#anyways they tried to do my baby dirty and he had the best character arc

[deadonyouraccount]

INTRIED TO FUCKING ESCAPE FROM GREEN PILLED AND BLACK PILLED NONSENSE LIKE WHAT IS THIS NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE IM SCREAMING IN THE VOID LIKE ITS POINTLESS YOURE LOGGING ON TO MAKE THINKPIECES THAT DIVIDE AN ALREADY FUCKED FANDOM

Analyzing the same body of work every day that’s got to be taxing

I wish I never would’ve made some of the choices I made if it led to how dismal the fandom is now but I had my cake and I was eating it every day on my old blog & now

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference

[sanderssidesthehouse]

Can you do Patton for the character bingo? I've seen a lot of different takes so I'm curious to see what you think.

-🌻🌼

Hi flower anon! I'm a little nervous about this one ngl but I will do it for you.

Circle sizes represent how confident I was marking a box. Not a lot of confidence on this one bc I'm still conflicted. I think further resolution of his arc might solidify how I feel about him, or change it completely.

I don't really like Patton Sanders and that's my toxic trait, but HEAR ME OUT. I don't want to convince anyone not to like him, in fact I'd love to convince people of all the reasons they COULD possibly like him! Just like bc of my real life personal experiences, I'm not very fond of him. He is not my blorbo 😔 I don't hate him, but I do mildly dislike him. (As a character I think he's great, his conflict presents a fascinating narrative that I enjoy quite a lot.)

"But Ace," I hear you saying, "you said you don't like him and yet you still think he's being done dirty by fans?" To which I say "Yes, absolutely, there are people out there liking and disliking him for the wrong reasons!" (In my humble opinion.)

Patton is NOT an innocent little baby who needs to be protected, NOR is he a manipulative asshole. He's just a guy trying his best who messes up sometimes. He should be treated like an adult with agency and be given some grace for when he stumbles.

He does care about his famILY and he tries so hard to show it, but he's always felt like he has to know the correct answers and that they're depending on him. And tbh with how much c!Thomas defers to Morality, I get it. When someone is constantly looking to you for answers and it's your job to have them, saying 'I don't know' is scary! But he and everyone else should really try to be brave and say 'let's figure it out together' rather than confidently giving an answer that has a good chance of being wrong. But again, I do understand the crushing weight of these expectations.

I think it's really clever that Morality got paired with Emotions, bc emotions are what drives morality. Different people have different emotions that more strongly affect their morals, with Patton, we see compassion as a primary motivator, but also fear. The fear of slipping into the category known as 'bad person' and the fear of that categorization being permanent. And then bottles that fear up out of shame. Very catholic guilt of him.

I do feel bad for Patton where we left him bc he's finally going to get the help he needs, but somewhat at the cost of the love and respect of his famILY. Roman feels betrayed, Virgil hates Janus, and Logan... Well he's got a lot going on right now anyway.

I prefer Patton when I'm looking at him through the lens of his relationships to the others. He really does his best for them, he's a sweet guy. He tries to be encouraging and he clearly knows the other three very well. And with Janus I think the strongest negative emotion he feels is occasional annoyance, you know, like when he was impersonated. He seems to actually kind of like him otherwise. Not the biggest fan of Remus, which is an understandable side effect of him not yet having sorted himself out. He's trying now, so I'm sure that will come with time.

Also his froggy traits are sick as hell and I hope we see more, I want to see more, make him a frog please, I beg. That's like, the high point of his character to me, I actually had to come back and edit this after I scheduled it to include that bc holy crap Patton's a frog and I love that for him, but I also love that for ME.

So why don't I like him? I have intrusive thoughts and moral ocd and personal trauma I'm not going to get in to so like... He's just so unbelievably frustrating to me as he currently is. Also it just irks me that he's clearly not as naive as he pretends to be and it just boils my blood when people play willfully ignorant. He's doing it bc he's scared, but isn't that why everyone does it? It's still bad, and it causes a lot of damage. I'm of the opinion that if something scares you, you should learn everything you can about it. Logan said something like that once and he was right.

He just makes me feel the need to tell people they don't have to be a moral paragon to be good or do good things or be deserving of happiness, health, safety, and love. I get it's his job and all, I just really can't separate a character like that from all the stuff I had to learn and unlearn for my personal health and safety. And maybe I actually just want to say that to him. Maybe the problem is that we're too similar in all of our worst traits and seeing a grim reflection where once stood a cheery mural is upsetting. Maybe it's Maybelline.

Idk, I might actually like him. I'm very wishy washy on this subject. I think I can manage liking him while also disliking him. I'm very talented. I would love for everyone to tell me all the reasons they love Patton! I think he's neat and I'd love to like him.

[dimonds456]

*sees your tags about being salty about suf spinel*

YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT AND NOT SHARE YOUR SALT /LH

Okay, but I'm warning you, you asked for it.

LONG POST WARNING.

LIKE A REALLY, REALLY LONG POST WARNING.

Dimonds456 Presents: How They Did My Baby Dirty: An SUTM and SUF Analysis on Steven and Spinel (Told by a Progressively More and More Angry Narrator)

THE CONTEXT: There was a post talking about how you think a character will fix everything, but then they wind up making it works. My tags were "#*looks at suf spinel* #I am still salty about that like the bitch I am fghdjskgfa"

Grab some water, guys.

Let's start by talking about Steven for a moment. In the original show, when we were following him as a 12-14-year-old, we watched as he built up trauma and then learned how to hide it expertly well, to the point that most of the audience didn't even realize he was struggling.

You can actually pinpoint the seconds he makes those decisions, too. The best example is in "The Test," when he's storming up to the gems. He's pissed. His fists are clenched, he's got that anime eye shadow overlay on his face, he's frowning, all that. the Crystal Gems are clapping for him and lying to his face, and he KNOWS they are because he overheard them talking about how it was "impossible for him to fail" that test (- Garnet).

And yet... he also overheard them saying that they're just trying their best. They don't know what he needs. They never really have. No one is sure. So, Steven realizes that by picking a fight, he would just be making it worse for them because they would know they messed up, and nothing gets solved, and everyone gets more depressed and Amethyst and Pearl go back to fighting each other and- well, you get the picture. He doesn't have a full understanding of what's going on, so his kid brain went "so I can either be angry at them and cause problems, or I can tell them I did a good job to make them happy."

"I can lie to make them happy."

He storms down there angry, still mulling this decision over. He drops to the floor, frowning and pissed, and says "I can't believe you guys." He is so close to yelling at them, and yet, when he looks up at them...

"That was so... INSANE!"

You never would have been able to tell. It was right there. That moment. And then he never stops. For the ENTIRE REST of the series, he NEVER STOPS. He puts the Crystal Gems above himself every time. Think Rose's Scabbard, The Message, The Return/Jailbreak. The Cluster. Peridot. Dealing with Jasper. The zoo arc (ESPECIALLY the zoo arc). Aquamarine. Then pretty much the entirety of Season 5.

(NOTE: I went back and rewatched that scene for the screenshot. There is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it lip tremble in there too! D,: )

He lives for the people around him, and not for himself. Almost never for himself.

Put a pin in that.

Now, let's look at his maturity. People thought that was just him being mature, right? That he grew up. No. That was not it at all. He was learning from his own behaviors as well as the people around him, and building up this idea that he had to "fight to be everything that everyone wants [him] to be when [he's] grown" (- Steven, the extended intro).

Yes, he matured, but not because of that. He started making various decisions to benefit the group that oftentimes he wasn't fully comfortable with, but something he believed would be better for everyone.

Put a pin in that.

Then, later in Future, we see it all manifest. He is selfless to a fault, to the point that he can't think of himself in a positive light in the sense that he's good. We see it a couple of times, but especially in "Prickly Pair," when he vents to Cactus Steven about everything that happened. He feels useless, which is taking a toll on his mental health.

"Why do I need to be needed?" He needs to be needed because that's everything he was as a kid. His entire IDENTITY rests on his ability to help other people, no matter what happens to him. He literally sacrificed himself for them countless times (the big one of course being the Aquamarine incident), and now as a teenager, his whole sense of self is wrapped up in this need to get up and do something to make the world better.

And when he can't make the world better, his world falls apart.

Put a pin in that.

Now, let's talk about Spinel, the moment we've all been waiting for.

Spinel, as a gem, was made specifically to be a friend. That is her niche, and her purpose. Her reason for existing. At first, she and Pink Diamond got along very well, as shown in the flashbacks right before Drift Away plays (I headcanon she has illusion powers and was literally projecting her trauma, but that's a completely different post).

She and Pink vibed together for who knows how long, until one day, Pink started to not like being around Spinel anymore, finding her annoying and childish. We don't know what really caused the switch, just that it did happen (but of course, I have headcanons for that, too). Spinel never realized until it was FAR too late.

Steven actually describes his younger self as annoying at one point during the Diamond Days arc, when he decides to throw the ball, so I'm legally allowed to make this comparison.

Steven and Spinel were the SAME. They were both young and dumb, and something that at least a few people found annoying. People put up with their BS though, since they cared about them. But, while Steven realized this and matured because of it (or bottled up his emotions, to each their own), Spinel never did. She never matured. She was never given a chance.

In the movie, we saw her as a child, and watched as she played with Pink and never tried to be or do anything else, to the point that Pink Diamond thought to realize she might be struggling (and maybe Spinel didn't, either!).

She lives for the people around him, and not for herself. Almost never for herself.

And when she can't be friends with this one person, her world falls apart.

Sound familiar? It should. I literally pulled from things I said earlier lol.

Spinel and Steven are mirror reflections of each other. Reset!Spinel is 14-year-old Steven, completely devoting her entire self to one idea. Steven's was helping others no matter what, Spinel's was serving Pink no matter what. Spinel is like a combination of 14 and 12-year-old Steven in this sense, honestly. Goofy, without a care in the world, except one thing: the people around her. She would do anything for Pink, just as Steven would do anything for his family.

Now, Pink Diamond left Spinel. We all know this story. She left Spins there in the garden for 6,000 years because she grew more mature and started a rebellion, effectively forgetting about this one gem she kinda stopped caring about standing there.

Personally, I don't think Pink had any malicious or even intentional intent in that, but this ain't about her. This is about how Spinel continued to sacrifice herself for Pink, even when Pink didn't need her to anymore. She wanted to please Pink 24/7, all day every day, to the point she self-sacrificed and stood perfectly still for her for millenia.

Now, back to Steven. The gems don't need him anymore in Future, right? They've all grown up and matured and headed off towards their own futures, effectively stranding him alone in terms of self-identity and self-worth. But he stays there, ready to assist at the drop of a hat, or- in Future's case- the call of a phone.

Episode 6 anyone? The one everyone says shouldn't be in Future? That it should have been cut to allow more focus on Steven himself? The fusion episode? YEAH. THAT. He is running himself RAGGED to try and help others, to give himself a purpose. He is self-sacrificing. (He's a professional, don't worry. /j)

Steven metaphorically planted his feet down and decided that he was going to devote himself to the people around him.

Spinel's feet were literally tied down soon after she made that very same decision.

Okay, enough with the backstory. Time for the salt.

In Future, Steven is at his lowest low. He is running to the Diamonds for help, to see if there is SOMETHING they can do to help him. And we first see Spinel.

Spinel has been through the ringer on a lot of the same mental problems Steven himself is facing. She self-isolated, watched as everyone grew up and left her, and then began to lash out because of it. She understands what he's going through. We even see her concerned as Steven starts to tell her why he's there.

Spinel takes him from Diamond to Diamond, until he's running out of White's room in a blind panic. Spinel is able to catch up with him, and Steven realizes the same. SHE GETS IT. He turns around and says "Hey, you used to have vengeful thoughts!"

Spinel replies "Ohhhhh yeah, but I don't have 'em anymore."

"How did you make them stop?"

She then goes on to sing Change to him, effectively cutting that conversation short.

On paper, that sounds very in-character for her. She's goofy! And that is what worked for her! But the problem is that they had to dumb her down in order to make that character decision work. In the movie, she was shown to be observant and able to put two and two together, even if she often jumps to conclusions (see her being the one to figure out that the gems needed to remember their "pieces," as she remembers the Garden, her re-realizing what Pink did, and her meltdown later when she reactivates the injector).

Spinel is smart. It should have been in character for her to realize that Steven was panicking just as she had been, and needed to be talked to gently. But no. Instead, she starts belting out Change, which given Steven's situation, would not work for him.

At the very least, she would have started doing little tricks or started trying to get him to join a game, which would have taken his mind off of it (to her anyways, that wouldn't have worked either), which then could have prompted further discussion.

Then, once they finally start talking, Spinel could have been able to share some legitimate advise. She was hurt and lashed out. What worked for her was opening up to others and letting them in, learning to trust again (which Steven also has problems with- he can't trust that the Gems won't break down the second he turns his back. Trust does NOT equal love, there is no doubt he loves them to no end), and allowing other people in.

That is what Steven needed, too. He needed to let his guard down and just talk to someone. Sure, Spinel was not going to be a fix-all, but she could have at least offered some insight on what to do.

She UNDERSTANDS him. They are a reflection of each other.

But instead of offering help, Spinel made it worse. She was dumbed down to allow the rest of Future to happen, to make Steven feel even worse. Because- and here's the kicker- because the one person who MIGHT understand him doesn't, that means there's no hope for him.

At least, that's how he sees it. And so, the denial- and "Everything's Fine"- begins.

Here's the thing, though; they DIDN'T NEED to make that decision. If the Crew wanted to have Spinel not understand Steven, then draw the line of her being a Gem from Era 1, used to the Diamonds shattering people.

Steven has killed Jasper and revived her at this point, so maybe Spinel offers that at least he's trying to get better, just like the other Diamonds! See, they're doing so great now! And then that makes him feel worse since he IS trying to do better, but is only failing, while the Diamonds- who were MADE to be nasty dictators- are doing better than him.

The Diamonds shattered a lot of people, and they're doing better than Steven, who has only shattered one person, and not even on purpose. How horrible is that?

Then boom. THERE'S your angst, with a much smarter, more helpful Spinel.

Look, I knew going in that Spinel wasn't going to be able to help. The finale had to happen somehow, and we hadn't seen Wormy Boi yet. I have always been a storng believer of the corrupted Steven theory, so I knew it was bound to happen. But I was hoping that Spinel would at least try. But she really didn't. She just brushed him off, offering really loose advise that didn't even fit his situation and thinking that would be enough.

No. It's not.

I can see where the Crew was coming from. I still love that episode, and I love seeing Spins in it (until that exact moment). This is probably the only thing in SU that genuinely gets me mad. Or, well, maybe not mad, but definitely annoyed and- you guessed it- salty.

I have an unfinished fic where I kinda delve into Spinel's head for that episode called "A New Start". If you really want my thoughts on where Spinel's head was at, there's a bit in there that really explains it. In the fic, Steven decides to rejuvenate himself and brings Spinel along with him, and that's all the context you need for this.

I cannot explain that moment in the climax of the episode, though. Maybe she thought it would make him feel better, or that maybe he really did just need to open his eyes and see the error of his ways (which doesn't make sense, he KNOWS what he did). Maybe she thought that being silly would help somehow.

But you'd think she'd learn from her time with Pink as she grew more annoyed with her, but apparently not. Or maybe she would realize for a second that being loud and annoying was bad. Or maybe she doesn't learn.

Either way, it- and she- was dumb. And they did my baby dirty.

*drops mic and walks away*

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 13: On Your Left

Summary: Steve and Katie meet a new friend whilst out jogging, and Steve is sent on a mission to rescue a ship- the Lemurian Star…but it fast becomes apparent that not everyone on his team is pulling in the same direction.

Paring: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Language! Smut (NSFW, 18+)

A/N: We jump forward a couple of months here and slip straight into the Winter Soldier storyline. Credit to @angrybirdcr​ for another lovely edit, and this re-post contains additional materiel- I’ve written the mission out instead of merely skipping over it.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 12 Part 2

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 End of March/Beginning of April 2014

“Turn it off,” Katie’s voice was muffled from the pillow she had buried her face into as the alarm rang around the dark bedroom. Steve moved slightly to turn it off, but he wasn’t fast enough for his Girlfriend’s liking. “Steve!”

With a huff he leaned over and slapped the offending item with his palm, hitting the snooze button.

“Why is it even set?” She grumbled “It’s not like you don’t normally wake up at the crack of dawn anyway…and who uses an alarm clock when they have a phone?”

“You know, no one makes you stay here.” Steve teased, with a chuckle moving so that his front was pressed to her back.

“You’ve been away for five days, I never sleep as well when you’re not here.” She mimicked his line from the night before in a baby voice.

“And that’s why the alarm is set, because I do sleep better with you.” His arms circled her waist and he grinned to himself as despite the fact she was grumpy and tired she melted into his arms as he nuzzled at her neck, revelling in her smell, her warmth.

“Jerk.” She grumbled. “I mean what time is it anyway?” There was a pause as he continued to simply breathe her in and she glanced at her phone giving a scoff as she saw the ridiculous time on the screen “5:30? In the morning. Five. Thirty…”

“You said you wanted to go running.” He murmured, his eyes still closed.

“No, you said you were going running and I said I might tag along because I’ve eaten nothing but shit whilst I’ve been in New York, which, by the way is your fault…”

“My fault?” Steve laughed, cracking an eye open “I wasn’t even there.”

“Exactly” she muttered “No one to stop me.” “I wouldn’t stop you anyway. You’re a big girl, you make your own decisions…” “Big girl? You calling me fat?” she teased as she rolled onto her back and turned her head to face his, just about making out his features in the dark room. He rolled his eyes, God she was a pain in the ass at times.

“Yeah, you’re huge.” he deadpanned, his hand travelling over her flat stomach and coming to rest on her hip. “Enormous.”

“Ok, well now that we’ve established I need to run, you know on account of me being a hippo, that still doesn’t answer the question why we have to go so damned early anyway. It’s not like we have to be anywhere…” “It’s less crowded.” he shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s because it’s a ridiculous time.”

“Stop being a fucking brat!” Steve laughed and she huffed out breath again.

“I’m not being a brat, it’s just a stupid time to be getting up.”

“I love how full of sunshine and happiness you are in the morning.” Steve muttered as he dropped his head so his lips could gently trail a few lazy kisses down her neck before landing at her collarbone and giving a quick nip, his hand tightening on her hip.

She sighed, her body already starting to respond to his touch, the way it always did, betraying her. 

Damned him and his fucking bastard sex appeal.

“Okay, if you want to actually get up now…” She muttered, as his mouth travelled back up and she rolled her head back to give him access to the spot on her neck that drove her wild every time he found it.  “I suggest you stop.” “I hit the snooze button.” he muttered, lips brushing her ear as he spoke. “We got about eight minutes left.”

“Eight minutes? You have a very high opinion of yourself.” Katie replied, tilting her head so she was looking at him, smirking.

Steve said nothing, just cocked a single, mischievous brow at her before his lips met hers, his hand running down from hip to thigh then across, parting her legs slightly. They were still naked from the night before, clothes strewn all over the apartment after he’d been so desperate to get his hands on her.

She moaned gently into his mouth as he slowly sank two fingers into her and her hips instantly bucked upwards, drawing a grin from his mouth. 

“Easy, Baby.” He whispered, his mouth returning to her neck.

Four minutes later she lay beneath him, a quivering wreck and he was right behind her, two shallow thrusts later as he tumbled over that edge with a low groan, eyes fluttering shut as he fell forward onto her. He smirked into her neck when she had finally regained her senses enough to quip that he’d beaten his best time by a full sixty seconds. And sixty seemed to be the flavour of the day as it was almost another sixty minutes before they got to his favoured running spot, the National Mal thanks to the fact it had taken Katie half an hour minutes to locate her running shoes which she’d eventually found in her car.  Steve had seized the opportunity, as always to lament her for the fact she was messy. 

“I’m not messy.” She scoffed indignantly as they walked the seven blocks. “I’m just not as OCD about everything being in its right place, all the time, like a neat-freak Soldier”

The good natured jibing had continued until they reached their destination and walked through the park to the reflecting pool

“How many laps did you do last time?” Katie asked, as Steve stretched his arms upwards, cracking his back.

“Six.” he said.

She looked at him, frowning. “That’s like what? Twenty miles?”

“Nearer twenty-two.” He grinned.  “You want me to keep your pace?”

She laughed “No way, you’ll just bitch at me for being slow.”

“I do not bitch…” “You bitch like a 14 year old girl.” Katie lamented, gently shoving him in his back. “Now go, go on!”

He smiled again, jogging backwards for a second before he set off at a rate of knots. Exercise always made him feel good. Running, boxing, sparring…fucking. Pushing away the dirty thoughts that had arisen to the forefront of his mind, he was quick to find a comfortable pace, his trainer clad feet slapping the concrete.

It didn’t take Katie long to find her rhythm either. Despite not being with SHIELD anymore she had kept her fitness training up, sparring three times a week with either Natasha or Steve in the local gym. She was technically still an Avenger after all, Tony having now fashioned her another Supernova suit which was basically a version of his latest Iron Man suit but in Silver and Blue, the Nova shaped star sported in the chest where the mini arc reactor powered it. She’d given it a trial run whilst she had been back in New York and was just as impressed with it now as she had been with the prototype he had blown up.

Her feet gently slapped the ground as she ran, the sun was rising on the last day of March and it was promising to be a sunny, bright spring morning.

"Hi.” A voice greeted her as another jogger she hadn’t seen before caught up with her and fell into step with her.

“Nice day for it!”  Katie smiled.

“You normally run this early?” He asked “Haven’t seen you around before.”

“That’s because I don’t normally run here!” She smiled “But I just spent 5 days in New York eating crap so…!”

He laughed and held out his hand. “Sam Wilson.”

She took it and gave it a shake. “Katie Stark.”

“Well I’ll be damned!” Sam grinned “I didn’t recognise you. Nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

As Steve was about to lap Katie for the first time he noticed she was running with another jogger, a black man wearing a grey sweater with short, cropped hair. At one time this would have sparked the green eyed monster in his chest, but not now. Not only did he know she wouldn’t stand for it, but he knew she was just sociable in general. She would talk to anyone given the chance and moreover, she was his girl, he knew that. As he approached them he breathed out an “On your left.” as a warning as he sped past into his second lap.

Sam frowned, looking round and Katie smirked, trying not to laugh at the look on his face as Steve’s frame whizzed off into the distance.

“I never tire of looking at these.” She commented a short while later as they rounded the monument.

Again the sound of heavy footsteps came. “On your left.”

“On your left.”

“Uh-huh. On my left. I got it.” Sam called after him as he entered his fifth lap.

Katie didn’t even try to stop herself this time and she laughed at the slight look of frustration on Sam’s face.

Not long after they were making a lap around the pool at the base of the memorial. Sam gritted his teeth at the wholly unwelcomed sound of footsteps behind him once again, he looked over his shoulder “Don’t say it. Don’t you say it!”

“On your left.”

“Come on!” Sam shouted and Steve allowed an amused smile to spread across his face.

Sam tried his hardest to pick up his speed to match that of Steve’s but failed miserably after only a few moments, now completely gassed out.

“Are you alright?” Katie asked laughing as she approached his hunched over figure, catching her own breath.

“Oh, here he comes…Superman himself…” Sam said gesturing to where Steve was now walking towards them, hands on his hips. He paused at his girl’s side and looked down at Sam.

“Need a medic?” he teased.

“I need a new set of lungs.” Sam chuckled breathlessly. “Dude, you just ran like thirteen miles in thirty minutes.”

“Guess I got a late start.” He shrugged, shooting Katie a pointed look. She responded with her best innocent stare, batting her eyelids at him. Rolling his eyes, he turned his attention back to the stranger who began to talk again.

“You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap.” He scolded jokingly. “Did you just take it? I assume you just took it.”

Steve smiled, he couldn’t help but like this man. As he looked at him, he noticed the military symbol on his grey sweater.

“What unit were you with?” Steve asked changing the subject and motioning to the man’s shirt.

“Fifty-eighth, Para-rescue. But now I’m working down at the VA. Sam Wilson.” He said motioning for help up.

“Steve Rogers.” Steve held out his hand and pulled Sam to his feet.

“I kind of put that together.” Sam said as he tried to catch his balance. “Must have freaked you out, coming round after the whole defrosting thing.”

“It takes some getting used to. But I’ve had help.” He smiled, looking at Katie who grinned back. “Good to meet you Sam.”

“Yeah, bye Sam!” Katie smiled as Steve gently placed his hand on her lower back to steer her away.

"It’s your bed right?” Sam called out from behind him.

Steve paused and they both turned back around. “What’s that?”

“Your bed, it’s too soft.” Sam went on to explain. “When I was over there, I’d sleep on the ground and use rocks as pillows. Like cavemen. Now I’m back home, in my own bed, feels like-”

Steve cut him off. “Like lying on a marshmallow, feels like I’m gonna sink right to the floor.”

"How long?” He asked Sam

“Two tours.” Sam responded. “You must miss the good old days huh?”

“Well, things aren’t so bad.” He folded his arms, taking a quick glance at Katie who raised her eyebrow at him, teasingly. “Foods a lot better. We used to boil everything. No polio that’s good.” He paused before making a gesture with his hand. “Internet so helpful, I’ve been reading that a lot tryna’ catch up.”

Sam nodded and then moved his right hand from where it had been folder across his chest and held it, fingers extended. “Marvin Gaye, 1972, ‘Troubleman’ soundtrack.” He said, returning his arm to its resting position “Everything you’ve missed jammed into one album.”

“Ohhh man!” Katie groaned “I love that film.”

Steve nodded, smiling and pulled out the notebook she had bought him the previous year, “I’ll put it on the list.”

“We can download it later.” Katie offered. Steve smiled as he closed his book before he reached into his other pocket for his phone which was going off. It was Natasha.

'Mission Alert. Extraction imminent. Meet you at the curb :)’

He showed the message to Katie who read it whilst he looked over at Sam.

“Well Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run. If that’s what you wanna call running.” He joked extending his hand.

“Oh that’s how it is?” Sam says amused shaking the offered hand.

“That’s how it is.” Steve responded, laughing slightly.

“Okay, anytime you two wanna stop by the VA. Make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Steve said as Natasha pulled up in her black chevvy sports car.

“Hey guys, anyone know where the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil.” She quipped.

“Hey Nat!” Katie waved at her and she nodded whilst Steve simply shook his head.

“That’s hilarious.” He commented dryly as he turned to Katie. “I’ll call you as soon as I can, okay?” She took a deep breath. “Be careful.” She instructed as she leaned up to give him a kiss. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Steve made his way to the car, opened the passenger side of the car and dropped into the seat.

“How you doing?” Sam called with a smile as he squat down to get a better view of both Natasha and the car.

“Hey.” She responded with a small smile.

“Can’t run everywhere.” Steve joked smugly, looking back at the man.

“No you can’t.” Sam chuckled and Steve shot one last look at Katie who waved as Natasha surged the car forward.

Katie watched them go before she turned to Sam.

“Military girlfriend huh?” He teased and she laughed.

“Something like that.” “Fancy a coffee?” Sam nodded to one of the stands parked over on the square and she smiled.

“Sure, why not?”

Sam insisted on paying, despite Katie’s protests and they took their coffees over to a bench, sitting down in the early morning sun. As they talked, Katie fast realised she really liked this man, and he was pretty damned interesting too. He told Katie about his time serving in Afghanistan and how he had chosen, post the loss of his partner, Riley, to leave active service and focus his attention on helping others through work at the VA.

Katie had never really dug into the VA much, but it seemed like it did some pretty good work, helping those Soldiers who needed help adjusting to life post discharges for medical or mental health reasons. Sam confided in her that the DC branch was under threat due to lack of funding, and she made a mental note to speak to Tony about it being something that maybe the Stark Relief fund could look into partnering.

When they both realised they had been sat on the bench chatting for almost an hour and a half the pair of them both, knowing they had other places to be, exchanged numbers and she promised to pass his onto Steve.

The rest of her day went pretty quick, in a flourish of telephone conferences and various other ad-hoc emails to deal with, talking to the editors and Business Development team about potential authors to target. By the time she logged off for the evening it was gone eight. She leaned back in her chair, glancing up at the photos that decorated her office, her eyes being drawn to the one on the shelf of herself and Steve which had been taken at the New Years Eve gala last year. 

Picking up her phone she debated texting him, but she knew better than to bother him. From personal experience, STRIKE missions were heavy going. Instead she decided she was going to break with their usual routine whereby he would come to hers if it wasn’t too late post mission, and she was going to wait for him at his.

******

 “The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star.” Rumlow spoke, moving images along a screen as they all stood watching as the jet flew over the Indian ocean. “They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety-three minutes ago.”

“Any demands?” Steve asked.

“A billion and a half.”

“Why so steep?” Steve asked, frowning. That wasn’t so much steep as fucking vertical.

“Because it SHIELD’s.” Rumlow replied and Steve took a deep breath.

“So it’s not off-course, its trespassing.” He said exasperatedly, turning to his left and looking at Natasha.

“I’m sure they have a good reason.” She met his eyes, her face not faltering for a second.

“You know, I’m getting a little tired of being Fury’s janitor.” Steve raised his eyebrows as she looked back at the screen.

“Relax.” She drawled. “It’s not that complicated”

“How many pirates?” Steve looked back at Rumlow.

“Twenty-five.” he replied, once more swiping at the screen. “Top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc” he pulled up a photo of Batroc on the monitor. “Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He’s at the top of Interpol’s Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy’s got a rep for maximum casualties.”

“Hostages?” Steve pressed.

“Uh…mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell.” Rumlow flashed up Sitwell’s photo and Steve shifted slightly “They’re in the galley.”

“What’s Sitwell doing on a launch ship?” He queried, an air of frustration in his tone as he pulled on his gloves before he took a breath and issued his instructions without waiting for an answer. “Alright, I’m gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you’ll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep up after, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get ‘em out. Let’s move.”

“STRIKE, you heard the Cap. Gear up.” Rumlow nodded to his team and they all began to bustle around the jet.

Steve moved towards the back, checking his ear piece, raising his wrist communicator to his mouth. “Secure channel seven.”

“Seven secure.” Nat picked up a few more bits of equipment from the shelves, passing a coms device to Evans as Steve walked behind her to the ramp. “Did you do anything fun Saturday night?”

“Well, seeing as all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, I had to settle for a movie and pizza with my girl.” He shrugged as he fit his ear piece, a smile tugging at his face. “Yeah, it was fun.”

Natasha grinned and Evans gave a chuckle as the pilot spoke into his ear. “Coming up by the drop zone, Cap.”

Steve punched the button to lower the ramp before he grabbed his helmet.

“You know, I think it’s cute. You’re like a regular, normal couple.”  Evans said, and Steve turned to him as he fastened the straps on his helmet.

“That’s because we are normal.” He replied, a little louder as the noise of the air blowing through the ramp surrounded them. Steve grabbed his shield and swung it onto his back, the irony of his statement making him smile even more as he walked towards the end of the ramp.

“Yeah, because most people do this type of stuff for a living.” Natasha shot after him and he turned to face her, smirking.

“Well, at least it doesn’t get boring.” He grinned, before he threw himself off the jet.

“Was he wearing a parachute?” Rollins turned to Rumlow who gave a huff of a smile.

“No. No, he wasn’t.”

Steve held his arms and hands out to the side of himself as he was free falling through the air, before he shifted, straightening his legs out below him and crossing his arms over his chest. He speared straight into the ice cold water below and, after a moment to adjust, he started swimming toward the ship, using the anchor chain to climb up onto the deck. He dropped silently over the railings and grabbed the guard who had walked past seconds before in a choke hold, rendering him unconscious as noiselessly as he could. Then he set off at a sprint and it wasn’t long before he encountered two more of the pirates. Using his shield he hit the first one and took him down then sent the vibranium weapon flying once more where it ricocheted off the hull of the boat and took down the second. He caught it and continued running around the side of the deck where he encountered another three. The first one he dispatched with a harsh kick, taking the others down with a quick leg swipe and a harsh punch to the face. The next one he saw wasn’t looking so Steve sped up and used his momentum to shoulder barge him over the side of the ship, before he launched at the next one, taking him down with a swinging choke hold. The one after had a knife, which was slightly more inconvenient, but Steve managed to disarm him and used the dagger he now had possession of to pin one of the other guards hands to the wall as he was reaching up to hit the alarm button, before knocking him out with a kick to the head.

That was how it went for the most of it. Steve ran the entire deck, taking everyone down using his shield, arms, legs, body, any means he had before anyone could raise the alarm. And he was almost home and dry, until he dispatched of what he thought was the final merc, until as he caught his shield, he heard the click of a gun right behind his head.

“Bouge pas!” The man spoke and Steve tilted his head slightly to glance at the man in his peripheral, understanding the words to mean don’t move. So he didn’t, especially not as he had just spotted Rumlow drifting down towards the deck. The STRIKE leader shot at the pirate, taking him down and landed a few feet away.

“Thanks.” Steve nodded to him.

“Yeah. You seemed pretty helpless without me.” Rumlow joked and Steve turned to see Natasha and Evans parachute down onto the deck to join them.

“So you know you said before about things not getting boring?” Natasha asked as they strode across the deck, Steve slinging his shield onto his back. “If you ever need any tips on how to keep it from getting boring in the bedroom, just ask.”

Steve shook his head and let out a groan.

“When you gonna ask her to move in with you?” Nat continued.

“Secure the engine room, then we can talk about my sex life and living arrangements.” Steve deadpanned back

“I’m multitasking” Nat sing-songed as she effortlessly hopped over a set of railings, disappearing onto the lower part of the deck.

Steve set off at a run, vaulting up a few steps, using railings to swing himself onto the higher level of the ship before he stopped just below the bridge, shooting one of Lawson’s listening devices at the windows. He listened in as Batroc instructed his men to fire the engines and then Steve retreated to a spot where he could see Batroc clearly through the window of the control bridge. Crouching down he continued to listen into their conversation, easily able to understand the French they were speaking, one of his many skills picked up in the war. It had come easy post the serum, as with everything it had enhanced his ability to memorise and grasp things like that.

Batroc was being informed by one of his officers about the radio silence from SHIELD and Steve watched carefully before Evans’ voice cut across the jabbers of French.

“Targets acquired”

“STRIKE in position” Rumlow replied.

“Natasha, what’s your status?” Steve whispered into his wrist coms, but there was no reply. “Status, Natasha?”

“Hang on!” She said loudly, and Steve waited as he heard a bit of a struggle before she spoke again twenty or so seconds later. “Engine room secure.”

That was it, they were clear to engage.

“On my mark” Steve whispered “Three. Two. One.”

With that he set off running towards the bridge, leaping up a small set off steps before he flung his shield through the window. He jumped in after it and Batroc caught him with a kick to the chest before sprinting off and kicking his way out of the door. Steve jumped up, wrenched his shield from where it had been wedged in the metal panels at the back of the control room and ran after him.

“Hostages on route to extraction.” Rumlow informed as Steve emerged onto the end of a set of steps. “Romanoff missed the rendezvous point, Cap.” The STRIKE leader continued as Steve jumped down onto the main area of the deck. “Hostiles are still in play.”

Steve looked around before he turned on his heels and started walking “Natasha, Batroc’s on the move.” He instructed quietly into his coms. “Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages.”

There was no reply, and Steve was starting to get pissed off at her radio silence.

“Natasha!”

But then, out of nowhere Batroc flew at him with another harsh kick which sent Steve flying, and no sooner had he righted himself, there came another. The two engaged, toe to toe, fists flying, legs kicking, arms blocking and Steve had to hand it to Batroc, even after he knocked him down with his shield, the man was quickly back on his feet. Steve aimed a knee to his gut and flipped him backwards only to see Batroc effortlessly fling himself into several back flips before landing on his feet a short distance away, smirking as he eyed Steve up.

“Je croyais que tu étais plus qu'un bouclier.” He chuckled slightly and Steve cocked his head to one side, chewing over the man’s words… I thought that you were more than just a shield.

The arrogance in Steve won out and he straightened up out of his attack stance. You wanna go, fucker? Fine. Let’s dance.

He took a breath, stashing his shield on the harness round his back, and undid his chin strap, pulling his helmet off. “On va voir.” He said simply, tossing it to the floor, his eyes not once leaving Batroc’s who gave a huge grin.

They dodged for a second or two before they began to fight once more, trading punches, kicks and a few more knees to the gut before Steve threw himself up into the air, twirling his body round into a huge over-head kick, connecting his boot straight with Batroc’s head. Batroc fell to the floor and soon staggered back to his feet, but Steve didn’t give him chance to recover properly. He ran at him, spearing them both through a door, and sitting up slighting, Steve knocked Batroc out with a huge punch to the head.

He took a moment to draw his breath when a voice rang out across the room.

“Well, this is awkward.”

He looked up to see Natasha smirking at him from where she was bent over a computer.

“What are you doing?” Steve demanded as he rose to his feet.

“Backing up the hard drive. It’s a good habit to get into.”  She retorted.

Steve glanced over his shoulder, happy Batroc was still out cold, before he strode purposefully towards her.

“Rumlow needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?” He drew up behind her and glanced at the screens. As it registered what she was doing he shook his head in exasperation. “You’re saving SHIELD Intel.”

“Whatever I can get my hands on.” She drawled, still tapping at the computer as she looked at him, before turning back to the screen.

“Our mission is to rescue hostages.” Steve glared at her.

“No. That’s your mission.” Natasha corrected as she finished what she was doing and pulled the pen drive out of the slot. She turned towards him and smiled causing Steve’s anger to bubble even more. “And you’ve done it beautifully.” Her tone was almost patronising as she smirked, moving to pass him.

At that, Steve felt his temper snap and he grabbed her arm stopping her in her tracks. “You just jeopardized this whole operation.”

“I think that’s overstating things.” Natasha stated calmly but before Steve had time to reply a movement caught his attention. Batroc stood up and threw a grenade at the two of them as he ran off. Steve deflected the bomb with his shield before he grabbed Natasha round the waist and hopped up onto the desks. Jumping to another one, Natasha shot out one of the glass windows into an internal office and they dived in just as the bomb exploded.

Smoke, ash and debris rained down on them and Steve gave it a second before he looked over his shoulder and out before sitting back down to take a moment. He was beyond pissed off. Pissed at Natasha and pissed at Fury for not bothering to tell him the full story.

“Okay. That one’s on me.” Natasha breathed out.

“You’re damn right.” Steve grit his teeth and pushed himself up, storming out in anger. Of course, Batroc was nowhere to be found.

**** Steve was that angry about the cluster-fuck of a mission that he didn’t speak a word to Natasha all the way home and yes, he knew it was childish, but he was getting seriously pissed off at the secrets and lies that seemed to be part and parcel of any goddamned mission Fury sent him on. Once back at base he stormed off the jet, ignoring pretty much everyone and simply barking out that they would debrief in the morning.

It was just before midnight when he got home, and as he pulled his bike up into the designated space allotted for his apartment, he noticed Katie’s car was in one of the guest spaces that lined the street. He frowned slightly, she never normally waited at his for him. Not for any particular reason other than he normally spent the hours or so after a mission debriefing before heading home to decompress for a few hours and then if it wasn’t too late he would head to hers. But the more he thought about it now he realised that he had no idea why he did it that way. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand what it was like being a SHIELD operative, or that he didn’t want her at his. 

Knowing that she was there made him smile for the first time since he’d left the Lemurian Star and, despite his various aches and bruises, he found himself taking the steps to his apartment three at a time, his eagerness to see her wiping all other thoughts from his mind.

She was on the couch, bare denim-short clad legs tucked underneath her, and she looked up from the TV as he walked into the living area and leaned in the doorway, smiling softly at the sight of her, hair tousled slightly from where she had been leaning her head against the arm of the couch.

“What are you doing here?” He asked gently as she sat up.

“Decided I’d wait for you.” She shrugged “You complaining?” “Not at all.” He smiled, turning away as he unzipped his jacket and hung it over the back of one of the stools by the breakfast bar before he crossed the room.

“You had a good day?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She replied as he walked back into the lounge. “Vanity Fair have written the article already, if I’m happy with it tomorrow then it’s going to be published this month.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile at her tone. She was proud, and she had every right to be. So was he. Stark Independent Publishing LTD had taken off like a rocket and the glossy magazines were queuing up to interview the youngest Stark prodigee. She had declined all of them until the board had suggested she do one interview for Vanity Fair, along with a photoshoot in her office. She’d reluctantly agreed, but had confided in Steve she’d actually kind of enjoyed it.

“That’s fast.” he said, heading back into the room.

“Yeah they’re really pushing for it.” She smiled as he dropped besides her with a groan, lifting her legs up so they crossed his lap. As he did so he jostled the bruised ribs and muscles he’d obtained on the Lemurian Star and let out a hiss, rubbing slightly at his torso. Katie spotted this, as always, and frowned, moving her legs so she was sat up, scooting over to where he was and gently tugged at his t-shirt. He didn’t stop her as she examined the large bruise over the side of his ribs and gently ran her fingers over it.

“Ouch.” She mumbled softly, looking up at him and then tilting his face round. He knew there was a small cut on his temple but other than that and the bruise to his side he was uninjured. “Is this it?”

He nodded.

“So how did you do it this time?”

“I got blown through a window.” Because that was a perfectly normal thing for Captain America to do, Katie merely rolled her eyes and dropped a kiss to his cheek as she stood up “I’ll get the arnica and fix you something to eat”

He loved this, the way she just wanted to take care of him, but he was aware of what time it was too, and he didn’t want her to feel like she had to play the dutiful housewife.

“Kitten, you should go to bed, its late.” He grabbed her hand. “Once I’ve patched you up and fed you I will.” She shrugged stubbornly, tugging gently on his hand and he allowed himself to be pulled up “Go take a shower, I’ll sort your dinner.”

This time he didn’t protest, simply smiled, dropped a kiss to her head and headed to the bathroom.

He stepped under the hot water cascading from the shower and let out a groan as it hit his body, allowing it temporarily to soothe his mind and his aches. He still couldn’t shake his annoyance at how the mission was gone. Suddenly, he was distracted by his stomach grumbling and he realised he was actually really hungry. He quickly washed off before cutting the water and stepping out, grabbing a towel. He could hear Katie in the kitchen as he walked down the hall towards his bedroom where he dried himself off and dressed in a pair of loose sweats and a grey T-shirt.

The smell of food hit his nostrils as he walked into the kitchen, making his mouth water. Her food was always good, he had no idea what he was in for tonight but he didn’t care. As he approached where she was stood, both his hands dropped to her hips and he placed a soft kiss on her neck, an easy sign of affection before he let out a heavy sigh and reached into the refrigerator.

“So, you wanna tell me what happened?” She asked, turning to look at him as he downed pretty much an entire bottle of water before he slumped down at the breakfast bar and explained everything to her. She listened, asked questions, shook her head, and when he reached the bit about the ransom she whistled slightly through her teeth, coming to the same conclusion he had when he heard the demand.

“That’s steep.” she frowned and Steve snorted.

“That’s what I said. Turns out its SHIELDS.“

The microwave finished and Katie moved to open the door, stirring whatever was in there before removing it and placing it down in front of him, along with a plate of his favourite bread. He was silent for a moment as he stirred the hot stew, Ghoulash, before taking a small mouthful to test the heat. Damned she could cook. He nodded appreciatively.

“It’s good.” “You sound surprised.”

“Behave.” He admonished, giving her a look. “You know what I think about your cooking.”

He continued to eat as she stood up and fished about in the cupboard he stored the bottle of Arnica gel she insisted he keep to hand. As he ate, she settled next to him and hitched his shirt up, gently and carefully applying the ointment to his side. The bruise extended from the middle of his rib cage to an inch or so beneath the band of his sweats.

It was relaxing, and he relished her touch and her gentle tone as she continued to talk.

“So did you get the hostages?”

“Yeah.” He nodded in between mouthfuls. “That bit was pretty easy all things considered.”

“So what’s wrong, love?”

She could tell there was more to his mood than what he had told her, and her instincts were proven right when he let out a soft sigh as she continued to rub at his side softly.

“I’m just annoyed Sweetheart.” He sighed eventually “At Fury, at Romanoff.”

“At Nat? Why?”

“She was running a separate mission, which meant the task I gave her to back Rumlow up with the hostages wasn’t done.”

“Fury?”

He nodded.

“More secrets” Katie sighed, feeling a flash of anger. “You know this is exactly why I got out…legacy or no legacy.”

“Tell me about it.” He dropped the spoon into the empty bowl. “We were lucky no one was hurt, or worse. I mean, Rumlow was great, got everyone out but, Doll, how can I lead a team when half of them are lying to me?”

“Nat was just doing as she was told.” Katie spoke softly, trying to deal with each issue one at a time.

“Since when is retrieving Intel more important than people’s lives?”

“I’m not saying it is. I’m just saying don’t be so hard on her.” She reasoned, her fingers still tracing shapes on his skin. “She has a job to do, same as you. Its Fury you should be talking to about it.”

“Oh I intend to.” Steve snorted. “I’m going to go see him tomorrow morning after de-brief…”

“Well, at least you’ll get an explanation. I mean it might not be what you wanna hear but…”

She was right, of course. Pushing it from his mind, Steve concentrated on her touch as she was still gently rubbing his side. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh of contentment, and was disappointed when she finally finished and let his t-shirt fall down before she stood up to put the ointment away.

“You want any more to eat?” She asked, once she’d washed the arnica off her hands.

“Is there any?” He looked at her hopefully.

She smiled, nodding, and then gave a small yawn which she tried to stifle, but Steve noticed it.

“Okay, I’ll warm some more up and you’re gonna go to bed.” He said, standing up “And that’s an order.”

“Bossy bastard” She retorted. He replied simply with a raised an eyebrow and stern glare as he crossed towards her. She held her hands up, “Okay, I’m going…” She leaned up to kiss to his cheek.

“Won’t be long.” He smiled.

Steve had another bowl of food before he slipped the dishes into the dishwasher and headed to the bathroom to clean his teeth. He turned off the lights, crossed into the dark bedroom and pulled off his T-shirt, sliding into bed behind Katie. His arm curled over her waist, surprise surprise she was in one of his shirts, which did nothing to ebb his growing desire and the twitching in his groin. Hoping she wasn’t asleep, his nose gently nuzzled at her neck, and he was pleased when she responded.

He needed this. Wanted this. Wanted her.

“When you told me to go to bed…” Katie sighed, as his lips gently started their assault on that spot, “I thought you meant to sleep.” “Want me to stop?” Steve practically purred into her neck.

“Didn’t say that.” She replied, rolling her head to catch his lips as his hand crept down her inner thigh. She let out a contented sigh and he smiled against the side of her neck as he traced his fingers over her hip, hand flattening as it crept down and round to the top of her panties, his fingers slipping inside, where he found her hot, wet, ready for him. It was enough to harden him completely as he started to gently tease her, causing her to groan at the pleasure, her back arching whilst his lips continued to kiss and caress her neck.

“Steve.” She moaned softly, her tone pleading. “I want you…”

Fuck, he would never get tired of hearing that. Ever. 

“Yeah?” he whispered.

“Yeah. Please Stevie.” He didn’t think he’d ever be able to say no to her. His hand moved up and he gripped at her hip, gently rolling her so she was lay on her back, using his leg to part hers. He guided his shirt over her head, pulled down her panties, before he stripped off his boxers, fingers lacing in between hers, as he crawled over her, pinning both hands above her head as he worked his way into her. They both groaned as he stretched her, and she looked up at him, those eyes locking onto his as he leant down to kiss her, starting up a slow, gentle pace. He moved slowly, again and again, lips caressing hers, then her jaw, then her neck, all the time his hands wrapped around hers, causing her to surrender to him completely.

He kept up that soft, gentle pace, loving her completely. He could tell she was close, he knew the signs well enough now and as she groaned in delight, tightening around him he coaxed her, “That’s it baby girl…” lips soft on her ear.

And then she came, shuddering underneath him, her head tipping back, as she let out a gentle, low, broken moan of his name. It sent shivers down his spine and he continued to thrust through her orgasm, the tale heat spreading across his belly and then he tipped too, jerking and groaning slightly before he fell forward, burying his face in to her neck.

“Love you.” She whispered softly into his ear as her hand ran up his neck, into his hair and he gave a hum of contentment as he regained control of his senses.

“Love you too, so damned much, Sweetheart.” He rubbed his nose up against hers and she chuckled slightly as he rolled off of her. She scooted closer so she could lay her head on his chest and his arm curled round her, large hand tracing shapes on her skin at the bottom of her back as she tossed her leg over his.

“What time are you in tomorrow?” She asked gently, hand rubbing absentmindedly over his chest.

“Half nine.” He gave a sated yawn.

“We can have breakfast together, I made cinnamon rolls.” She muttered through a yawn of her own.

“That so?” “mmmhmmm”

“You know, you’d make a good little housewife.” He grinned, thinking back to his thought before. He knew her response before she had uttered it. “Fuck you.” He chuckled, dropping a kiss to her head and they both fell silent. And his last thought as he drifted off to sleep was just how her being here had made him almost forget his worries.

Katie lay still, listening to the sound of his breathing which grew even as he fell asleep, clearly exhausted. He always needed food and rest after missions, his metabolism drained him. She stole a glance up at him, long eyelashes lay against his cheek as his head lolled to the side slightly, facing her.

“Night soldier.” She whispered softly, placing a peck on his lips before settling down and succumbing to her own tiredness. ********* Katie woke the next morning, tangled in Steve’s arms, his face pressed into her neck as he’d done his usual koala impression. As gently as she could, she moved to check her phone for the time, and found it to be twenty-five past seven, five minutes before her alarm was due to go off. Cancelling it, she glanced back over at Steve who shifted onto his back, the arm that had been thrown around her gently resting on his chest. Smiling, she climbed out of bed deciding to leave him to sleep as long as she could.

Considering what a light sleeper he normally was, Steve didn’t stir when Katie returned following her shower and was still out of it when she finished dressing so she unset the alarm on his bedside clock and headed to the kitchen. She put on a fresh pot of coffee, threw the fresh rolls she had made the previous day into the oven and settled down on his couch, flipping on the TV whilst she quickly scanned through her phone, looking at her schedule for the day. She only had one meeting in the afternoon, and it wasn’t important so she fired an email through to her PA asking her to reschedule.

At about eight-fifteen, there was still no sign of Steve so Katie headed through to the bedroom to wake him up. Any longer and he would be late for his debrief. He was lay side on, facing her side of the bed so she dropped next to him…

Something was tickling his nose, right on the bridge. He gently sniffed, and then soft lips met his. Again, again…Steve made a completely involuntary noise that was halfway between a groan and a sigh as he realised his girl was kissing him awake, before her lips met his and this time he gently responded.

“Hey.” That soft voice greeted him and he smiled, gently cracking an eye open and meeting that emerald green.

“Morning” He said groggily and she smiled.

“It’s almost eight-fifteen.”

He frowned, that was late. “My alarm didn’t wake me?” “I turned it off, sorry-not-sorry” She said with a tone so blasé it made him chuckle “You needed the rest.” She gave him a soft kiss again “There’s coffee in the kitchen and breakfast is ready.” “You know I could get used to this” He rolled over so he was on his back as she rose from the bed. “Coming home to a ready-made dinner, waking up to ready-made breakfast before I go to work. And you.” “Nice to see which one of those is your priority.” She teased over her shoulder as she left him to it.

“Always you, Doll.” he murmured with a smile. But as he lay still for another few minutes, he thought about it more and more. Over the past four months, other than when they were away either on missions or business trips they had spent every night together, either at his or hers but last night, something had felt different to him, more intimate. She’d taken care of his mission injuries, cooked for him, made love to him, and now here she was making him breakfast before she would wave him off to work later on. It was almost normal, what people with mundane nine to five jobs did. And he realised he wanted that all the time, he wanted to come home, find her there, wake up with her, every single day.

“When you gonna ask her to move in?” Natasha’s voice popped back into his head.

If he was honest, he hadn’t given it a lot of thought, it wasn’t something people did back in his time before marriage. But times were different, hell he was different, and as he lay there contemplating it, he realised, it wasn’t such a bad idea.

When he headed through, Katie was sat at the kitchen table, laptop fired up, mobile glued to her ear.

“I know!” Her tone was one of utter excitement. “I mean I didn’t think they would turn out so good…or they’d be done so fast but they’re pushing for this month’s edition…”

He dropped a kiss to her neck and glanced at the screen, pausing when he saw the image. It must have been one of the photos done whilst she was in New York and as he looked at it, he felt his mouth drop open. His girl was stood against a wall in her office in the tower, one leg bent, high heeled foot raised back against the flat surface behind her, palms splayed either side of her thighs as she looked to the right. Her hair was pulled back in a slick, high pony tail, her make-up was heavier than normal and utterly flawless, and she was dressed in a grey charcoal pinstripe suit which cinched in at her waist, with a low cut white blouse underneath.

“Yeah, I know Tony.” She continued speaking into the phone as she glanced up and saw the expression on his face. She pressed a button on the keyboard and it flipped to another picture, this one of her sat in her chair, legs apart, elbows resting on her knees, as she looked beyond the camera, laughing at something. She looked absolutely fucking stunning. His eyes roved the image on the digital copy of the article and he began to read the writing that was next to it.

There are a lot of things you might absolutely hate about Katie Stark. Aged just twenty-nine she has more money than anyone could possibly wish to spend in a life-time, looks and a figure that you would kill for, and a Super Soldier Boyfriend with a jawline that seems to be carved from marble. However, after thirty seconds in her company despite wanting to hate her for all of the above, it was simply impossible not to like her.

Unassuming, accommodating, and with a smile that you simply can’t help but return, she welcomed us into her office and was remarkably humble about the entire thing, admitting that she still wasn’t quite so sure why we were so interested in her. We took the time to grill her on how the first three months of Stark Independent Publishing LTD has gone and what we can look forward to in the future.

Katie stood up and gestured for him to sit down and carry on reading the article. She headed off into the living room, continuing her call, so he read as he ate a hot cinnamon bun. The article ploughed through a load of questions about the book that had launched the business when they published, the fact the company had already registered over fifty-percent first quarter turnover, where she thought the business was going, future pipeline projects, her favourite authors, genre, books, previous role in Stark Industries before she had spent a few years working for a Government Agency following the Battle of New York (no mention of Supernova or SHIELD) and then the final paragraph took a personal turn.

When asked if she would indulge us with a personal question she sighed slightly before grinning and telling us to ask and see if she answered. So we did…

“We know that you’re a notoriously private person, in comparison to your brother anyway, but most of our readers are dying to know…what’s it like dating Captain America?”

“No idea, I’m dating Steve Rogers.” She replied immediately, a faint flush hitting her cheeks as she spoke, all the time fiddling with a delicate yet gorgeous antique looking emerald ring which sits on her right hand, a gift we suspect from the man in question. When asked to elaborate slightly, she bit her lip and simply smiled before explaining; “Steve isn’t just Captain America. There’s more to him than a shield. He’s the kindest, gentlest, most caring man I’ve ever met and he makes me unbelievably happy.” The blush spread from her cheeks to her ears “And that’s not down to the Serum or outfit, it’s just who he is. The fact he’s 6ft2, drop dead gorgeous with a smile I’d happily die for is a bonus.”

Steve felt himself grin as he read the words and glanced at the small photo they had framed the paragraph round. It was the shot of them together that had been taken at the Stark Industry’s New Year’s Gala as they danced. His eyes continued to the final part of the article, this one complete with a picture of Katie and Tony. Katie sat at her desk as Tony leaned over, looking at something on the computer screen. 

When asked about the other man in her life, her brother Tony, she smiled again, another genuine smile, the love she has for her elder sibling evident on her face and in her voice.

“I owe everything I have to Tony. He brought me up from the age of seven, gave me absolute, unconditional love and opportunities I know I was extremely fortunate to have. People have a pre-conceived image of what he is like, and sometimes he can play into that, but to me he’s been nothing but loving and supportive, my father and brother rolled into one and I can’t thank him enough for everything he has done and given me. He backed my decision to open SIP from the off and believed in me and has always pushed me to be the best I can be.”

We couldn’t resist another personal question, so we asked her a little cheekily how Tony had reacted to news that she was dating one of his fellow Avengers, who had served alongside their Father Howard in WW2. Hesitating slightly, she flushed before smirking and answering, a grin on her face.

“How he found out wasn’t ideal, but once he realised we were serious, he was fine about it. I think deep down after my last car crash of a relationship, he’s just happy I’m with someone who puts me first.”

“Do they get on?” At that she laughed. “They have a love-hate relationship. In that they hate the fact they love one another. Tony has these ridiculous nicknames for Steve and he can be an absolute nightmare at times, but to be fair Steve’s quite sarcastic himself too but I know full well that they have each other’s six and, even though they would probably deny it, they are quite close and would miss one another if they weren’t around.”

Steve, grudgingly, had to admit she was right. Tony could be a pain in the ass at times, but he would miss the billionaire if he wasn’t there. Underneath all his bravado he knew that he thought the world of his sister and, despite their initial meeting whereby Steve frankly thought the guy was a dick, he’d fast learnt during the Chitauri Battle that underneath that persona he had a heart of gold and was more like his father than he would care to admit. A fact that Steve was even more convinced of having gotten to know him much better on a personal level over the last two years or so.

Whilst the siblings certainly share a lot of attributes, both good looking, tough, hard-working, Katie has a certain softness to her edges and we challenge anyone who spends time in her company not to warm to the youngest Stark. Stark Independent Publishing has, in our opinion, a very bright future ahead of it whilst it is spearheaded by such an astute and shrewd business woman and we wish her all the best.

“What do you think?” Katie watched as Steve read the article, leaning against the wall, nibbling at her thumb, nervous to see his reaction.

Steve jerked his head round and smiled at her. “I think it’s fantastic. The photos are stunning, the article is well written. Are you happy with it?” “Yeah.” she nodded as she walked over to his chair, standing behind it and slipping her arms round his shoulders from behind “They wouldn’t drop the whole So you’re dating Captain America angle though, so our PR department told me to answer a few personal questions to shut them up. Are you ok with it?” Steve smiled and turned side on in his seat, pulling her into his lap. “Seeing as I’m the kindest, gentlest, most caring man you’ve ever met how could I not be?” “I meant every word of that.” She smiled, rubbing her nose against his.

“I know baby.” He gave her a peck on the lips. “Now I need to go or I’m gonna be late.”

Sighing she stood up as he did the same, grabbing a final cinnamon bun from the plate.

“I’ll be back at mine” She informed him as she walked to the door with him, “I have a few calls to do this morning.” “I’ll come over when I’m done.” He smiled. “And maybe we can do something this afternoon?”

“Sounds perfect”

***** Chapter 14

**Original Posting**

[bloodyspade0000]

30-day knb challenge: Day 1- Favorite Male character

↳ Haizaki Shougo

I am not justifying Haizaki's behaviour. I think he needs a tall glass of respect woman juice and therapy. This is just meant to explain why he is my favourite character and help you better understand him as a character. Do not send hate or take my words out of context. You will be reported, deleted and cancelled. Thank you and enjoy. :)

My favourite character is Haizaki Shougo *dodges tomatoes* a lot of people in the fandom hate this guy for many reasons. It's kind of funny how many people hate him and the amount of hate he gets just for existing. Like bruh; he's sixteen, leave him alone. 😂

His whole existence is just sad. He was literally created to be hated.

Like straight up, Tadatoshi Fujimaki even admitted that he hated Haizaki. Haizaki's sole purpose of existing is to make the Generation of Miracles look better even though they’re just as problematic as he. No one is fucking perfect and is about time people woke the fuck up and realized it. Your faves are problematic move the fuck on.

Yes, the Miracles are redeemable but so is Haizaki. Yet, unlike the Miracles, he does not get redeemable. No, he disappears and is never seen again. Like bitch, what the fuck!? if you’re gonna introduce a character to only have them disappear for a long time and either have them show up again or just never mention them again. Wasting the potential they had to be a very good character or not having them redeem themselves while the other characters who were just as fucking problematic get a fucking redemption arc because they’re fucking main characters!? What’s the point of that character even existing in the first place? What kind of bullshit is that? Just to have them exist to make the main characters look good? How the fuck does that make sense? Like where is my Haizaki redemption arc? Do I have to write it on my own? I will write it. I am writing one.

Haizaki is the only character I could relate to. Being second best, struggling to find somewhere to fit in and overshadowed and replaced by someone everyone thinks is better than you. It's fucking depressing, okay? You spend your whole life thinking you’re not good enough, and it hurts. I don't feel like going too deep into it because I don't owe you a detailed explanation of my trauma, okay?. So I'll save that for my fics where I self-project half of it onto Haizaki. It’s a coping mechanism, okay? Therapy is fucking expensive.

The anime ruined his whole character, got rid of his whole arc and shorted it down, and made him worse than he really is.

A post explaining how the anime did him dirty and goes more in-depth about his character

I am not trying to justify his actions, i.e. him manhandling Alex and beating Himura up. He does terrible shit. We all do lousy shit sometimes, but that doesn't make us bad people. Making mistakes is a part of being human, and we're supposed to hold people accountable for their actions and help them realize what they’re doing is wrong, allowing them to grow and change. Not condemn them and ostracize them, which leads to isolation and a lot of psychological trauma and self-hatred, and as someone who has dealt with—is still dealing with all three. It is not fun. It makes living painful. Highly unrecommended.

Haizaki does not have a positive role model in his life nor anybody he can turn to, everyone has already given up on him. Even Nijimura and Kuroko didn’t even try to help him, being more focused on the Miracles. (Yes, I know kuroko tried to stop him from throwing his basketball shoes away, but that doesn’t fucking count because after that Kuroko just gave up on Haiazki too). Haizaki has probably grown grew up knowing only violence and not a single ounce of kindness, turning him into the bitter and angry little boy he is.

Haizaki had so much potential. But instead of making him a great villain that potential was WASTED on fucking Kise.

Also, the Kaijo vs Seirin match in the winter cup was completely useless because Kise already got redeemed and he literally got no character development from it.

And Seirin was gonna fucking win anyways because duh thier the main characters. 🙄

Now some headcanons I think about a lot:

1. He gets abused. Some psychological behavioural consequences of child abuse are unhealthy sexual practices and juvenile delinquency, and Haizaki exhibits all three which are some external behaviours of most (NOT ALL) male abuse victims. Haizaki's a womanizer, aggressive, hostile and violent. Yet, he backs down when someone stronger than him comes around and puts him in his place i.e. Aomine and Nijimura.

a factsheet explaining the long term consequences of child abuse and neglect

How to help a friend dealing with family abuse or neglect

How to Handle Abuse

2. He's a victim. And when you're a victim, you either become angry and cynical with everything and everyone around you, swearing never to be a victim again and struggle with gaining back control of your life. Not wanting anyone to see you being vulnerable because being vulnerable makes you weak. Being weak makes you shatter. You always shatter like glass, cutting yourself every time you pick up broken pieces, watching as blood trickles through your fingers.

Your body is constantly on high alert. The default is flight or fight—survival to the fittest.

Or you bite your lip and keep your head down, bottling everything inside and looking for escapes or seeking validation. You want to be wanted and loved because you struggle with loving and accepting yourself. There's always a voice in the back of your head telling you, you're not good enough or that it's your fault. That everything is your fault. Self-hatred and self-doubt are your tormentors.

Or it's a combination between both—a constant struggle.

And I believe Haizaki portrays both from the way he acts and presents himself. Especially since his motto is literally "Survival of the fittest,” and he had once told Kuroko, " there are bad guys and then the really scary people," or something along those lines, which I believe he is talking from experience. You learn from your experiences. They either make you or break you.

3. He's touch-starved.

What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved?

4. He's bisexual and has a lot of internalized homophobia. I can just feel his internalized homophobia rolling off of him. Bruh, I just know cuz I am bisexual, and I have struggled with internalized homophobia and still sadly struggle with it cuz I grew up surrounded by homophobic people.

I still live with them. 😭

Also, we live in a society that thinks straight is the default.

What internalized homophobia is.

5. His sexual awakening was probably Aomine or Kise. Could be both 😂?

6. He cries himself to sleep every night.

7. He's observant and a great judge of character. It's a fact. This guy literally predicted the downfall of the Miracles. Straight up warned Kuroko too. Too bad Kuroko didn't listen to him.

8. He's hilarious. When he first appeared in the manga, he literally called Himura a loser, lol. XD

9. He's a closeted softie and a total tsundere.

10. doesn't know how to react to kindness and will think you're threatening him or will feel really awkward and uncomfortable but will cover it up with his scowl, or he'll have a breakdown.

11. needs a lot of reassurance and head pats

12. swears a lot. Has no filter.

13. His bother is in the yakuza or some high position of power, and he feels inferior to him. It also explains why Haizaki gets away with things because he would have been kicked out of school if his bother wasn't either-or. I'm talking about his bother being in the yakuza, lol. XD

14. He and Momoi dated for a while but broke up on a mutual understanding that thier relationship just didn't work out. They're best friends and hang out sometimes.

15. Haizaki's good with kids and just genuinely likes them. He would be a great father and try his best to raise his kids right.

16. He gets sick really easily

17. He's clingy

18. He has no friends, mainly because he doesn't want people to get close to him because he's afraid of getting hurt again. Also, everyone in knb hates him.

19. He watches cartoons cuz he was never allowed to watch them when he was a kid. His childhood is trash, okay?

20. He hides in the closet because that's where he feels safe the most—rhetorically and literally.

21. Sleep-deprived and only runs on caffeine and spite.

List of fics that portray Haizaki better than the anime:

Heavy is the head by extrastellar

Idle Hands by DarkWoods

Another Chance by regretting my username_ (777imou_offline367)

What Matters is that We're Together by StrawFairy

06:00:00 of Haizaki Shougo (4) by ReiClien

This Is Happening by SharkGirl

What is Love by voices_in_my_head

A completely uncalled catharsis by oddball

One-shots

intertwined, under a spell by kornevable

ԼƠƔƐ & ӇΛƬƐ by Arthuria_PenDragon

delirium by extrastellar

me with you by doublejoint

Turn My Camera On by wordsliketeeth

At Summer's End by doublejoint

Taste by Hibari1_san

I Can't Get Enough of You by HisDarkSecret

I don't care if it hurts by llowsywriter

Ashes by doublejoint

broken things by lowsywriter

Series:

Finally found each other by suzakukills

This Is Happening Universe by SharkGirl

DNA by flowerway

My WIPS:

Isn’t it lovely?

Broken Crown

Love me, Love me, Love me

Grey skies

Rabbit hole

A playlist of songs that I believe fit Haizaki

Kuroko’s basketball’s manga

In conclusion, You can hate Haizaki as much as you want. But just keep it to yourself. Haizaki is my baby and I will protect him with my life.

[knifelesbianjo]

hiii :) for the character ask may i suggest the other girlboss mom mary winchester

Hiii, yes thanks for this.

mary my beloved <3

How I feel about this character

I LOVE HER!!! yes, it is because she’s hot, but not only. i think that bringing her back was one of the best ideas they had, not only for the impact it had on sam and dean but also because she had always been the frigged mother with her white nightgown and her perfect long blonde hair but then she comes back and she’s a person!!! and she’s a mess!!! and i love her because it deconstructs everything kripke built. (yes, we can say that they started doing that with the episodes about her youth which are great too, but she kinda was still the perfect blonde girl that wants an heteronormative relationship and have two kids)

i feel like they did her so dirty in s14, and i’m not only talking about killing her, which i hate with a burning passion (let it be clear that i don’t blame jack, he’s my son and he did nothing wrong, mary was overstepping a boundary, but i’m not blaming her either, im blaming the writers), ‘cause they frigged her again for the man pain and to have the divorce arc (which i love, but i would have definitely written differently). But everything else they did with her in that season is awful. they bring her back to the image of being a mother with literally nothing else (that scene in which dean goes to her house and asks her to make him dinner, like what the fuck dude??? you have hands dont you??) and they imply that she’s with bobby, which, personally, is fucking boring. so much wasted potential.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Rowena. Again, i have talked about them in the past so you know.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I love her relationship with both jack and cas. truly wholesome 🥺

Jack is really her grandchild and it’s so cute when he protects her with his wings. i’m really weak for people caring about jack, he’s a baby, he deserves love!! and he has such a big heart, i know he loves them all so much 🥺

And cas and mary!! that is an interesting dynamic!! but once again it is super underdeveloped. They tried something in s12 which was great, but too little. Cas is an angel!! mary spent her whole life dealing with monsters and seeing the dark side of everything and yet she hoped there was good and so she spend years telling his kid to not be afraid because there were angels watching over him. AND SHE WAS RIGHT!!! she comes back 30 years later and his son has an angel!!! don’t you think she would be more curious??  And they could have bonded about their insecurities, about feeling like they don’t really belong with sam and dean (which could have got them to realize is not true because they both feel like they don’t belong but the other does). And later they could have bonded over jack and their fears of letting him down, because they both feel that they have let down the people they love in the past. Anyways they’re both tormented by the same insecurities and they could have helped each other to get let go of them.

My unpopular opinion about this character

i think just liking her is kind of an unpopular opinion?? i mean i know that a lot of people love her, but there’s also so much hate for her and indifference, and i don’t get it, she’s amazing. I find it a bit hypocrisy because she’s dean, yet people love him and hate her....

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i have many thing i wish had happened. For starters: they should have told her what john did and, more importantly, they should have let her react logically to it: killing him. what the fuck is that bullshit of running to his arms in lebanon (my loathed) and then SHARING A HEAVEN WITH HIM?!?!?! 🤬😤 the DISRESPECT to her, i’m so angry.

they should have also let her have more plot.... there was a lot of interesting stuff to dive into, but they are cowards.

And once again, they should have let her kiss a girl, it would have been therapeutic for her, for dean and for me personally <3

[kinglarrykoopadx]

My top 10 all time favorite characters

10. Captain Basilisx (SMBZ)

One of the few redeeming factors of SMBZ, Captain Basilisx is one of Bowser’s more threatening forces. An incredible badass who’s better than Shadow the Hedgefart (fight me) that has Medusa’s gaze and is the only one out of Bowser’s army who canonically kills Mario in the og series (the Reboot does not count, it does not exist to me). And his theme song, like god damn, that remix of Show No Tears from DMC3 is a banger. The only reason he’s this low is cause Basilisx is a one time character. His debut episode, The Great Doomship Offensive, was his final episode because Carl Marx Haynes refused to put him in the reboot, so thanks a lot, Alvinlaskan Bullworm.

9. Rosalina (Mario series)

Is anyone surprised she made it to this list somehow? Rosalina first appeared in the masterpiece of a game, Mario Galaxy. She watches the Comet Observatory and was accompanied by thousands, scratch it, millions of Lumas. They did her dirty in Mario Galaxy 2 by reducing her appearance to a cameo in the base game, and 3D World made her a straight up playable character to wash off the disrespect. She’s pretty much the only Mario princess that I adore. Pauline’s not my type, I despise the hell outta Peach, and Daisy is too sassy for my liking. Why she is at number 9 is that I don’t like her as much as I used to. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked her, I just don’t like her as much. Still a decent Mario character though.

8. King K. Rool (DK series)

Another case of Basilisx, he’s basically if Goofy from Disney tried to be Bowser. He’s many things. A boxer, a king, a scientist, hell even a pirate captain. His goal varies throughout his appearances. In the first DKC game, he wants to hoard all the Kongs’ bananas. In the 2nd and 3rd, he plotted revenge against the Kongs. In 64 is where he’s most serious, cause he wants to BLOW UP DK ISLAND with his Blast-O-Matic. he’s a wacky one, but that’s what we all adore from him. The reason he’s this low is that he’s another case of Basilisx. He’s underused as hell, he and the Kongs haven’t batted eyes in years. And truth to be told, I really wish he’d stick around. The villains we got in the recent DKC games are just generic as hell. Tiki Tong is Knucklotec but before Odyssey happened, and of course the Walrus is the main villain of Tropical Freeze. How anti climactic.

7. Blaze (Sonic series)

While I stated before that my faith on Sonic sinks as deep as the Mariana Trench, she’s one of the better Sonic characters. She’s the anti Sonic where while Sonic is social, caring and all about action, Blaze is an introvert, has no friends, and plans ahead. Kinda like everyone in 2020 when you put it in perspective. She has incredible fire powers and is the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, the Sol Dimension’s Chaos Emeralds, which looked like the Royal Rubies/Savvy Sapphires/Equable Emeralds from Dragon Quest. At first, she was hostile towards everyone except Cream, but in the end of Sonic Rush, she had character development and grew fond of everyone. She’s one of the best Sonic characters, and Sega did her dirty by pulling a Basilisx. Seriously, Generations was her last appearance, not counting spinoffs.

6. Metal Sonic (Sonic series)

In the Sonic series, Metal Sonic was the chad to Sonic’s virgin. He was first introduced in Sonic CD, as Sonic’s faker, who strived to be better than Sonic. And can I just say that Metal Sonic is 99.9% better than regular Sonic, despite Sonic kicking his ass multiple times? Safe to say that the scrap brain has acheived his life’s purpose (hohoho-) . He has speed that outmatches Sonic, can overheat his circuitry to catch up with Sonic when he’s far behind, but the biggest highlight was when he turned to flying metal godzilla. And his theme songs never cease to disappoint. Stardust Speedway is a banger and What I’m Made Of. Dear god, WHAT. I’M. MADE. OF. If you never smiled hearing this, don’t even speak a single word, cause you’re an alien and I’m calling the FBI. The only problem with him is he’s another Blaze/Basilisx. His last official appearance was in Generations, not counting Forces cause he was a hallucination at the time, and Mania was made by Whitehead and not Sega so it doesn’t count. The only reason he’s higher than Blaze is because I prefer him over her.

5. Vivian (TTYD)

In this tumblr, I normally trash talk TTYD, but now, let’s talk a positive from the game. Someone get me the bucket, cause after this section, I’m gonna barf. Anyways, Vivian from TTYD is by far the most developed out of the TTYD roster. We get glimpses of her being abused by Beldam and eventually in Chapter 4, she has a change of heart and joins your party, practically defying her purpose in life. She also has a wide array of useful attacks. Shadow Fist being her neutral special, Veil which is basically Bow’s Outta Sight, Fiery Jinx which inflicts Burn, and Infatuate which confuses enemies with a kiss (might as well call this The Thousand Kisses Door). The reason she’s this low is cause she’s not exactly my favorite female character in paper Mario, she’s rather the 2nd best.

4. Koopalings (Mario series)

Maybe I watched too much Bowser’s Koopalings for this one, but shut up, this is my list.

3. Bowser Jr (Mario series)

Bowser’s spoiled son here takes the 3rd place for multiple reasons. One, look at him. He’s adorable. How could you hate him you soulless pricks. Two, he’s smart as hell. I mean it’s evident since his debut, he literally framed Mario and got away with it. And mind you, framing someone for a felony is not easy. Takes years of planning, lawyers, hiding of evidence, and did I mention lawyers? And it doesn’t stop there. Unlike Bowser who normally uses brute force, Jr here uses all sorts of tech to keep Mario at bay. Megahammer, Mecha Jr, Boomsday Machine, you get the idea. Third, his father son relationship with Bowser is adorable as hell, seriously, HOW DO YOU HATE THIS GUY.

2. Olivia/Bobby (Origami King)

It was hard ranking these two individually but then I decided to put them both in the same tier. First up, my favorite Paper Mario character, Olivia.  She’s basically a precious sunshine baby and if you dare lay a single scratch on her, I WILL BE FORCED TO TRAVEL THE WORLD AND BACK TO FIND YOU AND WHEN I DO, THEY HAVE TO MAKE ANOTHER COFFIN FOR YOUR FUNERAL. Yeah, her hints usually don’t help and I can see why there are people who hate her, but that’s what kids do, and I don’t even wanna see how an Olivia hater parents his kids. I just assume they donate them to an orphanage or something. I was kinda sad to see her go honestly, she was the only one travel companion out of the modern trilogy that I feel actually matters. And now, we have Bobby. He’s basically a Bob Omb who was a passenger of the Princess Peach (the narcissism, I know) until Olly took over and he eventually lost his fuse and memory. He doesn’t do much in battle, but his story arc is his spotlight. Eventually, he got his memories and the fuse he kept as a memory for his fallen bestie, which means it’s time to say goodbye. I know some TTYD fanbitch is gonna question his death because “aLl bOb oMbS sUrvIvE aN explOsiOn” but listen. Bobby isn’t a special case like say, Bombette or Bobbery. He’s just a regular factory made Bob Omb, which means he’s gonna die should he explode. And not gonna lie, that was one of the saddest videogame moments I experienced in my life. I almost cried, true story, and it takes a lot to make me cry. Olivia’s despair doesn’t help either. He was a valiant hero, a chad, and most importantly, he was a FRIEND. The reason they’re not on the top is because there’s one surpassing the two of them, and all who know me know who he freaking is.

1. Bowser (Mario series)

I mean, c’mon, who else would it be? He’s basically the supreme chad to Mario’s virgin. He’s one of gaming’s most iconic villains and he deserves that fucking role. He’s incredibly badass, like look at Giga Bowser and Fury Bowser and tell me he’s not the icon of awesome. If he’s not, don’t speak to me. Hell, even Pyrrhon from Kid Icarus Uprising acknowledges his badassery, if you’ve seen Hades’ Misguidance Season 2. He’s also crazy powerful, being able to conquer entire galaxies and punch out castles, TWICE. He even punched an entity of darkness to oblivion once. And did I mention he’s an incredible parent? He’s one of the most complex Mario characters, and that’s why we love him, is it not? For me, this is rather the case of rooting the villain more than the hero. And if I get judged for it, then so be it. I wish one day for a standalone Bowser game (Inside Story does not count) where Bowser beats the shit outta Mario. I salute you, King Koopa, you don’t need a crown to be my ruler, my throne’s already yours.

[acuriouslilthing]

Umbrella Academy S2 R a n t

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: This is totally my opinion. Don’t like, don’t read. Also, I haven’t read any of the comics. This is all based on the Netflix series. Please don’t attack me. 

I’d say, season 2 was a jumble. It was quite dizzying. The characters had many ups and downs in developments. The transitions were so w t f. There were too many arcs. The relationships were. . . And the plot had such a similar theme to the first season. With that, let’s dive in. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHARACTERS

I’ll go into the characters each in a bit but here’s an overview. The characters were sort of a mess? I’d say in terms of the main characters, Allison, Vanya and Ben were the best (Ben wasn’t even there frequently). The worst being our Luther and Klaus? (Don’t get me wrong he’s one of my favorite characters but I think this season did him quite dirty?) 

-Number 1/Luther: MOON BOY!!! Yeah no I really didn’t enjoy watching him this season. Actually scratch that I didn’t enjoy watching him in season 1 either. It’s nothing against his daddy issues, I’m sure most if not all of the main characters have them. It’s just how he deals with it? His want for a father figure goes on to a mafia rich guy named “Jack” who he got acquainted with after getting stuck. I’m all for finding father figures who’d treat you better than the original but seriously? Lmao we don’t even see Jack after abandoning him for one lost fight. Which I guess parallels to Mr Hargreeves abandoning him but weren’t we supposed to let Luther develop? Idk, He’s just such a lost puppy. As well as his is addiction for Allison. It’s just so unhealthy I c a n ‘ t. I just couldn’t see his development. Hell, he disagrees for saving the world then goes on to do random ass stuff that is so unnecessary. I visibly groaned whenever he was on screen. Not caring about the apocalypse? Fine. Getting high with Elliot? oKaY. Telling Diego to find the siblings while he tries to coax Five, only to fall asleep? WHATEVER. Just, why did they have to make him so useless sometimes. The scene where he was with both young and old Five, he just bullshitted around. LIKE I’M SORRY LUTHER BUT PLEASE. His power was quite confusing too? He got shot by the bullet but survived a nuclear missile huh?? Anyways, the actor playing him did a great job. There were scenes I really just wanted to sigh but Luther looked so cute like a lost puppy. 

-Number 2/Diego: In the first few episodes, I was extremely iffy with him. Some of it came from the fact that season 1 Diego was just so ;-;. Anyways, his obsession to save Kennedy was a bit out of hand. I get it, he wanted to save a life he knew that was in trouble, especially one so important. But I wish he stopped to think first. I mean, he chose that over the end of the world HAHA. Mm though I suppose I think I started enjoying watching him more when he reunited with Mother? Speaking of the mother, his interactions with her were so cute. He loves her so much and just seeing her there alive..I don’t know he was more sympathetic. That Team Zero shit was so sweet even if it didn’t pull through. He became much sweeter though still an idiot. As always, he had daddy issues too and I wish we dwelled more into that. Seeing him vulnerable was nice. Also him entering the commission was so badass?? Like damn. I guess his character grew a bit more this season which I’m satisfied with. 

-Number 3/Allison: I loved her so much this season. She was such a badass queen. There were rarely scenes I’d facepalm at. I think it’s because Ray brought out a much better side in her. She was the most stable of all the siblings but I don’t think that says much. Her marriage was a bit out of hand at one point, I’m glad she was able to fix it. HOWEVER, the scenes where she abused her power was very irritating. It was never mentioned again. They brought it up but didn’t do anything with it. That can be highly used against black people as a whole. She did that in a room full of white people and I can only think of the consequences that could leave for their movement. Or it will go unaddressed. But I hope that isn’t the case. 

-Number 4/Klaus: I love this man. He’s one of my favorite characters as a whole. But. . . what the fuck happened this season? It’s like all his development by the end of season 1 was just tossed out the window. He was sober and although he didn’t like it, he was one of the ones who kept trying to bring their siblings to the problem. It’s just his sober self in season 2 just gave me vibes of his drunk self in season 1. I guess it’s more on his personality and who he is but it was so interesting to see him when he was trying. Instead, I watched him lead a cult. It shows that he’s really not the leadership kind because he doesn’t know what he’s doing with himself, better yet how is he going to lead a cult? I guess he needed some way to survive but damn. Also I thought Dave, if not his siblings, was going to be his first priority. I know he ended up finding Dave already but why was he after the cult.  Klaus half the time he didn’t do anything. There was a big waste of power for Klaus because he wasn’t even able to use his to full capacity. There was that one shot where he was falling and caught by other ghosts which was the only time other ghosts were seen. The only time he used his power. The season 1 ending had such an OP Klaus but it led me to expect more from him this season. Like, remember that point where they were trying to reach Vanya but it was from Allison to Diego to Klaus to Ben. The part when it was Klaus’s turn, I really think he could’ve used his powers to have the ghosts push him. He was giving himself the talk and everything and then he just flew back only for Ben to just stare. And as seen, Ben wasn’t affected by the whoosh the ghosts thing could’ve worked. He ended up feeling a bit like a plot device for Ben this season. I really hope in season 3, he’ll be able to develop his powers and develop himself as a character. Also for the record, I cannot believe he didn’t tell anyone of Ben?? I remember that clip with the “Klaus, is Ben here?” and he responded with ghosts can’t time travel and jazz. I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST A JOKE?? But he ended up n o t telling AT ALL. Like I love you Klaus but your brother misses your family too. I was just so frustrated at him this season.

-Number 5/Five: This boy is one of my other favorites. He’s just so fun to watch. I guess it does with the amount of times he warps and uses his powers. His development on his powers were 10/10. In terms of personality, he’s still the same old grumpy pants but the amount of times I wanted to reach the screen and shake him I swear. I know he rushes so much but I remember he was watching a stripper or singer or something in the place where Luther was and was that really the time? He needs to tell his siblings before rushing head first. Funny how he keeps saying let’s think of a plan but as soon as he has one he goes with it. The Reginald Hargreeves plan wouldn’t even be able to go if not for the invitation. I swear this boy always has something going on which is why it’s so fun to watch him all the time. He just wants to save his family. And he’s just throwing hands every time a plan fucks up it’s funny and then he starts a new one. I’m sure he blames himself a lot for getting his family stuck. I wish he had time to develop his mental state. But I understand he was busy all the time. Though to be honest, Allison is probably the only stable one, they all needs help. Hmm I’d say he grew a bit more from the first season, though again the first few episodes of this one were sorta infuriating because he was basically repeating what he did in the first. I hope he can finally rest in the third season or at least take a b r e a k(HAmiLton). They made him super badass already, I’d love to see more of it but I want to see him more when he gets to actually talk to his siblings about anything else. I look forward to his season 3 arc.

-Number 6/Ben: HE WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL CINNAMON ROLL THIS SEASON I LOVE HIM. The one iffy part was when he possessed Klaus and was about to have s e x in Klaus’s body and not give back his body LMFAO. Poor baby just wanted to feel it though. He missed it so much and he missed his family so much. HE ONLY GOT TO REUNITE WITH DIEGO AND VANYA. Both times, hit just as hard. Though Diego never asked about him again probably because Vanya told them all about how he...Ugh, I wish he was there more to interact with the other siblings. KLAUS THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD’VE TOLDKFHJD. His scenes were so precious. My heart cried when he passed away to Heaven. He was just so gentle with Vanya. You’re my sister. AGH CHILLS. He was such a beautiful sibling to Vanya and I hate it so much how he wasn’t able to have more.  He was a true hero. He should’ve had more scenes. I don’t know what season 3 is going to bring for the “new” Ben but he looks more aggressive and edgy than the old ones so I’m not going to have any expectations. 

-Number 7/Vanya: This girl is always in such pain, it was nice to see her happy for once. Though I am a bit iffy with the relationship with her and Sissy because it looks like there’s an age gap but I don’t know, I’ll go more into it later. No, it’s not because they’re two girls, I’m bisexual myself. Anyways speaking of gender, most fans say she’s bisexual but I’d head canon her to be pan sexual more than bi. I feel like she really doesn’t give a fuck about who she is with as long as they love each other and that’s sweet. We stan representations. As for her character, hmm she was okay. She’s still unstable but in the end she’s just a hurt baby that’s been through a l o t and just wants a family. I’m glad she was able to use her powers more. High key Elsa vibes. She was not bad this season but I wish she knew how much she couldn’t bring them. The extent of the time travel world. But I know she just wanted love after having such a lack of it. I hope to see her get love she deserves in season 3. More specifically, self-love. Because these past 2 seasons, she’s been putting so much on that one person that I want to see what she does for herself. Maybe pick up that violin and go girl~

In terms of side characters, 

*THEY PUT HAZEL THERE FOR TWO MINUTES AND THEN HE DIED. WHAT. I know it’s probably better that way but damn, he was one of my favorites. I’m glad he was able to live a peaceful life with Agnes. He deserved it

*RAY IS MY MAN I LOVE THIS MAN SO MUCH! He stays calm and collected most of the time. He does what’s right. He’s a much better choice than Luther. I’m sad we had to let him go but it was going to come sooner or later.

*Lila..She was such an intriguing character. Just, she was so dumb at some points, especially near the end. I wish she thought more analytically. I guess she’s like a more emotional female version of Five. Her fight with Five was pretty cool. She probably got with Diego because they’re mummy’s children HAHA. Her powers were so bad ass though. We’re prolly going to see more of her in the third season which I look forward to. 

*Reginald Hargreeves, bruh are you an alien. 

*Pogo.. He was cute but I thought we’d see more of him.  But I mean he’s just a baby so I guess eh. 

*Mom was beautiful, she DESERVES MORE SCENES INSTEAD OF EVERY 2 EPISODES FOR 2 MINUTES. 

*The Handler was not bad I suppose. I mean I loved her in the first season. But here she wasn’t as terrifying anymore. She’s a hella good manipulator but of course it was going to bite her in the back. I was honestly looking forward to fish guy though. I hope she stays dead just so that we can see our future villains. 

*Speaking of the fish, he was sort of useless. We didn’t get to see any action of him. He’s just a f i s h. We won’t ever know if he was as good at his job as the handler or what not but that’s because he did n o t h i n g. A F I S H. 

*The Swedish villains, they were eh. Not gonna lie, the first few episodes or so, they were hella boring. Not as fun as Hazel(WHO THEY KILLED IN THE FIRST FEW MINS) and Cha Cha. But their sibling ship was really heart felt. And every time one died.. Just ;-;.

*Herb was such a precious soul. I hope he doesn’t die in season 3. 

I think the problem was that some of the characters were just on standby half the time. 

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RELATIONSHIPS

The way they treated and interacted with each other is what makes the story so appealing, the familial, platonic and romantic. The relationships here were fine but I just wanted to bring them up. 

Romantic

-Allison and Ray: What a 9-10/10 couple. The reason why is because there’s a line Allison said that made me so...what? I remember when she reunited with Luther she said something along the lines of “I just, I needed something to hold on to. And Ray gave me that” SIS. That sounds like such REBOUND energy. It doesn’t sound like she chose Ray, it sounds like she needed someone to depend on and Ray was there. I’m sure their relationship grew eventually but to say that about him to her ex or whatever they are. She’s in a vulnerable state, and to say something as minor as I needed him does not seem healthy. Relationships shouldn’t always be a need-need relationship. Allison needs to be her independent person and fall in love when she’s ready. If she’s just doing it because she needs someone to hold onto. What kind of love is that? Aside from that note, their whole relationship is so precious. I love how much Ray stays by Allison but he doesn’t take her bullshit. Like he is strict with knowing the truth because he needs to know he can trust her and that she can trust him. And you know what, she pulled through and told him. Because she loves him. I’m glad they didn’t kill him off or separate them because of Luther. It’s sweet.

-Diego and Lila: I didn’t like it until we knew of who Lila was. Because honestly if Diego got with her, that’d reflect on how much he changed from dating a cop to a complete psycho. But no, there’s more depth in Lila which made her interesting. Their dance scene right after was so nice. It was like a fight for dominance and it reflected how they thought of each other. Though, when she started choosing Five over Diego it went downhill. Diego was so lost because Lila didn’t trust him with whatever shit. Lila was just going around playing mummy’s girl and getting flustered whenever the handler mentioned him. It made her look young. Then when she captured Diego and called him boyfriend I got so lost. Then later Diego calls them exes. THEN WE FIND OUT THEY’RE ALSO BORN ON THE SAME DATE. They’re not as bad as Luther and Allison but still, they could’ve been siblings. Their relationship goes up and down so I’m not really sure what to think. I don’t see Lila bringing out the better side of Diego. I only see Diego doing it. I think Patch was a better fit because she was emotionally stable. But maybe when Lila gets her shit together then perhaps?? 

-Vanya and Sissy: Uh...This is definitely going to be an unpopular opinion(im saying that as if most of what I said is not unpopular) but this relationship gave me eh vibes. Like I don’t really know what to say about this one. I’m all for LGBTQ+ representation and of course Vanya being happy but. I think, again, Vanya must be her own girl. She shouldn’t be someone to be protected or get validation from protecting. She should be her own girl fighting and figuring out herself. I think another iffy thing is Sissy was a mother who was stuck in a bad marriage. My thing with that trope is that usually, the love interest saving the mother is someone who’s ready to take them. Yes I know Sissy shouldn’t have to live unhappily. But depending on a girl who doesn’t have self-independence, emotionally unstable with her own unstable family. Yeah, no wonder Sissy didn’t come with. Just the deal is Vanya depended on her like a lost child with a mother. It looks motherly. I’m not judging from looks, I’m judging from the treatment. Plus, their first kiss, they were drunk. That’s a sign within itself. Yes, they didn’t regret it in the morning. But Sissy was in a vulnerable state. She was crying. And I guess I thought it was going to be eased in like “I’m really happy you’re in my life Vanya.” BWAM KISS. Instead it went like “You tell me how you let her go. Tell me and I’ll do it.” “Sissy I can’t--” KISS. THAT DOESN’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM, in fact she interrupted Vanya because she was so emotionally drained. All the emotions and weight of it, into that kiss. It’s not like a drunken confession, she’s crying about a problem beforehand. Not a problem on her sexuality, but a problem on her life. And... kissing doesn’t make all the pain go away. Running away doesn’t make the pain go away. I don’t understand the message this show is trying to give us for this but I don’t like it. I know they were aiming for simple life simple family but.. as said, it’s never going to be simple.

-Klaus and Dave: I just felt sad. This was so pitiful. They did them so dirty. Also, I know it’s not the show’s fault because they changed actors but Dave looked so young. In season 1, he looked about the same age as Klaus if not older.. In season 2, he looks like a precious baby boy. Like, I know they changed actors but I couldn’t get the vibe out of my head. But back to the main point. I feel like their relationship was sadder. Dave ended up going earlier. As well as he might avoid anyone who looks like Klaus because it would sort of be creepy. What hurt most is when Dave punched him. That hurts. Poor Klaus, again, he didn’t even get to say goodbye properly. He has to deal with losing him again but since we get less Klaus scenes this season, we can only speculate. I wish they could be together but they never could. One of the saddest love stories. 

-Ben and Jill: I want Ben to be happy, I really do. But... he’s dead. He was doomed to have no love interest from the start. Though it is cute to see him crush over her. But the concept it a bit weird you know? He possessed Klaus to get to her and he was about to have sex in Klaus’s body. That says a l o t. Plus we didn’t really get to explore Jill as a character. So I didn’t really care about her and we prolly won’t ever. But I hope wherever Ben is now, he can vibe peacefully.

-Allison and Luther: I hate this. They’re siblings. It’s not all of them being under the same roof, it’s all of them being raised by someone who adopted them together. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF NOT BIOLOGICAL. I’m so glad it got called out this season. Though, it’s so hard to see them as just siblings now because of how often it gets called out. But no. just no.

-Sissy and Carl: Um. I don’t know what to think but both of them were unstable af. I wonder why Sissy married him in the first place if she didn’t want to commit to him. I guess Carl was a different person? Hmm, he manipulated her for sure but that’s because he wanted the family to stay together. Around the time he was about to shoot her that’s when it was clear they weren’t a fit at all. But I think Carl could have improved before that scene with Vanya. Fucking disgusting. But, honestly before that scene I couldn’t tell if he was genuine or not. Cause, he did look like he loved Sissy while Sissy would give off looks. It’s pitiful. But eh, this is the unhappy marriage trope so...

-Reginald and Grace: This was heart breaking. I genuinely loved seeing emotion on Reginald and Grace was a perfect match. When they broke up I AGH. I wish they had more moments. 

Familial(I’m highlighting important ones but feel free to skip) There were less. and there was a LACK OF FIVE AND KLAUS. Their dynamic was one of my favorites in the first season. 

-Luther and Vanya: I was hesitant in their reunion. Mainly due to the fact that we get a panel of Luther holding a gun. But, I’m glad he didn’t end up doing anything. I’m also glad he apologized. Their relationship is unsteady but it’s growing ish. But aside from the first few episodes, we don’t really get much. I’m just glad he’s not being shitty to her.

-Luther and Five: Ngl Luther’s incompetence gets made up from Five’s competence. It’s funny. When there were two five’s it was so f u n n y. Luther was just panicking everywhere. He was like “He hAs A  pOiNt” and then like “oh no we’re going to kill him???!??!”. It’s cute I guess. Though when they first reunited, it was annoying as hell. I thought their dynamic was going to be lame but this wasn’t bad I suppose. 

-Luther and Diego: Hehe. They are highkey two brain cells left energy. If I remember correctly, the first season contained them fighting over what to do or who’s “leader”. They didn’t have as much moments this season but I remember Diego chasing after Luther when Luther threw hands. It was cute in a sibling-y way.  They were okay. I mean, as okay as any unstable family but it was nice seeing their meaningless little fights out of the way.

-Diego and Five: It was like arcs talking to each other. Diego was basically representing “Save Kennedy!” while Five was like “END OF THE WORLD”. Lucky for them that it was connected. But if it wasn’t, imagine that huge waste of time. Anyways, they were okay-ish. Five didn’t want to deal with Diego’s shit half the time but that’s just Five. Their connection grew after Diego went to the commission because I mean, they can now both relate. However, Diego only stayed there for a little bit while Five stayed there longer. And Diego was only recruited because his “girlfriend” wanted him. But either way, they now have something more to talk about.

-Diego and Ben: This was a cute heartfelt moment. And.. honestly I wanted more. Not just with Diego and Ben but with Ben and well EVERYONE. But at least this small moment was given. Just, Diego’s realization that it’s Ben. His dead brother. It hurt you know. 

-Allison and Klaus: This duo I swear. I don’t really like it because I’d say these two are the chillest aside from Vanya. Their reunion was really sweet true but the way they dealt with problems? Allison is the more sane of the two yet Klaus’s influence helps her relax. However, Klaus is unstable and Allison didn’t really help him exactly. She just drank with him. Yes, she asked him how he was. But right after she goes to drinking. EVEN BEN WAS SMILING WHEN SHE PUT DOWN THE FLASK. And then she promoted more booze. That’s a way of coping for some people. But, I don’t think the time was right. Klaus was trying to be sober. I don’t think promoting what he’s not trying to be is a good idea, especially at that time. Then for Allison, I mean as Klaus said himself “Allison, your marriage is in trouble and your rally turned into a riot”. She shouldn’t be drinking either. She should be thinking of what to do. It doesn’t take until later. 

-Allison, Vanya and Klaus: Their dance was really cute. I loved it so much. It’s what I wanted from season 2 in the first place. The siblings to have fun with no weight of the world on them. Allison and Vanya’s reunion was so sweet. I loved every second except the part where they got drunk and started to be like LeT’S coNfEss mY lOVe. But, it did get the plot along. I’m just happy they found solitude in each other while their other brothers were a fidgety mess.

-Five, Diego and Luther: Speaking of that fidgety mess, these three were all over the place. There were some funny moments like Five being so done and changing his clothes. While Diego and Luther were like h u h ? And they also had moments where they talked about daddy issues. Also when Luther and Diego found Elliot dead and threatened a person until Five came was hilarious.

-Klaus and Ben: Ngl, I found this relationship very bitter because KLAUS WOULDN’T LISTEN. Ben keeps trying to say something or prove what he should do but Klaus keeps ignoring his remarks. It’s very unhealthy especially when Klaus has the upper hand. He doesn’t even give Ben the chance to interact with his other siblings. While Ben misses them dearly. It’s heartbreaking to watch. 

-Five and Vanya: I LOVED THAT MOMENT WHERE THEIR POWERS BATTLED. Even if it was for a split second, it looked so cool. Anyways, I don’t have much to say on this one because they didn’t interact as much I’d say but it was chill. A chill siblingship. Though, Five was being rude when he completely disregarded the fact that Vanya has people she care about in that time. He was too focused on the end of the world and that’s okay but he has to understand his siblings. I’m not using it against him though, he doesn’t exactly know how to read signs. But when you put them together by the end, it’s nice seeing Vanya having more control of who she is instead of being pushed around.

-Five and Reginald: It’s interesting. Five hasn’t seen his father in a long time and there he is. And, he’s scared or if not scared then hesitant, really hesitant. His father is someone who treated him like shit but he is someone who also raised him and has the knowledge to who he is.Of all the people, he looks to him when there’s no other choice. It’s interesting to see this because Five rarely hesitates. And seeing a man who has no real threat to him in that timeline but he knows how much he has hurt him. It’s breathtaking. Among all his children, I’d say Reginald gravitates to Five the most because as said he’s the most reasonable. As most theories for season 3 would suggest, Reginald probably chooses different kids because he’s seen how fucked up his kids are in the past. But, he talked to Five and I just wonder why he’d not choose him. I guess just speculation that Five was also fucked up. Anyhow, their bar scene was nice. It was simple yet had a lot of weight to it, especially to Five. Another scene I liked is when Five was spying on Reginald in the closet thing and Reginald stared at it. It was a shot of them looking at each other with Reginald having the authority while Five hides. It’s a nice frame to think on and what it means for them. 

-Vanya and Ben: I FUCKING LOVED THIS. Even if it was one scene, I could replay it all day. Because Vanya, a woman who has been numerously ignored or pushed aside as a threat by her own family, finally has one family member who thoroughly cares...And he’s dead. She’s been through so much and no one ever seems to take her as her own person which is so depressing to watch. Until Ben. Ben was so peaceful and gentle with her. He knew she could explode at any moment but he also knew that she’s hurting and scared so God damn much. She feels like there’s something wrong with her and she doesn’t even feel like she’s deserving to live. And Ben took the time to phrase it gently but had so much weight to it because of how true it is. “You aren’t a monster, you’re my sister.”He reassures her that she is not something to be afraid of, not a ticking bomb. But a person who he loves deeply, his sister. He reassures her she’s not alone. He makes sure of that and he lets her know he believes in her. I just loved that so much. He was the only one who reached out when it felt like everyone was against her. And she opened up to him because he was the only one who would listen. That’s so touching and I’m so glad they had that moment. I’d say that was the best moment in the whole season. Their relationship says it all in that one scene. 

-All of them: It would be such crack energy + daddy issues whenever they were all in the same room. It was entertaining but half the time they fought or bickered so it sometimes didn’t go anywhere. I wish they had more fight scenes though because they’d look united as a family whenever they were against the same enemy. But I suppose we’ll have to wait for season 3 to see that.

Other

-Five and the Handler: The Handler character gives major pedo vibes. So it’s very uncomfortable when we watch her have those little touches on Five. It’s very meticulous in showing their relationship. Five doesn’t want anything to do with her while the handler just keeps getting closer. Their fights back and forwards remind me of Sherlock and Moriarty. It’s all big game and gamble. Though for Five and the Handler it’s less of a game. It’s fun to watch I suppose but I would’ve liked to see another force opposing Five aside from just The Handler all the time. She’s a good contrast to his character though. He always refers to her when there’s nothing else. And we get to see his soft side with his siblings and how he wants to keep saving them and how he always emphasizes it. 

-Five and Lila: Half the time if not most, Five wanted nothing to do with her. It was hilarious in a sense that Five was oblivious for most of it. Lila was a pained girl who had anger to take out. And Five was there, being an asshole. Yeah, in the mental side, Five was a bitch while Lila being emotional is not a good match. Their power fights were really hard-core, I loved it. Their original connection was through the handler and Diego then morphed into the whole killing parents thing. It was fun. 

-Five and Five: This was hilarious. Too fucking good. Though, it gave me headaches thinking of all the times where if this Five dies then... Plus this time older Five has the correct formula now which could change? But that’s for a different timeline now or universe. I enjoyed watching them. When they were “fighting” it played one of my childhood bops. They oppose each other so well that it’s so comedic. It’s a nice touch.

-The Handler and Lila: Mother Gothel and Rapunzel or Thanos and Gamora vibes-- Anyhow, their relationship was very manipulative but hey that’s the handler’s specialty. It was okay, just a regular villain deceiving lost child trope. Though this one had more loyalty on Lila. For, this one had more love put into it. I’m not sure exactly if the handler loved Lila for real but we see shots where she takes care of Lila and takes pictures on her in a pretty dress. That’s cute which is understandable to why Lila is always so hesitant in picking between what she wants and what her mother wants. But as seen in the first half, she chooses Five. She chooses her mother. That’s a strong bond they got even for the handler. Though I guess it’s safe to say that the handler doesn’t really care about Lila if she was ready to kill her. I suppose Lila just brought amusement and help but as soon as she’s useless, gone. (Same with Mother Gothel and maybe Thanos?)Honestly though I got confused at one point because didn’t the Handler badmouth Lila’s parents? She said “Her mother who rescued her from those gin-addled, neglectful parents--”. If Lila didn’t believe in those words, she would’ve interrupted. If Lila did, then why did she care so much if they died? Yes, they are still her parents. But, she was so defensive over who killed them in the second half of the season. She kept calling them innocent and such. It was a bit out of the blue I suppose but eh.

-Ray and Luther/Klaus: It’s important to note that Ray is fighting for black rights as well as his wife. Now, to find out that she might’ve lived in a “white” world is a  big shock to him. I can understand why that anger was built. I’m not going to go into detail because I’m sure others can explain it better than I can but in general, Ray felt betrayed by Allison. His expectation of her once he sees Luther and Klaus. Yet, Klaus is more likable since you know he helps him out of jail. They had cute moments in jail too. Luther looks lost af and I just don’t like how aggressive Ray becomes when he sees him.

-Harlan and Vanya: It’s probably setting up for the future plots but I found it unnecessary to give Harlan Vanya’s powers. honestly during the whole time he was screaming and shit, I was just like...Is that...Will from stranger things?? BECAUSE BOTH OF THEM WERE POSSESSED BY SOMETHING OUT OF THEIR CONTROL. But anyways their relationship is okay, Vanya helps him calm down but I guess it would’ve been nice to see more bonding. 

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PLOT

-There were so many arcs-too many. To the point where it was such a jumble of what was going on. From activism to queer rights to daddy issues to mafia to mental asylum to a broken family to more broken families to etc. All leading to the major plot of “the world is ending”. I get it, they were trying to make the story more eventful. However, some of them were pressing issues that should be used more than a plot device to move the story along.

-I know each character was separated to shine individually but I wanted to see more group work.  We already saw their individuality in season 1, this was just a different environment. The only group work where they all were looking badass was in a timeline that ceased to exist(Specifically the one where they fought during the Soviet Union-Us War). They sort of worked together in the end but LMFAO half the time some of them were pinned or just not doing anything.

-I have to say, this whole season just gave me a hardcore repeat of the first season. Again, all the siblings are separated. Again, Five goes looking for them but then goes and fucks around finding plans/leads. Again, the siblings fuck around. Again, the commission tries to hunt them down. Again, they are tricked to killing each other. Again, Vanya is the cause but this time they were able to mend it. Again Again Again Again. Just please. I was really looking forward to seeing something new. I wanted to see their younger selves because by the end of season 1 they turned younger?? But instead we get a repeat of season 1 with a bunch of differences that weren’t able to be fully expounded. It’s like this season was a plot device itself for season 3. It was used to find out more characters and find out more of the universe. While the mental stability remains the same.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTES

~Sissy’s family. I don’t know what to say about this family. It’s obviously fucked up. Harlan is just like confused majority of the time. While Sissy and Carl have so many issues. I really had hope for Carl until that homophobic remark and the fact that he tried to shoot his wife. I know I know it’s obvious to see Carl as the asshole immediately but it would’ve been nice to see a change of pace where Carl is worth staying for: He cares about his son, he wants to keep the family together and he cares whether or not Sissy still loves him. And therefore giving Sissy more of a hard option. It adds more depth. But eh. 

~Transitions/Editing. I guess it’s the same as the first season but for me, the transitions felt more abrupt and off-timing. Like, sometimes it would show Luther after 2 scenes when I’ve been waiting for Five after four scenes. It made my head spin, especially with the amount of arcs. But I guess that’s normal. As for editing, the part where Ben possessed Klaus, I really wished they made it Ben sooner because for 2 minutes I’m just staring at Klaus. It was okay though. 

~The commission. As said earlier, the villains weren’t as entertaining. I loved the three brothers but to say they were more fun to watch than Hazel and Chacha? Mm. Not it for me. More heartbreaking sure. But not more fun. Anyhow, the commission seems like one big mess within itself. It’s so easy to go in their building and mess up time. I mean, what kind of security do they have? No one was protecting board control room thing. I’m not undermining Diego but ?? It seems like high school where people can just slip in and out easily. Also, the amount of commission that died from that last fight. That was a big yikes. I understand their role in the story but it was very undermining to watch them.

~Previous season 2 hopes. I really thought they were going down the child route. Like, I thought Five would bring them back to the time where they all were still children aka still being raised. This would include Ben being alive. This wouldn’t keep the same pressure as the apocalypse but instead a new one on how to prevent it but still being years from that time. They know it’s Vanya and this time they’ll take the time to understand her. They’ll take the time in understanding each other. Frankly, some of my favorite parts of this season would be when they’re bonding. Because they rarely get to do that in season 1. This season 2 would be bonding-centric, while dealing with their powers. I mean, aside from those few flashbacks in season 1, how badass would it be to see it in real time? We would get to explore their capabilities. It would make them look united, it would make their mental issues seem addressed and it would let them have the playful youth they deserve. I guess that’s more of a fanfiction idea though. Most fans probably wants more action than affection so I understand why they took this route. Probably because they wanted to keep the same actors too. But still, it would’ve been nice. 

~Season 3 hopes. Not going to lie, my season 3 hopes are probably a bit similar to season 2. The only difference is age. I want their mental issues to be a d d r e s s e d.  With the lack of apocalypse, there’s going to be less pressure on their shoulders. Especially Five. I’m looking forward to what he’s going to do in his free time. I’m looking forward to see what they all do without that much pressure on their shoulders. They’re obviously going to be more bonded now but will they just keep away again? As for the new group, I honestly thought they were going to be them but raised differently but I guess not. There’s definitely going to be more of an interest on Ben. It’s a whole new one and I’m interested in seeing how their powers and dynamics work. As well as interactions with the OG UA. Though, I feel like it won’t be major in terms of them going against each other. Like, of course they will have one point because I’m sure some of them are competitive af. But, it’ll be more fun than more of a problem. I’m sure they’re all going to unite as one against an opposing force. Maybe an alien arc. Reggie being an alien is also probably going to get addressed and will also maybe become a problem about alien invasion, unless they leave that for later seasons. Lila is also going to come back I bet. I hope no more handler. And if the commission is involved in any way, make them more fun to see in their world building. I’m looking forward to seeing them all though. 

=============================================================

Overall, as most movies or shows, I think the Umbrella Academy is a wonderful concept with so many interesting stories to tell but execution could need more work. As well as script. Though I’m not saying it’s all bad. Of course there were moments I’d laugh at, of course moments my heart ached and of course moments I loved. It’s not all bad unlike-- Anyways, it was a nice adventure and I’m looking forward to what season 3 has to bring~~

[seraphinathinks]

Thoughts on certain Characters in Naruto.

So I’ve been rewatching Naruto for nostalgia's sake. Right now, I’m at the end of the Shinobi War Arc and I found myself feeling very mixed about the arc in general. I like many of the characters and I disliked a few others. There were many plotholes and plot convenience. You have a hyped villain be suddenly replaced with a low tier villain that only loses because she is uncoordinated. 

Here are my thoughts on certain characters.  

 I found him very compelling and interesting. Madara was the perfect foil for Naruto and Sasuke. I personally like villains with compelling philosophies like Pain for example. Madara had an interesting philosophy that made his actions seem like the actions of an anti-villain, rather than a villain. Unlike Pain, though, Madara was aware or his hypocrisy about IT because it will remove the free will to create peace. When the Hashirama and Madara filler arc came out, I found myself captivated by both characters. The arc took a refreshing take and fleshed out Madara's character. He went from an idealistic child born in a warring period to a ruthless, pessimistic cynic. I also liked Madara and Hashirama's friendship because it felt genuine, unlike Sasuke and Naruto's relationship that was very conflicted and unbalanced until the end.

Madara's foreshadowing was what made Madara compelling to me. For 7 years, Madara was foreshadowed. Tobi pretended to be him for a good chunk of the anime and manga. Madara was closely tied to the history of the anime's world. He influenced so many events indirectly and directly. Then when he's finally revealed, Madara shows how awesome and badass he was immediate. He stole the show for me.

Now I will admit Madara was OP to the max, especially when he used Susanoo with no eyes. But I read that Kishi wanted to make Madara an invincible villain so the stakes seem higher. But then again, I think the series got retconned, so I may be wrong.

So when he went out, I was like WTF? You hype this bastard up for 7 years and he gets taken out by a Mama boy? He didn't even get a final fight with Sasuke and Naruto. I hated after BZ betrays Madara, everyone forgets about him. Madara just disappeared from the show so everyone can focus on a boring alien.  

I was honestly expecting a redemption arc for Madara, considering how flippant the show is about villains. The core message of the show is that no one is born evil, so I never understood how OBITO, a mass-murdering terrorist who killed thousands and started a war can get a redemption arc and go be with Rin, but Madara doesn't get a redemption arc. (You could argue that him being forgiven by Hashirama could be considered redemption, but it's not like Madara was begging for Hashirama’s forgiveness.) How evil does a character have to be to do irredeemable in the anime? Because Obito caused way more stuff directly than Madara. (The Uchiha massacre, the Nine tails attack, the Akatsuki, and the war.) Madara had a sympathetic backstory just like Obito, honestly, his backstory was better than Obito. A child desperate for peace, forced to cut off and battle his best friend, loses his family to war, loses his brother, be distrusted his own clan, and be killed by his best friend. Obito was an orphan, despite having a Grandmother in the anime, he was the underdog, he had an unrequited crush on Rin, he was jealous of Kakashi, he gets crushed by a boulder, and Rin dies. That's his story. He lost one person awhile Madara lost his entire family and his clan and his best friend.

Anyway, I'm getting off track, I love the arc and I'm definitely going to find myself rewatching the episodes again.

But Madara was done dirty.

Obito: Considering my rant in the Madara's description, it's obvious I am not a fan of the redeemed murderous, delusional psychopath.

Obito as Tobi, I loved. I liked his quirky personality because it completely contrasted with the brooding nature of the Akatsuki. I found his power very interesting because I love intangibility.

Then when he revealed himself to be "Madara," I loved him even more. His English voice was just awesome to listen to. It just sounded badass. I have to give credit to Neil, because he made Madara's voice very memorable compared to the other voice acting. Tobi was cool and badass, his declaration to the 5 Kages was so chilling and was my favorite part of the 5 Kage summit.

Then when the mask fell off, good lord. He became this annoying, whiny manchild that enjoyed murdering innocent soldiers and loves tormenting Naruto. Obito is the sole reason why Naruto became an orphan with the Nine tail fox sealed inside of him. He killed Kushina and Minato and caused the deaths of thousands of villagers. (Maybe even his own Grandmother and Rin's parents.) He even indirectly caused the Uchiha massacre to occur, then he actively participated in the massacre with Itachi. At least Itachi was following orders from the government to stop a coup. Obito had no reason to kill his own clan.

Obito was just unbearable. I felt no sympathy for him at all. I know he claimed he didn't do all of this because Rin died, but Obito continuously talked about Rin as if she was the reason. Rin didn't even seem to like Obito back, she was interested in Kakashi.  Then after 16-20 years of murdering innocence and other corruption acts, Obito suddenly rethinks his entire life choices. Why? Because he saw himself in Naruto? You know the NEWBORN BABY he was seconds away from murdering and the baby who he orphaned? 

Even his excuse for why he was evil didn't make me sympathize with him, because he experienced ONE traumatic event and deemed the world a hell. He was a teenager, so he wasn't mature enough. Madara on the other hand lived through the warring period experienced hardships, tried to live peacefully, but couldn't and developed his cynical philosophy over time. Obito developed his in a few seconds when he was still a child.

Obito should have remained a villian and died as a villain. Not as some redeemed, misunderstood martyr.

Hashirama- Hashirama is a very compelling character that I found myself enjoying very much. His easy going personality was fun, his sudden depression spells were quirky, I just liked how silly he is, despite being a God of Shinobi.

But my main problem with Hashirama is that he was too idealistic. Which is why he needed Tobirama to guide him. He was really ready to kill himself because of Madara's ultimatum. Granted he did it for peace, but if he died, no one would have been able to stop Madara from wiping out the Senju. Also I'm sure the Senju and maybe the defecting Uchiha would rebel against Madara, causing more conflict because again, Madara was basically unstoppable. It would be a mess if Hashirmara died at that moment. I love his friendship with Madara, but I was pretty baffled when Hashirama was easily convinced not to elect Madara for Hokage. (Honestly the village should have had a council because that would balance things a bit.) This is the same man who was ready to off himself to gain Madara's trust. Hashirama didn't even argue or defend his friend, it was out of character.

But anyway I really liked Hashirama because of his personality, his powers, and his character.

Gai: Awesome character. Gai should have died after using the DEATH gate. It would have so much depth and impact if he did. He died fighting Madara in his prime and Madara declared him to be the strongest. Wasted opportunity.

The 5 Kages as a whole:

I liked all of their personalities and their powers. But they should have been murdered by Madara. Madara was summoning meteors and creating destructive susanoos, throwing out a flamethrower, creating dozens of wooden clones that can all use Susanoo, and he can't kill FIVE people? He even sliced Tsunade in half, but yet she survived. Any of the Kages that had no further role in the War arc should have died. So Mei, A, and Ohnoki should have died.

Keep Tsunade and Gaara. Keep Tsunade alive so she could pull a Chiyo on a dying Naruto and keep Gaara so he can save Naruto. Ohnoki at the very least should have died.

That’s just my opinion. I’m a huge Naruto fan. 

[lazilymysticalzombie]

Thank God it’s Friday

Daily Writing Challenge by @sdavid09  -  Prompt #3:

Prompt: TGIF! Thank God It’s Friday! Why does your character feel that way?

Pairing: Tony Stark/reader, mention of Loki/reader

Author’s note: I just realized that I could have played a joke on the word Friday, and instead of the day of the week write a story about Tony’s AI. I feel silly now O_o

MASTERLIST

_____________________________________________________________

Thank God it’s Friday

Monday was a deceptively easy affair.  

Tony woke up well rested, with no nightmares haunting him throughout the night and a cuddly sleeping partner, who happily returned his good-morning kisses. He ate breakfast (blueberry pancakes made by Steve who decided to take proper care of his team and breakfast was The Most Important Meal of The Day, Tony), drunk piping hot coffee and left for SI. After boring meetings with the board, he was allowed by Pepper to show off a bit in the labs for the amusement of the young men and women working to better the world, and then went home. He found Y/N waiting for him with a home-made dinner and a movie, for which he repaid her with some fun times behind the closed door.

Unfortunately, that was the end of his well-earned peace and quiet.  

Tuesday started with an alarm going off in the distance, informing the Avengers of a new threat in the glorious city of New York. It turned out that a new evil overlord named The Nemesis decided it was the time the Avengers learned about his might and power. The Nemesis, also known as John McCullen - one of the young doctors of Tony’s own facility – was not only highly intelligent, well prepared and magically skilled; he was also always three steps ahead of them in every sense.  

Having incapacitated the Hulk by sending him to another dimension, he tore down Bucky’s new arm, stole Cap’s shield and revealed some secrets to Natasha, that made the redhead decline working with Clint altogether. And then he disappeared. Like a mist.

The shit finally hit the fan on Wednesday.  

Steve decided that since the Nemesis comes from SI, it must have been something Tony has done that made the young scientist turn evil. Bucky took Tony’s side, which only made Cap angrier. He refused to leave the workshop, instead insisting on keeping an eye on the progress Tony was making.

While Tony and Strange were desperately looking for any sights of Bruce and trying to contact Thor who once again was off Odin only knows where, Natasha and Clint had a massive fight. Tony was not sure what has exactly transpired between those two. Suffice to say that they destroyed half of the common room with his collection of vinyl discs and, in the end, had to be divided by two very angry super soldiers. Clint had a split lip and carried in his hand a broken bow Tony just finished upgrading, while Natasha lost all her knives and, surprisingly, shoes.  

Bucky, who had to take down the Black Widow without his biggest advantage, supported a black eye and tore his favourite pants. Steve was positively fuming – the Captain, who had nothing else to do now but wait - kept asking Tony in a very dry voice if he had finally found Bruce.

At least Y/N was an oasis of peace and tried her best to comfort the team and keep Tony sane.  

Well, until Thursday.

On Thursday night Thor finally came back – together with his slimy brother, the god of Mischief and All that is Crazy. With all that was going on, no one felt easy having him here. No one, but apparently Y/N, who developed a weird fascination with Asgardian magic and couldn’t stop asking him quiet questions and, to put it frankly, flirt with the brat.  

Loki turned out to be at least useful during the fight with the Nemesis. While the young man was clearly very talented, Loki had thousands of years to hone his craft and thanks to that he was able to restrain him long enough for Tony to search his lair. He found Cap’s shield, some stolen blueprints and a tiny hedgehog that was unnervingly familiar. Together with Thor, Loki, Clint and Natasha (who decided to bury the proverbial hatchet for a moment to save the people of New York) Tony and happily wielding his shield Cap were able to take down their foe and bring him to justice.

‘Thank god it’s Friday’ - Tony thought bitterly, hidden in his workshop. He retreated here in the late morning, after Loki finally manged to transform Bruce back to human. It turned out that the Nemesis didn’t actually send the Hulk into another dimension, but magically turned him into a hedgehog and kept as a pet. No wonder they couldn't pick up Bruce’s DNA signature in any of the places they tried – the DNA signature was simply different. Of course, not now, Tony grunted to himself, Loki fixed that and then proceeded to help the other Avengers.  

- Loki the Saint – mumbled Tony, working on the new arm he promised Bucky. He knew he was being unfair, that Loki did help a lot and without him no one knows how long it would take them to defeat this new villain. He even took some time talking with Nat, after which Nat decided at least talk things through with Clint.  

It really wasn’t about that, he knew. It was the burning jealousy he felt every time he thought about Y/N and Loki. After the battle, after everything was cleaned up and all the forms had been signed at SHIELD, he spied them talking quietly in a corner of the room. Loki gave her something which made her smile like a thousand tiny suns and then he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. For which she blushed and punched him playfully on the arm.  

The tablet Tony was holding in his hand snapped in half. He looked down on it, sighed and put it on the table, making a mental note to reinforce the glass structure. A delicate knock on the door made him pause.

- Tony – said Y/N, smiling at him bashfully. - Tony, baby, I was looking for you.

He didn’t answer, just opened a new project. Nat broke Clint’s bow, maybe he could make a new one, use some new materials, hide some darts maybe...

- Tony? Has something happened? - there was a slight worry in her voice now. Tony gritted his teeth. - You disappeared so quickly, Thor and Loki have already left...

- And you didn’t go with him? - Tony asked sarcastically. He rubbed his eyes; the tiredness and all this week’s troubles was making him crankier and more prone to arguing.  

- With Thor? Why would I leave with Thor? - she asked with consternation.  

- Not with him. With Loki. I saw you two getting cosy with each other, I thought...

- What, that I would cheat on you? - she exclaimed with more astonishment and disappointment than anger. - That I’d leave you? After all you have done this week? And through all the time we know each other?

- I – Tony lost his voice for a moment. - I did nothing. I couldn’t stop my own employee from going crazy, I couldn’t find Bruce, I couldn’t make Nat and Clint work things out peacefully, I couldn’t...

- Oh, you idiot – she whispered, touching his face lightly. He didn’t notice her getting so close. - You did everything you could. You worked through Steve’s moods, you were working tirelessly to find Bruce, you were worried about Natasha and Clint. You managed to get everyone work together to bring down the threat, that had nothing to do with you. And even now you don’t stop, but immediately look to rebuild and make everything better. - She sneaked her arms around him, hugging him tightly. - How could I love anyone but you?

- What about... - he cleared his throat. - What about Loki in the office then? He kissed you.

She started to move away and for a moment he was terrified. He fucked up. He should have kept silent, she was here, she was his and now she’ll leave...

- Loki was helping me with something. - She took two silver bracelets out of her pocket and showed him the engraved inscription. ‘You are my favourite, now and always’. - I had it made here, in New York, but I asked Loki to make it a bit more... you know, magicky. - She smiled shyly. - You see, he put a spell on them. If you touch it here – she took his hand and placed his finger on a hidden button he didn’t see at first. - the other bracelet vibrates and turns arc blue.  

Tony was speechless. He was looking at her like an idiot, with his mouth open and his hand still in her palms.

- And... – he croaked after a moment. - And the kiss he gave you?  

- It wasn’t a kiss, silly! - she started laughing now. Tony was absolutely lost. - He just said something... well, something dirty. - she looked at him flirtatiously. - He said that if I want other vibrating gifts for you, he’ll be happy to provide. 

Oh god, he made an absolute idiot of himself. He thought... He just thought...  

- Anyway, that’s my gift for you. Now, let’s order and eat something and then we’ll watch a move, maybe? With all this week’s drama and action, I think we deserve some down-time. Thank God it’s Friday...

- Yeah, - Tony said quietly, following his girlfriend out of the workshop, a ridiculous smile on his face. - Thank god it’s Friday.

[palenoface]

Hi yes I just wanted to say

Allura deserved better.

Lance deserved better.

Lotor deserved better.

The Original Paladins deserved better.

Coran deserved at least to say goodbye to Allura.

Keith avoided the Emperor Theory™ but it was THIS close.

I can’t believe Honerva had a fucking redemption arc while Lance was standing there being a decorative flowerpot of a boyfriend.

Why the blue and red stars then ??? All the hype ??? The bonding moment ??? Everything ???

what the actual clusterfuckery was this season-

They didn’t need to kill Allura, like there was no actual motive.

I will need a lot of “AU : S8 never happened” fics to heal the emotional damage.

I’m somehow still happy with the show, but I’m a major dumbass who is emotionally compromised. So hey, what do I know.

Romelle got completely forgotten near the end.

They fucked up so hard with representation. Seriously, you have to mean it to fuck up this badly.

I will miss them so much.

Actually, scratch that, I will miss their fanon selves.

Farmer Lance ? This is racist ? And also completely emotionally insensitive, you’re putting him out there cultivating the flowers reminding his first love ? Why are you like this Dreamworks ?

A true happy ending. That’s all we’ve ever wanted. Was it really too much to ask for ? Our expectations were this low. I don’t know what you need from your fanbase but clearly we can’t give it to you.

WHY THE PANEL FANART THEN ? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO US DIRTY LIKE THAT ? ALL WE WANTED WAS FOR LANCE TO TALK ABOUT LGBT THEMES WITH SHIRO BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, MOST OF THE FANDOM IS COMPOSED BY QUEER KIDS WHO NEED VALIDATION AND REPRESENTATION ?

I will miss Allura more than the others. She’s never been my favorite, but girl slayed this season. (But she still deserved better.)

Lance still has to get what he needs instead of what he wanted. Allura is gone, now he needs something to get him out of this weird widow situation he’s got himself into.

Curtis is beautiful. A few more scenes of him interacting with Shiro would have been great, tho.

The MFE pilots ? They’re barely there in the end.

Coran’s life is been a mess since the very beginning and somehow he’s still his shit together. We stan a gorgeous man.

Seriously tho : Coran deserved better than anything that ever happened to him.

Ezor and Zethrid redemption ?? Hell yes, sign me up for some non-dead space lesbian pirates.

Axca ? We never got a conclusion on her and Keith’s situation. Would have been nice.

The writers don’t deserve the hate. They tried their best - and failed, but still. They’ll do better next time.

Krolia had like, two lines in the whole season. Sad, but not surprised.

Baby Lotor ? Save him. Protect him. Gather a whole squad to protect this angel. He had no idea what he got himself into - if only he knew he was going to end rotting on a table, he would have stayed in the Colony where he was safe.

Hunk is a fucking ray of sunshine and deserved some more characterization.

Now that the show is over, can I share a hot take ? Pidge and Keith are my children, the loves of my life, but goddamn they’re such little bitches.

Shiro as the White Paladin. A-men.

I’m still crying very much. It’s hard to see my screen through the feels.

Visually speaking, this season was a freaking masterpiece. The artists behind the show can be very proud of themselves.

Anyway. I’m sad. I’m happy. I’m an emotional mess. I will need a lot of time to get over it. A lot of fanarts and fanfics. Maybe one day I’ll think of Voltron as what it could have been, and not as what it has been. But a lot of good things came from canon. A lot of iconic lines and moments and character development. But I think we must not forget what the show tried to teach us : unity and love can break through everything.

#WeAreVoltron

[c0rpseductor]

Your takes on the girls in Märchen?

:D!!!!! let’s go in order

therese: she’s so wonderful! i felt like she could be a serious parent, but she loves märz with all her heart, and clearly was doing well at raising him. a dedicated mother, a strong person, an intelligent and learned healer...she really never gave up and had so many roles in life. until the very end all she wanted was to protect the things that mattered to her. i really admire therese.

elise: baby girl baby!! i see her as really just a very angry traumatized kid. she’s thrust into a situation she doesn’t really know how to tackle emotionally and does what she can to keep herself together. she seems mean, but i don’t think elise is as bad as people make her out to be; i really feel like she can come off as such is because she’s reluctant to trust anyone for fear of being hurt. mär is the only person she likes, but i don’t think she’s able to be fully vulnerable around anyone. despite that, i think he understands her feelings. she’s a good girl deep inside.

nunko: bad at being a nun, at least posthumously. do nuns get to take revenge? anyway, i can’t say she sticks out to me a lot as a character, but there’s something in that she was very much someone who wanted to be understanding and forgiving. i think the reason she took revenge is that, without being able to comprehend her mother’s actions, she couldn’t forgive her either. but it still was painful. i like how in the live she stands there and watches her mom burn to death joylessly.

buranko: oh my god i love buranko. she’s SO cute and funny. i love how spunky she is and her little country accent and her sort of frenemies thing with the landlady. in both of the manga the frenemies thing was expanded into a more developed and really fun friendship. i take issue with the transphobic writing in her arc, but buranko herself is great - i liked the idea torikai yasuyuki had that buranko accepted the landlady without question.

schneewittchen: FUNNY BABY!!!! oh my god. she’s a little maniac and I LOVE it. up until the revenge she’s a sweet and silly girl, kind of used to getting her way, just generally harmless and cute. the revenge transforming her into, like, this ruthless killer laughing wildly while her stepmother danced in burning shoes? BRUTAL! somehow, even knowing she married an idiot and took boundless joy at murdering her stepmom, i’m proud of her.

idoko: literally the best. the best child. I LOVE her i would lay down my life for her. she tries SO hard all the time! she just wants to be recognized and treated nicely! the meanest revenge she can concoct is getting her sister really dirty forever! she’s so good. boundless energy, but zero brains to put it to use. icon. we stan.

dornroschen: love her Dress. it’s so pretty. i liked her song a lot but as a character there isn’t a lot we get to see of her. i like the idea that she’s smart, curious and precocious, but sometimes lacking in common sense. good girl. very good girl. i liked that she just banished alte-rose, too; it’s a pretty reasonable reaction.

aoihigeko: oh god. i didnt listen to her song much for a long time, but with the recent chapters got into it again. i thought it was so sad how she never loved anyone but her husband, but was neglected and ignored, and when she made a mistake he killed her. even after seeing all the terrible things he’d done she still didn’t want to judge him, just stop him from doing it again. she’s too forgiving of him for her own good, but it makes her so sad and compelling. i also really love her line, “hatred will not bring healing to sadness - only a song will resound at dusk.” i interpreted it as a warning to märchen, but i’ve already written a lot, huh?

elisabeth: needless to say she’s AMAZING. i love elisabeth. joelle is my favorite singer on idoido and märchen (beyond revo) and god, her voice fits the character so well. it’s amazing the resolve she has, and how she faces everything with such composure. even when mär offers her revenge, she doesn’t take it, and that really amazes me too. she was just happy to see him, and wanted him to move on, too...god, she’s a really good person. i admire her a lot.

[getoffthesoapbox]

[VKM Spec] Takuma, The Vampire King

A few months ago, I wrote up a list of possible culprits who might be the true identity of the Vampire King character who is now menacing the VKM world. In my list, I covered everyone except the most likely suspect, one my dear friend @vampireknightmeta​ pointed out to me as a joke. Once it was out in the ethers, it became readily apparent that there might be more to the crack thought than meets the eye. After some brainstorming with the usual suspects, and after a good deal of pondering and the pertinent and timely release of VKM 13.5, the theory seems solid enough to offer it up to the universe.

Takuma, the Vampire King? It’s more likely than you think.

On the surface, Takuma is a relatively unlikely candidate for the Vampire King. He’s a comic relief character who was Kaname’s number one toady and spends his life obsessing over his ice-cubed friend. At most he’s a figure worthy of pity, but hardly the type to orchestrate any kind of mischief. Even during the original series, he was always a lackey rather than a mastermind. How can a lackey do any damage without the mastermind to guide him? There’s also his easy-going personality to contend with as well.

So before we can even discuss how Takuma might be the Vampire King, or why he might choose to bear that moniker, we need to look first into what would motivate him to even consider this in the first place.

Deeper Desires: Resentment and Longing

We know from the original series that Takuma was the kind of person who wore a mask of cheerfulness to cover his insecurities. While Hino didn’t delve too deeply into why, exactly, he used this particular coping mechanism, she did spend a great deal of time expounding on his fascination with purebloods and his desire to be necessary to them. 

Takuma has a bad case of pureblood-fixation. While at first he merely seems like Kaname’s best friend and the one noble who actually sees him as a person, rather than as an object of worship (as Ruka, Aidou, and even Yuuki do), we find out during the Sara arc that he’s for the most part no different than the rest of them--he is a fly drawn to Kaname’s fly zapper light, and later to Sara’s. 

We learn during the Sara arc a few key things about Takuma that are never fully explored: one is that Takuma had his suspicions about “when” Kaname’s plans for Zero began, and that those plans did not begin after Zero was brought to Kaien’s home; and the other is that Takuma is deeply envious (to the point of outright saying so to Sara) of Zero being “necessary” to the purebloods while he himself is not. 

This all culminates in a surprising moment when Takuma briefly takes Zero hostage during the fight with Kaname in Night 84. Kaname becomes panicked and tries to reason with Takuma, which clearly bothers Takuma as, well, Kaname never takes the time to reason with anyone over anything. Takuma’s response to Kaname’s attempt to negotiate is incredibly telling--we only get to see a bit of his back, and the panel itself is covered in dark screentones. Takuma was both not expecting Kaname’s response and deeply hurt by it. 

Due to Sara’s untimely death and ultimately Kaname’s cubification, we never get to see what was truly going on in Takuma’s mind during these chapters. His sadness when he watches Kaname leave to throw his heart into the forge could be anything--it could be a pure-hearted sorrow for Kaname, or it could be mixed with envy that Zero is the one Kaname’s sacrificing his life for (it is, after all, Zero’s weapon breaking that is the catalyst for Kaname’s choice, not Yuuki). 

Admittedly, if we stop here, there isn’t much evidence that Takuma would become an active agent again in VKM. However, VKM itself has some...rather interesting moments with Takuma that are suspicious in light of VKM 13.5 and the Vampire King’s appearance. 

The first moment in VKM that always stuck out to me like a sore thumb is Takuma’s cheerfully passive aggressive line to Zero in VKM 1. Zero is late to join the baby congratulations party, and Takuma asks him if he has any fond memories of Kaname he’d like to share. On the surface, this is an innocuous comment...until you realize Takuma knows the full depth of what Kaname means and did to Zero. Takuma knows everything--he knows what Kaname did to Zero’s family, he knows what Kaname did to torment Zero during his years with Yuuki, he knows that Kaname set Zero up to kill Rido, he knows what Kaname did to Zero through Yuuki and he chooses to say this line anyway, which shows just how little regard he holds Zero and Zero’s feelings. 

We don’t see much of Takuma after this, probably for good reason, and the next time we revisit him is in VKM 10, when Zero and Yuuki arrive to “greet” the Kana-cicle and announce they’re officially dating. Oddly, Takuma makes a point to “joke” about not approving their official status. Hino again plays it off as a comedic moment, but given Takuma’s personal history and loyalty to Kaname and his known passive aggressive nature and mask-like personality, it’s hard to take his “jokes” at face value--there’s always an element of truth lurking beneath them. Yuuki “belongs” to Kaname, and Takuma has never once disagreed with this--he is no Zeki fan, unlike Aidou and now Ruka. He doesn’t care about anyone’s happiness but Kaname’s.

The next interesting tidbit we get is a scene at the end of VKM 10, where Takuma questions Aidou about his research and about whether or not Aidou thinks the Kaien cure will bring Kaname back. This is a clear statement of intent--Takuma is interested in Aidou’s research for the sake of Kaname’s resurrection, not for any other reason. This gives Takuma a motive for wanting a cure created, which is more than any other character has at this point (Yuuki already has a way to help Kaname with no cure needed). 

Even with all of this though, including Takuma’s resentment toward Zero and his longing to have Kaname back, there isn’t much to conclude that he might be the Vampire King. It seems a lot of trouble to go to for no reason. What could Takuma possibly gain from it all, and what is he looking to accomplish if he is, indeed, the Vampire King?

The Motive: Rescue the King, Return the Queen, Slay the Knight

It’s important to remember that Takuma is Kaname’s #1 lackey. Whatever he does is in service to Kaname--he even mistakenly believed that Kaname wanted him to keep an eye on Sara in order to rationalize Kaname flat out abandoning him for a year and not even searching for him after his battle with Ichiou. This person, even if he has a clear view on Kaname in some respects, is remarkably blind to the realities of Kaname’s relationship with him. 

It’s also important to remember that Takuma does not support Zero and Yuuki. He is first and foremost supportive of Kaname and Yuuki. Unlike Ruka and Aidou, Yuuki’s feelings and desires don’t seem to matter much to Takuma; they only matter while Kaname is gone. Thus, Yuuki “moving on” from Kaname is “okay” so long as Kaname is always placed at the top and receives his proper due from Yuuki. 

The only reason Takuma gave up on Kaname in the first place was because Kaname loved Yuuki and Yuuki appeared to love Kaname back. It’s been reiterated multiple times that Takuma has “suki” for Kaname--love. Yuuki herself acknowledged Takuma’s love in arc 2. His feelings are deeper than friendship for Kaname, and while he was willing to step down for Yuuki because she was the one Kaname wanted, he may not be so pleased to see her running off with the very man who was a thorn in Kaname’s side. 

Now, all this preface out of the way, VKM 13.5 reveals a few things about Takuma that now add context to his behavior in previous VKM chapters and paint a more sinister tone over his future. 

We learn from VKM 13.5 that Takuma is obsessed with Kaname--he will only leave the Kana-cube’s side for brief trips and for meetings. We also learn that Takuma is fully aware of all the wrong Kaname committed but doesn’t care because Kaname confided his crimes in Takuma, thereby making Takuma special by proxy. This feeling of being “chosen” by a pureblood (and chosen over Zero in particular) is not something Takuma’s going to let go of lightly because it’s all he has. As Aidou gently points out, Takuma has no love interest and no family. He’s not in a good place. 

Worse, Takuma is fully aware of what a mess he’s become and he doesn’t care. Kaname “belongs” to him right now, and he’s going to watch over him and keep him all to himself. However, he admits that watching over Kaname is good enough for now. “For now” implies that perhaps one day that won’t be good enough. It’s a very deliberate choice on Hino’s part to include that. Chronologically, this chapter takes place nearly 50 years before the Vampire King appears. 50 years is a long time to sit in front of a cube reading manga and stagnating while watching your friends move on with their lives. 

Now, with this context, we can look at how Takuma might feel about Yuuki and Ai in particular. Yuuki and Zero, by VKM 13.5, have already benched themselves and their relationship is platonic. Zero, in this scenario, is no “threat” to Kaname or Kaname’s belongings--Yuuki and Ai. Takuma doesn’t need to view Zero as a problem at this stage, because Zero brings comfort to Yuuki (Kaname’s “widow”) and joy to Ai, but he doesn’t threaten what “belongs” to Kaname in any significant way. Yuuki shows no interest in wanting to move on with Zero or have his children, therefore Takuma has at least one for sure companion in his long solitary wait for Kaname’s resurrection. He probably assumes (incorrectly) that Yuuki is awaiting the moment of resurrection as well, and that she’ll (like him) run to Kaname the minute he returns to her, discarding Zero as the dirty side piece that he is. 

But 50 years pass, and then suddenly Zero and Yuuki appear before Takuma declaring that they’re going to “become official.” Takuma is clearly shaken by this, though he covers it well enough and tries to come to terms with it by thinking about how happy it will make Aidou--but clearly this isn’t something that sits well with him. And why would it? If even Yuuki, Kaname’s widow, is willing to move on with her life, what does that say about Kaname and by extension Takuma? It says they’re old news and they’ll be forgotten. For a Kaname sycophant, this is tantamount to treason. Even “good natured” Takuma, stewing there in silence in front of the Kana-cube, imagining Yuuki and Zero are now “moving forward” and all that that entails and what it means for Kaname, surely will snap at some point from the internal pressure. 

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that this is the moment when Takuma begins vocalizing his desire for Kaname’s resurrection in VKM 10, and that that is the very same chapter Zero and Yuuki try to establish what “moving forward” even means. For if Takuma can bring Kaname back before Zero and Yuuki get anywhere, Yuuki can return “where she belongs” (to Kaname) and Kaname will lavish love and praise on Takuma for rescuing his relationship from the clutches of the dastardly Zero (who, lol, Kaname loves, but whatever). 

This brings us, of course, to the ever so convenient “timing” of the Vampire King’s appearance--he appears very soon after Zero and Yuuki begin to be official, and his targets are pinpointed at people who are related to Yuuki. Also interesting is that Takuma “disappears” from VKM 11-13--he’s not even featured at Ruka and Kain’s wedding. Out of sight, out of mind. A perfect place for a terrorist. 

If Takuma is the Vampire King, the particular timing and targets we’ve already seen make a great deal of sense:

The first targets are Kain and Ruka in particular. No human is injured, only Kain. 

The name chosen for this “new menace” is the Vampire King, a direct reference to Kaname. While Takuma may not wish to vilify Kaname’s “good name,” if he’s trying to send a message to Yuuki and/or Zero, using a term for Kaname is a good start. It may also be that he wants this plan to honor Kaname, and thus uses Kaname’s title--one that is also sure to instill fear in the humans and make them more likely to work with Takuma’s plan (which obviously is meant to cause no real damage to the humans, just stir them up and cause chaos). 

The second target is Zero, and the perpetrator deliberately insults Zero before blowing himself up. Zero was the only target, and one specifically requested. The perpetrator waited for Zero to arrive before he blew himself up. 

Zero brings up in VKM 13 that they don’t know the identity of the perpetrator, and that he could be a disgruntled hunter or a pureblood. Zero conveniently doesn’t mention that it might be a noble. Nobles and lesser vampires aren’t even on Zero’s radar. That’s a scary blind spot.

Why would Takuma want to become a terrorist? For multiple reasons:

To keep Zero and Yuuki busy long enough that they don’t start having children, making it impossible to cleanly return Yuuki to Kaname.

To separate Zero from Yuuki in order to get Zero to do something only Takuma knows about. (Something related to his secret that he learned from Kaname.)  This might include revealing to Zero that Zero is the key to the cure, and that Zero should willingly sacrifice himself for the “greater good.”

To preserve a world where purebloods still exist, because purebloods are Takuma’s reason for existing--if all the purebloods take the cure, Takuma will have nothing left. 

There are probably more that I don’t even know yet and don’t have the brain capacity to figure out. But ultimately, Takuma would want to be a hero to Kaname in particular--slay his enemy (or at least neutralize him), become “necessary” to his lord by rescuing him, and restoring to his lord the lady who he lost. As a knight figure (Kaname’s knight on the black side of the chess board), this would be the perfect challenge for Takuma, and it would ensure that the black knight goes up against the two white knights (Zero and Aidou) for something more interesting than a spot of tea. ;)

The Method: Gather the Troops

But Takuma’s not a pureblood, so how on earth could he orchestrate a terrorist attack where level C (or D) vampires are willing to blow themselves up for him? 

Well, simple. Takuma (and the Ichijou family) are highly influential nobles, and there are still plenty of potentially disgruntled purebloods who a.) might like a stab at Kaname and b.) might not be happy with this more “peaceful” time period and the idea of losing it. Depending on what Takuma’s working for (a cure or simply the resurrection of Kaname), he might be able to gain an ally in one of the disgruntled purebloods we didn’t get to meet. An alliance would be very like the Ichijou family--after all, his grandfather formed an alliance with the head of the Hunters in arc 1. And while Takuma says he regrets what his grandfather did in VKM 13.5, that doesn’t mean he’s wise enough to avoid repeating his grandfather’s mistakes. 

In VKM 9, Hino made a random point during Zero’s narration of highlighting Takuma’s appointment to the new council. It wasn’t something Zero was even present for, but Hino felt the need to include it in the chapter highlighting Zero’s despair. This tidbit, of course, tells us that Takuma does have significant influence over the vampires, as he is the head of the new council. He has access to important people, and we know from VKM 13.5 that he does utilize that access via meetings.

So, if we assume that after Yuuki and Zero announce their official status and after Aidou has his first string of failures with Kaien’s blood samples, Takuma for whatever reason reaches out to a pureblood we haven’t met or simply gathers a menagerie of disgruntled Level Ds/Cs/nobles who are prepared to go to the extreme to preserve vampiric society underground. Either way, he certainly has the resources and the potential motivations to put such a plan in action. 

With all the perpetrators of the plan blowing themselves up, it would be virtually impossible to trace them back to Takuma as their source unless Takuma wanted to send a specific message to Yuuki (or to Zero) himself. But so far this plan has targeted only vampires near Zero and Yuuki’s vicinity. Until we get more instances of the Vampire King attacking people outside of Zero and Yuuki’s circle, the likelihood of the culprit being someone they know is high. 

Takuma has been the lackey of two purebloods playing their chess games. Surely he’s picked up enough knowledge to play a few of his own by now. 

Wrapping Up

Obviously this is all speculation and hypothesis at this point, and is just as likely to be wrong as anything else. However, Takuma being the Vampire King solves several problems with this storyline and adds some new depth that wasn’t there with any other option:

It’d be a great mirror to have Takuma turning into his grandfather (and ironically he mentions his grandfather this chapter and Hino randomly reminded us about his grandfather in VKM 11), who became corrupted due to his disdain over vampire society.

Takuma has a lot of unresolved resentment in regards to Zero that this plotline could help resolve.

Takuma is a spare character who, like Kaito, has no real function at this point and no potential love interest to share a happily ever after with. He’s too drawn to villainy to be of any use. 

Takuma would be the perfect foil to highlight Zero’s insecurities about Yuuki and Yuuki’s feelings for Kaname because Takuma does not support Zeki and would actively support Kaname instead for Yuuki. This would be a fantastic way to reveal Zero’s worries about Yuuki’s affections without having to have a confrontation with Yuuki narratively.

This would also be a great opportunity to tie up the loose ends about Zero’s special nature, Kaname’s original interest in Zero, Kaname’s real plans for Zero, Takuma’s knowledge of Kaname’s plans, and what Takuma’s “secret” actually is. 

This frees Kaien up to be going on his adventures for Juri’s sake in order to bring back whatever is necessary to stop Takuma and thus finally regain his place as Zero and Yuuki’s proper guardian and atone for his mistakes in the original series. 

If Takuma is the Vampire King, it would explain why a.) Kaname’s cube-site becomes rundown and abandoned and b.) Takuma is nowhere to be found when Kaname awakens (if he was still alive/free, he’d surely want to be by Kaname’s side).

My ideal variant of this theory, of course, would be that Takuma knows Kaname planned to sacrifice Zero for the cure and that he’s patiently tried to allow Aidou to find a better/more life-preserving way but after nearly 100 years gets impatient and decides to take matters into his own hands. What I would love, if Hino won’t give me a specific Zero and Yuuki break up, is if Takuma kidnaps Zero (and Yuuki thinks Zero just left her, and so she doesn’t search for him), and reveals that he’s aware of all Zero’s insecurities about Yuuki and preys on them in order to get Zero to agree to willingly become the cure, then release him to take on the task. 

This would be a fantastic obstacle for Yuuki and Aidou because a.) when Zero is returned to them, they won’t understand why he’s suddenly aloof and unwilling to open up to them and b.) Yuuki will mistakenly think Zero’s pushing her away because he’s done with her and will have to find a way to reach him with her true feelings, not knowing that he’s planning to die in order to restore Kaname to her and remove himself from the picture. (An exact repeat of what Kaname did in Vampire Knight, but with more altruistic intentions, paralleling the situation once again.)

But, this is Hino, so likely this is too cool for her to accomplish. =P Still, it’d bring a lot of fantastic and much-needed drama to this dry, dull storyline and would certainly be far more fun than Random Pureblood B attacks Yuuki because she’s pwerfect. *sigh*

Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Until next time!

[tomeandflickcorner]

OUAT Episode Analysis- Beauty

I’m gonna shake things up a bit this time around and focus on the present day stuff in Hyperion Heights first. The reason for that is because once I start talking about the flashback portion of the episode, I probably won’t be able to switch gears again very easily.  In a related story, consider this my disclaimer for this episode analysis: If you were among those who liked this episode and would rather not read something that could dampen your enjoyment of what befell the characters, then it’s okay if you skip over this one.  You won’t hurt my feelings if you decide not to read any further than this.  The last thing I want to do is to ruin things for the fans of the show who found this episode to be moving.

It’s Halloween in Hyperion Heights. But because Victoria/Parallel Evil Stepmother is a petty b-word and a sore loser after Jacinda/Parallel Cinder managed to save the Community Gardens, she has forbidden her from taking Lucy trick-or-treating.  Instead, the stepsister Ivy/Drizella is charged with taking Lucy around on her candy-gathering outing.  Of course, Ivy is not the least bit happy about this and is only consenting because she isn’t willing to stand up to her mother and just does whatever she’s told. So when they’re out trick-or-treating, Ivy doesn’t pay much attention to Lucy, or her desire to visit this haunted house in the area. Instead, she spends the time complaining that she’s stuck watching Lucy when she could have been at some Halloween party.  Lucy eventually gets sick of this and gives Ivy the slip, bribing a girl dressed like Elsa to masquerade as her for a bit. And because Ivy is focused on her phone, she doesn’t notice the switch until the Elsa girl speaks.

Ivy, desperate to find Lucy to avoid getting in trouble with her mother, is forced to head to the fried chicken restaurant where Jacinda works.  Unfortunately, she arrives just as Henry was working up the courage to ask Jacinda out on a date.   There was a scene earlier when he was at Roni/Regina’s bar, in which Henry was telling Roni/Regina about finding what he believes to be the graves of his wife and daughter and Roni/Regina gave him a pep-talk about putting old ghosts to rest and taking a chance at finding love again.  When Jacinda hears that Lucy ran off on Ivy, she’s fully prepared to just up and leave work.  But Henry, knowing that Jacinda would lose her job if she did so, offers to go and look for Lucy for her.  He even gives her his phone number so she could text him ideas of where Lucy might go. And again, while this was probably the best option as Jacinda really couldn’t afford to be fired from her job, I still feel she should quit that job and go work at Roni/Regina’s bar.  I just really want that jerk of a boss to get knocked down a few pegs.

Eventually, night falls, but Lucy still hasn’t been found.  That’s when Henry and Ivy have a heart-to-heart about not being afraid to take a chance and just live your life to the best of your ability or something like that.  Anyway, it does the trick and Ivy relents, accepting Henry’s help by checking Jacinda’s list of places where Lucy might have gone.  This leads them to determining that Lucy is at the Haunted House. Though why Ivy didn’t think of trying the Haunted House earlier is beyond me, as it was clear she’d heard the girl talking about it.  So Lucy is returned to Jacinda safely, and Ivy, possibly taking the first step towards redemption, allows Jacinda to be with Lucy for the remaining hour of trick-or-treating, announcing that she’ll deal with Victoria’s wrath.   Henry is even invited to accompany the pair, though he chickens out when it comes to actually asking Jacinda out.  Which is a bit of a shame, but at least there are steps being made.

Meanwhile, in Suplot B, New Alice/Tilly is seemingly going off the rails and ends up harassing Victoria in her car.  This results in her getting maced, which was not undeserved.  Unfortunately, New Alice/Tilly leaves behind her backpack, which Victoria proceeds to check.  Inside, she finds an untouched bottle of prescription medication, along with Detective Weaver’s business card.  Concluding that New Alice/Tilly has some connection to Weaver, she calls him in and pretty much instructs him to control the girl or she will make sure some tapes will be leaked to the public.  From what I can gather, Victoria has dirt on Weaver that will expose him as a dirty, corrupt cop.  As horrible as it may sound, I get a fiendish delight at seeing Rumpelstiltskin get a taste of his own medicine and being on the receiving end of blackmail and manipulation.

Either way, Weaver tracks New Alice/Tilly down and tries to convince her to take her pills, as the story is that she’s mentally unstable and the pills keep her focused.  But it’s heavily implied that what the pills actually do is keep New Alice/Tilly from remembering who she is.  And when she stops taking them, her true memories start to resurface.  New Alice/Tilly becomes adamant about proving to Weaver that what she’s saying is true and insists that he go with her to some warehouse.  Though she really could have been more convincing if she refrained from talking nonsensically and using what I guess were supposed to be Wonderland metaphors.  Weaver seems to humor her at first, but he ends up tricking her into eating a sandwich laced with her pills.  Upon discovering the deception, New Alice/Tilly goes ballistic, knowing that she’s now going to fall back asleep again.  In desperation, she jumps out of the moving vehicle and runs toward the warehouse, forcing Weaver to follow her.  Inside the warehouse is the iconic chipped teacup, which was also brought over by the new curse.  New Alice/Tilly shows him the teacup in an effort to make him remember who he really is. Because apparently, my earlier prediction is once again wrong and Weaver really wasn’t awake.  Which seems really lame now, as we all SAW the expression he got on his face when he first saw Detective Rogers.  Why have him display that expression if he didn’t recognize Rogers?

Anyway, Weaver doesn’t recognize the chipped teacup, which leads to New Alice/Tilly shooting him in desperation. Because apparently, this is what Rumpelstiltskin instructed her to do before this new curse took them to Hyperion Heights.  Of course, Weaver/Rumpelstiltskin is still the Dark One and therefore immortal.  So even though the bullet goes right through him, he survives.  And when he wakes up later in the hospital, it’s strongly implied that he’s finally woken up.  Especially when he characteristically calls Victoria ‘dearie.’  As such, he informs Detective Rogers that he has no intention of pressing charges on Tilly, since he now remembers that she was following his orders.  So now, Rumpelstiltskin is fully awake.  Which makes me very nervous about what he’s going to get up to.

We also get this small moment when Detective Rogers talks with Tilly (who has once again forgotten that she’s New Alice due to the pills fully taking hold) in the waiting room.  He assures her that she’s not in trouble for shooting Weaver/Rumpelstiltskin, as she clearly wasn’t in her right mind at the time.  They then proceed to play a game of chess together.  Obviously, this could be a hint that New Alice is Wish Killian’s long-lost daughter, but I’m not 100% sure on that.  I think this might be a red herring.  If New Alice WAS Wish Killian’s daughter, wouldn’t she be more concerned with finding her father than trying to get Rumpelstiltskin to wake up?  And why would she knowingly align herself with her father’s arch enemy?  But who knows?  Maybe the writers aren’t trying to trick us.  I guess we’ll see what happens.

However, I am confused about one thing.  So these pills keep New Alice from remembering who she is.  But why is she the only one who seems to be issued these pills?  No one else seems to be on this medication.  The curse itself is what keeps them from remembering.  But with New Alice, they need the addition of these pills to keep her from remembering.  What makes Alice so different from the others?

All right.  I’ve put it off long enough.  Time to talk about the main focus of the episode- the Rumbelle flashback. It begins back in Storybrooke, where they’re setting up for Gideon’s first birthday.  And it appears they’ve invited all the Nevengers.  Though I am a bit surprised Rumpelstiltskin allowed Belle to invite Killian.  Or that Killian didn’t sneak a crocodile onto the cake that he and Emma brought to the party. I refuse to believe they ever completely let go of their blood feud.  Also, it’s kinda weird they still call Snow and Charming’s kid ‘Baby Neal.’  If Gideon is turning one, Neal should be around two by now.  I don’t know many people who call a toddler ‘baby.’

Regardless, before the party begins, Rumpelstiltskin announces his intention to grant Belle’s wish to travel the world.  So they end up leaving Storybrooke with Gideon and, I guess, travel to other realms.   After some time has passed, as evidenced by a brief glimpse of Gideon as a young boy, Rumpelstiltskin announces his intention of giving up the dagger for good.  Because he wants to live a natural life with Belle.  Which would be a nice gesture if not for one little detail. Rumpelstiltskin already HAD the chance to live a natural lifespan.  Back in the Dark Swan arc when he was given a magical reset complete with a bleached out heart.  But he took back the Dark One mantle the moment the opportunity presented itself. He even planned to take advantage of someone’s life sacrifice in order to do so.  So hearing him talk about giving up the dagger like this is really bizarre.  Of course, getting rid of the dagger is obviously easier said than done.  And this is made clear when it magically returns to his pocket after he tries dropping into a magical river.  So he and Belle start researching ways for him to be free from the dagger.  (Again, it’s a shame they didn’t think of this when Excalibur was still around.)

Their research apparently continues for a few years, as Gideon reaches the point when he’s accepted at what I gather is the Enchanted Forest equivalent of an Ivy League school.  And I admit, it’s cute to think that Gideon ended up to be as much as a bookworm as his mother.  (Let’s hope he didn’t inherent any choice traits from his father.)  Eventually, they find this weird prophecy.  “When the dark one finds eternal love at the sun’s brightest set where time stops, the path will appear to where the darkness will rest.“  Thinking this might be the key to how to give up the dagger for good, Rumpelstiltskin takes Belle to this pocket dimension that I guess runs on Narnia time.  You know, one of those realms that you could spend half a century in while only a second passes in your native world.  His reasoning is that the prophecy was referring to the setting of the sun in this dimension.

We then get this whole montage of Rumpelstiltskin and Belle building a life together in this new realm, even building a house from the ground up.  Which is a bit surprising.  I mean, this is Rumpelstiltskin we’re talking about.  He really helped build a house without using magic?  And this is the same guy who they implied never helped out around the house when he and Milah were still married.  Yeah, this is weird.  And a bit depressing when you remember he never made this kind of effort with poor Milah. Anyway, throughout this montage, which many people have compared to the famous UP montage, we see Belle slowly but surely growing older.   Until she reaches the point when she’s actually dying from old age.   It’s then that it’s revealed that she purposely misinterpret the prophecy, and had known all along that the ‘setting sun’ was referring to her death.  She goes on to explain how she knew that Rumpelstiltskin would have tried to find a way to defy the prophecy if he’d known, or would focus on the destination instead of the journey.  Something like that.  Of course, Rumpelstiltskin is upset, as he’s not ready to have Belle die and leave him. But Belle responds by reminding him of how he once let her go, back in the ‘Skin Deep’ flashback, and how she found a way back to him.  So she’s sure they’ll find each other again on the other side.  They even have the Beauty and the Beast theme playing during this part.  Now I appreciate the effort they made at trying to make this seem like a happy little love story.  I really do. The problem is that, in doing so, they completely gloss over everything Rumpelstiltskin did in Seasons 4 through 6.  The writers may have thought they were writing a rendition of Beauty and the Beast when they created this pairing.  But what they ultimately gave us was a corrupted version of the fairy tale, in which the Beast really was a horrible person whose redemption arc was virtually non-existent but still got the hero treatment in the end. Not to mention how he treated Belle Post S3.

Regardless, Belle ends up dying, with Rumpelstiltskin and Gideon burying her on the top of a hill in this Pocket Dimension.  It’s then that Rumpelstiltskin announces his knowledge about the existence of this random bloke called the Guardian.  And apparently, if Rumpelstiltskin gives the dagger to the Guardian, he’ll be automatically stripped of the Dark One mantle for good, which would allow him to die a natural death and reunite with Belle in the afterlife.

Okay, are you KIDDING ME? Where was this information about the Guardian during the Dark Swan arc?  Don’t you think we could have benefited from this back then?  Especially considering how desperate Emma was to be free of the Darkness, which she only took in in order to save everyone’s lives and souls. So let me get this straight. Emma, who only gave into the Darkness out of love, never actually did anything all that terrible, and didn’t kill a single person during her time as the Dark One had to kill her True Love and best friend to be free of the Darkness.  But for Rumpelstiltskin, a man who embraced the Darkness and tortured, killed and terrorized hundreds of people, sometimes just for fun?  All he has to do is hand the dagger over to some Joe Schmo and he’s automatically free?  Ugh, thank you show, for once again making the heroes bend over backwards while presenting happy endings to the villains on a silver platter.

Another thing that annoys me about the direction this episode went in?  What about Belle’s father?  And the people she developed friendships with?  People like Killian, Ruby, Anna, Ariel, Merida, Mulan, Leroy and Shady Blue?  Do they know Belle is dead?  Does ANYONE other than Rumpelstiltskin and Gideon know?  I seriously doubt it, because Belle apparently just decided to settle down with Rumpelstiltskin in some Pocket Dimension where she’d never see her father or friends ever again.  And she was apparently okay with that.  So in other words, the narrative is portraying Belle as someone whose happy ending involves having a life that revolves solely around a man, and never giving another thought to her family and friends again.  The thing that makes this even more aggravating is that this is exactly what the anti-CSers accuse OUR OTP of being. They constantly try to insist that CS ruined the show and how Emma had turned into a weak character who only cared about Killian and neglected her parents and son.  Even though the narrative showed Killian actively encouraging Emma to maintain a connection with Snowing and supported her relationship with Henry. While I make an effort to avoid the anti-CS blogs for obvious reasons, I’m willing to wager that they’re not waving their ‘anti-feminist’ flags after this episode.

I know I should talk about the scene when Rumpelstiltskin began his quest to locate the Guardian, which led to him running into New Alice and them joining forces, but considering I’m a bit enraged right now, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to settle for me mentioning it.  Although there was also a brief glimpse of Adult Henry riding by on his motorcycle, which I’m guessing is the show’s attempt at placing the time of Rumpelstiltskin and New Alice’s first meeting around the time when Henry first met Parallel Cinder.  Which I admit was a nice touch.  Though I do wonder why Henry didn’t stop and say hello.  Granted he was passing by rather quickly.  But you would think he would have done a double-take upon seeing Rumpelstiltskin standing there at the side of the road.  Especially since Henry always seemed to continue to acknowledge the man as his grandfather, despite having more than enough reasons to simply disown him.

(Click here to read more Episode Analyses)

[rctchild]

really  LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY.    RULES.  repost ,   don’t  reblog  !    tag  10  ! good  luck  !    TAGGED. thanks for inflicting this on me @exspiravitae​    TAGGING. oh god no

BASICS.

FULL  NAME :   malkhaz millward NICKNAME :   mal; often referred to as “boy”, “child”, various other references to his young age TITLE :   the boy from southshore ; “young blood” AGE :   14 perpetually BIRTHDAY :   april 14. ETHNIC  GROUP :   forsaken undead of lordaeron NATIONALITY :   horde / forsaken LANGUAGE / S :   gutterspeak/forsaken ; orcish ; common ; a few words of thalassian. SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :   he’s a child ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :   bi RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :   uh HOME  TOWN / AREA :   brill, tirisfal glades CURRENT  HOME :   n/a (traveller) PROFESSION :  outlaw rogue/mercenary ; primarily takes work for the horde & occasionally neutral party.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR :   short, shaggy dirty blond. EYES :   blank, white & glowing with ghostlight FACE :   round, childlike. didn’t really get to mature much before death. LIPS :   pale & cracked COMPLEXION :   freckled ; acne & maggot holes cover his face. BLEMISHES :   the above acne & maggot holes, alongside several spots of discolouration around where bone peeks through flesh. SCARS :  bruises & cuts like a rotting fruit beneath his leather armour. most notably, a large patch of particularly rotten, greenish skin covering his chest & midsection with visible stitches holding it to the rest of his flesh. TATTOOS :   n/a HEIGHT :   5″1 WEIGHT :   god help me i don’t know. light, for his age. i’ll edit this when i find it from a previous meme BUILD :   frail/skeletal FEATURES :  idk what i haven’t already detailed above. young and sweet as a child, but not quite lacking in the grotesque and the nastiness of undeath. ALLERGIES :   light ; all holy magic burns him, though it can still heal him. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :   shaggy, messy & tangled. it hasn’t seen a hairbrush in years. USUAL  FACE  LOOK :   blank, wide-eyed. not quite innocent. USUAL  CLOTHING :   common white shirt & pants / dark leather armour, with long cloak & cowl

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S :   being buried ASPIRATION / S :   to champion the forsaken ; to be regarded as a hero. POSITIVE  TRAITS :   ambitious / curious / soft-hearted / loyal / political NEGATIVE  TRAITS :   bratty / impulsive / self-critical / dwells on the past / ambiguous morality MBTI :   esfp-t ZODIAC :   aries TEMPEREMENT :   sanguine SOUL  TYPE / S :   helper ANIMALS :   eagle VICE  HABIT / S :   typical undead cannibalism & bloodthirst, nbd FAITH :   doesn’t subscribe to anything reverently, but does follow the main guidance of the cult of forgotten shadow; that is to say its main three virtues, & what they mean for the forsaken. there is potential for him to properly involve himself in that faith within the right set of circumstances. GHOSTS ? :   yes AFTERLIFE ? :   yes REINCARNATION ? :   yes ALIENS ? :   yes POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :   horde EDUCATION  LEVEL :   ...what even is schooling in azeroth. uh, average up to whatever azerothian youth gets up to 14 years old. after that, his education is housed strictly in forsaken culture & history, as well as all his rogue stuff.

FAMILY.

FATHER :   jurian millward MOTHER :   annemarie millward SIBLINGS :   n/a CHILDREN :   he IS a children. EXTENDED  FAMILY :   undetermined NAME  MEANING / S :   possibly “beautiful/elegant/youthful” in gregorian. in azeroth it would likely have a pretty different meaning. HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? :   ‘khaz’ refers to the titan khaz’goroth in dwarven. it’s noted that human names can occasionally derive from dwarven tongue (or the two cultures just straight-up share names between the two languages), so it’s likely malkhaz as a name in azeroth has its roots in dwarven history or folktale.

FAVORITES.

BOOK :   some classic forsaken reading probably MOVIE :   n/a 5  SONGS :     what do you think azerothian pop would be like. i bet you anything goblins would invent it. the alliance likely gets bright, cutesy fluff while the horde would favour party music with the occasional stupid novelty. DEITY :   like many forsaken, mal is more of a heretic ; he will, if anything, actively seek to anger/irritate a higher power just to say that he did it. HOLIDAY :   hallow’s end. MONTH :   october. SEASON :   fall. PLACE :   tirisfal glades. WEATHER :   rain, particularly in the dead of night. SOUND :   silence, the kind before a brutal murder. SCENT / S :   petrichor & dead bodies piled on top of one another. TASTE / S :   blood & humanoid meat. FEEL / S :   mud under one’s feet. ANIMAL / S :   cats, particularly big cats (ie; lions & tigers, etc.) ; bats, wyverns, plaguehounds, pretty much any of the lordaeronian national animals. NUMBER :  13 COLORS :   blue, faded purples, black & dark grey.

EXTRA.

TALENTS :   rogue work ; dagger proficiency, makes excellent use of a grappling hook & he is a clever little bugger in battle. BAD  AT :   most creative pursuits / for some reason most animals don’t like him. ironic, since mommy was a hunter and her lioness adored him. TURN  ONS :   no TURN  OFFS :   no HOBBIES :   tailoring, traveling. TROPES :    Undead Child / Creepy Child / Creepy Cute / Not Growing Up Sucks / Break/Corrupt the Cutie / Teens Are Monsters / Don’t You Dare Pity Me! / Took A Level In Badass / Dark Is Not Evil / The Kindness Of Strangers / Teens Are Short / Youthful Freckles / Conflicting Loyalty / Expecting Someone Taller / Momma’s Boy QUOTES :   “tenacity… ambition… power. these are the virtues the forsaken need to survive.” / “no one’s innocent in war.” / “sure, i’m never gonna be too old for hallow’s end candy & winter’s veil presents, but i also know greatfather winter’s a guy in a suit & i can’t find any friends my own age.”

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC / S : chandler riggs as carl grimes in the walking dead, because i couldn’t find anyone better. ALT  FC / S :  did you know teen actors are actually really hard to find? OLDER  FC / S :   n/a YOUNGER  FC / S :   n/a VOICE  CLAIM / S :   n/a GENDERBENT  FC / S :   n/a

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?          

    it’d be basically the “rogue one” to warcraft’s star wars. a side story in the universe, for a baby budding hero among the undead ; structured similarly to the first warcraft movie, with the horde plot & the alliance plot colliding, except much less tedious about its exposition in the first third. also the alliance main character would be his mommy.

Q2 :   what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?          

   grunge-y rock music about darkness and violent thoughts and defiance ; or just some simple music-box-esque melodies with poetic lyrics about internal conflict. and probably remixes of the background music that plays in tirisfal.

Q3 :   why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?

   because i have always loved the forsaken. i only played a trial back when wrath was newly a thing and remember literally nothing about vanilla wow, but i think i realized at some point early on when i properly joined the fandom that the forsaken have a) always been my favourite undead from anything ever, in that they’re everything i’ve always wanted to see (zombies with an actual culture of their own, with a matriarch and a dark outlook on life but still having fun doing their thing) and b) those brief, very faded memories of the forsaken from back then have inspired how i draw undead characters. notably in the shoulders and the ribs, i think. maybe the hands too idk. i remember the first time i tried drawing a forsaken when first entering the fandom, and it felt like i’d done it before but god help me i would never be able to confirm that. but it felt so natural to me anyway. ... uh, anyway, mal in particular. um, out of the oc concepts that i had, he felt like the one that would be the easiest to throw at people and dump wherever to interact without needing to stretch too hard to force interaction.

Q4 :   what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ?          

   he is my oc and i love him. he’s smol, cute, and i can get a variety of character flavours out of him from the sweet, inspired child to the nasty, flesh-eating monster.

Q5 :   describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.        

    muse for this brat keeps avoiding me. B’T he also keeps developing in my head before he has any reason to change. i basically have his character arc plotted before it can even happen, or before i can even be sure of what’ll happen as the plot goes on.

Q6 :   what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?          

   he’s an inch shorter than me, so, uh, both smol. brown eyes, though his haven’t been brown in a long time. personality-wise, we both kind of go at our own pace which isn’t really slow but also isn’t quite the progress we want or need it to be.

Q7 :   how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?          

    i’m p sure he’d just kind of tolerate me because i’m living and human and would probably insist on trying to cuddle him if my hatred of kids (or my common sense... or my sense of smell) doesn’t take precedence over my love for my baby. probably best-case scenario for me tbh in that he’d be okay with me rather than trying to straight-up kill me lmao :’3

Q8 :   what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ?        

   everyone tbh??? but especially sylvanas, anduin, jaina, thassarian ; & on the oc side of things, euanthe (also artan & mitun but particularly the former thESE TWO ARE IDIOTS), kal’rokh, the stuff with aquler is starting out strong, mar...

Q9 :   what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?        

    i will figure that out someday, and exploit it so that i’m not sitting here with TWENTY DRAFTS & doing none of them. 8′)))

Q10 :   how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?

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