the mountain range in between minting the gold that moves said markets, some signal towers that exist as a compromise to keep the peace, and what the heck, also some elves in the valley between.

Now, this is basic stuff. And not even pumpkin-spice-latte basic...this is “I’ve only read The Hobbit” basic. Dwarves minting gold and elves in the woods and most of the villains are half-orcs? Even for 1986, this ought to be chucked in the bin as trite.

And yet...it’s not, because of Elrod’s deft pen. I suddenly want to find out more about these cities in the course of play—maybe one could be a good home base for the party? The interplay of politics and markets and signal fires and dwarf relations is just specific enough to feel real, while being sketchy enough it could be dropped into most game worlds. The clever chief antagonist is distinctive enough I don’t mind her stereotypical brute sidekicks, and trying to uncover her employer could lead to the next session’s adventure. It’s basic sure, but it’s Basic Rules-red-box basic. In other words, it feels classic. I wouldn’t put this in front of my grad school gaming group, necessarily, but if I got asked to run an afterschool session for some middle-schoolers wanting to learn the game? Hell yes!

At this point, I’ve probably oversold this adventure, so forgive me if you are underwhelmed by it. But I’m willing to risk a little overhyping to celebrate what can be constructed with such simple meat-and-potatoes ingredients.

And that’s not even counting the not-meat-and-potatoes elements, like the white raven who is already one of my favorite familiars ever, and the ticking clocking scenario the weather sets up (you need to beat the mercenaries before they can mess with the signals), and the names of the other watchtower peaks, each one slyly suggesting another adventure, and…yeah, I dig this.

“Grakhirt’s Lair” by John Nephew, AD&D, Levels 1–3

John Nephew wrote one of my favorite D&D supplements of all time, Tall Tales of the Wee Folk, which I won’t shut up about—I’ve even told him so on Twitter—so I don’t feel bad in saying that this entry is a total dud for me. Pretty much the only interesting thing about this adventure is that the humanoid antagonists are the Fiend Folio’s norkers, and they get the classic 1e AD&D humanoid treatment: that is, absolutely nothing sets them apart from any other humanoid out there aside from their stat blocks. You can skip this one without guilt.

(Admittedly, Nephew was also shockingly young when he did both this and TTotWF. Looking back, I really wish I’d made some different decisions re: my writing growing up—I was disengaging with the hobby just at the age when other people were hammering down the door to get published. Sigh. But hey, none of them held a Run-DMC concert or hung out with Rahzel at age 21, right? We all have our journeys.)

“The Elven Home,” by Anne Gray McReady, D&D, Levels 1–3

Our first D&D adventure! D&D, specifically BECMI D&D, was the neglected stepchild of the late ’80s and early ’90s, despite the earnest efforts of line champion Bruce Heard, Dungeon editors Roger Moore and Barbara Young, and a lot of talented freelancers. But I was a fierce D&D partisan, because it was what I was first introduced to and what I could afford, and because I loved the variety of classes and cultures the Known World allowed. For a line that often felt overlooked in terms of marketing and support, the love and talent put into the books that did exist were evident on almost every page.

So I wish I could find more to recommend “The Elven Home,” but it’s not even really an adventure or even a side trek—instead it’s a thoroughly fleshed-out NPC encounter that should lead to combat only if the PCs are particularly boorish. Like Bryce (again, see below) I could have used more whimsy and more weirdness to make these elves stand out just a bit more, though their twee personalities (more faerie than Tolkien) at least set them apart from most elves PCs run across these days. So your mileage may vary—some of you may be utterly charmed by this (I lean at least somewhat charmed), others of you very much not.

“Into the Fire,” by Grant & David Boucher, AD&D, Levels 6–10

I was expecting a lot out of this adventure—the cover dragon, Flame, was the closest thing Dungeon had to a mascot till the Adventure Path years under Paizo, and he wound up appearing in at least one or two more sequel adventures, if I recall correctly.

While I wasn’t blown away, I can see where the fondness comes from. The adventure isn’t particularly special at first. A necklace shows up that may hint at the fate of a lost prince, but following that lead means following the trail of a recently deceased knight, and—spoilers!—that trail leads back to a dragon. But then the combat with Flame is presented, and the brothers Boucher serve up a number of round-by-round tactics and dirty tricks for Flame to employ that wouldn’t feel out of place in 3.5...and I’m guessing were thrilling in 1986.

Remember, this is before dragons had varying power levels according to age—and were often asleep in their lairs to boot—so if DMs weren’t careful high-level characters would carve through them like butter. (Seriously, it was such an issue that every June Dragon Magazine would churn out articles about how to keep your dragons alive longer. They did this for decades.) It’s easy to ding the Bouchers—Bryce (see below) certainly does—for coming up with too many reasons why Flame is immune to PC powers and abilities throughout the adventure. But to me it just feels like an experienced red wyrm doing what an experienced red wyrm who wants to live would do. Flame is smart, more interested in survival than winning, and while he plans to ruin the PCs’ lives as thoroughly as possible, he’ll run if he has to. PCs who survive will be stoked to tell the tale, and that feeling will only be magnified by a massive treasure haul with a number of flavorful items and future adventure seeds of its own.

Other things to note: There’s a slanty tower that’s okay (I’m a sucker for slanty towers), but where it’s placed in the adventure, it will likely be an anticlimax. There are also some big wandering monster encounters—a score of ogres with an ogre magi, two dozen ghouls and ghasts, etc.—that I’d be interested to see how they rebalanced for Pathfinder/5e D&D. I think shows like Game of Thrones have put the fear back into random encounters with large groups of humanoids, so it would be fun to play that out even if the math says the PCs shouldn’t break a sweat.

Is this my favorite adventure? Not by a long shot. But I can see why readers were fond of it and why Flame’s legend persisted.

“Guardians of the Tomb,” by Carl Smith, AD&D, Levels 3–5

That...is some very boring architecture for a shrine. Also, why would a master thief even have a shrine? Especially in a swamp? And while I’m vague on the relative power levels of 3rd–5th-level characters in 1e AD&D, I feel like 2(x PCs+ y retainers) shadows+1d12 even more shadows = a whole damn lot of shadows to trap the PCs with behind an 18th-level wall of stone! Apparently Smith even worked for TSR at some point—did no one pull him aside and say, “Dude! Game balance!”?

I have questions.

Not only does this seem a bit extreme, at least for an unlucky 3rd-level party, it feels personal. This feels like Carl Smith had some players he wanted to teach a lesson. The bio says Carl Smith’s first love is Westerns; I’m guessing he likes the ones about the Alamo or Butch Cassidy or Unforgiven where pretty much everyone dies at the end.

Who hurt you, Carl Smith? Who hurt you?

Best Read: “Assault on Eddistone Point.”

Best Adventure I Could Actually Run with Minimal Prep: All but “Into the Fire” could probably be run after only a second read-through. But I actually want to run “Assault on Eddistone Point.”

Best Concept: As dungeon locations go, a leaning tower that’s leaning because a dragon decided the best way to kill the wizard inside was just to land on the dang thing and knock it over is a pretty good concept.

Best Monster: You always remember your first dragon. So of course, we have to give this accolade to the always-two-steps-ahead Flame.

Best NPC: I’m a fan of the crafty Vorona in “Assault on Eddistone Point,” but the tie goes to the titular elves of “The Elven Home,” who literally want to chat so badly that the party might get attacked by stirges for lingering too long. Don’t overlook the wolfwere in “Into the Flame” though— he sounds like a real a$$#ole.

Best Map: “Into the Flame”’s Lake Haven kinda-isometric hex map, though I also do like seeing the dragon’s volcano lair map with a boat right in the middle.

Best Thing Worth Stealing: A dragon’s volcano lair with a boat right in the middle.

Worst Aged: The magazine’s first adventure hadn’t even started yet and the text was reminding us to look up climbing rules and calculate the PCs’ weights. Yikes. I don’t miss 1e AD&D. Also, the term “magic-user.” Oy. So glad that’s gone. Oh, and alignment tongues! Ye gods, remember alignment tongues? No, you don’t, because they made no sense and no one over the age of 11 ever used one in their game.

What Bryce Thinks: “Wow. I had no idea that 1e adventures sucked ass so much.”

One of the only people who has done in-depth online reviews of old Dungeon issues is a dude named Bryce Lynch over at tenfootpole.org—which is hilarious, because Bryce hates old Dungeon adventures. An OSR (old-school renaissance) fan through and through, Bryce is super particular about what he considers an acceptable adventure. To his credit, he wants adventures able to be easily run at the table, but he also loathes boxed read-aloud text, long backstory, and pretty much anything he regards as fluff. Which means Dungeon, even at this primordial stage of the game, drives him around the twist (as our Brit readers might say)—and it’s only going to get worse. Even so, I’m going to check in on his reviews as we go along, because his laser focus on the GM’s experience at the table is a good yin to my all-about-the-fluff/inspiration yang.

But for what it’s worth...we pretty much line up on our faves for this issue. Go us! Ditto Adam Perdona, whose tastes also seem to line up with mine and who also liked “The Elven Home.”

So, Is It Worth It?: Okay so let’s say you play Pathfinder, 5e D&D, or some other contemporary system. Should you run out and try to find a physical copy of Dungeon #1?

Well...aside from the collector’s value (it is a #1 after all)...probably not. There’s nothing here that screams “Pull me off the shelf”—what pleasures are inside will also be in the PDF.

What this issue does offer is a back-to-basics approach to adventure construction and worldbuilding that I think we sometimes need. Sometimes all you need is some dwarves, some elves, and a dragon. Sometimes we need to forget secret societies and trade disputes and just help a king who’s lost his prince. Think of Dungeon #1—specifically “Assault on Eddistone Point” and “Into the Flame”—like one of those articles you sometimes see in GQ or Esquire: “How to Grill a Steak. No, put down the pesto, put down the chutney, put down the coffee dry rub and remoulade. You’re going to grab some salt and pepper and maaaybe some butter and We Are Going to Grill a Goddamn STEAK.”

If you want fusion sushi, look elsewhere. Are you in the mood for steak? Look for these two adventures.

Random Thoughts:

Editor Roger Moore’s voice in the intro is so stiff—he would be way more assured and relaxed in the ’90s.

It’s a huge nostalgia trip seeing maps in “1 square = 10’” after years of 5’ squares in 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder.

Speaking of maps, they’re still pretty rudimentary here—it is 1986, after all. But I’m pleased that we are immediately getting side or isometric views of some of these locations (especially the towers) to give us a better sense of what these structures look like. I’m a big fan of that.

One of the weird things about published D&D, AD&D, and Pathfinder settings is that, for an ostensibly Middle Ages-inspired hobby, most show surprisingly little interest in the standard medieval trappings. Kings and princes are rare, city-states are the norm rather than feudal kingdoms, and even knights and castles have largely given way to mercenaries and manor houses. I think there are tons of reasons for this—questing knight tropes feeling stale or immature, the gradual shift of the hobby’s default assumptions to early Renaissance and the Mediterranean rather than medieval England, more opportunities for political conflict but with more manageable stakes... (And let’s face it: high-level PCs just love regicide. Oligarchs don’t have targets on their backs the way kings do.) Anyway, I bring all this up because early Dungeon is clearly not afraid of kings, queens, princes, or knights. If your tastes are more King Arthur & Prince Hal than Diplomats & Doges, you might want to check these early issues out.

Comfy rooms that make you sleepy are an overdone trope in this era.

Leaning/slanty towers also get a lot of love in Dungeon—perhaps too much—but I will never not love them.

If a description, even if just meant for the GM, is going to use a simile that takes me out of the game world such as “like Spanish bayonet,” I’d prefer it walled off in parentheses.

A lot of the art inside this issue (especially James Holloway’s) would be reused again and again in the pages of Dragon, including for subscription cards, the No-SASE Ogre, and even “The Voyage of the Princess Ark.”

Notable Ads: An ad for Lankhmar, City of Adventure, for you classic sword & sorcery fans, and the Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide for AD&D.

(Any fans of the DSG out there? I’ve always heard it, like, laid the groundwork for what we think of as the Underdark. But every time I’ve seen a used copy on the shelf I’ve opened to pages and pages of rules about mining and smelting and I’ve closed it in horror.)

This Month in Dragon: Dragon #113 offers a cardboard dragon (assuming you have a physical copy or can get creative with the PDF), a tour of Hades, fiction by Harry Turtledove, and some nasty Gamma World robots. Dragon #114 serves up the witch NPC, the elven cavalier class, and Marvel’s Inhumans.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Venom review

You know, Venom really isn’t so bad.

Not that you’d know that. Critics everywhere are saying this movie is bad, with the more lenient reviews calling it “So bad it’s good.” It has been compared to The Happening, I’ve seen it compared to Catwoman, it has been called a disaster, it has been called a pile of shit… and frankly I’m still kind of unsure why after seeing it. I think the “so bad it’s good” argument has a bit more merit, but even then, I don’t actually think the film is bad enough for that. This isn’t Suicide Squad we’re talking about, my brain was on for this whole movie. It’s silly, a bit campy, kind of goofy… but I think Venom is a pretty solid movie.

Of course, right out the door Venom has an uphill battle: it’s a PG-13 version of the notoriously violent brain-eating anti-hero, so of course the lack of gruesome brain-eating is pretty disappointing. That being sad, Venom has been good in more family-friendly environments, like the PS1 Spidey game or the various cartoons, so it’s not an impossible sell. The bigger hurdle is overcoming the character’s connection to Spider-Man, but frankly I think people make a bigger deal out of that than is necessary. Venom is a cool character regardless of Spider-Man or not, and I think this movie does a solid job of establishing that. Venom doesn’t NEED Spider-Man, not necessarily. I certainly wasn’t crying over Spidey’s absence in this movie (though considering where Spidey is as of Infinity War… yeah, you know, probably a good reason why he can’t show up).

Anyway, here’s the story: Eddie Brock is a journalist, and one who kinda does what he believes is right, consequences be damned. Too bad he decided to go up against a corrupt billionaire and ended up destroying his own life and relationships in the process. Eddie gets a chance at redemption when one of said billionaire’s scientists gives him some secret details of what the guy is up to; Eddie sneaks into the labs this guy runs and ends up getting infected with an alien parasite. Now the billionaire wants his alien back, but that’s easier said than done when it has bonded with Eddie quite well, though it turns out to be more of a shoulder devil than a shoulder angel. Can Eddie curb this alien’s violent tendencies and figure out what to do before he gets captured?

Ok so that plot summary is kind of a mess, but then so is the plot. But it’s not a mess in the sense that something like, say, Suicide Squad is, where it’s a trainwreck to the point of being incomprehensible. No, Venom is more of a mess in the sense that the plot shifts gears so often it’s honestly a bit nuts. So much shit happens in the span of this film, it’s almost ludicrous. I believe Tom Hardy said in an interview that about forty minutes were cut, and honestly, it does kind of feel like it when some scenes end abruptly and some plot points just happen so fast. All that being said, the movie is still pretty straightforward and simple, and while there are bumps the ride is mostly enjoyable.

This really comes down to the absolutely brilliant and bonkers performance from Tom Hardy. Muttering in some completely unknown accent and just having the most epic freakouts and reactions imaginable, he seems to be channeling Jim Carrey from the 90s in this film, and I mean that as the highest compliment. While Eddie Brock is a bit cookie cutter in terms of character archetype, Hardy injects quite a bit of charm and likability while still making Brock a flawed but still likable character. Brock is a lot nicer than usual, but he broke into his fiancee’s computer for private files and ended up getting her fired and is okay with Venom eating people he deems as evil, so it’s clear Brock isn’t 100% nice. It really shows that a lot of Hardy’s performance was improvised, and frankly I think that was for the best; Hardy knows what he’s doing, and it pays off well as even in the duller moments Hardy carries this film.

The bickering friendship between Brock and Venom is really amusing, and Venom himself when he shows up is cool. Frankly there’s a lot of homoerotic tension here, which culminates in Venom possessing Eddie’s former flame and making out with him (as I’m sure you’ve already heard everywhere; it makes more sense in context). I guess that level of closeness just comes from being a symbiote. The best part of it all though is Venom’s eventual rationale for becoming a good guy: Venom was a loser on his home planet, just like Eddie, but together they’re a lot cooler. I am not fucking kidding. Seeing such a bizarre and silly rationale played straight like that (or IS it being played straight?) is so absolutely endearing to me; a lot of the stuff in this movie is like that.

The action is mostly ok, but it’s not anything too special. I think that neutering the film to a PG-13 was a huge mistake on Sony’s part, because they could have had a very impressive amount of black comedy on their hands. Oh, there’s still some good dark jokes here and there, but I feel like it would have been so much better if all the gory glory was on display. If they are gonna do Carnage, as the mid-credits scene teases, they better be prepared to up that rating because a neutered Venom is one thing, but a neutered Carnage is inexcusable. But yeah, the action is a bit generic but passable, which is also what can be said for the evil symbiote Riot. He’s an okay villain, but not amazing or anything. You’ll probably be wishing they had just made Carnage the bad guy, though I do have to give them props for using a character that not many people know about. I always like when comic book movies utilize less well known characters.

Overall, this film is a lot of goofy, cheesy fun. It is by no means a perfect film, but I do think it lays a decent foundation for sequels, and most importantly, unlike Sony’s previous attempts to make a Spider-Man movie, this film is very standalone and doesn’t try and shoehorn in a bunch of elements for an expanded universe like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did. So props for that Sony, you’re slowly learning! I’d definitely say check this out, especially if you’re a more casual comic book movie fan or are a big fan of cheesy early 2000s style superhero movies; I will say this is a lot more Raimi Spider-Man than theatrical Daredevil or Catwoman at least. If you’re a hardcore Venom nut who is appalled that he could be PG-13, just skip this and wait to see if they release an extended cut, because I think if there is one it could help the film be a lot better. Bottom line, it’s a fun film if you’re in the right mind for it, and I do think there is enough genuinely good elements to keep it from being bad enough to be “so bad it’s good;” with a little more polish this film could have been genuinely great, and I definitely think sequels can improve upon what was laid out here.

If nothing else, this is 100% genuinely better than the last time Venom appeared in a live-action film. I may have forgiven Spider-Man 3 for a lot of its sins to be able to find it unironically decent… but some  stains just run too deep to ever be fully cleansed. Topher Grace Venom is one such stain.

[smolfangirl]

You should take it as a compliment and think about the consequence

I am super tired so here are the basics: The title is a little mix from Taylor Swift’s “Gorgeous”, the whole OS is not proofread and I want to thank @silveranchor for helping me figure the plot out and @huffletiika especially for Gastón’s opinion on Matteo’s appearance. Also, the basic idea comes from this post.

Matteo Balsano was mainly three things.

First, good-looking. The kind that filled Luna with rage and gave her the desire to melt into a puddle at his feet as soon as she set eyes on him. The kind with soft brown curls and chocolate eyes, along with a smile bright enough to count as a hazard. (Not for her eyes, but for her heart.)

Second, a snob. A true chico fresa. Damn, his attitude raised all flags, it crossed lines she never even knew existed. It made her lose her mind when he smirked at her, raised eyebrow and all, with this sophisticated audacity. Worse enough, he knew exactly she fought against windmills when she tried to ignore him or compete against this level of smugness.

But the worst? The worst thing was it also made him so much more attractive.

Lastly, and least, Matteo was not hers.

Luna had grown used to that. To the rush of blood and flustered cheeks and tight feelings in her chest. To the many, many daydreams involving him. She harvested these ideas as if they were precious seeds in her own little secret garden. These seeds never turned into anything, she knew that, they’d always died at the light of reality. Except for this one drunk night, but alcohol – no matter how sweet it tasted – killed plants, and this one dreamy plant was no difference.

Months after this incident, she stole a quick glance at him when he entered the room and turned away again. She chuckled at his comments and threw him off with a single sentence. In boring classes at university, she let her mind wander to a universe where he wanted her as much as she did. And it was enough to keep her happy.

Luna considered it a lucky coincidence that she saw him before training started. Running late, he hurried to his locker to put his skates on, hair slightly messy and breaths that came out as little pants. He barely noticed her. She, however, did. She noticed the glasses he threw into his backpack without a care, the way his hand ruffled through his curls in a rushed attempt to fix them and she noticed the stubbles on his cheeks, creating an illusion of shadows that hadn’t been there before.

It looked the hottest.

Her heart stopped for a moment. Then, the adrenaline pulsed through her veins like she went on a rollercoaster, but she forced herself to stay put until Matteo left again.

By the time she reached the rink, she felt stable enough to not swoon at his view.

“So”, Yam sat next to Luna on the bleachers, an expectant glimpse in her eyes that both confused and scared her. Training had been over long enough for the others to disappear, and Luna only wanted to send Matteo the song of their choreography like she’d promised.

“So what?”, she asked, attention still on the phone. The curiosity in Yam’s voice made her careful, and she’d learned the advantages of creating a quick distraction.

“How did you like Matteo’s beard?”

Luna huffed. “I wouldn’t call it a beard just because he didn’t shave for once.” Obviously, Yam refused to let this topic go yet. This girl showed a persistence that gave her songs their greatness and her designed outfits their beauty, but right now, it only gave Luna cold sweats. “I’ve seen the way you looked at him. Jim too, actually, I’m sure everyone saw it except for your chico fresa.”

“Well, he does look good with it”, Luna admitted, although it felt like the biggest understatement. Matteo didn’t look good, he looked gorgeous. As if he starred in a perfect romance movie, with a perfect girl and a perfect happy ending. Every time their eyes met during skating, Luna wished she was brave enough to lean forward and run his hand across his jaw, to explore the feeling the stubbles would give her.

Her hand clenched around her phone. By the stars, she wanted to shout at him for daring to be so stunning. For stealing her heart and her mind and her sanity.

“Just good?”, Yam countered.

“Ugh, okay, Matteo’s too much to handle”, her hand only increased its grip on her screen, a little more and she’d get a cramp, but she rambled on, overwhelmed by the hurricane inside her. “If he keeps growing it, I think I’d have to fuck him, someone needs to stop him from being so… so pretty.”

Yam stared at her. Chin pushed back a bit, shoulders straight and eyes solely focused on Luna as if she had told her a disturbing secret. Then, her expression softened, and she leaned against Luna’s shoulder. “You’re in deep, huh?”

Luna sighed. “Too deep. He just talks to me and my brain fries. At least he told me he has to study for his final exam, so I won’t see him the next days. I have no idea how I’d survive this beard phase otherwise.”  

“Luna’s in loooove”, Yam teased, a laugh so loud on her lips that she immediately got shushed. “Shh! Don’t scream this around, okay? If you tell anyone…”

“He might hear it and end your suffering?”

“Oh boy, I will never tell you anything ever again.”

16:05

1 audio message from Chica delivery

“If he keeps growing it, I think I’d have to fuck him, someone needs to stop him –“

Message received 16:05

Message played 16:18

It was way into the evening. Luna finished her assignments, read some parts of her class lecture and now laid on her bed, bra off and leggings on. The day ran through her head, classes, lunch in the university cafeteria, training, stubbles. Stubbles.

Matteo. The song!

Pausing the movie on her laptop, Luna jumped up to grab her phone. No missed messages, which surprised her. Usually, if she forgot something, Matteo wouldn’t let her live. (This cockiness. No wonder he managed to mess with her so well, he was a natural.)

That’s when she saw the voice message.

16:05, that was after training. But she felt certain she hadn’t send it to him over her embarrassing meltdown in front of Yam.

Frowning, she pressed Play. A few seconds later, pure horror filled her whole body.

22:25

1 message from Chica delivery

This voice message was an accident, I’m really sorry, I have no idea how this happened

Message received 22:26

Message read 22:33

The idiot didn’t answer.

He read her apology, and half an hour later, he still made no attempt at replying. No ‘It’s okay, don’t worry’, no teasing. Not even teasing!

Just silence in which Luna discovered her personal hell.

With every second that passed without a reply, she found herself closer to the edge. The ground under her feet crumbled away and the painful realization hit her that soon she’d be falling, no safety net attached, no control.

At least she hadn’t said his name – Luna had checked the audio multiple times. Hearing these words out of her mouth shocked herself, she didn’t dare to imagine Matteo’s reaction to them. How bad did it have to be that he didn’t text her, not even to ask who she was talking about?

Oh no.

Matteo was as smart as he was pretty. It was simply a matter of time until he figured it out.

If he hadn’t already.

By now, their friendship probably already belonged to the past.

“Ah, I see your shaver is still missing. Or do you still have no time to use it?”

“Cut it, I need your opinion on something important.” Matteo walked into the apartment of his best friend, not giving a single damn about how rude he might sound. This was an emergency, had been for two days, and he almost failed his exam because of this.  

“Is it about this dead animal in your face? Or whatever it is”, Gastón grinned. Matteo settled on sending him an annoyed look before he let himself fall onto the couch. “Just kidding”, his best friend said, “It really suits you, you look even more handsome than usual.”

“Thank you.” It sounded hoarse, the lack of sleep took its toll after all, besides he wasn’t really interested in what anyone thought about his beard. Except for one person.

“Okay, why do you need my help?” Gastón sat down. Instead of explaining, Matteo decided to just play the voice message. He still searched for the right answer, and Luna hadn’t texted him either, maybe too embarrassed, maybe even over this little incident already. Anyway, it was easy to find the message.

“If he keeps growing it, I think I’d have to fuck him, someone needs to stop him –“

Despite all the times Matteo listened to Luna’s voice, to her words, they caused a shiver on his spine. He never heard her talk like this before. Never. Call him naïve, he never thought she’d be capable of talking like this. After all, she was sweet little Luna, his little ray of sunshine.

Over and over again he pondered over the meaning of this. His head felt worn out from studying and internally arguing whether she meant him or not, the sleep deprivation didn’t help either. He needed Gastón to reach a conclusion.

“Why again did you two only made out once?”, said boy asked as a hint of annoyance slipped into his tone. “Oh, right, because you are like lesbian sheep incapable of making a move.”

For a painfully long moment, Matteo wondered if he a) fell asleep and ended up in a weird dream that felt way too realistic or b) Gastón went nuts in the few days they hadn’t seen each other.

“What?”

“I’m saying, don’t be a lesbian sheep! Make a move!” (He settled on option B.)

Matteo stared at his phone, the chat with Luna still open. His mind flew back, to this afternoon. They hadn’t talked much, less even compared to how much time they usually spent in each other’s company. And with a sense of shame he admitted to himself that he never considered it an option for her to be into someone. Someone that wasn’t him.

He put his phone away. “What if she’s not talking about me? I mean, it could be just wishful thinking.”

Gastón frowned, his usual expression when he disagreed with Matteo, and this time, Matteo couldn’t blame him. For Gastón, this seemed to be crystal-clear, there was no room on the picture in his mind for a cloud of doubts. “Even if it is, one look at you like this and she will jump you.”

“Dude.”

“I’m just saying!”

She made peace with herself.

Matteo had an important exam, and the last one of this semester at that, of course he didn’t answer. He simply was too busy.

That’s what she told herself, and if doubt tore these excuses apart, she slowly accepted the inevitable death of her dignity.

It was early Saturday morning, she watched Netflix in her pajamas and with enough ice cream for breakfast to freeze her brain. It was a good morning - until someone rang at her door.

It wasn’t just someone. When she opened the door, she found Matteo himself in front of her. With a three-day beard.

She couldn’t help but stare.

“… Fuck.” Although she never meant to, the word slipped. Her cheeks heated up, and she condemned herself for not putting a bra on before opening, or at least a bathrobe. Compared to him, in perfectly fitting jeans and a light blue shirt, she felt too vulnerable, naked.

Matteo raised one eyebrow, his face the picture-perfect definition of smugness and his voice carrying his question in a mix of sweetness and confidence that made her shiver. “Fuck you or fuck me, which one is it, Luna?”

She stepped back, arms crossed in front of her chest. His eyes followed her movement and she really, really wished she would have gotten dressed. It got worse when the space between them decreased as he closed the door behind him and walked in, only stopping at what wasn’t even an arm length in front of her. (Not even half an arm length.)

“No – nothing”, she whispered.

Her brain went through a short-circuit pretty much the moment she saw him – the ice cream freeze gave her the rest – and she both admired and hated Matteo for keeping his cool at the same time she was about to lose all self-control and jump him.

“Are you sure?”, he wanted to know, “Because from what I heard, and I quote…” She interrupted him before a single word she said in that awful record could leave his mouth. “Come on, I told you it was an accident!” A sigh hushed past her lips, it sounded too heavy for someone as young and cheerful as Luna. “I knew you’d be a fresa about it, I knew it, you are just unbelievable and I didn’t even tell you I was talking about you –“

For the second time this week, she froze. Blinked. Looked away only to steal a glimpse at him.

He grinned.

She looked away again. Her face felt hot, she’d bet he could cook an egg on her forehead now if he was hungry. Matteo looked hungry, sort of.

But not for eggs. Or anything else to be found in a kitchen.

He leaned in. His breath tickled her skin, he glanced down at her lips and at the same time she met his eyes, her knees began trembling. Before she could fall, his arms secured her, holding her. Instantly, she wrapped her own arms around his neck, almost casually stroking his jawline in the process.

It felt better than she ever imagined.

Her back hit something hard, the door, but it didn’t matter, because Matteo’s lips hovered over hers, too close to back away anytime soon.

Luna closed her eyes.

She didn’t daydream about being more than just a friend to him anymore.

[little-red-2404]

As You Wish (Cisco x Reader) Part Two

For @dontwishonme, here’s the second part to your request! I hope you like it!

Btw, if any of you also want to be tagged to this short fic, let me know! This fic surprisingly got a lot of good feedback!

Request: Could I please request a Cisco X reader where the two of then are both in denial about their feelings for each other, so music Meister steps in, but instead of being trapped in a musical they end up in a fantasy adventure movie like the princess bride. And they have to follow the story and confess their feelings to escape? Thank you! <3     

Chapter 2        

The next day you were awoken by noise in the room next door. You only stirred slightly, not really disturbed by what was going on, although you live alone. Until, you turned my head and was faced with a television that wasn’t yours; still playing the intro to The Princess Bride. Blinking several times, you sat up a little, wondering when it was you fell asleep on your couch.

That is, ‘till you realized it wasn’t your couch.

In that moment, the sound of a door opening had you looking up to meet Cisco’s eyes as he rushed out of his bedroom. When his eyes met yours, his feet came up almost a foot of the ground and he let out a really high-pitched squeal that you did not know men could conjure. That’s when you remembered what happened the night before. Going over to Cisco’s for movie night and having to tuck him in bed when the chance to kiss and confess wasn’t happening, and then you returned to his couch to finish the movie…

Guess the movie finished without me…You thought, glancing down at your state of being. You suddenly felt very self-aware of the fact that you had fallen asleep in your jeans which were now wrinkled and your Harry Potter t-shirt which had rode up a bit while you slept.

Blushing, you were quick to pull your shirt down as you began to worry about the rest of your appearance. Your hair was known to look like a rat’s nest in the morning and you prayed to God you didn’t have any bags under your eyes or sleep in your eyelashes. Quickly rubbing your eyes, you attempted to apologize to your friend who was leaning against the wall, hand on his chest, trying to relax after somewhat scaring himself.

“S-sorry…” You stuttered. “I-I was going to go home… I didn’t mean to fall asleep here…”

Once Cisco caught his breath, you could have sworn there was a tinge of pink on his cheeks. “N-no, it’s fine. Really. I just didn’t realize you were still here… You slept on the couch?” When you gave a nod of your head in answer, he frowned. “You shouldn’t have done that,” you started to apologize again before he added, “You should have slept in my room.”

You flushed slightly, feeling the heat rise in your face and your heart thudding in your ears again. Had he just told you that you should have slept next to him last night? Would he really have been comfortable with that?

“You could have left me on the couch.” He finally finished, rushing into the kitchen. “It’s rude of me to have my guest sleep on the couch.”

Ah, that’s what he meant…You took a deep breath, trying to rid the thought of being in Cisco’s room, under his covers, sharing his pillow which probably smelled like him. Tucked under his arm, enveloped in his warmth, resting your forehead against his chest as he kisses your head and says--.

“What are you doing?” He asked, snapping your back into reality. Holding out half a bagel to you, the other half he was currently chewing on.

“Um…”

He sighed, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I’m going to be so late!”

“You work today?” You asked, grateful for a change of subject.

“Yeah and I overslept!”

“I’ll drive.” You offered, getting up from the couch, nibbling on the bagel he gave you.

“You don’t have to.”

You shrugged your shoulders as you put on your shoes by the front door. “I want to.” I don’t want to leave you just yet. “Besides, I haven’t seen the team in a few days, want to say hi.”

 Once you made it into Star Labs, Cisco said he’d meet up with you in the cortex later. “I’ve got to check on a few things in my lab. I’ll be there in a second.”

“Oh, oka--.” Before you could finish your sentence, every fiber in your being froze.

Of course, you had pictured what Cisco’s lips might feel like, but to have them actually touch your cheek was a whole new story. His breath was soft against your skin as he pulled you back and it mingled with the heat that had already rose to your face. Had he really just given you a kiss? On the lips or not, you were definitely not upset about it. However, before you could smile and express your gratitude towards the simple gesture, you notice his wide eyes and tinted-red cheeks.

“I don’t know why I did that.” He admitted under his breath. “S-sorry! That probably crossed a line!” He gave you a nervous laugh, backing away from you, “Won’t happen again!” Then he hit the wall, with that he laughed and turned on his heel, practically sprinting down the hallway, leaving you in a confused, disappointed mess.

What was that…?

You didn’t even bother hiding your feelings as you walked into the cortex with a frown. Barry was the first to spot you, and not yet noticing your sulking posture, he greeted you cheerfully like he usually does.

“Hey, Y/N.” It wasn’t until you didn’t respond that he had noticed your low mood. “You okay?”

With that, Caitlin turned in her chair to also peer up at you. “Y/N, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you lied.

“Nothing” didn’t last long, because as soon as Barry was distracted with something else, Caitlin was at your hip, ready to ask questions.

“So,” she started, “Did you tell him last night?”

“No.”

She sighed, “How come?”

“Because he doesn’t like me like that…” After that, you had to reluctantly tell her about what happened just a few minutes prior.

Her eyebrows were raised far up her head, “Why would he kiss your cheek then?”

You shrugged your shoulders, avoiding her curious, confused eyes. “Don’t know, but it sounded like he regretted it, so…”

You got a glance of her sympathetic smile before she began to apologize. “Well, I’m sorry, Y/N. I really did think he liked you back…”

“It’s fine. I told you, we’ve always just been friends anyways.”

The red-head let it go for a while after that, not bringing it up anymore as you worked to help Barry with “small” task like house fires and car chases, and kittens stuck in the tree. It wasn’t until things calmed down a little that she spoke up.

“We should hang out tonight.” She suggested. You thought you saw a shade of pink brush her cheeks before she added, “Actually… I’m going to this speed dating thing at Jitters tonight, if you want to come with?” She sighed, “It’d actually help my nerves a lot.”

Your eyes widen a little in surprise, “You’re doing speed dating?”

She looked bashful for a second as she shrugged her shoulders, her red hair bouncing in the process. “Iris convinced me to do it, honestly. She was going to go, but apparently things have been going well in her love life lately.”

“Wish I could say the same…” You mumbled.

She giggled, “Then come with me!”

You rummaged your mind for excuses, anything that would do, but as you looked at your friend who waited patiently with hopeful eyes, you sighed.

Aw, what the hell. What’s the worst that could happen?

 You sported yourself in something classy and comfy. A nice, soft-fabric dress to your knees, sleeves stopping at the elbows, and only a slight low-cut to look good but nowhere near “club-ready.” Nothing too revealing, because you didn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. This night was strictly to support your best friend and meet new people. You were definitely NOT going home with anyone tonight.

You met up with Caitlin at the front of Jitters and complimented her immediately. She had curled her red-hair which hung down to her shoulders and wore bright red lipstick that you never imagined she even owned. She wore a dress shorter than yours that sparkled under the lights hanging outside of the coffee shop, and for a second, you had to wonder if you were underdressed. But when a group of girls walked in with nothing but jeans and a t-shirt, you relaxed.

You’re only here for your friend, relax…

Entering the coffee shop, they had arranged some of the tables to be parallel to each other and placed numbers at each of the tables. That’s when Caitlin held out a sheet of paper that almost looked like a ticket to some concert.

“I’m at table 12,” she told you. “Right next to your table.”

You glanced down at the 13 on the ticket before nodding in understanding. You both took your seats as the director of the event began explaining everything. You tried to do your best to focus, but honestly, you were very distracted.

You could help wonder what was going through Cisco’s head when he kissed your cheek. Which then lead you to think about what it would feel like if he had kissed your lips. Then you thought about your daydream during your guys movie night, and how you wouldn’t have to be sitting at table 13 if things had gone the way you had hoped they would.

And then, before you knew it, dates were being handed to you left and right.

You met Jim who loves to play guitar and Richard who owns a nice car, and James who just moved to town, and Liam whose ex-girlfriend cheated on him, and Harry who had a tattoo of a cat on his shoulder, and--.

“Hello.” You couldn’t help but admit that this guy was attractive. Tall-ish, dark, curly hair with nice eyes and a bright smile. Cisco’s smile flashed through your mind and you were quick to shake it off because you had just been spoken to and you didn’t want to be rude.

“Hi, I’m (fake name),” you said, shaking his hand. After about the fifth guy you met, you reminded yourself you weren’t really here to find a date, so formalities weren’t really important to you at the moment. You felt a little bad, considering these guys were pouring some really personal (and odd) information at you all night, but you still couldn’t shake Cisco off your mind.

“(Fake name)? Really?” He asked, chuckling slightly.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, you raised an eyebrow in his direction. “Yes. Why?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. You really don’t look like a (fake name), Y/N.”

When your name left his lips, you froze once more that day. You could feel your hands shaking in your lap and you tried not to show too much surprise, but your eyes were wide and the shock was written all over your face.

“How do you know my name…?” You asked, eyeing the man suspiciously.

He grinned at you, a gleam of mischief in his eyes. “You see, the secret is…” He leaned a little over the table to whisper, “I know everything. Like how you don’t want to be here.” He nods his head in Caitlin’s direction, “How you’re only here to support Caitlin who is doing this in an attempt to get over her dead fiancée, Ronnie. How Iris gave her the ticket and then when Eddie and she got back together, she gave her the second one which now you have. AND how none of these guys have caught your attention because you’re still head over heels for Francisco Ramon.” Before you could speak again, he added, “Except you think I’m cute. Thank you.”

Narrowing your eyes, feeling an extreme dislike for this stranger who suddenly knew you and your friend’s personal lives, you spit out, “Who are you exactly?”

“Oh, where are my manners?!” He leaned back in his seat, looking far too comfortable as he fixed the collar of his shirt. “YOU can call me The Music Meister.”

“The who?”

“Oh, Y/N, Y/N, Y/N.” He leaned forward again, giving you a tad smirk, making you wish you knew what he was thinking. “Boy, do I have plans for this next story…”

“I’m sorry, but wh--?” You cut yourself short when you noticed something new in his eyes. Something you couldn’t quite put into words. But it was hypnotizing. And before you knew it, you were falling towards those dark orbs of his, almost like a black hole sucking you into an unknown destination.

And you continued falling, and falling, and falling….

[asherlockstudy]

THE SIX THATCHERS: the deliberate flaw of an otherwise brilliant episode

This post is:

an explanation of the episode from my viewpoint

a review

an analysis of Mary’s character and its point in the narrative

a comparison with previous episodes

an analysis of the dynamics of the third series

my eternal faith in Moftiss being restored again

basically a lot of things

There are only two problems in the Six Thatchers or, better, two categories of problems. The first could be avoided and unfortunately caused frustration to both avid fans and more neutral viewers. The second is deliberate, not because Gatiss wanted necessarily to confuse the fandom, but simply because it couldn’t be avoided and it would longterm serve the main plot. Allow me to explain:

The first problem is the direction. To be completely fair, direction is not always bad and I certainly do not mean the imagery (the shark scene after Mary’s death is a piece of art). It certainly improves after the middle of the episode. But the first half of TST is a crazily paced, exhausting editing or perhaps butchering of various different scenes that the viewer would probably wish to enjoy for a little longer. I understand that the episode had to deal with a lot of different threads of the plot (the present and the past) but perhaps it would be a wiser choice to get a few extra minutes like they did with the Final Problem. The fast pacing doesn’t allow us to feel engaged in what is going on or get once again properly attached to the characters. It also complicates our earnest efforts to understand the plot, especially since TST is in no way one of the easiest Sherlock stories to grasp. I include in this category a slight fall I might have noticed in the chemistry amongst all the actors - hopefully it’s because of the lack of undisturbed screentime together. 

The second flaw is the cause of all the chaos in the fandom and beyond, the cause of all the vastly different theories and the cause of all the contradictory reviews. I think I might have never seen another movie or TV episode get so many 2 star and 10 star ratings at the same time! 

Well, without taking into consideration personal tastes (i.e. how much someone invests in Mary being a villain) the main objective problem that has caused all the mess is this one:  TST does not follow the plotline of His Last Vow. It does not bind well or even barely fits in the concept of HLV. It does not answer the questions His Last Vow raised. But you know what? No first episode of any Sherlock series ever did. 

A Scandal In Belgravia ended the pool scene of The Great Game in a rushed messy way and continued without ever bringing this issue back or analyzing Moriarty’s behaviour at the pool. 

The Empty Hearse joked around and frustrated the fans by completely avoiding to explain what truly happened in The Reichenbach Fall.

The Six Thatchers focused on Mary’s ambiguous character. Offered insight into her past and the ghosts haunting her, the inevitable conclusion of the life she chose and completed her story arc (?) with a, honestly, beautiful redemption scene. But, as ever, remained silent as to why really Mary shot Sherlock, why she was so terrified of Magnussen’s blackmails if she truly believed the rest of the agents had died, why she always looked so alarmed every time Moriarty’s name was mentioned. Basically remained silent about everything that truly confuses and intrigues the fandom - Why?

Could it be that Moftiss are so bad at creating decent first episodes? Nah.

I have made a post about it: The decompression of the Sherlock cliffhangers has not started yet. It’s the same old thing happening once again with The Six Thatchers.

What I think must be accepted is that Mary was never meant to be a main character. She was never meant to be a main villain either. She’s technically not even the main villain in her villain episode where the official Big Baddie is Magnussen and, then, both of them get beaten in a battle of impressions by an MP and a bad video of Jim Moriarty.

In my opinion, there is a nuance that is almost never discussed: Mary’s character is not as important for the story as Mary’s involvement to what maybe is what we call the main plot. What I mean is that Mary as a character couldn’t stay longer, she shouldn’t stay longer, because this would inescapably lead to an imbalance of the successful concept BBC Sherlock’s showrunners had and A.C. Doyle had before them. Even if Mary was meant to be a Big Villain, this would be a rather quaint twist of the story. In case the show ends in a romance, this suggests that Gatiss and Moffat couldn’t think of anything else but make every woman or romantic antagonist a villain just to desperately defend that Sherlock and John’s relationship is a good concept. I’m fully aware Mary being a villain is one of the most popular and beloved theories but excuse me for saying that this kind of plot twist seems a bit childish to me. In my opinion, they have already made villains (canonically established villains) romantic antagonists but if they also made a romantic antagonist obligatorily villain by default, this would be laughable at the least and would expose Moftiss’ panic to prove that this gay relationship is good and ideal. And that’s my problem. You should never need to prove such a thing, let alone make a (female) character look bad so that your love story can look better. In whatever way I look at it, it’s a bad idea.

So why did they introduce Mary in the first place?

 Mary’s introduction was the best (or least bad) idea for Series 3. You need to have in mind that there is an ongoing basic plot. If the plot is heavily dependent on characters such as Jim Moriarty, Mycroft Holmes or even Sherrinford, then Gatiss and Moffat couldn’t proceed with it in the third series. If Jim Moriarty returned back from the dead at the same time with Sherlock, the plot would end up ludicrous. If Mycroft Holmes revealed his ulterior motives in Series 3 or if there was the main villain introduced for the first time at this point, the character development of Sherlock and John wouldn’t be able to catch up on time. In other words, if the Main Villain appeared in, say, The Sign of Three, the viewers wouldn’t be able to buy the importance of the character or understand what makes this villain comparatively more impactful on Sherlock and John’s lives than Jim Moriarty was in seven episodes. Whether Moriarty is alive and the main villain or not, Moftiss needed the time to build up the expectations of the viewers and also develop Sherlock and John’s relationship accordingly for a next level of drama. In short, they needed a break in which they would focus on Sherlock and John and refresh the need and the interest of the audience for a specific, consistent plot. They want to top their own game.

But the plot shouldn’t go back to what Series 1 was because then Series 4 would give the impression that it jumped out of nowhere. Moftiss didn’t wish lack of plot for Series 3 - they wanted it to be subtle and eventually build the expectations for the very dramatic and plot-wise specific Series 4. So they still had to move on and change the data between Sherlock and John. That’s where Mary got in. Mary is the most important feature of the most understated part of the plot. Admittedly, this means something that some people hate; Mary’s character was used for the sake of Sherlock and John’s relationship. True, but it’s unfair to call Gatiss and Moffat misogynists for that. Technically, 95% of the characters and plot points in BBC Sherlock first and foremost affect Sherlock and John’s relationship. Since the core of this show has always been the relationship between Sherlock and John, it is absolutely normal that most parts of the plot orbit around them and there is no need to wave fingers and call everything misogynistic. In my opinion, Moffat and Gatiss tried to exactly avoid such connotations by making Mary a very interesting, flawed, complex, shady, ambiguous, intelligent and competent character that after all brought a lot of dramatic changes in Sherlock and John’s lives. Moftiss upped the game very much compared to the original Mary Morstan of A.C.D canon. If they made her an one-dimensional character that suddenly died in childbirth to leave Sherlock and John go on with their lives, then yes, that would be misogynistic. 

Gatiss even darkened John’s character a lot in order to give Mary a very bold redemption arc in an episode where both Gatiss and Abbington play with the viewers’ impressions about Mary’s allegiances until the very end (and beyond...). The episode was focused on Mary and brought out the complexity of her character exactly in order to show the appropriate respect for her contribution to the whole story - but she was never meant to be one of the three - four characters that actually are the foundations of this story. In this way, Gatiss kept everything balanced. 

The Six Thatchers was a beatiful tribute to Mary but didn’t address the links of her character to the basic plot as this would reveal the story and its climax before its time. 

The Six Thatchers purposefully ignored: 

Why Mary tried to kill Sherlock although she genuinely looked regretful in TST

Why Mary was so terrified of Magnussen’s blackmails

Why Mary looked so alarmed every time Moriarty was mentioned

Why Sherlock decided to help her after realising she did try to kill him

Why after that incident, Magnussen started blackmailing an incapacitated Sherlock instead of Mary

Janine’s role

Why Sherlock came up with lies to support Mary in front of John

John’s ambiguous behaviour when he forgave her

Why Sherlock remains so adamantly protective of her 

However the Six Thatchers still hinted at:

John never truly trusting her anymore

Mary always fearing that Sherlock would eventually confront her for something other than her Tbilisi past (meeting him with drugs)

Mary again looking worried at the mention of Moriarty’s name

Mycroft admitting that he controlled AGRA in the past

Mycroft implying that he knows about Mary’s enemies and problems

Mycroft looking amused by it

Mycroft lowkey indirectly threatening her in front of Sherlock

So there are many things that I hope and think they remain intentionally untold.  Whatever is untold is what perhaps links Mary to characters like Mycroft, Magnussen and Moriarty (and Sherrinford maybe), so all these couldn’t possibly be addressed in the first episode because they would expose the core of the plot they keep so carefully secret for The Final Problem. Yet Mary as a secondary character with a predetermined end couldn’t stay as long as TFP and Gatiss dealt with this problem by giving the viewers a lot of insight into her character without answering the burning questions. 

Whoever Mary worked for, it doesn’t matter enough to change the validity of her redemption arc though. Think of it this way; it doesn’t matter who is a villain. What matters is whose pressure point Sherlock is. Whether Mary worked for Moriarty or Mycroft, by shooting Sherlock, both of them would eventually turn against her. Neither Mycroft NOR MORIARTY would want Sherlock dead, especially at this point. That’s why Mycroft looks almost amused at the thought of Mary having a permanent retirement and Sherlock darkly responds this will never happen while he is around. In a sense, Mycroft expresses his hate for what Mary has done but Sherlock keeps protecting and defending her. Whomever Mary was working for, she tried to weaken her boss by killng Sherlock. So perhaps she tried to destroy Moriarty or protect John from Moriarty that night. If Moriarty is alive, John is in constant danger as long as Sherlock is close to him and this fact doesn’t change, no matter if Mary worked for Moriarty or Mycroft. That’s the only way it makes sense to me but who knows. 

What’s important is that we will certainly learn more about her and how she was connected to the great scheme of things. This doesn’t mean that she’ll come back alive and I strongly doubt that the next episodes will make us change our mind once again about her allegiances. 

If this is the case, the plot of Six Thatchers couldn’t be better than it is. It is the evolution of The Empty Hearse for both episodes turn a blind eye to the requests for an explanation until the time comes for it. 

[tune-collective]

James' Tim Booth on 'Sit Down' Soundtracking New 'Game of Thrones' Trailer: 'You're Very Happy to Be in Their Hands'

James' Tim Booth on 'Sit Down' Soundtracking New 'Game of Thrones' Trailer: 'You're Very Happy to Be in Their Hands'

Fans getting their first taste of the upcoming seventh season of HBO’s flagship action drama Game of Thrones via the show’s new trailer were greeted with an extremely unexpected musical accompaniment: a haunting remix of “Sit Down,” the early ’90s anthem from British alt-rock group James.

Though James is likely more familiar to American audiences via their 1993 smash “Laid,” it was actually “Sit Down” that marked their biggest hit in their home country, peaking at No. 2 on the U.K. charts in 1991. And while the group has licensed “Laid” for many movies and TV shows in the past — including for several of the films in the American Pie franchise — they’ve been relatively restrained with allowing use of the more serious “Sit Down.” But, as huge Thrones watchers, they couldn’t resist the opportunity.

“We trusted the makers of Game of Thrones with ‘Sit Down,’ because quite frankly, they haven’t put a foot wrong,” frontman Tim Booth says. “It’s the best adaptation of a book that I’ve ever seen, and stands alongside it as genius.”

Booth discussed the trailer, as well as his favorite Thrones characters, and James’ progress on their next album — the band’s 15th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxWfvtnHtS0

Can you tell me how and when you were first approached about the Game of Thrones trailer?

Maybe four months ago, we were told they wanted to use “Sit Down” in the trailer. We had protected that song for years from advertising, because we knew it was dear to a lot of people’s hearts, so we only allowed it to be used in a couple of things. But Game of Thrones… Jimmy [Jim Glennie] — our bass player, who I wrote this with, along with two other guys —  Jimmy’s read all the books, I’ve read all the books, I’ve seen the show a couple of times with my wife, with my kids, and I love it.

I’ve written about it actually. The NME interviewed me, and they had a big piece interviewing musicians who loved Game of Thrones and what they anticipated the outcome to be.

What predictions did you make?

It was the last series, and I got the Jon Snow bit right — coming back and all of that. It’s not predictable; that’s what’s so good about the show. For me, you’ve got Harry Potter and you’ve got Dickens, and then you’ve got Game of Thrones in terms of the anticipation in which people are waiting for the next installment. It’s an old tradition of that level, around the world, people really want to know what’s next. And they’ve managed to maintain through killing off major characters to being unpredictable. Being more true to life than true to morality, or how we wish things to turn out. The show is more about how things usually turn out, which is never quite as you expect, and with a few casualties on the way.

Did they say anything about why they wanted to use “Sit Down”?

Not really. You know, we’ve been doing this for a long time. You get some amazing offers, and a lot of them fall away at the last minute. I kind of assume they probably had six songs, that they told six bands they were going to use [their song]. We totally assumed they would “medieval” the song — they would take it and do something radical with it that fit their style more. We were looking forward to it.

I remember the episode with Joffrey’s wedding, where they have Sigur Rós playing at the bar at his wedding, and he kind of throws coins at them and thinks they’re crap. It’s a brilliant piece of music, that piece that Sigur Rós did, and we quite hoped that that would happen to us, because we lived with that song for a long time, so we’re quite happy to hear adventurous versions of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew7Zkkucos8

Do you know who did the remixing of it? Were you involved with that process at all?

No. It’s such a great show, you’re very happy to be in their hands at that point. They did do a weird version, that was probably more in keeping with their style. We got sent that probably a month ago, sung by a female singer, and you couldn’t tell it was “Sit Down” until you heard the chorus lyric. It was so different, the chords were different, everything was different about it. It was pure Game of Thrones. We thought, “Great! Bonkers! Fantastically mad!” We were OK with that.

And then about a week ago we got a message saying the producers love James, they’re really attached to the original and want to use the original. And they went back to the original and stripped it down. It took awhile to find the original — they went to a lot of work, because that was about four records companies back [for us]. So they got that, and they effected it and slowed it down a little bit. But it’s pretty much “Sit Down” as we recorded it, and there’s no additions to it, no changes — they’ve just taken a few things out, distorted the guitar a bit, put the vocal back a bit.

When you think of a song in a Game of Thrones context, do you see any sort of themes or lyrics to the song that would speak to the show-runners and make them think, “Oh, this would make sense to lay over shots of Jon Snow and Daenerys”?

I mean, you can see what they’re connecting the song to — it’s the throne, basically, and who’s going to get the throne. So yeah, they’ve used those lyrics, and they clearly loved the lyric “Those who find they’re touched by madness.” Cersei [Lannister] certainly seems to be heading in that direction.

You mention that you’ve given the OK for “Sit Down” to be used in a couple other sync opportunities before. Can you think of any off the top of your head?

No, I can’t. We’ve not let anyone use it for years. It varies from song to song — there are some songs where you go, “OK, this is a light-ish song, it can be used for whatever.”

It seems like “Laid” has been used in a number of movies before.

We’ve had no problem with [licensing] “Laid” — it’s a humorous, 2:20 burst of wit, hopefully. So you know it’s not going to damage someone’s love for that song, hearing it in a different context. Whereas there’s a couple of songs — there’s a James song called “Moving On,” which is about my mom dying, and people are playing it at funerals and people are using it in hospices in England for children who are dying. We’re not going to let that song be used for anything that would abuse that for people, because it’s found its own way to people that need that song.

And “Sit Down” to some degree was a song that people needed, lyrically. You could see in Britain when it came out. It caused a huge stir. We refused to release it in America — the American record company came to us two years after we produced it, and we were like, “No, that’s in our past now. We’re moving on, we’re doing other songs.” So we actually refused to release it in America. It ended up on an album, but it never came out as a single.

Which was economically foolish of us. But that’s James — we’ve always followed our nose, our music… if somebody came along and offered us millions, we might have our arms twisted! But a lot of the time, we say no.

Do you have any favorite characters on the show or plot lines you’re looking forward to next season?

Of course. Tyrion is a big favorite, I think. Definitely Daenerys you want to see on the throne, because she’s the only ruler who seems to be born to it, who seems to have all the qualities that you’d like to follow. If you’re going to follow a leader, Daenerys. Jon Snow is impressive, but he’s a bit stupid. What he did in the battle [against Ramsey Bolton last season] was dumb, so you wouldn’t say he looks like a great leader compared to Daenerys.

And this whole show seems quite — for all its violence, and people complaining about the level of sexuality — it’s very strong women characters who are coming to the throne. You definitely again want Daenerys to be the one that comes out on top. But you know, the great thing about the writing is, there’ll be a price to pay if that happens. You’ll get this, but you’ll also get this. Anything can happen.

And you guys are currently working on a new album. When can we expect that?

Yeah, I don’t know — we’re messing around with it right now. We’ve got all kinds of things going on. James is, for a band that’s 34 years old, we’re kind of having a re-peak. We sold more tickets last year in Britain than we sold when we were massive in the ’90s. We sold 50,000 tickets in a short space of time.

That’s what we’re really proud of, as a band that’s been going on for so long, to be a band that’s still making music that’s challenging us — we’re definitely making music that we’ve never done before. We’re moving into that category of aging acts that still seem to have their creativity intact. That’s always been our goal. It was always like, “Well, can you keep maintaining a standard?,” and we’re really proud of what we’ve done. We know what we’ve created and we’re continuing to do it.

All of our songs are written through improvisation. “Sit Down” was written in a 20-minute jam, and we were laughing so much we had to stop playing it because we knew we’d written a big song. We improvise our new songs and we love our new songs equally, but every so often, you get something that comes through that’s a clear gem. The lyrics weren’t complete in 20 minutes, but I had the chorus and the initial jam and I had bits of the lyric, enough to tell me where it was going. Literally, we were laughing, because we knew we were downloading a really big song and we were giggling so much we couldn’t continue to play it.

This article originally appeared on Billboard.

http://tunecollective.com/2017/04/01/james-tim-booth-sit-soundtracking-new-game-thrones-trailer-youre-happy-hands/

[mrmichaelchadler]

A Lit Fuse: The History of the Mission: Impossible Franchise

With this week’s release of “Mission: Impossible - Fallout,” it is time to accept an increasingly undeniable fact—the “Mission: Impossible” series is quite possibly the standout film franchise of its time. From a financial standpoint, its significance cannot be denied; the first five films in the series—“Mission: Impossible” (1996), “Mission: Impossible II” (2000), “Mission: Impossible III” (2006), “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” (2011) and “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation” (2015)—have pulled in over $2.7 billion dollars and, barring some unforeseen disaster, the new one should put it well over the $3 billion mark. With grosses like that, it would be easy to simply treat the series as a sort of annuity that one could return to every couple of years to make a lot of money simply by repeating the basic formula established by the previous films for as long as audiences are will to pay to see them. And yet, thanks to the combination of things up by adding new and intriguing elements to the mix each time, the unique approaches to the basic material employed by a strong and eclectic string of directors and, of course, the indefatigable efforts of producer/star Tom Cruise to thrill moviegoers by any means necessary, a series that should by all means have become creatively moribund years ago has instead gotten better, craftier and more entertaining with age. If all blockbuster-sized entertainments were even half as ambitious and ingenious as these films have been, moviegoers would be infinitely better off.

The inspiration for the series is, of course, the long-running television series that aired between 1966-1973 that chronicled the globe-trotting adventures of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a secret quasi-government organization of secret agents who went out on missions, should they choose to accept them, that found them going up against enemy spies, dictators and, once budget cuts forced the producers to reduce the scope in later years, homegrown criminal organizations. In the first year of the series, the group was led by Dan Briggs (Steven Hill) but in the second season, the character was dropped and replaced with Jim Phelps (Peter Graves), who would lead the team for the remainder of the series as well as a short-lived revival of the show that appeared in the late 1980s. 

Seen through today’s eyes, the show is more than a bit odd—this was a program in which most of the episodes seemed to involve the IMF working on assassination plots (though in nearly every case, it would be left to someone else to actually pull the trigger so as not to sully the reputations of our heroes) but the terse approach to the material—the characters were all business and almost never delved into their personal lives—was interesting, the labyrinthine plots (which often included multiple layers of deception and elaborate disguises) were fairly complex by contemporary television standards, the cast (which also included the likes of Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Leonard Nimoy, Sam Elliott, Greg Morris and Peter Lupus) did solid work and the theme song by Lalo Schifrin remains a stone-cold classic. 

In the Eighties going into the Nineties, spurned on by the success of the “Star Trek” movies, making big screen versions out of familiar small screen titles suddenly became the rage for a while. With its well-known title and memorable theme music, Paramount Pictures was keen to make a “Mission: Impossible” film but the project remained in limbo until Tom Cruise, at the very apex of his stardom, decided not only to do it but to make it the first effort from his newly-formed production company. Sydney Pollack was attached to the project for a while but eventually it went to Brian De Palma—the notion of the generally iconoclastic filmmaker doing a potential tentpole project of this sort must have seemed strange at the time but his last major box-office success had been an adaptation of another television show, “The Untouchables” (1987). A number of top writers, including Robert Towne, Steve Zaillian and David Koepp, worked on the script but it reportedly went into production without a completed screenplay. There were also rumors of friction during the shoot between Cruise and De Palma that appeared to be tacitly confirmed when De Palma dropped out of the film’s press junket on the eve of its opening.

When audiences first sat down to watch “Mission: Impossible” in May 1996, those with an actual working knowledge of the series must have felt right at home. From the start, the film trotted out the most familiar ingredients—the theme, the opening credits featuring a rapid-fire assortment of clips from the story we were about to see and, most of all, an IMF team once again led by veteran Jim Phelps (now played by Jon Voight) and including his wife, Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), and various experts in their respective fields (played by such familiar faces as Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez). Most importantly, there was point man Ethan Hunt (Cruise) choosing to accept a mission in Prague to recover a top secret list of CIA agents from the American Embassy that requires clever moves, hi-tech gadgetry and, of course, an elaborate disguise or two. Then, in classic De Palma fashion, things quickly go sideways and the once-cocky Ethan is left standing helpless as the rest of his team is killed off one by one and the list vanishes. To make matters worse, when Hunt reports to his superior (Henry Czerny) for debriefing, he learns that the entire mission was a ruse designed to ferret out a mole who was intending on stealing and selling the list to a secretive arms dealer known only as Max—since he was the only survivor, the assumption is that Ethan was the guilty party. He escapes easily enough and, after putting together an ad-hoc team consisting of a couple of disgraced former IMF operatives, computer genius Luther Stickey (Ving Rhames) and pilot Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), and Claire, who survived the attack after all, creates an elaborate plan to steal the real list himself in order to lure the person who framed him while at the same time escaping the pursuit of his former employers. 

The film got reviews that were decent but hardly spectacular with many of them complaining that the storyline was too convoluted for its own good. Therefore, it may come as a shock to people revisiting it for the first time in a while (or those who have never seen it before) to discover just how strong it really is. Yes, the systematic destruction of the IMF team in the opening scenes, coupled with the later revelation that—Spoiler Alert!—it was Phelps himself who was the mole, shocked and outraged fans of the original show (not to mention some of the original stars, who gave interviews to show their displeasure with the film). And yet, this move proved to be as dramatically clever as it was audacious. The times had changed considerably in the years since the original series went off the air and the notion of a clandestine spy agency going on officially unsanctioned missions to mess around in other countries was simply not going to play in the same fashion. By blowing things up in this way, the film managed to clear the decks for a “Mission: Impossible” designed for the current world while managing to throw most moviegoers for a loop early on in the proceedings. 

It is funny to note that this film was once derided for its alleged incoherence because the narrative seems remarkably clean and efficiently told, especially in comparison to what passes for blockbuster filmmaking these days. When it is seen a second time—and this is the rare modern screen spectacular that actually plays better on repeat viewings—one can more clearly see just how smartly written it really is. (I especially love the scene in which Ethan and Phelps reunite and catch each other up on what is happening and Ethan quietly realizing that he is being lied to by his former mentor.) The performances are also quite good as well, which also comes as a surprise since quality acting is not usually the highest priority in films like this. Cruise does an excellent job of playing against his generally cocksure screen persona, Voight adds weight and even a slight degree of poignance to his turn as Phelps and as the mysterious Max, Vanessa Redgrave turns up in a couple of scenes and pretty much steals the show—when she and Cruise have their big scene together, the screen crackles with so much electricity that one wishes that someone could have found a project that would have given them more chances to play off of each other. (The only sort-of disappointment in the cast is Beart, who is nowhere near as electrifying here as she was in films like “Manon of the Spring” or “La Belle Noisseuse” [1991], though that might have something to do with the last-minute deletion of scenes suggest a love triangle between Claire, her husband and Ethan.)

The best thing about “Mission: Impossible”—not to mention one of the key elements that would go on to drive the subsequent films—is the way that a film that was presumably launched primarily as a star project managed to morph, with the approval of the star/producer, into perhaps the most auteur-friendly franchise in operation today. Since it is a film where he was hired to interpret someone else’s material, this is clearly not a “pure” Brian De Palma movie in the manner of such self-generated projects as “Dressed to Kill” (1980), “Blow Out” (1981) or “Femme Fatale” (2002). However, this is one of his most successful attempts at channeling his own particular obsessions into a more overtly commercial framework than is usually found in his more personal efforts. Although not necessarily the kind of story that he might have designed wholly on his own, this story allowed De Palma to tackle subject matter that has long fascinated him, such as voyeurism, technology, mistrust of the very organizations that are supposedly there to protect us and stories that feature unreliable narrators. The film also allows him to demonstrate once again that he is one of the great visual storytellers of our time and includes some of the most memorable extended set pieces of his career. Under normal circumstances, either the opening sabotage in Prague or the climactic fight aboard and on top of a train speeding through the Chunnel would be duly enshrined as the absolute peak moments in the career of an ordinary filmmaker. With De Palma, they aren’t even the high point of the film thanks to the masterful sequence depicting Ethan and his team infiltrating CIA headquarters to steal the list of spies from a room rigged to sound off alarms at even the slightest hint of an intruder in the room—even a simple drop of sweat could do the trick. The entire sequence is a breathtaking wonder that is pretty much a master class in filmmaking all by itself.

When “Mission: Impossible II” came around, Robert Towne was once again pulled into the fold to write the screenplay but the directing reins were passed on to John Woo, the Hong Kong filmmaker who dazzled audiences around the world with such jaw-droppers as “A Better Tomorrow” (1986), “The Killer” (1989) and “Hard Boiled” (1992) before going to Hollywood to make “Hard Target” (1993) and the smash hit “Face/Off” (1997). This time around, the story revolves around Ethan being sent off to track down Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), a rogue IMF agent who has stolen both a deadly virus and its cure, planning to release the former into the world and sell the latter to the highest bidder. To accomplish this, Ethan recruits professional thief and former Ambrose flame Nyah (Thandie Newton) to seduce her one-time lover and help him recover the virus and antidote—complications inevitably arise when Ethan winds up falling in love with Nyah himself. Yes, this is roughly the same plot as the Alfred Hitchcock classic “Notorious” (1946), though to be fair, “Notorious” did not contain nearly the amount of crazy stunts or over-the-top fight scenes on display here.

“Mission: Impossible II” is usually considered to be the weakest entry in the series but while it is undeniably not quite as good as its predecessor, it is still better than its reputation might otherwise suggest. The story is not much to speak of but it is presented with enough style and energy to keep things humming along nicely enough. The action sequences, starting with the sight of Cruise doing a free solo climb in Moab, Utah and climaxing with a crazy-ass duel with motorcycles, are appropriately hair-raising as well. Most significantly, the series has once again allowed a noted filmmaker to play to their strengths and idiosyncrasies instead of trying to tamp them down. This may not be a great John Woo film in the way that “The Killer” or “Hard Boiled” are but, as was the case with De Palma, he manages to make a film that is undeniably his while still serving the basic needs of any tentpole project. Woo has always been a filmmaker with a taste for grandly melodramatic stories and the swoony romantic triangle at the center of the narrative, not to mention the notion of good and evil being separated by only the thinnest of lines (illustrated at a couple of points by having Ambrose donning a mask to make himself look like Ethan), certainly accomplishes that here. 

After flirtations with David Fincher and Joe Carnahan, it was J.J. Abrams, then riding high on the twin successes of “Alias” and “Lost," who was brought on to make his feature directorial debut with “Mission: Impossible III.” In this installment, Ethan has finally left the field work behind in order to train new agents for their own future missions and is even engaged to marry Julia (Michelle Monaghan), who is under the impression that he works for the DMV. During his engagement party, he is informed that one of his trainees (Keri Russell, perhaps inevitably) has been taken captive by international bad guy Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He and his team (including Jonathan Rhys Myers, Maggie Q and Rhames) swoop in to make a rescue, but it all goes wrong and Ethan finds himself under suspicion from the new IMF head (Laurence Fishburne). Without official authorization, Ethan and the team set off to nab Davian and while they are initially successful, things once again fall apart and the fates of both the world in general and Julia in particular are at stake. 

“Mission: Impossible III” is easily the most mixed bag of the entire series. Part of the problem with this one is that the main story too often comes across as a rehash of the first film’s plot without any of the genuinely surprising twists or narrative drive that its predecessor demonstrated in spades. The bigger issue is that while Abrams has gone on to direct some of the biggest films imaginable (he is the only guy to direct installments of both the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” franchises), he was just taking his first tentative steps into telling stories on that scale here and it shows. The action scenes are fast and noisy and frantic but for the most part, they lack the style and precision that De Palma and Woo brought to their set pieces, though comparing the efforts of a relative novice to experts like those two may be a little unfair. That said, Abrams seems more at home with the material involving Ethan’s personal life and the seeming impossibility of balancing a normal life with being called upon to save the world on a regular basis, which was also one of the key themes behind “Alias.” He also injects the series with a much-needed sense of humor courtesy of the introduction of Simon Pegg as a nerdy tech guy who would go on to become a series regular. The most significant aspect of the film, however, is the presence of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain. This was offbeat casting, to be sure, but it proved to be an extraordinarily effective choice—he is such a genuinely menacing presence throughout that even though you pretty much know going in that Hunt will indeed save the day, Hoffman forces you to consider the possibility that maybe he won’t after all.

When “Mission: Impossible III” was released in the summer of 2006, it came at a time when Tom Cruise’s stock as a star had dipped (this was the period of his sofa-hopping antics and the like) and while it was a success, it would prove to be the lowest-grossing entry in the series. Perhaps in response to this, “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” (2011) made a couple of additional tweaks to the formula that might have seemed risky—both literally and metaphorically—at the time but which proved to inject some needed energy into the franchise. The storyline was not necessarily a departure from the usual array of international goings-on: after being falsely accused of blowing up the Kremlin while on a mission to spring a key information source from a Moscow prison, Ethan and his officially disavowed team (which adds Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner with newly promoted Pegg) are assigned to pursue a Russian nuclear strategist (Michael Nyqvist) who is responsible for the bombing and who is hellbent on kicking off a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. But this was arguably the first time that the mission had the feel of a team effort that allowed everyone a moment to shine, from the suspiciously adept defensive moves from seemingly ordinary analyst Renner to the thrilling brawl between Patton and deadly assassin Lea Seydoux that might have been the unquestioned highlight of an ordinary movie. 

This is not to say that Cruise was exactly slacking off this time around. While he had always been a galvanizing physical presence in the previous films—one of the reasons that the stunts had such a visceral impact was that he was clearly doing the vast majority of them himself—perhaps he knew with this one that he had something to prove to audiences who might have thought that the series was beginning to die out. In turn, Cruise goes the extra mile with results that are both exhilarating and exhausting to watch. In the film's most famous moment, we see him climbing on the outside of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s tallest building. Sure, he was strapped to the building with numerous cables that were later removed in post-production but the sight of a real person hanging from a real building over a great height has a weight and gravity to it that the grandest of CGI spectacles can hardly hope to approach.

The film marked the live-action directorial debut of Brad Bird, who had previously made a name for himself for helming the beloved animated features “The Iron Giant” (1999), “The Incredibles” (2004) and “Ratatouille” (2007). Once again, the decision to put such a huge project in the hands of someone who had never made a film of this size or scope raised more than a few eyebrows at the time, but that was nothing compared to the amount of eyeballs that popped upon seeing what he had done with it. Bird brought his animator’s eye to the staging of the massive action sequences and part of the fun of the film was watching all of the disparate elements come together with a great degree of humor, split-second timing and a remarkable degree of clarity (which included the smart decision to eschew 3-D for the more impressive visual gimmick of shooting a chunk of the film in the high-resolution IMAX format). From the opening Russian jailbreak to the centerpiece Dubai segment (which eventually expands to include both a high-speed chase and a giant sandstorm) to the climax in which Ethan and the big bad guy do battle in an automatic car park in Mumbai that finds both fists and automobiles flying with carefully calibrated abandon, the film feels at times as if it is indeed a live-action cartoon (in the best sense of the word). Even at its most outlandish, however, there is still a human element at its center that keeps both the story and the character grounded at all times, at least metaphorically.

“Ghost Protocol” instantly reenergized the “Mission: Impossible” series (it would prove to be the most successful of the films to date as well as Cruise’s biggest hit) but it did it so well that it almost seemed to paint the franchise into a corner—just the idea of trying to top it in terms of thrills and spectacle seemed to be a doomed prospect. And yet, not only did “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation” live up to those expectations, it somehow managed to exceed them. Taking over the co-writing and directing chores this time around was Christopher McQuarrie (who had worked with Cruise before on “Valkyrie” [2008], “Jack Reacher” [2012] and “Edge of Tomorrow” [2014] and who did uncredited rewrites on “Ghost Protocol”) and tell a story that tie in together rather than acting as stand-alone narratives. In “Rogue Nation,” with the IMF once again disavowed and placed under the aegis of the head of the CIA (Alec Baldwin), Ethan goes off on his own to investigate The Syndicate, a shadowy organization comprised of presumed-dead agents from around the world to serve as a sort of ad hoc terrorist group. Although old colleagues like Luther and Benji, now officially part of the CIA, turn up to help him prove the existence of the Syndicate and clear his name, Ethan also receives assistance from Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a mysterious assassin who is either a British intelligence agent posing as a Syndicate operative or vice versa. 

More so than any of the previous sequels, “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation” did the best job since the original of balancing the white-knuckle action scenes with a story that served as more than just a laundry line to connect the setpieces. Much of the promotional hype surrounding the film was based around the opening sequence in which Cruise is seen dangling from the outside of an airbus in flight. This was a knockout scene to be sure but McQuarrie managed to top those later on with a couple of equally amazing scenes—one involving an extended brawl with a sniper in the wings above the Vienna State Opera during a production of “Turandot” and the other involving Ethan infiltrating Syndicate headquarters by swimming through a pressurized underwater cavern and reprogramming a computer in under three minutes and without the use of air tanks—that demonstrated a heretofore unexpected flair for action filmmaking that rivaled anything seen in the series, or anywhere else for that matter. The writing was just as strong—the chief villain, a former MI6 agent named Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), who seizes control of the Syndicate for his own means, is more interesting than usual, the narrative unfolds in a manner that is complex and twisty without slipping into confusion and contains some very funny moments to help lighten the mood—my favorite is an apparent homage to the old “Scenes We’d Like To See” feature from Mad Magazine that finds the IMF in front of a government commission to answer for the destruction they caused over the course of the earlier films. Best of all is the inclusion of the Ilsa Faust character, a real wild card who, thanks to Ferguson’s star-making performance, serves as both Hunt’s equal and a possible romantic foil, not that they have much time for anything like that here.

Which brings us, at long last, to “Mission: Impossible - Fallout,” which, in a break with tradition, finds McQuarrie returning to write and direct a story that ties directly into its predecessor and while I suppose that the original film remains my favorite of the franchise thanks to the contributions of De Palma, this one is a legitimate work of grand popular art that serves as a wonderful payoff for longtime fans of the series and as a top-notch entertainment on its own. You have no doubt heard about many—though hopefully not all—of the jaw-dropping stunts on display and they all live up to the hoopla. Needless to say, this is one of those movies that needs to be seen in the theatre, preferably on the biggest possible screen. At the same time, the screenplay does an equally impressive job of telling a complex and consistently surprising story that meets all of the genre requirements and still leaves room to allow us to get a better idea of who Hunt is and what it is that drives him. The film even takes time to acknowledge its own now-considerable history with nicely done moments that do everything from pay homage to Max from the first film to resolving the relationship between Ethan and Julia that had been left in a sort of limbo after “Mission: Impossible III.”

And then there is Cruise, whose luster may have dimmed a bit in recent years with such misfires as “The Mummy” but who once again reminds us of the very qualities that made him one of the biggest movie stars around in the first place. Physically, he throws himself into the proceedings with a heedlessness that is bracing to behold—just watching him as he goes about his running and jumping will be enough to exhaust most viewers—but for the first time in the films, he is willing to acknowledge, albeit subtly, that he is getting older, an interesting move for someone who normally plays up his youthful nature whenever he can. He puts just as much effort into the dramatic beats as well and while this is not the kind of performance that will go on to win any awards, I cannot imagine anyone inhabiting the role with even a sliver of the conviction that he continues to bring to it even after all these years. As long as he remains its driving force, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise will hopefully maintain the absurdly high standards that it has already set for itself. However, as many have noted, he is getting up there in years, at least by action hero standards—is there a possibility that he might step away from the series anytime soon? No one can say for sure right now, but I suspect that if you listen to his last line of dialogue in the film, you will have your answer.

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So I just saw Wonder Woman…

All right, let me start of by saying that I did not have high hopes for this movie…

Hear me out!

The initial reviews of this movie that I saw came from Salon and The Mary Sue…

You know… these yellow journalists:

Back off, men—they’re scientists: New “Ghostbusters” trailer gets slimed by sexist trolls

The Ghostbusters Trailer Backlash Shows Men Believe in the Power of Representation (But Only When It Applies to Them)

Yeah… anything that they give a good review to usually has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially after the a for mentioned Ghostbusters reboot. Critics really can’t be taken all that seriously anymore.

Given all the controversy surrounding it, I was expecting this movie to be completely overrun with identity politics and social justice hypocrisy.

Then why did you go see it?

Well… because it’s Wonder Woman, she’s friggin’ boss! That’s why.

So what did I think of it? OH MY GOD, IT WAS AWESOME!!! The fighting was extremely well done, the history was very spot on, and the scenery was absolutely incredible.

The movie starts off in the mythical land of Themyscira, where Diana… is lives with the other Amazonian women in secret. She is trained to fight from a young age and  becomes the best warrior in all of the land. Her mother seriously wants to keep a secret from her, which we don’t find out about. Apparently the amazons were created to help herald peace and love, but as usual, humanity messes it up.

A pilot in a WW1 plane… rather randomly happens upon the island, crashing into the nearby water. He’s chased by… I believe a German destroyer and several boats. The amazons fight off the troops…

(Jury is still out on what happened to the destroyer… it kind of just vanished… It was listing pretty badly but… I dunno)

… and take the pilot prisoner. He eventually reveals that Germany is creating a new weapon to win the war before the armistice is signed. Diana sets sail with him, against her mother’s wishes, to aid in the fight. She absolutely believes that if she kills Aries, the war will end.

That’s about as much as I’m going to tell you about the plot… So let’s look at the gritty details:

Setting: This movie takes place in WW1 Europe, this is not a modern story, though the entire movie is a flashback thanks to a picture that Batman has delivered to Diana Prince. Very happy about this! Everything appears very accurate surrounding the war. The uniforms aren’t perfect and in some aspects look closer to WW2, but everything is in the right place. So no issue.

However… There are critics who rightly say that the movie should have taken place during WW2 as this is where the original story takes place. However I consider this a re-telling and if they want to start off in WW1, I’ll let that slide.

Casting: I love Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I know a lot of people didn’t like the idea of her having an accent, but if you think about it… Wonder Woman is amazonian, not American (at least not at first). Thus making her a little more exotic isn’t uncalled for.

Steve Trevor was also well-cast and the character is portrayed very well. It was nice to see that the people who wrote the movie really did their homework with many of the characters.

Story: What can I say, it’s awesome and there are definitely some twists and turns that are unexpected.

History:

Like I said, it’s portrayed pretty well. I a couple of articles  that talk about the accuracy of the women’s armor. The costumes for WW1 weren’t perfect, as I said, but they were close enough.

One other piece that I would like to mention… Dr. Maru’s face:

I’ve heard some people complain about this and frankly, I don’t understand why. It may look cheap and kind of dumb… but again, it’s historically accurate. People who had severely disfiguring facial injuries did actually have coverings made for them:

So again, bravo to the movie. They got that one right.

The Villain: Aries, the God of War is the primary villain here. Wonder Woman believes that if she kills him, it’ll end the war, all war. However in a very well-written twist, Aries reveals that he isn’t starting the wars. He is simply putting the tools into humanities hands, helping them create new weapons. He may put the gun in their hands, but in the end, they’re the one pulling the trigger. This draws up the ethical question of just how responsible is Aries for all of the war and suffering?

So anything wrong with the movie that you want to point out?

Yes… as I said, I was worried about the insertion of identity politics into the movie, and I will grant you that there is some of that. The line ‘I wanted to be an actor, but I’m the wrong color’ feels kind of forced. The second line came from ‘the chief’ when he said that Steve Trevor’s people took everything from him. This one was a little bit more underplayed, but I think a little bit more explaining might have been in order.

That being said, it was two lines. I can live with that.

But Jim, what about the line where Diana says that men are good for procreation, but not so much for pleasure?

Meh. There’s an old saying that goes ‘no one loves you as much as your left hand.’ Put that into context, and Diana’s statement could go either way. So I chalk that up as a non-issue.

My only other issue is with the movie’s portrayal of the armistice. It’s really played up as a positive thing and the best chance that everyone has for peace… this is horribly inaccurate.

The armistice led to the Treaty of Versailles, which when placed into the context of the Franco-Prussian War and WW2, was little more than payback for the embarrassment that France suffered at the hands of Germany during the Franco Prussian War, and would be a prelude to WW2. The armistice, nigh the very end of WW1, was little more than a prelude to the reckoning that was soon to come.

Final Thoughts…

The movie was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who has not yet seen it.

In addition to that, Wonder Woman has, by virtue of existence, shown just how cancerous the far right and left political ideologues really are.

On the right, people complained about Gal Gadot’s casting, why?

Because she was Israeli, not American-born.

Because she was of Jewish descent.

Pretty bad right? However, the left didn’t treat her any better. In addition to body-shaming Wonder Woman out of the UN, the left objected to Gal Gadot’s casting because…

She was too thin…

She was cleanly shaven.

In addition, they complained about her outfit… despite being more conservative than other incarnations.

Finally, some theaters set up women-only viewings of the movie and people on the left mocked those who took issue with it… despite the fact that it was a violation of Constitution Civil Rights, something the Social Justice Left claims to fight for.

So without even really doing anything, Wonder Woman patriotically showed us how cancerous the right wing extremists, the religious fundamentalists, the regressive left, and the Social Justice Warriors actually are.

That alone makes her a hero in my book.

So in summation… forget the idiocy, forget the politics, go see the movie and have a good time. Wonder Woman is a hero for the ages and is someone both men and women of all walks of life and enjoy… and it was a major thrill to introduce my son to her!

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Wonder Woman: A Fitting Tribute So I just saw Wonder Woman... All right, let me start of by saying that I did not have high hopes for this movie...