#and natch both are good
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For a little over a year now I've been slowly amassing a collection of ninja turtle books and I wanna talk about some of them. Picture books, joke books, novelizations, coloring and activity books... For all different iterations and all different reading levels.
Well ok they are pretty much just kids books let's be real, but some of them are really great and it's nice to see some new adventures. I've loved ninja turtles for as long as I can remember. Watched the '80s cartoon when I was young, read the comics, caught '03 in it's first season and was hooked immediately, and have pretty well kept up with everything since, with the exception of IDW (SOON.) These books have given me a new appreciation to the TMNT.
At first I just wanted to get my hands on some '03 books, but I was at the same time falling back in love with the '87 show, and books related to that series ended up being a lot easier to find. There's new adventures, some adapted episodes of the cartoon, some from Archie comics...
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A rap song to fight drugs, and a little book adapting the first live action film with the '87 boys (Raphael defenestration and all, LOOK AT MY BOY THEY KILLED HIM)
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I wasn't really planning to get so many, but THESE 4 delightful books really had an effect on me.
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I'll probably make another post just about these 4 books sometime because I have so much to say on them! There is such a charm about them and they've changed how I think about the '87 and Archie turtles. They also act as a prequel series to either! Each book focuses on a different turtle. You see them in some of their pre-series naivete, learning and exploring and joking around. It's really no surprise they're so good, given the author, Stephen Murphy, was a primary writer for TMNT Adventures (Archie) and Tales of the TMNT. '03 girlies, he co-authored "Sons of the Silent Age" in Mirage and was a writer for several '03 episodes!
Anyway, after reading these, I really started searching.
It's so interesting to me to read these characters in this form, from different authors with their own ideas about the turtles.
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There's several unique stories in the '03 books, with wonderful illustrations. These goofballs just shine even in the silliest of the adventures. Stephen Murphy, again, shows up here as an author of '03 books. I really love how he writes the boys.
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'12 tends to just be episode adaptations, although I haven't actually read the novels I have yet. '12 books have been pretty easy to find so they have not been high on my priority list, but I try to grab ones that look like unique tales!
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Mikey's Nightwatcher Scrapbook was so adorable, one of my favorites! Newspaper clippings, date and time stamped sightings and attempts at catching/talking to the elusive Nightwatcher... It's very fun and endearing! The Rise novels are just retellings of episodes, but each story is told by a different character! It's not much, but it's a cute detail.
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finding coloring books is HARD, and even harder is finding one that's not been used. The joke book is full of the most garbage jokes but I had some fun torturing friends with it. :3
The coloring books in particular I'd like to scan sometime to share. I remember seeing '03 coloring books around all the time while the show was running; now you're liable to find yourself in a bidding war for one! (against me)
These books have become so important to me and I wanna talk about them more so I might just start taking one every now and then and ranting about it in a post. I have about 80 various books now, and a decent list of more I'm on the hunt for.
#tmnt#tmnt books#book rant#thank you for reading me be excited about children's books#There was actually one book for '03#whose synopsis sounded suspiciously like the plot of an '87 book#so I bought it and low and behold#Steven Murphy is the author of both#there were only some key similarities#not a wholesale copy of his own previous story#and natch both are good#anyway books are great kids#all kinds of books
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robin, steve, and eddie being an attached-at-the-hip, obsessed-with-each-other, must-be-adopted-as-a-group trio is sooooo important to me they are all such complementary flavors of strange and I just know that they have sleepovers where they braid each others hair and graffiti the local watertower
#shut up anna#st tag#stranger things#stobin + eddie#like in the good version of stranger things vol 4 that lives in my head robin and Steve take turns sitting in Eddie's hospital room#after he survives the bats (natch): steve plays dumb card games with him (they both cheat very poorly) and stares into his eyes#and robin keeps him up to date about all the gossip at hawkins high and they talk shit about people/compare most embarrassing crushes#steddie
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Magnificent Musketeer Tournament
Aramis - Final Poll
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Aramis - Santiago Cabrera The Musketeers 2014-2016
THIS character played by THIS actor is pure, molten fire alchemy. Not just “the pretty one” of the Musketeers (although, dear God, he is certainly that!), IMO he has the most aspects and layers of the quartet. He’s: The Ladies’ Man (natch) The Religious One (who’s willing to damn his immortal soul to save the woman he loves) The Sharpshooter The De Facto Surgeon/Medic (who’s very proud of his needlework) The Insouciant, Quippy One The One Who’s Good With Kids (heartbreakingly, as it turns out) (continued under the cut)
Aramis - Miya Rurika All for One - D'Artagnan and the Sun King 2017
He is just here to be sexy and make that everyone's problem. (Including the audience. We were all fighting for our lives.
The complete list of entrants can be found here.
More information & links to the other polls here.
Additional Propaganda under the cut
Santiago Cabrera:
Santiago Cabrera:
(continued from above) The character certainly gets run through an emotional wringer over the course of the series, easily sliding between his many facets: cheeky flirt, haunted soldier, mischievous trickster, brave stalwart, murderous alpha male (especially if anyone threatens the Queen), yearning smitten kitten, guilt-racked penitent, longing secret father, kind friend to the downtrodden, justice seeker, etc. From very early in the series, we see that underneath that pretty, pretty facade and devil-may-care attitude lies a man with some deep hurt, sadness, guilt, and self-recrimination. And that only gets more pronounced throughout the series. And then, of course, there’s his glorious mane of unruly dark hair and deep brown eyes. That’s just freaking catnip for me. I love him. He is unforgettable and has lived rent-free in my head ever since.
He absolutely nails the dichotomy of the character, both soulful and badass. He’s just so dammed good. And so very, very pretty.
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Miya Rurika:
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#musketeers poll#aramis poll#aramis#santiago cabrera#the musketeers#bbc musketeers#miya rurika#all for one d'artagnan and the sun king 2017#the three musketeers#Youtube
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after many years my old company has finally allowed people back into the office, haha, not to go to work, no no, solely to collect their belongings from their desks. i picked up my stuff and remembered what a psycho i was about my office back then, let me show you..
i set up an old VT-420 on a side of my desk to read my email on (to flex my computer dick) which is unfortunately a bit too yellowed now for me to post exposed but hilariously enough i did take the chance to fix the faulty RS-232 chip in it and i no longer get a bunch of keystrokes interpreted as ŸŸŸŸs randomly. the fix was great too, instead of having to throw the whole thing out like you'd need to today, i literally just had to pull the PTH chip out of its socket, didn't even need to desolder. nor throw the old one out. i blasted it with a blowtorch for about half a second and it's fine now.
youtube
(it is amber by the way, which is the best color)
the keyboard is another story, i think a lot of like, entry-level vintage computing people get this concept that every old keyboard is some treasure, and boy let me tell you, some of them make you want throw up, like the vt420's:
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you'll have to take my word that the typing experience is pure ass, but if you look at this fucker for more than two seconds your blood pressure will start to raise. and i'm not just talking about the euro return key. where is the super key? and what is going on left of 'a'? did they decide to solve the age-old "caps lock vs ctrl" debate by putting both of them there (??) what the fuck is going on north of the arrow keys?!?! and even further north, 'help' is funny enough on its own, the fact its next to DO, a truly existentially puzzling key, makes it that much better. why is DO so wide?? why are there so many F keys? and apparantly 20 F keys wasn't enough, they had to go on and invent "PF" keys above the numpad. and it doesn't stop there..
the pre-USB world was pretty nuts, but most keyboards still had sane connectors like DE-9's, PS/2, DINs, etc, but not this one
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it uses, a, uh, looks like an ethernet cable. weird. but look closer. six pins. AND, big honking square to key it specifically and make it incompatible with the very-similar already-existing 6P6C specification (why?) anyways, that's enough of this crap, moving on
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this is the keyboard for my lisp machine, the famous "space cadet keyboard", i get so many fucking emails about this keyboard, christ almighty. people trying to buy it from me, it's a shame, the machines don't boot without them so seperating them to satisfy reddit guy wish fulfillment breaks my heart. it's a lot better. it's from an era where a good computer would set you back half a million and the hardware reflects it. honeywell made it, it's "solid state" insofar as that makes sense for a keyboard, uses the hall effect. there weren't any rats at my office but just in case i seem to have taped something to the underside:
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lol. now for accouterments to cover those hideous eggshell white walls:
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in order, openbsd, you know it baby, middle is a weird polish promo for the holy mountain, the last thing was a joke whose meaning has been lost to time. chicken and turkey!
i seemed to have been working on some very bizarre electronics projects, personal, during my workday:
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god, what the fuck was this?
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oh, duh, it's bort's hat. (??)
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some reading materials. K&R C is a first edition, somewhat rare. the 9front manuals:
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classic, natch. and a huge gear that's clapped
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that's it. that's my office apparently.
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Issue 6 of "The Saga of the Super Sons" answers an important question: where the fuck has Dick been in this scenario?
Answer, apparently: At college.
Which is... where Bruce Junior is supposed to be. Bruce Junior, whose mother Bruce almost certainly met years after he took Dick in as a ward. Bruce Junior, who appears to be younger than Dick, but not by that much.
If you came at a Silver or Bronze Age writer with today's modern "but why is this character still 17" bullshit, I think they'd laugh directly in your face.
By the by, Dick is here because Bruce has been murdered.
I guess some things never change.
This does present an amusing comparison with the more modern takes on the subject like Prodigal/Knightfall, Gotham Knights (the game) and Battle for the Cowl, because here the boys treat Batman like something they expect to be left to one of them in Bruce's legal, actual will, like the one read out loud by his lawyer, implying the lawyer would be in on the whole secret identity thing.
When that obviously doesn't happen they come to an agreement to both... team up? But also compete? To find out who murdered Bruce, and whoever does the actual uncovering wins the cowl. This, for... reasons involves seal hunting in the Arctic and, ah... northern Native people. Which means a lot of use of a certain slur that all Natives in that biome used to (and still do) get lumped under, which I shall endeavor to write around but just know, there's a lot of it. Like, a lot. A loooooot.
Less awkwardly, check out what Dick Dillin apparently thought a killer whale looked like:
Hell, look at those mildly demonic black seals. I know this was pre-Internet dude but you could've gone to your local library. Or picked up a Seaworld ad.
Another thing that apparently never changes: Super-Sons comics insisting that only blood relatives count as "real" children.
To be fair, I wasn't actually expecting to see Dick referred to as Bruce's son at all in this. And Bruce Jr. is the only one who says this, and he's pretty consistently portrayed as the more immature and bratty one in this equation, so it doesn't really feel like the story is "agreeing" with him, it's just an interesting parallel.
Of course, because this is the 70s, they don't have any consideration for things like tactical costume changes or the realities of being mostly normal guys in the Arctic. So, though the boys arrive wearing sensible parkas, once they change into their superhero costumes Dick is just, snow shoeing through the tundra and water skiing behind a seal in his short sleeves and bare legs.
You'll probably be grateful to hear that the white industrial seal hunter is in fact the bad guy of this story -- this is actually one of the more cohesive stories in the saga so far in that regard. Simon Link was exploiting the land by killing too many seals, and then massacred part of the native village when they fought back trying to stop him, so this man Malook wanted to kill him. But, unable to find him and unable to get the white authorities to listen to him, he instead traveled to America to target his business partner, Bruce Wayne.
Bruce Junior is appalled by the accusations but, interestingly, Dick is willing to hear the guy out. When Link's crime is exposed (with the help of the Supers Senior and Junior, natch), he tries to escape across the ice.... disguised as a seal... aaaaand...
Huh. Okay then. Justice is served, I guess.
Oh also Bruce Senior's still alive.
I mean... good on you for realizing the need to make amends for funding exploitative colonialism, Brucie-boy, but did you have to do it in a way that put your son through the exact same trauma you went through? Complete with the murder mystery dinner theater death scene?
Not to mention your poor wife, do you know how much shit you two have put her through in the last however long it's been?? Junior faked his death complete with a full funeral in the first issue of the saga and now you're doing the same thing! If you actually did marry Talia she'll gut you both the next time she sees you and probably Dick too just because she's never liked him.
Anyway, for a parting shot, check out the image they used to advertise this story on the cover, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Beware the Ominous Pixie Boot!
#saga of the super sons#dick grayson#bruce wayne#batman#robin#world's finest#batman jr#superman jr#clark kent jr#bronze age comics#bronze age dc#dc comics
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Hope I can phrase this in a way that makes sense but—
What well-known actual-play cast member is your favorite for each of the core D&D class? Not necessarily a specific characters, but I’m interested in which players you think brings the most to each class.
This is a very interesting question! It's a hard one to answer for some classes and very easy for others so bear with me; also there are a couple where I could not pick just one.
I'm sticking to the PHB 12 for, as you said, core classes:
Barbarian: While Travis did give us "I would like to rage," I think Ashley and Taliesin get to share this one for me. I think they both really explore what rage means to someone and while I love a good "I'm a tank because I can take the hits and that's what I do and what I'm good at" story, I also think Yasha's messy relationship with her feelings of guilt and grief, and Ashton's chronic pain, are both incredible ways to play with the barbarian archetype.
Bard: much easier. Sam Riegel and Krystina Arielle. I'm a sucker for someone who actually sings even as I don't think you have to (and have played bard without doing so). It's both clearly a class they each love dearly and it shows, and they're incredibly musically talented performers to boot.
Cleric: Lou Wilson. Especially since I didn't like Fantasy High season 1 Fabian until the end of the season Kingston blew me away. I would love to see him explore cleric again, though it's exciting to see him as a paladin on WBN.
Druid: Emily Axford as Moonshine. Emily as a rule understands D&D classes very well anyway, but I think the culture of the crick and the ways that Moonshine must grow as a character while being a druid take it to the next level. (Also I prefer a caster-heavy druid to a shapechanger-heavy one; that's just me).
Fighter: Back to NADDPod because literally who could I say other than Jake Hurwitz, the man who only plays fighters. People who are new to D&D when they start actual play can be hit or miss imo; some pick it up and some lean harder on being showy to make up for it and it doesn't play well for me personally, but Jake is the greatest hit.
Monk: Marisha Ray; Beau is just generally a great character, and I think Marisha's own experience with martial arts informs the way she plays her; monks can be kind of repetitive in combat even with strong players and she manages to avoid this through her description.
Paladin: This is actually super hard because people don't play straight paladin a lot. This is incorrect of them, but it is an intense class. I think Luis Carazo and Zac Oyama are like...the duality of paladin (and indeed, redemption paladin). The tragedy and the comedy.
Ranger: Laura Bailey, natch; it's funny because Vex is in many ways not the archetypal ranger due to having high charisma, but she is simply my favorite and that's that on that. Sorry the mechanics were so bad; I would love to see more rangers in D&D even though Vex will be hard to dethrone. I promise Tasha's fixed them!
Rogue: I think I'm actually going Murph on this one. I like when rogues are more of the detective/spy type than the assassin/criminal type [obligatory "of course that's what you'd say you stupid paladin stan"] and inquisitive and arcane trickster are probably my two top rogue classes so Riz it is.
Sorcerer: I do consider PF1e cheating here because it's technically a different system that also imo addresses a lot of the weaknesses of sorcerer/makes it way better, but Bryn Monroe of RQG did play a great sorcerer. In D&D? Giving Emily Axford a second spot here for Saccharina. I'm going to talk about this for warlock, but I think sorcerer is a class you don't have to justify but if you don't it's a little unsatisfying. Sorcerer really shines in the Crown of Candy setting, and metamagic often doesn't live up to its reputation but Emily makes it work for her.
Warlock: Travis Willingham. I think there are classes that are kind of self-explanatory, for lack of a better term; you can play a fighter or rogue or even a bard or druid without going super deep into why the character is this class and still be an incredible character (though a good backstory never hurts). But there are others where you really need to be engaging with the class at all times to make it work, and warlock is one of them, and Fjord explores the warlock pact and what it means like few others.
Wizard: Aabria Iyengar. NO ONE gets wizard hubris as a player like Aabria. Knowledge is power and boy do wizards love knowledge. I especially like that most people in 5e play wizards as genuine adventurers because it feels very easy to play them as old guy in robes swept up in events beyond them; Aabria plays wizards who are combat ready with the humanity and backstory to make the difficult decisions sympathetic and meaningful, and I think that's how you have to play it.
Note: I want to specifically call out Liam O'Brien and Siobhan Thompson as "people I trust in basically any class or system and just didn't happen to hit a favorite here due to sky-high competition/personal preferences". They are both very close seconds for wizard.
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i Just Have To Ask
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3b991b2da26f283f2b094a21a6cfc0b5/12bcee13a48e0d44-3c/s540x810/be7158d241ce18a740e597acebf51735633047ab.jpg)
is That One Of Them ManHunter Bots? and If That Is A ManHunter Bot Why Was It With The All Star Squadron?
No but the color similarity is both as intentional and as sinister as it seems. Manhunter had a bad habit of stumbling into situations like that
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/71e1669a36142ffae46524bdd38ffadd/12bcee13a48e0d44-4b/s540x810/e4190cfeedbf3f97ce4aeea16416a6538d0f051f.jpg)
(The clearest file photo of Paul Kirk as Manhunter, background cleaned, circa 1942)
Paul Kirk II was born to a relatively wealthy family in Empire City and spent most of his time searching for distraction. He traveled, he honed his body, he hunted big game on the African continent until the thrill just no longer appealed to him.
It was during a travel searching to dispel this ennui that he stumbled into the orbit of the mysterious Cult of the Manhunter, a group of fanatics focused on hunting the guilty and destroying them. Their uniform, which Kirk modeled his eventual costume off of was based on the visage of their robotic masters who planted the seed of the cult on every world where they lay dormant. Though of course Kirk did not and could not have known that the masters of this freakish holy order were fascistic alien robots.
During a return to his native Empire City a friend of his was murdered by a deformed gang leader called The Buzzard. Using his skills to bring the criminal to justice Kirk found the rush he had long since been missing on the hunt. So he became Manhunter!
(He could not have known that former police office Dan Richards would then pick up the name less than a year later, also in Empire City a squabble that left the two men rather poorly disposed to one another for their entire lives and makes historical records VERY fun to parse as you can imagine)
While Kirk did join the All Star Squadron he was rather quickly scooped up by the nascent OSS to run black ops missions behind enemy lines, often alongside fellow agent Tex Thompson AKA Americommando. He did not enjoy the experience of being a spy, it was morally dirty work and far too subtle and quiet for a born hunter. He retired as soon as the war was over and returned to Africa.
When a charge by a Cape Buffalo left Kirk mortally wounded he was discovered by "The Council" a shadowy think tank with aims of world domination, natch. The healed Kirk, enhancing him genetically and altering his mind. They placed him at the head of their enforcement thugs which they staffed almost entirely with clones of Kirk himself. An Interpol strike against the group that somehow included Gotham's Batman managed to shake Kirk loose of his altered perspective long enough for him to bring the base down around the Council, killing the original hero in the process and seemingly all of the clones. Two of the clones however, survived.
Kirk DePaul was a member of the Los Angeles based hero business Power Company until his mysterious murder in relation to a string of murders related to those carrying the Manhunter identity. Currently the legacy is survived by Paul Kirk III, who currently works for the "HEROZ4U" hero rental app, which gets a bad rap on premise but I've heard nothing but good things about.
#dc#dcu#dc comics#dc universe#superhero#comics#tw unreality#unreality#unreality blog#ask game#ask blog#asks open#please interact#worldbuilding#manhunter#paul kirk#kirk depaul#all star squadron
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Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko Ep 6: The Politics of the Closet
There have been some good posts already about how forced outing is not actually excused by a character's crush or different values (@pigglepiephi here and @respectthepetty here as two examples) so I won't spend a lot of time retreading that ground. Risa should not have told Ayaka that Hiroko was a lesbian, and Mama should have known better than to spill more of Hiroko's secrets after already having been confronted on and apologizing for doing so last episode. And it would be one thing if this was a character choice that the show was clear was not the right decision, but it seems to be presenting these choices as positive because it is moving the main romance forward. @hyeoni-comb noted the parallels between this this and She Makes My Heart Flutter, specifically around how both shows have a character of a different generation explaining the mindset of an older lesbian to the younger generation, which at a theoretical level, like hyeon is talking about here, I do also like; But I think a significant difference, and why it's bothering me in this show when it didn't in SMMHF, is the very different circumstances of both characters. [For those who haven't seen SMMHF, the character in question in that case was concerned about marketing her lesbian bar on social media. Also, go watch it, it's fantastic!]
What's still sitting so poorly with me about episode 6 of Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko is the way the show seems to be saying that Hiroko is wrongly scared and irrationally continuing to be closeted at work while times have changed. Mama says her reason for telling Hiroko's secrets to Risa and Ayaka is so that they can help Hiroko with her situation. She says 'there was a time when society was much harsher and more prejudiced'. She calls Hiroko's thinking old-fashioned. This suggests that Hiroko is in the wrong for hiding her sexuality. [This also sets how this is going in AIILWH apart from how it was done in SMMHF, because in that show the characters came around to realizing the owner would need to be ready on her own time to take that risk, which is a much more compassionate place to land.]
It bothers me when queer media tells queer people that they are paranoid for being afraid of being outed, especially at school or work. Has Japanese society progressed since 2014 so much that people can comfortably be out as lesbians in office workplaces without fear of repercussion to their careers? Because Canadian society hasn't, certainly not in every office [I only started being out at work in the last year, because the VP of the office where I worked until then was homophobic, as one example]. And we know that at least some of the people from the flashbacks still work there, so Hiroko's fears seem super valid to me.
Also, it isn't actually any of her colleagues' business who Hiroko does or doesn't fuck on her own time. It is definitely also true that Hiroko feels isolated and lonely because nobody at work knows her fully--since being a lesbian is a huge part of who she is--and I get that. The closet is a horrible, isolating experience. But it's super important to me that Hiroko gets to make that decision for herself. I would have been so down for a story where Risa and Ayaka reached out to Hiroko and made space for her to be herself and comfortable with a trusted sub-set of colleagues (including Yuya, natch). I would have also been ok with Ayaka outing herself as a lesbian at work to model that things have actually changed and it is safer--with Hiroko about to step in to a manager's position, I could believe that it she'd be able to ensure there would be minimal blowback. That would put them in a good position to negotiate what a relationship might look like, and would have been a great way to have that generational gap conversation, and maybe giving Hiroko confidence to come out herself eventually.
But instead Ayaka is starting the gossip mill about her crush, and putting eyes on Hiroko, which will inevitably either out her or force her to be even more closeted to hide her sexuality from the increased scrutiny. Regardless of the genders involved, there's also the fact that office romances especially across power lines are potentially problematic and could lead to problems for both of them. It feels like we are not well set up to take the complications of an office romance between a junior and a senior (or a boss) seriously, and that has me nervous too.
I'm waiting to see what the next episode brings, but this is why the episode has left me feeling so uncomfortable, and worried about how this show is going to land it's last two episodes.
#ayaka is in love with hiroko#ayaka chan wa hiroko senpai ni koishiteru#gl meta#typed so that i can stop thinking it
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I have heard some people saying that the show is going to address the issues of humans being discriminated against will be addressed in season 7 dark. What do you think about that?
Personally, I think it might be a bit too late for them to properly address it and do it in a satisfactory way especially because the main ship rayllum had rayla being prejudice against humans but her actions don't get called compared to Callum so i doubt her actions will be called out next season as both the fandom and the narrative love to frame her in the right when she can sometimes be quite hypocritical and in the wrong.
Also, I want zubeia to be called out for her actions and zyms father but I doubt that will happen either.
Another question I also don't like the series framing of dark magic. Now in season 6 (took us 6 seasons) to learn that dark magic creates a hole in your spirit and it corrupts you to aaravos but that feels like the writers adding it in there so people don't bring up the whole arguement that dark magic is bad because the narrative says so. Also the show doesn't convince me dark magic is so bad that viren SHOULDN'T of used it to save soren or that Callum SHOULDN'T of used it to save rayla.
Idk to be honest the handling of dark magic within the narrative is so confusing and bad.
Anyway sorry this got so long
My very upfront opinion is that there is clearly some dissonance, and perhaps even conflict, in the writer's room about Viren and Claudia, dark magic, the cost of it, and the intended take away from these characters and their actions.
Now, when writing, there's no particular requirement to be honest with your audience or to not accurately represent how history can be muddled and shift. "Humans learned dark magic" to "Unicorns taught humans magic and were slaughtered in thanks" to "Aaravos is implied to have taught humans dark magic" to "Aaravos's daughter Leola (a uni-horned elf) taught humans magic and was killed" is cohesive enough, even considering the writers are on record saying they may be changing things as they go, as happens with writing. (With dark magic being the main sticking point of anti-human sentiments, how and why it occurred matters.) I also don't think the show has never wanted us to sympathize with humans or not see their discrimination -- the sight of them in tears as they're exiled, evoking the Trail of Tears (still bonkers), or Ziard's bitterness over how humans starved or his terror when Sol Regem tricks him in hopes to destroy Elarion are moments of raw feeling where the camera centres humans and their pain. Most of our protagonists are humans, and Callum, though occasionally punished for his ambitions, is a character who wants magic who is heroic.
The ultimate problem, however, is that the show wants to have its cake and eat it too, which goes back to my earliest complaints in how they 'meta write' from what we expect of fantasy and muddle their own messages. Certainly this show could be a long-form exercise in tricking people into rooting for ethnic cleansing racists but like, it's a show for kids. Sol Regem is a bad dragon and he is obviously bad. Zubeia is a good dragon and she is obviously good. We're supposed to understand Sol Regem kinda had it coming and understand that Zubeia being hurt is allegedly sad. There's no deceit to this straightforward presentation. Viren, Claudia, and now Aaravos are sympathetic villains, but they're still villains. And when your villains come in two main flavours of Team Anti-Human (arising after humans wronged Xadians initially, natch) or Team Human (or adjacent) and every hero is Team Xadia because humans fighting against the disparity of their world is Causing Trouble while humans who extend the hand of friendship to Xadians are Bringing Peace, it ultimately teaches us that "Maybe humans had a hard time of it, but it's time they suck it up." I don't think there was anything more explicit to this than having our Out Of The Mouth Of Babes protagonist Ezran's Zubeia-backed speech at the Many Thunder Victims Memorial Valley.
A lot of writers like villains who have a point, because they feel it adds depth to them, but they often jump straight to "the villain is a marginalized person who is fighting for change in the Wrong Way" and this creates an implication that Fighting For Change At All is wrong because our heroes are never passionate champions for equality. They may like equality, but they say "Not now -- not like this --" and it isn't central to their beliefs. Team Xadia are not nominally Anti Equality or Anti Humanity, but their framing vis a vis our villains makes this lack of investment in the liberation of humanity quite clear.
All of this is to say that I agree, it would be too little, too late, and that the fact the show has *already established* humans as being victims of discrimination makes the narratives around them all the more galling and difficult to untangle. I absolutely would like to have the show deliver one of its extremely straightforward, directly to the camera-type messages on how humans were discriminated against, yes, but it doesn't fix six seasons of presenting all anger on behalf of humanity as something that is ultimately morally unsound and in need of changing. And how much further can they take it? Can they portray Xadians as a whole as privileged beings who have benefited from the mistreatment of humans? Not just a few bad apples -- can they actually, truly acknowledge Xadians as less than idealized? Can they take seasons upon seasons of trying to make us love Xadians and turn it around with frank questions about things like "reparations" and "acknowledging generational trauma without both-sides-ing it"? Can they give us a purely heroic human protagonist who is firmly Team Human and centres human interests? I don't think so. They prefer keeping to their "Callum and Amaya and Ezran constantly apologizing and putting down humanity in favour of their Xadian betters" agenda. (So bonkers they do this with three characters of colour, sidenote.)
Rayla is interesting because I think they have a fundamental disinterest in her inner world. She's so defined by her relationships with others and traumatic things that happen to her personally are ignored (her feelings on her banishment getting sidelined into Callum stuff, or her overcoming her fear of water to save Callum and Ezran happening off screen.) Her prejudice is a standard result of her upbringing but it's another thing that hasn't really come up in a while. I don't know if they so much want her as a character to be right, or prejudiced, or whatever, so much as they use her as a mouthpiece for particular opinions they need stated. She was learning about humans as much as Callum and Ezran were learning about elves and now she's learned she's just chilling being another one of Ezran's inexplicably pro-monarchy shooters.
Onto the second half of your ask about dark magic -- this season has firmly shifted the dark magic usage into an addiction metaphor, and so we get the "hole in your soul" (the anti-Birdhouse In Your Soul.) I do think this makes sense with earlier seasons. Dark magic has always been shown as corrupting the user (hence the monstrosity, and hence Viren being likely to die if purified of it, because it's become so entwined with his inner core) and this destruction of the self has been a reason to avoid it. I'll even be generous and say it's not entirely "Evil People Are Ugly" but instead a lot of "Self-Destruction Is Terrifying." However, I've been obsessed with this since I saw it:
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6f9f27187b147eae3fa8aa7da20fac27/426f50334fd4753e-87/s540x810/63dbea733a58062eb641910ea15e68406a746e59.jpg)
"He shouldn't be monstrous in his final moments of heroism" is very funny. The writers are aware they have thoroughly codified Ugly, Monstrous = Bad and would try to bend themselves over backwards to let a Good Act be done via Evil Means in a way that minimizes the evidence of the evil means. This is why you have to put that "inherent evil" in quotation marks because real inherent evils don't tend to get a pass. And because they want dark magic to still exist in the show and still be used by sympathetic characters like Callum and Claudia without rendering them utterly reprehensible they have to make it the hole-in-your-soul addiction metaphor and say it costs the user as much as, if not more than, it costs the world around them.
Which is, like, fine, but at a certain point it is like -- Yeah, if we can see times where dark magic is basically a necessity because your choice is either "dark magic, or let your child die" or "dark magic, or let a dragon flambé your people" -- which many of us would consider non-choices -- then you have to respect that people maybe will have to make that choice. And if the cost is more on them, then ...? It's practically a noble sacrifice. To oppose it for reasons of Aaravos is a non-argument. Viren was mainlining dark magic for decades and it wasn't until he got that mirror that Aaravos became a problem and Aaravos isn't always going to be around ... not to mention that now that he's free I think he has abilities that go well beyond "souljacking." Aaravos in this case represents more the 'spiritual death' associated with this internal corruption. So can we find reasons to oppose it that go beyond The Harm It Causes To An Individual, Who Should Be Allowed their Autonomy?
They still throw half-hearted nods to the previous seasons much more heavy-handed "omg the beautiful butterfly" "omg the baby deer" (single crying tear) "stop hurting the environment" "magical beings are superior to you" type anti-dark magic rhetoric (see Claudia and the cat thing) but it seems the writers have come to realize they need dark magic to exist as much as the people in universe need it to exist, and so they're trying to focus more on the internal cost. Personally, I think this is a fine place to take it and if the intent is to return the discussion to how humans have been discriminated against, it's a wise thing to do. So I won't protest it much, although we can discuss villainizing addicts and so forth and why Rayla's lack of compassion in approaching Callum's dark magic use is difficult to watch.
It's funny, because I wouldn't even call myself "pro dark magic" as I do see it as harmful, but the hypocritical and condescending treatment of dark magic users in the narrative is something I take issue with more than the use of dark magic itself. This is why, if they are leaning into this more sympathetic reason for rejecting dark magic, I hope we see increased sympathy as to why dark magic is used and why, until humans are liberated (i.e. given equal access to magic and Xadian resources) it's pretty much essential.
Thank you very much for the ask! ♥ Don't apologize for the length, as you can see I love to ramble away myself. Also yeah didn't fit this in anywhere else but fuck that narrative deadweight Zubeia. Thunder at least got shaded by Rex Igneous even if Rex Igneous was Mean and Scary.
#ask#tdp critical#long post#*#trying to express my frustrations with how rayla is handled in my how would i rewrite tdp post#like i get what you mean about her writing and how they can't let things interfere with the ship#but i think moment to moment its clear they care way WAY more about callum than they do rayla or ezran#to be completely honest i think the writers are burdened by the show's rating and this leads to them being bored of characters they can't#take to the same kind of dark or complicated places as they can do with the pg appropriate dark magic users
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Good Omens Playlists
So I've seen some pretty wonderful Good Omens playlists on Pinterest, most of which are based on music in the show (especially Queen, natch), songs that say how Zira & Crowley feel about one another or describe them as characters.
In the wake (double meaning totally intended) of S2, I wondered: how do they feel about each other NOW? We've all been there. The sad love songs, the sleeping all day, entire pints of ice cream while watching romcoms... but mostly the recounting of how it all could've gone so wrong, what we wished we'd said & done, and what we wish we could say now.
Since Zira & Crowley definitely have communication issues (Nina & Maggie were SPOT ON in their convo with Crowley), I imagine they would have an easier time telling each other their feelings through other means. I'll admit, there's a bias here: this is what I would do, so of course I project onto these characters. But isn't that the beauty of fan art? We put ourselves into the work/live vicariously through them because we have such a damned hard time saying want we want & need and how we feel in plain language? Mostly because such complex feelings are REALLY REALLY hard to explain to ourselves, let alone to another person. But art- writing, music, imagery- can say what we struggle to put into more direct words. Music is an enormous part of who I am, so I often find that the songs of others say perfectly what I feel I never could.
On that note (pun only slightly intended), I've created 3 playlists: one for Crowley, one for Zira, and one for the both of them. The individual playlists are meant to reflect the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. There are elements of other stages within the songs meant to correspond to a particular stage, even coming full circle (it seems like acceptance, but there's a hint of denial in there, etc.). The joint playlist is of songs I imagine would make the memories of each other start to creep in (or totally gobsmack them in the feels) when they hear them, or things they wished they'd said/want to say to each other.
So without further ado, here are the playlists:
Crowley's Heartbroken Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LyYnip9XuZqcRIEsiDSwz
Zira's Heartbroken Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YUi13sTfPSR99R1dB2XVY
AziraCrow's Heartbroken Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48NpfV42Y8LTVSFsui8zl2
For those of you who don't have Spotify, here's what's on the playlists:
Crowley 'Never Tear Us Apart' - INXS 'Bad Romance' - Lady Gaga 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore' - Madonna 'Cosmic Love' - Florence + the Machine 'As It Was' - Hozier 'I Found' - Amber Run 'Wicked Game' - Chris Isaac 'Dancing On My Own' - Calum Scott 'Halo' - Depeche Mode 'Falling' - The Civil Wars
Zira 'i love you' - Billie Eilish 'And I Am Telling You' - Jennifer Hudson 'You'll See' - Madonna 'Somebody That I Used To Know' - Gotye 'Someone Like You' - Adele 'Boys Don't Cry' - The Cure 'Un-break My Heart' - Toni Braxton 'For No One' - The Beatles 'Comfort' - Julia Jacklin 'I Will Always Love You' - Whitney Houston
AziraCrow 'I Have Nothing' - Whitney Houston 'Nothing Compares 2 U' - Sinead O'Connor 'Torn' - Natalie Imbruglia 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' - Olivia Newton John 'In A Lonely Place' - Bush, the Tricky Remix 'With Or Without You' - U2 'Don't Let Go (Love)' - En Vogue
'Don't Speak' - No Doubt 'Here With Me' - Dido
A note on the playlists: I know that Zira wouldn't listen to most of this if any, and Crowley would outwardly cringe just thinking about some of these. The point wasn't to choose songs that they'd go out of their way to hear, it was to capture the feelings they'd be going through. Crowley's songs are a bit darker: more minor keys, moodier atmosphere, etc., while Zira's are more sad but lighter & gentler (except maybe 'And I Am Telling You'; that's a straight-up "aww HELL NO YOU AIN'T GONNA FUCK THIS UP THIS IS HAPPENING YOU KNOW WE BELONG TOGETHER"... well, the song says it pretty well).
I 'd love to hear any thoughts about this, agree or disagree, love or loathe, hate that you love it... What would you put into a ZiraCrow playlist?
Hope you enjoy it!
#good omens#aziracrow#crowley#aziraphale#aziraphale x crowley#ineffable#good omens fandom#creators on tumblr#fan music#ineffable lovers#ineffable breakup#ineffable playlist
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Every so often (usually on twitter, or at least last i remember because i haven't been there in like a year.) the meme of 'what if (movie) but a muppets version' goes around, and opera people naturally start applying this to opera. So people will start casting muppets in operas or asking 'who would be the one human in this opera'. This is fine and good except that dramaturgically it is a betrayal of the concept of the Muppets. The section of Muppet movies that are 'muppets do this famous story' is really quite small, and out of them only one (The Muppet Christmas Carol natch) is really notable.
This is because Muppets are very specifically a loving homage of vaudevillian theatre and the early golden age of Hollywood. They match those tropes and archetypes perfectly. That's also why attempts to update the Muppets to be 'more modern and relevant' often fail unless they hearken back to that era, the Muppets are actually a very specific brand of humor that doesn't easily translate especially as the early to mid 20th century becomes something less and less people actually lived through.
REALISTICALLY a GOOD and NOT LAME Muppet movie about opera would have them RUNNING an opera house, with the actual plot being about backstage operations, and it would be a homage to the 1920s-1960s era of opera houses, which have a lot of the same archetypes as Vaudeville and early Hollywood. Plus that would kind of give a tinge of the 'nostalgia factor' that Muppet productions used to have, because when Muppet stuff came out people actually remembered the golden age of Hollywood from their childhoods. However if we really HAVE to do the 'omg what if muppets cast in this' thing, which again has only worked well Once for One Muppet Movie, we would need an opera that plays on those archetypes we see from that era of theatre. Maybe even an opera that was written early in the thick of it and deliberately plays into those archetypes both on and off the stage. And it has to be something that has a very tight plot, so it doesn't devolve into pure filler (sorry Adriana Lecouvreur).
This means there's only ONE correct answer to this question of what opera would make the best Muppet movie. And that is that Miss Piggy was born to play Floria Tosca.
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MiracOlympus-Marinette
Boy, you better bow down on your knees! @imsparky2002 @artzychic27
Marinette, Queen of the Gods, Goddess of Marriage & Family (aka Hera)
Appearance/Attire: Back-length black hair, half tied in a bun and half down, ivory-pale skin, icy blue eyes, tall and slender build. Golden diadem with peacock feather detailing, encrusted with sapphires and turquoise, peacock feathers woven through bangs, peacock-feather earrings, golden snake bracelets on upper arms, layered gold necklace with blue stones, blue diamond wedding ring (natch), turquoise chiton with a layered skirt, peacock feathers stitched along the hems, pinned with golden brooches at the shoulders, long blue translucent cloak, golden belt with turquoise detailing, golden sandals.
Bio: It’s been said that there’s a great woman behind every great man, and that may not always be the case, but it certainly is here! As the queen of all the gods, Marinette works to keep Olympus running smoothly, make sure everything happens when it needs to, and help Adrien be the best king he can possibly be, always supportive of him but firm when she needs to be. Marinette is the kind of no nonsense queen who doesn’t take crap from anyone, and is more than willing to put a disrespectful mortal in their place, or to call out her fellow deities when they go too far. Yet, despite her responsibilities and regal demeanor, Marinette has a caring and motherly side, always looking out for her fellow deities whenever she can, reminding them to take care of themselves. She also can’t seem to stop herself from squeeing over a particularly cute mortal couple with Rose whenever the occasion arises.
Fun Facts!
Marinette had a herd of sacred white cows given to her by her mother, and she held them very dear. To guard them, she appointed her dear friend and faithful servant, Argus. He was an exceptionally good watchman, because he had a hundred eyes all over his body. But one day, a clever thief in the employ of the wicked goddess Lila tricked Argus into closing all one hundred of his eyes by boring him to sleep with a long, banal story, and then killing him. Devastated by the loss of her faithful servant and friend, Marinette took all of Argus’ eyes and placed them in the tail of her sacred bird, the peacock, allowing his memory to live on in its resplendent plumage.
As the goddess presiding over the sacred marriage ceremony, Marinette watches over all weddings, both mortal and immortal. In every ceremony, brides and grooms place a wreath of lilies around a sacred candle. If the candle continues to burn throughout the night after the ceremony, then Marinette has blessed the union and the two will have a happy life. If it goes out, it’s seen as the goddess warning you that you might be making a mistake.
As you may know, only men were allowed to compete in the Olympics. The queen of the gods thought this was bullshit, which was why she put her full support towards the women of one kingdom founding a series of games for women only! For all her guidance, they named the event the Marinean Games in her honor. They’re held every year and all the goddesses of Olympus make time to attend and show their support!
The Queen of queens has arrived! Leave your thoughts in the comments and reblogs!
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Alright! Request time! Lemme get a request with Mickey, natch, but hear me out. You and he, catching a mid-afternoon movie for a date, starts off sweet, and the theater is empty except for you both. He cannot keep his hands off you when twenty minutes after the trailers happen he realizes no one else is showing up. He teases and touches till you give in and let him fuck you in the theater. Some risky, public, try to keep it down, don't get caught sex in the theater. Passionate, needy, messy, some begging, make it so, so good just like I know you will.
When Boredom Strikes (Mickey Altieri x Fem!AFAB!Reader)
You and Mickey have an afternoon date at the movies, but boredom quickly consumes him, forcing him to find alternate ways to entertain himself.
Word Count: 3k
Warning/s: language, smut, p in v, slight degradation, fingering, public/semi public sex, praise, begging, almost caught fucking, teasing, thirsty Mickey, riding, ect.
Bex Bex BEX. You know damn well what this request has done to me these last couple of days. I’m happy to oblige. Here we go!
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Mickey stood with his arm casually slung around your shoulder as he eyed the movie options up on the board, pulling a face at every single one of them. “Fuck, there’s really no halfway decent movies.”
You rolled your eyes at your boyfriend, looking up at his dramatically disgusted face. “Well, whose bright idea was it to ditch class to come watch a movie in the middle of the afternoon, Mick?”
He glanced down at you, his pretty brown eyes playfully amused and a smile lit up his face as he lifted your chin with his finger, ducking his head down to peck you lightly on the lips, in which you eagerly reciprocated. “We missed our last date because I had to edit my short film and you’ve got a packed schedule for the rest of this week so I didn’t really have much of a choice now, did I?” He pointed out, reluctantly moving his face away from yours.
You nodded your head a little as you looked up at the board yourself, eyes scanning the cheesy rom com movies, every single one of them containing the exact same main plot point of a girl who didn’t realise love was right there all along. You knew Mickey hated these sort of movies with a passion, claiming they had no depth and no entertainment value whatsoever.
Being with a film geek like Mickey meant you were subjected to listen to his intensely angry ramblings about how cinema was quote “going down fucking hill,” and how there’s “nothing like the classics anymore.” You’d listen to him with a cocked eyebrow and watch him as he would rifle through his seemingly never ending cases of illegally pirated films that varied from action to mystery then to his personal favourite, horror.
As much as you loved him, you never quite understood his affliction with horror movies. Sure, you enjoyed them, but you’d see the intense excitement in his eyes as he watched some blonde girl with big tits get brutally butchered and ripped apart and you’d listen to him rant about the “authenticity” of the production value with blank but affectionate eyes. Nobody could say that he wasn’t passionate.
The theatre attendant sighed, her nails drumming impatiently on the counter as she stared unseeingly past the two of you with a bored expression. Mickey glanced at her, unable to stop the small roll of his eyes at her attitude.
“Just pick one and we’ll watch it. And choose fast because this one’s about to fall asleep.” Mickey said to you under his breath, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. You knew better than to offer to pay, knowing you’d be met with a disgusted look of horror at the very idea of you wanting to pay for absolutely anything.
You loosely gestured to the least sappy looking movie for his benefit, secretly relieved you didn’t have to sit through yet another bloody mess of a film and Mickey paid the attendant and took the tickets as she mumbled, “enjoy your movie,” He nodded his head at her politely and picked up the popcorn and drinks, begrudgingly making his way into the theatre with a grimace on his face at the thought of having to sit in the freezing theatre for two hours and watch this god awful movie. But as he walked toward the theatre doors, popcorn under one arm and you under the other, he noticed how deserted the place was. Just you, himself and 3 attendants in the entire place. He smiled a little to himself, knowing full well he could have a lot of fun with this little benefit when the boredom would truly take over.
As you both settled down in your assigned seats beside each other Mickey placed the popcorn by next to his feet, leaning back on the chair with his eyes scanning the room. Just as he’d hoped, it was completely deserted apart from the two of you. He glanced at your face, the smile still on his lips as you looked back at him, asking him in a suspicious tone, “what?”
“Nothing, nothing.” He said, diverting his eyes from you and to the large screen as the trailers began to play.
“Give me my popcorn.” You said, holding out your hand expectantly.
“No, no, absolutely not.” Mickey shook his head as he spoke, pushing your hand away gently.
“What? Why?”
“Baby, you always finish your popcorn before the movie even starts and what happens? Oh, Mickey.” He mocked your voice in an absolutely terrible impression, twirling imaginary hair around his finger as he spoke. “I finished all my popcorn, give me yours.” He looked at you with knowing eyes and a playful smile on his lips as he dropped his hand back down onto the arm rest. “Just wait for the opening titles at least.” He said in his normal voice.
“You think you know me so well. I don’t fucking sound like that. Ass.” You grumbled under your breath, slumping back in your seat with a pout. He laughed at you affectionately, reaching for your hand and bringing it up to his lips, kissing it gently.
“Huh, guess it’s just us.” You mused as you watched one of the attendants close the theatre doors, leaving just you and Mickey in the large dark room with nothing but the glowing light of the screen shining down on the two of you.
“Guess it is.” Mickey said lightly, shifting in his seat and dropping your hand in favour of resting his palm on the smooth bare skin of your thigh, his fingers lightly tracing shapes and leaving goosebumps in their wake.
This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Mickey was big on casual physical contact, especially whilst watching movies. The cheerful opening of the movie caught your attention and your eyes set on the screen, deciding to make the most of your date together by actually enjoying the movie, even if he didn’t.
Twenty minutes into the film and Mickey was bored out of his mind. You seemed engrossed with the movie, shushing Mickey every couple of minutes when he tried to talk to you or complain about the “god awful” film.
“This is so fucking sh-“
You swatted at his arm lightly, shushing him once again and he groaned, slumping back in his seat and letting his head fall backward against the soft material of the chair. The two dimensional characters seemed to mock him through the screen as the actors paraded around with an awful performance. He physically recoiled as he heard the cheesy lines being spoken.
Nobody fucking talks like that. He thought to himself with a grimace.
He began to think of what he could do to make this date a little more interesting. He quickly scanned the theatre double checking the room once again to make sure it was empty before his fingers slowly danced across your thigh, casually moving in between your legs.
He chuckled a little as you slapped his hand, pinning your legs together as you sent him a small glare. “No, Mickey.” You said as sternly as you could muster. He looked at you completely unphased and raised an eyebrow, but said absolutely nothing.
One of Mickey’s favourite pastimes is fooling around with you in semi-public places. Semi-public was okay, semi-public was fun and exciting. It was even encouraged. There was only a risk of being caught. You knew exactly what he was thinking at the moment, what he wanted to do. But doing it here, in the middle of a movie theatre? That was a little too risky for your liking. You felt his hand move back to your thigh after a couple of seconds, still tracing small shapes onto your skin with a feather light touch. You clenched your teeth, staring at the screen to try and focus on the movie again, but now that felt almost impossible.
How the fuck did he always manage to do this to you? Completely divert your attention and make you focus explicitly on him and what you wanted him to do to you? The fact he didn’t even need to speak in order for you to waver on your insistence not to fuck him in a movie theatre was almost making you angry with yourself and your lack of ability to stand by your decisions.
He waited until you relaxed your rigid stance and your legs unstiffened, his fingers still grazing your skin gently before he made another much slower move. His fingers hardly even touched you as he lightly brushed your inner thigh. He smiled to himself a little when he heard your breath hitch a little and felt you look up at him with imploring eyes. He made sure his eyes were still set on the screen as if he was completely sucked into the crappy movie. You looked down at his hand, tugging at your bottom lip with your teeth as it moved upward underneath your skirt, feeling his fingertips glide up your inner thigh, your legs opening for him as though they had a mind of their own before feeling him very lightly grazing your clit through the soft cotton material of your already damp panties.
You shifted a little, fingers digging into the dark red upholstery of the arm of the chair, your legs instinctively inching even wider for him and you heard him let out a small, satisfied laugh as he felt the damp patch.
Fuck.
“Look who's changed her mind.” He murmured softly under his breath. You ignored him, eyes fluttering closed as you felt him move your panties to the side, his index finger slowly sliding up the length of your slit to collect moisture before torturously circling your clit with a pace that was so slow, so light, that it was almost painful. He let out another chuckle as he felt the heat on his fingers and heard the small whimper fall out from between your lips, his eyes still not moving from the screen.
Your head fell back against your seat as his fingers gradually increased speed, circling over your clit in the way he knew drove you crazy, but not quite applying enough pleasure for you to genuinely enjoy it. Mickey shifted a little in his seat so he was leaning toward you, eyes finally dragging away from the screen and to your face, watching you with dark and almost amused eyes as your chest heaved and your grip on the armrest tightened so hard your knuckles turned white. His fingers suddenly abandoned your clit in favour of plunging two of them knuckle deep into your pussy and causing you to let out a loud, unfiltered moan.
“Shh.” He whispered to you, his free hand covering your mouth as he continued to move his long fingers inside of you, hooking and curling them to graze the spot inside of you that was bound to make you cum sooner rather than later if he carried on.
Your eyes nervously flickered around the room again, terrified you’d missed a spectator in one of the chairs that would turn around and find some girl getting fingered by her boyfriend in the middle of a movie theatre. Of course there was no one, but his free hand remained on your mouth as he leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheek and before resting his forehead on your temple.
“You gotta be quiet, okay?“ he said in your ear, another twist of his fingers inside of you causing you to moan against his hand in response. His fingers abruptly stopped moving, frozen inside of you and you looked at him in desperate confusion as his other hand moved from your mouth to slide down behind your head, gripping your hair firmly by the roots and forcing you to look into his eyes. “Do you promise you’ll be quiet?” He whispered, hand dropping from your mouth so you could respond.
“Mmm- mm yes.” You gasped out, your voice pleading and almost whiny as you bucked your hips against his hand, desperate to feel friction again. “Please, Mickey.”
“Look at you.” He said tauntingly. “Twenty minutes ago you were slapping my hand away and now here you are, dripping down my arm and begging for me to get you off in the middle of a movie theatre.”
He suddenly pulled his fingers out of you, bringing them up and pressing them against your lips. You eagerly took his fingers into your mouth, sucking your own arousal off of them eagerly. He let out somewhat of a growl as he felt your tongue swirl around his fingers as you greedily tasted yourself and he quickly glanced behind him at the door before he slid his fingers out of your mouth slowly to unbuckle his belt. As he did, you were almost too eager to drop to your knees so you could blow him but he stopped you with his hand, shaking his head once whilst saying, “No, no,” and pulling his jeans and briefs down so his cock was just about out, already hard and pressed against his toned stomach. “Panties off, leave the skirt on.”
Your eyes widened a little as you hesitated, glancing up at the theatre doors. Mickey followed your gaze and rolled his eyes a little at you. “What, so you’re fine letting me finger your pussy here but you don’t want to fuck? Come on now, baby.”
You could hear the sarcasm in his voice and you scowled at him, but obediently removed your panties, discarding them on the floor by your feet.
“Good girl.” Mickey grinned at you, looking victorious as he grabbed your arm as soon as they were off, practically yanking you onto his lap. You straddled him with your knees either side of him, just about hovering over him as you felt the flushed head of his cock lightly graze your swollen clit, the sensation so slight yet so intense it sent a small shiver throughout your entire body. Mickey felt it too, sighing a little as he felt you just barely touching him.
The light of the huge screen dully illuminated the two of you as Mickey hitched your skirt around your waist before sliding his hands around to grip your ass, spreading you open for him as he angled his hips up, groaning quietly as he slowly began filling you. You let out a gasp that was a little too loud at the satisfying stretch, causing Mickey to stop abruptly, gripping your hips so you couldn’t move.
“What did I say?”
“I- I’m sorry, please don’t stop.” You begged him as quietly as you could. He could feel your body trembling with need and he couldn’t help but oblige you.
His eyes remained on your face, though you were hardly visible in the dim light of the screen and he smiled at your desperate expression before continuing to push up into you, sighing in satisfaction at the familiar feeling of your pussy clenching around him as he did. You angled your hips downward, impatient at his slow pace so you could envelop him completely and almost too eagerly. The thrill of fucking him in a public place where a stranger could walk in at any given moment and see the two of you was more exciting than you had anticipated, your earlier anxiety and concerns becoming nothing more than a distant and irrelevant memory. It made you more eager and hungry for him, more than you could have even begun to imagine. It took Mickey by surprise as he let out a small, breathless laugh as your hips rolled against him, thoroughly enjoying the reluctantly quiet moans you were panting in his ear.
“Such a whore.” He whispered into your hair, sliding one of his hands up your back and gripping the back of your neck under your hair. The sound of his voice in your ear as you rode him sent tingles through your body, spurring you on. “Look at you, riding me like a slut in the middle of a movie theatre, fucking acting like you didn’t want this the whole time. Bad fucking girl.” You groaned at his words, throwing your head back and moving your hands to rest behind you on his thighs, feeling the familiar need for him to take control. He obliged you once again, his hands resting your waist and holding you still as he began to grind his hips upwards and fuck deep into you, treating you as if you were his very own sex doll.
You almost cried out, turning your head and biting into the soft skin of your shoulder as you felt him thrust up into you, feeling his cock hitting all of the right places. You felt the slight stubble of his trimmed hair prick and grind over your clit, stimulating you perfectly as your nails dug into his thighs, making him let out a small hiss and grind up into you even faster, watching intently as your tits bounced from behind your thin tank top.
Your body was held still in his firm grip with your only movements being a reaction from him as he fucked you to his own accord as you tried hard not to make too loud of a sound. One of his hands moved from your waist to slide between the two of you, his thumb applying pressure to your clit and moving in small, calculated circles. His head fell forward to watch himself sliding in and out of your convulsing pussy, groaning as he felt you clench and tighten around him. He knew you were close to cumming when he felt your legs start to shake beside him and he knew he was close too. Just watching you with your mouth biting into your own shoulder to stop yourself from screaming as he fucked up into you in the middle of the day in a movie theatre was driving him insane, and he didn’t feel the need to prevent your impending orgasm or his own, the need to tease you disappeared in favour of feeling you cum on his dick.
Your head lifted from your shoulder and you looked at him, panting desperately with wide eyes. “I- I’m gonna- p- please can I-“
Mickey suddenly let out a sharp gasp and quickly grabbed you by your arms that were still propping you up by your hands on his thighs and hastily pulled you toward him, gently but quickly turning you around so you were sitting on his lap and he tugged at the end of your skirt so it covered the sight of his dick still stuffed inside of you. You frowned a little in surprise at the sudden unwelcome change, his heart hammering against your back and his panting breath on the back of your neck. You went to glance back at him in confusion only to see the theatre doors wide open and an attendant stroll in.
You looked at Mickey’s face in alarm but his eyes were set on the screen, refusing to meet you. You turned your head back around and looked at the screen, seeing nothing. You weren’t even sure what the movie was about anymore but you stared at the characters desperately. Mickey’s hand rested on your hip as the theatre clerk stood by the door, eyes scanning the room. It was just dark enough that the man wouldn’t be able to spot your panties bunched up on the floor, let alone you sat with your boyfriends still rigid cock up inside of you. To him, it probably looked as though you were sat on his lap cuddling him.
You shifted anxiously, feeling Mickey’s breathing change as you did so and you realised that at this angle, he could really feel you. Your eyes flickered to the utterly bored looking attendant who seemed to have his attention grabbed by the movie as an idea started ringing in your head. You slightly adjusted yourself, rising up a little and angling your hips back down. You heard him take in a sharp breath, his fingers bruising your hips as you moved very calculated and slow, unable to wipe the satisfied smile off your face as you felt his cock twitch almost pathetically inside of you.
“Filthy bitch wants to get caught.” You heard him mutter between his teeth.
You shrugged every so slightly, responding to him in a hushed whisper, “you started it. I’m finishing it.”
#eeeeek#i loved writing this#ty for the request Bex#I love writing mickey so much dude#hope you all enjoy#mickey altieri#scream#scream 2#mickey altieri x reader#mickey altieri x you#mickey altieri smut
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Magnificent Musketeer Tournament
Aramis Semi-Final- Poll 1
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Aramis - Jeremy Irons The Man in the Iron Mask 1998
I just love how deeply he understands every one of his friends. He knows exactly what makes them tick, he can anticipate their every move because he just knows them so well. Also how could I (or anyone) say no to hot Priest Jeremy Irons who's tortured by the past?
Aramis - Santiago Cabrera The Musketeers 2014-2016
THIS character played by THIS actor is pure, molten fire alchemy. Not just “the pretty one” of the Musketeers (although, dear God, he is certainly that!), IMO he has the most aspects and layers of the quartet. He’s: The Ladies’ Man (natch) The Religious One (who’s willing to damn his immortal soul to save the woman he loves) The Sharpshooter The De Facto Surgeon/Medic (who’s very proud of his needlework) The Insouciant, Quippy One The One Who’s Good With Kids (heartbreakingly, as it turns out) (continued under the cut)
The complete list of entrants can be found here.
More information & links to the other polls here.
Additional Propaganda under the cut
Jeremy Irons:
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Santiago Cabrera:
(continued from above) The character certainly gets run through an emotional wringer over the course of the series, easily sliding between his many facets: cheeky flirt, haunted soldier, mischievous trickster, brave stalwart, murderous alpha male (especially if anyone threatens the Queen), yearning smitten kitten, guilt-racked penitent, longing secret father, kind friend to the downtrodden, justice seeker, etc. From very early in the series, we see that underneath that pretty, pretty facade and devil-may-care attitude lies a man with some deep hurt, sadness, guilt, and self-recrimination. And that only gets more pronounced throughout the series. And then, of course, there’s his glorious mane of unruly dark hair and deep brown eyes. That’s just freaking catnip for me. I love him. He is unforgettable and has lived rent-free in my head ever since.
He absolutely nails the dichotomy of the character, both soulful and badass. He’s just so dammed good. And so very, very pretty.
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#musketeers poll#aramis poll#aramis#jeremy irons#the man in the iron mask 1998#santiago cabrera#the musketeers#bbc musketeers#the three musketeers
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So in Armored Core humans never appear on screen, only robots. So the pilots and handlers et all could really look like whatever you might imagine for them.
So I choose to imagine the cast of Armored Core 6 as the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Raven 621 is Shadow the Hedgehog I feel like that shouldn't even require further explanation. They practically have the same backstory of just being products of engineering and science. And 621 has a similar vibe to what Shadow had in his titular game, where he just kinda goes along with what the most recent person ordered him to do for lack of any better ideas.
Handler Walter is Eggman. Could also be Gerald but I think Eggman fits better because Walter didn't create 621, he just bought him. Feel like this fits because Eggman does think he has an entitlement to Shadow and a sense of ownership over him, Shadow being one of "Eggmans Hounds" is pretty on point for how Eggman views their ideal relationship. He also gets to be a final boss in one of the endings.
Ayre is Amy Rose. Because they're both pink. And I'm sure I can think of some other reasons, but really it's mostly the pink. But yeah, also Amy is like the only person who can reach out and touch Shadow's heart and lead him down the right path, which is also Ayre's whole thing. She's also willing to throw down if push comes to shove.
V.IV Rusty is none other than Sonic. He's the primary rival character, he's very jovial and good natured and has a very positive view of 621. And his rig is all about being a fast mobile speedster, and he even has a primarily blue color scheme. He's also actually a member of the Liberation Front and wants to free the planet from the tyranny of the corporations, which is absolutely a Sonic thing. Also Walter kills him in one of the endings, so Eggman killing Sonic is a nice little thing.
Cinder Carla is Maria. Hear me out. She has a pretty positive and amicable relationship with 621 all things considered. She has a somewhat familial connection with Walter. She has a personal connection to the tragedy of Rubicon as a whole. WHICH HAPPENED FIFTY YEARS AGO. I say it fits.
Chatty is Omega. He's a robot built by Carla. Omega is a robot built by Eggman. It fits. You agree.
V.II Snail is Infinite. He's a sadist, the leader of a mercenary company, had a tit for tat with Shadow, and in one of the endings really fucks up Eggman which is a fair bit of turnabout for the way Eggman fucked up Infinite in Forces. The rest of the Vespers (aside from Sonic) are the other members of Jackal squad. There's six of them, so it's perfect.
G1 Michigan is Zavok and the other Redguns would be the rest of the Deadly Six. Iguazu is Zazz. There's six Redguns so it's too perfect. They also absolutely start to fall by the wayside as the plot goes on until being the definitive losing side of the corporate war. That just sorta feels appropriate. Sonic is even the one who ultimately takes out Zavok if you don't take on that mission yourself.
Thumb Dolmayan is Knuckles. Thumb is the leader of the Rubicon Liberation Front. Knuckles was the leader of the Resistance in Forces. Natch. He also has a psudo mystical bent and seems to have his own Coral Companion like 621 does, which is a good analog for Knuckles relationship with the Master Emerald.
Little Ziyi is Cream, because she's considered the little sister of the Liberation and is likely the youngest character in the game. Rokumonsen is Blaze.
Middle Flatwell is Tails. The military leader of the Liberation and second most important person in the organization. He's capable of subterfuge as and fighting smart, implied to be the one responsible for inserting Rusty as a double agent into the corporations in the first place. This also makes Sonic Tails and Knuckles the most prominent members of the Liberation Front.
Branch is the Babylon Rogues. Chartreuse is Wave. King is Storm. And Nightfall Raven is Jet. Independents with their own agenda, uninvolved and yet instrumental to the conflict going on around the planet.
Allmind is Sage. They're both AI's. I dunno what you want from me.
If I didn't mention a character it's because I didn't think they were significant enough to warrant a direct comparison.
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(Okay, I had intended to wait on this till we got to CHAS but I forgot that the Letters from Watson chronology would get to BRUC first and BRUC also has a fun burglary sequence.)
Friends. If you enjoy reading about Victorian dudes committing burglary while being extremely in love with each other, please go read E W Hornung's Raffles stories. E W Hornung was ACD's brother in law, the Raffles stories are him going "what if Holmes and Watson but criminals though?", and there's some fun intertextuality between them and the Holmes stories. (For instance: is CHAS Raffles fanfic? Maaaaybe. Did ACD borrow ideas from Hornung for FINA/EMPT? Could be!) I don't know, man, I just think that's neat.
The main characters are:
A J Raffles: cricketer, man about town, jewel thief. ADHD icon, has no impulse control and a death wish you can see from space. Engaged in a constant battle with John Watson for the title of Most Bisexual Man in Victorian Lit. Thinks tricking someone into robbing a jewelry store together is romantic. Deals with the majority of his problems by theft, barefaced lying, or faking his own death.
Bunny: our narrator, sometime poet/journalist, also a jewel thief (not as good). He's not going to tell you his actual name till the last damned story, but he's really such a rabbit that you aren't going to mind. Drinks too much, angsts constantly about a) the immorality of crime and b) not being able to grow a proper mustache, only crossdresses in one story but talks about it in a way that implies he's done it before. Is dreadful at pretty much everything, but in a very endearing way.
(I love both of them so much.)
Together, they fight commit crimes! Often while holding hands.
There are three collections of short stories and one novel, plus a variety of adaptations of varying quality. The short stories are pretty consistently delightful (except for "The Fate of Faustina" imo). The novel is perhaps not as good - some things don't work as well when you stretch them to novel-length - but I haven't finished it yet so who knows? It might improve. In any case, the plot isn't great but Raffles and Bunny are still very enjoyable.
Anyway, go read Raffles and then please come and talk to me about it. If you'd prefer to wait until you can get the stories in your inbox, Letters from Bunny is starting up in March 2024 (on the Ides, natch). It's going to be a fun time.
#letters from watson#CHAS really would have been a more appropriate point to post this#but holmes and watson are so cute about their burglary in BRUC#that i couldn't wait#raffles
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