#and her voice actor IS SOOOO GOOD!!!! AT BRINGING HER TO LIFE!!!!!

[waterberry-strawmelon]

It truly is Marcille’s world—we’re all just living in it

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 299: No Chains Left

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “and then AFO broke out all of the inmates from six other prisons and took a nap. well anyways, here’s the hospital angst.” Kacchan woke up two days later and was all, “WAIT BUT HOW ARE DEKU AND TODOROKI AND ALL OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS EXCEPT IIDA DOING” and then we cut to Shouto’s room where the other U.A. kids were sitting around being Mutually Traumatized and giving each other moral support and such. Everyone was alll, “...”, and then the rest of the Todofam showed up, INCLUDING POSSIBLY REI?! which, omg. The chapter ended with Kacchan STOMPING THROUGH THE HALLS all “WHADDYA MEAN DEKU HASN’T WOKEN UP YET”, dragging along Satou and Mineta behind him, fueled by the power of ALL OF THE FUCKS HE NOW GIVES. He gives so many fucks now you guys. This boy cares so much he can probably deduct it on his taxes.

Today on BnHA: SPEAKING OF PEOPLE WHO GIVE A LOT OF FUCKS, the story cuts abruptly to Hawks, freshly recovering from his near-death experience, and pondering the threads that have weaved the tapestry of his life and led him to this moment. Basically he grew up in poverty with his Jerk Dad and Jerk Mom until his dad got arrested one day and his mom sent him off to go Find Money Or Something, and so he rescued a busload of people and found himself a new career. Back in the present day, Hawks and Jeanist ride around town in Jeanist’s Jamborghini having awkward encounters with civilians in a country on the brink of social collapse, and visiting Hawks’s mother’s home. Hawks is all “I know from an outsider’s perspective it must look like my life currently sucks, but now that the HPSC is gone, my public image is shot, and my parents are finally out of my life, I’m actually feeling SURPRISINGLY GOOD.” Anyway so he’s gonna go meet up with Endeavor now, and p.s. this chapter was fucking fantastic though, damn.

oh my god?? is this Hawks narration?? something about him growing up watching the heroes on TV and thinking of them as fictional characters

okay I scrolled down a little bit more to see the rest of that “Keigo” panel, and wow

this is basically a shed. poor boy definitely grew up rough. let me tell you guys, I came in here ready for some BakuDeku shenanigans; I was not prepared for Hawks Flashback Angst. I AM HERE FOR IT, but also wow I gotta brace myself now lol

HELLO MISTER HAWKS’S JERK DAD, SIR

BnHA sure does have an array of Jerk Dads, doesn’t it. makes me appreciate characters like Masaru and JirouDad all the more for bucking the trend

anyway. so Horikoshi, you really thought that one itty bitty chapter of hospital catharsis would be enough to calm us all before you went right back to showing us child abuse huh. my god man can we rest

BABY HAWKS

swear to god this kid can’t be more than five or six, and yet he has this completely blank look on his face even with his dad looming over him being all threatening and shit. like he’s shut down his emotions to protect himself. imagine what has to happen to a child for him to have learned this at such a young age. fuck

AND MEANWHILE THIS GUY

don’t mingle with humans?? not “other” humans, just humans?? what is this implying here?? and also holy shit Hawks definitely didn’t inherit his looks from his dad orz

then again he doesn’t really bear much of a resemblance to his strung-out mom here either

omg omg omg. and this child is basically trapped here in this environment with these two people. this explains a SHITLOAD about Hawks’s personality though you guys. his ability to completely separate his real thoughts from the face he presents to the outside world. his pragmatic approach to analyzing and solving problems. his layers of emotional walls. turns out almost none of that came from the HPSC training -- that was all learned hands-on in his own personal do-or-die survival nightmare childhood!! oh, boy

and small wonder then that he latched on to Endeavor so strongly if he really is the one who brought down his dad and inadvertently saved him from this. also, just putting this out there, I know people are always talking about him and Dabi being foils, and I think it’s very interesting how Touya grew up in a household where he saw firsthand the dark side of hero society, and so ended up becoming a villain in order to bring it down. whereas young Keigo had almost the exact opposite experience, growing up experiencing the dark side of villain society and becoming a hero in order to bring about a world where no one else has to experience that. just. both of them are so determined not to become their fathers. some interesting parallels there

so Hawks was sort of an accident after his parents had “thanks for helping me not get caught after I killed that guy” sex, and now this little boy is growing up in squalor and being beaten by his father for things like Sitting In The Wrong Out-Of-The-Way Corner Trying Not To Be A Bother To Anybody. holy fuck. this is so rough to read through you guys

wait so does Jerk Dad have a an eyeball manipulation quirk?? because he doesn’t have the wings like his son, but wth are these things??

this presumably also means that Keigo has never been to school or anything either. he basically doesn’t exist. he thinks heroes are fictional characters, he doesn’t realize that they’re real people. these are people who could help him if he could escape and find them, but he doesn’t know, and they don’t know about him

OH MY GOD HE’S JUST SITTING IN HIS CORNER HUGGLING HIS ENDEAVOR PLUSH OH MY GOD

how could this child possibly have an anti-fandom when he’s done NOTHING WRONG HIS ENTIRE LIFE. huh. just explain that to me. lol I mean I’m not looking to pick a fight with anyone, but also, MAYBE I AM, idk?? this kid has gotten me all riled up lmao

anyways, Protect Keigo 2021, and thank you Horikoshi for these three very terrible pages. I am pleased to inform you that you’ve effectively gotten your point across and you may now commence saving this kid already

YAY

oh no, Keigo’s dumbass jerk dad tried to steal a car and the popo nabbed his ass and now his mom can’t just sit around neglecting her VERY YOUNG SON all day long, oh horrors. sorry lady my tiny violin is on backorder. just imagine that I’m playing a very sarcastic song on it for you

anyway so what are you gonna do now, abandon him? I can hardly imagine he’d be worse off, if anything it might be a near-instant improvement

LMAO HE’S ALL “WAIT WHAT ENDEAVOR’S A REAL FUCKING DUDE?!”

AND THEY SAY THAT A HERO CAN SAVE US~~~~ I’M NOT GONNA STAND HERE AND WAAAAAIT~~~~~ I’LL HOLD ONTO THE WINGS OF THE EAGLES, WATCH AS WE ALL FLY AWAAAAAAY~~~~

lol what a randomly pivotal moment in his young life. TIME TO GO MAKE THESE MEMES INTO DREAMS YOUNG ONE

anyway so his mom freaked out and grabbed him and they wound up at a train station with her TELLING HIM TO GO GET HER SOME MONEY, oh my god. SURE MOM LEMME JUST WALTZ RIGHT ON DOWN TO THE “JOBS FOR FIVE-YEAR-OLDS” STORE AND TELL THEM I NEED SOME CASH. ffff manifesting someone to come help him in 3... 2...

...

SIGH, JUST GO RESCUE THE PEOPLE FROM THE BUS, KEIGO. is this the outfit he was wearing when that happened?? it must be, right?? I can’t imagine them surviving more than a couple days out here unless this starts getting REALLY dark in a way I know that even Horikoshi won’t explore, so yeah. cut to the HPSC now please. never thought we’d be glad to see them. I mean sure, it may be an “out of the frying pan...” case, but good god

THANK YOU!!

and I guess it was his mom’s eyeball quirk then. anyway, whatever, see you again never, hopefully. lol oh man. thaaaat, was upsetting. need to center myself here for a sec. NAMASTE

OH YAY THE PRESENT

so we cut from Baby Hawks Angst straight to Present Day Hawks Angst, huh. not that this exhausted and traumatized lil lad isn’t still a baby to me too, I’ll have you know

BEST JEANIST, ALWAYS WITH THE JOKES

“WHEW, THOUGHT YOU DIED ON ME FOR A SEC THERE KID.” lmao. Caleb will no doubt ruin this by making his word choice all stiffly formal as usual, so I’m just going to treasure this “WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, I’M FRESH OUT OF FUCKS” version of Jeanist while I can

look at him, driving his Jeanistmobile

again, is it any wonder Kacchan was bitching about Endeavor’s dinky little car when he was used to riding around town in style like this. anyone else staring at this panel trying to figure out how this car is somehow secretly made of jeans

NOOOOO

FUCK YOU DABI LMAO. PUTTING THESE VOICE ACTORS OUT OF A JOB ONE BY ONE

anyway so Jeanist is all “GOOD THING IT’S THE FUTURE AND WE’RE SO GOOD AT MEDICAL SCIENCE” to handwave how Hawks went from one step shy of being a very handsome corpse, to sitting around texting Jeanist in a car all of two days later

OH MY GOD, AND FINALLY AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS

wait a minute. I’m so confused lmfao. soooo, was Hawks all “anyway, here’s Jeanist’s dead body, you can examine it but please don’t look at him too closely and also I’m gonna need that back unharmed.” how tf did you pull that off lmao

(ETA: also isn’t this technically confirmation of the ol�� Noumu Jeanist theory lol. I’m gonna go ahead and say it is.)

NO BUT PLEASE, CONTINUE. I unironically love reading Horikoshi’s overly convoluted “SEE IT’S NOT A PLOT HOLE” explanations

lkldslfk so wait, you’re telling me Hawks convinced Dabi and the League to put Jeanist’s body in storage, and basically just hoped they wouldn’t use him for any experiments until he could put his plan into action and have the HPSC’s people break in and find and revive him?? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG. A FOOLPROOF PLAN IF I’VE EVER HEARD ONE

fff this man really asked Jeanist to risk it all to prop up his little cover story, and Jeanist was all “sure why not” omfg. anyways, thanks for recapping all of this out loud for no particular reason in your car conversation you two

LMAO NOW WHAT

TROUBLE YOU SAY? GOOD THING THE NEW NUMBER ONE HERO IS ON THE JOB THEN

okay no it’s just some random thugs strolling around terrorizing the downtown. fuck ‘em. so Jeanist is making short work of them now

uh oh

won’t come? not can’t, but won’t?? what???

WOW

well I guess that makes the local heroes A BUNCH OF SHITHEADS now doesn’t it?? jesus

and okay, serious question, if the cops are spread too thin and the heroes have literally walked out on the job, what exactly is stopping everyone from deciding to use their quirks to defend themselves, legal or not? nothing, as far as I can tell. society just got a hell of a lot more chaotic

anyway so this is an interesting panel here

man, Dabi really did pull it off, didn’t he. well anyway so here’s that better world all of the villains were wanting, you guys! isn’t it so great?? everyone’s terrified and angry and losing hope and society is inches away from collapsing into total anarchy! but hey, at least we exposed the number one hero as a hypocrite

anyway so what are these guys up to

fucking hell, he’s visiting his mom. I really wasn’t prepared to commit this much emotional energy towards reading this chapter today. BUT VERY WELL, WE PRESS ON

?? wait she’s not there?

is this supposed to explain how Dabi knew who Hawks really was? except that there’s the little matter of how he even know where to find his mother in the first place. feels like we’re still missing something there, but oh well

OH MY GOD

RHA I TAKE BACK EVERY WORD I EVER SPOKE AGAINST YOU. YOU ARE A SCANLATION GROUP FILLED WITH ANGELS LMAO. I WILL TAKE THIS PANEL IN MY HANDS, AND TREASURE IT AND KEEP IT SAFE

ANYWAY, BECAUSE MY TIRED BIRD SON’S LIFE SUCKED SO MUCH ALREADY, IT TURNS OUT HE’S ACTUALLY PLEASED WITH THIS NEW TURN OF EVENTS LOL HOW ABOUT THAT

GOOD FOR YOU BBY. YOU GO OUT THERE AND BE YOUR OWN PERSON

and in all seriousness, I love that identity he chooses -- chooses, because it actually is him making a choice now, possibly for the very first time in his life -- is “guy who helps people”, though. it really is nothing short of miraculous that he held on to that kind of optimism and desire to do good even with everything he’s been through. there were so many times he could have chosen to turn his back on the world in retaliation for the way it treated him. but he didn’t!! and here he is now, finally free, and what he wants to do with the rest of his life now is simply to help others. anyway please excuse me for a moment, I need to go find some sort of basket or a big vase to put all of my fresh new Hawks Feels in, pardonne-moi

YEAH BOIIIIII

“FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS, MISTER JEANIST, WHERE DID YOU FIND YOUSELF THAT SWEETASS CAR.” hey, all I’m saying is if this boy’s wings really aren’t growing back, he’s gonna need to find himself a new means of transportation y’know?

oh my god you guys it’s a flashback to his mom buying him the Endeavor plushie when he was like two because, and I quote, ALL MIGHT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE

oh my god oh my god. my boy out here with a new lease on life finding hope in the darkest of times

wasn’t your throat supposed to be all fucked up lmao. Horikoshi was suddenly all “oh shit the VAs are gonna be pissed at me if I keep this up huh”

“that’s why Bubaigawara was such a great guy” motherfucker IT IS A TERRIBLE DAY FOR RAIN. FORECAST SAID NOTHING ABOUT THIS

:’)

yes ma’am. yes indeed. confirmed, I really will straight up fight some motherfuckers for this child. well not really, but YOU KEEP YOUR DISCOURSE OFF MY LAWN AND OUT OF MY BLOG YOU HEAR. THIS IS A HAWKS-FRIENDLY SPACE. WE RESPECT TAKAMI KEIGO IN THESE STREETS

and he’s saying (or is he thinking?? what a weirdly shaped speech bubble this is) that even if what Dabi said about the Todoroki household is true, “I’m not sure it’s the same now.” which happens to be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. man this whole chapter really is all about saying “fuck the past” and moving forward and I am living for it

SON!!!!

“the first step is at my beginning” fklkjlk. what an iconic fucking line??

AND HIS WINGS!!!! THEY ACTUALLY ARE GROWING BACK AHHHHHHH. “PUT A RAINCHECK ON THAT CAR, JEANIST-SAN.” THE HAWKSMOBILE CAN WAIT, RIGHT NOW HE HAS TO GO INSERT HIMSELF BACK INTO THE TODODRAMA WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT

you guys. I came here ready for some BAKUDEKU HOSPITAL ANGST, and I got DIDDLY SHIT of that, and none of my other kids were even in this chapter, but!!! ASK ME IF I CARE LMAO omg. because bird son is hanging with his new best friend, and he’s out here Finding Himself and picking up the pieces and putting them back together stronger than ever because RESILIENCE HAS A NAME, AND IT’S SPELLED H-A-W-K-S, and you guys. profound, my love for this child. holy shit. hey google, play Silence by Marshmello

[keanureevesisbae]

Mister Cavill, your dog is kinda fat - Chapter 10

Summary: Veterinarian Olivia Tran has zero time for bullshit. After becoming a mom at age twenty three, the one thing she wants is a good life for her daughter Vanessa. Her ex didn’t want anything to do with her nor the baby and she decided that man are officially banned out of her life. But then she meets Henry Cavill at her clinic and her ban slowly starts to crumble apart. Henry on the other hand is looking for one thing: a family. And when he meets Olivia Tran, he finds just that.

Henry Cavill x Olivia Tran (ofc)

Warnings: None 

Wordcount: 3.5k

A/N: soooo, I have 174 followers and that is un-fucking-believable, since I had around 90 about a week/week and a half ago. Like... What is happening? I’m really confused, but also thanks? 

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

A little more than a month has passed since Vanessa’s birthday. Henry isn’t even thinking about eventual acting jobs again. The only thing he that is on his mind, is spending his time with Olivia and Vanessa. Since Vanessa is in school and Olivia has to work, he spends his time in the gym, in the stores, reading a bit and cuddling up with Kal. People might’ve think it would be boring, but he is actually enjoying his time like this. For someone who thought acting would be everything in life, he sure doesn’t miss it at all.

Olivia is home earlier from her work, because he is straddled when he hears the front door shut. He is standing in her kitchen, trying out a new recipe. ‘Is that my apron?’ she asks him when she walks into the kitchen. She leans against the doorway and Kal whimpers, almost as he answers for his owner, causing her to chuckle. ‘Looking good, Cavill. Pink roses are definitely your go to pattern.’

He smiles, seeing the beautiful woman also smiling at him. ‘You’re home early,’ he says, walking up to her, to scoop her off her feet.

She lets out a squeal and says: ‘There were too many people in the clinic so I happily volunteered to go home.’ Olivia wraps her arms around his neck. ‘I sure missed you a lot.’

‘I missed you too, love.’

He places her gently on the table in the kitchen, gives her a kiss before he goes back to the counter. He lets her talk about her day, because it’s one of his favorite things to listen to. After she told him about the multiple anal glands, shots she had to give and the broken paws, she clears her throat. ‘I think you and I need to talk,’ Olivia says and he nearly cuts off his own finger.

‘What?’ he asks, turning around, panic rushing through his veins. What does she want to talk about? She sounds so serious. Is she not happy with him anymore? They are going too fast as a couple, that must be it. He doesn’t have any issues with that, but maybe she does. He should’ve stepped back a few times. God, this is such a—

‘But please take off that apron, I can’t take you seriously like that,’ she chuckles and now Henry is really confused. This can’t be a break up right? He does take off the apron and wipes his palms dry on his jeans. ‘We need to talk about your job,’ she says.

Henry is visibly relieved. ‘Oh thank God.’

She frowns. ‘What did you think we needed to talk about?’

‘I thought you wanted to break up or wanted to take at least a break.’

Olivia shakes her head, while she chuckles. ‘Oh honey,’ she says, holding out her hand. He hesitantly takes it and she pulls him to stand between her legs. ‘I’m sorry I scared you, but I can guarantee that I don’t want either of those things.’ She gives him a kiss and he relaxes against her body.

‘But why do you want to talk about my job?’

‘Because I just need to be sure that Vanessa and I aren’t holding you back. When I met you, you were actor Henry Cavill, but you seem to make zero efforts to continue in that line of work. I discussed it with your dad the other day and he said that he barely heard you about job offers anymore. I was just wondering if you don’t get job offers or if you don’t accept them because of us.’

Henry lets out a sigh. Though he doesn’t want to have this conversation with her, he does appreciate that she brings it up. She is not afraid to bring up conversation pieces that he has been trying to avoid and that quality alone shows she is an excellent mother and a partner. ‘I’m just taking a break.’

‘Why?’ she asks. ‘You have been taking one for more than a year now. You love acting, don’t you?’

‘I do,’ he says, ‘but… I’m scared I guess.’

‘Why?’ she asks. Her fingers are toying with the hem of his sweater, before she slips her hand underneath the sweater to touch his skin. He loves it when she innocently touches him like that. ‘Please, Henry, I’m only trying to understand you a bit better. That’s all. I’m not blaming you, trying to make you feel stupid or guilty, please don’t let your mind wander to those kinds of things.’

And without him even knowing it, he was doing exactly that. Those mother instincts sure do work. ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispers.

She shakes her head. ‘Wait,’ she says. She jumps off the table, turns off the stove, pushes everything to the back of the counter so Kal can’t secretly eat stuff and pulls him with her to the living room. She lays down on the couch, spreads her arms and says: ‘Come here.’

Henry can’t help but chuckle a little bit, thinking back to the time she was stressed out because of an operation that was very demanding and life threatening if she did something wrong. He simply laid down on the couch, spread his arms and held her.

He sits on the couch, before he lays down between her legs, placing his head on her soft chest. She wraps her arms tightly around him and he lets out a content sigh, feeling stress slowly leaving his body already. ‘Talk to me, Henry,’ she whispers. ‘Please.’

His hands pushes up her thick shirt and he touches her waist. Feeling her skin against his palms, helps him relax even more. ‘I’m scared of making another movie again,’ he admits. ‘What if that is a fail again?’

‘But would it be that bad?’ she asks. ‘Don’t you learn from failures?’

‘You do, but I don’t like making mistakes.’

‘My little perfectionist,’ Olivia whispers, pressing a kiss on top of his head. ‘Listen, it’s not that I don’t like you here. I love it when you are around and Vanessa thinks it’s great when you pick her up from school when I can’t. I mean, we don’t want you gone, don’t think like that, but I don’t want you to regret in a few years that you didn’t take a certain job.’

Henry places his chin on her chest, so he can look at the love of his life. ‘I won’t regret it. I like being here with you and Vanessa. It’s just that I need to feel in the right headspace again to think about starring in movies again and right now I only feel shame.’

‘Why? The movie wasn’t that bad,’ Olivia says and he cocks an eyebrow. ‘Okay, okay, the movie pretty bad, but… Lots of actors and actresses play in bad movies and that isn’t necessarily the end of their career, is it now?’

Henry sighs deeply. ‘I know, sweetheart.’

‘Look, again, I’m not forcing you out of my house. On the contrary, I want to force you to stay here and never leave, but please, for me, think about your choices, okay?’

‘Of course, my love. Thank you for bringing this up and I must admit: I really like laying down like this,’ he admits. He once found Vanessa and Olivia on the couch like this and it made his heart flutter. ‘I understand why Vanessa likes to be here.’

‘Shut up,’ she chuckles. ‘I can push you off, you know.’

‘But you won’t do that.’ He pushes himself up a bit, so he has better access to her neck. He presses open kisses against her skin and he feels her fingers run through his hair. ‘Thank you for looking out for me.’

‘You do the same for me,’ she says. She wraps her legs around his hips. ‘God, I love you like crazy, you know that?’

‘I love you too, love. How much time do we have left before we have to pick up Vanessa?’

She looks at the clock behind him and whispers: ‘Four hours.’

‘What can we do in four hours?’ he asks. ‘Multiple times?’

Olivia shrugs. ‘Finish that recipe that you were trying out?’

‘Minx.’

≫≫≪≪

The three of them (Kal is staying at home, since he isn’t allowed on the Christmas market) walk through the Christmas trees. Olivia told him that for years they only had a tiny tree, since she couldn’t afford a bigger tree and more decoration. Since she works shorter shifts, lives in a house, she has save money on certain fun activities, like buying a Christmas tree. To make sure this Christmas is unforgettable, he wants Vanesa and Olivia to pick out the tree they want.

‘Mommy,’ Vanessa says, ‘can we really pick out any tree we want?’

Olivia nods. ‘Just one, though, we’re not going to have a house filled with trees, okay?’

The little girl nods and she rushes through the trees, checking them all out.

Henry wraps his fingers around Olivia’s, as he stretches out his neck to see where Vanessa is. Before Olivia can say something, he raises his voice and says: ‘Vanessa, sunshine, stay close now.’

He feels Olivia looking up at him and he hears her laugh.

‘What?’ he asks, frowning a bit as Vanessa waves at them, a sign that she did hear him.

‘That was such a dad move,’ Olivia says. ‘You are actually such a dad, you know that?’

He doesn’t know what to say. This is the first time she mentioned that to him, though he has made some pretty dad like moves the past few weeks, ever since Vanessa told him that she loved him a lot.

She has been trying to push his boundaries a few times, but she knew when she needed to back off most of the time. He figured it was only normal, but the first time she pushed the buttons, he didn’t know what to do. Thankfully Olivia was there to tell Vanessa that stuff like that isn’t funny or nice, causing the young girl to listen.

But he had to be tough with her a few times. Telling her not to jump on top of him, knees first right in his stomach and she started to pout. Having to tell her that she can’t watch tv now, because they were going to eat and she kept sitting on the couch, sitting on top of the remote control. Helping her through a breakdown when she had a little bit of homework, since Olivia had to prepare a surgery.

Olivia would stand in the doorway, arms crossed in front of her chest and would watch the little debacle, not interfering, unless she thought it was necessary. Almost like she was evaluating him and he actually understood. If he was going to be a important part of their lives, become the dad figure he so desperately wants to be, he needs to show both of them that he is serious.

The other day, Vanessa kept screaming in the car and he said something to her about how she shouldn’t do that. ‘Why would I listen to you?’ she asked him, looking in the rearview mirror at him with a daring look on her face. He had never heard her speak like that, but then he realized: Olivia and her know each other like the back of their hands and only one look of Olivia, would make Vanessa listen immediately.

But Henry is new, he hasn’t been there since the beginnings. Of course Vanessa was the sweetest young girl when he met her, but now he is becoming a more frequent and stable part of their lives, she needs to push the limits a bit.

‘Because it’s my car and your screams make my eardrums tear,’ he retorted.

‘I don’t like you,’ she told him and that broke his heart.

‘Vanessa,’ Olivia said, without even looking over her shoulder. ‘Why don’t you like him?’

‘Because he is being mean,’ Vanessa said, crossing his arms.

He could see Olivia looking to the side at him and maybe the heartbreak was written all over his face. ‘Tell me exactly why you think he is being mean to you.’ Henry didn’t understand what she was going for, because did he want to hear the list of things that Vanessa maybe was going to make?

Vanessa opened her mouth and said: ‘Because he doesn’t let me scream.’

‘Do I ever let you scream?’

‘No.’

‘You think I’m mean then?’

The little girl sighed. ‘No.’

‘Why is Henry mean and I’m not when we say the exact same thing?’

Now Vanessa didn’t know what she had to say, so she didn’t say anything at all. Olivia let it slide, knowing well enough that she had made Vanessa think about her behavior. When the two of them got out of the car, she said to him that he should help the little girl out of the carseat.

Henry was scared, honest to God scared. He didn’t want to ruin their relationship, but certainly not force her into liking him. He opened the door, because he felt like being scared was not the thing he should do. He should get over it.

Vanessa looked up and when he unbuckled her seatbelt, she placed her hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry, Henry,’ she said. ‘I should’ve listened to you.’

‘It’s okay, sunshine,’ he said.

‘Are you still mad at me?’

He frowned. ‘I wasn’t mad at you.’

‘What then?’

‘A little disappointed, that’s all.’

Vanessa sighed and pouted. He spotted tears in her eyes and that broke his heart even more. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t know why I did it.’

‘It’s all okay,’ he told her. ‘I’m not mad and not disappointed anymore.’

‘You won’t leave?’

That was her biggest fear—him leaving. Maybe that’s why she was testing out the waters with her behavior. Maybe she was figuring out what she could do for him to leave and never come back. But that wasn’t Henry. He knew he was in it for the long run. ‘If I would leave because of this, I would be a big idiot, wouldn’t I be?’

Vanessa nodded. ‘Yeah, you would.’

He helped her out of the car, but she hugged his leg tightly and Olivia, who had witnessed it all, chuckled and mouthed: ‘See?’

The role of a dad, wasn’t something he feared, but sometimes he felt stress building up inside of him. Was he doing it right? What would Olivia think about how he handled it?

‘I’m a dad?’ Henry asks Olivia, as Vanessa is ushering them over, because she found the perfect tree.

‘You are,’ she says. ‘I mean, you are still figuring it all out and I totally understand, but remember: you’ll never do it perfectly. Parenting is something terrifying, but you’ve been holding up well.’

‘It will get worse?’ he says.

‘Well,’ Olivia chuckles, ‘Vanessa has yet to become a teenager and I can tell you that I was a pretty tough teen to handle. Maybe she is too, I don’t know, but they say the teen years are hard.’

Henry squeezes her hand. ‘Well, as long as I’m with you, I’m ready for it.’

‘Mommy, I like this one,’ Vanessa says and Olivia goes to stand behind her daughter, placing her hands on the tiny shoulders of Vanessa, as they look at the tree.

It’s moments like these where the two of them look so much alike and he still can’t believe that the idiot Wesley left her, before Vanessa was born. It might’ve been for the best, but Henry can’t seem to wrap his mind around the fact that that breathing moron walked away from the two greatest ladies in the world.

‘Why do you like this one?’ Olivia asks.

‘Because that branch looks heart shaped.’

Olivia looks over her shoulder. ‘Now I think that is a legit enough reason, but since Henry is going to pay for it, he needs to agree to it.’

Vanessa looks up, a hopeful look on her face and she folds her hands together. ‘Henry, please, can we have this tree?’

He pretends to think hard about it. ‘I don’t know,’ he says.

‘Please,’ Vanessa begs. ‘I really want this tree. It has a heart shaped branch.’

He lets out a chuckle, not wanting to put her in fear of not buying this tree any longer. ‘I think it’s perfect for us.’

Vanessa claps her hands. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’

When they are back at Olivia’s place, they set up the tree and he helps them decorate it. Vanessa sits on his shoulders, as she puts the pick on top. ‘What do you think, sunshine?’ he asks, stepping back, to admire the tree.

He feels her hands tugging his curls. ‘I love it,’ she says.

‘Well, we have to say thank you to Henry,’ Olivia says.

‘But I already said thank you for buying the tree, mommy.’

She nods. ‘I know you did, but did you thank him for buying the decorations?’

Vanessa audibly gasps. ‘Oh no, I didn’t.’

‘Well, hurry up then,’ Olivia jokingly says.

He lifts her off his shoulders, but lets her rest on his hip. ‘Thanks daddy, for buying the Christmas decorations.’

Henry freezes. Did she just call him daddy? She thinks of him as a dad? He looks over at Olivia, whose eyes have widened as well. ‘What did you say?’ he asks her.

Vanessa curls in her lips. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says. ‘You’re not my daddy. Thanks Henry.’ She wiggles herself out of his arms and mumbles something along the lines of going to her room.

‘Did she just…?’ he asks Olivia.

She simply nods. ‘Vanessa, baby, wait up.’ She rushes past him, up the stairs following Vanessa.

Okay, he needs to think about this. He wants to be her dad. That drawing she made for him, still hangs in his living room. He spends so much time with both Olivia and Vanessa… He is part of their little family, just like they are part of his. He sees Olivia as the mother of eventual future children and Vanessa as the big sister of them.

Then why is he still here and not upstairs comforting her?

He walks up the stairs and hears little sniffles coming from Vanessa’s room. ‘I’m so sorry, mommy,’ he hears Vanessa cry.

‘Don’t be.’

‘Is he mad at me?’

‘Why? Because you called him daddy?’

He doesn’t hear Vanessa say anything, but he figures she is nodding.

‘No, he was just surprised, baby.’

‘I don’t want him to leave, because I said that.’

He opens the door and says: ‘Vanessa, sunshine, I’m not leaving. Your mom is right, I was just a little surprised.’ Henry walks over to the bed, where Vanessa is sitting on Olivia’s lap, tears running over her red cheeks.

‘Why were you surprised?’ Olivia asks for her daughter and maybe a bit for herself.

‘Because I didn’t expect you to call me daddy. I… I figured you would always call me Superman or Henry.’ Henry places his hand on Vanessa’s back and he feels she is trembling and that makes him feel even worse than he was already. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says to her.

‘Why are you apologizing?’ Vanessa asks.

‘Because I made you sad,’ he says. ‘Listen: I love you a lot, Vanessa and I’m not leaving because of this. I would be a big idiot if I did that.’

She nods in agreement. ‘But do you want to be my dad?’ she asks. ‘I always wanted one.’

‘I would love to be your dad,’ Henry tells her. ‘I would be honored.’

‘See?’ Olivia says with a smile, kissing Vanessa.

The little girl takes a deep breath. ‘Really?’

‘Really, sweetheart.’ He wraps his arms around the two of them and he gives them both a kiss on top of their heads. ‘How about I make some hot chocolate for us?’ he suggests. ‘To celebrate this?’

Olivia chuckles and Vanessa starts to nod. ‘I would love that,’ Vanessa says and she has a telling smile on her face. ‘I love you, daddy,’ she whispers.

‘I love you too, sunshine,’ he tells her.

She rubs her nose against his and asks: ‘You like having me as a daughter?’

He blinks faster with his eyes, but a tear does escape. ‘I love having as my daughter.’

She wipes away his tear and says: ‘Good, because I like being your daughter.’

≫≫≪≪

Henry: Mom, I have great news!

Mom: Olivia is pregnant?

Henry: NO! Olivia is not pregnant!

Mom: Would’ve been great news though, another grandchild into our family.

Mom: Your father and I are not getting any younger.

Henry: I see what you are doing there. You can’t guilt trip me in knocking Olivia up. Where are your manners?

Mom: Well, if that wasn’t the great news, what is it then?

Henry: Vanessa wants me as her dad

Mom: That is wonderful news too, honey! Oh, I’m so happy for you!!

Mom: So, when are you going to make it official?

Henry: Make what official?

Mom: As in officially making her your daughter. As in adopting her?

[non-sequitura]

Non-sequitura Disney in-depth analysis (after making a tier list)

Warning: SUPER longform. If you don’t know a movie well, you should skip the summary. I tried to be light on spoilers, but they’re there.

I went chronologically from favorite to least favorite. So S tier is, in order from fave to least fave, The Incredibles, WALL-E, then Zootopia.

S tier (Something I consider high quality AND a movie I greatly enjoy. I would love more Disney movies be like this.)

The Incredibles - one of my favorite movies of all time, possibly THE favorite. Rockin social commentary, epic action scenes, memorable characters, not a minute of screentime wasted, great take on the Fantastic Four, hilarious parts for both adults and children, an interesting villain, etc. 

WALL-E - I love how social commentary was done here. Also skies above, what a beautiful love story. Really blazed a trail in non-verbal storytelling (especially given it was an animated kids film!) Robot animations are particularly delightful. 

Zootopia - another social message delivered excellently and entertainingly. I love Judy and her persistence, I love the expressiveness of the faces and the epic city setting. I love Judy and Nick's banter. This movie deserves to be remembered longer than it has been so far. Admittedly, not one of my fave villains, which makes it my least favorite of the Ss. 

A tier (either super high quality or something I greatly enjoy and deem of at least reasonably good quality)

Mulan - this movie did everything right. Truly feminist protagonist, an icon for strong Asian women, fairly culturally accurate (tho Mushu confuses me), GORGEOUS and iconic music. Lets a relatively natural romance develop. I frickin love the action scenes, I love the emporer. Sadly, this movie just didn't lodge its way in my heart as well as Pixar did. Pixar just has some magic, yo. 

Cinderella - my gosh what an underrated protagonist. Her family straight-up abuses her and she never loses sight of her goals for a better life. Iconic visuals helped bring Disney out of bankruptcy. A gorgeous alto singing voice. 

Wreck-it Ralph - alright alright ppl don’t crucify me for this. I honestly can’t think of much wrong with this movie. Vanellope and Ralph’s vitriolic best buds relationship is adorable, her forgiveness of him is heartwarming and (relatively) deserved, rockin’ Owl City song, epic visuals that mix together bc of all the different games. ALSO ONE OF THE BEST DISNEY VILLAINS NO CAP. One of the only twist villains I like. And we stan the romantic pairing. 

Tangled - I’ve talked about this a lot, but Rapunzel deserved the whole world after what she’s gone through. That being said, Gothel is not some shallow monster she needs to escape from, but an intelligent, well-defined monster with backstory. I could totally see this story happening if the world of Tangled existed. Epic love story, hilarious dialogue. Music is… good but much of it is less memorable to me. Visuals are good but not quite at the level/creativity of many other disney films. 

The Lion King - they really put Hamlet in Africa and pulled it off lol. But in all seriousness, no one took the premise of this film seriously at the time and it became sooo iconic. I love Scar and his eventual downfall, I love how Simba grows emotionally, I love the sad moments that don’t overpower the overall feeling of light goofiness. And music so memorable it was one of the first Disney musicals. 

Coco - not a super unique story premise. But an incredible culture to explore with such creativity and sensitivity. I love the themes of death not being the worst and music being so central to the story. Twist/twist villain was memorable and not expected. And yeah, it did make me cry, so props there. 

Ratatouille - the most recently watched of these films for me. This movie is soooo unique! Back when Pixar was truly super out there with their concepts. Super Parisian visuals and soundtrack. It somehow starts goofy (THE OLD LADY TRIES TO KILL REMY WITH A SHOTGUN WHILE WEARING A GAS MASK) but really drives home the message that you can truly do what you want regardless of who you are. Colette can get it. And the monologue by Ego at the end is one of my favorites in film. 

Frozen - Anna is one of my favorite Disney protagonists. She’s so resilient and loyal. Elsa ain’t bad either but she experiences… less character development. The film is a tad too pleased with its own self-awareness for my taste, but there’s no denying how iconic the music and visuals were. 

Inside Out - Alright, this movie hits home for me bc I tried to run away after moving. A super thoughtful, heartfelt depiction of (potentially depression? imo) with great moments of humor. Riley’s inner world is so creative and lovely. Also realistic depictions of Minnesota/California culture. 

Tarzan - Jane! is! smart! and! adorable! Her scientific curiosity makes her very endearing. it’s so cute to see her and Tarzan learn from each other. Also Tarzan’s “found mother” is epic. Solid score. Solid film all around. To quote Lily Orchard, “This film is what Pocahontas tried to be.” 

B tier (one of my favorites but has a few significant flaws that bring it down (or not quite as memorable to me, but consider good quality))

Peter Pan - Haven’t seen it in a hot sec, but I remember being super charmed by this as a kid. Just going out, having incredible adventures, and returning to a warm home at the end of the day. Tinker Bell is hilarious and beautifully drawn. Gets major negative points for the depiction of Native Americans tho. 

Big Hero 6 - I was super charmed by the protagonist, his family/friends, and the setting. The plot/villain’s motivations are a bit of a mess, though. 

Princess and the Frog - This movie has so much flavor to it! The visuals/music are lovely and unique. Tiana is incredible but it’s kinda annoying how EVERYONE keeps trying to shoehorn her into romance. The thing is, her goals are entirely reasonable. Focus on her restaurant, then look to settle down. But they’re like “nooo you’re ignoring the important things in life” smh. Also, epic villain, woohoo! The movie dragged significantly for me when they were in the bayou. Charlotte is delightful. 

Winnie the Pooh - don’t remember it super well, but I think it was charming and occasionally dark, which is an addictive concoction. 

The Little Mermaid - MAN ppl roast Ariel way more than she deserves. Visually, it was… fine. idk. This movie is good. I don’t have much else to say about it. 

Snow White - the one that started it all. Visually, super impressive. Musically, lovely. I find the romance a bit… off. Well, more than a bit. What is it with Disney and kissing sleeping people? 

Alice in Wonderland - a nerdy acid trip. Right up my alley! I also like films where ppl go on incredible adventures and return to the status quo, but THEY changed bc of it. Epic. SUUUUPER creative visual interpretation of Carroll’s book. Brave - gosh I loooove films where a parent and child learn to understand each other. Never got why ppl hated this movie so much. The Scottish flavor is present and fun. Merida made one mistake and made it up. The arrow scene is iconic. 

Cars - a fun ride! (hahaha puns.) We love seeing Paul Newman as a car. 

B-minus tier? (same as B, but problematic, or weaker story-wise.)

Hunchback - man… settings-wise, this film might be my favorite. I also love Esmeralda and Quasimodo as characters and as a duo (though the sexualized depiction of Romani ppl is not epic.) I also don’t find the discrimination against Esmeralda/Quasimodo jarring bc it matches the time period. Frollo is super interesting as a villain. The gargoyles are… def not necessary. Basically, this film doesn’t know what it’s doing with tone. 

Sleeping Beauty - Aurora was my favorite when I was younger because I thought she was the prettiest, and that still defines how i feel about this, basically. Visually lovely - everything is kind of elongated and gothic. Maleficent is spiteful and epic. I have no issue with the fluffier parts of the movie, like the music or the fairies. RIP for lack of consent being a plot point, though. 

Hercules - Megara is incredible. one of the only Disney “princesses” who acts like an adult and has cynicism as a major part of her personality. I love her and Herc’s progression where she learns to trust him (yes, he is genuinely that sincere, it’s not a front.) Muses are unique, whoever came up with them was high on something and I’m living for it. I just think the plot itself was somewhat unrealistic/ weirdly-paced. There are some memorable songs, some less-than-memorable songs. Art style is cool but I’m personally not a fan. EXTREMELY inaccurate depictions of the original Greek gods. 

C tier (entertaining, but I don't consider it a great movie)

Bolt - I watched this like 11 years ago. It was fun! A cool concept about those put on a pedestal learning their worth even without celebrity boosting them up. Animation was… fine I think. not super memorable to me. 

Frozen 2 - They really took any scrap of character development Elsa had in the first movie, threw it in the garbage and set it on fire. Anna deserved so much better. Songs are bombastic and impressive, have the occasional interesting lyric, but are really weirdly placed and none are quite as iconic as the first movie’s (except Aurora, she does great work here. Also the song Anna sings after she thinks Elsa died.) 

Not a big fan of the vaguely homeopathic theme. Not a big fan of Olaf’s WEIRD character development. Not a big fan of the suuuuuper awkward dialogue and the animations that imply not only that Kristoff is into his reindeer but that Elsa and Anna are into each other (if you’re questioning if they did that, yes, they did, I can find screenshots of some really weird expressions/moments. THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO PANDER TO YOUR WEIRD FANS, DISNEY.) 

The voice actors did great work, the animators did great work (look at the details on their clothes! Look at how Elsa’s posture changes to be more confident! look at how they're animated while they're singing!) Some weird costume/makeup choices that make Elsa look like an aging starlet, but she also has some gorgeous moments so eh. It’s a wash for me. 

They really did not know what to do with Kristoff this movie, huh. The only thing that happened to him was singing a cheesy 90s ballad and marrying Anna, both of which were admittedly epic. Also, the trolls got 0 appearances despite being literally psychic. Probably could have helped with a lot. I'm not a huge fan of lore/worldbuilding, and thee was a lot of it here. Overall neutral on it. 

Also a big theme in this movie I don’t love - **** TANGIBLE CONSEQUENCES TO OUR ACTIONS!!! The danger is Elsa’s death, the elements, colonialism, and Arendelle literally being destroyed. None of those end up playing out, so I was left at the end going “this film had literally no stakes.” 

Monsters U - same as above - entertaining at the time! Not super memorable. The ppl we were supposed to dislike kept switching. Doesn’t really match the canon of Monsters Inc (I thought they were supposed to have known each other since childhood so why did they meet in college?) 

Cars 3 - so apparently, everyone HATED this movie! Fun! I never watched Cars 2 (yes watched Cars 1 if you haven’t been paying attention to this list), but I didn’t think this movie was bad at all. Well-acted, some fun chase scenes, the scene where Lightning fails at driving in the simulation is genuinely hilarious, and some interesting perspectives on teachers getting the spotlight for their skills for once. 

Incredibles 2 - I liked this film at first, but then it was… just okay in retrospect. I love me some good family dynamics. The plot here makes not a lot of sense. THEY BUILT UP THE UNDERMINER FOR NOTHING AND THEN FORGOT ABOUT HIM. I was surprised by the villain swap, but it happened so last minute I never really understood their motivations even after they explained them. Tried to tackle waaaay too many messages. 

D tier (I didn't enjoy these or consider them mediocre)

Finding Dory - Maybe I should have put this higher? Like C tier at least. Ah well. Wasn’t a huge fan of the body/physical comedy (not my thing), but it was entertaining and awww finding family is heartwarming. 

Finding Nemo - I remember nothing about this movie. 

E tier (this film has significant problems)

Beauty and the Beast - *sigh*… I want to love this movie. The score is gorgeous. Visually, they could have made it more distinctly Rococo-era France but didn’t (why?) The voice actors did good work and I think Paige O’Hara is SUPER underrated here. 

The Beast is emotionally manipulative with an awful temper that (for MOST of the movie. He doesn’t change.) That’s the main reason this is in E tier. This movie shaped so many generations of people thinking they can change the behavior of someone who treats them badly through the power of love. But you can’t. She learns to “love” the beast under coercion. It’s not Stockholm syndrome - it’s a trashy romance novel. Big fan of Gaston as a villain. He’s an archetype ppl can recognize and it’s so satisfying to hate him.

F tier (I think this film actively harms the industry and would rather it not have been made. Both the one in E tier could be considered harmful to the industry, but I think they had significant enough artistic accomplishments to scrape above that. I'm also generally a fan of "lack of censorship bc it's better to teach what not to do.")

Pocahontas - this movie took real historical events and romanticized them AND sexualized one of the only Native princesses they’ve had. Boo. Nothing wrong with animation!Pocahontas as a character, it’s just people put her in a story that doesn’t represent history well at all (and these historical events, unlike those in say, 14th-century Germany, had super relevant effects on people alive today.) And they portrayed the Native Americans and colonial settlers as equally in the wrong. (though I like Governor Radcliffe as a potential villain and love the line “see how I glitter.” I can’t NOT laugh when I hear it.) Lovely music, though. Nice animation, but the colors are weirdly… muted? 

Bad Garbage (I don't wish this film had never been made, but I wish I never had to see it.)

Planes - this movie was ridiculous. I remember not much about it except that I kinda hated it and that it was super cheesy with tension one could see right through that immediately resolved itself via one twist or another. 

Haven’t seen tier: Recess, A Bug’s Life, A Goofy Movie, DuckTakes Movie, Lilo and Stitch, Pinocchio (actually i have seen this but I remember nothing about it), The Nightmare before Christmas, Toy Stories 1, 2, and 3, Up, 101 Dalmatians, The Great Mouse Detective, Cars 2, Moana, The Good Dinosaur, Pete’s Dragon, Fantasia, Peter Pan Return to Neverland, Fantasia 2000, The Black Cauldron (read the book, though!), Bambi (or I did and remember nothing about it), The Rescuersm, The Rescuers Down Under, Planes Fire and Rescue, Bambi 2, The Fox & the Found, Oliver and Company, Atlantis, Treasure Planet (I want to, though), Piglet’s Big Movie, The Jungle Book, the Emporer’s New Groove, The Jungle Book 2, Chicken Little, Brother Bear, The Three Caballeros, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, Dumbo, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Aladdin (seen parts but never the whole thing), Strange Magic, The Sword in the Stone, James and the Giant Peach, Frankenweenie, Lady and the Tramp, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Doug’s 1st Movie, Monsters Inc. (want to, though), Meet the Robinsons, Dinosaur, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Tigger Movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, that pooh movie at the end without the title on it

-11/21/20

[ohmrlove]

Hello! I’ve been asking a bunch of people to do this request because I want to see everyone’s different headcanons. How would the MLQC boys react to MC being a single mother? She never told them she has a 7yr son because they never thought to ask and we’ll call him Liam instead of “her son”. So they found out when Liam ran to her. MC is still young since Liam was born from unfortunate events like rape (she loves her son to death). How would the guys try to bond with Liam?

Trigger warning: ask centers around rape

🍷 Victor 🍷

He never would have imagined you were a single mother, let alone to a seven-year old. You were really good at hiding it!

It’s likely he overheard a snippet of a phone call when trying to approach you about work. A tiny little ‘love you mommy!’ on the phone during a break he didn’t know you were taking

Is kind of blown away you can strike the work-life balance and avoid being so consumed. Victor, himself, is bad at balancing intimate relationships outside of work so you mystify him

Gets super curious about this kid and slyly devises some work event that it’d be okay to bring them to

Realizes it’s a bad idea when he’s overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people--and kids--he has to greet, but likes that your kid was pretty quiet (shy) and sat at a table with you

He was playing with the big, fancy cloth napkins and Victor decided to fold one up in a semi-complicated design next to his

You introduce the two and it starts as Victor showing him how to fold napkins and teaching him about food

Casually drops Souvenir having a ‘Little Chefs day’ and encourages you to bring him

Victor can’t be the one running the class (obviously) so Mr. Mills does it and he helps grab all the stuff to make mac n’ cheese

Your son follows along, gets messy, and corrects Victor on how much cheese mac n’ cheese ACTUALLY needs. (“You want it to be really good! The best, like angels singing in your mouth, and that means lots of cheese!”)

Victor’s stomach hurts from all the cheese, but the whole thing was amusing

He’s suddenly ‘in the neighborhood’ a lot, and comes to sit with you and your son

When you have to collaborate with him on work, Victor insists you bring him so you don’t waste money on a babysitter. (”There’s two of us and one of him, it can’t be that hard.”)

Eventually learns the truth after the two of you have grown much closer and takes a deep, personal interest in making sure Liam never has that awful person for a father figure

“Just because” trips to places the three of you would like

Is basically your boyfriend/the dad figure but won’t own up to it unless super pissed off or being challenged in public. Will admit to it more when you’re married.

📢 Gavin 📢

Kind of dense about it. Had suspicions but no proof, and when he saw you two side by side, you picking him up to hug him, the similarities were PRETTY OBVIOUS

Birdcop felt kinda dumb

Becomes hyperfocused after that. When did this happen? A SEVEN YEAR OLD?! He never would’ve guessed!

Is worried the kid will be the total opposite of him--not super active, hates loud noises, etc--but is glad he can break the ice by showing him a cop car or his motorcycle

Answers all the typically excited job questions as best he can

Conveniently shows up at a school fitness day as a supervisor or some safety tie-in with the police department

Is happy to see him being nice to the other students and participates a little but mostly watches with you on the sidelines

Doesn’t ask you some of his questions since there’s other people nearby, but invites you two to ‘a little place’ he was going to afterwards

One dinner date turns into a few more, and Gavin is grasping at straws trying to invite you to stuff just to hang out. He’s got a soft spot for the kid and he sees his eyes light up and Gavin just can’t.

They turn into weekend buddies--fun at the park, movies, the whole nine yards!

He realizes this dynamic is getting pretty serious when your kid invites him to an award night at school. It’s just you two and Gavin is embarrassed but soooo proud! His heart is fluttering!

You tell him the truth about Liam’s conception and Gavin can only HOPE the guy is already dead. Boy is MAD. The news reported some wind issues for the next few hours, even into the next day.

Probably has a dark circle of people and MAKES SURE the guy doesn’t cause you any problems and stays FAR AWAY.

Focuses on being a good figure in Liam’s life.

The type to go ‘I know that kid’ and cheer him on at school functions. He’s got a distant older brother/aloof but warm personality so the transition to dad is going to be natural and hard to see.

🔬 Lucien 🔬

Probably figured it out before you ever told him. Considered that he’s a cousin/nephew or the kid happens to look somewhat like you (features can be common, etc.) but his gut says otherwise

Now that he thinks about it, he’s seen the kid off in the background when he dropped by your house sometimes. He just assumed you were babysitting a neighbor child.

When the two of you come to see him, holding hands, he knows. You’d run back to Lucien’s house and picked something up for him while he was stuck in a lecture.

Is too nosy for his own good--no matter how subtle--and offers to treat you for the errand. Whatever your kid wanted, he picked.

Lucien’s a people-watcher and found your kid’s table manners pretty interesting and he was pleased to note he wasn’t overly loud.

Their interests didn’t perfectly line up but Lucien’s absolutely voracious when it comes to learning and reading, so he had SOMETHING to say about Liam’s likes. Didn’t mind learning more from your excited, scatterbrained kid. It’s always funny to see people so passionate.

If he likes to sketch, Lucien could probably turn a sketch into a tiny robot or something. That puts him high on Liam’s list!

If he’s a more active/outdoor child, Lucien will invite the two of you along on a less-serious version of field research

Lucien can somehow always find the most interesting but less public city events, so it makes it fun and mysterious to tag along

Volunteers to babysit him when you’re super busy

They swap books and Lucien seems to have extra movie tickets lately

You guys drive to the Research Center to check on him one night when his experiment runs late and Lucien knows that this is a thing. You guys are a thing now. You’ve shown him that dedication and he’ll give it back two-fold (at least).

When he realizes no father figure’s coming in to make a fuss, Lucien has several theories. Finally inquires over a cup of tea, late at night when Liam’s asleep.

“Although certainly not ideal, Liam’s proof that good things can come out of a bad situation.”

He’s pretty vigilant about renewing any court-based paperwork that involves keeping the father away. Would probably kill him to really get him out of the picture, but has too many ideas and would rather not bother. The ultimate victory would be yours and Liam’s success, and he’ll invest in that instead.

🎤 Kiro 🎤

You and Liam were out buying groceries and running errands on your day off. Kiro was out (in disguise) trying to follow the diet his nutritionist set up...plus a few bag of chips

The two of you ran into each other at a booth giving away free samples. Kiro ABSOLUTELY can never turn down samples because they’re too small to matter and they’re usually junk food.

He says hello vaguely, as always, but when the kid says ‘Mommy, who’s that?’ Kiro absolutely loses it with disbelief and excitement

You rush him back to your house before he can blow his cover and the media gets the wrong idea

Kiro’s naturally a big kid at heart, and with his charming Evol, it won’t be hard for him to connect. Not that he’d use it.

If he gets too excited, it’ll happen accidentally.

He’s used to kids being excited to meet him so it’s a pretty easy introduction.

They talk superheroes, food, and all kinds of things!

If your kid’s not a big singer or dancer, Kiro’s more than happy to show him how to play the guitar or drums the next time you hang out. Kind of regrets that last one. But hey, he’s happy! That counts for something!

These two TOTALLY have a system where Liam brings him ‘contraband’ food when you visit and he HAS to take it because it would be rude to refuse a fan’s gift. Savin is not pleased.

Liam starts to understand that Kiro’s really busy or can’t go outside a lot/has to be private, so when the three of you hang out you usually bingewatch stuff or play video games. There’s always waaay too much takeout, but it’s delicious!

If you go to Kiro’s place, he probably installs a little fake sports hoop so they can play indoor games

Sometimes drops little coded messages in live vids (”And a special hello to my main man L!”) he loves it because it drives the internet absolutely nuts with trying to figure out who it is

He’ll casually arrange phone calls/voice messages from any of your son’s favorite TV characters/actors and make it seem like a ‘no biggie’ kind of thing. Kid super loves him then!

Not 100% what Kiro was aiming for--just trying to do something nice--but he’ll take it!

When he bothers to share any good news with Kiro, that’s when he knows he’s in the circle. You guys are close now.

When Kiro’s out supporting bands of designing a new stage line up, he likes your son’s input and will probably add a few of his favorite bands just so he has a reason to come.

It’s an unlikely family, but it’s a happy one. A happy one that is guarded to the teeth and Kiro has no qualms about bulldozing that disgusting excuse of a human in court.

May or may not put out a hit as Key. He’s a master hacker and could get rid of traces pretty easily 

[trensu]

Episode 19: The One with the Return of the Gay Yearning Death Grip, Now with More Sword!

After enduring EXTREME EMOTIONAL TRAUMA for the last THREE (3) EPISODES IN A ROW, we finally finally get an episode that has some wangxiantics again!!

I mean, they’re still gonna gut us emotionally here too but we can pretend it hurts less because of our brief wangxian moments!!!

Because this is the episode with the BURIAL MOUNDS

*cries*

Alright so golden core transfer Happened. 

Review: wwx is now weaponless, penniless, golden core-less, and alone

Except jk, he’s actually surrounded by wen flunkies, so not alone! Worse than alone!!

And we all know our beloved wwx has the survival instincts of a lemming so instead of you know, keeping his mouth shut for once in his life, he decides to mock and insult wen chao and his flunkies.

WC decides to take wwx on Evil Field Trip Part 2: Burial Mounds Edition and has wen zhuliu freaking drop-kick wwx into the cursed place

Oh, hello, Bad CGI, nice to see you again!

And here we have the Return of the Screams bc apparently wwx decided to keep the Screaming Sword of Resentment in his magic pouch??

Good thing he did, i guess?? Bc the Screams summon up some resentful energy that helps him survive the fall

We cut away a moment here to see our beloved wen sibs and we are sad bc they are locked up MOVING ON

Wwx is all alone in this awful place covered in dead things and lacking sunlight, THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF OUR PRECIOUS, LIVELY, SUNSHINE BOY

It’s terrible but we’re getting a piece of wangxian pie here (a tiny one)

So the Screams are still happening, and our wwx is collapsed on the ground not responding to any of them.

They’re all shouting “wei wuxian, wei wuxian” 

And still our precious sunshine boy lies there limp and exhausted

BUT SUDDENLY

AMIDST ALL THE SHOUTS

We hear a calm,soothing voice call “wei ying”

Wwx finally moves. He sits up and starts looking around for the source of that voice

BECAUSE THAT WAS LAN ZHAN’S VOICE

THAT WAS LAN ZHAN’S VOICE GENTLY CALLING “WEI YING” THREE TIMES

THREE!!! TIMES!!!!

And it’s so sad bc for a moment there wwx hears the voice and must think that lwj is there with him, there to rescue him!!

But he isn’t *cries* he’s not there and wwx just looks so lost and scared here *cries HARDER*

Instead of lwj, wwx finds the Screaming Sword of Resentment that legit says to him, “wwx, do you want revenge? Let’s be together.”

And, idk guys, swords that talk to you about revenge don’t seem like, the kind of swords you wanna be touching.

But wwx decides to become besties with it, i guess, and grabs it. 

The look of triumph on his face after he accepts the swords offer is really cool if you ignore how UTTERLY DISTRESSING the whole situation is

AND HERE’S THE SCENE WHERE LWJ MAKES THE MOST BADASS ENTRANCE.

YOU THOUGHT THE THING WITH THE ROOFTOP BACK IN "THE ONE WITH THE ICONIC REUNION” WAS COOL?? THIS ONE TOPS IT.

To set the scene: we’re at Qishan where Evil Summer School took place and a bunch of wen flunkies are getting drunk and bragging about their evil deeds bc why not

And then we get a shot of white shoes (boots?? Idk) slowly walking up the steps of the evil staircase

And then the camera gives us a shot at the top of the staircase and we see LWJ clad in all white in a bitchin’ new robe, slowly appear into view, rising a little more with each step he takes up the stairs and the wind is providing ambiance by swishing elegantly through his hair

As that is happening, we see the blue flash of power that shows up whenever lwj uses his guqin and it knocks the wen flunkies down on their backs BC FUCK YOU WEN FLUNKIES

We go back to lwj, and get a closer look at his face. His face is blank and hard as a stone, and he keeps going at this unhurried, unbothered pace

Bc he knows

HE KNOWS

He’s gonna get what he wants here and now, one way or another. And what he wants is information about wei ying.

CHILLS, GUYS, THIS SCENE GIVES ME CHILLS IN THE BEST WAY

THE MOST BADASS ENTRANCE IN THE SHOW

I LOVE IT SO MUCH

So after he guqin’s the wen flunkies down (and they start cowering) he towers over them all imperiously

Lwj: Kneel

(so commanding, his tone. I know at least some of you guys Felt Things at that)

(guys, I've been on ao3, I'VE SEEN YOUR TAGS, don’t try to deny it, you kinky bastards)

(It's okay, this is a no judgement zone, and lwj is looking hella sharp in his new outfit, I get it)

Lwj: where is wei ying

(so unyielding, so demanding, but not once does he raise his voice, what a BAMF)

The wen flunkie that lwj had been kinda choking with guqin magic raises his hand (lol, this isn’t a classroom pal)

Lwj: Speak.

And the wen flunkie informs him (and JC, who showed up at some point but whatev) that they dumped WWX in the Burial Mounds

Lwj, our precious darling lwj, we know he doesn’t have the most expressive of faces, right? But the way his face tilts ever so slightly downwards at the news, you can tell, you can tell, that he was hit with that sick, cold, sinking feeling in the stomach

Kneel. Where is Wei Ying. Speak. THAT'S ALL HE SAID IN THE WHOLE SCENE AND YET HE HAD EVERYONE CAPTIVATED (and Thirsty, in some cases, it's all good, it's all good)

After all that awesome, we are forced to watch wc and jj have a domestic spat of some sort AS IF WE’RE SUPPOSED TO CARE. WE’RE GONNA IGNORE IT BC FUCK THOSE GUYS

We’re back at Evil Summer School in Qishan, and we’ve got JC and LWJ doing that thing where they stare manfully at the mid-distance and talk about vaguely Feelings-related Stuff

WuJi starts playing in the background as JC tells LWJ about how WWX was supposed to meet up with him at Yiling and never showed up; i thought he went after you, he says, but maybe the wens really did dump him in the burial mounds

And the music freaking crescendos here bc some lan disciples show up with everyone’s swords but most importantly THEY HAVE SUIBIAN which they bring to lwj directly

Makes you wonder, huh. Why did they bring suibian to lwj when jc, wwx’s brother, was right there??

PROBS BC THE LAN DISCIPLES HAVE BEEN WITH LWJ AND JC THE WHOLE TIME AND REALIZED THAT LWJ IS IN LOVE WITH WWX BC WHY ELSE WOULD HE BE SEARCHING SO OBSESSIVELY

LWJ’s eyes widen just a fraction the minute he sees suibian

HIS SOULMATE’S SWORD

IT’S ALL HE HAS LEFT OF WEI YING RIGHT NOW

JUST LIKE BEFORE WHEN ALL HE HAD LEFT OF HIS HOME WAS BICHEN

STOP LEAVING LWJ WITH JUST SWORDS, LET HIM HAVE HIS LOVED ONES!!!

And god the way he GRIPS it with YEARNING.

All of his motions are still very sedate, but just the microexpressions we’re getting from him change the tone of the movements

Wang yibo - guys, idk much about any of the actors but this guy does a great job. Like, how does he make such emotional expressions when his actual face hardly moves??? WITCHCRAFT, I TELL YOU, WITCHCRAFT

Lwj tries to unsheathe the sword but here we find the Suibian has sealed itself (bc he’s a loyal sword; he aint cheating on his master with no one!)

Lwj: wei ying, where are you

Such quality Lwj Yearning™

And then we get interrupted by Plot Things again, ugh

Blah blah we’re at qinghe blah blah we meet jzx's asshole cousin and hate him blah blah

Lwj and JC show up at qinghe and interrupt jzx’s Disaster Het shenanigans (thank god)

Jiang sibs have a reunion while jzx and lwj stand awkwardly at the side

Lwj sees that display of Emotion and is like, nope, that is Too Much, i’m gonna distract myself by staring at this disembodied head hanging at the entrance

(he’s already in emotional turmoil bc his soulmate is missing, he cannot handle anything more than that!!)

Idk why by jzx decides to join him

Jzx: hey, that’s wwx’s sword! Did you…

Lwj: *Death Grips bichen AND suibian with Extra Yearning™*  

Lwj: evil summer school has been burned

SUBTLE CHANGE OF TOPIC THERE, LWJ

Also, c’mon jzx, LWJ IS NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT OR ACKNOWLEDGE ANY MORE FEELINGS RIGHT NOW OKAY

Jzx goes off to talk about something unimportant and lwj is like phew, dodged a bullet there

Except, JUST KIDDING

Jzx: soooo, where’s wwx? I need to return his sister to him

Lwj: *stoically silent*

Lwj: *refuses to look at jzx*

Lwj: *gives off major I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT vibes*

Jzx: *doesn’t take a hint*

Jzx: yeah, so where is he??

READ THE ROOM, JZX

Idiots, we’re surrounded by emotionally incompetent idiots

Lwj doesn’t react until he hears jyl softly gasp when jc updates her and even then, it’s only to just briefly glance in her general direction

OUR BOY IS HURTING, POOR LWJ

And now we’re back to Plot Things

Blah blah battle strategy blah blah nmj looks imposing blah blah baxia does a thing blah blah

Jzx: yeah, so we’re doing great, we just gotta take back gusu and yiling now

Lwj: I volunteer AS TRIBUTE for the mission in Yiling

Jc: dude, SAME, plz red blade master, let us go there

Nmj: uh, idk guys, that’s right next to the wen’s stronghold…

Lwj; red blade master…

Nmj: yeah, okay, fine

Wow, capitulated pretty easily there, pal. Thought you were supposed to be a tough guy, nmj…

We get a jiang sib moment

With soup, ofc

Ooooh, now we get to watch jj have a mental break AND IT’S GLORIOUS

Disembodied eyeballs!! How fun!

And that’s the end of that episode!!

Oh god, i’m so glad we finally got some wangxiantics. Like, not a lot of them, and they didn’t share screentime BUT THEY WERE STILL VERY EMOTIONAL WANGXIANTICS

THEY MISS EACH OTHER SO MUCH *SOBS*

Return to Masterpost

[joracalltrise]

I’ve fallen in love with the 7th season of the Clone Wars, but in the same time this season… disappointed me so much. Do you, guys, feel the same? Or are you fully satisfied?

I warn you, that I’m going to more or less skip the good things and get to the bad things – not because I’m a complaining person, but because I believe a lot of people have already listed all positives about the last episode and season 7 in general (especially <url> www.gffa.tumblr.com </url> – dude, I really love your blog!), so me talking about the things I had loved in the latest season, would be… repeating what other people have already said.

I think we all (or most of us) agree, that the 7th Season was totally amazing, if not THE BEST season of the Clone Wars. We got that clear? Okay, now let’s get to the “buts”.

1. Not enough episodes

I’ll sound a bit whiny here, but… I really don’t get it, why couldn’t we get full 20 episodes for the Final Season of the Clone Wars. Or even more than 20. Maybe there are people in Disney, who are smarter than me, and they know the answer to that question, but STILL… if Star Wars is such a good brand, why not making more of the Clone Wars?

Of course, there are also advantages of producing only 12 episodes.

The whole season feels more like a movie than a TV series. Or, rather – like three movies. Instead of “small stories” we were given three solid Arcs, which are very smoothly connected to each other. That’s a good thing. It’s not the same case as “the Legend of Korra”, where 12 episodes would give us a feeling of an enormous pacing.

BUT. Because I was given only 12 episodes, I got to miss some of my favorite characters.

2. Lack of some important characters

We didn’t see Dooku in the last season the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We didn’t see Grievous in the last season of the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We didn’t see Ventress in the last season of the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We BARELY saw Obi-Wan (sniff! sniff!) – poor guy got some bigger scenes only in “Good friends not forgotten” and “Phantom Apprentice”. And some short (but really good) lines in “An unfinished business”.

Padme got ONE scene (one that confirms, that Anakin is, in fact, blind, since he didn’t comment on her baby bump).

Now, someone would roll their eyes and say – yeeeeaaaah, but Dooku, Grievous, Obi-Wan and Padme got PLENTY of TV time in the Revenge of the Sith, duh! If you want more of them, just watch RoTs, again. Okay, I agree, but… that was the whole point of me watching the Clone Wars. I liked it so much, because prequel trilogy was not enough for me. I wanted MORE of my favorite characters. What’s wrong with that?

And what about Ventress? She was supposed to have such a great Arc with Quinlan Vos!

Than brings us to the next case…

3. Abandoned and Non-existing Arcs

Utapau Arc… oh, I’m NEVER gonna forgive them for Utapau Arc!

I believe it was actually the best Arc in the Clone Wars. I’ve watched those unfinished episodes sooo many times, and they have brought me more joy than ANY full-fledged episodes. So many good moments in those episodes!

So much of Obi-Wan and Anakin dynamics (I’m sorry, Ahsoka fans, but no matter how much Felloni and Co will try to persuade me otherwise, OBI-WAN is a Jedi who has the closest relationship with Anakin, NOT Ahsoka. Quarrel, if you like, but that’s how I feel, sorry).

Anakin interacting with animals (outrageous, cute and absolutely beautiful).

Anakin’s great plan “ups, I’ve fallen asleep… ah, no, it was my plan from the beginning!”

Scorpion creature playing with Anakin’s lightsaber, and Anakin killing the creature “by accident”.

And FINALLY two best moments:

“Awww, got yourself captured again, Old Man?” (I’ll NEVER get tired of Anakin calling Obi-Wan “old man”, okay?”

And Obi-Wan merrily waving to Grievous, when he and Anakin escape with the cristal.

Ventress and Quinlan Arc – even if they didn’t follow a comic, they could have made an amazing Arc out of this.

Small Padme Arc? Like… how she was dealing with her pregnancy, while working for the Senate? Anything? Pretty please?

Some Arc involving Ayala Secura or Kit Fisto or Ki Adi Mundi or Plo Koon – just to say goodbye to those characters before Order 66? By the way, it’s kind of weird, Ahsoka didn’t think or talk about Plo Koon even a little bit, during the WHOLE season. That’s the disadvantage of having only 12 episodes, yup!

The last Padawan Arc aka Caleb Dume turning into Kanan Jarrus Arc aka One of my biggest disappointments for the last season. Why… WHY they didn’t do it?! The trailer gave me soooo muuuch hope! I really, REALLY wanted to see Kanan interacting with Depa and the Clones. Yes, I know, comics and stuff, but comics is not TV, and I love watching my favorite characters with nice soundtrack and great voice actors and everything. R.I.P. my expectations for Caleb Dume’s Arc in Clone Wars… sniff sniff!

Of course, there’s more, but those are the ones that come to my mind firsts.

4. Ahsoka’s character in this last season

Now, let’s talk about the character who got the most of the TV time in the whole season (if not the whole series).

Ahsoka’s greatest fans will probably get angry at me, but I’m still gonna say this. Not because I dislike Ahsoka, because I DO like her, and I think she’s an amazing character. Actually, before I start throwing my “accusations”, I’ll say some nice things about Ahsoka, so that you know I’m not trying to be mean here.

What Ahsoka did in the 7th season, can be mostly explained by her young age. She’s clearly at the rebel stage, she’s got through some really awful experiences (getting accused of treason, when you’re INNOCENT can really leave someone pretty shaken up, I think we all agree), and before Martez Sisters Arc for the first time in her life she was really, really ALONE.

Also, we all know that Ahsoka will be more mature in Rebels. It kind of makes sense, that you need to become an angry and proud teenager first, before you become an experienced and charismatic leader.

BUT, even knowing that, I’m really annoyed at Ahsoka after the last season. I’ve liked her during all 5 seasons of the Clone Wars, she was one of my favorite characters, but after season 7, she really got on my nerves. And honestly? I’m starting to think, it wasn’t even her fault. Maybe it was just the Clone Wars creators turning her into to some sort of… agenda? Using her to prove something? About the whole Jedi Order, maybe? Or about Anakin?

But, anyway, to the point…

Ahsoka’s actions in season 7 basically resulted in three groups of fans.

Group Number One (that’s NOT me) – people who started to think Ahsoka is some sort of saint, the only good (ex) Jedi in the rotten Order, the very best person, and oh, if only other Jedi could act like her, then maybe nothing bad will happen. And, oh, Obi-Wan and the rest Council sitters could REALLY learn from this amazing woman!

Group Number Two (that’s me) – people rising an eyebrow to Ahsoka’s behavior and being slightly annoyed at her.

Group Number Three (I don’t know who’s there, but there are some people) – people hating Ahsoka, getting really angry at her for acting the way she acted, and also blaming her for not using her knowledge about Sidious wanting to make Anakin his apprentice.

Who’s right? Maybe no one? Maybe partly everyone? I don’t know, so I’ll just proceed to explain my own subjective point of view.

I’ve already said some things about Ahsoka in this post:

<url> https://joracalltrise.tumblr.com/post/615743227991031809/ahsoka-versus-obi-wan-where-did-that-even-come </url>

I’m going to say more, but it’ll be much shorter.

What I disliked about Ahsoka most in the latest season was the fact, that she wanted to have a cookie and eat the cookie and she started to lecture people smarter and more experienced than her how to do their job.

Let’s start with the first one, by looking into Ahsoka’s particular words and actions. So…

She doesn’t want to be a Jedi, but she wants Republic to support her actions (siege of Mandalore) and let her participate in important Jedi-only discussions (Mace Windu talk). Kind of like some Brexit supporters, don’t you think? “Let’s leave the EU, but let’s keep all the privileges of the country belonging to the EU, because we are so smart, we deserve it and that’s it”. Oh, come on! You either leave of not – make up your mind, Ahsoka (Britain could, so why can’t you?).

She wants Anakin and Obi-Wan to help her but she doesn’t want to ASK them nicely and try a little bit to act like a person asking for help. She just expects them to agree, because they… what? Owe her? Owe her WHAT? Not supporting her ENOUGH, when she was accused (let me remind you: Obi-Wan sided with Ahsoka during Council meeting, and Anakin was litteraly running around Coruscant to prove his Padawan’s innocence)?

Her being angry about Anakin and Obi-Wan choosing Coruscant over Mandalore – I’m not even commenting that, because I’m tired of talking about it. But I’ll add just one more thing here – did it occur to anyone that Trace and Rafa are still on Coruscant, when Coruscant is attacked? What a great friendship you have formed, Ahsoka! Not even a single worry about whether or not your new friends will be in danger? But wait, they don’t need you, cause people in Mandalore need you more. Cool (sorry about the sarcasm, guys, but I couldn’t resist).

And now, the second thing.

If you want to change some huge organization, especially one like a Jedi Order, the best way to do it, is from the inside. Qui-Gon Jinn was like no other Jedi, and he was probably tempted to leave, but he chose to stay, and his presence benefited the Order in many many ways! He didn’t really change the Jedi – died before he could – but there was a chance. Perhaps Anakin could have changed the Jedi, had he not turned to the dark side? I think he would! Maybe, if he would mature even more (although, in Clone Wars he matured A LOT – look at the “Old friends not forgotten” episode) and join the Council a bit later, when the time was right… just imagine it! The Jedi Code hasn’t ALWAYS forbidden marriages and love. The Order could have come back to its old ways. Good thing, stuff like fanfiction exists ;)

But anyway, coming back to Ahsoka. If you LEAVE an organization, and then you start lecturing its members about morality and choices, it’s kind of obvious, they won’t take you seriously. And yeah, I fully support Obi-Wan’s statement “but Ahsoka is no longer a part of the Republic Military”, and I totally agree with Mace calling her “a citizen”. It’s all about Ahsoka wanting to keep and wanting to eat at the same time. What she wanted in the final season, basically, is doing all the good things she remember doing in the Order (helping people selflessly, supporting friends), but without having to deal with difficult (but necessary) things (like making difficult choices and dealing with consequences, duty versus emotion, all of this so called “playing politics”, etcetera). It’s like wanting to have a pet, but leaving all the problems – going to the vet, curing the animal, when it’s sick, maybe even making the decision of “putting a friend to a sleep” to keep it from suffering – to somebody else. Do you get, what I mean?

And before I leave the poor girl alone, I have one more thing to add.

I don’t like making Ahsoka “another Rey”.

Strong female characters are very much needed in the popculture. I’m a girl too, so I understand. But, for Force’s sake, don’t upgrade somebody’s skills ex-machina!

Okay, fine, they’ve made Rey a Force prodigy because she’s *********’s granddaughter and apparently she was already good in martial arts before she has left Jakku. Some people like that.  I don’t. I prefer an actual skill development instead of sudden skills upgrage.

But Ahsoka didn’t held a lightsaber for a long time, and first time she grabs her new pair, she becomes a one person machine. I wouldn’t say it makes me particularly upset, because it was nice to watch. But it DID disturbed me. And I couldn’t help the feeling, that canon was a bit shifted to match Ashoka fan’s expectations.

The canon got me used to the fact, that Star Wars strongest prequel fighters were Yoda, Palpie, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace, Dooku and Maul. I might have forgotten someone, but you get my point, right? Experienced and adult fighters, whose skills are logical and earned. Actually, I think that Ahsoka from Rebels fits that group as well.

I repeat it – Ahsoka FROM REBELS!

In Rebels she’s an adult and she’s got plenty of time to hone both her Force and lightsaber skills.

I’m not saying, I’m hating her fighting like a pro with Mandalorians and Maul. I repeat it - It WAS nice to watch. I’m just not buying it.

Like I’m not buying some other things.

5. Lack of logic (especially in Martez Arc)

It’s not a big fault, actually. We get plenty of those in pop culture shows. It gives us a lot of room for “How It Should Have Ended” videos ;)

But, seeeriiouslyyy…

Ahsoka using the Force right and left in the Martez Arc, while Rafa and Trace don’t notice A THING… are they deaf and blind, or something?

Is Anakin blind as well? Does he REALLY not notice Padme’s baby bump? Was he too busy’s with his wife’s beautiful eyes, or what?

And – AGAIN! – Ahsoka grabing Maul’s ship with the Force. Since when grabing a  (MOVING) ship with the Force became a canonical skill of anyone other than Yoda (or maybe Palpatine)? No, wait, even Palpie and Yoda didn’t grab a MOVIG ship. Why Anakin and Obi-Wan couldn’t Force grab Dooku’s ship, when he was escaping Naboo? There were TWO of them, for Force’s sake, and one of them was the Forcedamn Chosen One! Why couldn’t they? Oh, wait, I know! Because it was BEFORE “The Rise of Skywalker”. In THAT movie Forcegrabing the ships became a canonical skill, especially for prodigical women loved by the audience (again – sorry about the sarcasm, guys). As a woman who used to train martial arts for YEARS, I’d like female protagonists to actually LEARN their super skills, before they use them. Okay?

But, well, Star Wars suddenly canonizing new amazing skills after years is a material for a different article.

And, like I said, it’s really not that big of a deal. The Clone Wars were still amazing and enjoyable to watch – especially the newest season.

Besides, well, I can’t get what I want all the time, right? Felloni and Co had to CHOOSE, whom they want to make happiest, and they’ve chosen Ahsoka’s fans. I don’t blame them. Maybe they’ll choose my preferences next ;) One can always hope, right?

Conclusions?

Yeah, I think that’s all I have to say about the newest season. And I repeat – once again – that in spite all this complaining, I really loved that season. And I loved reading about other people’s opinions about it. May the Force be with us all!

Thank you for reading this long, looong post!

If anyone’s up to the discussion, feel free to contact me.

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m staying (1)

Life of the party

Book: The Royal Romance, Book 2

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, and a steamy scene right at the beginning. This is absolutely NOT appropriate for people under 18. This also alludes to disturbing content about consent. No assault scene, but allusions are present. 

Word count: about 5,000

Notes: Welcome to my version of Book 2! This picks up pretty much where we left off, the day after the Decision Ball, starting with Amara’s POV. This contains some plot, but mostly lots of fluff. I guess I needed it, after the drama-packed end of Book 1… But don’t worry, drama will come back eventually ;)

*****

Amara smiles softly as she sees Drake’s eyes open ever so slightly. She’s been up a while, and barely got any sleep, but she doesn’t care. Her heart is full, and her mind is determined. She warms her hands on the cup of coffee she snuck up from downstairs, and takes a sip.

‘Babe?’ Drake calls for her as he opens his eyes with difficulty. 

‘I’m here,’ she says, walking back towards the bed to embrace him.

‘Hmm,’ he murmurs, leaning into her kiss. ‘You smell like coffee.’

She chuckles. ‘Want some?’

‘Please.’

Amara snuggles up to Drake as he sips from her cup. There, she thinks, that’s what she wants. This level of intimacy, forever. Drake puts down the cup and, now with two free hands, pulls her in for a warm hug. 

‘I’m so glad we’re here,’ he whispers. 

She smiles. So is she, at the end of the day. What was she thinking? Last night, they ended up celebrating so loudly that they woke Hana up, and she joined the five of them downstairs for lots of hugging and some champagne. When was the last time Amara had felt this much warmth in a room? Besides from her dad and Nancy, and of course Mia, over the past two years… not much.

She kisses Drake more deeply, and asks, ‘So… now that we just have to wait for the engagement tour to start, what are we gonna do with our time?’

Drake laughs. ‘Wow, I don’t know… a whole five days just to ourselves? Pff, problems problems…’

He kisses her neck, and Amara leans into the moment, taking in every second. She needs to remember this. The good. For when it becomes tough again, inevitably. She needs to soak it all in.

Drake hoists himself up until he’s on top of her, and she sees the familiar glimmer in his eyes. The want, the tenderness, the sheer adoration… all of it, all together. Everything he feels for her, everything she feels for him in return.

Amara’s breath catches. Does she deserve all this? This wonderful man, always there for her, even when he knows all of her flaws, all of her mistakes? Maybe not all yet, the voice in her head says. Maybe he will still have a few surprises. 

She shakes it off. Stop being so insecure, she thinks. Don’t create problems where there are none, not now. 

‘You ok?’ Drake asks, in between kisses.

She nods. Of course she’s ok. She’s with him, right here, right now, and that’s all that matters. She needs to silence that bitch voice in her head, pestering her with self-doubt that she really, really doesn’t need.

‘I’m great,’ she smiles, before kissing him some more.

He smiles back. ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he whispers. ‘I love you, Amara.’

His lips go down, and down, and trace a loving path from her neck to her breasts, then to her stomach… ‘I love you too,’ she whispers.

His lips are between her legs now, making her shiver like he knows how to do so well. Her back arches, and he kisses her core passionately, like there’s no tomorrow. She moans quietly, until she can’t keep it in anymore and needs a pillow to muffle her scream. ‘Fuck,’ she laughs breathlessly. ‘Drake, that was so good…’

He smiles broadly. ‘At your service, Suarez.’

She chuckles and guides him back on top of her. He lets out a low groan, almost a purr, as she wraps her legs around him and presses herself onto his length. In less than a few seconds, he’s already teasing her entrance with the tip of his cock, and she can’t wait to have him all to herself again.

*****

‘Wow,’ Drake says as he lies back down. ‘You really know how to start the day, Suarez.’

Amara laughs. Drake wonders if he’s ever heard anything more entrancing than her laugh. ‘Shower and coffee?’ She asks. 

He nods. ‘Please. I can already hear the commotion downstairs, Max is definitely up to no good.’

Amara cups her ear and listens carefully. ‘Um… Drake?’ She grabs his arm and bursts into laughter. ‘Is that a goat?’

Drake clearly makes out a bleating sound. He can’t contain his laughter either. ‘Sure sounds like it. Alright, let’s get in the shower so we can investigate this, Detective.’

*****

Amara isn’t surprised to see a baby goat in the living room, but she can’t help but squeal anyway. ‘Oh my God Maxxie, what did you do?’ She screams as she joins Hana in petting the small, delighted animal.

Maxwell pours coffee for Amara and Drake, shrugging. ‘I went to the Farmer’s Market this morning in Ramsford, I wanted to show Michael, and get some produce. My favorite vendor, Gustavo, was there, and he was selling baby goats. I thought this little guy would be a good companion for my peacocks and our two sheep.’

Amara’s eyes widen, the little goat’s head in her arms. ‘Hold up. You have sheep?’

Maxwell giggles. ‘Yeah! Have I never told you? I have five sheep, in the back of the property, they live with the peacocks, and our property manager, Silvio, takes care of them full time! Have I never told you, Little Blossom?’

Amara laughs, ‘No, you certainly have not. Can we please see them today? What are their names?’

Maxwell gloats in anticipation. ‘Well, there’s five of them, right? So, I named them Bobby, Jonathan, Antoni, Karamo, and Tan. Some of them are girls but you know, gender’s a construct.’

Hana and Amara share a look, and both burst out laughing. ‘That’s the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard,’ Hana says, wiping a tear.

Maxwell beams. ‘Right? So, what are we gonna name this little guy?’

Drake, coffee mug in hand, squats to pet the goat, and Amara can’t help but notice the wide grin on his face as he plants a little kiss on the goat’s forehead. ‘It has to be an awesome name, as handsome as this little fella, you know. We can’t name him something boring, this guy deserves the best name.’

Amara gasps. ‘I know! I have the perfect, handsomest name ever.’

Hana smiles. ‘What is it, babe?’

Amara looks the goat in the eye and solemnly declares. ‘Bradley Cooper. His name has to be Bradley Cooper.’

Drake almost chokes on his coffee and Michael laughs wholeheartedly. ‘I see the obsession is still going on,’ he says.

Amara shrugs. ‘Not an obsession. Just the recognition of the best actor of his generation, y’know.’

Drake raises an eyebrow. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but… we’re talking about the man who starred in The Hangover, babe. Think about that. Think about how terribly this movie has aged. Think about Ken Jeong emerging from the trunk. Think about Bradley Cooper’s line when they’re waiting for Ed Helms outside of his apartment.’

Amara thinks for a second, and shrugs. ‘It’s not like Bradley wrote the movie, Drake.’

Drake throws his hands up. ‘I give up. Max?’

Maxwell grins widely. ‘It’s perfect. Welcome to the world, Bradley Cooper-Beaumont. We love you.’

*****

‘So? What did you think of the Fab Five?’ Maxwell asks anxiously.

‘They’re soooo sweet and so cuddly,’ Amara exclaims.

Hana nods. ‘I love how they just run towards you as soon as you get there, and how they instantly adopted Bradley Cooper!’

Drake chuckles. ‘Will I get used to that goat’s name, ever?’

Michael pats his back. ‘Let time work its magic, Drake. It shall pass.’

They both laugh. Amara smiles at the sight of her friends and family getting along, and without even realizing it, reaches for her phone in her pocket. Still no texts. Well, some from her dad, with whom she’s been texting since he woke up, but none from anyone else. Her heart sinks a bit. She contemplates writing another, but she promptly gives up. She doesn’t want to stalk her, either.

Drake swoops in from behind her and grabs her hand. ‘Whatcha doing?’ He asks, all the while knowing exactly what she’s doing. 

Amara shrugs and squeezes his hand tight. ‘Nothing. Checking my phone.’

Drake brings her hand to his lips and kisses it. ‘She’ll come around. She’s stubborn as fuck, but if there’s one person who can do no wrong in her eyes, it’s you, Suarez.’

She smiles faintly. ‘I don’t know about that.’

*****

Olivia turns her phone over, one more time, and when she sees nothing on the screen, turns it face down again. She takes another sip of coffee and a bite of her eggs, angrily.

‘Still mad?’ Rashad asks as he plants a kiss on the top of her head.

Olivia shrugs. ‘I’m not mad. It’s just funny how the bitch thinks my advice is shit when I deliver it, and then two hours later, she decides to do what I told her to do.’

Rashad raises an eyebrow. ‘So...you’re mad that she took your advice? I don’t follow.’

Liv rolls her eyes. ‘You’re pretending not to follow. It’s annoying.’

He chuckles. ‘Well, you’re right, I’m following. I just don’t understand your logic.’

She snorts. ‘No one does.’

Rashad thinks for a second and takes her hand. She doesn’t flinch. ‘Liv, I think you’re mad at her out of principle. But think about it. She went through something shitty last night, and had a gut reaction. Can you blame her?’

She shrugs again. ‘Yes.’

Rashad chuckles. ‘Alright. I guess you can.’ He starts pulling his hand away, but Olivia holds on to it, without meeting his eye. 

She sighs. ‘For the record,’ she says, looking down at her cup of black coffee, ‘I didn’t come here because I needed you. I’ve wanted this for a while, now we’ve finally boned, end of story.’

Rashad’s smile falters. ‘End of story?’ He asks worriedly.

Olivia bites her lip. That’s not what she meant. At all. Fuck, how is she going to spin that one without seeming too eager? ‘You know what I mean,’ she says. ‘I mean that I don’t want to talk about that whole Suarez shit. I know what you’re thinking, that I came to you because I was sad or whatever.’

Rashad shrugs, a shadow still over his eyes. ‘Honestly, Liv, I’m glad you came to me, and I just hope you don’t regret us having sex for the first time in these circumstances.’

She snorts. Why does he have to be such a good guy? She needed comfort last night, that’s true. Not that she would admit it, but she did. She felt betrayed by Suarez, who she considered to be...ugh, not worth putting words onto it. She takes a deep breath. ‘I’m fine. And, if you must know, it was fucking hot. No regrets here.’

He smiles a little and digs into his eggs.

She did fucking love it. They did need to break the tension. No regrets.

Still, it feels a bit...anticlimactic. Is it how it feels to have sex with someone you actually like? Sure, she had sex with Liam many, many times over the years, and ugh, boy, did she have feelings there. But he was unavailable. It was noncommittal.

Here and now, as they share breakfast, and she’s wearing no makeup, while Rashad looks as comfortable as ever in his sweatpants, Liv can’t help but feel… too safe?

Maybe she’ll tell Suarez about it, sometime, when she stops hating her guts.

Who doesn’t listen to Olivia Motherfucking Nevrakis? 

*****

Liam hasn’t slept. At all. He watches the sun rise on his country, as he sits on his balcony in his boxers and dress shirt from last night, his head full of regret. He replays the events from after Leo left last night, in his head, and cringes at the memory.

Madeleine getting impatient and knocking on the door of his study. Their small talk. His discomfort. Her advances. 

His attempts to create a diversion by offering her a drink. Her insistence at having a nightcap in his suite. 

The knot in his throat as he caved. 

His inability to say no any further. 

It would have been suspicious if he had said no, right? She would have known he was up to something. She needs to feel comfortable and safe if they want to successfully investigate her and break the engagement. Right?

He swallows his saliva, and takes a hesitant peek in his bedroom, through the French windows. She’s still sleeping, soundly, sprawled in his bed.

He had believed her. Like an idiot, he was convinced that she was the only one who still cared about him. Until the ball, until his stupid eyes were open by the picture of Amara’s assault.

He closes his eyes tight. It’s not a big deal, right? Everyone forces themselves to do things they don’t want to do, sometimes. 

Even that. Even something that you’re supposed to completely want.

Right?

*****

Drake stands in front of the stove, and flips the pan expertly. He can get used to this: cooking for his friends, with his girl keeping him company. Amara is sitting on the counter next to him, and playing with the ingredients as they chat about life.

‘This is gonna be so good,’ she says. ‘Have you made this before?’

Drake chuckles. ‘Sausage and peppers? Of course. It was a staple of the Walker household.’

She smiles. Is there anything more heartwarming than her smile? He thinks not. ‘Did you cook for your family, always?’ she asks.

He shrugs. ‘I did, sometimes. Dad was always in charge of grilling and he taught me how to take care of meat and fish. I love cooking fish above everything else. It’s delicate, precise, and so satisfying when you get it right. Mom was more into baking, and making hearty dishes like mac and cheese. Efficient stuff when you’ve got two kids that you need to feed quickly.’ He laughs. ‘And boy, did we need to be fed. Sav and I were always big eaters.’

Amara smiles a bit wider. ‘That’s really sweet. So were we. I remember Mom making chilaquiles, and Sergio and I were so impatient to eat them that we would literally wait in front of her. She’d roll her eyes and be like ‘Chiquitos, you’re not gonna make me cook any faster.’ When she baked, it was the same. I’d just stare at the oven hoping it would bake faster.’

Drake steps away from the stove to plant a sweet kiss on her lips. He loves when she shares memories like that. They both need it. ‘Did your mom cook mostly Mexican specialties?’ he asks.

‘I’d say half and half. She liked hearty American food like your mom, too! And my dad, well he grew up in Pennsylvania with Puerto Rican parents, so his comfort food is a mix of both.’

Drake smiles. ‘Sounds delicious. You’ll have to tell me about your favorites and I’ll find recipes.’

She gasps excitedly. ‘I could even send you my mom’s. Sergio and my Dad numerized her cookbook years ago, because when she passed away, they both picked up the slack in the kitchen and wanted to remember her this way.’

Drake’s heart pangs. ‘That’s such a sweet initiative. I’d love to see some of her recipes. I’ll try to cook Marisol-style!’ he says excitedly.

Amara’s smile that ensues could melt Drake’s cold heart, if it wasn’t completely melted already, all because of her. She says in a breathy voice, ‘I’d love nothing more, babe.’ 

‘Hey guys, need any help?’ Michael asks as he walks in. ‘I guess I mean...Drake, need any help, as Amara just stares at you without helping at all?’

Amara giggles and throws a dish rag at him. ‘I’m here for moral support!’

Drake chuckles. ‘I’m all good, but you can look in the fridge if anything appeals to you. Max bought a bunch of food this morning, in between buying farm animals, y’know.’

Michael laughs. ‘Yeah, full disclosure, I was with him, and I could have stopped him but...the goat was too cute.’ He reaches for a bunch of radishes and a head of lettuce in the fridge. ‘And to be perfectly honest, it felt good to be out and about in a very normal setting. No sash people, no viscounts and dukes and whatever, but just a farmers market.’

Drake smiles. ‘I feel ya. Well, in this case, we should all go out tonight, somewhere in Ramsford. Suarez, what do you say?’

Amara joins her hands together. ‘Yes! It would be awesome! Plus, Michael’s only here for a few more days, we need to make them count.’

Michael makes an excited face as he washes the lettuce. ‘Seriously? That would be great. A normal place with normal food?’

Drake looks at Amara with a victorious look on his face. ‘My man,’ he says softly, pointing at Michael. ‘Yes, a normal place and all. Ramsford is good for that. We’ll see what Max recommends, I have a few favorite places but he knows more.’

Michael smiles widely. ‘He is the life of the party.’

Amara chuckles. ‘Oh, you’ve noticed?’

*****

Drake’s lunch is a success, as always. Amara enjoys every bite, as well as conversation with her friends. Even Bertrand is in good spirits, and got over the whole goat debacle quickly. He doesn’t like when Maxwell spends money, but ever since they stopped paying off Albert the blackmailer, they are a bit more comfortable.

Hana nods excitedly at Maxwell’s suggestions for bars and restaurants. ‘That sounds so great!’ she exclaims. ‘We’re all going, right?’ she asks, looking at Bertrand.

He chuckles. ‘It’s really sweet of you to include me, Hana, but I think with all this um… drama, as you youths say it, I need to get some rest tonight.’

Amara rolls her eyes. ‘Us youths? Bertrand, you’re barely older than Michael. Calm down.’

Bertrand smiles. ‘I suppose so. But Amara, with everything we’ve been through, I just want to be in my robe and relax.’

Amara nods. ‘I don’t blame you. Your robe looks very comfortable and, most importantly, has a lot of tassels.’

Bertrand blushes. ‘Um, yes, indeed it does.’

Maxwell bites his lips to stop laughter from coming out. ‘Alright, let’s leave Grandpa Tassel alone tonight then, but Bertrand, we’re not taking no for an answer tomorrow, we’re doing something. We need to enjoy Michael’s company while he’s here.’

Bertrand nods solemnly. ‘Yes, you’re right. We need to honor our guest.’

Michael smiles facetiously and makes quick eye contact with Maxwell. ‘Thank you, Bertrand. Your hospitality means a lot.’

Amara can’t help but notice the brief looks of complicity between Maxwell and Michael. She hadn’t seen Michael be so social in years. Even before Sergio passed, Michael was always the studious one, the serious one, while Sergio was...well, also the life of the party. Hmm, she thinks. Could this be something?

‘Amara,’ Maxwell insists, ‘did you hear me?’

She shakes it off. ‘Oh, sorry, I was in my thoughts. What is it?’

Maxwell looks at Drake, and at Amara again. ‘I was asking, do you want me to invite Liv tonight, or not? She would definitely like the vibe at Zeno’s, but I don’t want to include her if you guys are still...tense.’

Amara’s smile falters. ‘No no, invite her. If I’m the one texting, she won’t answer. We need to put an end to the bullshit.’

Maxwell nods. ‘I’ll ask if Rashad wants to come, too.’

‘Oh, the sexy smoldering guy from the ball?’ Michael inquires. ‘He and Olivia seemed very close.’

Amara smiles. ‘Yes, and yes. They’re kinda dating. See? You’d make a good detective, too.’

*****

Maxwell reflects intently as he focuses his eyes on his closet. ‘No, not this,’ he murmurs.

Michael sits on his bed, feeling awkward about having to, once again, borrow clothes. ‘Max, seriously, I can wear what I have.’

Maxwell turns around and smiles at him. ‘You can, you’d look good in anything, really. But I want to give you options!’

Michael smiles. ‘Thank you. I really need a clothing intervention. I do dress like a lawyer,’ he says, looking down at his outfit made up of beige chinos and a plaid shirt. ‘If we’re going to a hip place--’

‘We’re not,’ Maxwell interrupts. ‘Whatever you’re comfortable with will be great. But I have some clothes that would look better on you than they do on me. Let me find them…’ He digs deeper in his closet. ‘Ah!’ he says victoriously. ‘Here it is. The shirt.’

He presents an emerald green shirt to Michael, who almost recoils in fear. ‘Jeez, Maxwell, it’s very green. I know I wear these colors sometimes, but… isn’t it a bit much?’

Maxwell smiles as he holds the shirt against Michael’s face. ‘No. It brings out your eyes. You can wear it with your chinos, or jeans. You have jeans, right?’

Michael nods. ‘Yes.’

‘What cut?’

Michael raises an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure what this means.’

Maxwell smiles. ‘It’s ok. I have jeans that you will like.’

*****

Hana and Amara are sitting outside in the sun, a margarita in hand and Amara’s nail polish collection sprawled out on the table for them to choose from. Amara looks out to the pool, where Drake is swimming laps. She doesn’t even realize that she’s staring at his body as he gets out every now and then to take a sip of his water.

Hana smile mischievously. ‘Amara, honey, do you need binoculars?’

Amara shakes her head. ‘Oh shit, Hana, I’m sorry. I promise I’m not a perv. He’s just so…’

Hana laughs. ‘Oh, I know. I’m gay, not blind.’

Amara chuckles. ‘Alright, back to business. What are you wearing tonight?’

Hana nods seriously. ‘I’m gonna go with my coral sundress, with my light brown wedges.’

‘Great choice. You wanna go for a light nail, or a metallic?’

Hana thinks intensely and finally says, ‘I think I’ll go with your gold polish. Is that ok?’

‘Of course, great call. I’m gonna wear my ripped jeans and a yellow top, so I’ll go with the light gray. Good?’

Hana smiles. ‘Perfect. Amara, I’m so glad you stayed. I don’t know what I would have done without you here.’

Amara takes her hand. ‘Same. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve found my people, why did I want to leave?’

Hana smiles broadly. ‘Right? I feel the same way. I know my parents are leaving me tons of messages, but I’m not ready to listen to them. I want to enjoy my time with you guys, and go on the engagement tour.’

‘Plus, the tour ends in London, and you know what that means,’ Amara says in a sexy voice while wiggling her eyebrows.

Hana blushes. ‘I do know what it means, since you’re not being very subtle.’ She smiles and twists the nail polish open. ‘We’ll see what happens. For right now, I’m happy to be here.’

‘Agreed.’

She continues, ‘On another note, did you catch all the little looks between Maxwell and Michael? They’re totally inseparable,’ Hana whispers.

‘I was just thinking that. It’s nice to see Michael be close with someone. Who knows where it might lead, but it’s just nice to see, you know,’ she says, avoiding eye contact.

Hana paints her nails intently. ‘I can imagine. Michael seems to relax a bit, and tonight will help too.’

‘What are you guys plotting about?’ Drake asks as he walks out of the pool and towards the nail painting station.

Amara chuckles, ‘Nothing babe. I’ll fill you in later.’

‘Don’t come out yet, Drake, here we come!’ Maxwell exclaims, running towards the group on his bathing suit. Michael follows slowly, shyly covering his body with a towel.

Amara sits up and asks eagerly, ‘Maxxie, did Liv get back to you?’

Maxwell, still running, cries out, ‘Not yet, Little Blossom. But I gave her all the info and she’ll know where to find us!’

Amara looks down at her nails, silent. Drake sighs and puts his hand on her back comfortingly. ‘She’ll come around, baby. I promise.’

*****

‘Looking good, man,’ Drake says as he catches Michael looking at his reflection in the hallway.

Michael jumps up, startled. ‘Oh! Thanks, Drake. Is it too much, though?’

Drake shrugs. ‘I don’t think so. Green looks good on you.’ He walks to the drink cart and pours two glasses of whiskey. ‘Here you go,’ he says as he holds one out to Michael.

‘Thank you.’ He smells it. ‘This is good stuff.’

Drake smiles. ‘It really is, huh? Max doesn’t skimp out.’

Michael smiles and sips. Drake takes out his phone and looks at the text he just sent out.

I know she hurt your feelings, but she came around and apologized. Don’t let your fucking pride take you away from a friend. We’re both new at this opening up shit, I get it, it sucks to be vulnerable, but it’s also fucking satisfying to be surrounded by people who care. Don’t fuck up.

He wonders whether he cursed too much, but oh well. It’s sent. 

And read, without a response.

He sighs and looks up. ‘Sorry, Mike. Hey, what do you wanna do tomorrow? I can take you on a tour of Ramsford in my Jeep if you want me to show you around.’

Michael’s face lights up. ‘I’d love that. I want to call Callie tomorrow when she’s awake, but otherwise I’m all free.’

Drake smiles. ‘Good.’ He glances at his watch. ‘I guess we’re the fastest ones to get ready around here. When I left Amara, she was agonizing over which earrings to pick.’

Michael chuckles. ‘Max picked my outfit, so I have absolutely no merit in being quick.’

As if on cue, Maxwell appears on top of the stairs, Hana and Amara on each side. ‘Gentlemen, may I present you the two most beautiful women in the world!’

The girls chuckle and roll their eyes, they all yell out to Bertrand to wish him a good night, and they get on their way.

*****

Amara fidgets in the car, her hand in Drake’s. She is sitting in the middle, between Drake and Michael.

‘You ok, babe?’ Drake asks. ‘Nervous?’ he points to her shaky leg.

Amara promptly stops. ‘Sorry. I’m fine. I’m excited to have fun, I promise.’

Maxwell glances at Drake in the rearview mirror, a worried look on his face. Amara notices it right away. She knows it means Max didn’t hear back from Liv. She hates that she feels so nervous about it, and she especially hates that Drake and Max are, once again, worried about her. She sits up and takes a deep breath. She needs to grow a pair of ovaries and stop being this fragile little bitch who is always in danger of having an anxiety attack. 

She needs to enjoy life, dammit. It will be hard enough to sneak around and investigate while on the tour, the least she can do is enjoy her five days of freedom, and make the most of Michael’s presence.

Breathe in, breathe out. 

Maxwell parks in downtown Ramsford. ‘Alright guys, I’m designated driver tonight, you bitches go crazy, I’m there for you!’

Amara smiles broadly. ‘Max, I can bet you that we’ll end up taking Ubers back. No way you’re not getting lit.’

Maxwell laughs. ‘You may be right. This is a 24-hour parking lot, detective. Either way, we’re good. Let’s go!’

They get out of the car, and Amara walks with Drake, her hand still in his. Zeno’s is a cool bar, not too hip but definitely nice, with an outdoors section full of greenery. As they walk in, Amara finds herself relaxing. This is definitely normal, with young couples all around, and too many people for them to get noticed. Maxwell picked the perfect spot.

‘First round on me,’ Drake announces ‘Everybody tell me what you want!’

Hana requests a margarita, and everyone follows suit, except Michael who wants a lager. 

Drake smiles. ‘Babe, help me carry?’

They make their way to the bar, their bodies close to each other. Amara holds Drake’s belt loop so they don’t get separated by the crowd. This place is really happening.

They plant themselves in front of the bar, and Drake orders for everyone, and opens a tab. Amara nuzzles in Drake’s arms, taking advantage of the crowd pushing them together. She buries her head in his chest.

Drake chuckles. ‘You’re not afraid of being seen?’

Amara smiles, ‘Not really. Too crowded. Plus, it’s not my fault if people are forcing us to get close.’

‘Good excuse,’ he whispers in her ear as he squeezes her shoulder.

‘You look hot tonight,’ she murmurs. ‘I love you in black.’

‘And I love you, period,’ he says softly.

‘You guys are sickening.’

Amara whips around instantly. ‘You came!’ she exclaims.

Liv rolls her eyes and adjusts her top. ‘Of course I came. Walker threatened me via text.’

‘I did not,’ he protests. ‘I tried to convince you, that’s all.’

Liv snorts and orders two double vodkas. She pauses and says, ‘It’s not all for me. Rashad’s here with me.’

Amara smiles. ‘I’m glad.’ She hesitates, then throws her arms around Olivia and pulls her into a hug.

‘What the hell are you doing, Suarez?’ Liv asks disgustedly.

‘Hugging you. Lean into it,’ she replies.

Liv rolls her eyes again and slowly hugs Amara back. ‘Fine. That’s your one hug. You used it up.’ She pauses. ‘And never fucking blindside me again like you did yesterday. You made me be your friend, now you have to act like one.’

Amara lets go of her and grabs a couple of glasses from the bar. ‘Agreed. I fucked up, I’m really sorry. Now, can we please get drunk together and show my brother how shit gets done in Cordonia?’

*****

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[kindredsoulsoftimesofold]

Incoming TROS rant

yes, there will be spoilers as I will be breaking down everything I saw tonight. If I manage to type choking on my tears well after the movie finished.

----

FINAL WARNING IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS

Let’s start with a few opening words, this rant will indeed be a long one.

ALL THE LEAKS ARE TRUE. And I mean ALL of them. To a T. As soon as I saw the first half was exactly as I’d read, I was crushed. As I knew what was coming. On that note, i was probably the only person in the theatre who was crying like 15-20 minutes before we were supposed to, I’ll get to that in a bit. I’m saving the WORST for last. Let’s break this shit down.

1. The plot is a mess. An actual mess. I feel like every five minutes I was shaking my head and mumbling ‘what kind of nonsense is this’. The breaking of lore or COMMON SENSE really is substantial. But that is definitely not what I cared about, as I already KNEW this even without the leaks. When you can’t get your two directors to FUCKING WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE A COHESIVE STORYLINE it is bound to grasp for straws and make shit up. IT AIN’T NOTHING NEW.

2. Here’s the kicker. THE DIALOGUE WAS SO BAD, it makes Anakin’s AOTC speech seem like a hymn, or poetry or whatever. They CONSTANTLY say what they’re doing, they’re literally reciting the exposition to each other and it comes off as extremely annoying and makes you feel like a toddler. No hate against toddlers, but I’d rather not be one right now. It feels unnatural, forced and STUPID to the point where I would start WISHING for 3PO to come back on screen because Anthony Daniels somehow managed to snag some actually decent lines for once? I love the man, but the droid usually really annoys the crap outta me. He was literally the highlight of the film. Don’t get me started on the stupidity of all of Lando’s lines, poor Billy. Daisy has to stare angrily most of the time so I don’t really care to recall her lines. Adam, my dear Adam, he tries SO HARD to make do with what he was given but even his lines 90% of the time come off as stupid and out of place. Or the worst type in this movie, EXPOSITIONYY. Don’t get me started on Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. Boys looked like they didn’t sign up for this shit and were literally force choked to be there. I feel you guys, I feel you. ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF THE FORCE THE TIMES THEY REPEATED WORD FOR WORD LINES FROM OTHER MOVIES I WANTED TO SCREAM. Once is too much, THIS MANY TIMES IT IS A FELONY. And it needs to be punished somehow.

3. Let’s get the positives out of the way because there were FEW. The two scenes I actually REALLY enjoyed watching, for different reasons were:

Ben and Palps meeting. The scene was much longer than the clip and SUPER badass. Sheev’s voice echoes, Ben looks fucking cool and the whole scene is GORGEOUS.

The other is when Ben fights as a Jedi in the end. I’ll get to Ben later BELIEVE ME but without overexplaining, he fights with Anakin’s lightsabre, he’s really speedy and is doing all the Jedi spins and whatnot. I fucking ATE THAT UP. Replay that scene forever please CAUSE I LOVED IT. But I was already crying here so we’ll touch more on that later.

To conclude this segment, the visuals were SUPERB, the sound was AMAZING and (some) of the fights were jaw droppingly cool. But that about concludes the positives!

4. I will comment, as I know a lot of people will care even if I don’t particularily. Finn, Poe, Rose and the merry gang aside from our Jedi are reduced to EH this movie. If you thought you’d never miss Rose boy were you wrong. They introduce new characters and expect you to care about them when they SIDELINED the ones they’d hoped you’d care about BEFORE. And it made me care about NO ONE. Not to mention that, sadly, they are ALWAYS reduced to the boring side plot that really isn’t interested or key to much of ANYTHING. Sure they roused the people and all but would’ve been TOAST if Rey didn’t go all Jesus on the fleet. So at the end of the day, you MAY find some enjoyment with the side characters but their lines were some of the worst, you WILL be force fed new people and you might not really enjoy your previous faves here because even I found myself being completely indifferent this time. (I actually really ENJOYED Finn since TFA. He had a compelling storyline and John Boyega was alright. Couldn’t give two wits about him in this movie. Not a single one. But again, I may not be the perfect person to ask if you really,really like any of these characters.

5. Finally, we have arrived to the main event. THE REYLO.

The backbone of this clusterfuck of a new trilogy. The last Skywalker and Palpatine, coming together instead of apart. The arguably BEST actors (legacies aside) Disney managed to get. Now, I will start this off that I didn’t HATE Rey before this movie. I loved her in TFA, enjoyed her less in TLJ but the novelization fixed that. I was BACK ON BOARD to be her number one stan. In this movie, I couldn’t STAND her. Her lines are basically the director walking you through things, her plotline was obviously made last minute so almost none of it makes sense,  I literally wanted to curl up and DIE from cringing so hard every time someone said ‘you’re a Palpatine’. I thought I was looking at a very expensive rendition of terrible fan fiction. (Not to diss fan fiction in any way, you guys will be my heroes after this catastrophe.) ‘Empress Palpatine’, COME THE FUCK ON AND GET OUT WITH THIS SHIT. Bring back crusty old Snoke for crying out loud! Or even HUX! Who got killed off in a second and had three lines of dialogue, not important I guess? Like a great many things I guess, JJ. But, EVEN Palpatine aside, it was great seeing him again and every scene he was in I got chills, who cares that it makes zero sense at this point. Back to reylo.

Ben. Ben Solo Organa Skywalker. The last hope. The final remnant of something I have loved FOREVER. I grew up with Star Wars, like many others just in a different, post prequel era and they are still my favourites. This might sound ridiculous but Star Wars was part of my heart, my happiness. It brought me joy to watch it, read it, fantasize about it and have it in my life when times were dark or miserable. It MEANT something to me, as I am sure many of you will agree. And Ben was part of that. He was part of something that MEANT something to all of us. He was the last line of the characters we all grew up with and loved. The GRANDSON of Anakin, my favourite character of all time. This was their chance to stop the trend that Loki’s death in IW and Daenerys’ death and turn and many others started and STOP killing people who did wrongs. PEOPLE can change, they can grow and they can learn. Hell, to not stray to far from this franchise REY has killed A LOT of people in this movie alone. She DECIMATES the room full of Palpatine’s followers and never blinks an eye. SHE NEARLY KILLS CHEWIE, DOES KILL BEN (for a minute) and SHE DOESN’T NEED TO DIE. Of course she doesn’t but BEN DOESN’T EITHER. After all that YOU JJ, YES YOU, show me that the LAST SKYWALKER has gone through, suffered, alone and frightened. I would’ve ENDED you if you’d suggested killing him off to me, EVER. He was your chance to do a reverse Vader, AS YOU CLAIMED YOU WOULD. To show a character can come back to the light and be worthy of it WITHOUT DYING. You even set it up as such, which is my next and CRUCIAL POINT.

I’ve been a reylo since 2015. Their dynamic has always been fascinating to me and beautiful. I LOVED all the moments in TLJ, LOVED THEM. In this one, every time they force bond (terrible dialogue aside, again) I was happy. I had a hope that she would bring him back from the darkness and he will keep her balanced. WELL, JJ, guess fuck me huh? And anyone with common sense and human decency. JUST WHEN you shove Ben’s turn in my face, you make him talk to Han, you make him strut in to fight alongside Rey in full Ben Solo Jedi mode, hair blown and casually dressed. It was when he runs onto Exegol that I started weeping. Because knowing that he dies as I did, it broke my heart how it was done. You give me the scene where he fights and you give me hope of what his future could’ve been if only you’d listened to reason and done what was supposed to be done. He is chucked into the pit, WHICH MIGHT I ADD WOULD’VE MADE ME MAD IF THAT WAS HIS END BUT WOULD’VE BEEN SOOOO MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT WE GOT, comes back. And now comes the scene that cemented this as the ABSOLUTE WORST insult to me as a fan, possible. Ben is heartbroken that Rey is dead, the moment is sad and he cradles her dead body and hugs her desperately. Which would’ve been a beautiful and GOOD DIFFERENT type of ending. Or rather not having her die at all and being NEAR her death and him saving her and both living happily ever after BUT NO. JJ AFTER THAT has her come back, smile happily when she sees it’s him, her love her hope and the other half of her SOUL literally (the diad or whatever it’s called is so rare that Palpatine was thrilled they’d formed such a bond, basically space soulmates), he has them kiss, then hold each other and smile at each other with genuine feeling of joy and belonging both of them had sought all their life AND THEN YANKS IT FROM UNDER YOU. The scene where Ben falls flat onto his back is quite comical and I couldn’t help but laugh in my misery and sobbing. Rey doesn’t even cry, we don’t even LINGER on his body or mourn him afterwards or even mention it or EVEN SEE her, THE PERSON WHO LITERALLY FOUND HER SOULMATE AND WAS SO HAPPY WHEN SHE KISSED HIM AND WAS LITERALLY SAVED BY HIM, but no guess that doesn’t require a scene, sure, fuck it LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE. The cheery music that plays up until the moment of his fall, YES THE FALL OF SKYWALKER MIND YOU NOT A FUCKING RISE, was an insult to every fan everyhwere, lifelong or recent or otherwise, it was a punch to the gut, a slap in the face and after this happened I no longer paid attention to the movie. I’d been crying for some time leading up to the moment, I knew what was coming and the execution only made it worse and a more desperate cry rather than only sad, I was hoping it wouldn’t happen somehow. I choked back tears until I finally got home and cried. One of the things which MEANT so much to me, was dead. I no longer have any doubts, that this was intentional. Look at Game of thrones, that was this year. It seemed intentional to make series stop, right? Everyone agrees. They wanted to finally bury the Skywalkers so they could make something unrelated? They kill off all the Skywalkers. Well guess what disney? YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BRING THEM BACK IN THE FIRST PLACE, YOU MONEY HUNGRY PIECE OF SHIT. No one would have minded a new trilogy, with new characters doing NEW things. Why even drag the Skywalkers and the leagies into this if YOU DON’T WANT THEM HERE? All you got was millions of lifelong fans of the old movies who have already felt or are only now beginning to feel BETRAYED. I swear it disney, I don’t want to feel this misery again. You won’t take Star Wars away from me and the joy it brought me. I will without a care in the world dismiss this new trilogy as something completely separate from canon. You’ve killed your own fanbase. You could’ve had us but you LOST us. You dangled something we wanted in front of us for our money and then you ripped it apart.

If you are anything like me, anything like me at all and have loved SW for however long. if it MEANS ANYTHING TO YOU, I beg you not to see this movie or at the very least, pay for it. You WILL feel betrayed, insulted, heartbroken, devastated and miserable, as I am feeling right now. I was supposed to go see this movie another two times but i cannot and will not spend another CENT on a company that chooses to alienate me. Fine, have it your way. I’m done.

This concludes my rant as I am tired and upset. If I missed out on anything and you are interested in anything else, please do DM me or leave a comment :) We’re all in this together now, the reylos the antis the new fans and the old. We’re all in the same heartbreaking boat, I love you all. And I will love Star Wars. The REAL Star Wars forever. I wasn’t even sad the ‘FRANCHISE’ was ending because it wasn’t. It had ended a long, long time ago.

[thegreatescape]

SKAM ITALIA CONVENTION

FIRST OF ALL, sorry for my English. Please, don’t repost the pics from this post. I wanna share them with you but you have to respect this, pretty please ;;

PANEL

At the panel I sat in the second row and when I saw the cast I was shocked by their beauty! Even if it didn't last long, they were so nice and funny and it was wonderful to sing “Buon Viaggio” along with them (even if it was a bit embarrassing haha).

PHOTO-OP WITH ROCCO

As soon as I entered the room I had an heart attack because he was so pretty and he seemed such a genuine guy. He smiled at me and said ‘Hi!’ with the softest voice and opened his arms to hug me (I was shaking so hard haha) and I told him I was very happy to meet him. We were still hugging when I asked him "Can I hug you?", as if we weren't already doing it, and he laughed and said "Ehm, yes? Sure!" and he held me tight as we took the picture. I hugged him another time and I was like "I’m so sorry" because I didn’t want to bother him and he said "No don’t worry” and he hugged me even tighter ;;

MEET & GREET WITH LUDOVICO

When he arrived it was a bit embarrassing because there was complete silence. We were all so nervous and, damn, it was awkward. So he broke the silence saying "Should we play cards?" diffusing the tension.

- He told us that "Giovanni Garau with the U because he is Sardinian" was improvised because, while they were shooting, their make-up artist (who was next to the bouncer) jokingly said 'Garao?' and Ludovico was like "No, it's Garau with the U. And then I asked myself: why is it with the U? Ah, because it's Sardinian! And I said it!" lmao - He said that when they were shooting the scene in which he and Francesco had to run away from the police they bumped into the quod where there was the director, because they were running too fast, while Federico and Nicholas were very slow. - Then he talked about "Aggrappati a me” and told us that the child with whom he acted didn’t collaborate sometimes. Basically she refused to wear a coat but when the director asked her if she wanted Ludovico to put it on her she nodded HAHA - He also talked about that time he worked with Muccino and he said that there was a traumatizing scene because he couldn't remember his line and Muccino scolded him and he started crying because he couldn't take it anymore ;; But then he was so proud of himself when he was able to do it! Seriously he was so sweet! - At the end I apologized because I always tag him on my drawings and he said "Are you kidding? That makes me happy! Have I ever replied to you?" I told him yes and he said, "Ah well, that's the most important thing! Unfortunately I usually don’t have time to reply to people and I'm so sorry". We posed to take a selfie but I asked him to take it and he was like: Why? Me: I'm shaking. He laughed: I don't believe you, liar! haha

PHOTO DUO FEDERICO & ROCCO - PHOTO-OP WITH FEDERICO - GROUP PIC

Here I met Federico for the first time and I was really nervous because he’s my favorite person in the world. When I arrived I greeted Rocco again with another hug, and then I clung to Fede just saying "Ciao" because I was literally shaking haha. He had such a soft expression and a tender smile that melted my heart. So, a bit embarrassed, I asked both of them if it was okay to make a group hug and Federico said "Yes, let's squeeze hard!" And I found myself sprawled between him and Rocco. It was the best moment of my life! Then I greeted them with another hug, continuing to apologize, especially to Rocco because it was like our 10th hug. 

When I returned to the room, there was only Federico ready to take individual photos and while we were queuing, Ludovico came out of nowhere and queued with us hiding among the people. When it was his turn, Federico started laughing and caressed his cheek and posed hugging him tightly. Then Ludovico sat down in a chair next to where they were taking pictures. I wanted a specific pose with Federico and I was trying to find a way to explain it to him without 'ambiguous' but when I mimed it he said "Oh you want me to take you from behind?" I widened my eyes and he immediately realized that it was misunderstandable and he said "That sounded bad!" We took the pic and I gave him another hug because he kept smiling so softly and he was the cutest little muffin ever.

Then I lined up for the third time ready for the group photo. I introduced myself to Pietro and Francesco and I greeted the others again (yes, hugging them all again because it seemed polite to greet them lol). After we took the pic there was another round of hugs, luckily this time it started from them otherwise I would have felt intrusive, and I ran upstairs to the autographs session.

AUTOGRAPHS LUDOVICO / ROCCO / FEDERICO / PIETRO / FRANCESCO

Unfortunately I had no extras with Pietro and Francesco, so I gave my drawings to my friends. Franz was very happy about the drawing and said he would have thanked me at the dinner (and he did it). Pietro, on the other hand, recognized my drawing from Instagram and he was so nice to leave me a note saying "Thank you Giulia, your drawing is WONDERFUL!" with his autograph ;;

The first one I talked to was Ludovico: I thanked him so much for his work and for making the meet a unique experience and I gave him the drawing. As soon as he saw it he widened his eyes and stared at me incredulously "Woah! It's beautiful. Did you do it?! I have no words, it's fantastic, you have a unique talent. Amazing!” and he continued like this for a minute while I was screaming inside. Then we took the pictures! 

Then I met Rocco and when I arrived we hugged for the 45987243 time. Rocco is SO shy! Every time he hugged someone, he had a nervous laugh and lowered his head, smiling, embarrassed ... ADORABLE. By the way, I told him something personal and I thanked him for his work because he helped me a lot. He stared me straight in the eyes and he looked kinda sad because he saw that I had tears in my eyes and I was desperately trying not to burst into tears and in fact I told him that it was better to change subject because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable and he said: “Don’t worry. I’m the one who should thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m happy that you felt comfortable to open up to me, it's wonderful knowing that I’m helping someone." 

Then I gave him my drawings telling him those were my way of saying ‘thank you’. When he saw them he lit up and said "NOOOO! SO COOL! They are beautiful! Wow, AMAZING! Oh, wait… this is Fe Cè!” and I realized that I had also given him Federico's drawing by mistake haha 

We took the selfie, I looked at him with tears in my eyes and it was like he had read my mind because he said "Another hug?" laughing because it was like the thousandth! When I left the queue I read his autograph where he had written "Love yourself always, Giulia"and I cried while I was waiting for Federico’s autograph lol

When I saw Fede I thanked him for everything and I told him that he’s such a great actor and a beautiful human being and he was literally a sunshine because he smiled from ear to ear with his hands clasped over his heart; I gave him the drawings and he also complimented me and thanked me so much. Then we took 3 selfies and hugged another time.

DINNER WITH CAST

The dinner was the best part of the day. I was at the same table of Federico and Pietro, and I was quite close to Pietro. I thanked him for leaving me that note and he lit up and stretched out his arm to be able to shake my hand and he caressed me saying "Ah you are the girl of the drawing! Honey, you gave me a gift! It's one of the most beautiful drawings I've ever seen! I've seen some good ones in my life but yours was perfect, so realistic”. I just smiled and thanked him because I didn't know what to say and he smiled at me in a very sweet way ;; During the dinner we talked a bit with Federico and Ludovico but unfortunately we couldn't hear that much because there was caos. 

When we finished the pizza and they brought the desserts Federico went to sit right next to Pietro and started asking everyone if someone wanted to eat his tiramisù with him and after everyone said no, he saw that I was staring at him and he stretched the plate "Do you want some? Please help me I can’t eat all of it!" He ‘insisted’ a few times and in the end I said yes and so I ate a piece of it. When I gave it back to him, he looked at the plate and said: "Just that? But you ate a small piece!” And I said “Fede, there was just one fork, maybe I should ask the waiter to bring another one!” and he was like “Oh no, don’t worry. There’s no problem! I eat with this!” lmao So Pietro took a girl's phone and started filming the scene saying “Giulia is eating all of Federico's tiramisu!” It was so embarrassing haha A few minutes later Pietro got up to go to Ludovico - I don't know where I found the courage since I am so shy - and I went to sit next to Fede and I said “I wanted to stay right next to you” regretting it a second later. Federico explained us that he calls Rocco “lizard” because when he yawns he looks like a lizard and he makes a very strange sound. And he chose this nickname because he wanted to find a name that was as humiliating as "Bambi" haha Then he told us a tongue twister and he was the only one able to say it “Se ti stizzisci, stizziscitici pure!” and then he asked Rocco to say it too and Rocco was like “Se ti stizzzidusafhoa sicciicisohfdas” it was adorable hahah Then Fede kept eating his tiramisù even if he was full, but he didn’t want to leave it there so he did the “airplane” with the fork and he tried to make me eat that, you know, like you do with kids, and he made an adorable voice "Come on, take a tiny tiny tiny piece, look at it! It looks soooo good".

Then I don't remember how we got into the argument but I asked him if I could take a picture of him and he said yes, but when I wanted to take it he turned around to talk and I already had the phone in my hand and I took it anyway but he turned around again with the tiramisu still in his mouth and I lowered the phone so quickly but he had seen me. So I picked up the phone and he saw the picture and he laughed: "Are you taking pics of me while I’m eating? Look how ugly I am! There are too many photos you can blackmail me with! Come on, take another one so I can pose!” I took the picture and when he looked at it he laughed again “Jesus, it's worse than the first one!"

Shortly after I told a friend "I’ve never drank wine!" And Federico heard me and looked at me so shocked "You’ve never drank wine!? But how old are you?” "25 ..." “And you have never drank wine? Do you want to try ..?” and he gave me his glass (after I said ‘no’ a few times because I was embarrassed lol). I tasted it, and after few second I said: “THAT’S SO GOOD!” Federico burst out into laughing "Good, right?! You have to trust me! Well… Oh God, you’ll become an alcoholist because of me! What a responsibility! "A few minutes later he gave me his glass again asking me if I wanted a little more. For the umpteenth time we have repeated the "no it’s okay", "oh c’mon just a sip, don’t worry" and then I drank again. He laughed and said: "I created a monster!" Then Francesco arrived and hugged him from behind, starting to open sugar sachets because he was very drunk lol 

Then Fede got up because Francesco was bothering him and he said "Okay, our speed date is over!" and I was like noooo don't leave. Even Francesco was very nice even if he was saying things that had no sense haha We took a picture together and he was kind of purple and said “I’m sorry, I’m drunk as fuck!” 

The staff told us that the dinner was over so I went back to Pietro to thank him and we took some pictures (like… 15 haha). We hugged each other hard and he thanked me again for the drawing. 

Then I went back to Federico and told him that I had spent the best evening of my life because of him and laughing he said "It's the wine that makes you saying this! Drink responsibly, I recommend you! I feel the responsibility on my shoulders now! Thank you for everything!” And we took more photos. 

Then I joined Rocco and I asked him another hug and he smiled and held me tight, saying, "Let’s take a selfie!"And so I took pictures with him too. I was about to leave when we looked each other in the eyes and we both laughed and we hugged each other AGAIN HAHA 

In the end I went to say hello to Ludovico and we took two pictures but he was completely lost because he was as drunk as Francesco lol

Probably this is full of mistakes but I just wanted to share with you the best experience of my life. Again, please don’t repost the pictures ;-; 

[aristccrvcy]

( gavin leatherwood, trans male, he/him, fire emblem: three houses ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, ferdinand von aegir, after surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like aeric-ferdinand “ferdie” vittori, a twenty-four year-old actor at castle town centre of theatre & dance, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as sincere as you are opinionated, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : neutral through and through. ( hylia )

         i could never drop him i just. i could Not. i rly couldn’t but i DID ..... want to revamp him a bit so here’s take two on ferdie !! politics, war, death, & divorce tw under the cut !!

BEFORE THE SNAP.  /  F E R D I N A N D  V O N  A E G I R 

So alright. Chances are , if you’ve heard of Ferdinand , it’s because you’ve heard the infamous ‘ I am Ferdinand von Aegir ! ’ quote goin’ around which . . . attributes from. Him introducing himself every time you select him on the battlefield in FE3H. Don’t believe me ?? WATCH. 

...u don’t need to watch that whole thing I’m just tryna get the meme out of the way before I talk abt everything else.

BC ALL JOKES ASIDE I HONESTLY LOVE FERDINAND SOOO MUCH n I promise I’ll take him seriously bc holy fucking shit this character is my babyyyy.

So for STARTERS. Ferdinand is the legitimate son of House Aegir in the Adrestian Empire , which is the house that produces the Empire’s Prime Ministers. Now , here’s the thing ; Ferdinand himself isn’t involved in any of this , but thanks to the Adrestian nobles pretty much stripping the Emperor of their power in the past . . . the Aegir house ( much like the other houses , but Duke Aegir’s implied to have like , spearheaded it ) is pretty damn corrupt.

NOT FERDINAND , THOUGH , considering Ferdinand is actually someone who has very opposing views to his father. Ferdinand , in a nutshell , is basically the snobby noble trope you’re expecting turned upside down crossed over with a Disney prince. That’s the best way i can describe him.

Ferdinand is very aware of his noble status , but he is very steadfast in his opinion of what is truly means to be a noble. He’s well-aware of the difference between nobles & commoners , but where you’d expect him to use that to degrade people of lesser status , he . . . doesn’t. 

Ferdinand strongly believes the duties of a noble constitute of protecting & helping the common people , and that is why they’re so high in status - they’re there to assist and make things better , and not to make things worse , and it absolutely sickens him to his core when there are corrupt nobles who very clearly use their power for selfish & malicious gain. 

Like , he’s confident - he’s very confident and sure of himself , but he isn’t a dick ( in that sense ; he can be kind of a dick , don’t get me wrong ) about it. He’s actually extremely polite & respectful , very kind & genuine - like I really don’t think lying is something that this boy is capable of doing , I really don’t. But he’s humble in the sense that he isn’t afraid to admit when he did something wrong , or that he needs to apologize - IN FACT , a lot of his supports have him apologize for approaching someone wrongly or when he’s accused of something.

One example , he has a support with Dorothea where she tells him that she hates him , and instead of fighting her on it , what he does is he tries to figure out why she hates him so he can better himself and fix something he did wrong. 

Another example , his B-support with Bernadetta has him apologize for spooking her , and he respects her comfort levels by speaking to her on the other side of the door to her room because now he understands that Bernadetta feels extremely scared & uncomfortable during confrontation.

LIKE . . . okay , in the simplest of words , Ferdinand is just good. He’s a good person and he tries his hardest to be better if someone brings it to his attention that he’s doing something wrong.

BUT ALSO . . . the thing is , Ferdinand is also extremely opinionated to the point where he’ll share his thoughts even if not asked ; and sometimes , it comes out. Dickish. Like , really , he’ll criticize anyone if he believes he should because he hates the idea of someone who doesn’t - exemplified in the beginning of his supports with Hubert , where he condemns Hubert for not openly criticizing Edelgard but Ferdinand’s criticism can come out . . . harsh. Like , he’s respectful still , but he’s harsh. And that is because Ferdinand firmly believes in speaking his mind.

His determination also makes him stubborn & extremely competitive to a point where it becomes damn near annoying and this is , because again , he always strives to better himself - even going as far as to declare Edelgard his rival when she . . . really doesn’t think of him as one , and then he gets his ass kicked and runs with his tail between his legs because he lost. He’s. He’s competitive. I will not lie to you. Like he’s great but aLSO... this guy doesn’t. Know. When to let go.

Bt yeah in a nutshell - Ferdinand is a rich guy who criticizes other rich guys for being jerks and not caring abt other people , and he can come off as a dick but ultimately he means well & he is a LOT better than some of these other assholes out there. Ferdinand’s.... he’s just GOOD. 

Bt now that I have the basis of his character out of the way , I want to mention that a major change about him is that I’m changing what route I’m pulling him from - originally , I pulled him from Azure Moon , where if you don’t recruit him you have to kill him at the Great Bridge of Myrddin. So instead , now , I’ll be pulling him from Crimson Flower , where he’s still sided with Edelgard but now she has Byleth & she’s triumphant and everything’s okay on the Empire’s end. But - in other routes - while he’s still with Edelgard , he unfortunately doesn’t make it so if u have AM or VW muses . . . Ferdie didn’t make it.

BUT THAT’S WHAT MAKES THESE THINGS INTERESTINGGGGG and I love it so for that reason ,,, shoves. Ferdinand. In everyone’s direction.

AFTER THE SNAP.  /  A E R I C - F E R D I N A N D  “ F E R D I E ”  V I T T O R I

So the more major changes from his pre-revamp portrayal lie in his CT life - his name’s changed , his occupation’s changed , and almost his entire whole past has changed.

Aeric-Ferdinand Vittori was the only child of a film actor & stage actress , pretty famous people , and he was born with the spotlight on him immediately given that he scored his first role as a child at six years old. Since then , he never really had much of an easy time.

His big break was as a teenager in a teen drama that lasted from when he was fourteen to when he was nineteen , the co-star of a vampire television drama in where his character was a fan-favorite. He ultimately left the show and his character was killed off , and he had some starring roles in other movies & the like before he ultimately moved to Broadway. And in that , he had a bit of an easier time , but he would still often feel like he was about to crack under pressure since all eyes were still on him. He was known as a talented young man with a beautiful singing voice , and unfortunately , everyone wants something to do with you when you have something like that.

His parents were also always in the spotlight because of their very public divorce , and it started to bleed into Ferdinand’s career & public image as well with many people poking their nose into his life and asking his opinion on it. Multiple scandals came out claiming that he leaned one way or the other during it and ultimately , that ruined his relationship with his parents. So at twenty-three , he left the Broadway spotlight , and decided to step out of any light in general for a while.

Settling down in Castle Town , a place where nobody bothered to look , was a good start.

He still loved performing , so he worked as an actor at the local theatre on stage - trying his hardest not to get the big roles and take those up , because he was still a relatively big name & when you’re a big name , people lean into their biases.

And then . . . at this point was where he “woke up”. Because his whole past was fake - but there’s always a point where you realize it is.

He had a girlfriend in Castle Town beforehand that he broke up with due to his paranoia that she’d get caught up in the publicity that he did - Nerissa. And he had parents that he didn’t even talk to anymore , and it threw him for a loop because he was reminded of his father back in Adrestia. And suddenly , he’s no longer a soldier or a noble , but with his celebrity status , he’s basically the closest there is to modern nobility at this point.

So . . . Ferdinand feels. Strange. He always loved the opera & he always loved performances but he never thought of himself as someone who would actually do so. It’s strange , but he likes it.

So now , he’s trying to figure out exactly what the hell happened and how he got here and he’s grown pretty used to people not remembering who he is , but it still . . . hurts.

And THAT is where I end this !! I’m gonna go back 2 my plotting DMs and message more ppl but if this gives u some ideas pls do hit me up bc I love Ferdie SOOOO MUCH and I’m excited for his revamp !!

Also if ur curious ab his old intro still I’ll link it here bc there’s probably some pre-snap stuff I forgot in here that’s in there so !! yes. i’ll b around n will probs try n get an open up soon !!

[lcgendcfzvlda]

☆ — wait , is that ZELDA KING ? dean lockwood has been looking for them . you didn’t hear it from me but , apparently the JUNIOR might know something about the whole omega chi & kappa tau situation . while they can be BRASH & IMPULSIVE , they’re far too WELCOMING & COURAGEOUS  to be involved , right ? those who know them say they’re reminded of FLANNELS WRAPPED AROUND THE WAIST, THE CLICKING OF A CAMERA, A COMPUTER SCREEN ILLUMINATING A PITCH BLACK ROOM, THE “IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA” THEME, BAGPIPES PLAYING IN THE DISTANCE whenever they’re around .  honestly , the DIGITAL MEDIA major should try to keep their head down . after the events of last semester , lockwood is out for blood . did you know that ZELDA is a member of GAMMA RHO ALPHA ? that might explain why their name is being brought up .

                                               you’re an explosion , you’re dynamite                                                   playlist. pinterest. to listen as you read.                                                like for a plotting dm on tumblr , react for a discord dm                                                rocky lynch lovebot / hylia.#0329 on discord.

WOOOO I really can’t keep myself from holding only one muse can’t I. WELL. This is Zelda , a bit more of a happy-go-lucky muse compared to Sam !! She’s both her own character mixed with a few others I have - I love her dearly , so please please please feel free to come at me for plots !! <3 HERE WE GO :

HISTORY

Zelda’s backstory isn’t anything special - growing up in Scotland her parents had a nice marriage , she grew up an only child , always got good grades

But she always felt... average. She never was really anyone to anybody , so Zelda had a bit of a knack for wanting attention and trying to get her voice out there. So some took this as endearing , some took it as annoying.

In high school , she was lucky enough to be selected for an exchange student program in Salem , Massachusetts - and then she’d meet the FIRST person who would make her feel special in SAGA ( Sexuality And Gender Acceptance ) Club , a cheeky blonde boy named Cyrus who had a tendency to hide in the corner of the room and not talk to many people. And they’d date for about a year , up until Zelda would have to go back to Scotland.

They had to break up when Zelda would leave , but remained extremely close and communicating daily through digital connections.

ANYWAY , that little one year romance sort of gave her more confidence to use her voice and try and light up the room - since if she could do it for one person , she could do it for multiple people. That’s what gave her the idea to pursue a career in DIGITAL MEDIA -  namely , film & video ( with digital art and photography on the side ) in the more comedic aspect. Screenplaying and the technicals behind sketch-comedy skits. Stand-up comedy , even though that was more performing.

Think like Saturday Night Live - and then think of all the technical stuff that goes into it besides the acting. The script-writing , camera angles , etc. Zelda just wanted to make people laugh.

Soooo… when she told her parents that would be what she wanted to do , her average home-life would turn sour CONSIDERING they didn’t want her to explore such risky career choices. An easier life would be to become a lawyer or a doctor - more stable. But that’s not what she wanted. So after a LENGTHY argument with her parents , Zelda would be thrown out of the house with only the money she saved ( thankfully , she’d always been the frugal one ) , and would call . . . her ex-boyfriend and his mother. Since even though they’d only been communicating digitally over the past two years , it still felt like home in Massachusetts.

Her ex’s mother would pay for a flight for her to go back to the United States , and after some time of adjusting , she’d get into Hollingsworth to pursue her career in Digital Media - staying there , but often traveling home ( being where her ex and his mom lived ) routinely.

Pledging to Gamma , her insistence for encouraging people to live their life to the fullest and readiness to include people in her free spirited antics would leave a great impression on the sorority - eventually even leading to her current position as its president.

CHARACTER / FACTS

So again !! Zelda is my trans female pansexual bby , 5’11 bc tall girls make the world go round and she is the LIVING EXAMPLE of the Halcyon label. She’s loud , carefree , optimistic - never really known to pass up an opportunity to have fun.

...that’s so basic of an intro to her personality BUT IN MY DEFENSE IT’S EARLY

BUT YEAH Zelda ?? Does not give a shit about anything. She holds no grudges towards anyone , waaaay too chill - but she flips from extremely chill and laid back to “HEY HEY LET’S GO DO THESE TEN THINGS” and it’s. Definitely a 360. But nobody’s ever seen her angry and it sort of makes people wonder if she even feels anger or if she has a secret dark side nobody knows about.

...She doesn’t. Zelda’s only habits when angry are that she’s short , to the point , and WILL call you out if you’ve done something wrong. But making her mad is extremely hard and she’ll only remotely get upset if you prove time and time after again to be a shitty person.

Which , can sort of lead her to get taken advantage of because of her chill nature - that’s how the previous issue with Gamma getting in trouble at one of their parties happened. Zelda got pissed. She knows she’s chill but she doesn’t think about how that could lead SOME people to thinking “oh I can do anything I want and she’ll be fine with it” because she doesn’t. Get angry about much.

ALSO THAT DOES MAKE HER A BIT NAIVE - just again. She’s easy to take advantage of because she believes the best in everyone and automatically assumes people will do the right thing as people. Doesn’t really understand why people will do things to hurt others and doesn’t really want to.

Also kind of jumpy like she’s a social person and definitely flips between lax and loud but it is SO easy to startle her.

AS FOR HER INTERESTS IN DIGITAL MEDIA - she is extremely talented with the entire Adobe Creative Suite , especially Premiere , Photoshop , and After Effects.

She has an Instagram dedicated to posting manips , edits , etc. she made in both PS & AE. You know those funky Insta edits you see all the time ?? Zelda makes those.

She ALSO does a lot of editing and promotion for Gamma - a lot of times they’re memey little videos or advertisements or skits that display how welcoming Gamma is , and they do a great job at leaving a good impression on possible recruits.

Her BIG thing though would be a little YouTube channel she runs where she often posts videos just around campus - think Billy On The Street , which is what she really wants to do with her digital media career.

“I’M RUNNING AROUND HOLLINGSWORTH WITH A PACK OF WILD LESBIANS”

“LET’S GO LESBIANS LET’S GO”

She either wants to do that - or mockumentaries to put on Youtube ( or even documentaries in a whole that she approaches with her extremely sunny demeanor on conspiracies or the like ). She’d also like to film her own show to put on TV , either something like reality comedy , a reality show spoof , or even something like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or The Office or Brooklyn 99. Comedy film is her passion.

Commentary videos are ALSO something she’s considered , much like iNabber or Strange AEons , but she thinks mockumentaries , skits , and her other work

Also that person who Photoshops heads on people’s bodies and makes memes for all the group chats she’s in

She really doesn’t take herself seriously often but frankly that’s just Gamma as a whole so it WORKS.

A good portion of Zelda’s existence is a meme tbh I honestly adore her

She has a LOT of tattoos that were designed by her ex-boyfriend since he was an art major and now is a tattoo artist in Salem - I’d point you in the direction of Hannah Pixie Snowdon’s body art as a reference , just Zelda isn’t nearly as covered as she is.

This would be the best reference I can think of rn , lots of pretty designs and some animals, maybe some symbols and references from stuff. 

Olivia doesn’t have any tattoos but WE CAN CERTAINLY PRETEND

A lot of her spare money is made doing either graphics commissions or even photography from whoever needs her services !! The majority of her stuff has been done for cosplayers , budding models , budding actors and actresses , and even for other fraternities and sororities around campus. Zelda knows no rivalries when it comes to these things.

She’s also 100% that person who keeps around a polaroid camera so she can hang up pictures she takes she’s just That Person

Decorates the Gamma house with a lot of polaroids she’s taken and memey edits she’s done in Photoshop

INSIDE JOKES ARE HER THING

She also plays guitar and is fairly good at it but doesn’t have a band or anything rn bc she’s just someone who does it bc she wants to look cool ( and also bc the guitar’s a neato instrument but yeah she started it out just bc she wanted to play SOME kind of instrument at least )

,,,but she also knows how to play the bagpipes

and she owns a pair.

they’re in the gamma house. zelda plays them at meetings.

Also I can’t 100% guarantee she didn’t get her name from the Legend of Zelda series if y’all know me u know how much I adore that series so yeah

WANTED PLOTS / CONNECTIONS

GIVE ME A COMEDY SQUAD PLEEEEEEEEASE maybe even ppl she works to make a webseries or something with ?? give me people who work constantly just to make other people laugh

People she routinely takes photographs of !!

Whether they pay her or she uses as a muse for whatever

OTHER PPL FROM THE GREEK ROW THAT JUST DON’T… LIKE ZELDA FOR WHATEVER REASON

Maybe they think she’s too chill. Maybe they think she’s hiding something. Maybe they don’t like how she’s running Gamma but for whatever reason they just DON’T LIKE HER and I want enemies so fucking give me enemies

This is so general but more Gamma sisters would be lovely Zelda’s so eager to bring in more people to make their sorority feel like home

Give me crushes Zelda pines over !! Crushes that pine over Zelda !! Gimme that skinny love shit bc my god it gets me going !!

Hookup plots are also 100% acceptable bc again Zelda’s a carefree spirit and gives No Fucks

Also 100% down 4 cute romantic plots too - Zelda is ur regular poly pan babe w/ room in her heart for 12000 suns

it’s very on brand of me to place the romance/sex plots right smack in the middle as I’m thinking of what to put down

Okay when I was in high school we had majors and I was a Digital Art major and all the Visual Art majors had this bond with us for no reason so I’d really love some Vis. Art buddies that Zelda gets along with much like the bond she has with her ex-boyfriend now

OTHER PEOPLE TO DESIGN MORE TATTOOS FOR HER PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE one day she hopes to be a coloring book

I’D LOVE SOME UNLIKELY FRIENDS TOO JUST SOME GRUMPS ZELDA’S CONSTANTLY BOTHERING W/ HER SHIT

Memey group chat pls

THATS ALL I CAN THINK OF FOR NOW maybe i’ll do a more detailed / organized list soon but yeah !! Come at me !!!

[charityhopevalentines]

A Long Overdue Review of  “My Fair Lady”

-i saw her just a little after Laura had had a cold and I was BEYOND THRILLED when I saw she was going on that night!

-can i just say how much i ADORED hearing an actual overture at the beginning of a show?! like an actual overture made up of several songs from the show? bring overtures back!

-laura is really brilliant and breathes new life into eliza. she humanizes the character and makes her more than the of a caricature guttersnipe she is supposed to be even from the beginning. Everything Eliza does is with the thoughtful intention of becoming a lady and honestly her acting is just superb.it is honest. It possesses an intelligence and gravity I’ve never seen before in the character.

-you could really see the desire for more in her eyes especially during “Wouldnt it be loverly” which was basically choreographed like the movie

-her cockney accent was okay. I mean I didnt really expect it to be perfect and it surprisingly didnt bother me that much (being the Julie Andrews purist that I am). I thought her high class accent was better though, however in her dramatic final scene it did come and go a little with the heightened emotion but honestly it really didn’t hinder her performance for me. 

-Her “aaaooowwws” were more low key but probably more realistic and not as caricaturish. 

-you really felt Eliza’s exhaustion and frustration with everything Higgins was doing(but it a very realistic way), which made him look like a far worse character than he has been portrayed as in the past, and rightly so I would say because it exposes him. 

-HER VOICE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. I mean wowww. I’ve heard her sing many times from Gypsy and Women on the Verge but she was never really required to sing the way she does in this and it sounded very operatic with lots of vibrato and it was magical. I don't know why I was so delightfully surprised, I knew she had a great voice before but it felt like yesss this is the show you needed to show off your instrument. “I Could’ve Danced All Night” was absolutely a dream and I will never forget it.

-the rotating set was super cool(only used for higgin’s house: library(two stories with couch, spiral metal staircase, desk, wooded banister, chair obs books, hallway with wood staircase, bathroom with shower for that one scene, and a small outside area which wasnt used)  it was beautifullll omggg. also as it was turning laura would do quickchanges and I was so impressed with how she did what looked like were really complicated changes in a very short amount of time

- Harry Hadden-Paton, who played Higgins was really great and I feel like he has gotten even better from the first time I saw him in August. He grew into the role and was much funnier and energized than before (maybe because of Laura?) He did a great Rex Harrison-esque voice and sang the songs very well but it made me a little sad because for an actor who can actually sing it must be a rather limiting role and Harrison’s shadow is cast in such a way that he feels the need to imitate him because I guess thats what they think we expect but I feel like the audience would’ve been fine with just an average higher class english accent but I enjoyed it.

- the man who played her father was good but I didnt find him super likeable and I think he’s supposed the kind of character who isnt really the best morally but is so charismatic you have to like him?? but it was ok

-during the ball scene there was a grand staircase at stage left which made for super lovely entrances as you can imagine. the orchestra was onstage during the ball and it was soooo cool to see them actually playing the music as people danced to it. I dont know why it struck me as so special because we all know shows have orchestras but they became characters in the show for a while “musicians” playing “musicians” and I thought it was special. like we don’t think about it often but we take the fact that there is a live orchestra for granted yet we never really see them. also the scene was so beautiful! there were gorgeous chandeliers and it was very stylized yet simple. all of the dancing and waltzing was so romantic and it was just beautiful honestly. also laura looked stunning but i think they could’ve picked an even better color for her because it was off-white and i wasnt absolutely in love with it.

-SHE IS SO FREAKING HILARIOUS *which we already knew* but just the little things she did were so fing hysterical. The scene where she's talking to Higgin’s mother and other high class people at the races was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. When she was saying “how do you do” to everyone she copied their vocal pattern for how they said it, which was different every time and when she got to Freddy he didn't say it so she mouthed “how do you do” and then looked panicky at Higgins like “wtf do i do?” The scene with the fire and saying “hah” to make the flame jump was so funny because once she got it she was like “hah, hah-hah, hah-hah-hah-hah-hah. hah-hah-hah-hah-hah..etc” and was moving back and forth with each hah in her chair and I died. There were a lot of other little things that were super funny too. 

-i feel like the move your bloomin arse line isnt even funny anymore because everyone knows its coming-but is it supposed to be funny?

-get me to the church on time was one of the most energized and fun parts of the show i mean it was really ALIVE and it made you want to get up and dance. It really had the feel of a lot of drunk friends together having a big party at a london pub and there was a lot of dancing and DRAG! there were men dressed as showgirls and one as a bride and a woman in a tuxedo and it was obviously for comedic effect but yass! It was one of the highlights of the show!

-Laura’s “Show Me” didnt really work as well as I thought it would. I saw the understudy Freddy so maybe that’s why but I feel like moments they tried to make comedic really didn’t sit as well with the audience as they would’ve liked. I think it needed more rage? and i wasnt really feeling the release of frustration?? which is ironic because she was so good at conveying it before?? but maybe she was saving it for the last big scene (she wore a pink outfit which looked sooo beautiful on her though omg it was like baby pink-i loved that color on her) 

-on the street where you live was classic and beautiful and just as romantic as we all imagine it to be and the background of a pinkish/purple sky really added to the mood.

-their dynamic(her and higgins) was very equal and they were clearly on the same plane the entire time because of the similarity in their ages(which made their relationship in the end a lot better I think and not creepy like in the past imo)  as well as Laura’s interpretation of the character which showed she was just as emotionally and mentally intelligent, except she really didn’t come into her own and realize this until the scene at the end which was soooo satisfyinggg.

-HER ACTING IN THE SCENE WHERE SHE REALIZES SHE DOESNT NEED HIGGINS WAS SUPERB. it had the same strength and power of the dressing room scene at the end of gypsy and i was blown away.

-i really liked the feminist ending where after he says “where the devil are my slippers” she runs into the audience and up the stairs out of the theatre (its an amphitheater) like she has finally found love but doesn’t depend on that and has finally found herself and that is the most important thing. (also she run up the side closest to me and i freaked out realizing she got that close i was like AHHH!)

-I LOVED THE SHOW! It was better than the first time I saw it! It totally lived up to the original production while not being an exact copy and I am so glad I got a second chance to see it! Brava Laura! Im so glad I got to see her in her dream role!

[naruseii]

Myu review 6: 1997 Sailor Stars Kaiteiban (Easter special!) . . First impression: Extremely curious as to how they decided to revise this! Since the first Stars was kinda messy, I was hoping the story would be changed up a bit. • • •

Impressions: Actors/Actresses

Anza Ooyama (Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon/Neo Queen Serenity)- My gosh, I LOVED ANZA SO MUCH IN THIS MYU. She pulled off such an amazing Usagi AND Sailor Moon!! She also improved so much from last time; making her Usagi/Moon less dramatic. The way Anza portrays Usagi can vary for people but I honestly think she was soooo into character for this Myu. She really showed off Usagi/Moon’s tragic/serious side extremely well and just as good as her silly side. She was perfect for all aspects (singing, dancing, acting) and I can’t wait to see her performance in Eien!! 💕

Ayako Morino (Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury)- I think I liked Ayako here better than the original Stars! Unlike the before, she got to play Mercury (or had more to do as her) more than she played Ami and I still love her Mercury! I still don’t like the “boy crazy” aspect of Ami but, what can you do. I do think she sounded great in most of her songs but her voice was just a bit off in Sorezore no Elegy. She still dances pretty well and overall I think she did great!

Misako Kotani (Rei Hino/Sailor Mars)- I’m really loving Misako now!! She seems to have improved a lot even on the little things which makes her Rei more lovable! Her Rei and Mars resemble her anime counterpart and I noticed that during the trial scene. I loved her chemistry Hiroko and with her other cast mates as well! Misako was great!! ❤️

Emika Satou (Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter)- Again, Emika played a very minor role but I still found her to be really enjoyable!! Though there’s not much to see, her Makoto was really good! Her Jupiter was barely present so I won’t talk about that. She has a very nice Mako sounding voice and she’s great at singing as well! She’s a good dancer and a great actress and I enjoyed her performances for both the Stars Myus!! I wish she stayed longer 💔.

Kanatsu Nakaya (Minako Aino/Sailor Venus)- Just like Emika, Kanatsu played a minor role but that didn’t stop me from enjoying her performance! Her Minako felt more like Minako in the sense that she has more energy & quirkiness in her which is a big improvement from last time! And there’s not much from her Venus as well but, overall she was really good in all aspects! 💛

Yuuta Mochizuki (Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask)- Yuuta barely had a role as his actual character but his overall performance was great! I loved his duet/interactions with Anza be it as Moon/Usagi and Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru or Kin-san and the “Rat Boy”. His role in the Edo period scene was so good and so funny as well!! I’m so glad they gave him more to do for this Myu because he’s so fun to watch!!

Sanae Kimura (Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus)- Sanae definitely improved a lot since her past performance! She had more emotion (especially during Neptune’s death) and she seemed really into her role!! I can agree that her Haruka isn’t much but I think her Uranus is passable! So far, this is where I think Sanae was at her best for this role but I’m looking forward to her next performances!!

Hiroko Tahara (Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune)- I love Hiroko oh my gosh. I love how strong and mature her Neptune is. She barely got to play Michiru but, her Michiru was so poised and even funny at times. She really reminds me of anime Michiru/Neptune (but more on Nep). I love her voice and the way that she dances and I love how she knows when to be reserved and when to be dead serious. I don’t really care much for Neptune but Hiroko makes me like her a lot!

Rei Saitou (Setsuna Meioh/Sailor Pluto)- I looove Rei!! I love how funny and motherly her Setsuna is and I love the seriousness of her Pluto. I especially loved the way she acted during the Edo period scene! Rei really knows how to make Setsuna and Pluto seem like two separate beings and how she expresses her emotions which are what I love about her acting ability! Singing and dancing, they’re all still amazing!! Super love Rei!!

Keiko Takeda (Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn)- I loved Keiko but I feel like she had less of a role here (probably due to the revised story line). Her Hotaru seemed better here though! I loved her little bonding moments with Mao and it really seemed like she was a kid unlike last time. Her Saturn was also really good! It reminded me of manga Saturn at the ending of the Dream Arc. She still has a nice voice and her movement/dancing has gotten better! Overall, she performed really well!

Mao Kawasaki (Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon)- I kinda liked Mao in this Myu!! She’s very different from Tamaki which makes their Chibiusas unique. I do think that Mao has a kiddie feel to her Chibiusa while Tamaki has more maturity but regardless, Mao pulled off her character well!! She still sings and dances nicely and although she can seem “out of it” in her acting at times, I still liked her Chibiusa nonetheless!

Sayuri Katayama (Seiya Kou/Sailor Star Fighter)- I’m so in love with Sayuri’s Seiya and Sayuri as Seiya. She really gives life to Seiya and she embodies her so well, it’s like she actually is Seiya. Her presence looks so warm and friendly and that’s what I liked most about her in her performance. Her Star Fighter was really good as well!! Singing, dancing, it’s all perfect. Much love for Sayuri!! 💙

Hikari Ono (Taiki Kou/Sailor Star Maker)- (I’m gonna try my best to not make this sound super biased) Taiki isn’t that much of an interesting character in general but Hikari gives her that aspect. She gives Taiki the qualities she lacks (or basically, she brings the character to life) which I really liked! Not much to her Star Maker but she was definitely more serious. Her singing and dancing’s still great and I’m really loving Hikari in this role! 💜

Momoko Okuyama (Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer)- I love Momoko’s Yaten so much :(( . She makes her so fun/quirky and a bit of an airhead which is different from how Yaten’s usually portrayed! Her Star Healer was the more serious one and she pulled her off well! She still sings and dances well (and is cute while doing so)!! Looove Momoko!! 💚

Saori Sara (Sailor Galaxia)- I think Saori pulled off Galaxia really well here! Her Galaxia had more power and more emotion than last time. She has a powerful singing voice and I love the way she moves/dances. She had such a big improvement from last time and I really loved her performance! 💛

Shadow Galatica (as a whole)- I think Shadow Galactica was better here!! They were kinda all over the place before but here, they seem fully fleshed out. In place of Shadow Bee, Bug and Mantis were Sailor Theta, Chi and Phi and they were really good dancers! The Animamates were really good as well although, I prefer Rei over Junko for Pewter Fox. Ryuji was great as always and…we don’t speak about Sailor Buttress… . . . The story:

Act 1: This part was almost the same as the original. There were a few changes to the events like how the characters spoke to each other, how they felt during some scenes and much more minor things. One noticeable change (in terms of songs) was in Sailor Busters wherein Makoto and Minako’s “solos” were removed. This act ended the same way as before which is with the Sailor War Supreme number (which I still love)!

Act 2: There were quite a lot of changes in this act! During the music festival, MC Fly has his monologue and it goes straight into Knockin’ Down Hesitation; completely removing Usagi’s nervous “breakdown” and Chibiusa and Hotaru’s audience participation. Mamoru also makes his early and very subtle appearance after It’s Chou Very Bad. The Edo Period scene has completely changed but I’ll leave that up to you to watch ;) ! And the very surprising addition to the labyrinth scene was Princess Kakyuu (although she didn’t say anything)!!

The rest of the scenes were played out the same way as Nehelenia’s trials from the Stars anime! Neptune, Jupiter and Venus are the only ones who pass meaning Uranus was spared and was a part of Sorezore no Elegy! Everything else is the same throughout until the battle scene with all 10 soldiers and the Starlights together, they sing Solar Miracle Make Up instead of La Moon. Galaxia actually dies in this version but, Sailor Moon gives her a second chance at life and Galaxia is reborn elsewhere. And finally, L'Amour D'Amour Moonlight was the closing song instead of Usagi Circus Show Time. • • • Overall opinion: I’m really happy with how they revised Stars! I don’t know if it’s because I’ve seen the original Stars Myu but this version was much easier to follow!! So far, this is my most favorite Myu of the First Stage but, let’s see if Eien Densetsu and it’s Kaiteiban will change that ;) . . . AAAAAA I’M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG!! Also sorry this review is really long in general, it’s been a while since my last one. Anyways, this wasn’t meant to be an Easter special but life gets complicated sometimes. As I mentioned before, I watch Myu on my phone now and it’s really difficult!! So I’m really trying my best with these. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this review and feel free to share your thoughts!

((Character profiles are from @myu-resource , screenshot is from Sea Of Serenity , posters are from vk.com ))

[katsuragitakumi]

Thoughts on New World Cross-Z

I don’t really know what to say. I expected this movie to be a disaster (because of the reviews I read when it was screened in Japan) and, while I don’t like every writing choice and some scenes felt a tad too clumsy, all in all it was fairly enjoyable. It certainly could have been better, but it also could have been worse. Much worse.

Banjou! I’m glad he was allowed to be his silly self throughout the movie. He’s such a lovable character! I didn’t like that one scene from Yui’s flashback that much, but I guess it had to be done like that to highlight Banjou’s growth. Then again, I’m not a big fan of movies repeating what we’ve already seen in the show (Sento’s identity crisis in Be The One or Banjou’s growth here), but I like the characters well enough to shrug it off and enjoy the movie anyway.

Sento! Oh. He was so, so sad in this movie. And… that’s normal, really. In the first scene Banjou brings up the fact that their fiends can’t remember them, then Killbas shows up and steals his driver, then he has to experiment on Banjou and put his life in danger, and then he worries about Banjou while he’s fighting Killbas (I guess Sento now understands how Misora feels like, huh?). At least, in the end, and thanks to Misora, he understood that this world still needs him. I’m still a bit “eh…” about the scene where he hands Yui Banjou’s power-up. As I said in this post, I understand the reasoning both in-universe (he wants Yui to see how much of a hero Banjou really is) and out-universe (Sento is meant to be a secondary character and can’t steal the new characters’ spotlight. If Sento were in the battlefield with Yui instead of chilling at home, Evolt would have probably attacked him instead of Yui), but I think it was a clumsy scene all the same. But not bad enough for me to wonder why it was like that, so… once again, it could have been worse.

Yui! Wow, I read back in the day so, so, soooo many complaints about her that I expected the worst (a tsundere,,,,,,,). Glad to be wrong, of course; she was pretty decent and it was easy to see why she behaved the way she did at first. Her suddenly falling for Banjou felt a bit… weird and rushed, but as I’ve said several times by now: it could have been worse. I dislike the notion of a female character existing just to be a love interest (and a man’s ~reward~, at that), but Yui at least was given a background and a personality, not to mention I find it hard to believe the ship is canon when the last scene is like that. This doesn’t mean they won’t end up dating in the next movie (although I don’t think they’re hiring Nagao -Yui’s actress- for a cameo, and making BanYui canon offscreen would be a bit anticlimatic) or in the novel, even. To be honest, I didn’t really mind the hug+kiss scene, and Kazumin’s reaction to it was amusing. The “best match” joke was what I liked the least (and a comment Akaso made makes me believe he didn’t like it either). I agree with people who think the movie tried, at least to some extent, to replace Sento with Yui. The “normal” thing would have been to draw parallels, if anything, between Yui and Kasumi, not between Yui and Sento. If you’re trying to give Banjou a love interest and no-homo his bond with Sento, it’s not a very bright idea to suggest “best match” may have a romantic meaning too or draw Sento-Yui parallels.

Anyway, yeah, the “romance” could have been better, and the last scene makes me believe they’re better off as friends, but it also could have been much worse. And the fact that their relationship is ambiguous at best is a very conscious decision by Muto or Toei; it would have been extremely easy to make them go on a cute date (like black-haired Banjou and Kasumi do in the finale), or have a romantic scene where they hold hands instead of an awkward hug+kiss combo, after which Banjou gets spanked by Kazumin and Yui is being hit on by Gentoku.

Do you know what I hated? Killbas. What an annoying guy.

Nascita gang! YEAH!!! It was great to see them again! I wish we got more heartwarming/cute moments with them, but I can understand why it didn’t happen (it’s Banjou’s movie). Even so, there were some funny and cute bits that made me smile. Misora was especially adorable. I love her. Gentoku and Kazumin were very hilarious and surprisingly cool. Sawa didn’t get to do much, but it was nice to see her reckless driving once again (as much as I disliked the aftermath). Utsumin just talked about sticks and yet he managed to be one of the best parts of the movie imo

Evolt! I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, it was delightful to see him again. He’s just that great of a character. On the other hand, I feel a bit ://// at the concept of the big bad not being really dead; what’s more, he flies into space and promises to come back. Uh. I wished they explored his having human feelings or something. I should accept it’ll never happen, shouldn’t I? Anyway, he was fun. I guess that’s what matters in the end.

Other things:

I love the movie started with a recap. That’s so Build.

Evolt’s voice actor!

If Banjou has the Sclash Driver and the Build Driver, he could have lent his Build Driver to Sento, even if it were just for a brief scene. I’m sad Sento didn’t get to transform with everyone else (Emu, Takeru and Shinnosuke did in other people’s v-cinemas!), but at least I got to see Rabbittank again anyway. And, well, this is Banjou’s time to shine anyway.

Sento’s been poisoned for the third time. Poor guy.

The movie is a bit edgy sometimes, even though Killbas’ plan is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard since…….. Heigen Final. Not that Evolt’s plan in the main show was superb either, mind you. That said, it could have been much edgier or grittier, so I’m glad the tone didn’t differ from the show that much (in other words, it’s no ROGUE)

As I mentioned in other post, though, I’m upset at the gratuitous violence aimed at women. Evolt hits Yui for no reason, then strangles her to raise Banjou’s Hazard Level (although, in all fairness, he did that to Sento in the show too) and Yui was BURNT ALIVE IN HER HUMAN FORM. And poor Sawa got knocked out Just Because and there was a joke about her being forgotten while she was still bleeding :( I think there are other ways to make Yui be in the spotlight without getting Sawa out of commission.

No, but really, where did Kazumin and Gentoku get their Sclash Drivers from? I guess that’s where I’m supposed to switch off my brain and enjoy the movie. It was great to see those two fighting again, so I shouldn’t complain.

Banjou’s power-up is very cool!

So yeah, all in all I found it entertaining and it had some very good scenes here and there. While other moments weren’t so stellar, they could have been much worse.

(It could have been ROGUE)

[happyendingsong]

im picking up kh3 in the morning and im still vibrating about it. ive rejogged my memory on the whole series in the last couple weeks and im close to feeling as excited for kh as i did when i was 15 and getting into it for the first time it feels SO NICE!

on this playthrough it’s interesting noticing which things i care about more that didn’t interest me first time round. like i never got the fandom obsession w orgxiii before but GOD they’re very good actually, they’re all so fucking dumb!!!!!!! and like none of them have any loyalty, no one likes each other, they’re all just sticking together for inherently selfish reasons and none of them can follow basic instructions. kh2 au where the organization’s plan is to obtain one single brain cell to split between the thirteen of them. it’s easy to see why so much fan content is devoted to them, like days itself is structured like a slice of life office comedy and it’s just fun imagining how these absolute dipshits rub off on each other when they’re not actively in the middle of murdering 15 y/os.

AND XEMNAS IS SO GOOD the voice actor is having so much fun with him, i think he’s my fav villain in the series?? but obviously master xehanort is actually competent and a threat and god leonard nimoy adds soooo muuuuch to him. i never cared too much for any of the xehanorts as characters but im like enthralled with him as a villain now lol??? im connecting so many more pieces that i never put together before and it’s such a coherent narrative looking at his plan across the entire series.

as a foil to sora it’s so clever like. sora’s whole thing is ‘my friends are my power’, that’s the thing that makes him worthy of being the protagonist of this narrative. to counter that we have xehanort who’s power is himself and the fracturing of himself to achieve his ends. like it’s not good enough to train an apprentice, he has to raise terra as a vessel for him to personally possess once his own body has grown too old and frail to oversee the results of his planning. he can’t be satisfied by conducting human experiments in the dungeons of radiant garden to figure out heartless and nobodies, he has to experiment on himself as well and create these extra fractured versions of himself to really experience it. the thirteen darknesses that he wants to bring together to forge the x-blade all have to be shades of xehanort cause he wants to see the shit hit the fan from every possible angle and KNOW it’s all his doing.

i think that’s how they’ll bring in the luxu/master of masters stuff. idk how far they’re gonna go into the x back cover plot, but i’d say luxu will be part of kh3 if only because they show him in a cutscene in 0.2 and because we don’t know what’s in the box yet (im so fucking excited fdk;djs). anyway the master telling luxu to take the no name keyblade because it holds the master’s eye and the idea is that luxu will pass the keyblade down to his apprentice and so on so that the master can see through the keyblade and see the future unfold. obviously xehanort has that keyblade now so in all likelihood his master had passed it to him, but xehanort refuses to pass down the legacy. he’s making all these different recursions of himself his apprentices and seeing the future through their eyes, idk there’s definitely a lot of parallels and themes at play and i can’t wait to see how they’ll come to a head :’)

im sleeby and cant remember what else i was gonna say but im sooooo ready for the subversions of ‘my friends are my power’ to really hit and for sora to have an existential crisis about how he’s therefore not worth anything without them/the actually worthy heroes trapped in his heart that everyone looking at his face would rather see (lea w roxas, aqua w ven, xehanort w vanitas, etc). a bitch will sob!!!!! that bitch is ME!!!!!!!!!

we poppin the BIGGEST bottles when kairi gets her plot relevance

if naminé doesn’t get thanked i will kill everyone at squeenix offices and then myself

i will cry for absolutely every frame aqua is on screen