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rallamajoop · 4 years ago

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The Witcher: The Games vs the Books part 2 – Characters and Accents

So, I've already talked at length about the relationship between the Witcher books and games, but how well they captured individual characters is its whole own subject – and you’d better believe I have enough thoughts on it for a whole extra post.

Andrej Sapkowski's skill for creating vivid and engaging characters really is so much of what brings the books to life, and no matter how much work an adaptation might put into worldbuilding and plot, it's the characters you've really got to nail to get the long-time fans on board. Especially when you’ve done what the games have, framing themselves as a direct continuation of Sapkowski's story. Nothing invites comparison to your source material like basically forcing fans to read the original novels to understand even half the backstory alluded to in-game.

So how did they do? I can only offer my opinion – characterisation is necessarily going to be a lot more subjective than just telling you what plot points the games contradicted outright – but like any fan, I have opinions in plenty.

Of the main cast, I feel Yennefer is the character they've captured the best. They've done just as well with some supporting players – I have no real complaints about Dijkstra or Phillipa, for example, who are favourites of mine in both games and books. For the main players though, Geralt and Regis seem to be the ones who's differences I'm most inclined to forgive, whereas I don't feel like they've done Ciri justice at all. Book!Geralt is much less of a smartarse, for one thing, whereas Book!Ciri is much more of one. But if we're talking about the differences, I’m afraid we really need to start with Dandelion.

Dandelion

For all the genuinely good work the games do with characters, old and new, I don't think I can overstate what a disservice the they've done Dandelion, who I could not stand in TW3, but is now one of my favourite book!verse characters. Alas, Dandelion is a prime example of something the Witcher games really don't do well: camp. Being the archtypical bard, Dandelion is about as flamboyant as any enthusiastically-heterosexual man can be: you should be able to spot this guy by body language alone, he should be flouncing around and he should talk like a spoiled noble auditioning for Shakespeare. Book!Dandelion is over-the-top and ridiculous and just so much fun, and I loved him well before I'd even really gotten into the rest of the books around him.

Here's just a bit of dialogue from one of his first appearances, to give you a sense of how he and Geralt play off each other.

The bard seized the fingerboard of his lute and plucked the strings vigorously. ‘How would you prefer it, in verse or in normal speech?’ ‘Normal speech.’ ‘As you please,’ Dandelion said, not putting his lute down. ‘Listen then, noble gentlemen, to what occurred a week ago near the free town of Barefield. ‘Twas thus, that at the crack of dawn, when the rising sun had barely tinged pink the shrouds of mist hanging pendent above the meadows—’ ‘It was supposed to be normal speech,’ Geralt reminded him. ‘Isn’t it? Very well, very well. I understand. Concise, without metaphors. A dragon alighted on the pastures outside Barefield.’

Though TW3's Dandelion certainly looks the part, you have to go hunting through art from the Gwent cards to find much that comes close to really capturing his personality (see left pic below – though even there, a Dandelion who'd voluntarily break his treasured lute is a very hard sell). Though a lot of fanart does better (right-below – credit goes to Tatiana Ortaliz).

But as poorly as the games capture his flamboyance, they're not that much better when it comes to taking him seriously. TW3 left me thinking he was all talk and no substance; the books make abundantly clear that he really is renowned enough to be welcome in courts across the continent. Though he often overestimates what he can talk himself out of, he isn’t stupid either: he's lectured at Oxenfurt, spied for Dijkstra, and then there are the moments where the frivolous playboy mask slips and you realise he's sometimes much better at understanding people and relationships than Geralt will ever be (which is honestly kind of funny considering how many of Dandelion’s relationships end with plates being thrown at him from an upper story). He's not at all above mocking Geralt when he deserves it either (and especially his personal and relationship issues) – Geralt will happily mock him right back.

We never do learn how they became friends (I'm pretty sure the incident listed in the wiki is just the date of their first expedition together, not their first meeting), but Geralt just doesn't form lasting friendships or romances with anyone he can't have an intelligent conversation with. And Dandelion is a damn good friend to Geralt – one who, despite being a helpless, squishy little bard, will keep Geralt's secrets under torture, or will follow him into Nilfgaard in the middle of a war simply because you don't let a friend make a trip like that alone. (Seriously, I don’t ship it nearly as much as some, but hot damn there is some material in here if you do.) In short, it's basically inconceivable that he'd leave an amnesic Geralt wandering around Vizima alone, as he does in the first Witcher game – which is the kind of thing I can mostly forgive as a gameplay conceit, only it doesn’t really get better from there.

He’s also supposed to be blond, something I don’t think is technically specified until fairly late in the novels, but 100% what I’d been picturing since his first description as a man in a colourful bonnet with cornflower-blue eyes (let’s face it: Dandelion’s hair isn’t the only thing about him that screams ‘blond’). It’s a shame no-one from the games to the show to the novels’ cover artists seem to have noticed – but at least there are some fanartists out there who were paying attention (credit for these goes to Asphaloth, Ghostcupdraws, Hvit-ravn (tumblr deleted), 94355 and itsmespicaa).

As for the games? Well, I cannot speak to how Dandelion came across in the original Polish, but I think it speaks worlds about the priorities of the English version that they didn’t even bother to cast someone with a halfway-decent singing voice as their master bard. There are isolated moments of dialogue that come close to sounding like book!Dandelion– mostly in Witcher 2, which comes closer to capturing the spirit of the books than either 1 or 3, or his attempts to convince his captor he's a disguised noble when you rescue him TW3 – but his voice actor is just painfully ill-suited to the role.

Geralt

Geralt fares much better than Dandelion, though he’s still a little hard to square with the Geralt of the books. Book!Geralt spends a lot more time sulking, just to begin with: he sulks because his job is complicated and gets him no respect, and because the world is unjust and unfair – and, most of all, he sulks because Yennefer has dumped him again. He also gets mocked for sulking, and usually deserves it. Book!Geralt is generally a lot more taciturn and a less prone to making smart comments just to have something to say – arguably because in book!Geralt's world, making smart comments often ends at the gallows, or at least with some corrupt official making your life much harder. Book!Geralt's world kind of sucks, and he's just got to put up with it.

As much as he often plays into the expectations of being an uneducated monster hunter, he's also got a more of an intellectual streak than you’d guess. He may prefer to stay out of politics (because damnit, his job is to save people from monsters, not people who are monsters), but he attended school at Nenneke's temple and has even taken classes at Oxenfurt academy, and there's a lot of thoughtful nuance to his opinions – his speech to Ciri about why he can't in good conscience take a stronger stance against the Scoiata'el contains a wealth of historical perspective, just for one example. Even his smart comments tend to be, well, somewhat smarter in the books.

Book!Geralt’s explicitly a lot younger than Yennefer – around 50 is the usual estimate, falling far short of the 100-ish the games suggest (the scandal of having a man fall for – gasp! – an older woman clearly didn’t bother Sapkowski one bit). You don’t see nearly as much "I'm getting too old for this" from book!Geralt, who's really not that old by witcher standards, and is apparently still hunting monsters long into his future. I'm also a little annoyed by the way they play off his hatred of portals like he's a grumpy old man who doesn't like mobile phones, when his distrust originally came from having seen the gruesome deaths that result when portals go wrong. This is not to say Book!Geralt lacks other ordinary human flaws, however – twice in the last two books of the main saga, he gets severely sidetracked after his ego gets the better of him (in the adulation he receives after being knighted, then after arriving in Toussaint), and it's quite some time before he properly gets back on track for that whole rescuing-Ciri thing again. He’s also pretty hopeless when it comes to romance and relationships – breaking things off gracefully is really not in his skillset.

So why does game!Geralt not bother me more? Well, he's the main player character of a game franchise, and one who has to carry the experience largely solo. Some adjustments for genre are pretty much inevitable in that position. He's certainly fared better than Meve, for example, who's been softened far more from her book characterisation for her PC role in Thronebreaker. Then there's the whole amnesia thing – it's easy to believe that sort of experience would change a man – and if he doesn't sulk so much as he used to, maybe he's grown up a bit. Geralt's also in many ways the straight-man of Sapkowski's Witcher universe – there largely as the reliable centre for other, louder personalities to play off. But I expect the real bottom line here is that I do still like game!Geralt enough to forgive him a lot of what he lacks.

The books never do describe Geralt as being very attractive – something book-based fanart often tries to reflect. The point has been made before that the rather-alien-looking Geralt of the first game (left pic above) is probably a lot closer to his book-description. However, the main distinguishing factor you’ll see in book-based fanart is probably the ubiquitous headband, which genuinely is what book!Geralt wears to make his hair behave (the example on the right above comes from Diana Novich).

All that said, if Sapkowski really wants me to believe that nearly so many women are eager to jump into bed with him, I’m going to have to shallowly assume our witnesses are unreliable on this front, and Geralt is at least as attractive as Witcher 3′s take on him. Nothing else makes sense. *g*

Regis

Regis varies mostly in that book!Regis is a lot more smug, sometimes verging on obnoxious – and a lot keener to make fun of Geralt (who generally deserves it). But then, Regis is old and wise and superpowered enough to dance rings around most everyone else – can you blame him? By Blood and Wine, Regis' overconfidence has been recently smacked down hard after his near-death-experience at the hands of Vilgefortz, and that kind of thing could knock some chips off anyone's shoulder. Throw in the fact that with Dettlaff, we have a situation not even Regis could make light of, and the changes to game!Regis make a certain amount of sense.

I do feel it's a bit of a shame that the vocal direction didn't work just a little bit harder to capture some of Regis' smugger side, or emphasise that his long-winded philosophising on human behaviour is supposed to sound a bit pretentious. This is actually something I suspect they were going for a few times in the script, but which didn't come through in the dialogue quite the way it was meant to. Still, again, I'm sure I'm biased by the fact that I like game!Regis far too much to find much fault in what they've done with him. They've done a lovely job capturing his friendship with Geralt too.

Looks-wise, there's a tendency in book-based art to portray Regis with long hair (even some pre-Blood-and-Wine Gwent art did so – see the two pics on the left above, from Gwent and early B&W concepts. The right-most pic is cover art from the books). I couldn't rightly tell you where long-haired-Regis comes from, though – perhaps it's described more explicitly in the original Polish, or perhaps it comes up in passing in some passage I've forgotten, though it may just as well just be a fannish meme.

The books do describe him as looking rather like a tax collector, slim, middle-aged, with an aquiline nose, prone to wearing black, and his hair as 'greying' or 'grey streaked', so presumably somewhat younger-looking than the game would have it. The hammer-horror-esque sideburns are likewise a game-verse addition, though I do like the look they went with – it's distinct from Geralt in a way that making him another long-grey-haired man wouldn't have been, and that's probably the point.

Being the hopeless Regis fan I am, I have quite the folder full of different fanart takes on book!Regis, so have a selection – art here is by gellihana-art, justanor, greysmartwolf, Nastyaskaya, NatalyLanier, beidak, natalliel, ellaine and afternoon63. For what it’s worth, I feel beidak’s (bottom pic, second from the left) comes the closest to what I’d have pictured personally, based on how he’s first described.

Ciri

I find it much harder to rationalise the changes to game!Ciri, who I didn't exactly dislike, but found stuck too close to the role of generic-macguffin-girl-who-just-wants-to-be-normal to be very interesting. Having read the books, not only do I much prefer book!Ciri, I'm not sure I can emphasize enough how much the game did NOT prepare me for utter gauntlet of whump and misery that girl survives in the last four titles. Book!Ciri is a character who works for me mostly because of the same flaws the game mostly strips her free of – TW3 makes some token noise about how you can't tell her what to do, but she’s an utter little royal brat when we first meet book!Ciri, and it’s so much of what brings her to life. She throws herself into her witcher training with the enthusiasm of a kid going completely native, but still revels in getting to be girly for a change when Triss first arrives at Kaer Morhen. She hates Yennefer at first, but soon bonds with her just as strongly as she ever did with Geralt, picking up some of Yennfer’s haughty mannerisms along the way. And then she gets thrown through a portal and lost in the distant wilderness, and the whole world comes down on her head.

The build up to the first time Ciri actually has to kill someone is intense... and things only get worse from there. Steadily. For another couple of novels at a stretch. Seriously, a major caveat that pretty much has to go into any rec for these books (and I will absolutely rec these books) is that Ciri's story gets heavy. So heavy one finds oneself using phrases like, "that time that one guy died of his wounds on top of her while semi-consensually feeling her up was honestly one of the less traumatic incidents in the period."

By the end of the novels, Ciri has nearly died of thirst, been beaten, tied up, dragged around the country as a prisoner, run with bandits and killed innocent people for the fun of it, done fantasy-cocaine and got a tattoo, fought off more than one attempted rape, been drugged, lain for multiple nights next to an impotent elf who completely fails to impregnate her, watched the bodies of her friends and girlfriend being mutilated in front of her, and did I mention where she got that scar? She has survived hell, and it is absolutely a testament to her own strength that she somehow comes through it and puts herself back together at the end. When Geralt finally arrives to rescue her, what matters most isn't that her ordeal is over, but that she finally knows she hasn’t been abandoned by everyone who’d ever loved her after all.

The Ciri of the books is fierce and wild and arrogant, but she's learned her morals from the best, and she holds onto them until she can't, then picks them back up again when she can, and above all she survives. For all that her story turns arguably too much of the last two books into a slog of misery, oh boy does it pay off at the end. And that's probably about as much as I can say about her Big Moment in the last book without spoiling too much, so suffice to say that by the end of the saga, Geralt has pretty much become a supporting character in Ciri's story, not the other way around. (Seriously, you’d be surprised how few chapters of the last two books he’s actually in.)

Finding art which captures the aspects of Ciri’s character and history which are missing from the game has turned out to be pretty hard, though the fanart above from her bandit phase takes a decent crack at it (credit to Loles Romero and NastyaSkaya). I do rather like that one shot of her on horseback beside her girlfriend too, which comes from Denis Gordeev’s illustrations for the novels (below).

How much of this does TW3 get across with her portrayal in the game? Well, she's still pretty headstrong, I guess. And they let you give a 'sorry, I like girls' answer in one bit of dialogue, so they remembered her girlfriend existed. That's nice. But game!Ciri still has a kind of wide-eyed innocence that book!Ciri lost years ago, while book!Ciri is a little force of nature in ways the games hardly even hint at, and that's a really shameful loss.

You'd think, with a character so young, it ought to be easier to imagine she's simply grown up since we saw her last, but so much of what's changed about Ciri feels like a step back rather than forwards. I can shrug off Geralt and Regis' differences and still enjoy their game-verse-selves, but Ciri leaves me genuinely disappointed.

I’d say the official art that comes closest to capturing book!Ciri is that one portrait of her as a very grumpy young child (right above). Some of the early concept art (left above) feels a little more like it has her attitude, though she’s rather too yellow-blonde – not to mention too pretty. I think it also bears pointing out that Ciri isn’t really supposed to be the kind of beauty she is in the game – even before she gets what’s meant to be a seriously ugly and disfiguring scar. (Fanart below by justanor and bobolip)

But of course, the male gamer fanbase can’t be expected to give a fuck about a girl they wouldn’t want to fuck, so game!Ciri must be generically gorgeous. Le sigh.

Triss

I suppose I should at least touch on Triss, too, though she's a very odd case. She's so out of character in the first Witcher game that I am wryly amused that the biggest thing they arguably do get right is that taking advantage of Geralt the moment he showed up with amnesia is... pretty well in-character for her (look, I gotta be honest here, I'm not much of a fan of Triss in any of her incarnations).

The second game does a much better job with her – she actually feels like book!Triss, she has some good dialogue, we're finally dealing with some of her conflicted loyalties to the Lodge and to Geralt – though by the third, her characterisation has been so softened into “the nice one” that none of that potentially meaty conflict is ever resolved, or even really mentioned. Perhaps there's more buried in the Triss-romance path, which I've never bothered with, but the writers seem to have just given up on dealing with anything that might make her look less than wholly sympathetic. Heck, we hardly even get a clear statement about why she and Geralt broke up between Witchers 2 and 3.

Even speaking as such a not-a-fan of Triss, I promise there is more they could've done with the character the books give us. There's her ongoing trauma in from the Battle of Sodden, where she was injured so badly she was memorialised as one the dead: the 14th of the hill. There's her furious impatience with the neutrality of both the witchers and the Lodge: Triss has fought and died for a cause, and is ready to do so again. The second game sort of gets into this, but by and large, the games really aren't up to tackling the moral complexity of having such a theoretically-sympathetic character as Triss, who was still broadly willing to go along with the Lodge's plans to pair Ciri off and get her pregnant as soon as possible – her own wishes be damned. No, instead, Triss has conveniently left the Lodge before the rest of them go spiraling into abject villainy in the second game, clearing all that messy grey stuff out of the conflict.

Of course, the really big unresolved plot point still hanging over book!Triss is how badly she needs to terms with the fact Geralt's just Not That Into Her, and never has been – but since the games want Triss to be a serious romantic option, that's definitely not getting the resolution it could've used.

Book!Triss also pointedly avoids any outfit with a plunging neckline because her chest is covered with the ugly scars she received in the Battle of Sodden, something the games did not have the guts to reproduce. In a more confusing note, the books do consistently describe her hair as 'chestnut', which we'd usually think of as meaning 'brown' – though it turns out the games actually may not have been wrong to make her a redhead, since in Poland 'chestnut hair' apparently mean dark red hair (google some pictures of actual chestnuts, and you'll see why). Still, the firy-red-haired Triss of TW3 who wears nothing but plunging necklines remains a bit of a stretch, however you slice it. Once again, TW2 gets her best (and I must say, gave her the nicest outfit) – though even here she's conspicuously unscarred in all her sex scenes.

(Leftmost pic above is official Witcher 2 art, whereas Triss-with-scars fanart comes to us – once again – from nastyaskaya)

Shani

Shani sort of falls into a similar category as Triss as someone who isn't terribly well-served by any of her appearances, given that both exist in the first game largely to compete for Geralt's attentions. But I can't honestly say I find Shani’s portrayal in the Hearts of Stone expansion to be much better – the degree to which either version exists solely to fall all over Geralt is a bit painful, especially given that their relationship in the books is limited to a single, undramatic hook-up. Book!Shani really only appears in a couple of chapters: we meet her as a medical student friend of Dandelion's, who's been surreptitiously selling pilfered university supplies to fund her degree, then later see her again in the final book, where she proves herself as a battlefield medic during the climactic Battle of Brenna. She's pragmatic to a fault, and I really can't see her as the type who needs Geralt to point out to her that her patient is dead, for example, or who'd subject a guy with Geralt's problems to such an extended feelings-dump as you'll get out of her during the wedding.

Shani is a reasonably logical book-character to bring back, if only because she’s one of those who explicitly survives the ending, but for my money, "serious contender for Geralt's affections" is just not a role she works in.

Anna Henrietta

The duchess of Toussaint, Anna Henrietta, is another case who differs more from her book counterpart than you might think. In the books, the duchess is by far the least competent of the (pleasantly many and) various female leaders and rulers we meet – she comes across as rather young and naive, and every bit as absurd as everyone else in the ridiculous fairy-tale duchy she rules. She is, for example, most displeased to learn that Nilfgaard's war against the north is ongoing (something her courtiers have carefully avoided mentioning in her presence), because she'd long since sent the Emperor a stern note demanding he brought it to an end. She promptly has one of her ministers sent to the tower for misinforming her, and demands the others prepare an even sterner note for the emperor, which will surely do the job.

After Dandelion (inevitably) cheats on her, she has him repeatedly sent to the gallows, only to change her mind and send him a reprieve at the very last minute each time. Picture yourself a much younger and prettier version of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, and you've about got her general vibe.

Blood and Wine sort of waves at this part of her character when she first speaks about Dandelion, and again in suggesting there's a widespread feeling she lacks compassion, and once more as she proves utterly immovable on the subject of her sister. But the generally sensible and insightful woman you deal with for most of the main story is a far cry from her book-verse characterisation. That’s a bit of a shame, because I feel like there's a lot more they could have done to blend the two versions of her. Still, it’s hard to argue the duchess we get suits the story being told around her.

Other characters

Much as I love Yennefer, Dijkstra and Phillipa, I don't really have much more to say about them because I feel the games have done such a good job. The Yennefer of the books gets to show a lot more depth and complexity simply because she has more scenes and more space in which to do so, but when ‘there isn’t more of her’ is your biggest complaint, the game is officially doing pretty well. I could certainly gripe her about how “dresses in black and white” seems to have been taken as “dresses in black with maybe a trace of white trim”, or how Yennefer and Triss seem to be the only sorceresses in the world capable of wearing pants, when Phillipa (just for one) is in sensible men’s clothing the very first time we meet her, but that’s getting into serious nitpicking territory.

(Not that Yen can’t look amazing in outfits with more white – art by Emily Caroll, theclashofqueens, BarbaraRosiak, and cosplay by greatqueenlina)

Vesimir, Lambert and Eskel, Geralt's fellow witchers from the School of the Wolf, fall into a similar category for me – though we spend far less time with them in the books, everything we see of them in the games feels like a fairly logical extension of their book-roles. Vesimir is somewhat over-played as the old fogey, and his death is painfully cliched, but the impact on the characters and Kaer Morhen still hits home – and the games do some especially great work expanding Lambert into a much more complex character. To my mind, the only shame is that more of the book-original characters didn't get the same treatment.

Who have I missed? There's Avallac'h, of course, but I think I've got him pretty well covered by that last post. Zoltan, perhaps inevitably, has had his personality largely flattened into 'generic dwarf', with nothing better to do than hang around Geralt and Dandelion. You wouldn't know Book!Zoltan was apparently incapable of turning away women and children in need, for example – even human women and children with the chronic inability to say thankyou for his help. Or that he eventually admits to Geralt that the luggage he and his friends are carrying comes from a decidedly unsavoury source for such a supposedly charitable, upstanding guy. Yes, even Zoltan gets to be a morally complicated character in the books – who knew?

Speaking of dwarves, pleased as I am that Yarpen Zigren gets remembered in TW2, he's an odd one to talk about, since even in the books, he appears to have had a substantial personality transplant between his two main appearances. Yarpen’s a largely comedic figure in The Bounds of Reason short story, where he cheerfully admits to having considered letting his men knock down a particularly pompous aristocrat and piss all over him to teach him a lesson, but he’s evolved into a studious voice of reason against the scoiata'el by Blood of Elves. TW2 doesn't do a particularly good job of capturing either version, which I suspect probably bothered me more than most people – I liked the later book-incarnation of Yarpen immensely (and not even just because he's one of few ever to really call Triss out on just how much she needs to stop misreading Geralt's friendship as anything more than it is). His chapter in Blood of Elves packs a hell of a punch.

On the subject of accents

I do have to wonder if I'd have warmed up to characters like Triss, Shani and Dandelion (or even Letho) more if they'd only had halfway decent voice actors. It's not just that none are exactly leading the talent at the acting part of the job, it's that their American accents stick out in TW3 like a sore thumb.

Geralt mostly gets away his own US accent by dint of being the very first character we meet, so we've gotten used to the way he talks long before we notice how he stands out – hell, maybe that's just how they talk down in Rivia (hilariously, book!Geralt eventually reveals he's not even from Rivia, but simply picked the place and taught himself the accent so he could feel a bit less like the abandoned foundling he is, which only gives us yet more excuse for why his accent might sound a bit weird). More importantly, Geralt is meant to stand out, to be the outsider wherever he goes, so having him sound like no-one else fits the character.

But neither Triss or Dandelion are "of Rivia", and by the time they show up we've had dozens of hours in a game where literally everyone else sounds British, or Scottish, or Irish, or vaguely-eastern-European in the case of the Nilfgaardians. So why do these weirdos sound like no-one else on the continent?

The short answer seems to be that every character with an American accent in TW3 is someone who had an American accent in at least one of the previous games, which were way looser with their casting and had enough incidental American accents around that they didn't stand out. Clearly, by TW3, consistency with prior games has been prioritised over consistency with literally anything else we’re hearing.

Gaetan is an exception to the rule as the only new character (at least that I caught) with an American accent – presumably because between Geralt, Eskel, Lambert, Berengar, and Letho (and cohorts), some sort of 'witchers have American accents' rule has been pretty well established (another random American-accented witcher shows up in Thronebreaker, just to underline the point). We're going to mostly ignore Jad Karadin here, since his British accent is presumably a recent affectation to go with his new identity, and so makes sense.

This still doesn't really work though, since Letho’s school is all the way down in Nilfgaard (land of the Eastern European accents), while the oldest witcher from Kaer Morhen (Vesimir) is the one guy with a British accent. He sounds nothing like any of his students, despite the fact he's logically the guy they ought to have learned their accents from. So the logic falls in a heap however you slice it, and I'm thrown right out of the game.

With TW3 as your intro to the series, it feels almost as if characters like Triss and Dandelion have been assigned American accents because they're just too important to be saddled with the same pedestrian British accents as everyone else, which did nothing to endear them to me. The only one I eventually warmed up to was Lambert, and then only because he's just such a bitter asshole that he eventually goes full circle and comes out the other side (somewhere around when you've heard his miserable backstory, then gotten drunk together and told him how much you love him, man). Gaetan similarly snuck in under the same clause – American accents clearly work better for me in this series when attached to characters you're supposed to find pretty insufferable on first impressions.

Some final notes

To conclude, it seems only fair to throw in a quick nod to some of the more memorable book-characters who don't appear in the games. Neither Mother Nenneke (Geralt's sort-of-surrogate mother) or Vissena (Geralt's biological mother) ever appear either, alas – Vissena doesn't even merit so much as a Gwent card, which seems quite the wasted opportunity.

Milva, Cahir and Angouleme – the three remaining companions of Geralt’s who died alongside Regis but who were not so easily resurrected – naturally don’t appear. But nor are even really mentioned in all the games, which seems rather less than they deserve after giving their lives to Geralt's cause.

Cahir and Angouleme do at least have pretty badass Gwent cards to their names, though I am properly offended that Milva (who has the dubious honour of being my very favourite book character who doesn't ever appear in the games) is stuck with a card of her freaking death scene – which not only gets the scene wrong (believe me, there was no grimacing and gripping the arrow buried shallowly in her chest for poor Milva), but doesn't even bother to get her hair the right colour, for fuck’s sake. Basically, Milva was a stone cold badass and absolutely deserves better. #justice4milva

One can only guess how I'd have felt about some of these characters had I read the books before playing the games – I am obviously biased towards forgiving changes to characters whom I liked in their game incarnations, regardless of how they compare. Still, I think it does speak wonders that there still all these characters who suddenly made sense only after I'd met them in the books.

Even if only for Dandelion and Ciri, I can only dream of seeing a bit more of the book-original characterisations make it into the collective fannish consciousness. There's nothing wrong with getting into the canon purely based on the show or the games, but having read Sapkowski's novels, it's no longer any mystery how they spawned this massive franchise. That the saga wasn’t even fully available in English until well after Witcher 3 was released – a solid couple of decades late, and long after it had already been translated into Russian, French, German, Spanish and more – is a real shame. For once, it’s us in the anglophone world who’ve been missing out: these books deserve so much more than to be thought of as a footnote to the games or the show.

#Dandelion #Witcher novels #Jaskier #Ciri #Regis #Geralt of Rivia #meta #The Witcher #long post is even longer this time #I blame everyone who gave me such lovely feedback on that last post *g*

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superworldunkown · 4 years ago

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Chase you to the Top

AN: Dad Bakugou fics are my favorite. I am 100% convinced, with evidence I made up myself, that Bakugou would literally be the best dad in the worst way. Would his children swear? Yes. Would they be wholesome and the righteous hero’s in the making? Fuck yes. I’m here for it. Also, Bakugou and a POC character would make the most cutest biracial babies, like I cant. But I’ll write it anyways.

Summary: The day finally came when Deku passed Kacchan on the Hero Billboard charts...but, surprisingly, Bakugou is still on top. It’s mostly BakuDeku friendship, with a nice helping of Dad Bakugou, and a sprinkle of Bakugou x POC reader. The perfect recipe.

Midoriya dreamed of this day. It was finally here. The Hero Billboard Chart JP Annual ceremony. All of the training, the battles, the wins and losses, it all seemed worth it to have his name once again be echoed in the same stadium as his mentor, All Might. Of course, Midoriya was nervous beyond recognition. But, in true Midoriya fashion, he spent all week preparing and perfecting his entrance walk, his wave to the crowd, and the speech the top heroes gave. He had it down to a science. After all, he was now a top hero! However, he was not prepared for the ranking,

Midoriya ranked 3rd.

Kacchan....4th.

He ranked higher. He surpassed Bakugou?! And now, the entire world was going to see it. This could very well be his final Hero Billboard Chart moment. He was sure Bakugou was going to blast him on live TV. Maybe he shouldn’t have invited his mother as his plus 1.

He gulped, despite how hard his body was rejecting any more fluid into his already churning stomach. The two hero’s stood side by side backstage, both dressed in their full hero costumes; Bakugou foregoing his left gauntlet. Since the war with the League of Villains several years back he only dawned both gauntlets in serious missions where the firepower was absolutely necessary.

The roar of the crowed hummed through the walls and thick theater curtains. The two hero’s haven’t spoken to each other since their rankings were reveled in private late last night. Some hero’s weren’t even given any notice to their rankings. He and Bakugou were the exceptions. Bakugou and Midoriya stood out for so many reasons. Both seen and unseen. To the public, they were the symbol of the next generation of Heroes. Also, the Hero Committee knew of Bakugou’s fiery temper, so it was probably for everyone's safety that it wasn’t publicly announced without notice.

Midoriya thought for a moment. They weren’t kids anymore. And their friendship, dare he say it, had transformed so much from their days at U.A. They were on speaking terms, they trained together. Ran missions together. Bakugou even threw himself in danger to save his life once. Hell, he was even invited to Bakugou’s wedding, and only 5 other classmates were invited! They had become so much closer, but was that all about to be destroyed?

But Midoriya couldn’t live with the silence. He had to say something. Something to cut the tension. Something to make Bakugou look at him, acknowledge him. Even if he got screamed at, he had to say something.

He began slow, and quiet, “So...Uhh, pretty exciting we both made it so high up, huh?”

Oh no.

Was that pandering? Shit!

“I mean, its great right? We’ve both worked so hard. You worked even harder you know, your quirk is so amazing and you’ve become such a great hero- not that you weren’t in the first place...Sorry not likethatKacchanijustknowyou’vebeenwatingforthismomentyourwholelifeandihopeI’mnotruiningitbecauseirankedhigherthanyouthisyearbuttheresalwaysnextyearwhoknowsmaybetheyputmehigherbymistake-”

“Damnit Deku! You’re muttering again! And It’s pissing me off!”

The green haired man didn’t know why the abrasive response made him smile, “Sorry, Kacchan.”

Bakugou huffed an inaudible response while he began tinkering with his gauntlet before setting it down at his feet, “Shit, forgot to turn the safety on.”

“You’ve gotten so strong, you dont even really need those anymore.” Midoriya pipped up, “You’re now able to set of explosions that can be felt half a mile away-”

Red eyes were cast his direction, “I should’ve gotten that restraining order. You know so much about me its weird, ya damn nerd.”

“Am I really still a nerd to you? After all these years?”

Before the explosion hero could respond, the presence of a small child caught their attention. The curly haired child stood in front of Bakugou, staring up at him with wide, bright eyes. She dawned orange dress with green polka dots and small black and red shoes.

“Oh, Hey Ki-”

“What are you doing here, kid?” Bakugou’s brash voice filled the backstage. He knelt down in front of her, snarling, “Looking for an autograph or something? Well they ain’t free!”

The girl didn’t bat an eye. Rather, her freckled face scrunched up as she responded with a giggle, “You’re mean, Daddy.”

He was beaming, “Damn right I am.” He snatched his daughter up his arms, lifting her in the air as he stood. The girl laughed at her new found height before she began reaching for Bakugou’s hero mask.

“Kiara-there you are!” You called out while rounding the corner, eyes finally set on your daughter, “You can’t run away from Mommy like that.”

Kiara was Bakugou’s 3 year old daughter. She was the perfect balance of you and Katsuki. She had your brown skin that glowed with tiny freckles, curly hair, albeit blonde like her fathers. She had your smile, big and bright. And just like her namesake, she was the princess. You were convinced she got that from Katsuki’s side of the family.

“Hey, Y/N.” Midoriya spoke, only to be enveloped in a big hug.

“Deku! I heard the news! I’m so proud of you, number 3 hero, that’s amazing! Try not to break any bones during your speech, okay?”

“Thanks, Y/N. I’ll try not to.”

Bakugou let out a small laugh. You turned your attention towards your husband and wayward daughter, “And you, no swearing during yours either! I mean it Katsuki if she learns one more word...”

Kiara watched you before mimicking your moves, waving her small finger in her father’s face, “Yeah, no spearin-” She finished with a squeal as Bakugou flashed his teeth playfully bit at her finger.

‘Top 10 heroes, take your position at the main stage. Again, top 10 heroes, main stage please.’

“Alright missy, Daddy and Deku have to go.” You reached out for your daughter who whined in protest, clearly not ready to depart to their seats.

“You sure you can hold her?” Bakugou asked softly, staring down at the small bump that showed ever so slightly from underneath your sweater.

“Trust me.” You reassured him, “If I let her feet hit the ground again, she’ll rush the stage. Okay, Kiara one last hug and it’s time to go.”

Kiara gave her father a tight hug before leaning away towards your arms, “No madder what Daddy, you’re still my mumber one hero.”

While he only witnessed the tender moment, for Midoriya it finally dawned on him. At the end of the day, he didn’t surpass Kacchan, not even by an inch. Midoriya was still chasing after him, just like when they were kids. It didn’t matter where he was ranked or what the public thought of him.

To the people that mattered. Who truly loved him,

Kacchan was already number 1.

AN: I just really want to write more Dad Bakugou. Mah Heart! Do you need Baku-dad in your life, too? Let me know.

#bakugou katsuki #bakugo #dad bakugo #bakudad #mha #my hero academia #bnha #bakugou poc

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mummybear · 5 years ago

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Yes Miss

This Is Day 2 Of RolePlay May

Words: 5506

Warnings: Smut, Sub Dean, Younger Dean, Young Dom Teacher Reader, Detention, Good Boy Talk (Praise Kink), Oral Female and Male Receiving, Back Scratching, Hair Pulling, Orgasm Control, Think That’s It

Characters: Dean Winchester, Reader, Several Douche Friends, Castiel

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summery: Dean Winchester is the cocky jock in school, who winds all of the teachers up to breaking point. However, he doesn’t have quite the same effect on the teaching assistant who takes over for the day. She make sure she shows him just how much of a good boy he can be.

Being a teaching assistant at your old school had proved to be very rewarding in the short time you’d been doing it. You were working beside the best professor in the entire building, at least in your opinion. There were a couple of older kids in the class, who had either been held back or who had decided to do an extra year, they had proved to be a challenge. They always pushed you more, since you weren’t much older than them.

Unfortunately since Mr. Turner wasn’t in today, he was away on a teaching conference, you were left in charge.

But of all of them the worst by far, was Dean Winchester. He was new here, not that it had stopped him from becoming popular and very quickly. He came across cocky, self assured, in complete control of everyone and everything, almost like he didn’t have a care in the world.

But you could see the truth.

Walking into the classroom you called for quiet. The chattering noise died down a little when you stood in front of your desk, looking around the room. All except for the older kids, who thought that they were above everyone, including you.

“Quiet” you called again, louder this time, walking through the lines of desks that were placed around the room, heels clicking with every step you took.

You stopped in your tracks, hearing a snicker of laughter to your right, arching your eyebrow you folded your arms against your chest. Looking down at the main cluster of ‘problem’ students, you cleared your throat. “I’m sorry, is something funny?

“No need to shout sweetheart, we’re just having a conversation” Dean pipes up suddenly, looking up at you with those big green eyes, chin resting on the heel of his hand he smirks.

You scoff a laugh, “Excuse me. Did you just sweetheart me?”

Dean shrugs, a smirk curling his lips. “Yeah, why?” he asks matter of factly. “You look pretty damn sweet” he adds, licking those smirking lips.

“Well, Mr Winchester, lets see how sweet you find this. I will see you in detention when school finishes,” you reply as sternly as possible.

Watching that smirk disappear, enjoying the nervous swallow that follows.

“You’re kidding right?” he all but stutters, green eyes now wide with complete and utter shock.

“Oh no. I’m deadly serious. You will attend your detention on time and hopefully you’ll learn who’s in charge. Or I will have you back, again and again until you learn” you reply smugly, walking away with an extra swing in your hips, ignoring the snickers from his friends as he tells them to shut it, you lean back against your desk.

“Anyone else?” you question with a smile, the entire class shakes their heads, almost in sync, looking down at their work books waiting for you to start. But you don’t miss the glare that you’re still receiving from Dean.

“Okay, brilliant. Then let’s start shall we!”

Luckily the class goes well after that, with very few unwanted interruptions. But you could still practically feel Dean glaring at you from across the room. The bell rings informing everyone it’s time for their next lesson, you luckily have a free lesson next, so you’re not in any rush. As usual, the first row of students are also the first to leave, eager to get to their next classes and not be late.

“Mr. Winchester, could I see you for a moment before you leave, please”

“Yes miss,” he grumbles, his friends shove at his shoulders, laughing as they make jokes about how much trouble he’s in and of course, making sure to wish him a sarcastic good look as they leave the classroom.

The room is silent, except for the shuffle of Dean packing his stuff away and the click clack of your heels against the tiled floor. You lean on the desk table, the one opposite his, which hitches your black pencil skirt higher on your thighs.

You notice that Dean has paused and his gaze lingers on your legs. You clear your throat causing Dean’s focus to shift, finally looking back at your face. He licks his lips but has the decency to blush about the fact he’s been openly looking at you. You can’t help but smile at how embarrassed he looks, it’s so cute.

“I just wanted to let you know, my detention will be two hours long. So if you had any plans you may want to cancel them” you explain.

Upon hearing his grumble of annoyance you walk to stand in front of his desk, placing your hands on the top, you lean forward and his eyes lock on yours immediately.

“Look, you’re hot okay. I had to try it” he shrugs, looking suddenly very smug again. You notice he’s not looking at you anymore, he’s looking out the classroom door, over your shoulder.

You walk away from him and over to the door.

“Would you all like a detention for being late to your next classes?” you question sternly, noticing the way they all look between one another.

“Whatever, don’t be such a ball buster” he huffs as he walks away, his remaining friends following behind him.

You turn to Dean closing the door behind you, finding him now standing, leaning against your desk. You take the papers that he’d snagged from your desk out of his hand, dropping them back onto the table top.

Dean watches you closely, the smirk now gone from his plump lips once more. “Your bad boy routine may work on your friends Dean, but it’s not gonna work on me. Clearly I need to pay you a little extra attention from now on”

His mouth opens and closes a few times, like he’s trying to figure out what to say in reply.

“What does that mean?” he asks nervously, as you come to stand right in front of him.

“It means that you need to learn how to behave yourself in my classroom, because I won’t put up with it. Just because we’re close in age, please understand me here. I’m in charge, not you. Trust me, after today you’ll do as you’re told. Is that clear?” you explain firmly, watching the way his breathing seems to increase with every word.

“Yes m-miss” he practically stutters, eyes casting down suddenly.

‘Oh there he is’ you think to yourself, seeing the way Dean’s responding to your words.

“Good boy” you practically purr, smiling when he looks back up at you quickly, his pupils blown wider. You hear him groan a curse under his breath, which makes you even more confident you’d been right.

“You’re smart Dean, those guys who you call friends, they don’t know it. You hide it well when you act like such an ass” you tell him honestly, leaning over him you grab the form you’d written for him, you hear him suck in a breath when your body brushes against his.

You hand him the paper which explains that it was your fault that he was late.

“I-uh thanks” he manages to get out, taking the paper from your hand, he slings his backpack over his shoulder and leaves the room, not waiting for a reply.

The rest of your day goes fairly well, with the small exception of having the older people in the classes still acting up, but nothing compared to what you’d had to deal with earlier that day. With your last class of the day leaving you busy yourself with tidying up the classroom, sending Mr. Turner a quick message to let him know your day had gone well. Just as you close your laptop there’s a quiet knock at the classroom door.

“Come in” you call out, tossing the last of the trash in the bin.

You turn to find Dean entering quietly, until he notices you looking at him. “Um, hi miss. Should I just sit down?” he questions quietly, nodding to the chair he’d been sitting in earlier.

“Actually Dean, would you mind if we went into my office?” you ask him gently, but it’s not really a question, you’re already walking towards your office with Dean trailing behind you.

Walking inside you wait for Dean to follow you in, before closing the door behind the two of you. You watch as he shrugs off his bag and drops it down by the door, “Take a seat” you smile softly, nodding towards the chair that sits a little way back from your desk.

Dean takes the seat rather quickly, dragging his hands up and down his thighs as he looks up at you expectantly. Leaning down, you rest your hands on the arm rests of his chair, studying the way he shifts under your gaze. The bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallows, his lips part as he licks them slowly.

“Why don’t you pay attention in class Dean?” you ask him quietly, fingers tightening around the arms of the chair.

He looks taken aback for a moment as he stares up at you, fingers tightening around his thighs.

“I-I don’t know, miss. I’m-” he starts to mutter a reply but falls short as your legs press against his knees, he lets them fall open, allowing you to step between them.

“You wanna know what I think?” you ask as your face edges just a little closer to his, he tries to push up higher in his chair as he nods eagerly, green eyes now a much darker shade than before. You hum with a smile, pulling back you step away from him, enjoying the way he slumps back down in the chair slightly.

Your fingers skim along his arm and up his shoulder as you circle him, finally coming to a stop behind him. Leaning in close enough for your breath to ghost over his ear you speak again.

“I think you act like you’re in control, like you’re the typical cocky jock, the bad boy that every girl wants. When in reality you’re a good boy, who likes being controlled, you need someone to look after you. You crave it don’t you?”

Pausing for a second, you let the words sink in, revelling in the way he’s starting to lean further back with your every word. Not missing the way his breathing has increased, or the way he’s clenching his jaw, trying to hold back the noises he wants to make.

When he doesn’t speak though you move in closer, letting your lips brush against his earlobe. Dean leans into your touch when your hand pushes through the back of his hair, reaching the top of his head. You grip his hair between your fingers, using it to tug his head to the side harshly, finally pulling a moan from those perfect lips.

“Now, I asked you a question Dean, if I was wrong about you being a good boy, then you can always leave, any time you want in fact. You only have to ask, tell me you want out” you explain releasing his hair, walking back around his body to face him. You barely have time to lean back against your desk before he’s shaking his head at you.

“No, miss. Please, I’ll be good” he rushes out, with eyes wide and his fingers wrapped tightly around the arms of the chair he’s sitting on.

The smile spreading across your lips seems to egg him on even more.

“You were right. I need it,” he adds quickly, looking up at you with those big green pleading eyes.

Leaning back on your desk you push the paperwork to the side, noticing the obvious and rather impressive bulge in his pants.

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you tell me what you need, Dean?” you ask seductively as you remove your jacket and drop it to the floor.

You can tell how nervous he is as he clears his throat, voice shaking as he speaks.

“I really wanna kiss you, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since this morning”

You hold on your hand out to him with a soft reassuring smile on your lips. Dean’s chewing on his lip still looking up at you like a lost puppy, but he’s also trying to hide his slight smile.

Finally he reaches out with his big hand and takes your much smaller one. Taking a step away from the chair he’s standing right in front of you, releasing his hand, you place it on your hip, feeling his fingers flex against your soft white t-shirt before gripping your waist tightly.

Running your hands over his crisp white shirt, up his surprisingly strong chest, gently you pry his plump bottom lip from between his teeth and cup his freckled cheeks.

“Come here” you tell him softly, rising up on your tiptoes as you pull his face down closer to you.

The first time your lips touch, it’s a light brush of your lips against his, they’re so soft and feel so good, that you let his other hand land on your waist. When he steps between your legs to pull you closer, your lips press against his again, a little firmer this time, more insistent. Your tongue carefully strokes over his bottom lip before you suck it into your mouth, pulling a desperate whimper from Dean when you drag your teeth along it and release it.

That helpless whimper does things to you immediately, you can even feel the slick beginning to gather in your panties. Standing quickly, you push Dean back gently, turning both of you so that Dean is pressed back against your desk. Your tongue brushes over his, he doesn’t even try to fight you for dominance, he lets you control the kiss, your tongues in perfect sync with one another.

Pulling away from his mouth his lips follow yours, eyes still closed and lips parted ever so slightly. A blush forms on those freckled cheeks when his eyes flicker open, finding you smiling up at him.

“Wow” he breathes out suddenly, making you smile as you start to unbutton your shirt.

You pause trying to meet those lust blown eyes, hearing his deep moan, realising that his eyes are focused on your hands.

“Want me to stop, baby? We don’t have to go too far, not until you're ready” you ask tentatively and he finally meets your eyes.

“What? No! Don’t you d-” he stops quickly, realising his mistake with your change in demeanour as you step back from him, crossing your arms over your chest.

Your giggle clearly surprises him, but there's no humour in it.

He’s eyeing you carefully when your fingers wrap around the neck of his shirt, gently turning him and pushing him back into his chair. He swallows hard, closely watching your every move.

“Oh sweety, that’s just adorable, really. Did you forget who’s in charge here already?” you question with a warning edge to your voice.

“No miss. I’m sorry” he tells you quietly but very quickly, focusing on his shoes, suddenly finding them very interesting.

Humming in approval you continue to unbutton your shirt.

“Good boy. Now, look at me again baby” your voice remains quiet and seductive, as he looks up at you and a low moan leaves his throat. Dropping your shirt to the floor, you crook your finger at him. “You like what you see Dean?”

Dean stands as you’d instructed, “I….I fuck. You look incredible” he stutters about to reach out and touch you, but he decides against it, dropping it back on his thigh. Walking around him slowly, you can see his body tense with expectation.

He turns finally when you clear your throat, where he finds you sitting down.

“Now, strip” you state playfully, but there’s still that authoritative tone to your voice.

“I uh, wait. What?” his stuttered confusion is completely adorable and your smile quickly turns into a smirk.

Leaning forward in your chair you reach out, running your hand slowly from his knee up his inner thigh. Dean stumbles towards you, clenching his fists at his sides when your fingers skim past the bulge, instead hooking into the top of his pants, where you tug him forwards.

“No more touching baby, not until you strip for me”

Relaxing back in the chair you watch as Dean sighs, fingers moving back to his shirt and he starts unbuttoning it. Revealing that smooth tanned and freckled skin that lies beneath. He tosses the shirt away and you can’t help but bite your lip, you’d called him a jock for a reason, but being on that damn football team had its advantages.

He was toned, but not overly so, like a lot of the team were. He was down right fucking perfect, just as you’d expected he would be.

Kicking off his shoes, Dean’s hands go to his belt, the metal clangs and the leather slaps as he unbuckles it. You eagerly watch as he pops the button open on his trousers, then he pulls the zipper down.

“Mmm, look at you” you murmur appreciatively as he kicks his pants away.

He blushes even harder when he hears you, his cheeks almost bright red, spreading down his neck, and up to the tips of his ears.

“Do you want me to take these off too?” he asks almost shyly, hooking his thumbs into the elastic waistband of his tight fitting black boxers.

Standing from the chair once more you begin circling him, fingers lightly dancing across his skin with every step.

“Being such a good boy for me baby” you praise him, carefully dragging your nails across his skin, feeling him shiver as you come to stand in front of him. “So polite-” you pause to drag your nails up his inner thighs ripping a whimpering noise from his throat. “-unlike earlier. It looks like you might be learning your lesson. So yes, take them off for me”

Your praise has the desired effect and he’s unable to hide his smile.

“Thank you, miss,” he replies white teeth biting back his smile.

You step back to watch as he pulls the boxers down over his firm ass and lean hips and kicks them off to the side. Your eyes scan over his body appreciatively, taking in the sheer size of him, so well proportioned everywhere.

Licking your lips you walk behind him, giving his ass a slap watching him jerk forward, a moan slipping past those plump lips. Your hands slide over his hips, one of your small hands wrapping around his thick length.

“Is this why you act so cocky, Dean?” you purr pumping his thick length in your hand.

“Fuck Y/N” he grunts loosing himself in the sensations.

“Does that feel good baby?” you ask hotly, pressing your front tight against his back.

“Oh god, so good. T-Thank you” he stutters through a moan, you slap his hip with your free hand when they start to thrust, trying to fuck into your hand.

“Stop being greedy, take what you’re given,” you warn him gently, your free hand moves to cup his balls and he groans loudly, nearly falling over his feet when he stumbles forwards.

“Sorry miss, I’ll be good. Can I touch you, please?” he pants as his hands finally find purchase on the windowsill to keep himself steady.

Your hands fall away from his cock and you turn him to face you, he looks worried that he’s done something wrong until you smile up at him.

“Kiss me and take this off” you instruct him, grabbing his hand, you rest it on the zipper of your skirt.

The words are barely out of your mouth before his lips are pressed against yours, this kiss is nothing like before, gone is the shy unsure boy, this one is eager to please and give you everything you want.

It doesn’t take long for your skirt to fall loose, dropping to your feet. Your fingers grip his hair harshly as your tongues meet and Dean melts against you.

When you finally pull away from his lips you're both gasping for breath, “Desk Dean, now!” you practically growl, doing your best to keep yourself in check, not let your control drop, you can tell how badly he needs this.

Dean’s big hands hook behind your knees as your arms wrap around his neck, he carries you quickly to your desk, brushing his lips over yours as he moves.

“You hungry baby boy?” you purr against his ear, as you ass hits your desk.

“Starving, Miss. Fuck, Please,” Dean begs hands resting on his thighs, blunt nails clearly digging into his muscles while he looks up at you. You’re unable to stop the groan that leaves your lips at his desperate pleas and the look on his beautiful face, which makes your panties dampen further.

Fingers tightening in Dean’s thick hair, you tug his head back harshly. Smiling at that pained whimper that leaves his lips, running the tip of your tongue up his throat, from his Adam’s apple to his chin, where you nip gently, before pulling your lips away. Gently you push down on his head, taking your lead he drops down onto his knees in front of you. Looking up at you with big green eyes, practically sparkling, wide with lust and pleasure.

“Fuck. You beg so pretty baby” you praise him, pulling your legs up, resting your heeled feet on the edge of the desk, spreading yourself open for him. “No hands. Not until I say” you warn him.

“Yes Miss” Dean agrees eagerly.

Shimmying to the edge of your desk, you quickly feel Dean’s hot breath ghosting over your inner thighs as he pulls his arms behind his back, holding them there. Goosebumps rise across your skin when Dean starts sucking marks into your thighs, slowly inching his way up. His tongue runs along the line of your panties, just out of reach to where you want him.

“Dean. Stop fucking teasing, or so help me God you won’t come” you growl your warning, unable to stop yourself.

“Shit Y/N, I’m sorry. I’ll be a good boy” he hurries to explain.

Dean doesn’t give you time to reply or change your mind before his thick tongue is pressing against your soaked panties. Making noises of appreciation against the slick black material as he drags his tongue up and down, pausing to suck now and again. One of your hands fist in his hair as the other pushes your panties to the side, causing a loud groan to leave Dean’s throat when his tongue finally starts to move against your slick pussy. He gives a long drawn out suck to your clit, making you cry out, clamping a hand on your mouth when he pulls away with a pop, that panty dropping grin from this morning returning to those plump lips.

Angling your hips up your start to roll them into his face, his muffled moans and groans spurring you on, twisting that coil in your stomach tight.

“Don’t you dare Dean, no hands” you gasp as his tongue presses against your clit harder, more insistently.

You’re just about able to see his thick cock from where you’re sitting, his nails digging into his hip as he fights his instincts to touch himself. Pulling back and looking up at you, green eyes wide and desperate, your slick shining on his chin and lips.

“I’m so hard, Miss please” he pleads before pushing his tongue inside you, keeping his eyes locked on yours.

“Dean!” you cry out, feeling your pussy begin to flutter as Dean’s tongue keeps moving, “Give me your hand” you pant out, feeling yourself right on the edge of orgasm, you just need a little extra.

Groaning as his name falls from your lips, Dean does as he’s told and you press his hand to the top of your pussy, “Rub my clit baby, wanna come on your tongue. I’m so close”

He’s making so much noise beneath you. Your legs drop from the desk, pushing over his broad shoulders, Dean’s fingers move quickly back and forth over your clit. The band inside you snaps, legs seizing up as you come, pulling him as close as possible.

Dean licks you through your orgasm, slow and careful. He stops as your eyes flutter open, eyes lidded and heavy.

Your massive smile quickly turns into a look of annoyance as you look down at Dean, finding that he’s gripping his hard thick cock, pre-come leaking freely.

He notices you looking and swallows hard.

“On the chair Winchester” you command, keeping your tone even, clearly failing to hide your disappointment by the look on Dean’s face.

His eyes are dark and wide as he gets to his feet, you pull your panties back into place, jumping down from your desk. Dean takes a step back for every one that you take forward, until the backs of his legs connect with the chair and he drops into it, the wood groaning under his weight.

Reaching behind yourself you unhook your bra, dropping it to the floor, Dean’s eyes widen even further, if possible and his mouth drops open. Hooking your thumbs into the sides of your panties you pull them down, over your ass and hips slowly, letting them fall down your legs you kick them off your shoe.

“Son of a bitch” Dean moans loudly, completely captivated by you standing bare in front of him.

Kicking his legs open, you climb into his lap, straddling his hips, his cock brushing through your soaked folds. You roll your hips over him, biting your lip as he watches you. Leaning in closer your breasts brush against his bare chest and you press your lips to his ear.

“You were doing so good for me baby, why did you touch yourself?” you question quietly, as his cock nudges against your clit, your hands grip his shoulders, nails digging into his skin harshly.

Dean leans into your lips, the feeling of them pressed against his ear.

“Had to stop myself from coming miss, you’re so fucking sexy. Your pussy is so perfect, I’m sorry,” he grits out through clenched teeth, hands gripping the arm rests roughly.

You lean up against him, smiling despite yourself. Your hand wraps around his cock and you slowly lower yourself onto the tip.

“You wanna make it up to me baby?” you ask seductively, your voice coming out breathy and wrecked as inch by inch he sinks inside you.

“Yes! Anything. Whatever you want Y/N” he whimpers, letting his head fall back against the chair. You nip at his collar bone, your tongue running over the thick vein in his neck.

“Then do as you're told. You can’t come, not until I tell you to. Think you can handle that?”

“I can do it, please” he whines as the last inch of his perfect thick cock is pushed inside you.

“Good boy. Then you can touch me” you tell him with a smile, a smile that slips as your lips part and you start to rise and fall on his cock, letting your heels give you a little extra height.

His hands cup your breasts, thumbs teasing your nipples. One hand drops to your ass and grips tightly, helping you move. Dean’s lips seal around your free nipple, teeth dragging over the hardened nub as you whine and moan above him.

When he pulls away from your nipple with a pop, one of your hands grips his hair harshly, his forehead resting between your tits as you continue to ride him. Your chin rests on the top of his head, feeling him everywhere. His arms wrap around you, nails dragging down your back, “Fuck you’re so big Dean, feel so perfect inside me. I can feel your cock throbbing baby, you gonna fill me up with your come?”

“Oh g-god” he cries out against your tits, dragging his teeth over the taut skin, “I’m so close Y/N, please, let me come. I need it” he’s begging again, the way he’s clinging to you, like a lifeline, only pulls you closer to that edge all over again. You knew he’d been the perfect choice.

“Just a little longer baby, come on, you can hold it. You’re doing so well for me” your praises seem to help him hold back, but his fingers tighten against you, nails digging in harder but you fucking love it.

He nods breathlessly against your chest, a free hand slips between your legs, pressing your fingers to your clit, you rub fast hard circles into the sensitive nub. Rocking your hips, hard and fast, combing your fingers through his hair as you feel the pit in your stomach burning.

“Y/N, I c-can’t” he stutters, sweat coating his skin, his teeth sink into the side of your breast.

“Do it Dean, Do it. Come for me!” you cry out loudly, right before your own orgasm hits, way more intense than earlier. It sparks every nerve ending in your body, heart beat thumping in your ears, blood rushing under your skin.

You don’t have time to come down before Dean’s coming too, right behind you, his orgasm ripping an inhuman noise from his chest, prolonging your own orgasm.

When the two of you finally come down he’s shaking beneath you, his grip on your back has relaxed slightly, but he’s still holding you tight.

“Dean? You okay baby?” you ask gently cupping his cheeks, tilting his head up so his eyes meet yours again.

“I’m good I promise, really good. That was just really intense” he rasps out voice completely wrecked.

You gently press kisses to his nose and cheeks, finally meeting his plump lips in a slow kiss.

“I’m so proud of you Dean, you did so well” the second those words your lips he’s grinning up at you, eyes bright green and shining again.

He finally pulls his hands away from your back, you watch with wrapt interest as his fingers brush across the marks he’d left on your skin.

“I’m sorry if i hurt you, it just felt so good”

You wink at him when you finally climb out of his lap, pulling on your bra and panties. When you turn to pick up your skirt Dean hisses and you turn back to him worried. “You okay?” you ask quickly, pulling your skirt up your legs.

“Y-Your back, fuck I’m sorry” he apologises, a sad look crossing his face.

“Hey! None of that! It felt amazing and still does, it stings a little but it was worth it! I swear, I'm fucking great and you were incredible” you assure him honestly, pulling him out of the chair he kisses you again, with a force which surprises you.

Pulling away with wide eyes a knock at the door sounds through the room, “You! Sit and stay” you tell him quietly, pulling on your jacket, hoping that the I dropped my coffee story will work to get rid of them.

“I’m naked!” Dean hisses making you giggle, you arch your eyebrow and he nods licking his lips and takes his seat.

“That’s my good boy” you tell him sweetly, pressing a fleeting kiss to his lips.

Another knock sounds as you finally finish buttoning your jacket.

“Stop it!” he groans as you head over to the door, unlocking it you keep it just wide enough for your head to peek through the gap.

“Hey Garth, you need something?” you question with a smile, one you’re sure is awkward as hell.

“Hey Y/N, you got a second. Wait what happened to your shirt?” he asks nodding down to your badly buttoned jacket.

“I spilt coffee on it, all good. I’m kinda busy with a detention right now” you tell him, grip tightening on the door when he tries to look inside.

“Winchester?” he asks with a roll of his eyes.

“Yep” you reply shortly, running your free hand through your hair.

“Come on Miss! I’m getting lonely” Dean calls from behind you, causing a blush to rise in your cheeks.

“I’ll leave you to it, we can talk later. Good luck” Garth smiles, you thank him before turning back into the room.

You glare at Dean as you walk back into the room, locking the door behind you.

His smirk makes you want to fuck him and slap him all at once.

“Oh you’re gonna pay for that Dean-” you warn him, slapping his boxers out of his hands. “- and this time, you don’t get to make any noise” your smirk quickly rivals one of his.

“Oh fuck” Dean groans, beginning to see that being a smart ass wasn’t the best idea, you back him up against the wall and drop to your knees in front of him.

“Remember, quiet now” you wink up at him.

Dean couldn’t wait for his next detention.

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#dean winchester x reader #dean winchester #roleplay may #supernatural #dean winchester supernatural #dean winchester au #dean winchester student #reader teacher #sub dean #sub dean x dom reader #dean sub #sub dom #dean winchester x you #dean winchester x y/n #dean x you #dean x reader #supernatural au #dean winchester smut #dean winchester SPN

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twistedtummies2 · 4 years ago

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Ele-May-ntary - Number 6

Welcome to Ele-May-ntary! All throughout the month of May, I’ve been counting down my Top 31 Favorite Portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, from movies, television, radio, and even video games! Last time, we spoke of the Russian actor, Vasily Livanov, who’s portrayal of Holmes crossed international boundaries to become a success. Today, we’ll be discussing a Holmes a little closer to home and current sensibilities. Number 6 is…Robert Downey, Jr.

“I…Am…Iron Holmes! DADA-DADA-DADA-DA-DADA-DA!” Sorry. Couldn’t resist. XD ANYWAY…to many people Robert Downey, Jr. will forever be known as perhaps the most definitive portrayal of the Marvel superhero Iron Man, but – even as he was tackling such enemies as the God of Mischief and…um…Jeff Bridges and Mickey Rourke, I guess - Downey Jr. was also cracking cases in a steampunk-inspired rough-and-tumble Victorian London. Directed by Guy Ritchie, Downey Jr.’s Holmes films seem to be slightly polarizing. MOST people seem to like them, but I know a few people that don’t: some dislike them for their more action-adventure orientation, some dislike them because of the choice of popular actors for the roles, some dislike them because of the way it fiddles with the “classic” Holmes style, and some dislike them because of the humor they feature. Oh, yes. Because…(points to ALL THE HOLMES TAKES I’VE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE)…absolutely NONE of that has ever been attempted in the past. :P Personally, not only do I like the Guy Ritchie films, I LOVE them. I’d actually say that the twin pictures make for either my second or third favorite take on the Holmes universe, as a whole, ever made. Having said that, you’re probably wondering now why he’s only at sixth place, if that is so. Well, I’ll get to that in a minute: first, let’s focus on the positives. As I said before, both of these movies are more geared towards action-adventure than clue-sniffing crime-busting: in both cases, we know who the villains are, and it’s not long till we know what they want and why. The real mystery is figuring out how they plan to achieve their aims. Still, both films give Holmes plenty of time to use his whole arsenal of tricks: he fights plenty, sure, but he also uses his deductive reasoning to pick out details others would miss, and wears a variety of honestly often pretty good disguises. Holmes’ disguises in many versions are pretty transparent, but MOST of Sherlock Stark’s outfits are actually pretty convincing. (Most of them, lest we forget his drag outfit in “Game of Shadows.”) This is almost ironic, because Downey Jr. is one of the funniest takes on Holmes out there: half-insane, obsessive, quirky, and going to extreme lengths just to stave off boredom. He’s so reclusive he’ll lock himself away in total darkness for days at a time, and he’s always looking for something to occupy his mind. With his Bohemian sense of apparel and insufferably arrogant demeanor, he infuriates almost everybody around him – Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Lestrade, the list goes on – but you know that, at the end of the day, he’ll get the job done, and his heart is still in the right place. Downey Jr. is helped immensely by his supporting cast: Jude Law is my favorite Watson, Jared Harris my favorite Moriarty, Paul Anderson my favorite Sebastian Moran, and various other characters are all among my favorite takes as well. Even some of the original characters featured, such as the main antagonist of the first movie, Lord Blackwood (played by Mark Strong in my favorite of his performances), are really fun and interesting figures. I love the style of these movies, I love Hans Zimmer’s musical score, I love their sense of humor and tension…so how come, again, this Holmes doesn’t at least make my Top 5? Well, to put it simply…as much as I adore Downey Jr. as Holmes, I’m always kind of aware of the actor behind the character. True, I suppose there are other characters who have a similar issue – I certainly can’t miss Matt Frewer, Tom Baker, John Barrymore, and several others I’ve mentioned in the past when I see them in the role – but with Downey Jr., the issue is a bit different. It’s a bit like whenever I see, for example, David Tennant or Daniel Radcliffe in something: to me, David Tennant simply IS the 10th Doctor from “Doctor Who.” And Radcliffe simply IS Harry Potter. Anytime I see them in (almost) ANYTHING else, all I can see is the 10th Doctor or Harry Potter, and it’s incredibly distracting. It’s one thing to be distracted by the actor, but it’s a whole other issue to be distracted by an actor’s CHARACTER, if that makes sense. That’s the kind of relationship I have with Downey Jr. a lot of the time: I just so identify him as Iron Man now that it’s hard for me to get that out of my head, no matter HOW good his performance is. And it IS a great performance – heck, alongside Iron Man, Holmes is the next character I think of with the man, and he’s equally grand in both roles. But something about the performance he gives, mixed with that familiar face, just leads to me seeing Iron Man as Holmes, rather than seeing Sherlock Holmes or even RDJ as Sherlock Holmes. It’s just a weird quirk of my own mind, and it sadly does keep Downey Jr. out of the top five…but only just. On that note, tomorrow we move into the Top 5! Who will be next? Check in and find out!

#robert downey jr #iron man #sherlock holmes #sherlock stark #tony holmes #iron holmes #i've got a million of 'em #well #no #more like...four #three of which are here #bleh #ele-may-ntary #top 31 sherlock holmes portrayals #number 6 #guy ritchie #game of shadows #sherlock holmes 2009

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radramblog · 3 years ago

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some time to perish

So I saw the new bond movie.

…

Eh?

(heavy spoilers, for those who care)

I seem to recall the reception to this film being much more negative than what it is now that I actually look at it. I had hesitation going into this thing, and to be fair, I think there was good reason to- Spectre was a mess, after all, and this film leans heavily on the plot of that story. I haven’t seen Quantum of Solace, but my understanding is that even with the actual lines of continuity drawn between the Craig movies, none of them were as much a clear sequel as No Time to Die was to Spectre.

So what is the good here, because there is a fair bit. I do like Craig’s performance a fair bit- in the 15 years since Casino Royale, he’s managed to portray both a younger and a much older Bond just as well as each other, and the idea of a deliberately aged Bond isn’t something I think we’ve really seen. Save for Never Say Never Again, but that doesn’t and shouldn’t count. Similarly, we have solid performances from all the returning cast- say what you will about Desmond Llewelyn, who obviously owned the Q role for a very long time, but Whishaw’s iteration is still charmingly dorky, and Ralph Fiennes’s M is still as solid as ever. I do kind of wish the movie stuck a little closer with him as a potential antagonistic character, as it did a bit in the first half or so- if nothing else, so we could get more In Bruges-esque vibes.

Some elements of the baseline story are also pretty good, with the new characters it brings with it. The idea of a new 007 replacing the retired Bond is something I’m shocked we haven’t seen before, and I do like the character they’ve got started for her. While I know they Will Not Do This, because Eon Productions are cowards, they absolutely should have Lashana Lynch as 007 going forward- it would not be hard to just…have them be 007 movies, and not James Bond movies.

(hell seeing as Skyfall made it “canon” that James Bond was his actual name, and considering the ending of the film, gonna be hard to justify continuing to use it?)

There was a fair bit I did like about this film in general. The action was pretty good, as expected from the franchise at this point, and the soundtrack worked pretty well. One of my biggest issues with Casino Royale, great as that movie is, is that it just refused to use the Bond Theme like, ever? And this movie does not make that same mistake. Along a similar line, I’m not really into Billie Eilish’s work overall (just not my thing), but the theme she performed for the title was solid enough. I dunno. Still salty about everything to do with Radiohead’s Spectre, so.

There is, unfortunately, a lot I also don’t particularly like about the film. For one, we have yet another example of a Bond movie completely wasting its villain- Rami Malek is an incredible actor, and I’m sure Safin’s character could have more to do given the chance, but they don’t and as a result he’s barely bloody in the thing. Also, it’s yet another instance of Bond Villain With Disfigurement- in this case, one of two, what with the main henchman (Primo, apparently) being a one-eyed man. Kinda.

Similarly, they did Felix Leiter so fucking dirty in this film. Leiter is a character with pedigree- not quite as much as the main characters, but he’s been in 10 of the 25 movies, and Jeffery Wright is a great actor doing a great job in the role. And then he gets wasted by the biggest shitheel side-villain the franchise may have ever seen, and it feels completely pointless. Like, Bond doesn’t need more motivation in this film? My guy has plenty, between the other characters at stake and the severity of the plot in general, you didn’t need to do that to the guy. I think this might be worse than the one where his wife gets murdered and he gets maimed by a shark.

Speaking of said shitheel, Logan Ash is probably my least favourite character in the film. Just a smiley asshole who we never get a motivation for and who’s neither interesting, funny, or intimidating. I genuinely think this character was just a waste of time. Along the same line, the character of Obruchev, despite being super plot-relevant all the way through, is just a little annoying- he reminds me of Boris from Goldeneye, but Boris had the decency to be in like, three scenes.

Honestly, the middle third of this movie is generally much too long and half of it feels like it could have been cut. The movie is long, like almost 3 hours, and it feels it. You know you’re in for a long one when the pre-title sequence has two parts, each of which is probably longer than most average Bond pre-title sequences in general. A lot of setpieces felt unnecessary, and certain threads go unanswered- Ana de Armas’s character is really cool once she gets going, but then she just disappears from the fucking film immediately after that part of the plot is resolved, despite clearly being set up for a larger role- not to mention things like the shootout in the forest feeling like kind of a waste of time. Again, it’s a section where Logan Ash gets a bit of focus (among other things happening to him), and this time could have been better spent developing Safin.

Speaking of Safin, his motivation is completely unclear and his plan makes little sense. I think he just wanted to, um, kill the world with nanobot disease? Which, side note, I think it’s very funny that they just killed all of Spectre, Blofeld included, in this film, like, wow you really didn’t like how that movie was received, huh. Kind of undermines the whole “super-secret and powerful organisation” thing. But Safin’s motivation for wiping them out…well, I’m not sure they ever give one? Like, they justify some of the other stuff, but the specific dialogue about his motivation just doesn’t explain shit whatsoever.

And the plan…sigh. Yet another film where DNA is the magic word that does whatever the fuck you want it to do, sure. Fine. It shouldn’t get my goat as much as it does, but it does, so. There was the bit where Q is analysing the data from a USB stick and it’s just full of a bunch of people’s DNA profiles and just. Erghghghg. It was A Mess, and I don’t like it, and I wish people would stop writing plots that basically treat genetics or molecular biol like they are arcane majykks that can do anything, everything, and all in between.

Overall? Probably, like, a 7/10 or something. No Time To Die is, ultimately, a send-off to Craig and his era of Bond movies, and it definitely does that. To my knowledge, this is the only Bond film they’ve ever made where they knew going in that This Is The Last Movie With This Guy- and certainly the only one to actually take advantage of that fact. I don’t know that I would have gone out of the way to watch it if I wasn’t kind of already invested, but it’s not as awful as it very much could have been, so we’ve got that going for it. It’s a pretty solid action flick, one that promises a future for the series that I almost guarantee we aren’t going to see, but one that also ends an era conclusively and satisfyingly.

As a closing note- I do think it’s funny that this is a movie where the only “Bond Girl” is the one from the last movie. For the best, really.

#ramble #film #no time to die #james bond

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madexinxheaven · 4 years ago

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@whoxyouxhate said: 💊 - Is your character on medication? If so, why? @ the mains

"In this line of work and after everything we've been through? How could I NOT?"

Seriously, no one saw the kind of things Caitlyn had seen without developing serious cases of PTSD, SEPARATION ANXIETY & PARANOIA. She couldn't even HUNT these days without being hopped up on meds. After all, the last time she went out on the hunt, she'd come back to a BLOODBATH; With every last servant DEAD and her parents MISSING. Since then she'd risen up the ranks of the L.G.D as far and the way most prolific SNIPER they had. And from INFECTED to MURDER to RAPE to THIS VERY WAR, well... They hadn't made the nightmares any easier... The meds did, though. (Kinda...)

"This world breaks people. One way or the other."

"I, uhh... Texas says I SHOULD..."

Hyperactivity, blunt impulsion and a struggle with maintaining her own attention had LONG been problems that had cast Exusiai into danger TIME & TIME AGAIN. The youthful Sankta had a whole list of bad run-ins, mistakes, REGRETS, to her record. Yet, still, for the most part, she remained UNBOTHERED -- UNBURDENED. Fact also remained that she'd grown RECKLESS, CARELESS & IMPULSIVE in many things. Definitely didn't get enough sleep at night. And had a tendency for getting herself KNEE DEEP IN SHIT. But she meant well, and had fun, and only hurt the BAD PEOPLE, right? So it couldn't have been THAT IMPORTANT... -- RIIIGHT??

"But... What's the WORST that could happen?"

"I... What exactly are we counting as medication here?"

Did they count the CANDIES & TREATMENTS that protected against FROSTBITE? Did they count the various ways she'd tried over the years to actually feel some level of WARMTH? To warm the CHILL that was in her deathly rattling bones? Or were they just talking about the medications that Rhodes Island filled Infection with to pretend like they were actually making a DIFFERENCE. Then again, maybe they WERE making a difference... And it was all just so much harder for FrostNova to see from so far away. Irregardless, the answer was: No. she DIDN'T take any official medications. But she had her own self-medications. For what they counted for.

"I make do."

"Mmh? Oh, no..."

Shake of her accompanied her simple answer. Sometimes she wondered if she should have. Mostly whenever her personality PISSED OFF Blaze, but in truth she spent more time ADMINISTERING medication than TAKING IT. After all, she may have been a designated SNIPER, but she still was an operator working for Rhodes Island. And every last INFECTED in the world NEEDED medication. In fact, the more she thought about it... Maybe they should've been screening people more closely on a PSYCHOLOGICAL basis rather than observing their levels of ORIGINUM CRYSTALIZATION, no? Not to say they didn’t. They absolutely did. PRTS was surprisingly adept at it. But... But just like with treating the Infected, couldn’t they always do a better job at that, too?

"It's surprising, really. Or... Or maybe we're just not thinking about that kinda stuff? Maybe it's just become the new normal, y'know?"

"Medication? Me? Oh, no. I'm not any medication."

Granted, for every pill Makoto DIDN'T take she had a line in her contract with JOHANNA that all but unshackled her from the constraints of her greatest mental battles. Including her OBSESSIVE COMPULSION, PERFECTIONISM, CODEPENDENCY & INABILITY TO SAY NO BORN OF NO SMALL AMOUNT OF SELF-DEPRECATION. But then, didn't Johanna make everything in Makoto's life turn monochrome? Flirting in that moral grey area, caught between her duty as a Lungmen Guard and her own INFECTED VIGILANCE. In many ways, she supposed she was LUCKY for that. Every last inch of that self-deprecation came with another inch of herself she GENUINELY didn't like. And since Johanna had come into her life, Makoto had step-for-step came closer & closer to someone she could be PROUD OF.

"But I don't blame people if they need it. This... This world is... It's hard... So very hard..."

"Huh? Medication? What on Terra possessed you to ask a question like that?"

For once, Swire was NOT acting out of self-defence but, rather, asking very genuine questions. Albeit... She still didn't exactly ask them WELL. Confrontation was Swire's life. The bitch wore her heart on her sleeve, and her heart was big but easily wounded. To answer: Swire was not presently on any medication. She'd had her BOUTS of issues and therapies, usually when those insecurities ADDED UP, and she stopped being able to SIT ON HER FEELINGS, but largely she remained clean. At her standard, she liked to think she was HANDLING IT WELL... ALL THINGS CONSIDERED... But deep down? Well... Her episodes DID speak for themselves. (And it was usually Ch'en picking up the pieces.)

"Not right now. But sometimes life just gets to ya, y'know?"

"Medication? Hm. Sounds almost novel at this point, in all honesty. One might say, NAIVE."

If ANYONE was a poster-child for SHOULD BE ON MEDICATION, it was far and away TALULAH ARTORIUS. The girl had been broken for one or two decades far too long. & now she was FAR TOO FAR GONE. Pretty sure anyone who rallies together a radicalized group of freedom fighters to take over Lungmen & Ursus through TERROR TACTICS with a central goal of enacting revenge on the friends and family that HURT THEM as a child most certainly qualified for needing therapy. (Or maybe an ASYLUM.) Maybe if people had cared back when she was still BREAKING, all of this coud've been avoid. And, no, Ch'en DIDN'T count. How could she? What was her baby sister SUPPOSED to do about her abused sister who had been driven to psychosis by their very own family?

"We're far beyond the point of no return by now. Sometimes tells me I'm going to die before even taking one pill."

"Kee-Ahaha... Haha... Ahahahahahaha... Oh... That's cute."

Holy. Fucking. Shit. They really had to ASK that question? No. Of course she wasn 't on MEDICATION. The psychotic bitch didn't even let Rhodes Island treat her for Oripathy and she'd SIGNED ON AS THEIR MERCENARY. Of course, being feared by every last motherfucker in the galaxy kinda had some BENEFITS in that sense. Now, should she have been? Of course she should have been. Girl had one of the highest Originum densities in all of Rhodes Island. Oh, and there was the little tid bit of her being a PYROMANIACAL, MURDEROUS LITTLE PSYCHO. Yeah, that level of destructive psychotic mania PROBABLY needed a maximum security INSANE ASYLUM, let alone anti-psychotics and sedatives. But as they say somewhere else in the world: Y.O.L.O!!

"I'd like to meet the doctor that can actually make me take my pills~~!!"

"..."

Silence spoke louder than words, as they always say. And the truth was... Yuhsia was on SEVERAL medications as a result of the youth she spent alone in Lungmen after the disappearance of TALULAH and the abandonment of CH'EN & SWIRE. Would anyone really be surprised to learn that? Probably NOT, in all honesty. Mafia girl was left alone with some of the corrupt narcissist this side of the Ursus border and later forced to do all of the Rat King & Wei Yenwu's DIRTY WORK. Not to mention the sting of BROKEN PROMISES. To this day, Yuhsia had never EVER let anyone get remotely close to her. Most of all, Ch'en & Swire. Though they persisted like nagging little GNATS. But back to the question at hand... Yuhsia had developed a certain... TEMPERAMENT that she liked to keep on top of. The Rat King saw the worst of it. But she'd be damned if she EVER let Ch'en and Swire see it in the slightest. Meds HELPED with that.

"You should be careful asking questions like that to people like me. Who knows what might happen to you..."

#NKFDLN DFSFKLN WWELP #THESE ARE SOME VERY CURIOUS ANSWERSSS SLKFDN AND GIVE ME LOTSA GOOD HEADCANONS AND STORY IDEAS #NOMNOMNOMNOM #ALSO YES MAKOTO 1000% IS GONNA TURN OUT TO BE INFECTED #UH OHHHHHH #THATS TBH PROBABLY WHAT SHE NEEDS TO TALK TO CH'EN ABOUT #CAITLYN GIOPARA #[ CAITLYN GIOPARA ] + [ SHERIFF BY DAY. HUNTER BY NIGHT. ALL ALONE IN THE MOONLIGHT. ]#EXUSIAI #[ EXUSIAI ] + [ A FALLEN ANGEL WITH A KILLER SMILE ]#FROSTNOVA #[ FROSTNOVA ] + [ IN LIFE WINTER MAKES WAY FOR SPRING... WHAT DOES MY WINTER MAKE WAY FOR? ]#GREYTHROAT #[ GREYTHROAT ] + [ EVERYONE KEEPS SAYING I DON'T UNDERSTAND. BUT I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND. AND NO ONE'S HELPING ME... ]#MAKOTO NIIJIMA #[ MAKOTO NIIJIMA ] + [ I WILL DO WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE DONE. HOWEVER IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. ]#BEATRIX SCHWIRE #[ BEATRIX SCHWIRE ] + [ THE NAME'S BEATRIX SCHWIRE -- SENIOR SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LUNGMEN GUARD DEPARTMENT... AND YOU BETTER NOT FORGET IT #TALULAH ARTORIUS #[ TALULAH ARTORIUS ] + [ I THINK IT'S TIME FOR A FAMILY REUNION. A FAMILY FUNERAL. AND HONEY I HOPE YOU SHOW. ]#W #[ W ] + [ FINALLY THINGS ARE STARTING TO GET INTERESTING~~!! ]#YUHSIA LIN #[ YUHSIA LIN ] + [ BLOOD RUNS DEEP; THROUGH VEINS & THROUGH STREETS; HAIL TO THE RAT KING; BUT IT'S HER TIME TO RISE ]#WHOXYOUXHATE

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yue-muffin · 4 years ago

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Ultimate Note (2020)

Episode 1

I put off watching this one for long enough, but I am back with my wildly inconsistent dmbj watch-blogging adventures! Gosh, do I miss this series.

I honestly love how barely anyone reprises their role in this franchise, and if you’ve been in for a few seasons worth of dramas, it barely even fazes you anymore. The cast this time includes Zeng Shunxi as Wu Xie, and his name did not ring a bell until I looked at his profile - he was Zhang Wuji from the 2019 Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre! Not sure what popular consensus is, but I liked his performance there. Then, we have Xiao Yuliang who is actually reprising his role as Zhang Qiling from the flashbacks in Tomb of the Sea. He doesn’t 100% fit my image of Zhang Qiling, but I thought that about Cheng Yi and ended up loving him, so. Cheng Fangxu is a new addition as Pangzi. Haven’t heard of him or seen any of his works.

Aside from the main cast, there’s Liu Yuning who is playing Hei Yan Jing??? I honestly would have pinned him more of a Xie Yuchen and I also forgot he is also an actor haha (I know him from Our Song/我们的歌).

That’s all the speculation from me, time to get into the episode itself!

Serious talk for a moment.

One of the reasons that this series is so appealing to me is the slow integration of the overarching conspiracies behind the mysterious places our main characters have visited, and the fact that the mysteries begin to tie into the characters’ histories and pasts is the motivation to keep watching. The character relationships are the glue that binds all of the zany events together.

This series is one where I seriously wondered why I was still watching it well into TLT2, because it isn’t the type of genre I usually watch. It just has a lot of charm, strong enough to endure the multiple cast changes and out of sequence timelines.

Anyways, episode 1, here I come.

I loved the opening sequence, as it gives you a mysterious vibe - the sort of wonder you get when you look at an abandoned building and try to imagine the lives that once inhabited it. I also appreciated the recap. It’s much needed at this point, especially given the timeline of the dramas’ release dates, the change in casts, and the absence of the heavenly palace arc.

The episode opens with a scene that will very soon become the bane of Wu Xie’s existence: Wu Sanxing running off without a word, leaving Wu Xie to chase after him looking for crumbs of the truth and possibly uncovering even MORE trouble than if his uncle simply told him what was up in the first place.

Then, of course, the highlight of my day was seeing Wu Xie so damn possessive of ANYTHING that involves Xiaoge. He snatched that box up so fast as soon as Pangzi said “Zhang Qiling” lol.

There’s also something hilarious about Pangzi being fed up with the empty tape and kind of joking about a hidden code in the static, only for Wu Xie and his uncle to take it seriously and take a closer look. Love the family resemblance lol.

I am definitely missing context with the whole heavenly palace/Changbai Mountain segment of the story but the great thing about dmbj is that I’ve long gotten used to missing parts of the story but can still enjoy what I’ve got right in front of me at the moment. Anyways, apparently Xiaoge is supposed to be elsewhere but he is actually once again stalking Wu Xie lol. Wu Sanxing was right, without his friends, Wu Xie probably would’ve died several times over at this point haha...

Ah Ning shows up again! Less antagonistic this time, and I really like how she is portrayed across the shows honestly. Definitely a sort of frenemy haha. It’s going to take me a bit to get used to this actress, I still prefer TLT2 Ah Ning the most out of all the ones who have played her I think?

Also lol at Hei Yan Jing following Xiaoge around.

??? Wu Xie doppelganger! Or is it the other way around? Now that’s not something I expected. Nor do I recall reading about it in a spoiler, which is pretty amazing given all the events I’ve spoiled for myself. Also has something to do with the missing women who were part of Wu Sanxing’s archeological expedition team...

Oh no, Wu Xie is going off alone on this one. He’s lucky that Xiaoge is following him, otherwise he’d probably end up being monster chow or something.

Really going for horror movie vibes with this one, haha. That creepy hand reaching for him under the bed and the accompanying soundtrack...

I love how he’s self-aware about his habit of waking the dead with his prodding around tombs and coffins lol...

Eeey, Xie Yuchen! Seems more straightforward than he was portrayed in TLT2, though perhaps that’s due to the situation/subject.

And it looks like this notebook is starting to tie everything together.

Yes, Xiaoge, come save Wu Xie! He doesn’t even realize he’s got a creepy thing stalking him lol.

Ooh, blooper reel in the credits! I love bloopers haha.

Anyways, first episode done, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the season has in store!

#daomubiji #dmbj #the lost tomb 3 #ultimate note #the muffin's drama watching adventures

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hollowisthyname · 3 years ago

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Hello, Icarus! Please infodump to me about Danganronpa?

okay so! I had written out a whole thing but then tumblr deleted it! so that was fun! /s but now that I know what I'm going to write it's much easier, so that's good 😌

n e ways, I'm gonna do like a basic timeline w explanations and some other stuff that hopefully I'll remember once I start writing!! so let's go :D

a list of everything danganronpa in chronological order (not the order that you should play/watch the stuff in, I'll put that in the explanations)

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc (DR3) - second anime, watch along with the Future and Hope arcs after playing the first two games (and UDG if you want to). backstory for the cast of the second game.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (THH) - first main game, play first. also has an anime that's basically the same as the game, but since there's not enough time to put everything from the game into the anime I definitely recommend playing the game. high school students from a prestigious school trapped in said school are forced to play a killing game, hijinks ensue.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (UDG) - third game, not main. play after playing the first two games. very different game mechanics from the main three, and widely considered not cannon by the fandom. I like it though, and it introduces a lot of really interesting characters along with giving a v underdeveloped character from the first game a lot more character development. it's not necessary to play it (though one of the characters plays a pretty big part in the third anime, so that would make more sense if you already knew her), but I think it's interesting and fun. there are also robot fights.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (DR2 or SDR2) - second main game, play after playing the first game. same basic premise as the first game, except it's a different class (same school though) and this time they're on an island. even more hijinks and plot twists than the first game.

Super Danganronpa 2.5: Komaeda Nagito to Sekai no Hakaimono - (I could only find the Japanese title for this one, sorry 😔) kinda also part of the second anime? watch after playing the first two games (and UDG if you want) and watching DR3. character is woken up from a coma via overdramatic and overpowered other character.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future and Hope Arcs (DR3) - second anime, watch along with the Despair arc after playing the first two games (and UDG if you want to). aftermath of the first two games.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (DRV3) - third main game, fourth game in total. I don't actually know when it happens bc they're v secretive about everything, so I'm just putting it last. play last. same premise as the first two, the class is trapped in a school with a courtyard and a huge sort of dome around everything. peak hijinks, too many plot twists to count.

woo!! that's the timeline as I know it, hopefully I didn't miss anything. and I have managed to remember what else I was going to say, so let's move on to section two:

the mechanics of the games

danganronpa is, at its core, a glorified visual novel. every character has a certain amount of sprites for when they talk, as well as voice lines that aren't usually the exact text on the screen but fit the vibe of whatever they're saying. and as I've said before, there's quite a lot of talking. these games have more plot than should really be possible and most or all of it is done through dialogue. cutscenes and class trials are the only parts that are reliably fully voice acted, but there are a lot of those.

as for the parts that are less visual novel-y: you can walk around, and the settings are pretty much as 3d as the 2d-ish style of the game allows. you can also click on things, and sometimes clicking on stuff will get you monocoins, the currency of the game, which means you'll be able to buy presents for the characters!!

"now why do I need presents for the characters?" you ask. well, that's because you're given a certain amount of free time each game to hang out with characters you want to get to know better! the game's ending is fixed, so you won't change the course of the game by who you do or don't hang out with, but you can learn more about characters and become closer to them! giving them presents they like makes them like you more :D

and the most exciting part of danganronpa, what a lot of people play the games for, the true lure of the game.... the class trials!!

so these characters are in a killing game, right? basically, they're faced with a sort of lose-lose predicament: stay trapped in the school forever, or kill one of your classmates to "graduate". but it's not as simple as that, because in order to graduate, you can't be caught. and how do you determine whether or not a criminal has been found out? well, a trial of course!

enter the class trials. every student (barring dead or severely wounded ones) is required to participate in a kind of mock trial- except someone's really dead, and they need to find the murderer or they'll all die too.

(right, did I forget to mention that? only one person can graduate. getting out alive insures that none of your classmates get the luxury of doing the same.)

so, yeah. the class trials are a true fight for life on both sides, because who ever loses will be executed.

and they're really, really fun.

entirely voice acted! enough minigames that the list of them is probably longer than this entire post! the joy of solving the mystery! the... execution, right in front of everyone.

hey, it's a dark game. not like they're trying to hide that. and the executions aren't actually all that gory most of the time, but they're still very much there and onscreen. also as close to fully animated as the games ever get, which is pretty cool.

so how the class trials work is this:

there's a murder. dun dun duuuun. you investigate everywhere related to the murder to get "truth bullets", which are the reason you don't immediately fail at the trials. you don't have to remember all of them, they're all written down in your e-handbook. plus, the protagonists all seem to have really good memories.

time for the actual class trial!! Monokuma (asshole bear running the killing game) introduces everything, explains the rules. and everyone starts talking.

there are a lot of different parts to the class trial, but most of it is "nonstop debates". everyone talks one after the other, and you have to find inconsistencies and shoot the right "weak spot" with the right truth bullet. you refute the lie or mistake and everyone goes back to arguing normally.

there's also hangman's gambit (weird hangman to find a key word), multiple choice things (self-explanatory), and plenty of others.

near the end of the trial (or sometimes only a little over halfway in, it varies), the killer will.... kind of become obvious. there's a specific kind of change in behavior that's the mark of the murderer in these games, but I'm not sure how to describe it exactly. a lot of times there's an accent change, and in general they start acting much more erratic. since it's a trial, though, even after this presents itself you still have to prove your case beyond reasonable doubt.

and once it's become clear to the killer that they're backed into a corner, you have to do the "bullet time battle". it goes by different names in different games, but the basic mechanics are the same: you battle against a student (usually the killer, but not always) in a rhythm-based battle where you have to click to the rhythm to refute your opponent's statements. once you've dealt enough damage, you shoot the final piece of evidence, and that's the end of it.

the murderers react differently different times. sometimes they break down and confess. sometimes they keep denying it. sometimes, they're just calm. however they act, though, the end is the same. they are caught and punished accordingly.

but before that, there's one more thing to do. the closing argument.

your final task is to explain how the murder was committed, from idea to execution (look, a pun! see I can be funny too 😌). and you have to do it... as a manga.

you don't have to draw the whole thing yourself ofc- you just have to fill in the missing panels and then watch as the protagonist narrates it to the rest of the class.

and that's all for the class trial, not counting the long talks after every execution while still in the courtroom.

wow, this is getting...... really, really long. there's only one more thing I'm gonna add, and I promise it will be much shorter than the other two bc it is late and I am officially Incredibly Fucking Tired.

with no further ado, a very short part three:

my general impression of the game. its vibes or smth, I dunno this is just what i think about it

when I first heard of danganronpa, I thought it was a horror game. I can now assure you that it is not. thriller? maybe. debatable. but definitely not horror.

and despite its extremely dark premise, this game is not all doom and gloom. there's so much stuff about hope, and overcoming despair even when it seems impossible... it's not exactly a happy game, but there's a lot more of that in there than you'd probably expect.

all in all, I love this game. so much. it means a lot to me, and I think it's a really good game. thanks for letting me talk about it so much asdhfd :D

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cherry-valentine · 4 years ago

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Fall 2020 Anime Season:

Golden Kamuy Season 3 is, so far, just as good as the first two seasons. For anyone unfamiliar with the show, it follows a former soldier called “Immortal Sugimoto” (nicknamed so for his tendency to survive a lot of shit that would kill most people) and a young Ainu (the Japanese equivalent of Native Americans) girl as they search Northern Japan (and even parts of Russia) for hidden Ainu gold. The story is pretty wild, with threats coming from the wildlife and the harsh, snowy conditions as often as from mercenaries, assassins, and various other human dangers. The cast has expanded enough that we have several separate groups of cool, well-written characters roaming about (and they’ve shuffled a bit from season two, making their interactions very interesting). Sugimoto remains one of my favorite anime protagonists. He’s one of the more brutal, violent main characters I’ve seen, but, strangely, also one of the nicest. He’s kind to innocents (both people and animals) but will slaughter his enemies without hesitation. He’s also pretty funny. Then again, almost every character is subject to the show’s weird but endearing humor. It’s very hard to dislike any character, even the ones who are quite cruel. The show is also notable for having a lot of homoerotic subtext. The beefy, handsome men sure do love taking their clothes off and wrestling. Like, taking it ALL off. Multiple times per season. Yeah. Watch this show, everybody.

Ikebukuro West Gate Park is a new show this season that I was initially interested in because it reminded me of Durarara!! in that it’s set in Ikebukuro and features color gangs. That’s where the similarities end, however. Whereas Durarara!! had tons of supernatural elements and just plain craziness, IWGP is more realistic by comparison. The show follows Makoto, a seemingly normal guy who seems to function in a sort of “odd jobs” type of role for a color gang called the G Boys. While they’re a gang, they don’t seem like criminals or thugs, or even delinquents. They really feel more like a club, held together by their respect for the leader referred to as King. So far the series seems to be episodic in nature, with most stand-alone episodes focusing on some sort of social issue, from drug addiction to immigration. It’s interesting to see these issues presented in such a sympathetic light, viewed through the lens of Tokyo’s youth. The art is nice, with varied character designs and animation that’s just good enough that you don’t notice the problems very often. The music is a highlight, with my favorite opening theme of the season and one of the better ending themes.

Magatsu Wahrheit is a show I was very iffy on at first. It has a lot of things working against it. It’s based on a video game I’ve never heard of, the opening theme is one of the cheapest, most unimpressive things I’ve ever seen (note: it does improve a few episodes in!), and the series overall has a low budget feel (though nowhere near as bad as Gibiate from last season). But the story is actually very interesting and very well written. The basic premise is that Young Man A (I’m not remembering these weird names, sorry) works as a delivery truck driver in your usual “modern fantasy” setting (kingdoms and monsters and other medieval fantasy trappings alongside trucks and cars and advanced science laboratories). When he’s loading up his deliveries, Young Man B, a fresh recruit in the kingdom’s military and general goody-two-shoes, randomly offers to help Young Man A load his truck. Young Man B spots some boxes off to the side and, assuming they were part of the load, puts them into the truck while Young Man A is talking to his boss. These boxes turn out to be illegal weapons being smuggled by a group of... freedom fighters? I guess? This, in turn, drags Young Man A into a shit storm of trouble when the illegal weapons are discovered in his truck. It also leads directly to tragedy for Young Man B as well, setting them both on wildly different but similarly dangerous paths. The whole idea that a simple act of kindness for a stranger sets off such a terrible series of events is pretty engaging. As it stands in the show right now, Young Man A is the more compelling character. He’s just a truck driver. He’s a coward who runs from danger and wants no part of any of this. But at the same time, he can be surprisingly brave at times (usually when a child is in danger). In a twist on the usual trope, these spurts of bravery are rarely rewarded. At least twice, his decision to act has led to heartbreaking tragedy. So far Young Man B is your typical “idealistic youth realizing the military isn’t comprised entirely of nice people” type of character. As such, he’s just not as interesting. He hasn’t had as much screen time though, so hopefully he’ll grow as a character. I guess it says a lot that I’ve written so much about the show, and almost all of it is about the plot. But the plot is really the only remarkable thing about it. In this case, that’s enough.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is, well, a bit of a trainwreck. And I’m not necessarily talking about the quality of the show. Let me explain: The show was marketed as a remake of the 2006 anime, which was one of my all-time favorite series. I was pretty excited about it. Lots of new fans who had never watched the original started this one. The first episode was okay. I wasn’t crazy about how shiny everything looked (I realize the original’s visuals are a bit dated now but at least they were unique, this new one looks like pretty much every harem anime from the past five years) but the story seemed to be doing good and I looooooved the use of the original opening theme song as the closer. Then episode two dropped, and the fandom basically exploded. The first few minutes of episode two reveal that this is not a remake, but a sequel! Shock! At first, I was impressed by this little bit of manipulation. It felt exciting to realize the truth. But then it dawned on me (and the rest of the fandom) that new viewers who came to watch this were screwed over. Those first few minutes of episode two spoil some very important things from the original series (we’re talking major spoilers here), and it’s going to ruin a lot of plot points for those who never watched the original and now want to go back and watch it first. So here’s a PSA: If you’re new to Higurashi and want to try this new series, DON’T unless you’re okay with watching a sequel that spoils the original.

Okay, so now let’s talk about this new series/sequel. First, the good points: The ending theme is GORGEOUS. Just... go watch it. Soak it up. The opening isn’t bad but I can’t help comparing it to the far superior original opening. Aside from the overly shiny and generic character designs, the rest of the visuals are pretty great. The scenery in particular is very nice. In terms of story, I like the idea of beginning each new “arc” by staying close to the original story, then throwing in some pretty wild deviations that make them end in completely different ways because a character that lived through the original is trying to make subtle changes (that so far have ended up turning out very badly). When it comes to the bad points, one in particular sticks out: It’s not scary! The original had some truly unsettling moments, and so far this one hasn’t even been creepy. It’s had some moments that obviously tried to be scary but have failed miserably. For example, the early scenes with Rena in the original were actually terrifying. But I felt none of the intensity or creepiness in this sequel. Still, it’s nice to see these characters again and to see how this story deviates as someone tries desperately to change the outcomes.

Haikyuu!! has another new season and... I don’t really know what to say about it. I’ve talked about this show several times now. Looks like this season is going to focus primarily on one long match, a concept I’m not crazy about. They also made the baffling decision to cut in with a full episode about a rival team’s match right in the middle of showing the match with the main team. I mean I love seeing more of the rival teams but it felt disjointed to do it this way. Still yet, it’s a fun and energetic show full of great characters and easily understood volley ball matches.

Jujutsu Kaisen is probably the most hyped up new show this season, and I would say it definitely deserves that hype. It’s a pretty familiar shounen fighting anime setup: A teenage boy acquires special powers and joins a school to train so that he can use those powers for good. However, following that formula does little to negate just how fun and well-done this series is. A lot of people have compared it to Naruto (the protagonist is a vessel for a powerful entity, he joins a trio of characters with a more serious and moody black-haired boy and a chick, and they have a badass teacher with silver hair who keeps his face partially covered). So sure, it’s like Naruto... except it’s much better than Naruto in every conceivable way. The animation and fight choreography are consistently fantastic. The main character is not the least bit annoying. The only chick in the group (there are more cool ladies in the story, just not in this group!) is a badass in her own right and her story and motivations have absolutely nothing to do with romantic interest in any of the guys. Even the teacher character is incredibly fun. The music is great, with my favorite ending theme of the season. You know it’s an excellent ending theme when people start making different versions of it using characters from other shows. It’s so, well, fun. A word I keep using here, because that’s the first word that comes to mind when I’m watching this series.

Talentless Nana is one of those shows that’s going to be difficult for me to talk about without spoiling a very cool surprise. This surprise comes at the end of episode one (basically, the show makes you think it’s about something, but turns out it’s about something completely different). So if you want to really enjoy that surprise, stop reading this and go watch episode one before coming back. If you’ve already watched it or don’t mind having the surprise spoiled, here we go: The first episode sets up the series to be a cheap Boku no Hero Academia knock-off. We have a school of “talented” (super powered) kids training to use their powers to save humanity from (so far) unseen monsters referred to as “the enemies of humanity”. We are told one boy has no “talent” or special power and he’s ridiculed for this. There’s a new transfer student named Nana, a super sweet and cheerful girl with pink hair who has the ability to read minds. There’s also another transfer student, a sullen and quiet boy named Kyouya who hasn’t disclosed what his “talent” is. With that setup, I think a lot of people were ready to dismiss it as “BNHA, but not as good”. But then, a few minutes before the first episode ends, we’re hit with the twist that reveals what this show is really about: Nana is the one with no “talent”. She lied about being able to read minds (the boy we thought had no talent did actually have one). She’s a totally normal human being, and she has been sent to infiltrate the school and kill off the students, the true “enemies of humanity” (called so because their powers make them incredibly dangerous). Thus, the show is about a normal human girl using only her wits and skill in manipulation to kill off super-powered individuals. Watching her work is an absolute delight. She is ruthless and incredibly intelligent, but she does have one major problem: the other transfer student Kyouya, who is at least as smart as she is and is suspicious of her right off the bat. But since he’s not sure she’s up to no good, he can’t really act on his suspicions. Nana in turn knows he suspects her, so she has to be careful around him. As a result, the two become “friends”, constantly watching and outmaneuvering each other. In this way, the series reminds me of the early, best parts of Death Note, with the mental sparring between Light and L. But the most fun you’ll have with this show is watching Nana come up with ways to deal with each new “talent” she comes across, from the ability to time travel to necromancy, all while having no special power of her own. The art is nice, a bit generic, nothing too fancy. The music is great, with one of the better opening themes this season.

Moriarty the Patriot focuses on the classic Sherlock antagonist Professor Moriarty. Let me get this out of the way first: I know next to nothing about Sherlock. I haven’t even watched any of the various tv shows about him. What I know of the character basically comes from mentions of him in Detective Conan. So I’m coming into this series with no preconceived notions about these characters and no other versions to compare them to. Anyway, Moriarty as a series is about class warfare. Moriarty as a character pretty much embodies the phrase “eat the rich”. If you’re familiar with the phrase and understand its meaning, you’ll probably like this show. Moriarty works as a professor, but his side job is as a “Crime Consultant”. He helps the poor lower classes get revenge on the cruel nobles and elites who have wronged them. This revenge most often involves murder. There’s something refreshing about how unapologetic it is. In most anime, the hero tries to find other ways to punish evil than by actually killing them, or there’s some lesson involved about how revenge isn’t the answer or how killing someone who wronged you makes you as bad as them. In this series, there’s absolutely none of that. People get their revenge and, so far as I’ve watched, seem to be living much happier lives afterwards. In this way the show totally avoids being preachy. The art is gorgeous, with classy character designs and lovely backgrounds. There’s a certain lushness to it. The music is very nice as well (particularly that poppy ending theme). The only downside is that this has probably ruined me for watching other versions of these characters now. I mean, once you see them as sexy anime pretty boys, it’s hard to see them as anything else.

Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons:

Black Clover

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Jujutsu Kaisen

Best Opening Theme: Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Best Ending Theme: Jujutsu Kaisen

Best New Male Character: Moriarty (Moriarty the Patriot)

Best New Female Character: Nana (Talentless Nana)

#anime reviews #seasonal anime #fall 2020 anime #anime recommendations #text #jujutsu kaisen #moriarty the patriot #munou na nana #ikebukuro west gate park

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bemused-writer · 4 years ago

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The Great Roland Comparison

I've been meaning to write this for, um, ages now (I finished the poem, "Song of Roland" last year), but I wasn't completely sure how I wanted to organize the comparison. Did I want to investigate each stanza? Separate it into specific important moments? But what I've decided to do is break it down more loosely by pertinent character relationships and plot points in the poem and see if any of those are actually relevant to our manga counterpart. Roland & Aude The relationship between these two is actually somewhat important in the poem and completely missing from the manga. Aude is Olivier's sister and Roland's fiancee, so she's of relevance to both men. That does not mean she is given a great deal of character development (although I would hesitate to say anyone in this poem was), but she is utterly devoted to Roland and, in fact, dies upon learning of his own death. I'd say she also serves as a way of emphasizing how close Roland and Olivier are. They're best friends and Roland is actually about to join Olivier's family. But as I said, Aude is not in VNC and Roland definitely isn't acting like he's engaged to anybody considering Olivier has remarked on his numerous failed relationships. I think we can also safely say Roland isn't engaged to Olivier's sister given how flippant he was about the whole thing. This kind of fits in with how these two are more... comrades than typical friends in the manga. If Roland were engaged to Olivier's sister in the manga, I think they'd need a drastically different relationship. There would hopefully be less pseudo-antagonism at the very least. Which brings us to: Roland & Olivier These two are in both versions with a few changes. In the poem, Olivier takes Roland's lead on things. He's not a servant exactly, but there's no doubt that Roland is in charge. His opinion of Roland in the poem isn't wildly different from the manga, though. XD When Roland says he will take care of their war he replies with, "'That shall you not,' Count Oliver let loose; 'You're high of heart and stubborn of your mood, you'd land yourself, I warrant, in some feud.'" (Bold is mine.) I mean, yeah, that sounds like our Roland. XD He maintains a lot of cheer in the manga, but he seeks out trouble without hesitation. Olivier has reason to worry in both versions. And, likewise, in both versions Roland's decisions directly impact Olivier. In the poem, Olivier dies at his side, in the manga, Olivier is afraid of the repercussions Roland's decisions will have on him because, much like his poem counterpart, he is loyal to Roland, even if we can't quite say why in this version. It seems like, while Olivier goes out of his way to help Roland in the manga, Olivier is the one in a position of power more so than Roland is in contrast to the poem. Even so, I have no doubt that Roland is going to get his way more often than not. I am curious why this is, though. As I said earlier, Roland isn't engaged to Olivier's sister, so there isn't that familial bond to connect them. We know they've known each other for years, but how did they meet? In the church more generally? Or only after they became chasseurs? I get the impression Roland hails from a lower income class than Olivier, and considering how fussy people were about different classes interacting at this point, it seems unlikely they would have met casually, but who knows?

Roland & Astolfo Astolfo was nowhere to be found in the poem, so there isn't any comparison I can do there. What I can say is that Astolfo is serving as a way to show us a different side of Roland: a more serious, somber side. Roland saved him from a miserable death at the hands of vampires, but rather than bring them closer together this is the wedge that keeps them apart. Astolfo resents Roland for saving him instead of his sister, despises how relaxed he acts around others, and probably doesn't enjoy the fact he gets none of that treatment himself. (I'm making an assumption there. If he does, he probably hates being treated like a child, so Roland isn't going to win either way.) I think Astolfo will show us how far Roland's kindness goes. We know he has several siblings, but does he see Astolfo as one of them? Or merely a misguided paladin with too much power and an irresponsible nature? Roland & the Church This is probably the most important facet of Roland's personality both in the poem and the manga: his loyalty to the Church. The poem paints him as zealous, loyal, a bit hardheaded, but ultimately the absolute image of a hero. No one doubts him. Likewise, in the manga, Roland is seen as extremely faithful, but Olivier casts doubt on his faith. He says Roland doesn't really believe in God so much as he believes in himself, and that is a stark contrast to the Roland of the poem. I have no doubt poem!Roland had a lot of self-confidence. Indeed, he probably had too much given Olivier's opinion of him in it, but no one was suggesting he had more faith in himself than God. I should clarify that Olivier said he believes in himself "as a follower of God." And what that's saying is that Roland believes in God, yes, but in his own interpretation of God, not that of the Church's. That goes a long way towards explaining why he could change his perception of vampires at the drop of a hat. It would also make him a threat to the Church; he's a powerful paladin who is willing to follow his own beliefs above those of his superiors. In the poem, Roland dies defending the French people and the Christian faith. But I sincerely doubt that's how it's going to go down in the manga. I'm pretty well convinced he's going to die, but my guess is he will die in opposition to the Church, but in full faith that he has served God the way he was meant to. In other words, I wouldn't be surprised if he dies helping Noé and Vanitas. Already he has mentioned he wants to protect Vanitas, that he worries for him, and rightly so. Olivier also died in the poem, and honestly, I don't think he's getting out of it in the manga either. In the poem, he died at Roland's side, with him to the last. In the manga, I suspect he will also die by Roland's side, though perhaps more reluctantly than in the poem. He keeps helping Roland despite knowing how bad this is going to look for him in the future. He wants Roland to remain loyal to the Church and to stop doing all his suspicious activities, but I think they both know that isn't going to happen, so his only hope is that Roland will keep it under wraps, which, well, he's tried, but other chasseurs are already suspicious. This isn't going to end well for either of them. There's always a slim chance Olivier will "betray" Roland and side with the Church, but based off of what we've seen so far, that seems an unlikely resolution. I'd say the main takeaway I have from the poem in regards to the manga is that the themes of the poem, loyalty to God and country, are going to be inspected more thoroughly. What does it mean to be faithful to God? Or yourself or your country for that matter? Those are the questions Roland will have to contend with while Olivier will have to contend with where his loyalties lie: Roland or the Church itself.

#vanitas no carte #vnc meta #Bemused's post

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starandquill · 4 years ago

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Hunter’s Game

My excuse to write an interaction with these two and also to write a poem about Cater sknkjgdn cross-posted on Ao3!

Characters: Rook Hunt, Cater Diamond

Summary: Rook finds Cater in the woods and decides to mess around with him. Cater soon learns he can’t outsmart the hunter in his own game.

The sun was low on the afternoon horizon and a soft breeze rustled the leaves in the forest. There within the chilly undergrowth, a hunter stalked their prey. They were a skilled predator, a figure obscured in the shadows refracted by the leaves above with footfalls so delicate and swift that not a leaf or stick was left behind disturbed. The hunter watched with sharp eyes through an obscuring bush as their prey, a figure across a grassy flowered clearing, shifted directions and bright green eyes narrowed as their main target was left perfectly open.

Quickly and seemingly with the grace of an eagle taking flight, the hunter raised their weapon and an arrow alongside it. Nock, aim, pull back. All done in several swift movements. Release.

Thunk.

The arrow struck its target perfectly and Cater's phone was knocked from his hand just before he could snap a photo of the flowers in front of him. The Heartslabyul student exclaimed his surprise in the form of a shout and immediately spun on his heels to face the direction the arrow came from with wide eyes and a defensive arm raised, magic pen in hand.

"Ah, my apologies~" Rook took this moment to slide out from the bush. Once more with enough grace that only a singular leaf remained stuck to the fabric on the shoulder of his uniform. A leaf which he then plucked and cast aside without breaking eye contact. "I missed."

Cater knew very well that Rook was not the type to miss and that the close-eyed smile and exaggerated shrug the self-proclaimed hunter gave him was a sly mockery that made his eyebrow twitch.

Despite this, Cater forced himself to return the smile, pocketing his magic pen. Both knew exactly what the other was really thinking and inwardly both were staring daggers, but they kept niceties.

"Ah! No problem." Cater said, particularly making sure to let a bit of his annoyance drip through between the cheerful tone. He reached down to retrieve his phone, brushing some dirt off of it as he looked it over quickly for any cracks in the screen. When he found nothing damaged, he quickly shoved it in his back pocket and looked up again to see Rook had already crossed the space between them and was now standing practically in front of him. With the same shit-eating grin still plastered on his face, Rook knelt down and retrieved his arrow from where it had fallen, returning it to his quiver and slinging the bow he'd been carrying with him around his shoulder as well.

When he stood back up to his full height, a silent exchange passed between their smiling expressions. Cater's read something along the lines of 'Hey you shit-faced bastard, you could've cracked my screen. There are, like, a million other things out here to aim at. What did I do to you, dude?' And Rook's expression assured in return that he was perfectly capable of using enough strength and precision to pierce the device clean through and that Cater should count himself lucky Rook had decided to merely knock it away with one of the blunt arrows he saved for non-hunting purposes.

"I was aiming at a bird." Rook finally said. "Such a shame, it seems it flew away now." He says this with a dramatic sigh. Cater noted he was making an effort to purposefully emphasize the obvious lie. He tried not to fall victim to whatever it was Rook was clearly doing.

"Sorry to hear that! Good luck with the rest of your.. Er.. Hunt! I was just taking some photos of these pretty flowers here and I'd like to continue if you don’t mind." Cater gestured toward the bright yellow and blue scattered among the grass of the clearing they were standing in. When Rook remained uncharacteristically silent, Cater shrugged and went to retrieve his phone again. However, his hand was stopped short as Rook caught him by the wrist. Instinctively, Cater moved to twist his hand from the other's grasp but Rook's grip was firm and that shit-eating smirk remained.

"A trickle of color amongst a sea of green, colorful raindrops fallen upon the ground. Oui, le fleur, a true beauty of the forest.” His eyes pierced Cater’s. “Do you know what else is beautiful, Monsieur Magicam? The thrill of the hunt. Since you're here and a hunt is always better done in a pack, I'd like you to help me catch that sneaky little birdie."

"Ehh?! Wh-" Cater protested as Rook began to pull him into the trees. "Hey!"

There was no bird! Rook was no fool and neither was Cater. Cater was well aware he was just playing games and Rook clearly knew of this fact, yet he smoothly continued the lie and used it to his advantage rather forcefully and expertly without revealing his intentions. The hunter had cornered its prey merely to force the prey to hunt for it. What sort of game was Rook playing at? Or rather, what sort of game was Cater being asked to play?

"Come, I saw it fly off this way." They were nearly in a jog at this point. Rook was clearly athletic, his speed leaving him practically dragging Cater along behind. He leapt easily over rocks and protruding roots, leaving Cater to stumble over said obstacles.

Finally, Rook paused within the shade of a young tree, seemingly completely unfazed by the length of which he had run. When they halted to a stop, the Heartslabyul student doubled over, gasping desperately for air as he looked to Rook, who appeared to be smelling the air for scents that carried in the slight breeze. Again, searching for nothing in particular but keeping the facade.

It wasn't as if Cater was unfamiliar with spontaneity of mischief. After all, it was quite the familiar theme among the Heartslabyul dorm. He knew a game of wits when he saw one. Aha! That was it! If Rook wants a game he'll get a game. This was a game two could play at and two would play indeed. ..Or perhaps, more than just two..

A wide grin spread across his face.

"Don't you think it would be easier,” Cater suddenly said. “If we split up to find it?"

Before Rook could even open his mouth to speak, Cater used Split Card. He got a boost of confidence from the look of genuine surprise that crossed Rook's eyes for all but a tenth of a second and it allowed Cater just enough energy for all four versions of himself to split off and scatter into the trees.

“Hmm?” Rook called into the forest. “Playing games with a hunter are we? That's never a wise move.” A pause, no Caters answered. “But I guess I do enjoy a game of hide and seek. Alright, I give you 10 seconds to hide, Monsieur Magicam. Let's play a game. I know there are four of you, so if I find the real one, you must help me find my little bird. If I guess incorrectly, you win and you're free~” A beat. Then, “Neuf.” Another beat. “Huit.”

Cater realized he had begun counting and took off into the trees. The other Caters realized this too and all of him set off in completely different directions. The real Cater stumbled through the bushes as if his life depended on it (and perhaps it truly did) looking desperately for a place to hide. He glimpsed a dip in the ground ahead and dropped down into a creek bed where he flattened his back against the grasping roots of a tree. He then allowed his breathing to steady and his heart rate to calm. Mud stuck to his uniform and shoes from where he crouched and his hair had come undone at some point and cascaded across his face, obscuring parts of his eyesight.

“‐Deux. Un! Let the hunt begin~!” Rook’s voice rang through the trees. There were several beats of silence, then Rook's voice echoed from somewhere distantly off to his left.

It was.. Of course he was reciting poetry, leave it to Rook Hunt to add such a thing to the most unusual of situations.

"A card for the hunter, a card for the prey.

Neither side knows what the other might play.

A four of diamonds, or a joker?

A risky game, this game of poker."

Cater sank lower into the creek bed as Rook’s voice grew closer, praying that he’d chosen the best place to hide out of the other Caters.

"His pawns cannot protect him yet.

For they can only move ahead.

The others turn their path astray.

While the king can only outrun the fray."

He frowned. That was.. There was a deeper meaning to Rooks echoing words.When the hunter spoke again, he was closer. Much, much too close.

“He who waits upon his throne

Is first to fall when left alone.

He begs and pleads them, but alas,

They took the crown right from his grasp.

Diamond diamond in the mud,

the hunter calls out for your blood.

If you so truly wish to hide,”

A moment of silence.

“You really shouldn't shine so bright~”

It wasn't like Cater to freeze, and yet in that moment he'd been listening so carefully for Rook's next words so he would know when to run that he'd underestimated the hunter's location. When Rook spoke that last verse, he sounded as if now stood directly above the creek bed, close enough that Cater could hear his breathing. Rook took a breath, likely preparing to speak those final lines of his oddly morbid poem.

..When an obnoxious ringtone went off.

Cater's reflexes were automatically programmed to reach for his own cellular device when he suddenly stopped himself upon the realization that the ringtone was not his own.

“Bonjour!” He heard Rook answer from above him in a cheerful voice, an immediate switch from his previous tone. He was close enough that Cater could hear the murmurs of another voice on the other end of the line. “Roi de Poison! Is everything alright?” An exasperated tone answered and he heard Rook hum in surprise at something. “Really? Are you sure? Alright alright I'll be there soon. Au revoir~!” The other end of the call said something in a loud voice, likely protesting the abrupt hang up, but Rook ended the call regardless.

"It seems the little birdie got lucky. Ah well, I'm sure I'll catch it someday! You win today, Monsieur Magicam. Enjoy your victory, it's not every day someone escapes my hunter’s grasp~” He chuckled, then Cater heard his footsteps turn and begin to walk back the way he came. He let go of a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as Rook’s steps grew distant and nearly slumped down in relief before remembering he was crouching over a mud puddle. As he stood up, he allowed his clones to disappear and his full magic returned to him. Regardless of the abrupt end, it was clear the hunter had given up on his game for the day as the previously tense and threatening air had dissipated entirely. Cater dug around in his pockets for a hair tie and double checked that his phone was still there. He tied his hair back up and went to brush the drying mud off his pants, knowing how much he'd get reprimanded by Riddle for returning in such a state regardless of his efforts to tidy his appearance.

The setting sun cast long shadows among the trees and the orange-red colors of the sunset sky above reflected in the water of the small creek making the steadily running water look much too similar to that familiar red paint that dripped from the roses in the Heartslabyul gardens before a party.

..Or perhaps a trail of blood, running over rocks and away from the ashes of the fallen and defeated among a broken battlefield.

He shook his head. No! Bad Cater! Stop that, you’re thinking too dark!

As he began wandering back through the forest the way he came, the hunter's poem remained on his mind. He hated admitting it to himself but though Rook hadn't gotten to finish his game properly - whatever that meant - the hunter had most certainly won. Whether intentional or not, the words cut deeper than any arrow would. That hunter.. He knew much more than he would ever say. Cater suddenly paused, drawn out of his thoughts as he remembered that he hadn't even gotten the chance to do what he originally came there for. Putting on a bright grin, he pulled up his phone and snapped a selfie.

#walkinthewoods #NRCforest #beautifulsunset #prettyflowers #checkoutthiscreek

Uploaded.

Anyone looking at the photo would not see the exhaustion behind his smile or how dirtied his lower uniform was. They wouldn't know the oddity of an afternoon he’d just been through and it would always continue to stay that way.

Humming a cheerful tune to himself, he began the walk back, the only goal currently on his mind now being to return before Riddle’s set curfew as it was quickly getting dark.

Much farther away, and hidden once more within the darkness of a shadow cast behind a gnarled tree, those green hunter’s eyes watched the Heartslabyul student as he left with a knowing gaze.

"Though ages to polish a diamond may take,

To sculpt to perfection without a mistake.

No gem is flawless, no effort doth matter.

For with enough pressure, that diamond can shatter.”

#twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland fanfiction #cater diamond #rook hunt #fanfic #apologies for my odd writing style sjgdgjgn #looks kinda like a ship but i swear that wasnt my intention pff #star writes

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bang-and-a-blintz · 5 years ago

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A Little Extra

Deadass. I woke up the other night at like 4am because this idea popped in my head. Would’ve been nice for it to have been a dream but whatever (thanks a lot, subconscious) and I tried to write it instead. For some reason I can’t stop thirsting over Sasha but I also just want to give him a big hug so this ended up manifesting from that. And yes, I know his character is supposed to be a total twat but I still love him.

So here’s a little Sasha Mann/Reader oneshot that miiiiiight potentionally be more. I have lots of thots. 😇

Fandom: The Affair

Relationship: Sasha Mann//Reader

Rating: Explicit (18+)

Warning: In the realm of smuttiness (basically just some not-so-dry humping)

Word Count: 3,504

~A Little Extra~

You've seen him on set a few times but never had the chance to be properly introduced, and it's not like you can just waltz on up to the lead actor, especially someone with as much prestige as Sasha Mann. No way. At least not when you just got hired fairly recently as an extra for the film. It had been a dream come true to finally be working on a real set in Hollywood and, not to mention, you always did have a little crush on Mr. Mann, so it was just a stroke of luck that you landed the same film.

Oh, how you wished you could go up to him and just say hey or something. Anything for the chance to hear him say your name with that charming accent and smile in that endearingly boyish way of his. But you feared the opportunity may have passed ever since he and that Helen woman split up. You had nothing against her, but the Sasha that walked into work now was a far cry from the man you remembered before the breakup.

Gone was the sweet and genial man who came in every day with a big grin on his face. Now, however, he was so easily irritated and ill-tempered, snapping at anyone who crossed his path.

He rarely smiled anymore and it saddened you.

Before, Sasha had always been kind to everyone working on set; he would make a point to take time out of his day to greet all of the cast members and crew. On several occasions, he treated the everyone to some wild nights out on the town. You knew the man must make a fortune, being an A-listed actor and all, but even still, catering to a group of fifty or more for all expense-free parties around town must add up eventually. But he never even batted an eye; it seemed like he just loved to see everyone having a good time. All in all, the guy was generally pretty friendly with anyone who crossed his path. At least as far as you could tell, but unfortunately, it didn't seem like that was the case as of late.

"Where the fuck is my coffee? And who the fuck has taken my robe?!" Sasha roared across the room and the chatter quietened a smidge. A few people scurried off while his assistant went over to him with the article of clothing in question.

"The coffee is brewing, sir."

"Brewing? Fucking hell, are you a witch cooking it up in a cauldron, hm? Ever heard of a goddamn Keurig? Well, I'll tell you, it's one of those funny little machines that have a rather conveniently placed button that when pushed, miraculously funnels out the magical fucking coffee!"

Yikes.

"Mr. Mann, it's broken." The guy looked bored with his boss and you had to give it to him for dealing with Sasha's little tantrum. He was acting more and more like a pretentious asshole every day and it was getting old.

You stood by and casually sipped on your cup of mint tea. They had just finished filming a scene with you somewhere off in the crowd and now you were just relaxing before they called wraps. Not wanting to be anywhere near Mr. Mann’s warpath, you shuffled around them and hoped no one would notice.

The last thing you needed today was to be caught up in that nonsense.

All of a sudden a hand gripped your arm, nearly spilling the tea everywhere, and pulled you in the opposite direction. It was the assistant director and he looked frantic. "Y/N, right? Well Rachel, the lead, you know, she's just called in sick and we have a super strict schedule today and it turns out that you look the part exactly so congrats to you. You get to be one of the big shots for a day! Sex scenes always get the talent agent's attention, so really, you’re probably getting the better end of the deal."

"Excuse me, did you say sex scene?" You stumbled a bit but his iron-like grip kept you upright as he plowed on forward towards the make-up department.

"Yes, you had signed the nudity rider that your agent had sent over to us stating that you would consent to any nude scenes that involved sexual activities, but not the actual act of sex itself, of course. This isn't porn." You begrudgingly remembered a conversation you had with your friend who had been sort of acting as your agent at the time. She insisted that these riders were simply a formality. She assured you that they were usually only for something like a pool party scene that would have you wear a bikini in the background or something of the sort. In this case, it seemed, you were getting the chance to do a sex scene with the main fucking character. "This is a very unique situation; normally we would not ask this of you, but seeing as time is of the essence and we are super behind schedule, we're going to have to make an exception today. Sasha just had to go through a fucking existential crisis in the middle of this movie. Set us back three goddamn weeks. Fucking prima donna."

No lie, though, you weren't even mad, and to refuse such a golden goose of an opportunity would be insanity. So you shook away the shock and squared up your shoulders as you let the man lead you into the makeup department. They touched up your face for the camera, even though no close-ups were going to take place, and fit you with a pair of skin-toned pasties accompanied by matching underwear.

After you were all dolled up to the assistant director's satisfaction, he unceremoniously dragged you the rest of the way to the set, opened a door, and tossed you into a room.

You tugged the silk robe tighter around your body and looked around warily; the scene had been made up to be like one of those super-cheesy-over-the-top romantic movies. An extravagant bed sat in the middle of the room surrounded by rose petals and candles, which made you a little nervous. It would be just your luck to accidentally knock one over and burn the whole place to the ground.

"Hello, who are you? This is a closed set." Sasha's deep voice cut through your internal monologue causing you to notice his presence and looked up at him. He was tall. Really, really tall. You swallowed thickly.

As he took a step towards you, you instinctually took a step back and then remembered your voice, "I'm Y/N. They told me to come in because Rachel is sick and they really needed someone now and apparently I looked the part…?"

"Of course she is." Sasha rolled his eyes, ignoring your rambling, and huffed in frustration while he dragged a hand through his hair. He wore a matching robe that was untied and hung open shamelessly. You tried not to stare and focused on his face instead. The look in his eye was wild and angry and almost sad but it quickly disappeared after Sasha blinked. You noticed how flawlessly he put back on the mask of a debonaire. "Well, let's get to it then."

With wave of a hand, he turned to shed his robe and you took that as your cue to do the same. When you spun back around, you saw Sasha staring at you for a little longer than what you imagined was normal. He took his time imprinting the image of your nearly nude body in his brain. You could hardly believe it was something to gawk at, not that you were ashamed or anything - you were rather fond of your body and appreciated it. But he was Sasha fucking Mann; he could have anyone he wanted. What made you so special?

"I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing here…" You spoke quietly and Sasha smiled at that, the first you've seen on his face in awhile.

It was a lovely sight.

"It's all very easy, you and I will act like we're having a very romantic affair and they are going to film through the walls." He came closer to you and you couldn't help but smirk a little at the funny cock sock he wore - it looked ridiculous. Clearing his throat, Sasha drew your attention back up to him. "Listen, Y/N, I know this might be a little strange and overwhelming but I promise to be nothing but respectful and professional. If you are in any way uncomfortable, please let me know and we will stop immediately. Okay?"

You couldn't help but nod dumbly, wasn't it just moments ago you were wishing Sasha would simply say hello to you? Now you were about to pretend to have sex with him…on camera.

"Are we - are we going to kiss?"

He chuckled and the sound went straight to your core. It was deep and throaty and you didn't realize sounds could be craved until that very moment. "Yes, some kissing and touching and perhaps a bit of pseudo-cunnilingus; all depends on how much time we have."

"Okay, let's start then." You hoped you didn't sound too eager but the way his smile stretched spoke volumes of your discretion. He called out 'action' but your focus was currently fixated on the way his chest hair traveled down all the way until it disappeared beneath his skin-colored underwear.

If only you had an unrestricted view.

One of Sasha's impossibly large hands motioned you towards him. You had seen those hands before and appreciated them from the distance, but at this proximity, you carefully took mental notes of all your favorite details. Like how long his spider-like fingers were, how the thick veins protruded from the tops of his hands and ran up his forearms like tantalizing lightning strikes, how the ridges of his knuckles seemed to be chiseled out of stone, and how they all moved together like a symphony of skin that drew you in with a single beckoning curl. "Come here, Y/N."

This man had a magnetic pull that was too strong to resist, so you didn't even try, and easily stepped closer into his embrace. One of those aforementioned hands came up to cup your face. His thumb drew a line from your bottom lip down to the base of your throat and then back up to the curve of your chin. You barely comprehended his other hand clasping around yours and bringing it up to rest on his chest.

You couldn't help but smile while flexing your fingers against his solid body, delighting in the feel of his fur tickling your skin. He took notice of your intrigue and tightened his grip on your jaw, smiling when you inhaled sharply.

Those long fingers reached across your waist, slightly digging into the supple flesh, and his thumb drew small circles along the hipbone.

Moving closer, you brought your other hand up and dove it into his thick expanse of hair. It was just as soft as you had imagined however many countless times before, but the sensation of feeling the silky locks sift through your fingers was far better than anything you could have made up.

The butterflies in your belly were throwing a rager.

It may have been just your imagination, but you could have sworn that he leaned ever so slightly into your touch. That vulnerable look flashed again in his eyes but when he blinked, it was replaced by hunger. Those dark brown orbs stared right through your soul as Sasha slowly brought his lips down to meet yours.

This was not how you pictured your workday going and, if you were being perfectly honest, you figured it was all a dream of which you would be woken up from very soon. So why not enjoy it while it lasted? You ignored the blaring sirens that rang in your head that told you to be conscious of the dozen people watching your every move. Fuck 'em.

If they wanted a show, that's what they were going to get.

Throwing caution to the wind, you happily sank into the pillowy softness of his lips. His eyes were locked on your facial expressions and you gave up trying to maintain eye-contact the moment his velvet tongue teased open your lips.

There was no battle for dominance; you were willing and ply and perfectly content with letting him take the reins. His kisses were gentle at first but quickly grew deeper and more desperate.

The grip he had on your waist tightened considerably as he pulled you closer and then slid his hand up, spreading those fingers wide along the space between your shoulder blades.

Sasha pulled his lips away from your mouth and began to drag them across to your neck, angling your head for better access. His breath was hot and heavy in your ear, "Arch your back a bit," his hand guided your body so that your breasts more firmly pressed up against his chest. He cooed, "Just like that, yes, good girl."

You couldn't help but moan at his words and it seemed to fuel the fire. He groaned loudly in return and devoured your mouth with a new fervor.

Suddenly, both of his hands were cupping your ass and he lifted you up effortlessly. You immediately wrapped your legs around his waist as he took a few steps towards the bed.

"Watch out for the candles." You gasped at the movement and gripped his shoulders to steady yourself.

There was that damn chuckle again, "No need to, they're fake."

Before you could even think about his response, Sasha caught your lips again with another searing kiss. The second his tongue lapped against yours, all coherent thoughts escaped your mind.

Not breaking the kiss, he held your body against him as he delicately lowered the both of you onto the mattress. The weight of him tucked in-between your legs and pressed against you was utterly divine; you wished to never be bereft of the feeling again.

He grasped both of your wrists with one large hand and pinned them above your head. Your body writhed beneath his and caused a low growl to emanate from his chest. You felt the vibration travel across his skin and couldn't help but grin against his lips. Briefly, you wondered if this was at all affecting him the way it was you or if he was really that good of an actor.

Well, there certainly was a way you could find out.

At once, you gently sunk your teeth into his bottom lip, and, while using the leverage of his weight firmly pressing your hands above your head, you rolled your hips up to meet his.

Sasha’s reaction did not disappoint.

"Oh, fuck." Those big beautiful brown eyes slid close as his body shuddered. He buried his face in the junction of your neck and panted against the sensitive skin. The evidence of his arousal was rather obvious now as you felt it pressed ardently against the inside of your thigh. He canted his hips and, with a grunt, gave a sharp thrust. "You're doing so very well."

Hearing your gasp, Sasha brought his lips back up to meet yours and the two of you began to set a pace. It became a blur of frantic grinding and clawing and teeth and skin and lips and tongue and sweat and saliva. He was everywhere at once; you could do nothing but hang on to the wrist that anchored you down and enjoy the ride.

You realized that the line of professionalism between the two of you had been long since crossed, but you could not have cared any less. The shocks that shot up your spine every time he rocked into you told you that you were completely and utterly fucked…or at least that was the sweet redemption you prayed for.

Sasha seemed to feel the same as he stroked your side all the way down to the curve of your ass and then brought his hand back up to palm your breast.

Knowing that your panties were sopping wet and he was sliding his hardness along your slit made you let out a long moan to which he returned with another nice, hard thrust.

Instantly, you saw stars.

"Oh god, Sa-Sasha, I think…I think I'm going to-" You breathed the words in-between his relentless kisses but he paid no mind to your concern. If anything, it seemed to spur him on even more.

The flimsy fabric between the two of you could barely even act as a barrier; his cock felt hard and hot as he rutted against you with abandon and you could feel the tension begin to boil over. You could focus on nothing besides the raw, wicked feeling of Sasha Mann enveloping your every sensation. Bright lights exploded in your field of vision as he sent you spiraling blissfully over the edge.

Your moans and sighs filled the room as your back arched, pressing yourself even closer to him. Sasha released your hands and instead curled an arm under your waist to hoist you up for a better angle. You immediately dragged your fingers across his scalp and held onto him as if your life depended on it.

After a few more short, frantic thrusts, his whole body tensed and he pulled you tightly against him. Sasha groaned lowly in your ear and buried his face in the crook of your neck as he came.

All you could hear above your heart pounding was the mix of panting breaths as the two of you tried to maintain control of your breathing.

After a moment, Sasha lifted his head to look you in the eye, and what you saw nearly broke your heart. His face was riddled with guilt.

"Y/N…" He started and then licked his lips, not quite knowing what to say, "I'm so sorry, I-"

The door to the room burst open and the two of you looked over with equally dazed expressions, feeling like two teenagers caught in the act. You had nearly forgotten where you were when you saw the assistant director standing there.

"Hey guys, we called cut like five minutes ago. Time to wrap up for the day." He said and gave you two a weird look.

"Oh, good. Well, thanks for letting us know, we'll be out in a minute." Sasha forced a smile and waved the other man away. The guy took that as his cue and closed the door behind him.

Awkward.

You turned your gaze back to the man above you, but he refused to meet your eye.

He began to ramble, but you were irritated with how he adamantly kept his head turned to the side. "I’m sorry, Y/N, this was completely inappropriate and I should have never let this get out of hand. I really fucked up and you have every right to -"

You were having none of it and cut him off, reaching up to cup his cheek and gently forcing him to make eye-contact. The raw guilt and sadness that was written all over his beautiful face felt like a knife to your gut and you wanted nothing more than to make it go away.

"Hey, don't…it's okay, Sasha. There is no reason for you to apologize. I mean, I enjoyed that quite a lot." You smiled up at him and smoothed out some of the crinkles in his brow with the pad of your thumb, "Did you?"

He contemplated you quietly for a moment and his silence was starting to make you nervous. Did you read the situation wrong? Was this all a mistake? Were you going to be thrown off the set for violating the lead actor? A barrage of anxious thoughts and self-conscious questions ran through your mind at alarming speeds and every second of silence was torturous.

Until that warm beam of a smile broke across his face and it felt like sunshine on your heart.

"Yes, very much so." As he spoke, those big brown eyes searched yours for permission before he leaned down and delivered a sweet little kiss to your lips. Sasha tucked some hair behind your ear and cocked his head down at you, grinning easily, "Now how about we get cleaned up and I can take you out to dinner?"

"That sounds wonderful."

~~~

Taglist (just a few who I thought might be interested - message me if you want to be added or removed!) :

@festering-queen @vissidarte213 @moony691 @allis143 @apocalypsenowish @torntaltos @hoefordarkness @thebeautyofdisorder @chrsitophwaltz @guardianbelle @gabesprincess @hiphop-gir @hyacinth-meadow @undead-notunreasonable

#what can i say?#i like my men toxic and tragic and blessed with a heart-warming smile #sasha mann x reader #claes bang x reader #so funny story - while i was doing some research on this about #how sex scenes were made in hollywood #SPOILER ALERT - they're not sexy #but the article was interesting #and guess who was the director in the interview?#i already forgot her name but it was the same lady who directed THE AFFAIR #like ???????#fucking wild!#and the best part was that while the other directors #weren't vibing with filming sex scenes ya girl was like hell yeAHHHHHHH let's do it #MISTER MANN #yum #anyways hope yall enjoy #perhaps there will be more #claes bang thirst squad #this was practice smut #it's been awhile since i've written any sauce #prolly not even that good #you can keep scrolling #okay i'm gonna go now byeeee

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palukoo · 4 years ago

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ok i said i would make a post about amy & not josh! so! the thing is that im endlessly fascinated by her relationships with the main cast bc they are so... implicit? in a way that its not given to you upfront but theres obviously some depth there? and i think that it’s something that i wish the writers had explored more!

amy and sam or amy and will, isn’t that interesting to me, and we’re not really given all that much there and i’m okay with that! she thinks sam should run but its for political reasons. she works with will on the marion cotesworth hayes thing. that’s all, and that’s okay!

amy and toby we really don’t get much from either-- he bets in her election betting ring, and she teases him about his losses. but i think they’re actually a relationship i would like to see more of, because they both are somehow simultaneously cynical and idealistic, and they’re quite possibly the most consistently liberal characters in the first several seasons.

amy and cj is really interesting, because they talk in like. dead irish writers, election night, privateers, some of the zoey kidnapping arc, and then way later in season 7, but before most of that, when that woman on the stackhouse campaign is calling out amy’s relationship to members in the white house, cj is mentioned second (without missing a beat after josh, and right before the first lady and the president. which. is also Interesting-- its before amy works for them). in dead irish writers they seem familiar if not close, and cj defends amy’s argument to abbey, in election night they exchange fond glances and easy conversation, in privateers amy is exasperated but not upset with cj, in 25 they wordlessly work together to try to handle and comfort abbey, and in the last hurrah i think, amy leans in BIZARRELY close to her in a way that cannot be described in words other than to say i have questions. they have amazing chemistry and are, evidently, friends? and i can see the two of them joking back and forth for hours? but we really rarely see them together, and it’s only once that it’s just the two of them

amy is close enough with abbey that she is introduced to us through a complaint she’s made to abbey. she’s comfortable enough with her that she goes over josh’s head to abbey about their hiring practices at abbey’s birthday party, yet surprised enough by being invited to drink with her that she makes a comment about writing a book, and then proceeds to spend half the episode basically laying down on abbey and playing with abbey’s dress. abbey’s threat about finding someone else to do this job visibly shakes amy, and while i’d say a lot of this is more with regards to her professional esteem, other context does make it seem personal. she has to list her credentials to abbey when she’s afraid of being fired, but abbey hires her without a second thought after they carry easy conversation. as aforementioned, that woman talks about amy’s relationship to abbey. abbey mentions that she used to babysit amy, and moments later amy calls abbey hot. abbey fully trusts amy to run her office in her absence, while amy panics weekly it seems about being fired. jed says that abbey would (at the moment in question, anyway) choose amy over him. i just sort of wish we saw them more, but i do get that neither of them is a main character. i also think it’s interesting that amy, with josh, is kind of always the one who can’t politically compromise, who can’t give up, and then with abbey she has to be the one who can.

oh, guess who else amy is called on her relationship to? thats right-- the president! and when do we see them interact? when he’s yelling at her! but guess what-- amy also told josh, way before we see her and jed talk, that shes crazy about the president, has been since before he’s known who jed is (which makes sense-- you can extrapolate, after dead irish writers, that she’s probably at the very least from new hampshire, where he’s been involved in politics for years). when they do interact he yells at her about using abbey, she practically cries talking to josh about being fired by him, and then he tells her she’s not fired and even as she quits, he has enough trust in her that he tells her to further fund the project he nearly fired her over. it’s neat! are we to assume they have a prior relationship through politics? through abbey? have they worked together? how has that gone? i want to know!

amy and matt? also neat, bc he hires her not through josh but because she’s a friend from the hill, yet he doesn’t seem to have directly worked with her before, at least not in debate prep, but they joke together easily and have clearly spoken before, otherwise he wouldn’t have hired her. he later knows pretty damn well how to push her buttons in to working for him despite her protests that she doesn’t work for people well, but she goes through josh rather than straight to him about her vp advice (which he listens to but doesn’t take-- which we see a lot of again when she’s actually working for him) when she works for him she seems largely exasperated, but she does it anyways, which, given her character, is kind of a big deal. i kind of wish there was more of how they work together, because they’re both people trying to do the right thing, even if it’s not the most politically smart thing, but he’s much more bipartisan than she ever could be, and it is a little hard to imagine amy, who can’t work for people, who says she’s her own constituency, working for anyone, including him.

and, finally, drum roll please, amy and donna. i think theres a time of two where we see donna joking on the phone with amy. in amy’s first ep, she asks josh if he’s dating donna, who she also describes as cute despite that to our knowledge they have not met. they’re both there in dead irish writers, but really only say “canadian, huh? feel any funnier?” “no but i am developing a massive inferiority complex” to each other, but amy asks about donna before that when she’s not at the party and josh has forgotten to work things out. they smile and exchange jokes when amy has a meeting with josh. donna smiles at the fax from amy and says “a new chapter begins” and then there’s commencement where amy keeps going to donna, ostensibly to ask about josh, but eventually getting to a point where she’s clearly asking about donna too, in the fact that she asks why donna is upset to, and at a point in the episode it feels like she’s seeking out donna about that, not about josh. and then she famously asks if donna is in love with josh, which to me is the least interesting question in the whole conversation-- but regardless, there’s a familiarity in how they talk to each other, how they easily work together, how they take the car together, how donna trusts amy enough to talk about josh’s trauma with her, and how amy trusts donna enough to throughout the episode go to her for like. emotional advice, which considering that amy’s not emotionally open or expressive like. ever? is a big deal? like she voices her insecurities to donna? she barely even does that with josh? in 25 donna watches amy as much as cj and abbey while abbey’s essentially breaking down, and that scene cuts off with amy on the phone and donna staring at her, looking concerned. in constituency of one, donna urges josh to find amy, which he doesnt, and theres also a shot of them looking at each other across the bullpen after theyve both just talked to josh, and then it cuts off? why does it keep cutting away from them? why am i so fascinated but the unseen, the unspoken (hey-- their scene in commencement is also cut short). seasons later, in requiem, amy easily approaches donna to ask about the girl she’s trying to set up with josh, and donna plays along despite that she’s canonically sleeping with josh, and they seem to again have some fun taking shots at josh’s expense in a way that feels sort of out of place for someone you haven’t talked to in, oh, the timelines are bizarre, but... at least two and a half years? maybe closer to three? and by a lot of interpretations, amy and donna are romantic rivals, but theyre so clearly not? like, is there a tension in their scenes? sure. does it feel like they dislike each other? literally, not at all. and i really wish we’d gotten to see more of them, because it feels like they’re friends, it feels like they mean something to each other, and we just don’t really get the time to explore what.

#amy gardner #the west wing #tww #my post #i also have amy & lou and amy & helen and amy & liz and amy & zoey and.... etc etc etc thoughts but ill go by what has any canon basis #oh can you tell i ship donna/amy??#look if you read this youre amazing thank you!#i need to shut up about amy gardner but i will Not #i wont do all the character tags #hey! stay tuned for the massive fic! its currently #about 116k i think?#or you could just blacklist my tww tags bc i know this is not what my followers signed up for #this post may be incoherent

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eclecticanalyst · 3 years ago

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We’re Expecting You...To Boldly Go [part 2]

In my last post, I expounded on the similarities in the general premise and structure of The Love Boat and Star Trek: The Next Generation, two shows that on the surface seem not to have much in common but on closer examination have some unexpected similarities. In my follow-up post on this theme, I will be drawing parallels between the main/regular characters of both shows. The crew lineup on each ship can be broken down into six character functions/profiles: The Captain, The Captain’s Confidant, The Big Brother, The Two Buds, The Chick, and The Kid.

The Captain

Star Trek TNG: Captain Jean-Luc Picard

The Love Boat: Captain Merrill Stubing

“The Captain” is...the captain! Beyond his role as the primary authority figure, he can be characterized in the following ways. Being the one to whom the rest of the crew reports, he is a bit socially removed from the rest of the main characters. While they can pal around with each other, they still treat him with a bit more deference even as he comes to be just as integral a part of their found family as the rest of them. The Captain can be rather intimidating at times—especially in the early days, when he had a tendency to be overly gruff with his crew. Part of that gruffness is the fact that he has very high standards for the people who serve under him. At the same time, however, he cares deeply for those people and is willing to put himself on the line for them, even bending the rules a bit in order to help them out of a difficult spot. He’s full of thoughtful advice should one of his crew ask for it, and is the most likely of the crew to give speeches about moral responsibility. He also has a playful streak, which he keeps under wraps but uses to mess with his crew from time to time. In terms of appearance, he’s older than the rest of the cast and he is bald(ing). He’s played by the best actor of the cast—Patrick Stewart is, of course, Patrick Stewart, I don’t think I really need to say more there, and Gavin MacLeod was a veteran actor (probably best known at that point for his role as Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show), able to handle both the comic and the dramatic whenever needed.

The Captain’s Confidant

Star Trek TNG: Dr. Beverly Crusher

The Love Boat: Dr. Adam “Doc” Bricker

I could have called this character profile “The Doctor,” following the same pattern as “The Captain,” but there was another aspect to Beverly and Doc that I wanted to draw attention to, beyond their being the respective healers of their crews. Both Beverly and Doc have a slightly different relationship with the Captain than the other members of the crew. They are a bit closer to the Captain, able to address him easily as a friend instead of as a superior officer if the situation calls for it. Notice that when working, Beverly will address Picard as “Captain” and “sir,” but when it’s just the two of them chatting in a more intimate setting she calls him “Jean-Luc.” Beverly is also one of the few people on board that Picard is comfortable with opening up to regarding his own insecurities or worries, while he takes more care to maintain his “self-assured captain” persona with everyone else. The same dynamic plays out between Stubing and Doc: there are several instances of Doc addressing his friend as “Merrill”—which none of the other members of the crew would even consider doing—and the power difference between the two is not as pronounced as it is between the captain and the other crew members. Whenever Captain Stubing has a personal problem, he goes to Doc for advice, and vice versa. Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard have a history, having been friends long before he took command of the Enterprise. In the same vein, Doc seems to know Captain Stubing’s past more intimately than the rest of the crew, as there are a few episodes in which the two of them discuss Captain Stubing’s alcohol addiction and current status as a teetotaler as if this is something Doc has always known about Merrill.

The Big Brother

Star Trek TNG: William Riker

The Love Boat: Adam “Doc” Bricker

So this is cheating a bit because I already have Doc listed under a character profile above, but TNG’s main cast has more people than that of TLB, so a one-to-one mapping wasn’t going to happen anyway. Doc’s “Captain’s Confidant” role deals with his relationship with the captain, and his “Big Brother” role deals with his relationship with the rest of the regulars. The fact that Doc is a bit older than Julie, Isaac, and Gopher means that even though he, like the rest of them, is under the supervision of the captain, he has a slight position of seniority over the other three. He balances the by-turns mischievous and responsible aspects of an older brother figure—he’ll tease Julie about her latest infatuation, and set up elaborate pranks to mess with Gopher, yet whenever Gopher and Isaac get swept up in some not-well-thought-out scheme, he’s the level-headed one who tries to point out that they’ve gotten carried away—or sometimes refuses to get involved altogether. William Riker is, of course, first officer of the Enterprise, and therefore has the same seniority-among-underlings position (in a more official chain of command capacity than Doc does). His big-brother-ness manifests as the poker-playing, jazz-loving guy who will do things like give Worf’s son music recordings that he knows Worf will hate one day but get actively upset and almost personally offended at the idea of Data getting hurt the next.

Not necessarily related to the “Big Brother” role, but another little parallel between Doc and Riker that I would like to point out—they are each the designated ladies’ man of their ships, yet both are able to completely switch to focusing solely on their job responsibilities the moment it is called for. (Honestly, Doc always struck me as going beyond “ladies’ man” and skirting dangerously close to “creep” territory at times, but I did appreciate how he would always drop everything the instant there was any sort of medical issue on the Princess.)

The Two Buds

Star Trek TNG: Geordi La Forge and Data

The Love Boat: Isaac Washington and Burl “Gopher” Smith

Although both the TNG and TLB crews form a group of close friends, The Two Buds are best friends. They are the two most likely people to hang out together in their down time, the two who understand each other the best, the two most sympathetic to each other’s problems and most likely to indulge the other long after everyone else would have put their foot down. When Gopher gets some conspiracy theory into his head about a passenger, Isaac will hear him out and sometimes even help him investigate. When Data wants to do some questionable experimentation on his positronic net, Geordi is there with a tricorder making sure the whole thing doesn’t go completely haywire. Data once said that he didn’t know what a friend was until he met Geordi, and Isaac once told Gopher that he (Gopher) is the only one Isaac would resign in solidarity for. All four men/androids have a tendency to get a little too wrapped up in their obsession of the week—see Isaac’s novel-writing attempts, Geordi’s holographic Leah Brahms, Gopher’s conspiracy theories, and about half of anything Data does.

Each pair also consists of one white guy and one Black guy. (Obviously, Data is an android and therefore is not technically any human race or ethnicity, but he’s played by a white guy and his artificial skin is paler than anyone else’s skin on the senior staff.) The white guy representatives, Gopher and Data, are almost polar opposites—Data is calm and logical, and Captain Picard trusts him implicitly, while Gopher is a goof who freaks out easily and who is often upset with the way Captain Stubing dismisses him (those dismissals are especially prominent in the first few seasons—Gopher does mellow out later on). But they do have some similarities, one of the most striking being that they both struggle with appropriate social behavior as well as their own emotions. This is more readily apparent with Data, of course, who is literally not human and is trying his best to understand the nuances of things like humor and love, constantly asking his friends to explain behaviors they take for granted. Gopher’s struggles are more understated—he has a tendency to make comments and observations that the rest of the crew find slightly tasteless, he goes into several anxious tailspins over the course of the show, and he at one point believes his emotional attachments to his friends compromise his ability to fulfill his job duties. Both Data and Gopher use their respective best friends—each of whom are the more level-headed of the pair—as a steadying force.

Now for the characteristics shared by those respective best friends. The Black guy’s job responsibilities root him in a specific place and often set him slightly apart from the main action. While Geordi can and does go up to the bridge on several occasions, as Chief of Engineering he spends most of his time hanging around the warp core, communicating with the bridge over the com system. Meanwhile, Isaac can be seen wandering hallways and so forth, but he spends most of his time behind the bar, whether that’s in the Acapulco Lounge, on the Lido Deck, or in Pirate’s Cove. The rest of the crew, despite having nominal work stations like the Enterprise bridge or the Pacific Princess purser’s lobby, are seen to roam more extensively. (I’m pretty sure we never see Julie’s office.) Isaac is busy serving drinks in pretty much every episode while Doc and Gopher are chatting and dancing with passengers on the dance floor of the Acapulco Lounge. The Black guy also gets the short end of the stick in the romance department. When you see a Black guest actor on the opening credits of The Love Boat, it’s a good bet that Isaac will be involved in their storyline. If it’s just one Black woman, there’s a 99% chance that Isaac will be involved in her story, and his involvement will be as her love interest. I remember one particularly glaring example of the show going to extreme lengths to avoid even hinting that Isaac could potentially do something vaguely romantic or sexual with a white woman—Julie’s hosting her high school reunion on the ship, and there are a few scenes where everyone is discoing in the Acapulco Lounge. Isaac gets out on the dance floor, and conveniently some random Black woman appears out of nowhere as his dance partner. This woman is not named or acknowledged at any other point in the episode. Over on the Enterprise, Geordi isn’t restricted along race lines like Isaac, but I find it highly suspicious that the one Black guy is the least successful in romance out of everyone on the senior staff. Geordi struggles to even start up a conversation with women he’s attracted to, let alone flirt with them. Data has a better romance track record than Geordi does, and Data usually ends up in a romantic entanglement by accident! It’s as if the show was afraid to let Geordi enjoy those kinds of relationships to the same degree as the rest of the crew, which is a different kind of restriction than Isaac’s, but still a restriction nonetheless.

The Chick

Star Trek TNG: Deanna Troi

The Love Boat: Julie McCoy

The standard lineup for both TNG and The Love Boat consisted two female main characters, thus allowing the ladies to gossip about “girly” things in keeping with gender stereotypes, but Vicki was a preteen/teenager and Beverly had a sort of matron vibe going on, which left Julie and Troi to be the respective sex appeal characters out of the main cast. The Chick has non-standard dress that sets her apart from the others and their status as officers. While Doc, Gopher, and Captain Stubing wore nautical stripes and white uniforms (and Isaac usually had a variation on this outfit, wearing a red or blue jacket), with very little in the way of costume changes whether they were greeting boarding passengers, chatting on the Lido deck, or dancing in the Acapulco Lounge, Julie had no stripes to speak of. She would wear a (feminine) uniform at boarding, switch to a casual outfit during the rest of the day, and was always wearing a gown of some sort in the evenings. Deanna Troi for her part cycled through purple jumpsuits and asymmetrical dresses, her Starfleet badge precariously pinned to her neckline. We didn’t even get to see the pips indicating her rank until she was finally given (in story, ordered into) a normal uniform in season six.

The Chick gets saddled with way too many romance plots, some creepier than others. Giving Troi something substantial to do in an episode usually consisted of making her the love interest of whoever happened to be boarding the Enterprise that week, like the ambassador with the telepathic interpreters or the quarter-Betazoid interplanetary negotiator. Deanna also got her mind invaded by a man who was interested in her, prematurely aged by a man who took advantage of her, and kidnapped by Ferengi (who have a disturbing species-wide infatuation with non-Ferengi women). I’m not as upset about Julie having several romance-related plots, as romance was the name of the game on The Love Boat and the men on the crew had their own share of romantic entanglements—but I do find issue with the fact that when Julie was in love she always seemed on the verge of getting married and leaving the ship, which was a vibe we didn’t really get from, say, Doc or Gopher when their love lives turned particularly intense. In terms of creepiness, Julie had to deal with fending off the extremely aggressive advances of Captain Stubing’s uncle, a computer programmer who rigged his dating algorithm to ensure he matched with her, and a college acquaintance of Gopher who actually came to her door to badger her as she was getting dressed.

The Kid

Star Trek TNG: Wesley Crusher

The Love Boat: Vicki Stubing

For some reason, both of these shows thought it necessary to have a preteen/teenager in the cast whose character has way more responsibility than is realistic for either a cruise ship or a pseudomilitary starship. Instead of Vicki wearing a uniform and checking in guests on the Pacific Princess, we really should have seen Julie’s or Gopher’s staff fulfilling check-in duty (Doc and Isaac were also too often seen checking in passengers, which I will say again is a duty that on a real cruise ship would definitely not fall to either the ship’s doctor or chief bartender, but we’re talking about Vicki at the moment). Wesley, meanwhile, was made Acting Ensign on the Enterprise, saving the ship way more than he should have and probably earning the ire of all the official ensigns who actually went to Starfleet Academy and were losing precious time at the conn due to Picard’s favoritism.

Speaking of Picard, The Captain has a paternal relationship with The Kid—literally in Vicki Stubing’s case, emotionally in Wesley Crusher’s. He is very concerned with imbuing The Kid with strong morals, and has a vested interest in The Kid’s upbringing and making sure The Kid has a bright future. Meanwhile, the rest of the main crew are like an assortment of aunts and uncles, being the cool, approachable sources of advice when The Captain’s not around. In fact, The Kid hardly seems to have any friends their own age. Instead, they hang out with the adult crew members and get involved in their social drama, which may or may not have always been appropriate.

Isn’t there someone you forgot?

The TNG fans among you may now be thinking to yourselves, “What about Worf?” Alas, there seems to be no satisfactory Worf counterpart on The Love Boat. After all, there isn’t really any need for a tactical officer on a cruise ship, so a warrior-type personality is not represented on the Pacific Princess crew. Other Worf characteristics would be that of an outsider, or one who is occasionally not sure if they truly belong on the ship, but everyone on the Princess seems pretty happy to be there. I guess in a pinch I could say Ace, the late-addition ship’s photographer, might serve as Worf’s counterpart, but other than the fact that Ace’s family is rich and it is established that he doesn’t really need a job on the ship to get by, I’m not sure there’s much of an “outsider” status brought to the table here. I also haven’t watched enough Ace episodes to have a really good read on his character.

Thus ends my Love Boat/TNG comparison! It was nice to finally get this analysis out of my head and onto the page.

#the love boat #star trek #tng #comparison

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