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motherfuckermorgan · 1 year ago

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sonic superstars thoughts

well twitter might've made the final bozo move that'll effectively kill it so i guess instead of even bothering to update my video games thread i'll just start posting thoughts here, if i've got interesting things to say. ended up having more to say than i thought so this one'll be under a read more

sonic superstars is a weird game where i think it kind of doomed itself in the public's eyes by both being a followup to sonic mania and being a $60 video game. i don't really take into account prices of video games when giving my thoughts on this kind of thing usually, because if you're patient enough you can usually snag them for a good price or you know, sail the seven seas. but i do think it's hard to ignore the jump from a 20 buck game to a 60 buck game. sonic superstars most certainly has more budget behind it, but other than that i'd say right off the bat that this is VERY strongly a "Wait for a sale" type game unless you're an insane sonic head like me.

so like. the thing with this game vs sonic mania. this game is not better than mania. if you're expecting that you're gonna be disappointed. i do still think it's a good classic game! but mania is a tough standard to beat, especially from a team like arzest that admittedly hasn't had the best track record in the world. they don't seem like an untalented studio, but it does seem like they're rarely given the budget or time to squeeze out their full potential. sonic superstars is easily their best effort by far, and it's not even close. the fact that they made a good platformer and not a mediocre one is a damn miracle.

the control and physics are pretty much straight up ripped from mania, which was the right thing to do. there was concerns that this was gonna be a Sonic 4 situation where it feels miserable to control, but nah, you move like you'd expect to in a classic sonic game. this is a HUGE boon to the game because it feels so much better and more authentic than a lot of other 2d sonic games. it's one of the couple of reasons i'd put this over the dimps games, even! not that i have no love in my heart for advance or rush, but mania controlled like a dream and this does too.

the level design is alright, though it definitely feels more safe? there's some fun gimmicks here and there but they don't feel like anything especially crazy. thank fucking god this doesn't have the dimps problem of bottomless pits all over the place, so even if you're playing a bit risky with the drop dash you're more likely to bash your head into spikes than an instakill obstacle.

i will say that the level THEMES are a step above mania, 100%. i love mania but it really is held back by having familiar level themes, reminding you that Green Hill and Chemical Plant exist, and you will never truly be free of them. i think superstars is the first sonic game in years to not reuse level themes (aside from the battle mode, apparently) which, god. even frontiers couldn't resist putting in familiar zone. it's honestly a really cool aspect of this game! i got to play a sonic game where i'd go into a level and it'd be something new! obviously they still follow archetypes like "Grass" "Snow" "Water" etc etc but it's nice to see some sort of attempt at original theming. it's something i respect the team a lot for, given sonic's constant need to draw from the past.

a sour point of the levels is easily the bosses. i think your mileage will vary on these. i didn't think they were That Bad, but other people find them to be complete slogs. you do a good amount of waiting around for the weak point to be exposed, and by the end of the game, some bosses are taking up nearly as much time as the levels themselves, with the final boss being WAY longer. at least i could entertain myself by drop dashing around the arena, but i'd imagine i'd have more fun getting in a constant stream of hits.

the music in this game is also... fine? there's some good tracks in there but there's also a bunch of tracks that are a bit slop. it's mostly the genesis sounding tracks. whenever this game wants to sound like a genesis game it sounds bad. the boss theme being probably the worst song in the game which, given that most people already dont like the bosses, is damning.

i do like the art direction of this game a lot, i think sonic and company look great! i definitely enjoy this look for classic sonic over how he looks in generations/forces. there's a lot of really cute animations for each character as well. there are some pretty cheap looking animations, which i noticed on the game's big flickies the most. i remember hearing a lot of people say the backgrounds felt empty, but i guess i didn't notice it that much? probably easier to get that vibe when you're not zooming across the level.

ive enjoyed my time with this game and im sure i'll continue to enjoy it as i continue to replay it. it's not classic sonic's best, but it's a game that does a lot right, and shows a great improvement for a studio who's track record is typically considered subpar. i will say, after mania, it's hard Not to think superstar's 60 dollar price tag is steep. but i'm sure you'll find your favorite method to not pay that much for this game. well, good luck out there

#games post

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vivaciouscynner · 2 years ago

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Twitter has so quickly turned to a bigger pile of crap. And yet, people are still resistant to leave.

On one hand, I can understand the whole, "don't want to lose the huge following," but it's not like you have to deactivate once you go on a different platform. Just direct people to the new one you're going on and just take the attrition.

Twitter has NO:

support

security -> it's actually a HUGE security risk right now

structure

development team

content moderation

privacy -> apparently devs have a god mode where they can actually sign in AS you and do whatever they want

I'm sure i'm still missing a handful of bullet points, but the above should be enough.

I'm really curious what will make people leave that site. Because even engagement has degraded. And that's on purpose. If you want more views/hits, you need to pay the $8/month. I read an article on Wired (i think it was Wired) that was saying that the numbers you see on your post aren't even real. It's faked to make you believe a lot of people are engaging with you. I'm looking at some old tweets traffic and each one has "Something went wrong" on them.

Can you guys reblog and recommend to your friends alternatives to the bird site? Here's a handful of my opinions here about sites that people have gravitated to:

Mastodon - THIS is honestly the best TWITTER alternative. It's content moderated by a human TEAM. Like System Admins literally have a team. They comply with international laws, which Twitter is currently NOT doing. They are NOT centralized and if you sign up to be on one instance and realize it's not for you, you can MIGRATE to another one whilst carrying your followers over, because it's part of the fediverse.

Instagram - A lot of artists gravitate to this platform. I've heard that it is work to fight the algorithm unless you already have a massive following. Wouldn't want to start from scratch here - again, from what I've heard.

Tumblr - Tumblr is so friggin hard to describe. It's an absolute place to goof off, but will have these epiphany type posts or even stuff you learn about. It's absolutely a place where you learn new things that's too unbelievable to take as truth, then you go look it up and there it is... science. Tumblr has a ton of catradora content and that's generally why I'm here. It's a fandom site, it's a shitpost site (let's be honest, it's mostly a shitpost site), but it HAS this serious side to it. Tumblr is the annoying friend you hang out with because while they can be fucking bat shit crazy sometimes, they'll actually sit down and have a real talk with you if you need it.

facebook - pfffffffffff you kidding? facebook is your racist alcoholic-by-choice abusive uncle. FUCK THAT GUY

Hive - an absolute flop of an alternative. It's essentially in the same state as Twitter is in right now regarding, privacy, support, and security.

BlueSky - for those unfamiliar, this is Jack Dorsey's (original creator of twitter) next "big thing". Thing is, Jack has lost the trust of his original audience. I know I certainly don't want to touch this site/app. The big idea is that he's creating the social media as a protocol which can be built upon from third party companies. But you wanna know who already did that? Mastodon!

You know, mastodon is new, so it still has some issues to iron out, but it's in SUCH a better state than what original twitter guy can do. It's open source and ad free. Which means you actually have privacy instead of your data getting sold left and right.

ANYWAY - Long post - woops - hopefully you can help me convince people to leave the trash site. There's still a small handful of catradorians left that I follow closely that's "keeping" me there.

#social media

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abarbaricyalp · 2 years ago

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What happens in Vegas is front page splash

Steve finds out first by virtue of not being hungover. Not being hungover means he gets to have breakfast and read the news at a normal hour. Reading the news has become scrolling through Twitter lately, because he tends to be awake before papers make their way to his crowded apartment.

It hadn't been crowded recently. Sam and Bucky had moved to their own place after four unsuccessful months of trying to make Steve move out instead. Now they spent more time in Louisiana or working than eating Steve’s food and leaving their clothes all over the place.

It was usually nice, the quiet. But this was nice too. The laughter all night last night, the bad food and TV, waking up to find Sam and Bucky sharing the couch in the most uncomfortable position imaginable. They'd just come back from a mission in Nevada, still smelling of sun and dirt, and found themselves outside of Steve's door instead of their own. Some mission recovery nights were just like that.

Steve had not known there was apparently time for mission recovery before the flight back to New York last night.

The article on his phone wasn't actually flashing, but it seemed like it. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND WINTER SOLDIER MARRY IN VEGAS.

Steve looked at where Sam was half off of the couch, his foot in Bucky's face, which would normally be enough to start another world war (a previously foregone conclusion that Steve had already claimed neutrality in) but this morning, Bucky was just hugging Sam's lower shin as he slept. Steve didn't see rings right away until he noticed matching chords on Sam and Bucky's necks, mostly obscured by their shirts.

He turned back to Twitter and found a handful of blurry, dark photos people had taken in whatever building this was. In the neatest one, their scrapes and bruises were obvious, so Steve assumed this took place shortly after the mission. In another, Bucky had Sam backed up against a wall, holding his face while a ring gleamed by his mouth. Steve quickly scrolled by it. There weren't any photos of any kind of...ceremony? Officiating? Everything was just of the two of them standing together, waiting or celebrating.

Steve looked at his best friends again, back to the phone, back to Sam and Bucky, and back to his phone. He closed Twitter and opened the internet, putting in their names and finding about a billion news stories right off the bat.

Oh Sarah was going to be so mad.

"Hey!" Steve called, clattering his phone down on the table.

Both men startled. Sam finished falling off the couch and Bucky smacked himself in the face trying to rub his eyes.

"What the fuck?" Bucky groaned, sitting up carefully, avoiding Sam on the floor. "I'm gonna throw you out the window."

Sam blindly patted a hand along the table, searching for water or medicine that was not there.

"Do anything interesting last night before you showed up at my door?" Steve asked.

"Fuck off," Bucky muttered and tried to turn against the couch and go back to sleep. Sam made a valiant effort in righting himself and climbing onto the couch behind Bucky.

There had been a time when Steve had begged them to get along. They were both so important to him and the thought of there being any kind of schism between them was devastating. He had somehow missed them becoming closer. He'd been shocked when they'd said they were more or less dating. He'd been shocked when they moved out together. He was shocked now.

Every time he saw them unconsciously pressing closer to each other or seeking each other out, his heart got all warm and bubbly. Watching them half fight and squirm now was doing the same thing since they weren't trying to knock the other off the couch, just trying to make room to stay together.

There was not room for that. Sam hit the floor again.

"Let me see them," Steve said.

"See what?" Sam groaned.

"The rings."

"What ring-- Oh, shit." Sam sat up fast enough to send himself pitching over again. He grabbed Bucky's pant leg and hauled himself upright. "Bucky," he hissed, continuing to tug on his pants leg. "Wake up."

He scooted across the ground, along the couch, up Bucky's body, until he could pull the necklace out from under Bucky's shirt and then he compared it to the one he held in his other hand against his own chest.

"Ah, shit. Bucky, wake up," he repeated, shaking Bucky's shoulder now.

"I'll throw you out the window too," Bucky growled in warning. He turned over enough that Sam could kiss the corner of his mouth.

"You won't get the insurance money like that."

"The only insurance I have on you is for missions and that's going to Sarah, since her plan won't cover that," Bucky argued without opening his eyes.

Steve wondered what exactly marriage was going to change here. How had he missed this? His best friends had clearly been married for years.

"Congratulations, Mr. Bucky Wilson," Steve called, rapping his knuckles on the table.

Bucky's eyes opened thenand he sat up to stare at Steve first, then at Sam. His hand came to to the ring in his chest. Steve could see it now, a simple gold band on a leather cord. "Oh fuck," he breathed.

"Everyone back home is going to be so pissed at us," Sam agreed. "We're gonna have to have three parties to make up for it."

Not what Steve had expected the 'oh shit's were for.

"How did you manage not to mention it last night?" he asked. "You came here celebrating and never said what for."

"You didn't ask either," Bucky shot back.

"I assumed it had to do with the mission. Not with you two getting married in Vegas."

"I can't believe they let us take the jet back," Sam said. He rubbed the heel of his hand over his forehead.

"We're less embarrassing in the jet," Bucky pointed out and reached behind Sam to massage a pressure point in his neck.

"Walk me through it," Steve offered. "Were you two planning on getting married?"

Bucky squirmed on the couch. "I mean, kind of, I guess," he said. Of all the abilities he had, Bucky Barnes could not lie to Steve to save his soul. The moments he offered half truths to avoid fully lying were even worse.

"Uh huh," Steve said. "How long?"

"A few months. Maybe a year. It's just...kind of something we figured would happen no matter what," Bucky said with a shrug.

"We've had the rings for ages. It's not like we bought them off the road or something," Sam added. "We thought they'd be safe in the jet but..."

"Come on," Bucky added. "They let us stay in one of the swanky hotels that come with an open bar in your own room."

"We almost died," Sam continued to justify. "So we got married."

"You got drunk and you got married," Steve corrected.

"Well..." Bucky said with a drawn out squirm. Sam finally sat up on the couch next to him. "We didn't get really drunk until after actually."

Steve blinked, frowned, and blinked again. "So you, in mostly sobriety, decided to get married in Vegas without any of your friends or family but a million phone cameras."

"Well when you say it like that," Bucky whined. "It was just for fun!"

"Who even knew it was a real license, right?" Sam added. "We'll have a party with everyone."

"Right, we just did the boring part on our own," Bucky agreed. "You should be thanking us."

Steve stared at him with dubious belief. Bucky made some dismissive noise and flopped over against Sam's chest until they were laying on the couch again. Sam's arms came around Bucky and Bucky hugged him back as much as he could with the couch in the way.

"I cannot believe you two," Steve sighed, turning back to his breakfast and any other news that didn't involve his best friends.

A few hours later, after leaving Sam and Bucky to make plans to get back to Louisiana, Steve got another news alert. He pulled his phone free, hoping it wasn't the kind of thing that was going to jeopardize his retirement. Instead, it was a follow up article.

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND WINTER SOLDIER CONFIRM MARRIAGE WITH SWEETEST PICTURES

Sam and Bucky had both posted similar pictures. Sam posted a picture from last night where they were eating some messy dessert in a hotel room. Bucky had used a picture from the actual 'ceremony' in which they were kissing and laughing. They both had a picture of the rings in the hiding spot on the jet. They both had a picture from the beach in Louisiana. In Sam's, Bucky was down on one knee. In Bucky's, Sam was asking.

We did it out of order, oops, Sam had written.

He said yes for some reason, Bucky had added to his.

And then a message dinged through and Steve opened it to find his own shocked face staring back at him.

Did we surprise you too? a message below it read. Don't worry, we plan on celebrating with friends and family soon. And forever. Details to follow. (Obviously we're bad at planning things)

Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head. Really, he thought, he should've seen this coming.

There's been so many fun Vegas wedding fics recently and I thought I'd throw this in there too, just for fun

#sambucky #sam wilson #bucky barnes #steve rogers #sambucky fanfic #writing

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marauderundercover · 3 years ago

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Day 6: Party

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

Continuation of days two and three

Marinette grins at her reflection in the mirror. The costume was perfect- close enough to the original that you could tell who she was, but also with her own touch so that she didn’t hate looking at the costume. She’d even curled her hair slightly. The knock at the front door makes her squeal in excitement, knowing exactly who it is.

“Cass!” She cheers, opening the door and grinning widely at her best friend. Sure, Cass didn’t talk a lot (she was like Luka in that way), but she always seemed to know when Marinette needed help out of her own head. And she was eternally grateful for that. She was even more grateful that Cass had agreed to do a duo costume with her since Jason apparently didn’t want to dress up. He was ‘too old’ or something. Well, Marinette wanted to have fun and wear a damn costume.

“The suit is amazing! I’m not sure the cowl I made will be good enough for it.” Marinette says worriedly, examining the stitches on Cass’ costume. “Where’d you say you got this?” She asks, frowning. It was definitely higher quality than the Halloween store downtown. Cass just smiles, the one that basically says ‘not telling’. Mari just grins, used to it by now. She passes the cowl to Cass and grabs her own domino mask, sliding it on. Posing next to Cass in the full length mirror, Marinette takes a picture and sends it to the group chat that Jason had recently added her to. Dropping her phone into her purse and grabbing her keys, she turns to Cass.

“Ready?” She asks.

“Ready.” Cass says. Marinette grins. Look out, Gotham, Batman and Robin are out on the town.

---

Dick squeals as the picture comes through on the groupchat. He was beyond relieved that Jagged had scheduled his Halloween party two weeks before the actual holiday. It meant that he, and the rest of his brothers, could actually go instead of being on the extra patrols they always had to schedule around the holiday. Grinning, he opens twitter.

@flyingrayson

Look at my little sisters! Aren’t they the cutest?! #halloween #Waynefam #jaggedstone

[image description: One girl stands with a hand on her hip, dressed in what is obviously a spin on a Robin costume, including: a domino mask, black tights, dark red tunic with a Robin logo, gold belt, knee high emerald boots, and a dual sided cape black on the outside and gold on the inside. Another girl stands next to her with her arms crossed over her chest, dressed in what is obviously a Batman costume, including: black catsuit, yellow utility belt, black cape, and a redesigned black cowl.]

---

Marinette pecks Jason’s cheek and grins.

“What, not a Robin fan?” She asks teasingly at his frown. He huffs.

“Not really. More of a...Red Hood guy.” He says, and she snorts.

“Of course you’d like the one with guns.” She says, shaking her head with a smile. “His costume is actually probably one of my favorites. Well, besides the whole helmet thing.” Jason grins, pulling her in and giving her a sweet kiss before he glances behind her and groans.

“My brothers just walked in.” He says and she smiles.

“Go say hi, I’ve gotta go ask Uncle Jagged a question really quick. I’ll be right back and Cass and I can show your brothers our awesome costumes in person.” She says, pecking his cheek before walking away. She looks around for Jagged, but frowns when she doesn’t see him in the main room. Pulling out her phone, she sends him a quick text asking where he is.

In the garden with Fang!!!!!!!

She shakes her head fondly. Of course he skipped out on his own party to spend time with his crocodile. Smiling, she heads out to the garden to try and get to him. She’d wanted to see if the man planned on being in the US around Thanksgiving. Bruce had already invited her (probably to get Jason to show up) and said she could invite any of her family as well. Since her parents and superhero partner were both dead and her grandparents didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, she decided she’d really love Jagged and Penny to come instead. As she walks outside, she’s shocked that Fang doesn’t immediately run up to her.

“Uncle Jagged?” She calls, frowning. Where was he? And why was it so dark out here? Fang was scared of the dark. Jagged never would have brought him outside without more lights on, he was too protective of him. She tenses when she notices a slumped figure next to the bench Jagged had put in the gardens for when she visits. It was one of her favorite places to sit and design.

“Hello?” She calls, watching the figure for any movement. Seeing none, she steps closer and her stomach drops. Immediately she runs over and checks her Uncle for a pulse. She sighs in relief when she feels it, but the gash on his head is worrisome. How-

“Hello, Birdie!” An amused voice rings behind her, making her blood run cold. She whirls around and manages to catch a glimpse of the man’s pale face before a thick piece of metal flies at her head and the world goes black.

---

“Jaybird! Where’s Mari and Cass? They’re blowing up on twitter, even MDC liked my tweet!” Dick says happily, making Jason scowl.

“Did you seriously post my girlfriend all over your twitter?” He asks grumpily. Dick nods.

“Oh yeah. Her and Cass looked too cute to keep it to ourselves. Where are they anyway?” Dick asks, scanning the room.

“M said she needed to go talk to her Uncle about something. Personally, I think she was just avoiding you guys. You all crowd her every time you see her.” Jason reprimands, crossing his arms. Replacement rolls his eyes.

“It’s ‘cause she’s so much cooler than you. And she’s not an asshole like you are.” He says.

“Something’s wrong.” Cass says, suddenly appearing at Jason’s side. He jumps slightly, but then frowns at her.

“What?” He asks, surprised to see the deep scowl form on her face.

“Don’t know.” She huffs.

“Well if Cassandra believes that something is wrong, we should investigate.” Damian says, looking relieved that he wouldn’t be asked to socialize with anyone. A startled scream from outside makes the five vigilantes tense before running towards the noise. Jason curses when he realizes it’s Penny Rolling, Jagged Stone’s….something. She’s kneeling by a slumped figure, shaking it until a groan escapes it. Jason feels his blood run cold when the figure’s hair catches the light. It’s Jagged. Then where-

“Where’s she? Where’s she at?” Jagged slurs out, blinking wildly.

“Who?” Penny asks, gently holding the man’s face. Jason frowns at the gash.

“M. He wanted ‘er.” He says, and though the man is looking around crazily and slurring his words, Jason can tell he’s completely serious. And M-

“Do you mean Marinette?” Jason asks, stepping forward. Jagged frowns, but nods.

“Crazy clown.” He adds before turning and throwing up in the grass. Jason growls and turns on his heel, ready to go hunt the damned clown down. Out of everyone in this damned city that he could’ve targeted, why did he choose her?

“Jason, wait.” Dick says, grabbing his wrist. “We need to have a plan. Come on. You can’t just go out like this.” He reminds him lowly, Jason’s eyes narrow but he follows anyway. Might as well use the good tools. That fucking clown won’t make it to morning.

---

Ice cold water falls over her and Marinette sits up, gasping in shock at the sudden temperature change.

“Little cold, Birdie?” A voice asks before walking around and standing in front of her- a huge smile on his face and a thick piece of metal in his hands.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Marinette says, trying not to let her voice shake. This was the villain. The one she never wanted to meet. The one that gave her boyfriend nightmares that he couldn’t explain to her. And now she was alone with him.

“If you’re sure, we could have some...fun before Batsy arrives.” He laughs.

“Why would Batman show up?” She asks. “You do realize this is just a Halloween costume, right?” She flinches as the piece of metal- a crowbar, she thinks shakily- stops inches in front of her face.

“How stupid do you think I am? Of course it’s a costume. A costume posted by one Dick Grayson. You’re a Wayne, somehow. And Batsy always shows up when a Wayne is involved.” Joker says, his twisted grin making her sick to her stomach.

“I’m not a Wayne! Batman isn’t going to come for me.” She argues, cursing her decision to not wear her earrings today. Some days were harder than others, especially leaving in a mask. Even if the mask was a costume. Every time she tried to put on her earrings today, she shook and started to panic. Granted, it was probably for the best. Because she would definitely be tempted to transform and she did not want to give Joker that kind of knowledge.

“Wayne or not, one of the bats will come. You have friends in very high places, Birdie.” Joker tuts, twirling the crowbar in his hand. She flinches as it nears her face, making Joker laugh. “If I wanted to hit you, I would.” He says. She doesn’t even have time to figure out what he means because her shoulder explodes in pain. The pain is blinding and she wants to scream but no sound will come out of her mouth as she gasps for breath.

“That’s no good. A silent bird is a dead bird. So sing, Birdie.” Joker demands, and he aims slightly lower this time, shattering her left arm. And she screams. The pain tearing at her throat nothing compared to the pain in her arm, her shoulder. She sobs, the shaking making the pain worse, but she was unable to stop. It hurt.

“S-stop!” She manages to yell, nearly biting her tongue when Joker grabs her chin and forces her to look up at him.

“Hmm. You’re right! The internet should definitely see this.” He laughs, pulling a phone out. She shakes her head, flinching as he whacks the crowbar against the floor near her chair. He points the phone at her, and she knows he’s recording. The bastard.

“Hello Gotham! Look at this little Birdie. I’m afraid she flew too far, and now we have to clip her wings.” He says, sighing as if he’s actually apologetic. He sets his phone up on the table and stalks over to her before turning and waving at the camera. She watches him move the crowbar around warily, her breathing shaky. God, she hoped Jason wasn’t watching this. Hoped he was somewhere safe, not trying to go do something stupid. She winces as Joker acts like he’s about to hit her, only to stop before the crowbar actually connects with her good arm.

“I told you, I’d only hit you if I wanted to.” He chuckles.

“Go to hell.” She spits out, ignoring the voice in her head (that sounded suspiciously like Tikki) telling her to shut up. To not antagonize the crazy man with the crowbar.

“Gladly.” He says with a grin, rearing back and swinging the crowbar out to hit her in the ribs. Her scream echoes around the room and she has no time to catch her breath before he’s attacking her ribs again. Tears stream down her face, but she can’t scream, she can’t even catch her breath. I’m going to die, she thinks, and the thought is terrifying. She didn’t want to die, she wanted to live.

---

“Do we have a fucking location or am I about to go shoot up every goddamned warehouse in this city?” Jason growls as he zips through the streets on his bike. He knew Babs and Alfred were back at the cave, watching the livestream and working to locate Marinette. And even though he couldn’t see the video, the audio playing through the comms was enough to make his stomach churn.

He didn’t give one singular fuck what Bruce said. He was going to kill that goddamned clown the minute he saw him.

---

Marinette glares at the Joker, barely able to keep her head up. For some unknown reason, he’d decided to use his fists on her face instead of the crowbar. Not that she was complaining. She wouldn’t have survived multiple hits to the head. Not with the force he had. She watches him, and she knows he’s saying something, but she can’t tell what it is. She’s too tired, too hurt, to care what he’s saying anyway. Unless it’s some magical cure to stop her from feeling like she’s broken into a million pieces, she doesn’t want to hear it.

Eyes wandering behind him, she’s relieved when she notices the costumed figure. The cowl, the cape- Batman did come. How strange. Though, she had assumed that Joker was live streaming. So that could definitely explain that one. Deciding she was out of immediate danger, she lets her eyes droop shut, reveling in the darkness that surrounds her. She let’s it stay, and she can feel things slipping away, some of the pain lessening. It’s nice, until someone is poking her and talking much too close to her. She lets out a whine as the person forces her eyes open.

“‘m tired.” She mumbles, wincing at the pain that comes with breathing, with talking.

“I know, kid, god I know. Just keep your eyes open.” A voice says. She blinks, the blue marks on the suit in front of her helping her to identify the vigilante.

“Couldn’t fight.” She spits out, tears springing to her eyes as her attempt at conversation makes her chest ache.

“But you’re fighting now, you’re staying awake. You’re doing such a good job, I’m proud of you. Stay awake kiddo.” Nightwing says quietly. She vaguely feels the ropes slide off her wrists and ankles. Fighting to stay sitting up, because slumping will hurt more than she’s willing to allow, she sighs.

“Jason’s gonna worry.” She mumbles, and Nightwing hums.

“Ambulance is almost here, kid, just stay awake.” He says instead of asking about Jason. She hopes Jason is okay. Hopes he isn’t mad at himself for letting her go talk to Jagged alone. Suddenly, sirens are close and she lets the world finally slip away.

---

The pain is the first thing that clues her in. She isn’t dead. Which is a relief. But the way her entire body aches, is not a relief. Forcing her eyes open, she sighs at Jason’s slumped form in a chair next to her bed. She wished she knew how long she’d been in the hospital so she could scold him. Because he was still wearing the outfit he had on at the party. Which meant he hadn’t given himself a break. Just as she’s trying to decide how to ask the nurses for pain medicine, Jason’s eyes open.

“Marinette!” He gasps, starting to lunge forward, then stopping himself. “I thought, god, M, I thought-”

“‘m okay.” She says softly, and he frowns.

“Okay? You were nearly beaten to death with a goddamned crowbar. You’re not okay.” He argues. She sighs.

“I’m alive, and I’m with you. I’m okay.” She insists, wincing. He looks like he still wants to argue, but stops himself. He scoots closer and holds her hand, kissing the back of it softly.

“I’ll never leave you.” He promises. She smiles softly, before falling back asleep, finally safe.

Tag list: @maribat-october-rarepairs @stainedglassm @kittenmywaythrulife @laydeekrayzee @doll246 @queenz-z @deathssilentapproach-blog @literaryhiraeth @unoriginalmess

#angst #maribat #maribat oneshot #jasonette #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat jason todd #maribat joker #maribathalloween21 #maribat dick grayson #maribat tim drake #maribat batman #maribat damian wayne

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pingutats · 3 years ago

Text

wake up in some promised land

despite his best efforts to keep their relationship out of the public eye, harry & y/n are photographed together as they leave a party one night —and harry has an interview the very next morning.

warnings: a little bit of angst about trying to navigate fame and a relationship. harry has a foul mouth. but there’s a happy ending!

word count: 2.2k

. . . . .

Harry was decidedly not in a good mood.

It had been a late night. He’d had a few more drinks than he usually did. In his defence it was earned—he’d just released an album, it was soaring to great heights on iTunes charts all over the world and already receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews—so sue him if he indulged in some expensive champagne, a couple fancy cocktails, too many rounds of shots for him to remember clearly… It was a good night all around.

The headache he has right now though, brought on by the sudden blare of his alarm (far earlier than he would have preferred), threatens to tarnish the memory. He even considers swearing off drinking forever so he’ll never suffer like this again.

When he voices this intention to a dozing Y/N as he pulls a shirt on, his only feedback is a pillow-muffled, “You’re such an old man, H.”

He leans over the bed and kisses the small part of her forehead that’s exposed between the pillow and the blanket. “Come on, love. Time to get up.”

“You can get up. I don’t have a radio appearance to make.” She jerks the blanket up to cover her head entirely. “I’ll stay here, thank you very much.”

He manages to drag her downstairs with him anyway, with promises of making her coffee and a hot breakfast. In the kitchen she yawns and stretches, the over-sized sleep shirt opening like bat wings as she raises her arms above her head. He has to force his fond gaze away to concentrate on turning the coffee machine on and pulling eggs out of the fridge.

“This is a really ungodly hour,” she comments, watching him rummage around in a cupboard for a frying pan.

“No such thing as a good night’s sleep when you’re as successful as I am,” he tells her wisely.

She doesn’t even indulge him with a laugh, which tells him exactly how tired she is.

The coffee’s done quickly—Harry is so addicted to the stuff he could probably make it in his sleep with all the practise he’s had—and she grabs the cup from him with greedy fingers, closing her eyes and sipping as she’s perched up on the counter.

Harry nearly lets out a moan when the caffeine hits his lips. It surely can’t work that quickly, but already he’s starting to feel alive again. He turns to the stovetop and cracks the eggs in the frypan with one hand, using his other hand to cling to his cup for dear life.

His phone starts ringing and the sound pierces through his head. His manager’s name is displayed, which is a good thing because if it was anyone else calling right now Harry would probably be tempted to kill them, and even if no publicity is bad publicity, he’s not sure a murder charge would be good for his album sales. He slides his finger across the screen to answer it and tucks the phone between his cheek and shoulder while he adjusts the heat on the stove.

“Hey, Jeff,” he says.

Jeff laughs on the other end. “You sound fucked.”

“Big night,” Harry grumbles. “You don’t sound to pretty yourself.”

“All I’m saying is you better get yourself set in the next half hour, ‘cause a voice like that on the radio isn’t going to help you sell records.”

“I’m makin’ breakfast,” Harry retorts. “Got a coffee, I’ll be fine—oh, shit—fuck!” He’s mixed up his hands as he tried to flip the eggs, and poured coffee in the frypan. “Give me a second.”

He sets his coffee down on the counter and unsticks his phone from his cheek, turning it on speaker and placing it next to his cup. He stares at mess in the frypan and decides he’s going to have to try drain the liquid into the sink, without losing the eggs. He accepts this challenge with humility and grace, because he knows it’s his own stupid fault.

Y/N is cackling behind him. On any other day he might have been annoyed, but her laughter this morning just means that she’s in a better mood than earlier. He’d give anything to keep her happy, so if it takes fucking up their breakfast to have her smiling—so be it.

“Okay,” Harry says to Jeff once he’s secured the situation.

“Is everything okay over there?” Jeff’s voice is slightly tinny through the phone speaker, but his stress is evident in his tone.

“Yeah, we’re just—“ he looks at the eggs, dyed brown by the coffee, and glances over his shoulder apologetically at Y/N. “We’re having caffeinated eggs. You’re on speaker. Y/N’s here too. Say hi, baby.”

“Hey, Jeff,” Y/N chirps.

Jeff sighs. “Hi. Listen, it‘s probably good that you both hear this anyway. There are a couple of photos of the two of you from last night that are doing the rounds on Twitter this morning.”

Harry stiffens. “What?”

Here’s the thing: Harry and Y/N are definitely an item. It’s happened pretty quickly. They’ve been dating for a few months and now whenever they’re in the same city they’re practically living together. They’ve said “I love you” to each other often enough that its utterance isn’t a special occasion anymore. So, sure, they’re boyfriend-girlfriend, and if all goes to Harry’s plan, they’ll be more than that soon enough.

But in the meantime, she’s also his best-kept secret. There have been rumours, of course. They’ve been spotted having lunch together or going on walks. Anyone paying attention knows they’re good friends, but Harry has been careful not to let the other dimension of their relationship slip out into public yet. He conducts himself on public outings (secretly dates) like a Victorian gentleman, constantly vigilant that his affection never goes beyond what’s appropriate between friends.

“They’re not bad,” Jeff says quickly. “It’s just pretty obvious what’s going on. I’ll send them to you, hang on.”

Y/N slides off the bench and comes to stand right behind Harry, leaning around him to stare at the phone. The minute of waiting for the photos to come through feels like forever. Y/N must sense his tension, because she puts her hands on his shoulders and squeezes.

A notification pops up at the top of his screen: from Jeff, 8 images attached. He taps it quickly and frowns at the photos.

They must have been taken as they were leaving the bar that the album release party was at. He notices Jeff and others also crowded on the pavement outside, lit by the orange glow of streetlights. The focus, however, is of course on Harry and Y/N, who were putting on something of a show for all their friends—and, apparently, the rest of the world.

The first couple are okay. There Harry is, his arm slung around Y/N, clearly not sober as he bellows something up to the sky with a massive grin on his face and closed eyes. They were singing, he vaguely remembers, the karaoke they were doing inside the bar spilling over the rest of their night. Y/N is laughing at him, clapping her hands together.

Harry drags his finger up the screen to scroll to the next photos in Jeff’s chain. These ones start to reveal the two of them as much more than just friends. The arm around her dropped to her waist, pulling her into his body. And then he was bending his head down. And then he was kissing her.

He scrolls down even further.

In this one, he’s groping her ass in full view of the camera.

“Harry, you lecher!” Y/N scolds, smacking his arm in good humour.

He just shakes his head, staring at the photo. “There’s no plausible deniability, is there?”

“There isn’t,” Jeff says over the phone. He laughs weakly. “You two put on a real show.” He must sense the panic that Harry’s feeling, because he adds, “Listen, Harry, I can blacklist questions about it if you want. Just tell me what you want to do.”

Harry looks at Y/N, chewing on his lip. He feels like a teenager again, out of control of his narrative and at the mercy of the media. He’s meticulously developed his skills of privacy for years, now, and one night of insobriety and bad luck undid it all.

Jeff clears his throat. “The thing with blacklisting is that it might raise more questions. And even if you don’t talk about it, you’ve gotta remember that everyone else will be.”

“Yeah.” Harry runs a hand through his hair. “Look—“

Y/N puts her hand on his cheek, patting him. “Hey,” she says gently. “It’s okay.”

He sucks in a deep breath through gritted teeth and holds it in for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he says finally with a sigh.

She scoffs. “You’re not the only one in these photos.”

He frowns. She doesn’t get that he’s apologising for more than just the photos. It’s the fact that they have to deal with this at all, that it’s such a big deal for them to simply act like a normal couple. It’s the fact that it’s him, and he is who he is.

“H,” she presses further. “It’s up to you. Your decision. But I want you to know that I’m happy whichever way you choose.”

He searches her eyes for any hint of doubt. She didn’t manage to clean off all her make-up last night, and there’s a smear of glitter on her temple and dark smudges of mascara underneath her eyes. She looks tired, but she’s definitely serious about what she’s saying.

“You get what it means to be public with me, though,” he says at last. He hesitates. “It’s… intense.”

She shrugs and gives him a cocky grin. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“I’m being serious.”

“I am too.” She’s holding his head in her hands, her fingers smoothing his unruly curls off his face. “It’s just a few photos. It isn’t everything.”

It isn’t everything. Harry closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then leans down to kiss her gently. It’s just an innocent peck, but the feel of her soft lips against his is enough to ground him.

Jeff clears his throat awkwardly.

They break apart with embarrassed smiles. “Sorry,” Harry says, but he isn’t really.

“Yeah,” Jeff says, sounding uncomfortable. “You’re going to have to make a decision soon, because we’re really cutting it fine.”

Harry looks at Y/N, who nods.

He turns back to the phone. “Don’t worry about it,” Harry says. “Let them ask the questions.”

“Yeah?” Jeff asks. “Okay then, that saves me a load of trouble. Good luck, man. Enjoy it.”

“Thanks,” Harry says, hanging up with a sharp tap on the screen. He turns around to Y/N with a grin on his face. “Where were we…”

Y/N giggles as he gathers her into his arms, pulling her in close for a kiss that no one else can see or hear, a kiss just for them. When she pulls back to breath, he peppers his lips all over her face until she’s squirming away—“Harry, that tickles!”

He lands one last kiss on her cheek before his gaze lands on the time display on the oven behind her, which tells him he has ten minutes before he needs to be on the Zoom call for the interview.

She notices the sudden shift in his demeanour and glances behind her to see what caused it. She turns back around. “I’ll sit with you.”

He nods. “Yeah, okay, I’d like that.”

“It’s Harry Styles!” the presenter cries.

“It’s me! Hello, hello,” he says, waving at the screen. The laptop is set on the coffee table and he’s sitting on the couch, elbows resting on his knees as he grins at the screen. “How are ya?”

“Oh, we’re wonderful,” the presenter replies. “More importantly, how are you? Looks like you had a big night last night, judging by these photos we’re seeing!”

He chuckles. “Yeah. Big night,” he echoes, dragging out the word.

The presenter laughs. “Sounds like a great time. Well deserved after this masterpiece of an album. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like you’re quite close with somebody there. Would you explain what’s going on here, Harry?”

Harry peers at the photo displayed on his computer screen, even though he knows exactly what it will be. The one they chose is a sweet one, with Y/N’s arms wrapped around his neck and kiss that he seems to be melting into. He can’t suppress his smile at that. “Oh, well,” he says. “That’s my friend Y/N.”

The presenter raises his eyebrows at that. “Good friend, is she?”

Harry glances up over the laptop to look at Y/N, sitting on the other couch, her cheeks pink and round from her smile. Harry surreptitiously reaches his arm towards her, out of frame, and she leans forward to hold his hand.

“She is. She’s a lovely girl.” He squeezes her hand. “Yeah, we’re very good friends.”

. . . . .

thank you so much for reading! this fic is based on a request from @kissmyaxe140 — i really intended this to be a shorter blurb of a few hundred words, but i’m incapable of brevity. apparently. this grew into a little monster but i rlly had fun writing it!! the title is a lyric from secret life by bleachers.

if you liked this fic, a reblog and/or any kind of feedback would be very much appreciated. my masterlist can be found here and you can send me messages here. have a gorgeous day!

#harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry styles blurb #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #fic

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strange-destinations · 3 years ago

Note

what's the game of rassilon thing???

Oh, thank you for giving me permission to invite all of your into my current hyperfixation hole.

The Game of Rassilon is a fan-made actual-play RPG podcast where a bunch of very funny and very creative people play the official Doctor Who roleplaying game. If you've been following me on Twitter recently you may have noticed I've done a fuckton of art for it. That's because it's extremely good! the adventures are well-thought-out, the roleplaying is choice, the goofs are hilarious and the emotional beats hit hard. it feels quite a lot like listening to a canon series of tv doctor who, except it's all improv and dice rolling and rpg.

the first two seasons are typical monster-of-the-week doctor who adventures with a gradually building plot revolving around the Doctor & co running from... someone (or perhaps something), and a Big Plan that even the Doctor isn't sure of the details of, at least at first. there is the Power of Friendship! there are Pokemon battles! there is freestyle jazz scatting, much to the Doctor's exasperation! it's all excellent. i haven't started season 3 yet because of Time Issues on my end, but I have no doubt it's going to be just as good as the first two seasons.

You can listen to it on their website (go to the start of the archive and start from the beginning) or on most podcast apps. The episodes are about 1/1-1/2 hours long each, and there's currently two and a half seasons out (20ish episodes each season, i believe) so it's not quite as intimidating as like. TAZ is. definitely not as scary as CritRole.

also i wrote fic for it. i would link to it here, but it's spoiler-y for all through to the start of season 2. and i am writing more, because i apparently just can't help myself when it comes to One Certain Character.

so yes. go listen to it and then come back and let me know so i know that i've got more people into it. i'm on a roll here. i will drag everyone i know into this very good podcast!

if you're curious about the content and don't mind mild spoilers, then come with me beneath the cut and I will introduce you to the Party, featuring some Fun Art From Me

The Doctor

played by Riley Silverman. eternally delightful force of chaos. 'the most 90s doctor', according to michael, and honestly he's not wrong. canonically trans! in the sense that her player is also trans and said 'if you think she's trans also i'm 100% behind you' and i choose to think she's trans

got stranded in the 90s for a while, which explains why the interior of her TARDIS currently resembles a 90s coffeeshop. gives very good very doctor-y speeches. stubborn. curious.

Travis Killian

played by Dan Peck (who is the sort of RPG player who breaks the game at least once every session. and it's great). worked at a library in New Jersey, 1998, and then Things Happened and now he lives in a time machine. you know how it goes. 'gentle ball of confident anxiety'. Star Wars fan, Pokemon nerd. basically half his character sheet is based around how much he loves his friends. Best Boy!! with a really genuinely excellent character arc.

welcome to the travis killian stan club. i love him very much.

Millie Earhart

yeah, that Amelia Earhart. big strong lady with a wrench who is very good at flying things! planes in particular but she's very adaptable. a bit of a walking paradox, considering she's supposed to, you know, die on a plane trip, but it's fiiiine. it's all fine. trust her! she's amelia earhart!!

Roman

technically an NPC (it's a bit complicated). still a member of the party, in my heart if nowhere else. i will not spoil anything to do with roman because his reveal is just too good to spoil. but please rest assured he's a delight and by s2 you will love him just as much as i do.

Carrie Vu

played by châu kate lê. carrie 'i think time lords should unionize' vu is also a delight who i will similarly not spoil, simply because she doesn't show up until about mid-s2. but i couldn't not mention her. also, she has a softball bat, and is keeping the doctor who tradition of 'tiny women going to town on aliens with blunt objects' alive and well. queen

Gunther

is the doctor's cat. she is a sweetheart and she is perfect and she is also currently my profile picture on most of my social media. we all love Gunther.

in conclusion come join me in the game of rassilon. i need someone to cry over roman with and i need to justify the fact that i've written over 50k of fanfiction from travis's point of view somehow

#the game of rassilon

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junicai · 4 years ago

Text

Relationship with NCT Dream

➣ MARK ☾ mari

½ of the best friend crew

honestly at the beginning, mark and aria weren’t very close, having only really seen each other in passing or with johnny

but after being dropped into training together the two quickly became fast friends, and now they’re borderline inseparable

you thought you knew pain? watch aria’s reaction to mark’s graduation from dream :)

mark’s the reason why aria felt confident enough to pitch some of her lyric ideas to the team, after staying up until 4am to help her make some edits so she was as confident as possible

kinda just, rests his head on her shoulder? and wraps his arms around her waist when he’s tired

mari being confused in foreigner: ???

aria said once in a vlive that she finds mark really comforting to be around - when she feels stressed or worried about something she’ll go to mark’s room and just sit on his bed for a while

aria is so close with his parents - “ahh, how’s my favourite child” “i’m doing great mom.” “no not you, how’s aria?” “wh-hu-MOM?”

you’d swear sometimes mark is younger than her, considering the pout he puts on and how much he whines when they’re not on the same team together for promotions

mark big protecc boi but also little small cuddly boi

they’re so soft for each other ( ╥ω╥ )

in one of the fancams for mark’s solo stage during superm, someone zoomed into aria singing along with him in the wings and dancing to herself with the Proudest Smile™

he’s! so! proud! of! her! constantly! she could be walking and he’d be like “omg get it”

when aria refuses to get up and make herself food (this happens way too often, she just gets into the groove of her work and doesn’t want to move) mark gets her to by threatening to do it himself

consistently caught by czennies just standing behind her and holding her hand in crowded areas - airports, waiting rooms, etc.

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

mark and aria were standing off to one side as the mc explained the rules of the game they were about to be playing. mark looked totally confused, and elbowed aria in her side before looking down and mouthing “what?” to her. aria opened her mouth, before closing it and looking down at the ground, muttering to herself, “결합… 結合….. le chéile…. le… le.. oh oh - combined! we have to put them together, markie.”and thus, a new confusion meme was born

➣ RENJUN ☾ renjaria

renjun and aria room together while she’s promoting with dream

they were so awkward around each other at the beginning :(

only really spoke in passing, or when they had to

it was renjun that broke the ice at first, asking if she wanted to go shopping for the dorm together

now it’s their thing

“no aria, we can’t get more ice-cream we’re all supposed to be on diets.” “but ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡ please”

he’s lowkey soft for her but he’d rather throw himself off the roof then tell her that

piano pals

he started teaching her how to properly play once he found her messing around on a keyboard in the studio one day

they actually argue quite a bit

not about big things, but about smaller things that push each other over the edge because of stress

the first time he yelled at her, aria spent the night in hyuck’s room

hyuck yelled at renjun for making her cry

now they’re probably the best pairing for talking through their emotions instead of blowing up on each other

they’re both quite opinionated people, and they’ve learnt to navigate that well so fights don’t happen as often

does that stop renjun from teasing aria an within an inch of her life? absolutely not

“i’ll kill you” “can you, reach?” “LISTEN HERE-”

he acts like he’s 10ft tall, excuse you sir you are barely 5′6″

renjun was her mandarin teacher for a while, but then kun kindly told her that her “introduction” was actually calling herself an idiot

aria has a bad problem with saesangs go away bitches and renjun is iconic for going off on them for her because she doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it all

he gets so angry on her behalf

that was actually a topic of one of their biggest arguments smh

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

aria was leaning on a pile of books to prop herself up as she leant forwards to try and hang a string of lights on her bedroom wall. renjun walked in, and immediately came to her aid, speaking with a teasing tone. “need a hand?”

aria, without ceremony just elbowed him in the stomach and used his then folded up figure to push herself up higher. “yes, thank you!”

she got hate for that one, but it was all in good fun and renjun was laughing after it

➣ JENO ☾ nori

aria is his princess and everyone else can fight him

like they’re both doyoung’s children, but if it comes down to it he will lay down his life for her

and not even in a romantic way, just a “you’re too precious i have to protect you” kind of way

czennies thought he was in love with her for the entirety of nct 2018 promotions

this boy was hanging off of her at any given second, and there was an edited video of jeno “glaring” at lucas’ back when the taller boy walked away after hugging aria

it was faked, stan twt needs to chill out

he drags her to the gym

he’s basically her big brother? but they’re the same age - its a weird dynamic but they make it work

they’re so LOUD together

not chaotic, but he makes her laugh so hard

vlive 191030: “nono-ah makes my cheeks hurt so i can’t spend too long around him. my sides hurt too ~ ♡(｡- ω -)”

any and all fanfictions written about the two are definitely either coffee shop, university or library AUs

this man walks like a bodyguard around her - boy got the arm over the shoulder, tucked her head into him, covering her face, its a whole ordeal

dispatch released some pictures of aria one day and accidentally blurred out jeno’s face because they thought he was her bodyguard

is so. so mindful of how long aria spends in the training rooms

like, yes everyone else expects her home before midnight (long story)

but jeno actively makes sure to ask people what time she left the dorm at, and texts her to remind her to take water breaks and to come home at a good time so she can sleep

these two are the creators of so many iconic vlives - they have a bad habit of going live at 1 or 2 in the morning, just doing random things

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

“hi hi! so, nono and i- jeno stop it, stop it! - nono and i are walking down to the park to go feed the birds - yes we’re going to feed the bird- no! we are not going to feed the ducks, bread can kill the ducks! why did you bring brea-”

jeno pulled the camera from aria’s hands. “ari and i,” he looked at her purposefully, “are going back to the dorms because someone forgot to bring the bird seed, and apparently we can’t give bread to ducks anymore.”

*sounds of aria intermittently hitting and scolding jeno ensue*

➣ DONGHYUCK ☾ arichan

the other half of the best friend crew

absolute heathens to be around when they are together

donghyuck is the person aria is closest to, and someone she’d call her best friend (only when she was sure he wouldn’t hear her)

she calls him “the demon child i can’t get rid of” but will, and has definitely pouted when he ignored her for too long

generally aria is a pretty soft spoken person, but not with hyuck around - he brings out all her chaos energy (please pray for the patience of dotae)

the pair have a little tradition of kissing the back of each others’ hands before going on stage for good luck. they can’t even remember how it started, but now its an unnegotiable pre-show ritual

he’s so clingy with her absolutely everywhere its painfully adorable (ಥ﹏ಥ)

interviews? hyuck has a hand on her knee, or if she’s wearing a skirt he’s tucked his hand in between their chairs so she can hold it discreetly. in the dorms? full body tackle onto the couch, where he proceeds to lay on top of her completely.

because of hyuck’s nickname being the sun, and aria always being around him, czennies gave her the nickname “moon” to go with him

fans thought that aria was older than hyuck for a good year and a half before she released her birthday on a vlive, because she’s normally the one tasked with reigning his chaotic energy in during promotions (that is, if she hasn’t already joined him)

but off-camera, aria is absolutely hyuck’s baby there is no disputing that. aria’s sad?he’s there with ice-cream and a blanket and a baseball bat.

the winnie the pooh character that is on aria’s bed was a gift from hyuck for her 17th birthday, after she made him watch seven episodes of the show on netflix with her one night

yes he complained, but he slapped her hand away when she went to change it to something else

a twitter thread of a czennie comparing their horoscopes together went viral when people realized that it was quite plausible that the pair were each others (platonic) soulmates

after an incident involving blueberries, donghyuck took it upon himself to check the ingredients of every. single. food item in their dorm to make sure it was ok for her to eat

hyuck clowns her for her irish accent, and aria curses him out in japanese

tldr: they cute or whatever

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

donghyuck was doing a vlive in his bedroom, sitting and talking to czennies when aria opened the door to his room quietly. she didn’t say anything, just waved slightly with almost closed eyes before she crawled underneath his covers and tucked her plushie underneath her chin. hyuck didn’t even blink at it - so it must have been a regular occurrence.

➣ JAEMIN ☾ nari

jaemin highkey flusters her

not in a oo you’re so cute, cute boy make nerves go eeee

but he’ll wink at her and teasingly compliment her and now she looks like a firetruck this isn’t fair

he absolutely takes advantage of this where ever possible

“riri, can i have some?” “no, i just made these you should have helped me (-_-)” “riri~ but you looked so cute making them i didn’t want to interrupt you~” *aria.exe has stopped responding*

but when aria isn’t trying to get her cheeks to stop being red, they’re really cute together

you’d swear aria is older, by how much jaemin whines for her attention

the mighty battles between jaemin and hyuck

hyuck’s just biding his time for the rooftop fight

kinda panics around her when she’s crying, but is always the first to offer up a hug

has a period tracker on his phone but no one knows about it

he doesn’t like to coddle her because they’re so close in age, but that doesn’t stop him from getting protective in certain situations *cough cough the fansign cough cough*

jaemin and aria cuddling when they’re drunk? more likely than you’d think

he definitely professed his undying love for her at one point while being drunk, and chenle caught it on video

“noona we’re playing that at your wedding”

designated blanket/pillow hunter at award shows, and if he can’t find one then he usually just gives her his jacket

the amount of coffee these two consume should be illegal

aria prefers to call him nana and he prefers to call her riri in the dorms, so when either of them get called by their first name by the other it means A: they’re on a schedule, or B: someone’s about to die

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

nct dream on idol room were trying out jaemin’s death-in-a-cup (his coffee) and as the cup got passed around, aria grew more and more concerned with each face the members made. “jaemin if i die from this-”

he only smiled at her while passing over the cup. aria held it up to look at the black liquid skeptically, before sighing in resignation and bringing the cup to her lips to take a sip.

and then another.

“wait this is good i like this”

➣ CHENLE ☾ leri

hide yo kids and hide yo wives because leri is entering the chat

*cue aria and chenle wearing 2000s rapper clothes with backwards baseball caps*

these two are so chaotically calm

its like the energy cancels out or something

aria with hyuck is just so loud and obnoxious, and the same with chenle with jisung

so when you put those two together it just turns into le positive vibes

you ever meditated to those 132 hertz sounds? thats them in a sound

aria will hold him like a baby kitten she’s expecting to try wriggle out of her grip at any moment and its comical because he’s a good head taller than her

aria definitely has a knack for making her groupmates’ parents fall in love with her

every two weeks or so she goes for dinner in chenle’s house upon his mother’s request

they have a mutual understanding of the mental toll it takes to be around the rest of the dreamies constantly

chenle and aria sitting peacefully, watching a cdrama:

the dreamies, throttling each other: AAAAAAAAAAA

will never admit it but he misses her the most when she goes away to promote

he thinks of her as a big sister and the dorms feel empty without her there

aggressive proud hugs

so aggressive, he legit tackles her

he had to tone it down after knocking her over once backstage and she narrowly missed clocking herself on a nearby soundboard

“YAH ZHONG CHENLE YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL!”

he always gets a little bit anxious when they eat things outside of the dorms because he’s never seen her have an allergic reaction before and he’d like to keep it that way (`皿´＃)

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

chenle was particularly restless that day, constantly shuffling about in his seat to the point where renjun forcefully tossed an arm over his shoulders to hold him still while the vlive was still playing.

not one to be defeated, chenle then turned to press his lips to renjun’s cheek playfully, laughing when the older boy turned away in disgust. he turned to do the same to aria, coming closer to her cheek before aria turned her head to face his.

“AAA-” “EW CHENLE WHY”

➣ JISUNG ☾ jiri

oh god oh god oh god

if aria could take this boy and wrap him in a blanket and keep him in her pocket she would - no questions asked

jisung knows she loves him the most out of dream sorry markhyuck and takes advantage of it every second

she used to coddle him a lot when he was smaller, but now that he’s older aria tries to rein it in as much as possible

that doesn’t mean it goes away completely though

“noona can you cook for me?” “of course jisungie! what do you want?”

*jeno gobsmacked in the background* “you just told me you were too tired to cook tonight”

aria: big baby, must protect

jisung: tiny noona, must protect

jaemin and aria are really the only people jisung is ok with seeing him be super emotional - and he flip flops between the two depending on the reason why he’s emotional

self-esteem, feeling poopy side of it all? straight into aria’s bed, letting her roll him onto his side so she can tuck his head into her shoulder and covers the two of them with her duvet the way she used to do when he was shorter

this boy cannot curse around her unless he wants to get his ass Beat

dancing bros

they go so hard in their NCT Dance duet videos

he keeps band-aids in his bag for her in exchange for her keeping an extra bottle of water in hers because jisung always forgets his own

jisung rests his elbow on her head a lot

but only briefly because the last time he stayed there for too long she stamped on his foot

tldr: aria is jisung’s emotional support gnome

FAN FAVOURITE MOMENT.

jisung and aria were doing the chicken leg battle (this one) to fight for first dibs on the rooms they were going to be sharing for the next week or so. just before they were about to start, mark started laughing and pointing at how high jisung’s leg came up on aria’s, with aria’s knee barely hitting jisung’s mid-thigh

“this is an unfair advantage! this is cheating!”

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karmasuna · 5 years ago

Note

Headcanons for Shinsou, Sero and Monoma for pretending to be a couple to try a new dessert that's trademarked as couples only. They didn't think there was hope til their crush shows up nervous and adorable looking

first time writing monoma i think (?) he kinda turned out to like oikawa or something but yeah hehe

Shinso Hitoshi

○ this man likes saving money if he can, because who doesn’t and he’d rather save a few extra dollars to spend on video games than spend it on anything else

○ so when he overhears his classmates talking about a couples-only all-you-can-eat dessert buffet opening up near UA, his mind instantly drifting towards you being his best option to go with

○ after school that day he just straight up asks you whether you could be his fake girlfriend for a day

○ which makes you really flustered since your crush was asking you to be his girlfriend

○ well, fake girlfriend, which of course you wish wasn’t fake, but you still accept nonetheless even though you were a little disappointed, agreeing to go with him that weekend

○ it’s not the first time you’d gone somewhere together with just the two of you, but for some reason this time feels so different since you were going on a “date”, apparently

○ you’re relieved that the other boy seemed to have put a little more effort than usual into freshening up as well, since it made you feel a little less awkward about having dressed up for this “date”

○ but on the bright side the waitress doesn’t even bat an eye when you show up asking for the couples’ deal, even complimenting you and saying you looked cute together

○ and all the desserts and sugar help you loosen up too, and with the more you both consume you become more bit loose lipped

○ “Yaknow ‘Toshi, the waitress was right. We’d totally make a cute couple,” you say between bites of cake, making him choke on his own in surprise

○ “You’re not wrong,” he says evenly, trying to calm down the flush threatening to rise to his face. “This doesn’t have to be a fake date if you don’t want it to be.”

○ “Okay then. Congratulations, you’re my boyfriend now,” you giggle, a wave of excitement washing over you as an equally wide smile spreads across his face

○ “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Sero Hanta

○ at first, Mina’s the one who told him about the new couples-only dessert at a cafe near school that you frequent, not-so-subtly dropping hints about how he should go and try it with you, literally dumping your entire schedule onto him so he would know when to ask you

○ the entire bakusquad pressures him into doing it. at first he’s quite reluctant to ask since he was pretty sure you would reject him

○ but Kaminari threatens to tell you about his crush on you if he doesn’t, so he reluctantly sends you a text asking if you wanted to go check it out with him that weekend pretending to be a couple

○ he’s about ready to crawl into a hole and erase his entire existence after he hits send, and his heart nearly stops when you reply to him within a minute telling saying that you would love to go with him

○ he becomes a nervous wreck the night before too, texting you asking if you were sure you wanted to do this, not wanting to make you uncomfortable, and you assure him that you did want to

○ so the next day he even shows up a little earlier, waiting for you at the door of the cafe, a little worried that you wouldn’t come at all

○ but thank goodness you do, and he suddenly finds it so hard to focus on anything but how cute you looked in your outfit, complimenting you on it and watching as you flush a little from his words

○ even though this was supposed to be a fake date though, the shy smiles and small talk you share make you feel as if it was more of a real date

○ “This doesn’t really feel like a fake date, Sero.”

○ “We can make it real if you want.”

Monoma Neito

○ Monoma is definitely that type of guy who jumps on every single opportunity to force you into doing couple-like things with him even when you aren’t dating

○ like it’s so blatant to everybody (including you) that he’s desperate to go out with you and will try absolutely anything to get you to date him

○ so when he sees an ad while he’s scrolling through his Twitter for a couples-only sundae at a cafe near UA he pounces on the opportunity

○ forwarding the post to you and then proceeding to spam you with hearts asking you to go with him this weekend because he wants to try it

○ the stuff he sends you is disgusting embarrassing and makes you want to block him but the onslaught of heart emojis he sends nearly crashes your phone before you can do that

○ and you’d promised Kendo that you would be nice to him to so he wouldn’t go whining to her about his broken heart, so you reply with a half-assed response agreeing to meet him there

○ honestly he doesn’t think you’d show up. If anything he knows you’re kinda annoyed by his constant advances but he’s still gotta shoot his shot because HE HAS A FAT CRUSH ON YOU

○ he feels a little like an idiot sitting there alone in the cafe that Sunday waiting for you, desperately trying to tell the unconvinced waitress that yes his girlfriend would be showing up soon please don’t kick him out

○ so when he sees you walking in all dressed up prettily he nearly squeals in excitement, frantically waving you over to where he was with a shit-eating grin on his face that made you want to die of embarrassment being seen and (hopefully) mistaken as a couple

○ “I didn’t think you’d come, Y/N-chan!”

○ “Yeah, me neither, but here I am,” you sigh, not wanting meet his gaze that was currently burning holes into you

○ but you have to admit that seeing him look so excited and happy to be with you did make your heart race a little

○ and he calls the waitress over, proudly showing you off and asking for the couples-only sundae. the waitress looks very very surprised, shooting you a confused look as if to say “you sure you like him?”

○ but you get the sundae anyways, much to his delight, begging you to take pictures with him and to let him take pictures of just you too

○ “I’m considering this our first date, Y/N,” he says as he eagerly takes pictures of you from many different angles, making you a little flustered from all the attention

○ “It’s not like you’ll listen if I tell you not to anyways, so I guess so.”

○ “See, I knew you’d come around and love me!”

#bnha #bnha headcanons #bnha scenarios #bnha fluff #bnha imagines #mha headcanons #mha imagines #sero x reader #sero hanta x reader #hitoshi shinso x reader #shinso x reader #monoma x reader #monoma headcanons

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davidmann95 · 4 years ago

Note

How about those JL storyboards?

In case you haven’t heard, Zack Snyder is putting on display the ‘storyboards’ - i.e. a rough plot summary accompanied by some Jim Lee sketches - for what would have been Justice League 2 and 3, or as this puts it 2 and ‘2A’. You can see them here (I imagine better-quality versions will soon be released), and read a transcript here. This is evidently a very early version: this was apparently pitched prior to the release of BvS and Justice League being rewritten in the wake of it, with numerous plot details that now don’t line up with what we know about the Snyder Cut, plus it outright mentions it builds on the originally planned versions of the Batman and Flash movies. But it’s a broad outline of what was gonna go down, and while I initially thought it was Snyder throwing in the towel, the timing - paired with the ambiguity left by the necessity for changes, including that this doesn’t factor whatever that “massive cliffhanger” at the end of the Cut is - says to me he’s hoping this’ll be a force multiplier behind efforts to will sequel/s into existence. He’s probably right.

I’ll be discussing spoilers below, but in short: with this Zack Snyder has finally lived up to Alan Moore, in that like Twilight of the Superheroes I wouldn’t believe this was real as opposed to a shockingly on-point parody if not for direct, irrefutable evidence.

Doing some rapid-fire bullet points for this baby to kick us off:

* Folks who know the subject say a lot of this is a yet further continuation of Snyder doing Arthuriana fanfic with the League reskinned over those major players, and I’ll take their word for it.

* I don’t know whether I love or hate that in Justice League 2 the Justice League are only an extant thing for the first scene, and then it’s Snyder giving everybody their own mini-movies. It’s compressing the entire MCU “loosely interconnected solo stories leading to a single big movie later” strategy into a single movie!

* Funniest line in the whole thing: "Even Lantern has heard of the Kryptonian, worried that he's under the control of Darkseid. He heard his spirit was unbreakable." Hal what fuckin' Superman movie did YOU watch? Second funniest being “IT WILL GIVE HIM POWER OVER ALL LIVING LIFE”

* 90% of the plot I have nothing to say about, it’s generic stage-setting crap. That to be clear is the ‘shocked it’s Snyder’ element, it feels so crassly commercial in a way I can’t believe is coming from the BvS guy.

* Most of what I have to say is unsurprisingly gonna be about a handful of characters but Cyborg’s happy ending being “he isn’t visibly disabled anymore!” is not great!

* The Goddess of War battle with Superman...never pays off? No clue why it’s there.

* What I’d originally heard was that the Codex in Superman’s blood was the last key to the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why Darkseid was coming to Earth. It’s not like all of this wouldn’t have already been averted by Kal-El’s pod smacking into an asteroid on the way to Earth so it’s not as if this makes it any more Superman’s fault, and it would have at least tied all this back to the beginning of the movies, but I suppose that was either fake or from a later draft.

* I have NO idea how this was reimagined without the ‘love triangle’, it’s the central character thing and the entire climax flows directly out of it!

* Darkseid’s kinda a chump in this, huh

Anonymous said: So: Does Zack Snyder hate Superman?

Look: the hilarity of this when Cuck Kent has been a go-to Snyder cult insult towards ‘inferior’ takes on Superman for years cannot be understated, yet at the same time I can almost wrap my brain around where Snyder’s coming from with that as the end for his take on the character. He talked in that Variety piece on how his interest in Superman is informed by having adopted children himself, and Deborah Snyder is the stepmother to his kids by previous relationships, so I can see where he’d be coming from, and I can even imagine how he’d see this as ‘rhyming’ in the sense of “the series begins with Kal-El being adopted by Earth, it ends with him adopting a child of Earth!” In the same way as MARTHA, I can envision how he would put these pieces together in his head thematically without registering or caring what the end result would actually look like. In this case, Superman raising the kid of the man who beat the shit out of him who Batman had with Clark’s wife, who earlier told Bruce she was staying with Clark because he ‘needed her’, suggesting if inadvertently that this really honest to god was a “she’s only staying with Superman out of pity, she really loved Batman more” thing.

But Clark is nothing in this. He’s sad and existential because of coming back from the dead I guess, then he’s corrupted, then time’s undone and he woo-rah rallies the collective armies of the world (interesting angle for the ‘anti-military/anti-establishment’ Superman he’s talked up as) as his big heroic moment in the finale, and then he stops being sad because he’s adopting a kid. So his big much-ballyhooed, extremely necessary five-movie character arc towards truly becoming Superman was:

Sad weird kid -> sad weird kid learns he’s an alien, is still weird and sad, maybe he shouldn’t save people because things could go really wrong? -> his dad is so convinced it could go wrong he lets himself die -> ????? -> Clark is saving people anyway -> learns his origin, gets an inspiring speech about being a bridge between worlds and a costume -> becomes superman (not Superman, that’s later) to save the world, albeit a very property-damagey version, rejects his heritage he just learned about and space dad’s bridge idea -> folks hate him being superman and that sucks though at least he’s got a girlfriend now -> things go so wrong he considers not being superman but his ghost dad reminds him shit always goes wrong so he should be good anyway, which sorta feels like it contradicts his previous advice -> immediate renewed goodness is out the window as he’s blackmailed into having to try and kill a dude but the dude happens to coincidentally have some things in common so they don’t kill each other after all -> big monster now but superman keeps supermaning at it because he loves his girlfriend and he dies -> he’s brought back, wears black which apparently means now he likes Krypton again? -> he has work friends now but he’s still sad because he was dead -> evil now! -> wait nevermind time travel -> rallies the troops -> his wife’s having a kid so he’s not sad anymore -> Superman! Who gives way to more Batman.

Do I think Zack Snyder is lying when he says he likes Superman? No. I think he sincerely finds much of the basic conceits and imagery engaging. But I don’t think he meaningfully gives shit about Clark as a character, just a vessel for Big Iconic Beats he wants to hit. Whereas while for instance he’s critical of Batman as an idea (at least up to a point), he’s much more passionately, directly enamored with him as a presence and personality. So while Superman may be the character whose ostensible myth cycle or arc or however it’s spun might be propelling a lot of events here, it’s a distant appreciation - of course the other guy takes over and subsumes him into his own narrative. Of course Batman is the savior, the past and the future (though if he’s supposed to be Batman’s kid raised by Superman there’s no excuse for him not to be Nightwing), the tragic martyr to our potential. Admittedly the implication here is also that Batman can apparently only REALLY with his whole heart be willing to sacrifice his life to save an innocent, for that matter apparently his great love, once said innocent is a receptacle for his Bat-brood, but he and Clark are both already irredeemable pieces of shit by the end of BvS so it’s not like this even registers by comparison.

Anonymous said: That “plan” Snyder had was utter dogshit. Picture proof that DC & WB hate Superman. Also I love how you’re like Jor-El: Every single idealistic take you had about Snyder, his fandom, and BvS was wrong. Snyder’s an edgy hack, his fanbase just wants to jerk off to their edgy self-insert Batgod as he screams FUCK while mowing people down with machine guns, and the idea that BvS said Superman was better than Bats was completely wrong. You know what comes next SuperMann: Either you die or I do.

In the final analysis, beyond that mother of god is there sure no conceivable excuse for the treatment of Lois in this? The temptation is to join that anon and say as I originally tweeted that these were “built entirely to disabuse every single redemptive reading of the previous work and any notion of these movies as nuanced, artistic, self-reflective, or meaningful”.

...

...yeah, okay, that’s mostly right. Zack Snyder’s vision really was the vision of an edgelord idiot with bad ideas who was never going to build up to anything that would reframe it all as a sensible whole. He’s a sincere edgelord genuinely trying really hard with his bad ideas who put some of them together quite cleverly! But they’re fucking bad and the endgame was never anything more than ramping up into smashing the action figures together as big as he could, the political overtones and moral sketchiness of BvS while trying to say something in that movie reverberated through the grand scheme of his pentalogy in no way beyond giving his boys a big sad pit to rise out of so when they kicked ass later it’d rule harder, and all the gods among men questions and horror and trappings were only that: trappings. Apparently he’s really pleasant and well-meaning in person, but at his core his art as embodied in a couple weeks in his 4-hour R-rated Justice League movie meant to be seen in black-and-white all comes down to that time he yelled at someone on Twitter that he couldn’t appreciate Snyder’s work because it’s for grown-ups. He made half-clever, occasionally exciting shit cape movies for a bunch of corny pseudo-intellectual douchebags, folks latching onto and justifying blockbusters that at least acknowledge how horrifying the world is right now even if the superheroes are basically useless in the face of it if not outright part of the problem until a convenient alien invasion shows up to justify them, and a handful of non-asshole smart people who vibe with it but...well. ‘Suckered’ is a harsh word, and definitely doesn’t apply to all of them re: what they’ve gotten out of it up to this point and would (somehow) get out of this. But it doesn’t apply to none of them, either.

#Justice League #Zack Snyder #Superman #Batman #DCEU #Opinion

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 4 years ago

Text

Satisfied, Part 43

First

~~~

For two vigilantes, they seemed to know nothing of stealth. Damian was getting dragged around by a girl pretty much half his size in a suit that looked more expensive than every house on the street combined. Marinette was wearing her Red Robin hoodie but it never dawned on her that she should pull the hood up to cover her face even when people stared at them.

So, it was no surprise that people were snapping pictures of the pair.

Her phone dinged like it usually did when she was mentioned on Twitter and she scowled as it started going off like an alarm, bringing even more attention to them. She turned her phone on silent and stuffed it back in her bag hastily, but it was too late. People had noticed them, and were now following them.

It was because of all this attention that they didn’t notice that two of the people tailing them were in familiar suits.

At least not until they were in the bad part of town which, really, isn’t the best place to be abducted.

She chanced a look back to see them and her face paled. “Damian.”

“What?” He asked, his hands in the pocket of his suit where she figured he had a few tiny weapons stashed. She tipped her head back towards them and he followed her gaze. He sighed and shook his head exasperatedly. “Man, can’t we run away from our problems in peace?”

She gave a short, somewhat bitter laugh. “Can’t we do anything in peace?”

His sigh was enough of an answer.

Their eyes fell on the people following them, who had sped up when they’d noticed them. They were definitely trying to be subtle about it, because onlookers tended to be more protective of people who looked younger, but they were steadily gaining on them.

Marinette and Damian locked eyes and gave each other a short nod.

They turned down an alley together and then broke into a sprint. They heard the people behind them curse and pick up speed.

They couldn’t just attempt to beat them up, no matter how much easier it would be. After all, they could only pass off so much fighting as just your average self-defense. No, they had to outrun them or outsmart them.

Luckily, these guys probably couldn’t injure them. Based on what she assumed happened to the people who had sprained her ankle before, they’d been given pretty strict orders to keep them healthy and safe.

A straight fight was unlikely on both sides.

Their eyes darted over the alley as they ran through, looking for an out. One of them might be able to climb on a dumpster or some trash cans to the safety of the rooftops, but the other would definitely be caught. Marinette settled for kicking over the trash cans as they passed and then running to catch up to her.

A glance back showed that it had hardly slowed them at all. Damn.

Marinette bit the inside of her cheek (a very painful thing to do while running) and then her eyes found their way to a bunch of stray cats. She tapped his arm and he looked over, only to cringe.

“I haven’t really gotten the hang of --.”

“We learn under pressure in this household! Try it!”

Damian sent her a slight glare before waving to the strays. To the henchmens’ surprise, the cats seemed to nod before darting out to go attack the henchmen. They heard their cries of pain and looked back to see the cats scratching their faces.

They flashed matching grins --.

Only to bump into a pair of henchmen at the end of the alley. Marinette bounced back and hit the ground with a curse. Damian didn’t fall beside her, mostly because the nearest henchman had grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved a needle in his neck.

Marinette groaned as a bag was forced over her head from behind. She didn’t bother to struggle. No normal person could fight off three well-trained henchmen at once. Hands bound her wrists and ankles roughly and she cringed as she was picked up.

“You know, it’s really not fair of you guys to outnumber us. It’s almost like you want to win or something,” she joked quietly.

No response. Man, why couldn’t her abductors at least have a sense of humor?

The bag was pulled off of her head and she cringed at the light beaming down on her. “You know, you guys really need to stop abducting me. Honestly, just give me a ring. I’ll be here,” she said, tipping her head back to rest against the chair.

Her eyes flickered over Harley and Poison Ivy, who were both smiling at her. Then to Riddler, who was so uninterested he was actually on the other side of the room. And finally to Penguin, who was casually scrolling through his phone.

Wait, where was Damian? Her face went pale as she looked around wildly for her partner, only to find he wasn’t present.

“Where’s…?”

“He’s safe, if that’s what you’re asking,” said Penguin, giving a vague wave of his hand.

She let herself relax a little. Sure, Penguin was liable to lie to her for his own gain, but she had nothing of value to him (or so he thought) and honestly he’d probably have more to gain from telling her that they were intending to harm him.

“Aw, so you’re worried about your little boyfriend?” Cooed Harley.

Marinette laughed and shook her head. “Ew! He’s like a brother to me! Besides, I’m already dating someone.”

Harley’s eyes widened. “And you never told me? Oh my god! Who?”

She found herself looking at her feet, red creeping across her face. “Uh… Tim.”

There was a silence as the two female Rogues looked at each other, conflicted expressions on their faces. Ah, makes sense. If both of the kids you had somehow ‘adopted’ ended up liking the same person, you’d probably be a bit conflicted as well.

Marinette pretended to shuffle awkwardly in her chair in their distraction, checking her bindings, and was annoyed to find that they were rather tight.

After the silence had stretched on too long, Marinette sighed. “Right, why am I here again?”

“Oh, yeah!” Harley snapped her fingers. “Are you going to the Wayne Gala?”

“Yeah,” she said simply. “Why?”

“Um… no reason!” Said Poison Ivy, who was shockingly bad at lying for someone who’s entire criminal career was based on seducing and killing rich assholes. “Just… thinking that maybe you should head home early!”

Marinette blinked a few times and then frowned. “Why? How early?”

“Uhhhh… curfew! You’re a kid and your parents aren’t here! You need a curfew!”

Harley sighed and shook her head with a fond smile on her face. “We’re going to do something at eleven-thirty, so please try and leave by eleven.”

She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded slightly. What could they be doing? It was a masquerade and the reveal was at midnight, it couldn’t be something to do with the actual people there. But, if it was a simple robbery, then why would they wait until the Gala? Was it dramatic effect? Why would --?

“Great! You should get your friends out, too.”

She hesitated. “But they’re the hosts. They can’t just… leave.”

“Why not? It’s a masquerade. It’s not like anyone would know.”

Marinette had to give it to them. They had a point. “Right, fine, I’ll leave early. Is that all?”

Harley nodded and beamed as she leaned down to let her go, only to be stopped by Penguin. Everyone in the room paused and looked up, even Riddler gave a curious glance.

“No, I have one last thing to ask,” he said. He showed everyone his phone. Everyone went stiff with shock at whatever it was. Then, finally, he let her see what was so interesting.

She tried not to pale.

It was a picture from the night Robin had died. The picture was blurry, she and Robin had been in a hurry when she’d dragged him to her apartment, but it was clearly them.

She gave an awkward laugh. “That’s… not really a question, now is it?” What else could she say? Even if she thought up some brilliant lie, which was unlikely, Harley would be able to catch her out on it.

“Darlin’... do you… know who Robin is?” Asked Harley slowly, looking betrayed.

Marinette felt a guilty pang in her chest. Sure, they were criminals, but she’d become fond of them all -- excluding Joker -- over the time they’d spent together. She didn’t want them to feel sad, much less betrayed, because of her.

All she could do was stare at the ground.

“Would you tell us?” Asked Poison Ivy, kneeling down to look her in the eyes.

Marinette’s eyes flicked away from her face as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t fast enough. She bit the inside of her cheek. “I…”

Penguin pulled up a new photo, this one of her pulling Damian through the streets earlier that day. “Is Damian Robin?”

She swallowed thickly. “No.” Not anymore, at least, she thought.

There was a silence as Harley scrutinized her face. Eventually, she shook her head. “She’s telling the truth.”

“I guess that was a stretch,” admitted Penguin. “Worth a shot, though.”

“Who is it, then?” Asked Poison Ivy.

“You won’t be able to guess,” she said.

Harley gave a quiet sigh of frustration and crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s confident. We’re not getting answers from her, apparently.”

“That is because you’re asking the wrong questions,” said Riddler, crossing to their side of the room in three steps.

Marinette’s smug expression dropped. He sat down in front of her and she resisted the urge to lean away from him. She didn’t like the look in his eyes, the way he was smiling like he’d accidentally found that missing piece of his puzzle underneath the box. He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket and started shuffling them idly.

“The wrong questions?” She echoed quietly.

“Yep! Who cares who they are, because ultimately we should be asking who you are!”

Marinette frowned. “Who… who I am?”

“Of course! Why exactly do Robin and, presumably, the other bats talk to you?”

The warehouse was completely silent save for the quiet shuffling of his cards. The Rogues were looking curious now as well, and Marinette’s skin crawled. She didn’t at all like where this was going, but trying to avoid whatever he was saying would definitely lead to them being more suspicious. All she could do was accept her fate.

She gave as big a shrug as she could. “They helped me.”

“But they help a lot of people! What’s so special about a little French designer?” His hands stilled and he smiled, setting down his cards and steepling his fingers in front of his face. “Unless, of course, you’re more than a French designer.”

“So, Marinette, are you Ladybug?”

Her breath left her throat in a wheeze. She wanted to deny it, she did, but Harley was scrutinizing her face so hard that she knew that it would be useless. All she could do was hang her head.

Silence loomed over them as the news sunk in.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, Penguin started laughing. Marinette’s head snapped up. She’d never heard the sound before, and now she was wishing she never had. There was something so unsettlingly… humorless about his laugh, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

The top of his umbrella pressed to the back of her neck, the razor sharp tip drawing a little bit of blood.

“Now, Ladybug, here’s how things are gonna go…”

~~~

“This is a telenovela at this point”

Shit they’re onto me

Taglist

@comet-kun @thatonecroc @trippingovermyfeet @swiftie-miraculer13 @nickristus-dreamer @moongoddesskiana @i-am-ironic @indecisive-mess-named-me @thebooki3h @insane-fangirl-of-everything @deepestobservationwombat @theymakeupfairies @fatimaabbasrizvi @clumsy-owl-4178 @fanofalittletoomuch @iamablinkmarvelarmy @nathleigh @lilkymilky @silvergold-swirl @dino-lovingreen-angel @thestressmademedoit @kissa-chan @ladybug-182 @alysrose-starchild @t1dwarrior-of-earth @spyofthenightcourt @rowanrouge @nik-nak-3 @momothefemur @aestheticnpoetic @labschaos @our-preciousss @mochinek0 @eliza-bich @mythogaychic @severelyenchantedwonderland @sashakoi @smolplantmum @bluesimani @tropestropestropes @kitsunebell @keepingupwiththemalfoys @sassakitty @2confused-2doanything @too0bsessedformyowngood @all-mights-asscheeks @demonicbusiness @meg-an-ace @fantasiame @qualitypeacepainter @multplelifes @kokotaru @spicybelladonna

#yknow just once id like to NOT improvise new plotlines on the fly #timinette #timari #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #maribat #satisfied #red robin #tim drake

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break-slash · 4 years ago

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Puzzleship JP & KR Fancomic Recommendation List

UPDATE (19-12-2020): Added two more artists and two more titles on the Japanese lists!

I don’t consider myself as someone very tidy and organized, but I just like making lists of the things I love, somehow. Hence this post. I haven’t been in the fandom for long but I thought I’d share some of my favorites primarily from two sites: pixiv and postype. Most of the postype ones are behind paywall, and I will mark them differently.

Some of my favorites come from the same artists, so I’ll also link their pixiv profile on top of my favorite work of them.

(I actually bookmarked a lot and picking them isn’t an easy task, so I will update this step by step. If you see only a link of an artist, that’s the reason, but I can guarantee you will love their works! Feel free to recommend me yours through reblogs or DM as well!)

Japanese

Artist: CYHGM

She is a Chinese and is more active on Weibo (she posted tons of puzzleship there, but my Mandarin is beyond rusty so I could only cry in despair lmao), but she has two fancomics that I absolutely adore of. Those two mentioned fancomics are:

The Past and The Future. You can check my translation for this one here. It tells about Atem who gets transported to 3000 years later before his coronation, and that’s where he met post-canon!Yugi. Just... everything about this comic is so wonderful. I teared up at the last page, not gonna lie ;_;

The Pharaoh and The Fairy: An Ancient Egypt-slash-fantasy AU featuring the S0/TOEI casts. The fairy Yugi was saved by Atem, and it’s an obligatory for fairies to grant their savior’s wishes. However, Atem doesn’t exactly have something he wants of, and this confuses Yugi on how he should repay him back. Pure undiluted sugar, and fairy!Yugi is just so cute.

Artist: Fushitas

Arguably one of the most popular Puzzleship fanartists in the JP fandom (look at their number of followers on Twitter, man), but maybe it’s also due to the fact they were in AoT fandom too. They’re mostly active on Twitter, and if you also watch Zexal, they draw tons of Yuma-centric pairings too. They have released lots of books, and their prices on the reseller sites are... well, let’s just say, unbelievable. Just to show how famous they are.

From everlasting to everlasting: Set after DSOD. A mysterious figure appears in front of Atem, claiming to be his queen. Everyone in the after life somehow acknowledges this person, which makes him even more confused because he’s the only one unaware of this. On the living realm, Yugi who is on the way to his home got hit by a truck (isekai much??) and when he woke up, he suddenly plays the role of Atem’s queen. I’ve always adored Fushitas’ drawing, and this is no exception. The story is pretty simple, but is still good! The ending of this comic is everything I’ve always wanted from the canon lol.

The King’s Guest: Ancient Egypt AU. The councils are starting to get worried because Atem shows no interest in marrying someone, so Shimon opens up a “chance” sort of for civilians to become “someone for the Pharaoh to talk with”. The civilian Yugi takes this chance right off the bat, and stuff happens? This one is just so sweet and the misunderstanding later in the story kinda cracks me up. I really love the way they build the two’s chemistry in here.

Artist: usi

They only draw two puzzleship fancomics, but both are so good and explores the themes I’ve loved from the pairing.

The Lotus’ Devil: Set post-canon with a flashback. It tells about Yugi’s regret in the past where he wanted to show Atem a small pool supposed to be full of lotus flower only to arrive seeing them not blooming. Fast forward to the post-canon, he found out that there’s actually a monster residing on that pool. I really, really loved the ending scene of this one.

Who’s The Detestable, Fortunate Guy Here: I think this is set sometime in the canon story, although the exact timing is unclear. It’s a short comic of Yugi asking Atem to pretend to be his date and go on a “dating practice”. A very pleasant hurt-and-comfort kind of story, and who doesn’t love a story of them dating anyways? :”D

Artist: Houzuki Anzu

She doesn’t draw much YGO, but she has some Arc-V and 5D’s fanarts too if you watch the series!

Hourglass: Sets after the Memory World arc. Yugi keeps hearing a strange sound inside his mind, and he finds out there’s a huge hourglass standing there, guarded by the will of Millenium Puzzle. Apparently, the hourglass is linked to Atem’s remaining time in the living realm? Anyways, the ending of this comic might look like a cliffhanger, but I personally think it isn’t. I love the theme this comic picks to explore and the way it is presented.

Present: Same setting with Hourglass, but this one focuses more on Atem sorting out his feelings about the Ceremonial Duel and what he has learned from Yugi in general. It’s a very nice extra detail that the canon slightly lacks of, and I just love... bittersweet stuff in general haha.

Artist: Chiriko

Are you the type who wants puzzleship to be full of happiness and fluff and nothing else? Well, she has a number of comics to fill that need! I actually love all of her works, but if I have to pick, these two are my favorite:

...Don’t Ever Leave Me Again: A short story about Yugi having a nightmare of where he was stuck in the fire accident at Otogi’s store. Well... this isn’t a fluff sort of, but it’s... a happy ending still? /shot

[Untitled]: A dialogue-less comic, but this is the sort of post-canon what-if that I really, really like. Atem stroking Yugi’s face while sleeping is just... so soft man....

Artist: Komori Nea

Their art style was one of those that’s very noticeable and has a certain charm on it. They are pretty active on Twitter, and even draws puzzle comics once in a while that haven’t been uploaded to pixiv (which is why I recommend you to check their twitter gallery too haha)

The Soul Stays Awake: Post!DSOD. Atem comes back from afterlife in hoping that Yugi would be as happy as he is, but months after, Atem’s existence still hasn’t been registered on Yugi’s life just yet. Another post!DSOD take that I like which involves the fear of another farewell and uncertainty, but this is a good hurt-and-comfort. I swear, it’ll hurt you just... for a while. :”)

The Attack’s Aim: Set during the canon series. A short comic mostly portraying Yugi’s hidden strength but also the tenacity of duelist that is not only targeted toward the opponent, but also to Atem, without the person actually noticing it. The last page of this one is so... soft and gentle I had to put it into this list.

Artist: caf

Often draw with S0/TOEI style, characters and characterization in mind. Their coloring in illustrations is so soft, plus artists who specialize in S0/TOEI style can’t be found so easily. Their comic style is not a manga-like one and they write the dialogues with handwriting, but if you can read hiragana and write and understand how kanji works (so you can write it on translation machine), their comics are easy to understand!

magenta: S0/TOEI AU where Yugi and Atem are two separate person. A short comic of Yugi lying under the rain as Atem searches for his whereabouts. I really love the way they portray the rain and the atmosphere surrounding the scene. Or maybe I’m just biased with rains in general, ahahaha.

Yuugi and Mao’s Stay Home: Same AU as above. Our two boys has to face the same shit we do IRL in this comic, which is quarantine. Atem offers to cook something for Yugi since he can’t eat outside. You love seeing Yugi eating stuff? This is a perfect comic for y’all.

Artist: Kkyut

Artist: Kayu(i)

Others:

Gemini: As Atem comes back to the living world, Yugi faces the dilemma of having being separated by “his other self” physically and mentally. A short comic, but the lines the artist used are so... beautiful. Like, the way they describe Yugi’s loneliness?? Just hits the park so much.

Until The Hourglass Runs Out: Set after the Memory World Arc. As their farewell day goes closer, Yugi decides to give Atem a full control of his body at school so he could spend his time with Jounouchi and the gang more. However, things don’t go as smooth as Yugi had expected. If you like that little teeny weeny pain before the Ceremonial Duel, this comic perfectly suits the taste.

see you sometime: Post-canon. Mahaad offers Atem a chance to meet Yugi in the living realm one more time, but with several conditions. Firstly, he could only stay for a day at maximum. Secondly, Yugi won’t be able to remember who he spent his time with after Atem hangs out with him. Thirdly, Yugi will not be able to “recognize” this Atem; he will only be registered in Yugi’s mind as a new classmate. A bittersweet comic in whole, but seeing the two having fun like a normal teenager would just makes me grin.

After The Rain: A dialogue-less comic, so everyone would be able to read this right away. A short comic of the two, but still very cute and wholesome!

The Tropics of Horus: Post!DSOD, Atem has to chase Kisara who lingers around Kaiba’s soul and he needs Yugi’s help to bring Kisara back to afterlife, but he has his own ulterior motive. This manga is so dialogue-heavy and might be hard to dissect especially if you don’t understand JP grammar and context, but the time spent trying to understand the meaning behind every words will be worth it. That much I guarantee. Just... everything about this comic, and how Atem’s “ulterior motive” connects to our boys’ adventure in canon series are so well planned. You can also purchase the R18 version in a form of the book here (toranoana)

Christmas Day: S0/TOEI puzzleship hint (dark puzzle???). There’s something in store for Yugi in Christmas, but this one might surprise Yugi a lot. It’s not that the prompt of “Atem gets separated from Yugi temporarily” is uncommon, but it is still a sweet one and makes you smile throughout the pages.

Korean

All titles mentioned here are not free unless mentioned otherwise. Also I don’t understand Korean except being able to read Yugi and Atem’s name, so my story interpretation might be wrong. If you understand Korean, I’d really love for you input! ;_;

You can check out on how to buy comics from postype here

Yugi’s 2020 Birthday Anthology: Rain and After End

This is an anthology consisting of four titles, but they share the same (or similar) setting where Atem is reincarnated, but he doesn’t remember his past (or has not yet, depending on how the story portrays it). Some are age-gap (adult!Yugi and high school student!Atem), so you might want to consider that if it’s not your cup of tea.

To Like Someone is to...: Age-gap setting. Mostly tells about how Yugi deals with his feeling as the reincarnated Atem in front of him turns out to have a feeling on him. I like how the story’s conclusion is that Yugi will sort it out slowly while also teasing Atem how he’s “too early” to date Yugi w.

In A Circle: A story about how the two met through an online chess game. Iirc Yugi works in a game company and Atem is sort of a famous e-sports player in this setting. There’s a lot of dialogue in this one and the app sometimes can’t process them very well, but I liked what I can understand from it! not very convincing is it haha i’m sorry i shouldn’t have done this

Familiarity: Age-gap setting, where Yugi becomes Atem’s caretaker. The comic mostly focuses on how Atem notices how kind (or too kind) Yugi is sometimes, but there are times where he feels distant. The plot where Atem gets into a fight with the other kid in his school because the kid mocks Yugi, and how Yugi just... accepts it even when Atem doesn’t want to say his reason of punching the kid is just.... god... I love this kind of age-gap setting like this I guess ;_;

Touchdown: Age-gap setting, but Atem is older in here (university student). The two goes to Atem’s university festival and they think about their own feeling when they got separated. On their way to drop Atem off, he confesses to Yugi, but Yugi is still unsure on his overlapping feeling between the reincarnated Atem and the Atem he knows. Make sure you play Motohiro Hata’s Rain and Aimer’s After Rain during the car scene to make the “rain” mood works even better :”)

Others:

Try For Point: A continuation of Touchdown, where Atem (like, the one from the past) visits Yugi in his dream and helps Yugi in sorting out is his feeling toward his reincarnated self. Atem’s advice is so sweet and there’s one certain line from this comic that I remember very deeply - there’s a part where he says, “If you don’t pull out the card, you won’t know what card it is, right?” to help Yugi clearing out his hesitancy ;w; at this point, I curse myself for not being able to understand Korean

#puzzleshipping #blindshipping #ygo #im sorry if i can't make a precise description...#will be updated regularly as i scan through my bulky bookmarks

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dukeofonions · 3 years ago

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Alright I might be whacking the bee's nest here but whatever here we go. Patreon mini rant time!

So back in the YouTube membership days whenever a new Sides video was posted it was typically followed by a live stream discussing said video. Insight to how it was made, scrapped ideas, etc. Just a fun little peek into the process.

And I was pretty sure that the same would happen for WTIT because that has been the norm and there was so much that went into that episode how could they not talk about it?

So skip ahead to some time after WTIT came out and a poll is posted onto the patreon to decide what this month's stream would be about. And the options were either a stream discussing the video (a talk back) or a stream where a video for the second channel would be filmed.

And to add on to my ever growing confusion, they added on to the second option saying that even if the talk back was voted for, the second option would happen during a future stream. So regardless of which one received the most votes, the second channel vid was guaranteed.

On the other hand, there was no reassurance that we'd get anything in regards to bts content for WTIT if the talk back wasn't chosen.

So this just left me wondering, why are we voting at all? Why not just, ya know, do the talk back for a video that was long in the making that we still don't have a lot of bts content for anyway (what y'all have seen on Twitter is all there is so far, unless stuff has been posted to the tiers above the 25$ one) and is still pretty fresh in everyone's minds?

Then since you already plan to do the other option anyway, why not just save it for next month's stream?

Anyways, I voted for the talk back because why would I vote for something we'd get anyway? And I always enjoyed the follow up streams for videos back in the membership days, and even enjoyed the one we got for FWSA.

But right off the bat the second option (which I'm not going to say what it is) was getting more votes and oh boy did shiz hit the fan in the comments.

Like, it definitely wasn't everyone, but a lot of people were going crazy over the poll. Just a mix of people wanting both options, some just choosing the second one because it sounds fun, and others trying to encourage people to vote for the talk back because we'd be getting the second regardless.

Things got to the point where other patrons were stepping in to try and calm things down but it was still pretty hectic considering the votes were tied up for awhile, eventually though the second option won which I was kinda expecting.

And I can't say I'm not a tiny bit disappointed, but seeing as I'll end up being out of town for the stream I'm also kinda glad the other option got picked because I wasn't too interested anyway, but seeing all the chaos go down and not having it acknowledged at all by anyone running the patreon, I dunno I got a little annoyed with the whole thing.

Like, I dunno. I feel like things would have been better if they'd just did the talk back stream (this will be the first video since the membership days that apparently won't be getting its own follow up stream and no I don't count return of the jam even though it did technically get a follow up stream) or at least had some kind of bts content prepared for the patreons regarding this episode because, like I said before, all we've gotten are the things that have been posted on Twitter.

And ya know, one of the main things the patreon promises is bts content, and there's hardly any.

I dunno, maybe I'm just being petty or asking for too much, but it just rubs me the wrong way that they saw all this going down (and I know someone had to seeing as this ain't the first time things got heated in the patreon comments and some moderator stepped in) and never acknowledged it or try to come up with a solution to the problem.

And for all I know maybe they are throwing something together for this episode, but I have yet to hear anything about that and as it stands I'm not holding my breath. Like I said I'll be out of town during this month's stream so I probably won't be able to catch it at all, so I'll have no idea if Thomas will acknowledge the poll, but I dunno the situation will most likely quietly vanish and no one will speak of it again.

Of course this just reminds me of another problem I have with the patreon and how the streams aren't left up afterwards but that's a whole other rant post and I've gone on long enough.

So to sum it up: I don't understand why there was a poll to begin with, and I think it would have saved everyone a lot of strife if they just did a follow up stream if there's no plans to get any bts content out in the near future and they're planning on doing the other option regardless that way it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

#dukeofrants #will i delete later?#maybe #but i really just needed to get this off my chest so here we are

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timebird84 · 4 years ago

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🎄 PotO Advent Calendar 2020 🎄

By @pianomanblaine

December had never been Christine’s favourite month. She by far preferred April, with the twittering birds and the flowers starting to bloom, the sun finally showing its face again after another cold and dreary winter. Erik, on the other hand, had his own reasons for enjoying the winter months. Winter meant that the dark had already set in by late afternoon, allowing him to venture outside earlier without having to worry about his mask drawing too much attention. On top of that, this year’s winter was particularly harsh and cold, keeping most people inside their houses and leaving the streets of Paris as good as empty.

Christine didn’t really feel inclined to go out tonight either, but as Erik had been looking forward to taking his wife on a nice evening stroll for quite some time, she had agreed to leave the relative warmth of their underground home for a while. And so they made their way up, Christine wrapped in her warmest cloak, Erik’s arm draped firmly around her for extra warmth. However, when they finally emerged on the Rue Scribe, Erik’s excitement seemed to vanish as soon as he took in their surroundings. The street was completely deserted, not a single person in sight, which was easily explained by the thick blanket of snow covering the cobblestones.

‘Oh no. No no no no no,’ Erik groaned, turning around as if he suddenly couldn’t wait to return home.

‘Erik, what’s wrong?’ Christine asked. She gently pulled him back towards her by the sleeve of his coat. ‘It’s only a bit of snow. That doesn’t mean we have to go back immediately.’

‘It does, if I have anything to say about it,’ he grumbled, glaring at the snow as if it had somehow offended him. ‘Snow is slippery, and it makes this awful crunching sound when you step on it, and it slows you down to a snail-like pace, which is incredibly annoying if you actually want to get anything done.’

As Erik ranted on, Christine let go of his arm and carefully took a few steps onto the snow-covered street, watching the small foggy cloud that formed when she breathed out in the cold evening air. She was immediately reminded of the winters she had spent with her papa in Sweden when she was a child. When it snowed there, he used to take her out to go sledding and she would scream with delight as they sped down the hill, her papa chuckling in her ear as he held her close to him.

‘Are you quite finished complaining now?’ she asked Erik. ‘Because I’m actually enjoying myself and I would like to stay out here a little longer.’

‘But Christine, I truly can’t stand snow,’ he replied with a pout on his face that Christine found rather adorable, although he would most likely throw a fit if she ever called him adorable out loud.

When Erik turned around, presumably to head back the way they came, hoping she would give in and follow him, Christine bent down and scooped up a small heap of snow, pressing it into a ball. ‘We’ll see if I can’t change your mind about that,’ she mumbled to herself and threw the ball in Erik’s direction, aiming for his back but instead hitting him in the back of the head.

Erik froze and remained completely still for what felt like an eternity, and Christine began to panic. Maybe this was a mistake. She had only wanted to make him laugh, to help him see that snow could be fun too, but perhaps he couldn’t see the humour of it at all. Just as she was about to apologize, hoping she hadn’t angered him too much, he turned back towards her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

‘I’m afraid you’ll regret that, my dear,’ he said and before she even had time to react he was already aiming his own snowball at her, which narrowly missed her shoulder. Christine shrieked in surprise and ran further up the road, trying to create more distance between them before gathering up more snow. They chased each other up and down the empty street, both of them squealing with laughter as they tossed snow at each other. Christine had to admit that her husband seemed to hit his target more often than she did, but she wasn’t really surprised that the Opera Ghost turned out to be rather competitive even at something as simple as a snowball fight.

She was delighted to see how much he was enjoying himself. It seemed she had succeeded in her mission. For a moment she just stood there, taking in the child-like grin on his face. How long had it been, she wondered, since he had last been this joyful and carefree? Christine tried to imagine a younger Erik, running around with other children his age, all of them covered in snow, their cheeks glowing red both from excitement and the cold. The image was a very pleasant one, until she remembered that Erik had never had such a happy childhood.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the snowball flying in her direction until it hit her square in the cheek.

‘Oh God, Christine, are you all right?’ Erik cried out, rushing towards her immediately, concern etched across the visible side of his face. ‘I’m so sorry, my love. Did I hurt you? Please tell me you’re not hurt.’ He ghosted his hands over her face anxiously, checking for injuries, but Christine was more than fine and she couldn’t help the peal of laughter that burst out of her. Erik looked quite affronted.

‘I’m sorry, darling, I’m not laughing at you,’ she assured him, turning her head slightly to kiss the hand that was cupping her cheek in apology. ‘It’s just… That was so much fun!’

A slow smile crept across his face. ‘Maybe snow isn’t so bad after all,’ he agreed.

They didn’t go out again in the following weeks, but Christine couldn’t stop thinking about that evening, remembering with fondness how much they had both enjoyed themselves and desperately hoping they would repeat the experience soon. She kept dropping hints to Erik, bringing up the topic of their little outing in the snow whenever she saw the opportunity, but Erik didn’t appear to pay much attention to it. In fact, he hardly seemed to be listening to her at all nowadays.

A few days after their snowball fight he had started acting very strange. He spent more and more time in his study, the door locked firmly behind him. He was often joined there by the Daroga, whose visits were suddenly much more numerous than they had been in the past. They would spend several hours in there doing God knows what, and every time Christine saw them emerge, Nadir would leave with nothing but a ‘good evening’ and a polite nod in her direction, and Erik would staunchly refuse to tell her what they had been discussing. In the end she stopped asking because she knew she would not receive a satisfactory answer anytime soon, and he stopped talking to her altogether.

One afternoon, when she had finally had enough of his continued silence and simply had to know what was going on, she decided to confront him. She found him standing at the front door, her cloak draped over his arm, and before she could even open her mouth to demand an explanation for his behaviour, he handed her the cloak and told her to dress warmly and follow him outside. Her first thought was to ask him why, but as asking questions had gotten her nowhere in the past, she settled for letting out a frustrated growl and doing as she was told.

A carriage was waiting for them on the Rue Scribe, their travelling trunk already loaded onto it. How was that possible? She hadn’t even seen him packing! Erik gestured for her to get in, and for a moment she considered throwing a tantrum, stomping her foot on the snow-covered stones and simply refusing to go anywhere until he told her what the meaning of all of this was. However, as stubborn as she could be, she knew Erik was just as tenacious and would not give in until she did what he told her to do. She climbed inside the carriage, but not before glaring at her husband with an expression that clearly said ‘if looks could kill, you would be dead right now’.

‘Erik, I am getting really tired of this,’ she sighed when he pulled the door closed behind him. ‘Tell me where we are going.’ She didn’t want to admit it, but his refusal to give her any information about his plans truly unnerved her.

‘Patience, my dear. You’ll see when we get there.’ The smirk on his face made it abundantly clear that he was enjoying this far too much for her liking.

They left the city behind, and as Christine hadn’t travelled outside of Paris much over the past few years, she lost all sense of where she was pretty quickly. The next few hours were spent in complete silence and she grew more and more anxious. What in heaven’s name was going on with Erik? He had never treated her like this, never ignored her as if her wishes and feelings were completely irrelevant. When she thought back to the very first time he had brought her to his lair underneath the opera, she remembered how even back then he had made her comfort his absolute priority. That had not changed after they were married. Until now. This was so unlike him and not having the slightest idea of what was causing this sudden change in behaviour made her sick with worry.

It was growing dark outside and the carriage was now driving through a forest, apparently leaving civilisation completely behind. By now, Christine was truly frightened and couldn’t stop the tears she had felt pricking her eyes for the past hour from spilling over any longer. When Erik heard her sniffling, he looked at her with panic in his eyes.

‘Darling, whatever is the matter?’ he asked, his hands reaching out to wipe away her tears, but she batted them away.

‘What’s the matter?’ she cried, not caring if she sounded hysterical. ‘It’s dark, we’re in the middle of the woods, you won’t tell me where we are going, and you have refused to talk to me for days! I’m your wife, Erik. I have the right to know what is going on, and I need you to tell me right now because you’re scaring me.’ Her soft sniffling had turned into full body-wracking sobs by now and this time she did not slap his hands when he pulled her towards him to comfort her.

‘Oh my dear, I am so sorry,’ he whispered soothingly as he let her cry on his shoulder. He started rubbing gentle circles on her back with one hand, something he often did when he was trying to calm her down, while he buried the other hand in her hair, which was more likely meant to calm himself down. Seeing her in distress always made him nervous, even more so when he knew that he was the one who caused it. ‘I never meant to frighten you, truly,’ he swore. ‘I simply wished to surprise you.’

‘Surprise me?’ She pulled away a little, wiping her cheeks dry, and looked at him incredulously. ‘By forcing me to come away with you and not telling me where we’re going or what’s going to happen next?’ How could he possibly think that was an appropriate way of surprising her?

He flinched at her words, and she realized he must be flashing back to the last time he had taken her away like that, after the disastrous performance of Don Juan Triumphant.

‘When you say it like that, it does sound like an idiotic idea,’ he admitted, rubbing his neck in a gesture of uneasiness. ‘You’re right of course, I should have talked to you. I am really sorry, my love, please forgive me.’ He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, placing a feather-light kiss on her knuckles, and glanced at her with a pleading look on his face. He sounded genuinely remorseful and Christine allowed herself to relax a little, although she wasn’t inclined to forgive him for what he had put her through just yet.

‘I still don’t understand. What exactly were you trying to surprise me with?’

The moment the question had left her lips, the carriage came to a halt.

‘Allow me to show you,’ he replied, throwing open the door and extending his hand to her in invitation. She only hesitated for a second before she took it and followed him out of the carriage. The snow underneath her feet made that crunching sound Erik had claimed to hate so much the last time they were outside. She took a deep breath, relishing the fresh night air entering her lungs.

Until now she had believed they were deep in the forest, surrounded by nothing but trees, but to her utter surprise she now found herself standing in front of a beautiful little cottage. There was smoke rising from the chimney, so the house must be inhabited. She had to admit she was curious to learn who was living here, so far removed from everything and everyone, no other houses to be seen for miles, but more than anything she was extremely confused.

‘Erik, what are we doing here? Whose house is this?’

He grinned somewhat sheepishly at her as he replied. ‘Mine.’

‘Now you’ve truly lost me,’ Christine said, gaping at him in bewilderment. ‘What do you mean, it’s yours? And if it’s yours, then who is living here? And if someone else is living here, then why are we here?’

Erik squeezed her hand to stop her from spewing out any more questions. ‘If you can stop talking for a minute, I’ll explain,’ he chuckled. ‘I acquired the house only a few weeks ago. Before that, it had been empty for a long time. I had always meant it as a surprise for you, I was just waiting for the right occasion to show it to you.’

Christine felt tears threatening to fall again, but this time, they were not tears of sadness or fear. Erik had wanted to surprise her, and so he had bought her a house? He really didn’t do anything halfway, did he?

‘I had the Daroga help me to move in some furniture. He has been here earlier, stocking the kitchen with food and other supplies for our stay, lighting the fire, and so on,’ he explained, gesturing towards the smoking chimney. ‘I asked him to leave shortly before we arrived.’ So that is what all the late night conversations with Nadir had been about then. She would have to thank the man in person next time she saw him.

‘You seemed to enjoy our last outing in the snow so much,’ he continued when Christine remained silent. ‘It made me want to take you out more often, but I wanted to make certain we wouldn’t be bothered by any other people around, so this seemed like the ideal solution.’

Christine was at a loss for words. How was it possible that this man who had grown up without ever knowing any kindness, who had been shown so much hate and contempt in his life, could still be so sweet and thoughtful? Admittedly, he could have gone about it all in a different way, but since it was very unlikely he had any experience with being surprised like this himself, she supposed she could forgive him his error of judgment.

‘Please say something, love,’ Erik begged. ‘Do you not like it? We can return to Paris immediately if you wish, but maybe I could show you inside fi-‘

Christine’s mouth was on his before he could finish his sentence, her arms wrapped firmly around his neck. ‘It’s perfect, thank you,’ she whispered against his lips, ‘and I would love to see the inside.’

‘Your wish is my command,’ he murmured as he swept his giggling wife up in his arms and carried her across the threshold.

They stayed at the cottage in the woods for a couple of weeks, and it felt like absolute bliss to Christine. She got to spend more time outside over the course of the first few days than she had in the past couple of months and she savoured every second of it. Although Erik had never forbidden her from going outside, he was not particularly fond of going out during daylight hours himself, and she knew it made him uncomfortable when she left the house without him – she suspected a small part of him still believed that if she left, she would never return – so she had limited her excursions outside to a minimum. But now that she had the chance, she could not get enough of the fresh, crisp air of the forest.

On one of their walks exploring the grounds surrounding the house, they stumbled upon a small lake. Since it had been freezing continually for a while now, the lake was completely frozen over and Christine jumped up and down in excitement remembering the ice skates she had noticed among the supplies that Nadir had brought for them. After testing if the ice was solid and strong enough to hold them, Erik reluctantly agreed to fetch the skates.

Erik had never ice skated before, but Christine had enough experience to guide him through his first steps onto the ice. Once he had managed to make his way onto the ice without falling over, she took his hand and slowly started skating around the edge of the lake. He had a look of utmost concentration on his face and held out his free arm to keep his balance, but managed to follow her without incident.

‘See, this is fun, isn’t it?’ Christine said after a few laps around the lake, and although his answering smile was still somewhat hesitant, he seemed to be growing more and more sure-footed. After another lap he felt confident enough to try it on his own. Christine let go of his hand and watched as he went off, his smile growing with every step, obviously satisfied at having mastered another skill. He must have gained a bit too much confidence, because the moment she took her eyes off him, she heard him cursing and looked back just in time to see him stumble and fall, landing flat on his bottom.

She sucked in a breath and grimaced in sympathy. She had fallen over enough times herself in the past to know how much that could hurt. He didn’t seem to be injured too badly though, as he struggled back on his feet within seconds, but the smile had been wiped off of his face. Christine hurried over to make sure he was okay, but she couldn’t convince him to stay on the ice any longer. He sulked all the way back to the cottage, muttering that he had hurt his wrist in the fall, but his mood lightened significantly when she promised to kiss it better.

Erik did not always join her outside. Sometimes the need to compose would simply grow too strong and he would withdraw to the piano in the music room (of course the cottage had a music room, he would probably have refused to stay in the house if it didn’t). On these occasions, Christine set out on her own, always promising not to stray too far away from the house, and by the time she returned, Erik often had a new piece of music to play for her.

Their evenings however were invariably spent together. Sometimes they would sing. ‘Being away from home should never be an excuse to neglect your voice, Christine, you need to keep it in shape,’ Erik never failed to remind her. Other times she would listen to Erik reading aloud from one of her favourite novels, letting his rich, seductive voice wash over her and lull her to sleep. But her favourite evenings were those they would just spend by the fire in companionable silence, Christine lying down on the couch with her head resting in her husband’s lap, his long fingers combing through her hair, which she loved so much that if she were a cat, she was sure she would be purring.

Sooner than she would have liked, the last day of their little winter holiday arrived. Erik had business at the Opera to attend to, but he promised her they would return before long. Christine was determined to make the most of their final moments here, and as they had woken up to find the earth covered in a fresh layer of snow, they decided to go out one last time and make a snowman together. The morning sped by, and as Christine stepped back to take in the final result, she burst out laughing when she noticed the uncanny resemblance their creation bore to Monsieur Firmin, one of the two fools who ran the Opera, as Erik described them. Now she understood why he had insisted on finding some twigs to give the snowman a moustache.

That night they decided to retire early, as the carriage would be there to pick them up early the next morning. Christine was changing into her nightgown while Erik added another log to the fire. She knew he did not do that for his own benefit, as he didn’t mind the cold much, but was thinking of her comfort, for which she was extremely grateful. It had been freezing outside and her fingers and toes had still not warmed up properly. She smiled gratefully at him, glad that he had already taken off his mask for the night so she could see his face as he gazed back at her lovingly. If his love for her could warm her physically, she would never be cold again.

Alas, that was wishful thinking. She shivered as she finished undressing and hurried to join Erik in bed, almost stumbling over her own feet in her haste to get under the covers. She sighed happily as she settled into his arms, rubbing her ice cold feet against his, causing him to yelp in indignation.

‘My love, even to my eternally cold skin, your little feet feel like icicles,’ he complained.

‘I know, I’m sorry darling,’ she replied, ‘but I simply haven’t managed to get warm all evening. My hands are still cold too.’ She placed her hands on his cheeks to prove her point.

He was prepared this time and flinched only slightly at her icy touch. He let her keep her hands there for a few seconds more before covering them with his own and bringing them to his mouth. ‘Allow me to warm them, then,’ he murmured, the sound of his voice sending shivers down her spine that had nothing at all to do with the temperature in the room. He began peppering her hands with kisses, starting at the tips of her fingers and making his way down over her palm to her wrist. He pressed a more lingering kiss there, caressing her skin with his lips, looking up at her with an expression that spoke both of adoration and desire.

Christine felt her mouth turn dry and pressed her arm a little closer to his mouth, unable to resist the sensation of his lips on her skin. She licked her lips unconsciously and noticed how his eyes immediately flickered to her mouth to follow the movement of her tongue.

‘You know what else feels cold?’ she whispered.

‘Do tell,’ he breathed against her skin, smirking at her, fully aware of the effect his touch had on her.

‘My lips. My lips are cold.’

‘Well then,’ he grinned, moving a hand to her waist to pull her closer, ‘I’ll simply have to warm them too.’

#PotO Advent Calendar #PotO #Phantom of the Opera #Door 10

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legionnaireslover · 3 years ago

Text

And the Haters are at it again...

Trying to convince everyone within earshot that BC is about to be replaced as Doctor Strange.

Gator posted an "anon" comment about actors being replaced by Disney/Marvel. They ended the post with...

And of course Gator posting this is to shore up the Hater narrative that BC's marriage is ruining his career! But looking closely at the examples given in the post and it's easy to see just how stupid and flimsy this whole "he can be replaced if he doesn't stop "The Sham" narrative is.

I'm not going to post the actual anon screed (it's VERY poorly written) but I will go over the actors cited by this "anon" as ones dumped by Disney/Marvel and you can decide if their problems are comparable to Ben's situation.

First we have Letitia Wright. The anon introduced the post with a article from "D-listed" gossiping about the possibility of LW being replaced Michaela Coel in the Black Panther sequel. Not that she HAS replaced LW but that they think she might. Reasons... well for one thing LW apparently went on an anti-vax, anti-science rant on Twitter and then deleted said offensive material but not before it was seen by a LOT of people. To quote from the speculative piece -

"As you may recall, last December Leticia squandered much of the goodwill she earned playing the smartest scientist in all of the MCU when she shared a bat-shit video from self-proclaimed profit Tomi Arayomi in which he “questions the legitimacy of the COVID-19 vaccination, appears sceptical of climate change, accuses China of spreading COVID-19, and makes transphobic comments.” After sparring a bit on Twitter with folks who thought it wasn’t so cool for the person playing the smartest scientist in all of the MCU to be spreading antiscience religious doctrine, Letitia completely deleted all her social media. While Variety says that Letitia is among the original BP cast members who “will likely reprise their roles,” TMZ is not so sure."

So, she posted a religious cult-like rant from a transphobic, anti-science, anti-vax, racist, climate change denier and got enough blowback that she pulled out of her social media account and even with ALL THAT it's only rumoured that she will be replaced! Does BC's actions in the last 7+ years sound anywhere close to this type of behaviour?

Next we have other examples the anon listed to support the argument that BC is on thin ice when it comes to his career with Disney.

1) "They replaced that chic on the Madalorian". Anon means Gina Carano who was fired by Lucasfilm because of her outrageous behaviour on her social media account.

To quote from a Collider article -

"The former MMA fighter has been stirring up controversy on social media for quite some time now, including but not limited to transphobic tweets, mocking the wearing of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and spreading misinformation about voter fraud. Fans of The Mandalorian have routinely been calling for her to be fired, and Lucasfilm finally made the decision Wednesday evening — although THR reports that the studio has been “looking for a reason to fire her for two months.”

So, she had been displaying behaviour that went completely against the philosophy of the company and doing it for some time. As a spokesperson said "her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable."

Is this person's behaviour comparable to how BC has comported himself?

2) "they replaced Terrance Howard in Iron Man 2 with Don Cheadle." And then this "anon" goes on theorize that it had to do with salaries . But when you look at this Terrance fellow, what pops up? Well, according to Wikipedia...

"February 2009, it was reported on The Smoking Gun that Howard was arrested in 2001 for a variety of charges related to a violent attack on his estranged first wife, including simple assault, terrorist threats, harassment and stalking. According to police reports, he arrived at her house after an argument on the phone, forced entry into her home by breaking in doors, and chased her into the backyard where he punched her twice in the face with a closed fist. The violent attack ended when Howard's brother stepped in. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace"

it goes on to say "In a September 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Howard admitted to hitting his first wife in 2001 saying, "she was talking to me real strong, and I lost my mind and slapped her in front of the kids."

All this was coming out just before his salary was chopped by Marvel to a minuscule amount and he was replaced when he left Iron Man 2.

So again, how's BC's public reputation stack up to a person convicted of attacking a woman?

Not even close I would wager!

BC has a near sparkling reputation when compared to the likes of these replaced actors! Sure he's had some minor bumps (he isn't perfect) but he's NEVER publicly embarrassed the company making his movies! He's NEVER been convicted of beating on a woman!

He is a kind, generous, non-scandalous celebrity who works hard, stays out of social media scraps and is constantly praised by all who have worked with him. He's a committed father and husband and holds the values that many forward thinking, intelligent people do.

Other than the Haters (and occasionally their gossip mouthpiece "Enty") there's RARELY been even a whisper about him in the gossip rags ESPECIALLY since his marriage to Sophie! Why? BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT! NO SCANDAL! HAPPILY MARRIED FAMILY MAN!

End of story!

So why would Marvel be looking to dump him? ANSWER: THEY WOULDN'T!

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