#and if its perfectly in character for jack to be sitting like this with his shoes on while sitting up in bed then maybe it SHOULDNT be.

[hellhoundlair]

i think a big problem with cw shows is how stilted and unnatural (lol) shit feels. was watching a few s14 episodes and this is like a prime example of exactly what im talking about

sam walks into jacks room and jack is sitting alone upright against his headboard looking at the wall. even if ur stuck in ur thoughts like jack is in this scene, why be in such an unnatural pose on a bed. thats not comfortable. jack also was sparring in these clothes in the last scene he was in, supposedly really stuggling and extering himself yet his clothes have no sweat on them and look newly washed and ironed. hes wearing shoes on the bed. pure virginal white shoes that look like theyve never been worn before, let alone worn during exercise like they supposedly are. there is no element of this that feels lived in. it doesnt feel real. this happens a LOT in mid to late seasons of supernatural and i think a lot of cw shows from the same era also struggle with this.

[rosemaze-reveries]

During an interview, the manor guests suddenly get a question about you.

this is def an experimental format!! i got this idea while reading the character letters. in the POV of an unknown interviewer (not reader). reader uses they/them.

🔗⚰️📰🔮❤️‍🩹💉🌪️✂️🍀🩰🔫🪡🤹🧲🦋🐍

Q. Could you describe your relationship with (Y/N)?

🔗 Ada - "Yes, that's my lover. I would say our relationship falls within the typical scope of that sort of thing. Of course, I believe we share something special, but everyone does when they're in love, don't they?" She covers all her bases in one decisive breath, leaving little room for me to comment.

⚰️ Aesop sits perfectly upright, fingers threaded at his knees. His eyes drift to the side and he seems to begin speaking mid-thought. "I had... cautioned myself not to upset their perception of me," he explains. "But they pried, and stayed, regardless of what they found... For that, I'm grateful."

📰 Alice has kept a sharp eye on me the entire time, but it's at this question that she drops the formalities. "I wasn't aware you would be prying into my personal affairs. Where did you learn that name?" Her frankness pins me in place. For some reason, I end up apologizing.

🔮 Eli can't help a sheepish smile from blooming across his face. "Well, truthfully... I don't use this term lightly, but they might be the love of my life." He has been consistently grounded with his responses, so I'm surprised to catch him flustered, however subtle it is. Personally, I'm touched.

❤️‍🩹 Emil considers for a moment. He doesn't meet me in the eye, instead pinning his gaze on nowhere in particular. A faint smile ghosts his lips. After a while, he answers, simply, "Safe."

💉 Emily's hands are folded neatly on her lap. At the mention of that name, her shoulders tense, but she otherwise maintains her composure. "Someone I trust." Her answer is vague and cautious, but acceptable. I'll try to uncover a deeper meaning behind that 'trust'.

🌪️ Ithaqua - "Mine." He is curt and to the point. Yours? I echo, hoping he'll elaborate. His head tilts to the side, and while I can't see the face behind his mask, a sense of dread suddenly overcomes me. I decide not to press further.

✂️ Jack stretches out his hand of blades, flexing each finger in front of him. I can't deny the cold sweat that drips down my spine just by being in his presence. "May I respond with a question of my own?" he says to me. "Suppose a butterfly loses its way, and winds up caught in a spider's web. Wouldn't you agree that the more it writhes and struggles, the more exhilarated the spider becomes?" I don't have the courage to hear out the rest of this analogy.

🍀 Lucky - "I've always been known as a pretty lucky guy, but the luckiest day of my life was when I met them! I remember it was the—" He drags me down a long-winded story about their life together. I get the idea. Eventually I'm forced to cut him off.

🩰 Margaretha twirls a curl of hair, a meek blush dusting her cheeks. "Have you ever been in love before? You're never prepared for the magic of it all. I feel a new rush with them everyday. I know, realistically, all good things come to an end, so I tried to remind myself to expect the worst, but they've proven over and over that... I'll never feel safer than in their arms." After rambling for some time, a look of surprise flashes across her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that. Oh, but I've just never met someone who feels so much like true love before."

🔫 Martha doesn't miss a beat. "Sorry, I don't know anyone by that name." I look down to double-check the name written in her file. Her watchful gaze follows my line of sight. Are you sure? I try. "Must've been some confusion somewhere," she insists. The next day, I realize all my files on her and (Y/N) have gone missing.

🪡 Matthias - "Wh-What?" he starts, but keeps going before I can repeat the question. "Oh, uh, an ally, I guess." Well, I gathered that much. When I press for more details, his head sinks low, fingers grasping at the armrest. "I don't know what they saw in me. Was it out of pity?"

🤹 Mike's eyes light up and he blinds me with a contagious smile. "(Y/N)'s a sneaky one, and I mean it—they've got me under the trickiest spell of all. Guess what happens every time I think about them?" Egged on by his grin, I take the bait. You get lovesick? I guess. Suddenly, he tosses a handful of butterfly glitter in my face. "I get butterflies!" Very funny, I sigh, exasperated with these carnies. Why did he have that on hand in the first place?

��� Norton leans back in his chair, scowling. "What's that got to do with anything?" He snaps a couple times in my face, urging me to "stay on topic." It's hard to say if this question struck a nerve, as he's been uncooperative for most of this interview, but my suspicions point me to prod further. After all, it'd have been much easier if he just said he didn't know them.

🦋 Vera's face contorts into a leery, hostile glower. "Why do you ask that?" Before I can say anything to mitigate the rising tension, she catches herself, and her expression softens slightly. "I'm sorry. That's... someone quite dear to me, so your question took me by surprise."

🐍 Yidhra's follower goes pale, clearly unnerved. "She won't answer that," she tells me through shallow breaths. "Th-This isn't my place to say, but I'd advise you not to involve yourself with that person." As if on cue, I get a sensation I can only describe as a hand slowly wrapping around my neck. It disappears when I move to scratch it. Must've been my imagination.

Part 2

[angelsnkisses]

all of rory’s characters look like they’re made for slow kissing in the dark T_T .. low music playing in the background and just light touches like mmmm , especially charlie but i think i’m jus biased :>

i live for your ideas, this is so 😩. you've inspired me, so i decided to do 5 separate characters for this scenario :) also made it just a little nsfw cause why not :3

💟 nsfw - mdni 💟

includes: charlie walker, jack thurlow, danny cooper, ollie sway, possum <3

warnings: multifandom!rory (?), gn!reader, smoking (marijuana), mentions of smut, grinding

charlie walker (scre4m) would have you in his lap as soon as you gave him the chance, one hand on your waist while the other rests on the side of your face. he'd probably kiss you all over your neck, collarbone, and face before he finally presses his lips to yours. he'd be kindy touchy, squeezing your thighs or biting at your lower lip, but that wouldn't stop it from being so sweet. he'd be so affectionate with you ahhdhshf. he'd play low music from his speaker ofc, probably something slow to set the mood. if it escalates, he'll have you ride him at a leisurely pace, savoring how you whimper and beg for more :3.

jack thurlow (jack goes home) would for sure kiss you with so much love, it's insane. you'd be laying beside eachother, talking, eventually leading to a little makeout sesh. he'd be so quick to push you onto your back and rest his knee between your legs for stability. he might even rub it up against you hhh. he'd be holding your hand the whole time, his free one probably resting under your shirt on your stomach (he cannot help himself, he's obsessed with your tummy. why? cause i said so). i honestly see him playing some kind of dark, yet sensual indie music. he'd slip his hand down instead to replace his knee, loving how you'd whine into his mouth and start bucking your hips to grind down on his fingers.

danny cooper (intruders) would be so gentle with you :(. he'd be sitting against the headboard beside you, talking about work, just making small talk. i feel like he might listen to records, so maybe one's playing while you guys talk. he'd want to kiss you, but he'd be so nervous that you'd have to make the first move. but when you finally kiss him, it mollifies his anxiety so easily. he'll rest a hand on your waist so he can pull you closer, his other one cupping your jaw to keep you there. he doesn't push it past kissing unless you initiate it, he's perfectly content just kissing you for however long you want :(.

ollie sway (the song of sway lake) would be such a romantic. i mean yeah, he was a little forward (pervy) at some points of the movie, but he's an old soul nonetheless. he'd definitely put on one of his favorite records, and lazily dance around the living room with you, talking about the artist and their music while you listen carefully. he'd kind of trail off after a bit, the concentration on your face making his heart swell. the way you listened to what he had to say with such genuine interest alone was enough to fill him with adoration for you, not to mention how perfect you looked. he'd just silence your questions about why he stopped talking with a kiss, his arms wrapping around your waist and pulling you as close as he could (which is just never quite close enough for him). knowing ollie, it would probably end with him fucking you on the couch, not caring that the record reached its end as he mumbles how much he loves you in your ear :(.

possum (welcome to willits) would love smoking with you (if you want to, of course). he'd be sitting with you near a campfire, the sweltering flames crackling in the air as he lights up a blunt. earbuds would be plugged into your phone, the two of you sharing them to listen to music. he'd ask if you wanna take a hit, but instead of handing it to you, he'd take a drag before leaning in to blow it in your mouth. it would eventually turn into him kissing you deeply, switching between hitting the blunt and pressing his lips back to yours <3. he'd probably end up getting all touchy, putting out the blunt after a bit so he could get his hands on you :3. he might even start grinding on you if he's sure you're alone, idkidk.

**

A/N: can u tell i'm obsessed with ollie rn? i kinda wanna do a part two to this with other characters, it was super fun to write :).

[mostly-imagines]

"He shakes his head, staring up blankly. “Sure, we’re friends.”

“We’re friends and you like me,” you reiterate.

He really wishes you’d stop saying that. “Okay.”

“I like you too. Even though you’re kinda sketchy.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that.

You hum into the silence, looking up at the ceiling. “J…James, Jack, John…”

He smiles, gaze dancing across the egg-whitened popcorn texture of the ceiling. “I’m not going to tell you.”

I love everything about this, Jason basically too flustered to say anything and reader carrying this scene completely on liquid courage. I love how you build up their friendship, seeing Jason happy to be around reader and how they're getting closer with each interaction that they have.

"He feels this warmth in his heart that if he didn’t know any better, he’d call burning. His hands feel numb and he can distinctly feel the beat of his own heart in his chest, thrumming away.

He presses his lips to your forehead with a feather light touch, slow to pull away. He doesn’t make it all the way back to his original position before his movement lulls and his body relaxes again, joining you gladly in unconsciousness."

Morgan, my heartttttttttt🥺. I say this as normally as a mentally stable person can, I need to take a look into your brain. You wrote this scene perfectly and I don't really have much to say. You have this amazing talent for being able to perfectly encapture the feelings of the characters and describe them in a way that makes it the reader's own feelings, their own perspective.

"“Huh?” He throws back a tired glance, “Oh. They're..curtains.”

“Explain.”

He looks at you blankly, “You don’t have any curtains.”

You blink. “Explain.”

“It’s dangerous for people to just be able to look in and see you. So. Curtains.” For a guy who reads Dostoevsky, he’s not much of a wordsmith. Though that could be the concussion."

I really do think that one of Jason's main love languages would likely be acts of service and this plays right into that. He might not always know exactly what to say or how to get his emotions across, but he'll show you he cares and that's exactly what gets across in this scene. You manage to show the reader, instead of telling us, that yes Jason may not be the best at verbalising how much he cares but he'll do what he can to show it.

"He nods his permission at you without delay, and you shift yourself over to sit fully on his lap, straddling him on the sofa. You put your focus into cleaning his wound, but you have to notice how deep he’s breathing and how he’s seemingly trying very hard to avoid eye contact. You’re sure your own breath is uneven and telling, and frankly you’re kind of hoping he has a concussion just so he might not notice it.

An unexpected sting has him flinching and grabbing your hips on instinct, a certain heaviness lingering in the air after contact. His hand tenses and he’s about to remove them from you completely when you manage to catch his gaze, and the few moments of silent eye contact are enough to convince him to stay. He forces his hands to relax against your waist, his fix on your face wavering before fizzling away completely."

From the tension, to the pace, the look, and the silence, all of it works together to achieve such an amazingly written scene. One thing I've always noticed about your works is that its clear how much planning, thought, and skill goes on in the background. How every detail you include and every scene you write forms part of the bigger picture and how when it all comes together, it's like pieces of a puzzle clicking together perfectly, designed that way from the beginning.

"His head leans forward just barely before stopping. He retreats slightly and his body ultimately decides to come closer. He doesn’t stop until his lips, slightly parted, skim across yours.

Your breath catches as he looms nearer, lips touching against yours softly. He tests that pressure out for a moment, before moving to kissing you with more intent. You kiss him back, and though there’s an increasing resolve on both of your parts, though the connection itself remains gentle, reposeful."

The kiss. The Kiss. THE KISS. I literally don't know what to say. Morgan how you manage to outdo yourself consistently, not only showing the multitude of skills that you have, but also how you can bring them together to write a story, is something I really hope you are insanely proud.

This is getting a lot longer than I expected so I'm going to fast forward to the end but let me clarify that even the scenes I haven't quoted here are just as high quality as the rest of your writing. Writing is definitely a skill on it's own, but to know your characters well enough, to know your story well enough to be able to bring it all together like you have is easily the mark of a great writer.

"You engulf the note in your palm, nodding sincerely. His eyes flicker across your face, like he’s thinking about something. He hesitates for a moment, turning towards you, away from you, then towards you again. He holds the back of your head tenderly before pressing a sweet kiss to your forehead.

You look at each other up close for a second with nothing short of starry eyes before he turns away and ducks out the window.

You open up your palm and look down at the paper, at the ten digits scrawled across it.

Huh.

Must be official."

I definitely haven't said this enough but, wow. Just wow to everything. Calling what you have a talent is definitely an understatement. I hate how much worse the likes to reblog ratio has gotten recently because I can say without a doubt that it is the complete opposite to how many of us feel. Thank you for choosing to share your work with us Morgan. I know how disheartening it can be to feel like you are pouring so much work into something only to not have it be appreciated, but know that there are some of us here that do and will continue to support you no matter what. 💕💕Remember to drink water and eat healthy💕💕

-💝

i am not the same person i was before reading this i am not the same writer i was before reading this i dont know who you are yet but i would die for you do you like girls because i like you

[nono-bunny]

When Eric Coleman, someone who worked closely on ATLA since its inception, understands that the biggest and most satisfying "hero's journey" of the show isn't even the hero's, I feel like that's kind of a clear indication not only of success with Zuko's character, but of failure with Aang's

I feel like as much as I came to hate Aang, I more than anyone would have been delighted to see him emerge triumphant after facing his issues, addressing them, and using what he learns to move on- but the one who ends up perfectly embodying that spirit of learning and growing from your mistakes is instead Zuko, while Aang sits on his ass, does jack-all, and gets all the credit! Aang NEVER grows as a person, both throughout the course of the show and through everything we know of him after it, and in perfect ironic contrast Zuko is ALWAYS growing, always working hard, always striving to do the right thing...

Like! I LOVE ATLA, I do! But it was NEVER because of Aang, and always because of the people around him. Even in the very beginning, I feel like I'm infinitely more interested in watching Sokka and Katara interact with each other and their tribe than I am with anything to do with him, and that's a problem!

When your main character only ever strives to be comic relief when the narrative needs him to be the hero, and he refuses to answer the call at every turn and has to be strong armed into doing his job both by other characters in universe and by the writers every time they need him to do his job... It's not good!!! He never gets past that!! He always has to have someone shove him towards being the hero, and his "reluctant hero" thing never stops! They previously talked about how sometimes the world needs the "reluctant hero", but that's like? A character archetype they should grow out of, that's the whole thing! They gain experience and confidence in themselves and their abilities, they become invested in the main conflicted and want to help resolve it, but??? Aang literally never does! He gets set up to start changing with Guru Pathik, his flightiness is addressed as an AWFUL thing by the other characters, but all of that flies out the window over and over and over again! He gets handed so many great scenarios where he SHOULD have chosen to step up, SHOULD have chosen to do the right thing, and he always chooses NOT to- because it's easier, because he knows others have grown used to picking up his slack... Because he ultimately doesn't care about anyone other than himself and his own self interests and his public image- those are canonical (even if not outright spoken like his flightiness) character flaws of his, and they're a great starting point for a hero to grow from.... But he never does, even when gives SO many perfect chances to, so he kinda just remains forever stuck as an asshole, entitled, brat.

[megamuscle885-blog]

So, warhammer fantasy? Plus Worm. Lets brainstorm a bit. A non-exhaustive list of who would become champions of chaos, or be chosen by the chaos gods to become their heralds, in no particular chronological order.

Khorne: The Butcher XIV aka Quarrel.

I can see The Butcher turning rabid one awful night. Howling about an infinite ocean of blood. Slaughtering the unpowered members of the Teeth. Killing those who try to reason with her. Infecting others with her madness somehow. Most of the Teeth capes flee north to Boston and Spree's clique when they're told to run by those Teeth that were there for the slaughter. Of those that were present, maybe half maybe more, flee to the New York Protectorate, begging refuge, begging Legend to kill The Butcher before she breaks free, something like that. Incoherent babbling about how she's slathered herself in blood and is killing indiscriminately - Villains, Heroes and civilians alike - piling the skulls of those she beheads in one spot and sits upon it like a gory throne. The Teeth are reforged in The Butcher's charnel house, quenched in blood. The World Eaters. She aspires to wash the entire east coast in blood, a massive sacrifice that will bring daemons through in their millions, and she'll begin in the largest city in north america.

Nurgle: Nilbog aka The Goblin King aka James Rinke.

A particularly terrible winter's night, cold and frigid in Ellisburg, NY, James is holding one of his favourite creations, Polka III, as she dies from disease. He's trying to tell a bedtime story to the rest of the creatures, all sharing their body warmth as best they can, but the cold is making his puppet shiver and he's constantly interupted by a cough that rattles his ribs and won't go away no matter how much he clears his throat. He's in tears over the sorry state of his garden. A like-minded figure sympathizes with his plight. He begs the empty air for something to save them. Something comes. The acrid, infertile land around Ellisburg, stripped of nutrients to create his fantasy creatures suddenly begins to spring to life all around him. Strange and fantastic new fruits and berries curl out of the ground. Caramel-sweet rivers start to form. Everything is verdant and green and hot wherever he walks. His cough doesn't seem to go away, but it doesn't bother him much anymore. Polka III is alive and well. And he's suddenly struck by so many new and wonderful ideas. He goes to the carcass pits and begins to create and create and create. And his Grandfather looks on with paternal joy.

Slaanesh: Jack Slash aka Jacob Black, the Slaughterhouse 9.

This might not click for some people. Personally, I think a man for whom every new terrible torment needs to be more thrilling, more horrible, more impactful than the last fits perfectly here. I'm not entirely sure how to write his first moments though. Broadcast nudges him one way, Slaanesh nudges him another. He starts to indulge more and more. A little less careful. Broadcast's balancing act starts to slip as Slaanesh's prodding throws the relationships of the Slaughterhouse 9 into new dynamics. I might have to come back to this one, but it was one of the first I thought of.

Tzeentch: Taylor Hebert

Now who else would like to see Skitter but with birds? Fucked up mutated birds. Introducing the Raven God and his new magical apprentice. I feel myself running dry here, but I think as our nominated protagonist, Tzeentch is able to lend quite a bit of weight to Taylor's character, and her eagerness to grab onto an escape from her wretched life with both hands and take it to its extremes. Though one thing I will mention is that one of Tzeentch's aspects is as a God of Hope, and that'd be fun to play with I think. Though that's an aspect of his Fantasy version, and I tend to think of the Fantasy versions of the Chaos Gods as more interesting tbh.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Top 100 Movies #50 - #26

Finally, we're in the top 50! These next movies are ones I have a little bit more to say about than the previous entries, though the real big fish to fry will be in the final stretch.

50. Cats

Bad movies like this don’t come around very often. Nearly every aspect of this movie is hilariously misguided to the point of insanity, with the special effects in particular turning what should be a campy romp into a bizarre fever dream. But this is precisely what draws me to the film! The flashes of greatness in the back half of the movie, particularly the genuinely great Skimbleshanks scene, really come together to create one of the most endearingly batshit experiences you could ever sit through.

49. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

A movie that ruined an entire generation of women or something, this is a just a perfectly stylish action comedy with one of the most absurdly talented casts around. It's a fun, silly little live action comic book romp that manages to make great use of Michael Cera.

48. Eraserhead

Now this is the David Lynch we all know and love! This is one of the trippiest, weirdest movies ever made, and it has one of the greatest effects ever in the baby. I fucking love that baby. It is one of the most digustingly cute creatures ever conceived.

47. Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead is the far more popular of his genre parodies, but if I’m being totally honest Hot Fuzz is by far the superior film. It’s just funnier, fresher, and more exciting. It also has actual antagonists and some really great and memorable lines, plus it loves Point Break and, of all movies, Bad Boys II.

46. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Somehow, by some miracle, Disney managed to make a theme park ride featuring pirates (legendary box office poison) and make it into the most fun, exhilarating action adventure films of the 2000s. I think the bonkers premise combined with playful conviction from the entire cast is what really manages to sell this movie, but I must sadly give credit where credit is due: pre-dickhead era Johnny Depp, back when he was actually a good actor and not someone cast out of pity, brought the swaggering rock star pirate Jack Sparrow to life in glorious fashion, and manages to steal every scene he’s in. The only thing that could possibly make it better is if greatest character in the whole franchise Davy Jones was in this one, but they had to save something for the sequel.

45. It

While the miniseries starring Tim Curry as Pennywise has its charm, it is hampered by the restraints of television and its budget. With more money, we got a bigger, bloodier, gorier, and more impressive take on the iconic King novel, one that might be my favorite movie based on one of his works. The new, more horrifying and predatory take on Pennywise is certainly a big plus, but I think credit also has to be given to a young Sophia Lillis showcasing her acting chops early and Finn Wolfhard before he stopped giving a shit, as well as the rest of the kid cast. The Loser Club is the heart and soul of the story, and thankfully it’s the thing this movie nails… and it’s sadly where part two drops the ball a little bit. Grown ass adults in a secret club fighting an evil clown isn’t as cool as kids doing it, no matter how great it is to see James McAvoy and Bill Hader.

44. Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Speaking of movies where the sequel just couldn’t measure up…! This is one of Tarantino’s finest works, and certainly the one that most feels like the kind of movies that inspire him. There’s blood, ore, women going on a vengeful rampage… It really is a classic grindhouse movie with more polish. Uma Thurman truly kills it (along with scores of mooks) as Beatrix Ki—Er, I mean “The Bride.”

43. Predator

One of the manliest action films ever made, and also one of the greatest halfway plot switches of all time. You think you’re getting a simple macho 80s action film, and then halfway through, BAM! It’s a slasher movie and the macho men are the prey for a terrifying killer. Our final girl Arnold Schwarzenegger only wins by embracing those macho tropes and adapting them to a new foe. I think it’s a film where you can read it on the most surface level imaginable and deeply analyze it and still come to the exact same conclusion either way: This movie fucking rules.

42. The Batman

Live action Batman movies have been good, but too many of them miss core aspects of what makes Batman, well, Batman. Even the best ones like The Dark Knight, Batman Returns, or even Batman & Robin miss a few aspects and, while great films in their own right, just don’t feel like the definitive Batman. Then one half of the dudes behind Felicity took a crack at it and boy does he get it. This is what Batman should be. There’s detective work, there’s action, there’s car chases and gadgets, and most fascinatingly it’s an origin story but not in the way you think; rather than him becoming Batman, it’s him learning to become a symbol of hope instead of a symbol of fear. Robert Patinson proves he is one of the greatest talents of his age, and Paul Dano brings a deranged campiness to his Riddler that helps keep things comic booky even in a realm of grounded realness. And then there’s Colin Farrell’s Penguin, who is so good he got his own spin off show. It has never been a better time for Batman fans when it comes to cinema; we are eating good.

41. Guardians of the Galaxy

I was a bit skeptical at this film when I sat down to watch it. I mean, these were heroes I’d never heard of headlining a Marvel film when they seemed to be hitting their stride. Then the film opened with a crushing emotional moment, and then it goes into the opening credits as Chris Pratt dances like a goober to “Come and Get Your Love.” It all clicked for me, and it only got better from there as it morphed into the greatest “group of assholes become a found family” I ever saw at the time. I do think it’s the weakest of the trilogy now; Ronan is not a compelling villain and aside from that Redbone tune that opens the movie, the soundtrack kind of sucks (“Cherry Bomb?” Fucking seriously?). But when it comes to the Guardians, “weakest” is still “one of the best goddamn sci-fi action films you’ll ever watch.” It’s nice getting a reminder Chris Pratt is actually a good actor at any rate.

40. Raiders of the Lost Ark

I think even I can concede that The Last Crusade is objectively the best Indy film. I mean, it has Sean Connery in it, after all. But sometimes you just gotta let your nostalgia take the wheel, and when it does it tells me this one deserves the higher spot. No mattter what Sheldon Cooper says, this is one of the best and most thrilling pulp action movies ever made, and one of Spielberg’s finest blockbusters. If nothing else, it definitely has the best opening and arguably the best climax of the whole series. And maybe this is a hot take unless you’re Harrison Ford himself, but Indy > Han Solo.

39. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

It’s honestly amazing how this movie got me to give a shit about so many characters I wouldn’t ever have really thought about much otherwise. Miles Morales went from a cool footnote to one of my favorite Spider-Men, Gwen Stacy went from the dead love interest to a cool and alive love interest, Kingpin went from the best mob boss villain in comic books to the best mob boss villain in comic book movies… and that’s not even getting into how creatively this film uses the multiverse and the concept of variants. It’s really no big surprise just about every superhero movie in the coming years tried to crib its style.

38. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

This movie is ass-numbingly long, especially if you’re watching the extended version (and I always do—weird bits that kind of rob suspense aside the death of Sauruman, the Mouth of Sauron, and Harvey Weinstein orc getting killed are too good to pass up) and it has about a dozen endings, but you can’t really say any of it is unearned considering what came before it. This is truly an amazing capstone to the most epic fantasy trilogy ever made, and not once in that monstrous runtime does it ever feel like any time is wasted.

37. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This is the Western, and easily Clint Eastwood’s greatest performance ever. But despite how unflinchingly cool and badass he is, and despite how terrifying Lee Van Cleef is as the villain, it is Eli Wallach as the titular “ugly,” an all-too human lout, who manages to be the most fascinating character in the story. The final showdown is one of the greatest in all of cinema, and the Ennio Morricone score is iconic. If you only ever watch one Western in your life, make it this one.

36. The Prestige

Christopher Nolan may not know how to write women, but he sure knows how to take a batshit premise and deliver on it. This film about dueling magicians takes at least a half dozen turns, each crazier than the last, and makes rewatches oh so rewarding. Plus, David Bowie plays Tesla. That’s fucking rad.

35. Oldboy

When a film starts off with a man eating a live octopus onscreen, you know you’re in for something special. This might be one of the greatest “revenge really fucking sucks” stories ever made and one of the greatest downer endings of all time. The twist is genuinely a curveball of epic proportions, and the villain is one of the most heinous yet sympathetic you could ever hope to see. It’s a damn good movie that definitely should never be remade with Marvel actors.

34. Fight Club

I get you’re not supposed to talk about this one, but it’s hard not to considering how liking this movie can easily be misconstrued as being an endorsement of cult-like anarchism and chud ideologies. I like this movie because of its critiques of capitalism as well as its examination of the kind of guy Tyler Durden is, and also because this movie is super fucking gay. It also has Jared Leto getting his face caved in by Ed Norton. Literally every aspect of this movie is ridiculously appealing.

33. The Room

I fucking love bad movies, and this? This is the Citizen Kane of bad movies. Tommy Wiseau’s magnum opus is the sort of bad movie that comes along only once in a generation, something so spectacularly bad it must be seen to be believed. Hell, the reason I love Cats so much is it somehow manages to capture the absurd insanity of this film with a bigger budget, but this one is still better because rather than being an adaptation it is the singular vision of an egotistical blowhard who thought he was making great art. And you know what? He was right. This is the pinnacle of “so bad, it’s good.”

32. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

And you thought I was insane for preferring Glass Onion over Knives Out! Well, look here! I like the sequel so many “genius” animation critics derided as “incomplete” or “half a story.” I’m not the brightest guy on the planet, but even I understand the concept of cliffhangers and dark endings that set up future storylines; it’s like these people have never seen The Empire Strikes Back, which this is very much in the vein of. I think for me while the original film has a better and more focused story and a more interesting villain with Kingpin, the scope and the more impressive work done with the animation elevate this one above the first film in my mind.

31. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

A Guardians of the Galaxy clone based on a TTRPG that has famously had bad luck with adaptations and starring a cast of absurdly famous people you wouldn’t expect to give a damn about telling a compelling story in this setting… Truly, this was a disaster waiting to happen. But that’s just it: It didn’t happen. This is the best fantasy film we’ve gotten in ages, and a movie that is faithful to the concept of D&D. What I mean is that while it’s not literally adapting a specific storyline, it very much feels like the average campaign, to the point you can basically see where each character nat 20s and where they crit fail. You can see where the DM is like “fuck it” and has them conveniently solve a puzzle, and where they sat back and let the party fuck around. This movie gets D&D, and the entire cast is a blast to watch and they have great chemistry. We need more of these films, dammit!

30. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Speaking of movies it was easy to write off before seeing, here’s a sequel to a mediocre Shrek shrek spinoff made years after that franchise went dormant. But the movie is so fresh, funny, and vibrant it’s like that Shrek spirit was never gone. Puss is as fun as he’s always been, and the movie manages to tackle his insecurities and grappling with his own mortality with surprising grace for a family comedy film. It also has three of the most fantastic antagonists in Dreamworks history with the anti-villain Goldilocks, the relentless force of nature that is the Wolf, and the hilarious card-carrying villain Big Jack Horner. Truly, this franchise isn’t ogre yet.

29. Aladdin

For the longest time I called this my favorite Disney movie, and how could I not? Robin Williams and Gilbert Gottfried turn in some of the best and funniest performances of their careers here! The songs are absolutely fantastic! Aladdin is a great male lead and Jasmine is a really fun and compelling princess! It got a live action remake that’s actually decent and watchable! And, well, it’s obviously still pretty damn high up there. I’ve just come to realize there’s a couple Disney films I like a little better than this after all.

28. Seven Samurai

This is basically the birthplace of modern action movies, with tropes typical of the genre put on display for the first time and unbuilt at their conception. There’s a lot of commenatry on class and the nature of samurai, ridiculous feats of badassery, and one of the most poignant bittersweet endings imaginable. There’s a reason so many other films across the years have aped this one’s premise.

27. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

James Cameron’s magnum opus, and an action film that redefines cinematic action. It’s just a damn good film with stunning action, but I think there’s a few things that need to be addressed here. For one, as much as people love hyping up Sarah Connor as some feminist ideal or “one of the good ones” when it comes to female characters, she’s kind of a shitty person for most of the runtime, only regaining her humanity and her right to call herself John’s mother with the help of the T-800. And speaking of him, Schwarzenegger truly shows off his genuinely incredible acting chops, between his comedic attempts to emote and his delivery of the most tearjerking thumbs up in all of cinema. And then, finally, there’s Robert Patrick as the T-1000, easily one of the coolest and most intimidating villains in sci-fi, which is all the more impressive since he is scary and a believable menace when going up against a mountain of a man like Schwarzenegger.

26. Nope

In my opinion Jordan Peele has gone three for three with fantastic films, and this one is not only no exception, it’s my favorite he’s made so far. Such a wacky premise delivered in an impressive way, a truly breathtaking monster design, and two of the most unnerving scenes in recent horror history, Peele manages to cement his place as a modern master of his craft.

[m34gs]

Twisted Wonderland Saw AU Ask Time! 👀

Everything is perfectly set. Months of planning, preparing, testing, and many late night are finally paying their dues. Victims? Secured. Traps? Tested and will work without a hitch. Witnesses? Never been a problem. Now, time to sit back and watch what will... what's this? Why is their phone ringing? Who would call them at this...? Wait. They pale and scramble to dig their phone out of their pocket. Caller ID says "Yuu". Reflexes snap and the phone call is answered.

"Uh hello? It's me. We're still on for tonight, right?"

Tonight? They blink before everything rushes to their brain and the only coherent thought is, "Shit, I had plans with Yuu".

Please tell me... 1) What were their plans with Yuu 2) What is their excuse? and 3) How long do they keep Yuu waiting?

I am SO EXCITED to answer this ask!!!! (further discussion with Kim clarified that rescheduling is a last resort; the boys would much rather avoid it if possible, and I fully agree!) In the interests of this post not becoming an entire novel all on its own, I will be grouping the characters into their respective dorms and giving one response per dorm.

No explicit details on the traps in this one; I don't think there are any warnings I would put for this. The rest is under a cut simply because it is so long! Hope you enjoy :D

Heartslaybul:

What were the plans with Yuu: The plans were tea-time with Yuu's five Heartslaybul friends, and then a sleepover with Ace and Deuce. Trey is the only one who showed up on time, though Cater said he is on his way. Riddle is the one Yuu called, as it's very odd for him to be late.

What is their excuse: Riddle would have gone over his plans meticulously. There is no way he would miss anything that was written on his calendar for the day...except that he wrote "tea with Yuu" on the wrong date. He owns up to that mistake easily without letting on as to what he is currently up to (he's gotten much better at owning up to his mistakes and allowing himself to have human errors). He then says he is just out for a walk with Ace and Deuce, to cover for them as well.

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: He tells Yuu it will likely be an hour as they "need to come back home and then get dressed in appropriate teatime attire" (Yuu doesn't question this, since they figure there probably is some rule about teatime attire that Riddle wants to observe).

Savanaclaw:

What were the plans with Yuu: Watching a Spelldrive Tournament on TV and having snacks together. Something cozy and casual. Except, the tournament comes on in 5 minutes and Yuu's Savanaclaw friends haven't shown up yet, so they call Ruggie (Yuu finds Ruggie to be the more responsible one when it comes to being on time, though it should be noted that Leona tries very hard when it comes to spending time with Yuu).

What is their excuse: Ruggie spouts some excuse about how some family stuff came up for Leona. Leona's trying to manage a crisis from a distance. They'll still be there, he says. It's a good excuse because Yuu is the kind of person to be understanding and not pry into the affairs of the Royal Family.

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: Ruggie says Jack will be there in 10 minutes. Ruggie and Leona will follow when the "crisis" is dealt with. Leona makes sure the trap will be over in less than 30 minutes.

Octavinelle:

What were the plans with Yuu: Dinner and drinks after hours at the lounge, and Yuu would be spending the evening at the trio's home (firmly believe those three live together in this AU). Yuu shows up a little before closing time, but now it's last call and the waitstaff are starting to clean things up and it's creeping closer to the closing hour, and it's entirely unusual for Floyd to not have found them and hugged them by now...

What is their excuse: Azul answers the phone. The excuse he gives is "there was a disruption at one of our other locations in the city; and unfortunately it escalated to needing myself there to resolve it". Yuu understands customer service jobs well. They shudder to think what awful kind of customer must have caused such a disruption that Azul felt the need to go there with both Jade AND Floyd.

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: Floyd advocates that they should completely abandon the trap and go find Shrimpy. He's upset that Shrimpy has been waiting so long for him and he wants to hug them immediately. Jade shows a bit more restraint but does suggest they move the trap up to tomorrow. Azul will not allow this; he insists it needs to be done tonight. However, he's willing to compromise. He sends Floyd and Jade to greet Yuu immediately and make them feel comfortable and happy, and he will oversee the trap by himself this time. He will join them when he arrives (estimated time for Azul: 2 hours. Less if the victim dies before then).

Scarabia:

What were the plans with Yuu: Going to a festival together. (Listen, your mafia au has given me Festival Brain Rot, lol). Yuu is ready to go, but Kalim and Jamil, who insisted on picking them up, aren't there yet...and they're worried plans have changed.

What is their excuse: Yuu calls Jamil. He quickly spins them some sort of tale of Kalim not being able to decide what to wear. At the same time, he uses Kalim's phone to text another worker for the Asim family and request they come to a location nearby to deliver festival clothes for both him and Kalim to put on, and for the car and driver to wait at that location for them.

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: It's Kalim's trap, and he always has his designed to run from a distance so that he doesn't have to watch the person die if they fail. They can leave as soon as it is set up; so Yuu only ends up waiting twenty minutes. This time would not change much with Jamil's traps, as he makes inescapable ones, so it doesn't matter to him if the person makes it through or not. Jamil only has to step away momentarily to deal with the trap if the person succeeds and survives the trap, which he can easily excuse as some duty or other to the Asim family that he needs to manage.

Pomefiore:

What were the plans with Yuu: Spa night. It was going to be a really relaxing time for all of them.

What is their excuse: Vil is extremely upset with himself for forgetting (He stuck a sticky note to the calendar regarding something related to his acting work, and the note covered up the spa night with Yuu). He tells Yuu honestly what happened with the calendar. As the cover story, he says that he is just out with Rook and Epel on a walk.

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: Vil doesn't want to leave the trap because he feels it's his responsibility. Rook volunteers to go and look after Yuu immediately. Epel would feel guilty leaving Vil alone, so he stays. Besides, Rook is better at lying than he is. He needs Rook and Vil to help him out if Yuu were to ask any questions. Rook tells Yuu that Vil and Epel are getting some groceries to cook a late dinner, and they are all back within an hour.

Ignihyde:

What were the plans with Yuu: Idia and Ortho were going to have an anime marathon with Yuu. Yuu is at their place, waiting outside to be let in. Idia actually receives the notification from their doorbell/surveillance system about half a second before Yuu's call lights up his phone. Luckily for him, all his traps can be managed from a distance.

What is their excuse: Idia makes up some excuse about misreading the time and going out to pick up a specific snack food he wanted to have for their marathon night.

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: They are nearly there instantly, just stopping on the way to buy a metric fuck-ton of snacks to add credibility to their story. Yuu only waits about 10 minutes. Idia checks on the trap periodically using his phone which is connected to the cameras, but Yuu is used to him checking his phone once in a while during conversations or movies since he plays a lot of video games with time-sensitive quests.

Diasomnia:

What were the plans with Yuu: Dinner and movie night together as a group. Yuu is hosting, but no one has arrived yet...did they get the date wrong? They call Lilia.

What is their excuse: Lilia tells Yuu a (far too detailed) story about how his lunch disagreed very much with his bowels and the other three were helping him out with getting medicine and lost track of time. They will be there shortly, sans Lilia who will stay behind for his "stomach troubles".

How long do they keep Yuu waiting: Malleus teleports there instantly, and he is deeply sorry (perhaps he kisses their hand in apology?👀👀👀). Silver and Sebek have to travel across the city. It takes them about 20 minutes. Lilia stays for the duration of the trap. He arrives about an hour later, claiming his stomach issues to have "resolved".

Here are my thoughts! Thank you so much for this ask, it was a lot of fun to answer!!! Let me know what you think :)

[zablife]

Hi Lee, hope you are feeling better. I hope you have a lovely week ahead. I was wondering if I could make a headcanon request for how Tommy, John, Alfie, Michael, Luca and Jack surprise the reader for valentines day. I've also just seen Florence + The Machine live and was curious which Florence song you would designate to each Peaky character (women included)?

Hi darl, tysm for the well wishes and this lovely request! It was so much fun! I hope you enjoy my answers (below the cut).

Peaky Blinders Valentine's Day

🌹Tommy-It's a huge surprise when your workaholic bf takes the day off to spend it with you. He lets you sleep late, cuddled into his side, and has Frances bring breakfast in bed. You spend a leisurely day on the grounds of Arrow House laughing and talking without a care in the world. Tomorrow the hectic pace of Tommy's life will take over again, but tonight he's all yours. You end the day in the large clawfoot tub together sipping champagne.

🌹John-He finds a babysitter for the children and whisks you away in the vardo to remind you of a time before you both had responsibilities. It thrills you to go off wandering as though you were reckless teenagers. John picks wildflowers for you like he did years ago on your first Valentine's Day together. As night falls, you sit by the warm campfire, drinking from the same bottle and recalling all your happiest moments as a couple.

🌹Alfie-You wake up on Valentines' Day to find Cyril wearing a sign that says "Big Brother." When you tell Alfie you're confused, he brings you a small whimpering bundle and your heart nearly bursts. Inside is the puppy Ollie rescued a week ago outside the distillery. The same puppy Alfie insisted you couldn't keep. As Alfie leans in to offer an apology to you, the pup steals his make up kiss, licking your nose and making you giggle with delight.

🌹Michael-He knows a romantic evening at home won't be happening with his mum listening so he takes you out on the town for a night of dancing. You're shocked that he doesn't complain once the entire evening. Michael twirls and dips you on the dance floor as other couples look on enviously. When the band plays a slow tune, it feels safe and warm in his embrace. And when you rest your head on his shoulder, he whispers sweet words that make your heart flutter.

🌹Luca-You're stunned to see Luca in the kitchen, covered in flour when you return home from work. He explains that he's making homemade gnocchi for dinner and offers to teach you. He stands behind you, taking your hands in his as he shows you how to create the proper shape and can't help stealing a kiss when you make one perfectly by yourself.

🌹Jack-It's no surprise that Jack buys you the most beautiful diamond and ruby necklace you've ever seen for Valentine's Day. He loves to spend money on you and often buys you lavish gifts to show his affection. "Nothing's too good for my girl," he tells you. As he removes the jewelry from its velvet case, he clasps the cool metal around your neck carefully, placing delicate kisses to your shoulder that make you shiver with pleasure.

The second part of your request was to match Peaky characters to the Florence + the Machine song I associate them with, but I decided to use couples in honor of Valentine's Day. I hope that's ok.

Tommy + Lizzie - Cosmic Love

Arthur + Linda - Kiss With a Fist

John + Esme - Wish That You Were Here

Polly + Aberama - Heaven is Here

Ada + Freddie - You've Got the Love

Michael + Gina - Dream Girl Evil

[lorum-strap]

Manos pt. 1

MANOS

 Deep aromatic skin. A bartender in a taverna. He smelled of cigarettes, bitter sweet compari, disaronno, Mastika with lemon and pipire. Not all at once. It was the flood of memory that made me associate these scents with him. The flavors stuck to my tongue. Just as he stuck to the psyche.

    The taverna called “Fidiou 2” located in Athens, Greece. Fidiou translates to snake funny enough. If I want to be reminded of his essence I will lite a freshly rolled cigarette let it burn by a window like an incense. The nicotine honey that collects on the paper - I will touch to my lips. I will put compari and lime in a shot glass, swirl it around with my finger and suck on it until I get a touch of arousal. Then listen to his voice note that ends with “Kisses Goodnight.”

 A local girl in Athena brought my friend and I to Fidou. We entered the alley in which the tavern was perfectly placed. I was simply enchanted. The energy of the people in the street really fulfilled every small fantasy I had around the European way of life. Traditional music echoed off the marble buildings that towered over us. A meloncholy voice be the proud possessor of a middle aged woman with a tambourine. Accompanying her stunning vibrato, a well seasoned bouzoukia player. Very similar to a mandolin in sound and design. United their soft trance like melodies reverberating around us. 

 Upon entering this place I noticed him sitting at a table and thought to myself - what a beautiful man. I don’t think he noticed me. I was fixed on his traditional zorro-esque, young Jack Sparrow type energy. He stood out from the others. When asked what my type is in a man. I always say its never really physical but more energetic. I am attracted to the man who seeks, who ponders, who embodies. Something I’m reluctant to admit- someone who is slightly troubled at a caliber that doesn’t cause much harm. When you are curious you are always searching for other. Someone who challenges their current state in attempts to evolve.  I know this from the direction in which he gazes - down to the ground. But his shoulders are strong and reach up to the sky. So I know he will find what he’s looking for. 

The staff darted in and out with trays of shots and Greek tapas. They’re all so warm to one another. They were hugging, laughing and sharing kisses cheek to cheek in the European fashion. Shots were poured and the crew broke out into song before they were taken. Their arms layed over each others shoulders smiling from ear to ear. Ive never felt so safe around a group of strangers allowing their love to be shamelessly expressed. It was infectious. After a good many shots we danced to the next party location, this one more modern with a Dj playing mostly American top 40 from 2016. 

My company for the greek portion of my trip were Rea and Nefeli. Rea being a half greek girl from the states strong in her conviction and a great love for the culture. Nefeli, a full blown Greek and very proud to say so. Both unique and gorgeous. 

  We were receiving a lot of attention from the opposite sex. The attention was very respectful and never predatory. The boys were cute and very fun although it was the man I saw at Fidou who pulled up a chair and sat in the front of my mind.

The girls and I danced, sang and laughed until the black sky turned a dark blue. Initiation to the break of dawn. We had been out for a while. A few of the people from Fidou 2 had gotten off work and walked past the small club, rolling their cigarettes, staggering a bit dressed in black and grey colors. I loved their style. Piercings, Mohawks, and buzz cuts. Less punk and more dark bohemian in dress some could say- grunge. Us girls really enjoyed their company. There is something about a sweet and salty mix of characters that are biologically magnetic towards one another.  I asked one of the bartenders from Fidou about the guy with the small hoop earrings, low ponytail and white shirt. Ahhh! Manos! He declared. Yes, yes! Where is he tonight? Ehh he is not here tonight he works at the bar tomorrow - You should come by! He said in a thick Armenian accent. Looking towards the girls my eyes lit up. They chuckled and teased me a bit. Once my compass points a certain direction its hard for me to steer away until its proven unworthy of my attention. So I had to give it a shot.

[lunalycana]

Quirks/Hobbies for Sonic and Tails?

Happy headcanon for Infinite?

:)

Hobby Headcanon for Sonic:

I love that it's canon that he likes to read? My personal take is that he's normally so hyper and impatient that he can't sit through a lot of slow things or relax, like watching a movie or finishing a video game, etc. One day, Tails challenged that he couldn't finish an entire book with how antsy he is and Sonic took it personally, so he grabbed a minimum 200 paged novel and settled to read it.

And then just. Never stopped reading since. It took being told he "couldn't handle that" to make him have a slow and comfortable hobby and now he reads regularly when he has downtime. He likes the mental freedom of having his imagination work out the scenes for him and will complain when watching a movie rendition that they "got the view and the colors all wrong". :')

Quirk Headcanon for Tails:

I'm a sucker for "bro these kids are just animals" takes and I thoroughly enjoy when the characters are written or drawn to have little animal behaviors? My favorite for Tails is that he can't help chasing and catching his tails. The way the both move behind him drives him crazy at times and he has to pin them down so he can focus LOL

I feel like this applies to most things that move a lot though. I feel like Sonic is the only one that knows and he sometimes bugs him with string and cattails knowing he'll swat at them or try to catch them. It's really embarrassing for Tails but Sonic thinks its hilarious and cute.😭💕

Happy Headcanon for Infinite:

I had to really think about this because a lot of my headcanons for him are jokes or even just unflattering LOL he's really easy to bully--

I like to think that Infinite has a LOT of really mundane but impressive skills that don't come into conversation often. Like he's the kind of person that can do a ton of neat random things, but he never has a reason to talk about them. And they're things that genuinely brings him peace and clarity of mind.

He plays piano and can do perfect renditions of iconic classics. He can sew very well and is talented with patching clothing and fixing broken dolls. He can spell a word perfectly when asked even if its extremely long and oddly pronounced.

Just a really weird jack-of-all-trades kind of person in a very basic sense. And he like never shows this cuz he's so busy pretending to be superior to others and in worse cases, destroying something?? Infinite's weird but these little things make him experience bliss and normalcy.

[yeehanfrf]

Week 2 Recs: Feel-Good Hour

The Week 2 Fic Rec Friday theme was "Feel-Good Hour," or fluffy, heartwarming fics! Here are all the fluffiest fics recommended by the Yeehan community, organized by rating, then alphabetically by title.

General Audience

Blue Roses and Salted Caramel by AsheRhyder [11,135 words] Reccer comment: "Hanzo is the head of a post office and Cassidy is in need of his services."

Hanzo hated Valentine's Day and everything that went with it. This got exceptionally awkward for a man whose courier service saw business triple in the lead up to February 14th.

A series of 'special deliveries' between Mr. Jack Morrison and Mr. Gabriel Reyes drew his attention. Initially, it was because he wasn’t sure if it was the world's most polite form of hate mail or the world's most awkward flirting...

But then there was something about Mr. Reyes' son, Jesse, that kept him coming back...

From Another Room by acrxphxbia [3,822 words] Reccer comment: "I always come back to this because its just so freaking sweet I'll have diabetes"

Jesse and Hanzo have a lazy day together. They play some music. A birthday gift for my lovely wife, Tsol.

Keep You On My Side by maskedhero, radiantsaber [11,438 words] Reccer comment: "I don't know that it's necessarily gooey or fluffy, but I'm pretty sure this is the softest Yeehan I have in my bookmarks."

Hanzo Shimada has loved Jesse McCree for years.

And for years, he remained silent.

A Night of Firsts by KittenzCaboodle [13,752 words] Reccer comment: "I'd like to also rec one of my fics, if it's alright, which is just pure G-rated humor and fluff"

Out of every Overwatch and Blackwatch team member Cole had worked with, Hanzo Shimada was certainly not the worst.  He had met ruder folks, meaner folks, and Hanzo was… well, Hanzo was just kinda… there, sitting in the corner, rarely making a sound, like a stray dog that you had let in from the rain that wasn’t sure if a meal or a boot was coming its way next.

Hanzo seemed perfectly content to stay out of the spotlight, pulling more than his weight on missions, assisting around the base when asked, but never going out of his way to do or say much outside of anything related to work.  There were only a few souls he even felt comfortable being near - Genji, Ana, and Cole - but being near was a far cry from being relaxed around. - Hanzo agreeing so easily to accompany Cole on a mission in Japan was a surprise, not that Cole minded getting a chance to work more closely with the handsome fella.

It would be one of a few surprises they encountered that night, as they had a night of firsts.

Teen and Up

Dreamlike by mataglap [4,063 words] Reccer comment: "Another one where they meet in dreams and it becomes reality ♡⁠˖⁠꒰⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠⑅⁠꒱"

Hanzo is used to bad dreams, and he never would have expected that a good dream would end up haunting him the most.

A Good Time is Free by cocoabunny [2,385 words] Reccer comment: "this fic is so much fun and has the distinction of being perhaps the only fic tagged both 'assassination attempt' and 'fluff' I've ever read"

McCree and Hanzo are sent on an undercover mission to assassinate a bad, bad dude—except they mess up and get trapped in a mall overnight. How did two professional ex-assassins manage to get locked in, and how are they going to cope without murdering (or passionately kissing) each other?!

Just Once by Vimeddiee [2,534 words] Reccer comment: "sugar sweet fluff"

Cole dreams that he’s kissing someone.

Respite by CommonNonsense [5,732 words] Reccer comment: "This one is a delightful read. I enjoy how the characters are written!"

He freezes for a moment before he finally hazards a look down. Hanzo has apparently nodded off, lulled into a doze by a sake with a frankly alarming alcohol percentage, and managed to tip into McCree before he could fall over.

Honestly? Not the first time someone’s done this to him.

It is the first time that McCree hesitates, though.

you give me the most gorgeous sleep by JeziBelle [1,537 words] Reccer comment: "I've only finished one yeehan fic ever and it's cotton candy (and also contains my favorite weird Southern turn of phrase I've ever written). In hopes that attention will make me write again, I humbly submit it here."

It's not that Jesse's particularly fond of waking up alone, but he's more than happy to settle for however much Hanzo is willing to give him.

Which makes for more than a little confusion the morning he doesn't.

Mature

four days by feyhound [23,869 words] Reccer comment: "Now, if you're into pretend/fake relationship fluff like I am, PLEASE read this. It's an old favorite and I come back to it every time I need a serotonin boost."

“I have an embarrassin’ favor to ask of you,” Cole says.

Hanzo stares at him expectantly, a single brow arched. “And what is that?” he asks.

“Y’see, my family might currently be under the impression that I’m bringin’ home a date for a few days next week. And, the thing is, I don’t really have one. So, I’m currently S-O-L and would really, really appreciate it if you came home with me for a few days and, uh. Pretended. To be my boyfriend.”

He stares down at his plate and jabs a fry into the enormous puddle of ketchup gathered in the center of it. If only the fry could be his hypothetical four-day boyfriend, he thinks; it would save him an enormous amount of embarrassment. It would be tastier, too.

[ Or - Cassidy desperately needs a fake date to bring home to his family, and Hanzo never does anything half-assed. ]

Like that guy in the Odyssey by vaguely_concerned [5,924 words] Reccer comment: "not quite gooey, but as fluffy as it can reasonably get and incredibly heartwarming"

In which a pair of wanderers return home — some slice of outlaw life!

Never Say Never (say how you feel) by fishpoets [5,402 words] Reccer comment: "one of my favorite tropes, and very sweet to boot!"

A list of things Jesse McCree has never done:

- spent the night with a lover without having sex - kept a lover for more than a handful of encounters - had a friend-with-benefits he actually considered a friend - or had a lover he actually loved.

There's a first time for everything.

Explicit

Have and Hold by t_pock [2,716 words] Reccer comment: "This one also has smut but it's so fluffy and so heart-warming... yeehan marriage 🥺❤️"

Jesse always thought there’d be a firefight on his wedding day.

And that's a wrap on this week! Thank you to everyone who sent in a recommendation! Keep an eye out for next week's theme: "Right on Time," or modern/contemporary AUs.

In the meantime, you can also check out the Week 1 recs here or preview upcoming themes here!

[talia-rumlow]

Home Sweet Home (AU Brock Rumlow/Original Female Character) Chapter Two

WORDCOUNT: 6574

TRIGGERS: Mentions of domestic abuse, rascism and sexism

HAPPY READING!

CHAPTER TWO - RED LIGHTS!

The morning sun peeked through Calleigh's rose gold curtains, stirring her awake. With a displeased groan, she realized another scorching day likely lay ahead, perhaps even hotter than the 95°F heat of yesterday. Tossing aside her covers, Calleigh sat up in bed and surveyed her childhood bedroom, its pink hues and whimsical accents still soothing to her now. The intricate gold pattern on the pink walls, chosen at age 13, complemented the plush, baby pink carpet underfoot. Her royal blue queen bed anchored the west wall, facing east, with nightstands and lamps on either side. Almost the entire east wall was covered with closets, all painted in the same colors as the rest of the room. A little to the right, closer to the windows was the Rattan hanging egg chair that Calleigh, when she was around ten had demanded should go in her room, even though it was a lounge chair for outside use. And to her dad's surprise the chair still sat in that exact same spot to this very day. On the other side of the windows, on the west wall her dressing table sat by the only wallpapered section, its pink, butterfly print matching Calleigh's longtime affection for the color and winged creatures. She can't help but think back. How soothing it was to walk in here, when she came to visit her dad. How good it felt to sit down on the bed, and be home again. Even if she grew up living with her mom, she still lived here in Mansfield. So Mansfield and Texas were always home. And when her mom relocated them to New York all of that changed overnight. She never wants to go back there, she’s not even sure she ever wants to visit New York again. Calleigh takes a deep breath, forcing herself to think about better times. Family gatherings at the lake house for the 4th of July, block parties, birthday parties, family vacations with both her parents. All the memories of chasing butterflies by the lake house, and choosing pink everything seems really far away now.

Calleigh covers her face with her hands, then she lets out another displeased noise before she lets herself fall back on to the bed. She's gonna die in this heat, and a bikini is a piece of clothing she'll be caught dead in, before wearing in front of Brock. No bikini meant no poolside, and no poolside meant that she would be dead before this weekend ended. Brock. She thinks for herself. This is all his fault. Why did he have to come here and look all sexy and stuff? Brock. Stupid Brock.

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As he nears Jack's house, Brock slows to a jog and glances at his exercise watch. Having a place to stay along his usual running route made mornings easy for Brock, whether he was home or away. Workout clothes were always packed, no matter where he traveled overnight. Even on vacation, he needed a morning workout to energize him before breakfast. When his therapist Jillian had suggested that regular exercise might help him relax, Brock was skeptical at first. However, he decided to give it a try, and it helped tremendously - now he was hooked. Rain or shine, sickness or health, he had to take his morning run.

Jack's majestic house stood out from others on the street with its perfectly manicured lawn, oversized beige asphalt driveway framed by flower beds separating it from the lawn, and three garages reflecting Jack's undying love for vintage cars. The light gray exterior complemented the dark grayish-blue window details and carved roof accents. The house was way too big for Jack, but he was dead set on that house. Wanting Calleigh to have a big backyard and front lawn to play in, and of course there was the pool. Brock remembers that. Thinking back, he can remember the exact date Jack bought the house. Between tours, when Calleigh was about two years old, Jack became the proud owner of this house. Of course the house had gone through some serious upgrades over the years, but the memories still lived in the walls.

Bending his knees a little, leaning his palms on his thighs, trying to catch his breath again. It was harder to run in this heat, but not impossible. Feeling the coolness of his sweat running down his back, he quickly takes a look up towards the windows in Calleigh's room. His heart does that jump again. Wondering what she's doing right now. He takes a deep breath. Calleigh's room. Jesus, Brock. He thinks for himself. You gotta stop this. It's not just anyone, it's Calleigh. Shaking his head at himself, and dragging his hand through his hair as he walks the last meters up to the house.

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Calleigh puts the mascara back and takes a look at herself in the mirror. She looks older but her dressing table still looks like it did when she was 16. Funny photobooth pictures of her, Molly and Jess along the right side of the mirror, and some butterfly ornaments on the other side. In the middle, she looks at herself. 20 years old, back in her dad's house, back where she can see her friends every day, back to what she knows. But it still feels different. Very different.

Looking over her perfumes, she opted for one of the more subtle ones. A subtle rose scent. She doesn't want to make it too obvious that she wants to smell good for him. One spray on her neck, then one spray on her left wrist, before she rubs her wrists together, and then drags them over the back of her ears. This'll do. He's not into her like that anyway, so maybe she should just let it go. The problem is that she has no idea how to do that. Every time he's around her stomach swoops, and her heart goes into this unfamiliar rhythm. And she feels safe around him, and it's been a long time since she felt safe. Maybe that's it. Yeah, that's probably why. It has to be that.

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After a quick shower, Brock feels compelled to make a hearty breakfast for Calleigh, though he's not entirely sure why. He has an inexplicable desire for her to see him in a new light. Brock struggles to understand these sudden feelings as he rummages through the kitchen cabinets to prepare the meal.

The kitchen featured an open, airy layout like the rest of the house. A massive kitchen island anchored the space between the dining room to the south and the living room's TV area to the west. The island's intricate gray marble pattern matched the carpet under the living room furniture, creating a cohesive, relaxing look. The east wall offered ample counter space and storage with floor cabinets to accommodate every gadget. A modern marble backsplash and floating shelves displaying personal memorabilia gave this wall a sleek yet personal feel. The corner connecting the east wall to the north wall held the door leading into Jack's expansive pantry, a room overflowing with bright colors and mouth-watering smells from fresh produce and spices that made Brock hungry. Further along the North wall was the side by side stainless steel fridge, more counter space and storage, the massive cooktop with the stainless steel ventilator that gave the top shelves design that extra flair and then more counter space, all held together by that light marble backsplash. The massive kitchen island held a sitting area on the south side and on the north side was the kitchen sink, even more counter space, and underneath the north side stood the dishwasher and the stove, all with that stainless steel design. Brock enjoyed cooking in this kitchen. It was easy to navigate, everything was in reach from one place, making cooking easy, no matter how intricate the dish was. It was evident that Jack had designed this kitchen with that in mind.

After Brock had everything he needed on the counter he started to work on the breakfast. Cracking six eggs into the pan, he then adds the butter. Remembering how his mom taught him how to make scrambled eggs like this. As fond memories fill his head, he glances over the array or produce on the counter; a symphony of colors from ripe bananas, fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, salad, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, milk, crème fraîche, spices and bacon. There's no question that he's making a hearty and filling breakfast for both Calleigh and himself. Brock places the bacon into another pan, he then adds some water, so the bacon will cook perfectly; another trick he learned from his mom.

When the eggs are done, he adds some crème fraîche for creaminess. Taking the eggs of the heat, he starts to cut up the fruit. This protein shake is also a part of his morning routine. It helps his body recover after his morning jog, and it's a better energizer than coffee. He hopes Calleigh will enjoy it as well. Thinking about her makes his heart spread that warm feeling again. Lost in his own thoughts about blond hair, kissable lips and gemstone eyes; he doesn't notice Calleigh coming down the stairs.

The smell of scrambled eggs and the sizzling bacon frying in the pan bring a smile to Calleigh's face as she descends the stairs. She watches Brock easily navigate the kitchen, carefully examining him as he puts berries, oatmeal, bananas, and milk into the blender before turning it on. The blender mixes the ingredients into a thick, milkshake-like substance. Brock gets out two glasses and pours the mixture into them.

“What are you doing?” Calleigh questions as she takes a seat at the kitchen island.

"Jesus!" Brock gasps, dropping the two glasses. They shatter on the floor, scattering purple liquid and glass shards in a chaotic pattern.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you!” Calleigh rushes around the kitchen island, grabs a cloth and sits down on the floor to help clean everything up.

Brock kneels down as well, looking at Calleigh. “This Stealth thing you got going on… Is that on purpose or is it something you picked up in New York?” He asks, as Calleigh carefully tries to gather all the shards into one pile. “Hey, Calleigh, be careful, you might –”

“Ouch!” Calleigh gasps, shaking her hand, before putting the bleeding finger into her mouth.

“Cut yourself…” Brock continues. The sight of Calleigh sucking on her fingertip makes his stomach do an interesting swoop. He swallows thickly. “Come here,” he tells her, then he gets up and offers his hand to her.

Calleigh slowly takes his hand. The feeling she gets from his touch does something to her, even if it's just from his hand in hers. Brock gets the water running, then he puts Calleigh's bleeding finger under it. Gently brushing his thumb over the wound to see how bad it is. Calleigh swallows, carefully drinking Brock in. How his eyes examined her, he has that concerned look, as if he's hurt by her being hurt. Those small touches from his thumb makes Calleigh's knees go weak. And then her stomach does that jump again. She's had butterflies in her stomach before, but this is different. This is something else entirely.

“Doesn't look too bad,” Brock feels that his voice is shaking. Why does Calleigh have this effect on him? “You probably won't even need a bandaid,” he continues, lifting Calleigh's finger up to her mouth again. He's not exactly sure why, because her sucking on her finger makes his blood flow to places that aren't suitable for it to flow when it comes to best friends' daughters. “Just suck on it some more, your saliva will stop the bleeding,” he adds, clearing his throat. He feels like he's back in high school, making a move on his crush. And if he's completely honest with himself, he's confused by the fact that Calleigh seems to want him this close. Maybe he's just fooling himself. His track record with girlfriends isn't exactly paved with green flags and good choices.

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Jack drums his fingers on the massive oval table. Clearing his throat he looks over the other people around the table with him.

His corporate lawyer, Stephen Grayson sat to his right, with a stack of papers in front of him. Looking like his authoritarian self. Mr. Grayson had been the business’ corporate lawyer for the past 14 years. Jack trusted his judgment, and not only that Mr. Grayson was also Jessica's father. Given Calleigh, Molly and Jessica's friendship that had lasted ever since preschool. His friendship with Mr. Grayson and his wife were personal as well.

Mrs. Kensington, his HR representative sat to his left, along with three representatives from the business’ legal team. Katherine Kensington was approaching retirement, and was supposed to be in Seattle with the younger generation of the HR team. But given that this had turned into a little bit more than just a tiny legal crisis, Jack had to pull her from her Seattle duties, and bring her to Chicago, to clear up this messy situation.

Next to Katherine was Clint Barton; the dirty blonde 32 year old was a fairly new addition to the legal team. A talented legal adviser, who had a brilliant future ahead of him in the legal world. Jack was lucky to have a man like Clint Barton on his team.

On Clint's left side was Maria Hill, a brunette who was more fierce than her innocent look portrayed her to be. Maria could silence a room in seconds, with her brilliant legal jargon and her in depth knowledge about previous precedential cases. Maria was without a doubt a good lawyer to have by his side.

On Maria's left side was Virginia Potts, the blonde 47-year old who had earned herself the nickname ‘Pepper’, due to her highly unorthodox ways on resolving legal problems. No matter what the case was, Virginia always had a way to bring some Pepper into it. Jack had brought her with him to these negotiations for that exact reason.

On the other side of the table sat Kevin Saunders, with his lawyers. Mr. Sauders was a former employee who was now threatening to sue Rollins Delivery for misconduct and wrongful termination. The problem at hand was that Mr. Saunders had proposed a settlement that the company did not agree to. To be frank, Jack wouldn't agree to give Mr. Saunders anything. He had created a toxic work environment in their Chicago location, especially with his sexist and down right racist behavior. The termination was both rightful, needed and way overdue. This whole case was an unnecessary waste of Jack's time.

“My client has freedom of speech, the same way you have. You can't terminate people simply because they don’t share your views or your belief system,” Mr. Sauders lawyer says with a firm determined voice.

Jack takes a deep breath, forcing himself not to give Mr. Saunders a piece of his mind. The Rollins delivery business had always been known for their open-mindedness. Even when Jack's grandfather started the business in the aftermath of WWII, they had been ahead of their time when it came to work safety and employees rights.

Jack had grown up in a family where his mom was a democrat and his dad was a republican. Having grown up with daily discussions about various political issues. Jack had grown up to appreciate both parties. He based his living on the best from both sides. But he always kept politics out of his business life. Aside from the various national benefits and cooperations the business had arranged to help less fortunate families, military Veterans or orphans around the country, politics was never brought into the business.

“Racism is hardly a belief system,” Virginia replies firmly, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms over her chest. “Mr. Rollins here,” she continues as she gestures towards Jack. “Takes pride in hiring people based on their skills. Race, sexual orientation, religion or political standpoint has not nor will ever be a part of the hiring process at Rollins Delivery,” Virginia's voice remains firm and determined, she leans forward as she's talking. Her eyes fixed on Mr. Saunders. If Jack hadn't known that the guy had no conscience, he could have sworn he saw fear on his face.

"You've misunderstood, Miss Potts," Mr. Saunders' lawyer replies to Virginia's statement, his slick suit belying his aging body. "It was just a friendly joke between colleagues, not racism." The lawyer was a gentleman in his 50's with dark hair graying at the temples, brown eyes framed by bushy brows and lashes, and firm lips pursed in defense of his client.

Virginia starts to defend herself, but Mr. Grayson raises his hand, silencing her before she can speak. He pulls a paper from the stack on the table, slides it over to Mr. Saunders, and clears his throat. "Mr. Saunders, please read what's written on that document," says Mr. Grayson, his mild-mannered 49-year-old face taking on a stern lawyerly expression.

Mr. Saunders takes the document and quickly reads it over. Jack follows his movements as Mr. Saunders swallows thickly. “Stupid Nigros stinking up this office, no better than Mexicans. They probably can't even speak English,” Mr. Saunders reads, then he takes a break, and swallows again before he continues “and those Latina ladies that started last week. The only time I like them is when they're on their backs,” he continues, before he clears his throat. When he opens his mouth to say something, his lawyer gestures for him to stop talking.

“I need some time to discuss this with my client,” Mr. Saunders' lawyer informs.

“I don't see why not. We'll meet back here after lunch, to discuss this further,” Mr. Grayson replies. “And Mr. Saunders,” he continues. “I have more documents like that,” Mr. Grayson informs him as he gets up.

Jack watches as Mr. Saunders marched out of the office, with his entourage. He then takes a deep breath before he looks at Mr. Grayson. Without sharing any words on the topic, Jack understands that that comment about Latinas hit Mr. Grayson harder than he lets people know. His wife and Jessica's mom Eliana Lucía was Latina, and Jessica had inherited some of the Latina genes. A comment like that about a dear friend of Jack's and one of his daughter's best friends made Jack's blood boil. He could just imagine how Mr. Grayson must feel about it.

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After breakfast, Calleigh went back upstairs to her room, while Brock went out into the backyard with his phone and his laptop, to answer some emails and look over some work papers. The Rollins house became eerie quiet for a while, as they both did their own things to clear their heads.

Calleigh had changed into a bikini, underneath her white summer dress. Not sure if she would dare to actually jump in the pool. But it felt good to know that she could. She took a quick swing through the kitchen, picking up two water bottles from the fridge, before she headed outside.

The backyard is like a haven for home decor lovers, a place Jack has carefully crafted over the years. It's a showcase of his great taste and perfectionism. The patio boasts slick, light beige tiles, and to the west, the garden room dining area has evolved over time to welcome guests for various occasions. The built-in BBQ, with ample storage and counter space, and the bar, a relic from Jack and Brock's past adventures, stand as tokens of good times and hungover mornings.

On the east side, there's a lawn with a swing set and a sandbox that Jack got for Calleigh when she was six. In the middle of it all is the majestic pool, featuring four half-submerged sunbeds on the north side and four on the south. The blue tiles on the pool floor create a mesmerizing reflection of the sun, turning poolside relaxation into an eye-catching treat. When night falls, the pool lights up, setting a romantic and peaceful atmosphere.

Calleigh used to love slipping into her bikini for weekend hangouts with Molly and Jess, indulging in snacks and late-night gossip. But with Brock around, parading in a bikini now feels impossible.

“You want some water?” Calleigh asks, as she’s approaching Brock.

Brock jumps, almost dropping his phone. “Jesus, Calleigh! You gotta stop doing that, or else I'll die from a heart attack before this weekend ends,” he laughs as he takes the bottle of water from her hand. Once again his fingertips brushes over her skin.

“Sorry, I didn't know you were so jumpy,” Calleigh giggles. Then she turns around, walks over to the pool, checking the water out with her left foot. It would be heaven to jump in there right about now. She glances over at Brock, before deciding against stripping down to her bikini for the tenth time this morning.

“You know, I could teach you some new self-defense techniques,” Brock laughs. “Just so you don't have to scare people half to death all the time,” he continues with a playful smile.

“You think I need to learn self-defense?” Calleigh replies, tilting her head and folding her arms over her chest. “This is Mansfield, it's much safer than New York,” she continues, tilting her head a little more trying to look innocent.

“That, right there!” Brock snaps his fingers. “That's why you should learn self-defense. Pretty young girls like you. Self-defense should be mandatory,” he continues. “You don't know how many men in disguise you'll meet in your life. It'll be much easier for you if you knew how to handle yourself,”

Calleigh swallows, her heart goes ice cold. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't get a word out. She forces back her tears, tracing the joints on the patio tiles.

“Hey, Calleigh. You alright?” Brock questions, his brows pinched in concern, as he walks over to her. When Calleigh doesn't answer he continues. “Calleigh? I didn't mean that–”

“No, I'm fine,” Calleigh cuts him off. “I was just… you know, thinking,” she continues. Hoping that Brock won't ask any follow up questions.

Brock takes a few more steps towards Calleigh, carefully placing his hands on her shoulders. He feels a need to protect her, comfort her. It's obvious that something he said triggered her in some way, and he absolutely hates that. “I didn't mean it like that, Calleigh,” he starts, but without any clue whatsoever on how to end that sentence. The feeling of his palms against her naked shoulders make the words disappear on the journey from his mind to his mouth. Brock glances over her white summer dress. It has the same butterfly pattern as the shirt she wore yesterday. She always had this thing for butterflies. It was fascinating to him that that love for the winged creatures had stuck with her even into adulthood. Clearing his throat, as he frantically tries to find the right words. “Last year… err.. Me and some of the guys down at the VA, we… We had a class for women who had experienced domestic abuse. I just.. err.. Thought that.. Maybe I could teach you a thing or two,” he continues, trying to meet Calleigh's eyes to find out how she's reacting to what he just said. If she somehow figured out that his suggestion was more about him having an excuse to touch her rather than self-defense. He knew and Calleigh knew, that after four years living in New York, she already knew how to handle herself.

“Okay, teach me,” Calleigh smiles innocently. It's safest to switch subjects. And maybe get to be a little bit closer to Brock. It's okay, right? When he's teaching her self-defense. There's no harm in that… Right?

Brock looks at Calleigh, inquisitively raising a brow. “Re.. err” Brock clears his throat. “Really?”

“Mhmm..” Calleigh replies, still flashing him her most innocent smile, and tilting her head.

Brock clears his throat again. How will he get through this? Is she flirting with him too? His head is a big mess of wires right now, all of which leads to Calleigh.

“Err.. Right. If someone comes at you like this..” Brock informs, taking a step towards Calleigh.

“Then I have my pepper spray,” Calleigh replies, lifting her hand mimicking using the spray.

“Yeah, I imagine you will,” Brock smiles, raising his brows. “But what if your attacker does this?” He continues. Grabbing Calleigh's wrist, then he spins her around and pins both of her arms in front of her. Pulling her close to him in a tight grip. The feeling of her body this close to his makes his blood flow to his crotch. Shit, he thinks. This might have been a bad idea. “What will you do then?” Brock asks, taking a deep breath letting it out slowly. Forcing his body to stop reacting the way it does.

Calleigh gasps from Brock's sudden move. The feeling of his strong arms around her, immobilizing her, sends shivers down her spine, and her stomach does that jump again. They're so close she can feel his chest rising when he's breathing, and smell the earthy spice from his perfume. His chest rises, before Calleigh feels him letting it out slowly, his warm breath tickles her ear. “I..I don't know…” she lets out. “Prepare to die?” She continues, with a little nervous laugh attached to it.

“Dying wasn't exactly part of my plan,” Brock chuckles. “Though the heat might take a few years off,” he continues. “Now what would you do to get out of my grip?” He asks. Ambivalent as to if he wants Calleigh to take her time, so he can hold her longer, or if she should be quick, so he can let go.

Calleigh swallows. To have Brock this close, it's intoxicating. And despite her lack of experience, it does feel like Brock likes to be this close to her. “Like this?” Calleigh asks, before she tugs her arms down, and out of Brock's grip.

“Bad move, sweetheart,” Brock replies. Grabbing both her arms, bending them before pinning them behind her back, forcing Calleigh to bend forward. “Now you're in a position you really can't get out of,” he shakily adds. Then he lets her go. Having her behind pressed against his groin is doing things to him. Things he really doesn't want Calleigh to know about. This is wrong, so, so wrong. “Try again?” He finally asks, when he feels that his voice is back to normal.

“Mmmhmm,” Calleigh mumbles, nervously biting the inside of her cheek. There's gotta be some sort of unwritten rule about things like this. Brock is her dad's best friend. Shake it off, Calleigh. Shake. It. Off. She thinks for herself, unknowingly shaking her hands, as she once again lines herself up, back against Brock, waiting for his arms to wrap around her.

“Okay…,” Brock breathes out, as he once again wraps his arms around Calleigh. “Now, yank your elbows up and outwards as hard and as fast as you manage,” he continues.

“Won't I hurt you?” Calleigh asks. The feeling of Brock's breath on her neck sends shivers through her body, all the way out to her toes and fingertips.

“Well, that's kinda the idea sweetheart,” Brock chuckles. “That's how you'll get away,” he continues.

Calleigh swallows. For a split second she's taken over by an inexplicable urge to lean her head back against Brock's shoulder. She feels so safe in his embrace, and he smells so good. A spicy earthy perfume, that fits him just perfect. Pulling herself together, she quickly yanks her elbows up and outwards, like Brock told her to. “Like this?” She asks.

With her sudden move, Brock's arms lose their grip around her for a split second.

“Now you can move away from me, if you're fast enough,” Brock informs. “Then you can use your pepper spray, which will give you a chance to get away,” he continues, then he clears his throat. Once again he has to tell himself that this is Calleigh. Jack's daughter.

Calleigh took a deep breath, reluctant to move away from him. It had been ages since she felt this safe. “But what if you’re too strong? What if the elbow trick doesn’t work?” she asked, wanting to prolong this moment, to feel his sturdy presence against hers. It felt so secure, despite the fact that he was supposed to be practicing an attack on her.

“Well,” Brock chuckled nervously, taking a deep breath. “You actually have a lower center of gravity than me, so you could easily throw me over your shoulder,” he explained. “But we won’t try that now,” he added quickly, still caught up in the scent of her rose perfume, which almost hypnotized him. His heart raced oddly, a mix of slow and fast beats that left him unaware that he was still holding her.

“So, You've got me? I'm doomed?” Calleigh pressed on, her heart racing. Brock’s breath and facial hair tickled her cheek and neck, sending waves of warmth through her body. Her stomach fluttered in a completely new way.

“You’re not doomed, Calleigh. You can still get out of this. It’ll just be a bit tougher,” Brock assured her, struggling to keep his composure. The warmth emanating from Calleigh made it difficult to focus. “Now, put your right leg behind my right leg, then push my leg forward while moving your body backward,” he instructed.

“But won’t you lose balance?” Calleigh questioned.

“I’ll hold my ground,” Brock whispered in response, his concentration wavering.

Calleigh carefully places her foot behind Brocks before pushing his leg forward and her body backwards.

“Whoa,” Brock almost yells; trying to regain his balance he grabs Calleigh a little tighter. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he continues, as he gets more and more out of balance. Letting go of Calleigh is a no go by now, they'll both hit the water no matter what he does. This was definitely not part of his plan. He can't stop them from going into the water fully clothed. The only thing he can do now is to make sure Calleigh isn't hurt in any way.

The second Calleigh realizes that they're going to hit the water,her heart skips a beat. And for some weird reason she's smiling inside. This could be a fun story to tell. Something she and Brock can maybe laugh about later on. Something they share, just her and Brock. She's fascinated by the fact that she can actually have this many thoughts run through her brain in just two seconds.

For the split second they're in free fall before they both hit the water, Calleigh lets out a startled scream.

Calleigh could've sworn she heard a thump, something hitting something. Is she okay? She's in this state in her mind where none of the wires are connected. She's not even sure if she knows what's up and down in the water. Calleigh's hands start to desperately search the water; for Brock, for the surface,for anything. Then suddenly she's pulled up to the surface by Brock's strong arms. “Are you okay?” He asks, concerned.

“Errr..,” Calleigh replies. Suddenly very aware that her dress is in a thin white fabric, that's probably see through now. Slowly she lowers her gaze, nervous. Perfect. Her soft pink push-up bikini top is totally visible through her dress. Why? Just why did she chose a pink bikini? At least it's not ugly. But she feels exposed anyway. And with Brock there. Jesus, how's this possible?

“Sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen,” Brock tells her. His gaze follows Calleigh's. And Calleigh's arms slowly cover her up. But it's too late. “Sorry, I didn't mean to look–,” Brock clears his throat. “I mean I didn't look,” he continues.

“I'm… I'm just gonna go.. err..” Calleigh almost stops mid-sentence. Realizing that Brock's shirt is sticking to his abs, and that is a sight for sore eyes. She could just strip out of her dress now, Brock already saw her bikini anyway. Her face is probably just as red as the stripes in the flag, but she's determined to not make this any worse “I looked!” She hollers over her shoulder as she exits the pool, and strips out of her dress and hangs it over a chair for it to dry off in the sun. Hopefully this'll make this whole awkward thing a bit funny, and maybe Brock is embarrassed too. Maybe he won't even notice the red in her face if he's embarrassed. She could escape up to her room, and stay there. But rationally she knows that that's not the best option; she can't hide from Brock. That'll most certainly make this situation even more awkward.

Brock looks down on his white t-shirt sticking to his abs. He mentally chuckles a bit for himself about this whole situation. Turning his eyes back towards Calleigh; his heart jumps as she pulls the dress over her head. Her slightly toned shoulder blades move as she gets the dress off. Brock can't help but drink in her almost naked body. Her flawless hourglass figure curves in all the right places. Young, undoubtedly, but still a woman. Brock swallows as Calleigh turns around. Her breasts are being held up by her soft pink push-up bikini-top; the shape is like a perfectly drawn heart. The water sparkles on her tanned skin. Brock’s eyes move further down her body. Down her stomach reaching the butterfly belly-button piercing, for a second Brock feels like a teenager again; checking out a girl’s belly-button piercing.

“What are you looking at Big Guy?” Calleigh teases, as she dives into the pool. Might as well go down that route, when things are the way they are. No need to make things worse. Nothing is going to happen anyway, so why can’t she tease him a bit?

Brock watches as Calleigh's body glides through the water. Did she just flirt with him? Was it flirting? Should he flirt back? Maybe Calleigh actually does want him to make a move. The biggest question however; should he make a move? The repercussions could be enormous, life altering even. Not only is there a 26 year age gap between him and Calleigh. He's also Jack's best friend, which in turn means that he's been like a non related uncle to Calleigh her entire life. At the same time, something inside him tells him that he can't let this go. That this might be it. But it's Calleigh. She's like the last person on the entire planet he ever thought he'd fall for. He reaches into the water, grabbing the hem of his t-shirt before pulling it over his head and tossing it on to the tiles that surrounds the pool. The shirt hits the tiles with a typical wet thump. Then he takes a deep breath, before making his way towards Calleigh.

Calleigh puts her arms up by the side of the pool. Maybe she should get out. God, she acctually flirted with Brock. He must think she's so stupid. Maybe he even looks at her like she's still ten years old. Jesus, this is so embarrassing. But then again, he didn't say anything about it, and he was the one who initiated the whole self defence scene. Calleigh feels shivers running down her spine when she thinks about how his breath felt on her. Nope, she's definetly not getting out of the pool. At least she'll wait until Brock gets out. For all she knows, maybe he already did get out. Arrgh.. Screw it. She leans back to relax on her back in the water for a bit. But instead of her back slowly gliding in the water she hits Brock.

"Hey, Calleigh! Everything allright? You seem a bit distracted," Brock asks, as he helps her get back on her feet.

"Yeah, everything is peachy. It's weekend, the sun is shining, I'm relaxing in the pool. You know, peachy," she replies.

"Okay then. I.. I mean I just got the feeling that something was wrong, that's all," Brock tells her, as he turns to leave. He's not going to push, that's for sure. If she feels the same he'll probably get a sign sooner or later.

"You're bleeding," Calleigh gasps, grabbing his right arm. "Did you hit yourself when we fell in the water?" She continues. Letting her fingers carefully glide over his upper arm.

"Nah, it's nothing. Doesn't even hurt," he replies. It doesn't hurt. But he is bleeding. Not too much, but it should maybe be looked at. At least it'll bruise. But, given his line of work, he's used to that.

"Are you sure?" Calleigh's voice is filled with concern. And she's still touching his upper arm.

Brock looks at her fingers carefully caressing his arm by the wound he got. Then he looks at Calleigh. His heart is beating out of control, almost to the point he feels it's making waves in the water. "Calleigh," he breathes out.

"What?" Calleigh softly replies. His skin is so soft. And she finds that weird given his physic. Why is she thinking about this now? She moves her face To look into his eyes. They're so damn beautiful, and she can't understand why she never noticed that before. Why is Brock's eyes suddenly filled with the sun, the moon and all the stars?

Brock swallows, those green eyes staring back at him. They're the most beautiful eyes he's ever seen. And with the sun, they sine like gremstones. Should he do it? Should he try to kiss her? Just get it over with? She might kiss him back, but she might also push him away and call him a perv. What's the chance? 50/50? 70/30? Come on, Brock. This never used to be a problem before. Just an inch closer. Just an inch. To see if she moves away. Slowly, one tiny inch at a time.

Without realizing it, they're both moving closer, incy by inch. It's like the world around them dissapeares, all the sounds, everything. It's just them. Just Calleigh and Brock.

When they're just an inch apart, barking sounds from the backdoor to the garage.

"KILO!" Molly shouts, as Kilo yanks the dog leash out of her hand, and runs towards the pool. Kilo, a Labrador Golden Retriver mix, with a personality that suited Molly and Texas perfectly. He was playful and strong minded, if Kilo wanted something, he did it. Like jump in the pool. No matter how many times they told him not to, he jumped in there. Jack had at one point bought a kiddy pool for Kilo to use, but not even that helped, so Jack had gracefully admitted defeat, and given up. Now Kilo was a regular guest in the pool on days like this.

"Molly!" Calleigh's voice is muffled by the splash as Kilo not so gracefully hits the surface of the water.

"Guess it's you and me then, buddy!" Brock tells Kilo, as he watches Calleigh exit the pool. "You don't by any chance have any tips for getting a girl to like you, do you?" He continues, in a whisper. Careful so that Calleigh doesn't hear it.

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@nekoannie-chan @late-to-the-party-81 @ladysif8 @here4thefanfics @rip1009

[urcharactersclasspect]

i am a prince of time and uhh give me your best explanation of the classpect

lesssgo this is been in the works for forever

Princes, no matter what the aspect, are highly intense individuals. Usually I dont go over exacts on personalities alone but Princes have a distinct way and manner to them. They are intimidating to others, often temperamental characters and go to extremes when spited or when they genuinely believe their way to be the only right way, much like Witches often do they are destructive in whichever way that is that they have set up for themselves, just far easier and they dont need the arc of going through something particularly harmful to get to the point of lashing out or being that way like a Witch. They go straight towards the socially or physically destructive option without too much hesitation, often times on purpose to get the most results possible, and even when destruction in their wake wasn't on purpose or what they meant to do originally, its going to happen anyway; as unlike a Witch even an attempt to hold back the reigns can be detrimental. Prince is above all else an extremely active destruction class, whether they personally like it or not but they are not a passive person by any means nor any contexts, They are not Bards and dont just "let things happen" they are the ones actively going out of their way to make things happen. Most princes though accept it as it is and can understand this about themselves more than anyone in the room with them. Including if it means they can become more aware than anyone else that as a result of this, they might need to be self aware enough to not take the charge that they want.

The thing about Princes however, is that they don’t naturally Invert over time; They are stuck inverting on whatever aspect they are. If pushed with a set of beliefs they can be a nightmare, or given the right support, can destroy and be self aware enough to allow others to build from what theyve done.

Eridan was inverting into Rage big time. He lost every quadrant, his friends were beginning to be less sympathetic to him and he was progressively becoming more unstable as a result, not only was he losing Hope, he was letting his Rage and Fears and biases control him which lead to the destruction of his session- Him to kill Feferi, Kanaya, to want to join Jack as the only option. He was a history buff on conquerors and people in history who devastated others for their beliefs (His handle word of Caligula, comes to mind) , he liked weapons of mass destruction and even commissioned bombs and dooms day devices for anti-land dwelling purposes, as he fully believed in Seadweller superiority. And when push came to shove and he felt all hope was lost his first instinct was to not consider other options at all, not sit and think, but to immediately go for just joining the enemy. When disagreements occurred; he killed Feferi and Kanaya. This can be partially explained by him being a Violet blood, we know canonically the higher on the hemospectrum you are, the more prone to aggression and violence and even recklessness you are, however - this combined with the inherent nature of an untethered Prince caused some seriously obviously big problems. The fact hes a troll, just made traits of a general Prince millions times worse, as morality is different for trolls and he lost all his emotional anchors to pacify him, no moirail, no red mate and no kismesis either. Eridan, In the story, is very much a destructive prince as things progress; much like a monarch losing trust in all his subjects and slowly going crazy and becoming a tyrant, Eridan fits this structure perfectly for an unstable prince.

Dirk is our other main prince example.

Dirk is, actually not nearly as Chill as facade presents himself as. Which is something I feel some people get wrong about his character. Dirk is a VERY INTENSE PERSON, this is shown both in both versions of him as Bro and the Alpha Dirk. He mirrors Mind, someone calm, comes across as calculated, having all the answers and trying to make the best choices for the best results centered around actions and routes something could’ve logically taken; almost robotic. But in reality, his methods are very extreme - they aren’t always the best option for himself and others, they are self destructive in some ways, as his aspect is that of The self, the Heart. He can only really read his own mind and heart, not others, and it makes him skip steps to things and the solutions he needs for other peoples problems or what could help another person out. He tends to go too far.  He can be very impulsive and as we can sort of gather based on his relationship with Jake, he can be VERY passionate, emotional and was even called smothering if memory serves me right. This is because these sorts of things are all his true aspects traits put under what can be seen through destructive lenses. Dirk creates a Robot that looks like him in order to prepare Jake for monsters and other such fighting; This is not too dissimiliar to how Bro would fight Dave in order to prepare him for Earths Apoclopse he knew would happen due to his connection to a corrupted Lil Cal. Which yes Im aware people dont like to mention this part of things- Bro is definitely abusive, and due to the brainwashing from Cal, Im inclined to think it wasnt quite for the right reasons either. but Bro probably DID see it as the “right thing” to do. But like with everything else to do with Dirk, It was done in the most extreme of ways, and something not often discussed is how Dave’s own sense of “self” was almost destroyed by Bro, the aspect of Heart overshadowed Dave; Dave mimicked Bro, spoke “chill” like bro, fought like Bro, He wore glasses like Bro for the longest time; These are all signs of a Prince of Heart destroying another persons sense of Self or “Heart” actively. Turning things into themselves like a puppet cosplaying as Bro. Dirk was self aware he could be become like Bro if he didnt have his friends or people to really care about in his life to hit him with “whoa hey, thats a bit much dont you think?” from time to time. This because only Dirk knows who he really is. His truest inner self. Even if its knowing he can be toxic and controlling and way too impulsive or quick to jump the gun. Dirk knew he was capable of this. He knew his self obsession could become too much. Its why he masked it with a Mask of Mind. A cool guy facade. its why he held back his destructiveness.

The Aspect of Time, as stated by Hussie himself

Those bound to the aspect of Time are fighters, full stop. Their lives are often marked by struggle, not so much because fate has it in for them, but because they are fundamentally incapable of just accepting things as they come. They value action over passive acceptance, even if that may not be the wisest or safest choice. Don't try to tell a Time-bound to sit still and look pretty. They are very goal-focused, and tend to value the destination over the journey, and you won't find them making that journey in any traditional sort of way. To quote cheesy posters found on many a guidance counselor's wall-"impossible is just a word". If you need a miracle, they are who you call. At their best, the Time-bound are empathetic and relentless problem-solvers. At their worst they are ruthless, defensive, and impulsive.  

Time is all about literal Time, Timelines, The Past, The Present, The Future; but never specifically the events inside them, simply the concept of them and destination youve reached as a result of All of them combined. Its probably one of the trickiest to read as full classpects, as outside some key components of the characters and people tied to the Aspect, its actually very hard to decide what placements of traits or themes they have. Things I do know are: Time players enjoy a morbid fascination with the passage of time and how it effects things, animals and people and desire to keep things linear but rarely can on their own or the way they want, as keeping Time controlled is like trying to hold water in your hands while actively being inside the ocean. Aradia had archeology, Dave did taxidermy to dead crows and had an interest in Jarred dead animals and they both seemed deadset on preserving parts of time itself. We don’t know about Damara, but we know The Handmaid wanted to die due to her servitude to Lord English, but was never allowed to. She was given immortality and she herself was “preserved” for a purpose all throughout varying Timelines on repeat unti; her work was finished only for her life to start over and over again. This happens to Dave too; Repeated dying, crisises, etc until he got what he needed that being to protect time for his teammates to get out. Aradia also died on repeat and stayed dead in the past in her mind as a ghost. When revived shed embraced the unpredictability of living held as a result of time carrying on, She wanted to see how Caliborn would fuck everything up. "I mostly just want to see what happens when this place blows up". Preserving her memories of when she died till she could beat the shit out of Vriska out of revenge. Therefore I will say, a key theme of Time Players is the preserving of a point of Time and person who cannot let it go or refuses to. Caliborn is kind of the worst but he IS the Lord of it. Caliborn believes in machomen type stuff and aggressively bashing the clock because you want something in the future and absolutely destroying everything around it too to get it. Caliborns logic is "to hell with it! I'll get it just because i want it!"

If Space is the aspect of feminine energy and "motherly" or parental instincts of nurturing and protection and the things Calliope believed in and enjoyed such as Art and Creation - Space is stagnation, then Time is that of Masculine energy and being a brutal force of aggression to show you care without the affectionate types of care. Its keeping things in jars instead of keeping them in a cage to care for them. Time is absolute Chaos, but with no absolutes at all; there'd be far too many variables to account for to think you could really predict only 1 future. Unlike the Aspect of Light, which is linear and about only one type of future, Time is all of them; the good, the bad, the horrific and most dark and the absolute bests too.

Someone who destroys Time in others, who breaks timelines if set off on the wrong path and someone who acts the opposite of a masculine aggressive force of unpredictable chaos. All while acting on the surface like that of Space player; Cool, collected, parental, caring, nurturing. but whenever they do this, they are destroying the chaotic notions of time itself. A prince of Time is 100% a procrastinator, someone who thinks they have a bunch of time, but then gets distracted by sewing or a new art project and twio hours are wasted or, if put into a story context, they could intentionally divert time away from others and break timelines.

Theres actually way too much I could say on this. And I also cant think of many good examples of one either. But Princes of Time are hard to spot, its difficult to decipher if the chaos energy they have is gonna come from them poorly hiding their real natures due to their own suppression via acting more like a space player, or of maybe they are just a space player pushed to the wrong end of the cliff (space players can have no chill)

[alismodworld]

Alright well I might as well give my thoughts on the movie

SPOILERS TURN BACK WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!

Okay we clear? Cool. So, The Super Mario Bros movie. It was good but I honestly had no doubt it wasn't gonna be good after seeing the trailers and the promos. Of course as with everyone else my only point of fear was Chris Pratt's voice, but while I was watching the movie I realized its actually okay. It never annoyed me and it even fits Mario somehow (yeah I said it come at me). Now that I'm thinking about it, if Charles Martinet was casted it really wouldn't have worked. Whenever we see Mario in the game he's always happy and bouncy, rarely ever serious or emotional so having a voice like that probably wouldn't have made the more serious parts of the movie work at all and at best I would've laughed at how ridiculous it was and at worst I would've been sinking far back into my chair. No disrespect to the guy at all, he does a phenomenal job in the games, but I just don't think he'd work too well in the movie. He does get a nod to in the movie which is great!

The movie is gorgeously animated and I love how the characters translated perfectly on the big screen. The backgrounds were spectacular. And the way the incorporate the elements of the games into the movie to create this world is *chefs kiss*. Everything makes sense and it's not too on the nose, it's believable.

It's a very simple movie, nothing too crazy and if you have very basic knowledge of the Mario franchise you'll get what's going on like how I did. All the characters acted perfectly to how I expected them to and nobody really annoyed me. My only problem is with Cranky Kong's voice. Sorry, but Fred Armisen's voice just doesn't match up with Cranky's appearance.

Jack Black absolutely killed it with Bowser. He was the perfect amount of comedy and intimidation. AND THE PEACHES SONG THREW ME SO OFF GUARD I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO BUT JUST SIT AND STARE!!

Also, PEACH! Oh my god I loved Peach in this movie!! I was scared and honestly expecting her to be too much of a "strong female character" rather than a strong character who happens to be female and she's definitely the latter. She's kind, she's helpful, she's patient, she cares deeply about her subjects, kingdom and everyone in general and she can kick serious ass too. I'm gonna be honest, in my years of playing Mario on and off I never really cared for Peach, IM SORRY TO SAY, I WAS DUMB KID! But watching her in this movie, I absolutely love her!!! AND SHE GOT LORE ON TOP OF THAT?!??

Also usually I hate the whole male character and female character get shoehorned together and end up falling in love trope, but here? PERFECT!! I also never really cared for Mareach but, I'm a changed woman and I never wanted two characters to get together so bad. I absolutely loved their chemistry as it was so organic. Of course they don't which I'm fine with but, maybe potential in the sequel?

All the action sequences were done great in my opinion and actually exceeded my expectations in some cases as I was genuinely expecting nothing but slapstick but we got a healthy amount of slapstick and serious action.

The final battle and climax was amazingly done!! Ugh that hug Mario and Luigi shared was amazing!!!

Okay now for what I didn't like

I wish we had more Luigi scenes. I understand that he's the one who's kidnapped and is basically the whole reason the movie happens but we got only a few scenes with him either running away or being trapped or integrated. I would've loved maybe a scene with him trying to be brave and find a way out or rally others to help each other escape which could've added to his character. Like it's called The Super Mario BROS movie...

Also Toad is just...there. I get he's the comic relief but he really doesn't do much other than tag along. The most I remember him doing was showing Mario to the kingdom, that's it. Idk maybe do something more to flesh out his character, why is he so eager to help Mario and Peach? Why is he an adventurer? What are his goals? Stuff like that.

Also no chain chomps...worst movie, 0/10, D-tier/j

I heard people were talking about the pacing which yeah it's a little fast but it's not too quick in my opinion. I think if they let certain scenes play out longer it would've benefited the movie.

But over all it's a really good movie. Not ground breaking but really good, happy, healthy fun. And I'm quite impressed considering it came from Illumination.

Here's to hoping this movie will pave the way to a Zelda movie!!

[normiedoctorwho]

Venting about the 12th Doctor and nuwho experience so far

So I’ve been working my way through nuwho for about a year and a half now, and since it hit 12 it’s been extremely slowly. The reason it’s been so slow is while there are episodes I like, I cannot for the life of me get invested in these characters, the major exception after the s9 premiere being Missy.

I love her.

Dearly.

I’m just gonna pull off the bandaid now, I liked Clara more with 11. I know heaven sent is gonna be amazing and gives a great tragic goodbye for her, the fact is as of now, I wish she would’ve left either after kill the moon, or after the s8 finale.

And I’ll stress that I am extremely biased towards more classic who feels for episodes. That’s where I got into the series and if you know me, you’ll know I DESPISE new who’s constant raising of the stakes. As in then Modern day earth/the whole universe has to be on the line.

I’ve reached a boiling point with the 12th doctor because Moffatt’s inability to commit to his dramatic plot points.

I’m not expecting Missy to actually be dead. It was obvious she survived. And she was the best part of the s9 premiere, but like… more of a buffer guys.

Speaking of a buffer, once again we have a perfectly fine companion break up that’s undone by the Christmas special because god forbid new who has a good companion exit/commits to it outside of Martha’s.

(Opinion context: Rose’s first exit worked, then Journey’s end happened. Jack’s was straight up bad, just forgot about him for two seasons, Martha is good as stated, Donna’s was horribly contrived and fucking stupid actually happy that’s getting a do over, Amy and Rory had their good exit at the end of s6, which got ruined by the Christmas special, and now Clara with the same shit.)

Magician’s apprentice in particular annoyed me because it felt like it was spinning it’s wheels while also yet again making the stakes impossibly big when they did not need to be. At least at the start. “The Doctor is dying. Airplanes are frozen in mid air! The master is back! What do we doooo?” When the initial conceit of the Doctor being torn between helping a kiddo Davros or letting him die was way more interesting. And I won’t lie, not all of this criticism is fair. I’d heard this was the premise of the episode for months if not years in advance, and got excited and built my own picture of what it could’ve been. And when the episodes themselves seemed to be actively avoiding the interesting thing in favor of Davros and 12 sitting in a room reading their character analysis’ of each other while Missy and Clara run around a radiation filled planet with no side effects, I got bored fast.

Like Moffatt, I know you got the idea for this episode from 4’s speech in genesis. You don’t have to literally play the clip from the speech. It’s not necessary and just eats up time. Just role with the dramatic irony and have fans notice the reference.

I will say I liked that 12 didn’t fall for Davros’ obvious lies and that 12 had a real plan to kill all of the daleks on the rebuilt skaro. 10 seemingly backtracking to pre remembrance character development never sat right with me. And 11 never truly contemplating the gravity of the consequences of choosing to save the earth over destroying the daleks in victory of the daleks was also annoying. So to give 12 this chance to get rid of it all and have him actually go through with it was nice.

I fully expect Davros to return at some point, but at the very least, it won’t be because the Doctor showed him pity. They are well and truly past that now.

But then he almost falls for Missy’s bit to trick him into killing Clara? Ugh. More importantly though, this episode relies wayyyyy too much on the audience’s classic who knowledge of thecharacter dynamic and what happened to Skaro. As far as I can remember, nuwho does not ever explain the Doctor destroyed it.

Listen I like it when classic who comes up in nuwho, but nuwho needs to stand on its own. And if it’s gonna take cues from classic who, then for the love of god stop having 3 save modern day earth plots per season and let the timelords be actual forces in the narrative. Vs some tragic backstory you lean on b/c you’re convinced the doctor’s mysticism is why we like him so much.

I swear nuwho downplaying that the doctor is a renegade timelord b/c Galifrey is no longer a factor in the plot outside of “waaa I destroyed my home planet in the time war,” is just so annoying. The writers focus on the stole the tardis aspect and not “my people had time and space travel but they sat on their asses vs using it to explore and help people.

I’ll clarify that I do not hate all of new who. I like it overall. And I like older doctors too. Plz I don’t hate capaldi as an actor I think he does a good job with what he’s given. But god does where I’m at feel like the show is just running on fumes while also having it’s head up it’s own ass.

I bet Clara’s clear trauma at 12 nearly killing her and being unable to explain who she is will totally get addressed in the next story.

/s