#are you super uber duper sure about that

[rjalker]

[ID: A black and white drawing of a circle surrounded by sharp straight lines. Inside the circle are the hashtags, "Feminism" and "Girlboss". End ID.]

[diwatopia]

★ pass on ; remus lupin.

info: comfort, ghost!remus lupin x gn!reader, under 1k. warnings: ghosts, mention of dead body, amateur detective!reader lol.

you live with a ghost, more specifically the ghost of one remus lupin.

if we're being completely honest, you're not even sure how you can see him, let alone live with the poor sod. he's sweet though, probably the sweetest man you've lived with, even if it's against both of your wills.

"what movie are we watching tonight, dovey?" he asks, hovering over the chipped wood of the apartment's floorboards.

he sits next to you on the sofa, limbs something akin to what a tangled mess with yours would look like. "hm, no movie tonight. maybe good omens, how does that sound?" you whisper, lazily curling into his side, well as best as you can manage, that is.

"sounds perfect. been meaning to re-watch season two by now," he hums in agreement, cheeks puffed out like a child as he exhales deeply.

"should we watch a season one refresher?" you ask with a cheeky grin and remus knows this smile all too well. it's more of a 'let's-rewatch-our-favorite-show-again-even-though-we-did-a-watchathon-weeks-ago' type of grin.

he snorts, shrugging. "not like i have much to do outside of the apartment anyways." he attempts to joke but it falls flat, his eyes drooping in disappointment at the remembrance of his ghostly being.

there's nothing that stops the frown from melding itself onto your lips, gazing up at him with an empathetic coo.

"we'll get a break in the case soon, rem." you whisper, tilting your head up to look at him with an assuring expression. you scramble to pause the intro that plays on the telly.

remus sighs, "i-i don't remember anything at all though. it's difficult to remember those last moments, let alone where my body is. maybe... we should give up, dove." his voice cracks slightly, as if about to cry but he quickly covers it up like he was clearing his throat.

"no, absolutely not. i'm not giving up on you, let alone stopping you from finally resting after all these years. you deserve it, remus." you urge, attempting to hold his hand but your very much alive body just glides right past his, your grimace matches his.

silence blankets over the apartment like a thick quilt, slightly suffocating yet so unbelievably warm that perhaps you wouldn't mind not leaving if it meant being this cozy with remus.

"i won't give up on you," you repeat.

remus catches your fixed look on him, crooked smile barely gracing his lips but hey, a smile nonetheless. "there's my rem..." you coo softly, watching as his cheeks turn a soft strawberry hue.

"i'll get you out of here," you assure him one last time.

★ diwa's notes: haiii sorry for this late ass post, i've been (tw: depression) mega uber super duper depressed but i'm trying to get back into wanting to write. perhaps i'll do a pt 2 for this??? idkkkk

© hobietopia 2024.

[gourmet-trash]

So the Corinthian helps Rose with her homework, but I like to think he also keeps the tradition of getting ice cream with Jed. And Jed has questions.

"So...you like boys, right?"

Corinthian pauses with his ice cream cone midway to his mouth and lowers it a bit to get a better line of sight on Jed across the little outdoor table they're sharing. Jed, in turn, is staring intently back at him. So intently, in fact, that there’s a line of blue ice cream melting towards his fingers. Cotton candy flavored — disgusting.

“I guess that’s one way to put it,” Corinthian says, licking around the edge of his own cone again. Strawberry, which is much better. “You’re meltin’, by the way.”

Jed blinks and looks down at his cone, making an aborted sound of concern before diving in to protect his fingers and the table from errant dribbles of dessert. Once that particular crisis is averted, however, he frowns again. “But like. You like like them?”

Corinthian raises an eyebrow over his sunglasses. “What’s the difference?” he asks, and nearly laughs at the frustrated huff it earns him.

“You know,” Jed says, using that tone of voice Corinthian has learned means he thinks something is very obvious and can’t fathom why the “grown ups” around him don’t get it. “Like…you don’t have girlfriends. You and Mr. Gadling and Uncle Morpheus are boyfriends instead.”

“Boyfriends?” Corinthian repeats, eyebrows winging up. “Who the hell called us that?”

“Rose did!”

Corinthian leans back in his chair and hums around his ice cream. “Not sure that’s the word I’d use, but…okay, I guess. Why’re you asking about all this?”

And despite the one-sided game of twenty questions he’d been spearheading all of thirty seconds ago, Jed immediately goes quiet. Well, not quiet, exactly. More like he tries to cram as much neon blue ice cream into his mouth at once as he can.

“Okay, I can’t sit here and watch you do that,” Corinthian says, reaching across the table to tug Jed’s wrist back. “It’s bad enough you chose that flavor. I’m gonna put you in an Uber home if you throw that blue shit up.”

“It’s good!” Jed protests, giggling.

“It is not.”

Jed scoffs. “Last week you got rum raisin! That’s like…a grandpa flavor!”

“Grandpa flavor!?” Corinthian repeats, offended, and it doesn’t help that Jed giggles again at him for it. “Who the hell are you calling a grandpa?”

“I mean, your boyfriends are also like super duper old, right? They’re probably grandpas too. It makes sense,” Jed reasons.

Corinthian snorts before taking a physical bite out of his ice cream, smirking when it makes Jed cringe. “So we’re talking about the boyfriends thing again, huh? You got something you wanna tell me, Jed?”

Jed slouches in his seat across the table, but thankfully he doesn’t try to choke himself on cotton candy flavoring again. “….I thought you said people only use your name when you’re in trouble.”

He’s very obviously deflecting, but Corinthian sighs and leans forward on his elbows, tilting his ice cream a bit to the side so he doesn’t drip anything pink onto his jacket. “You think you're gonna be in trouble if you tell me you like like boys? Me? The guy with two boyfriends, apparently?”

Jed glances up and shrugs slightly, a look on his face that reminds Corinthian, briefly, of of the first time they met. Remnants of the boy in the basement. He thinks, absently, that he might need to make something bleed later, feels the itch in his fingers for a weapon. But for now he settles for snatching a napkin out of the dispenser on their table and reaching over to wipe a streak of blue off Jed’s face.

“I don’t give a shit if you like hims, hers, or theirs, Jed,” he says, and the kid’s shoulders slump in obvious relief, his smile coming back easily enough. “But what I am concerned with is that your taste in crushes had best be better than your taste in ice cream. So tell me who this boy is that’s got you asking all these questions.”

Corinthian spends the rest of their weekly ice cream date learning all about André Montgomery, who is “super smart” and “like the best striker on the soccer team.” He also learns what the hell Jordans are and that the politics of a middle school lunch room are more complicated than fucking congress. He makes a note to figure out exactly how much shit he’ll get in with Dream and Hob if he spends some time over the next week stalking a 7th grader.

“So why don’t you ask him out?” he asks when they’re making their way back to the car, and Jed jolts like he’s been shocked by a livewire.

“I can’t ask him out!”

“Why the hell not?”

“I don’t even know if he likes boys!” Jed says, throwing his arms out. “And even if he does like boys, he’s way too cool for me!”

Corinthian reaches over and pulls Jed to a stop by his shoulder before they reach the car. “A kid who can kick a ball around and wears nice shoes is not too cool for you.”

Jed wrinkles his nose, clearly unswayed. “You have to say nice stuff like that,” he says, and Corinthian barks out a laugh.

“You must have me confused with your sister and Hob. I don’t have to be nice to anyfuckingbody,” he says.

“….I guess that’s true,” Jed admits after a moment, pursing his lips.

“Look, whether you ask this André kid out or not is your call. But I don’t wanna hear anything about you not doing it cause you think he’s better than you, you hear me, Jed?”

Jed is visibly fighting a smile when he nods. “I hear you.”

“Attaboy. Now come on, we’re gonna be late,” he says, motioning him towards the car.

“You’re not…gonna tell Rose or anybody, right?” Jed asks once they’re on the road, and Corinthian glances over.

“You know I don’t go blabbing about our ice cream talks.”

“Not even to Mr. Gadling and Uncle Morpheus?”

Corinthian laughs. “Especially not to them,” he says, flashing him a smile at a stoplight. “You can tell them whenever you’re ready to.”

Jed smiles back. “Thanks.”

“But if anyone does ever try to give you shit about this, you come and tell me first, all right?”

Jed squints, suspicious, across the car at him. Smart kid. “…How come?”

“Remember our talk about plausbile deniability?” Corinthian says, waiting until he nods. “So you don’t have to ask any questions. You just let me know if anything happens.”

“Is this one of those things I don’t tell your boyfriends?” Jed asks.

“Bingo!” [ ← prev ] [ next → ]

[marvel-ous-m]

(super duper uber secret steddie bang fic)(secret secret)(most secret)

Answered as part of WIP Weekend!

Thank you! This ask actually made me start the document... then write like, 700 words. So, it's happening! Yay! (I'm shaking in my boots about this fic but I'm also soooo excited for people to read in a few months!)

Here is a snippet from Something's In My Mind (and I'm Focused On You) Chapter 22 because I can't share the big bang project!

“Are you sure?”  “Positive, baby. Go on, I’ll be back in no time.”

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #297: FUTURES IMPERFECT!

November, 1988

The CLASH That WRECKED The Avengers!

Seems to be wrecking Nebula instead.

Which. I’m pretty okay with.

Not sure when she changed back into the Kang outfit. Or why she changed back into the Kang outfit.

Eh.

So last times in East Coast Avengers: Dr Druid manipulated and connived and undermined and election frauded his way to chairmanship of the Avengers. Due to ominous sex dreams, he was convinced that a great calamity was coming and only the Avengers could stop it and only he could get the team in shape to stop it. Because Captain Marvel was too soft with her -checks notes- not wanting to kill people if it could be avoided.

Then it turns out that the ominous sex dream lady was actually Nebula Kang, manipulating Dr Druid’s sense of self-importance so she could get control over the Avengers. With Dr Druid under her thumb and the Avengers under Dr Druid’s thumb, she plans to go to the Bubble at the Heart of Time to get some super-duper-uber weapon to overshadow all other weapons and. Just be the boss of everything, I guess.

The Kangs of the Kang Klubhouse belatedly realize that Nebula infiltrated them and stole all their technology. A team of three Kangs, one of which is named Fred, try to stop her but arrive too late.

Nebula and the Avengers took off in an FTL-enabled Quinjet and after a lot of timebulance, arrive at the Bubble at the Heart of Time.

Which sure is a big, red bubble-shaped thing.

Nebula announces that the Best Weapon will be hers!

Thor asks what the best weapon even is but Nebula says he’s on a need-to-know basis.

She-Hulk: “You don’t know, do you? You actually don’t know what the weapon is!”

Nebula Kang: “Shut up, She-Hulk! I’ll thank you to speak only when you’re spoken to!”

Hah.

I love that She-Hulk’s sass is so strong that even under mind-control, she’s tossing barbs at her boss.

Nebula implicitly admits that she doesn’t actually know by saying that the Council of Cross-Time Kangs want it and that’s a good enough reason for her.

Also, then thousands of Quinjets show up.

The Quinjets are indistinct “phantoms of light!”

Team Nebula can’t even tell who is in the cockpits of the other Quinjets. But they’re all racing in the same direction and some of them are getting ahead of Team Nebula.

Nebula Kang speculates that their presence is generating probability shadows. Or something.

She then also gets paranoid that they’re not shadows, they’re other Avengers teams from other timelines who might get to the prize first!

So she tells Black Knight to get out on the bow of the craft and swing the Ebony Blade at any Quinjet that gets in their way. And for Thor to get out there too and make the Quinjet go faster with his hammer, somehow.

It’s cool though. Black Knight says that his helmet, the one with a big opening for his lower face, protects him from the icy vacuum of space. Well, also his state of being super cursed.

Team Nebula’s Quinjet passes “a great metropolis of the future!” for exactly one panel before the city disappears.

Marvel wiki says this city never shows up again. It is entirely pointless. Or a point that Simonson never got around to.

Anyway, Black Knight claims they’ve broken through the outer shell of the bubble. Now they’re passing over weird landscapes and other cities. Since they’ve broken through, Nebula Kang orders Black Knight and Thor back inside the Quinjet.

Meanwhile?, back at Hydrobase, the three Kangs complain about arriving too late to stop Nebula Kang.

Then they realize that they’re all time travelers, duh.

Like. Duh.

They just hop back ten minutes before the Quinjet left.

Before the Quinjet leaves, the three Kangs sneak up to the Quinjet and attach themselves to the underside of the wing.

This is some goofy shit for Kangs to do.

I kind of love it.

Anyway.

Back at the Avengers’ present time.

Nebula Kang notices that they’re consuming fuel faster than they should be. Also, the weird, wacky settings they keep flying through? Just more phantoms. Or maybe their Quinjet is a phantom to the settings inside the bubble?

They just fly through the weird cityscape. Literally through. And then the city dissolves and the Quinjet hits more time turbulence.

Mesozoic Kang loses his grip on the Quinjet, flies off into the time turbulence, and ceases to exist.

Aw, Mesozoic Kang you waste of a character, we barely knew you. We only knew your name and that you were a fighty boy, basically.

Inside the Quinjet, Nebula realizes that they haven’t actually penetrated the bubble. They just keep skating around its surface. Except with more time words like flux and local time track.

What she thinks the problem is, is that only the Avengers can get into the bubble and she’s not an Avenger!

She orders Dr Druid to nominate her to the team and for everyone else to vote her in.

Aw, dammit, does that mean Nebula Kang needs to be included in lists now?

Hm. Marvel wiki does list her as joining the team in this issue.

Dammit.

Just to be sure that this Avengers roster of Dr Druid, Nebula Kang, Thor, She-Hulk, and Black Knight is the right Avengers roster to penetrate the bubble, she has Dr Druid precognitively scan each one to see if he sees a future of them getting into the bubble.

Sure, that makes sense!

Hrrg. This idea that the right combination of Avengers is like a combination lock is annoying me. The idea that the Kangs presented is that it was more that an Avengers team would eventually get in but I guess Nebula Kang is just a big dumbass who heard it the wrong way.

Anyway, after a scan, Dr Druid declares that Thor is very definitely one of the correct people. Which corresponds with what the Kangs have said.

She-Hulk gets a maybe. Dr Druid’s precognition senses a woman will be in the group but he can’t say for sure its She-Hulk.

Annnd Black Knight’s future scan just shows a void.

Ah ha, clearly, he’s not supposed to be here!

Nebula Kang orders Black Knight to jump out of the Quinjet.

He’s mind-controlled so he’s perfectly happy to do it. But he can’t actually do it because of the muscle stiffness caused by the super curse afflicting him.

Nebula Kang loses patience and tells She-Hulk to throw Black Knight overboard.

Black Knight: “Thank you, Jennifer. Sorry I was unequal to the effort.”

She-Hulk: “No problem, Dane. Good-bye.”

Snrrk.

Its probably horrifying that this level of mind-control also forces you to thank someone for killing you. But its so casual that I have to laugh.

The two Kangs stowing away on the underside of the ship panic when Black Knight gets ejected. Because he might be one of the Avengers that’s going to get into the time bubble. Dr Druid’s precognitive scanning is very likely to be unreliable!

So Beard Kang catches Black Knight with a tractor beam. The Avenger has passed out from the stress but is safe from flying off into nothing.

Beard Kang also deduces that Nebula Kang is doomed to fail in this attempt. If for no other reason than the two Kangs hanging out will passively negate her efforts to force her way into the bubble with some random Avengers.

But even so, Beard Kang decides the Kangs need to act before Nebula Kang and her stubbornness destroys the Quinjet and everyone aboard, attached to the outside, and floating like twenty feet behind the ship.

Fred Kang has been spending this time decrypting the mindbenders attached to the Avengers. He’s not finished but he can at least overload the mindbenders attached to Thor and hope he survives the attempt.

(Given that Thor is the One Dude they know for sure is predestined to penetrate the bubble, its a big gamble to use him as the guinea pig, holy shit.)

Thor doesn’t seem to regain his right mind. He’s not talking at all. But overloading the mindbenders drives him in a rage and he’s not taking orders anymore.

He tries to SMASH Nebula Kang. She dodges out of the way and orders She-Hulk to grab him.

She-Hulk can’t hold him for long because he’s truly gone berserk. So Nebula Kang decides, fuck it, she’ll just kill Thor rather than risk dealing with a Thor she can’t control.

And the Kang-armor she’s wearing has enough power to do it.

Which is probably why she put it on between issues. Good to know. Or speculate.

Fred Kang decides he’s gotta stop her (because of Thor being The One Guy they know for sure penetrates the bubble). So while Beard Kang keeps working on deactivating the mindbender on Black Knight.

So Fred climbs up on the wing so Nebula Kang can see him, drawing her attention from Thor.

And the analysis on She-Hulk’s mindbender completes so he also deactivates it.

She-Hulk is very put out.

She-Hulk: “My thoughts! I’m free again! Oh, my god, woman! What have you done to me? And with this little thing! You’ve made me kill Dane! You’ve used me like garbage! I swear I’ll kill you if its the last thing I do!”

Panicked, Nebula Kang steers into the time turbulence, to disorient She-Hulk.

Nebula Kang probably wasn’t thinking about this with a She-Hulk staring her in the face but the turbulence also knocks the two remaining Kangs off the Quinjet.

Before they disappear, one of the Kangs zkeeek!s Black Knight’s mindbender at the last moment.

Black Knight has his own mind again and regains consciousness just in time to realize ‘oh shit!’

Without Kangs here, the tractor beam starts weakening. So he increases the power of his exoskeleton and climbs back toward the Quinjet.

Can’t say I know what he’s climbing though. The beam?

The turbulence hasn’t cooled She-Hulk’s temper and she tries to go after Nebula Kang.

Apparently, the mindbender overload that put Thor in an indiscriminate fury has worn off and he’s back to being Nebula Kang’s muscle. She orders Thor to protect her and he intercepts She-Hulk.

Thor: “Desist, Jennifer, and I will slay thee as gently as possible!”

She-Hulk: “I can’t say the same, Goldilocks! In fact, now that you mention it, I can see I had the wrong idea! I’m putting you out of your misery here and now, Thor! And this last punch ought to do it!”

And She-Hulk whallops Thor and knocks his head through the cockpit window.

Wow, good thing there’s no vacuum out there, I guess?

Thor: “Uhhh! Jennifer, enough! I am myself again! Thou hast shattered the electronic demons which held me fettered! And though I have a headache that even mortal wonder drugs could not cure... I have never felt so alive, so ready to fight in all my days!”

Nebula Kang scrapes the bottom of the barrel and commands Dr Druid to protect her.

Dr Druid versus She-Hulk and Thor goes as you’d think.

Enjoy the concussion, dick.

(There is something very funny about Dr Druid declaring his superior mind and then just using a tackle.)

Black Knight finishes climbing up an energy beam?? and climbs back inside the Quinjet. Easy since there’s now a giant hole in the window.

Since nobody is actually piloting the thing, he grabs the controls and steers away from the time bubble.

She-Hulk is thrilled to see she didn’t toss him out to his death after all and Black Knight asks that maybe they stop breaking the ship, please?

She-Hulk, to Nebula: “There’s only one thing here I’m going to destroy! When we’re done, honey, they aren’t going to be able to pick you up with a sieve!”

She-Hulk starts tearing apart Nebula Kang’s Kang outfit. To Nebula Kang’s shock, since the Kang armor is “designed to withstand the fury of cosmic storms!”

She-Hulk: “Maybe you better sue the manufacturer!”

Hah!

Nebula Kang doesn’t really have a lot of ground to complain since she did steal this equipment.

She-Hulk gets ready to punch Nebula Kang, despite Thor protesting that’d kill her, but Nebula Kang wiggles loose.

Nebula Kang: “All right, Avengers! You’ve had your chance! Maybe I should have killed you all in the first place... But it’s still not too late for that end! When you’re dead, the Kangs will never be able to retrieve the great weapon either! I’ve got enough reserve power to teleport out of here! The energy unleashed will fry this entire cockpit... and all of you with it!”

Except when she activates the teleport, all it does is electrocute her, because of the damage to the armor.

Hah and I say hah.

Thor uses his hammer to absorb the energy coming off Nebula Kang, to prevent damage to the Quinjet controls.

Black Knight finally manages to steer away from the time bubble. On their way out, they spot another illusory Quinjet headed towards the bubble with Thor and She-Hulk in the cockpit.

There’s in fact, a lot of illusory Quinjets still heading toward the bubble. One of the Quinjets flies toward the bubble which opens before it.

Guess those’re the guys that get to learn what all this nonsense is about.

BUT APPARENTLY the bubble opening up creates suction and the suction sucks Nebula Kang right out of the hole in the cockpit window. And Dr Druid? Why, he tries to grab her and gets sucked out too.

The love the dull expressions on the Avengers as teammate and chairman Dr Druid gets sucked into a time hole.

They’re like “Eh.”

They’re maybe too charitable to think “and nothing of value was lost” but I’ll do it for them.

And I can finally say Dr Druid isn’t here and for good reason.

Thor tells Black Knight to take them home.

Black Knight: “With pleasure, Thor. There is nothing more to be done here.”

But secretly She-Hulk is thinking that she wished she had killed Nebula Kang, because this whole terrible day cost Jen everything, even her self-respect. “After this, nothing will ever be the same again.”

And so they go home. BWRAM!ing on their FTL Quinjet. Back to Hydrobase.

And there’s only two pages left so everything happens really quickly.

When they arrive, Jarvis (hi Jarvis!) asks what happened to Dr Druid. Thor simply replies that Dr Druid won’t be coming back. And when Jarvis asks about the mysterious lady he sorta but doesn’t really remember, Thor tells him less said the better.

Thor pulls off Jarvis’ mindbender, since its apparently deactivated now that Nebula Kang is gone. Or now that she fell into a time hole and doesn’t exist? Or whatever?

Whatever.

Anyway, She-Hulk suddenly announces that she’s quitting the team.

She-Hulk: “She made me do horrible things! Things that were partly from inside my own soul. I’m not sure how I can live with that. I need time to think, time to heal, time to be alone. I... I just can’t bear to see either of you looking at me now.”

Instead of trying to talk her out of it, Thor is just like ‘alright, bye.’

IN FAIRNESS, he does tell her that nothing he’s not holding anything against her from when Nebula Kang was controlling their brains but Jen’s not hearing it.

This is all very sudden! Like, yeah, She-Hulk has that thought bubble where she’s thinking how she lost her self-respect or whatever but still!

And with Dr Druid gone (finally) and She-Hulk quitting, the Avengers is down to just Thor and Black Knight.

Except not.

Thor decides that he’s going to do some Asgard stuff and Black Knight is going with him because of a conversation they apparently had in Thor #396.

Jarvis: “But... what of the Avengers, Master Thor?”

Thor: “They were a team... and now the team is gone, loyal friend.”

Hey, fuck you.

Okay, so. This is also sudden. Apparently, Thor tried contacting the reserve members off-panel and nobody is available. And he doesn’t have time to bother training newbies.

Thor: “I have notified the West Coast Avengers of our dissolution. If any can be spared, perhaps... who can say? And there are other heroes still. But to me, the Avengers stood foremost in honor and in courage. Their glory and tradition shall not tarnish with age. Farewell.”

I think someone should just tell the West Coast Avengers that they’re the Avengers now. And if the New York... uh, Hydrobase team reforms, they have to go by the East Coast Avengers.

This is so stupid.

They JUST set up an expensive new base and Thor is like ‘eh.’

“Eh” is for Dr Druid dying, not for disbanding the Avengers!

I should also add that this makes Jarvis unemployed and he just got out of the hospital to start doing his job again.

What a bummer.

Jarvis locks up and leaves, missing the incoming big crossover alarm.

Obviously, the Avengers book isn’t ending here.

The Worst Roster is upcoming in only a few issues. There’s an Inferno tie-in. There’s so much going on.

But I don’t have to like how we got here.

This story didn’t have to be bad. Well-meaning but self-aggrandizing jackass weasels his way to the leadership of the Avengers and is actually under the thumb of a supervillain is not a bad concept.

Its actually a good one!

Simonson blows it in, like, one issue.

The Avengers don’t even get a regular story with Dr Druid as their leader before he’s trying to kill people for being too ornery to control.

And then it turns out that Nebula Kang just has better mind control tech. So she didn’t even need to try to use a robot dinosaur to kill Thor.

I think this would have been better if there had been a couple stories with Dr Druid being a terrible leader but where She-Hulk and Black Knight (under his influence) insist he’s doing a great job to Thor’s increasing frustration.

But this story can’t actually be told well because Simonson wants to clear the deck for a new roster all his own. He inherited the Captain Marvel, Namor, Marrina, Black Knight, Dr Druid, Thor, She-Hulk team from Stern. And getting rid of Monica was clearly editorial influence. But Simonson also doesn’t seem to want to build on what Stern had been doing, he wants to write the Worst Roster.

I’m maybe being unfair.

But this story arc has been a drag.

This whole stupid time bubble story that isn’t even a story, its to foreshadow another future time bubble story Simonson wants to write, making its early appearance pointless except to get rid of characters he doesn’t want to write.

Nebula Kang forces the Avengers to go to some time bubble. Some Kangs hang onto the outside of a Quinjet and fall off (admittedly funny). The Avengers wrassle with Nebula Kang inside a Quinjet. Dr Druid dies. Then the Avengers go home and dissolve the team.

There are graceful ways to nudge a book towards what you want to be writing but this wasn’t it.

And I know there’s a lot more editorial pressure hitting the writers in this era and I don’t know how much of that was at play.

But so far? Simonson is not a good Avengers writer.

His run isn’t over. I’ll give the Worst Roster a fair shake.

Things that seem dumb conceptually can often be awesome. See, for example, Frog Thor, from good Thor writer Simonson.

There’s another East Coast Avengers issue next week because I have to sync the books up for Evolutionary War. A post that will probably kill me because the event crosses eleven annuals. I’ll only be giving a lot of focus to Avengers and West Coast Avengers but I’ll have to at least skim the other annuals since they all (supposedly) tell one story.

Ugh.

At least Dr Druid is dead forever.

That cheers me up.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because Dr Druid is dead forever. Like and reblog because Dr Druid is dead forever. Have any comments about Dr Druid and him being dead forever? I want to hear them!

[aii-staff-tani]

Alone, Ghost

Alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

"I'm never alone! Not anymore, at least. Deffo been lonely before, you know? It's been soooo long though. And I'm pretty sure I've been with my bestie for like, ever!"

He taps his chin thoughtfully. "Lessee... I guess the last time I was totally completely fully super duper uber nobody-around alone was..... never! But if we don't count my Bee Eff Eff Forever, then, hmm~.... when I was a kid?"

He seems to fully ignore the second half of the question. How does he act when he's alone? Well... he has to be alone for that.

Ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

"Hmm... nope! Can't think of any ghosts, aha~ I have a demon though? Oh, oh, and whatever he is! Does that count?"

He proudly points to his arm, which jerks against its restraints. It's unhappy with the attention.

"What happened? Hmm.... well, I can't remember, oops!"

He doesn't seem that concerned about it regardless. They get along just fine in his opinion. His arm disagrees, silently.

< In order to fully answer on a meta-level, here's the mun answers below the cut. >

Alone:

Luckily, he's haunted as shit. He's either had a demon by his side or some other Spirit or Thing that has a way of communicating with him basically his whole life, but in terms of human-only interactions, his loneliest point was when he was kept in various Institute-run prisons for a while. Since he was deemed dangerous like Lyca, he didn't have any company and workers weren't allowed all that close to him. He spent a Long Time there. Maybe he wasn't fully 1000% alone, but it was the closest he'd get.

As for how he acts when he's alone, he drops all his acts. He's old and tired and honestly pretty bored. If you could see him when he's alone you'd find he's a total 180— solemn and quiet and laser focused on what he sets out to do. And kinda blunt about it too.

Ghost:

Beyond obvious 'sentient arm' and literal spirits haunting him for Real, his metaphorical ghost is that of his ex-lover who he killed. It's been so long and his memory is so, so fucked up, so he doesn't remember it anymore, but his body does, and his memory is a direct result of it. He wanted to forget what he did so bad that he'd do anything. And he succeeded! Just... now he can't remember anything. His memories aren't his anymore.

His other ghosts, other minor issues he's had throughout his life, faded over time. If you've been alive as long as he has you learn to get over bad shit pretty quickly. And if you don't? Well, you've been alive for so long the pain eventually stops.

[deathdestructiondoom]

(I HAD THIS IN THE DRAFTS TOO LONG-)

Here some general things about my g/t Au Sekai of Various Au that i definitely did not gatekept in my drafts for 4-5 weeks in the darkness.

And because i tagged all of them, i know some people doesn't like this this type of content so you can view under the cut.

• Leo/Need chants Steven Universe's Giant Woman song around Honami in her giant form.

• Shizuku also embroiders Shiho's clothes, by Shiho's clothes i meant the tiny ones.

• An literally invited VBS to her room. Despite it being literally 10 inches tall...

• That's how they found that she’s a Tiny.

• Emu likes to be picked up. The higher the better.

• Toya is the opposite. Despite being tiny, he liked the floor thank you very much.

• Ichika loves to give her girlfriends finger pats.

• I said it and I'll say it again. Akito is Ena's personal uber.

• One time someone told MMJ to kick off Minori since she was a "pest" and Airi told them to More More Jump off a cliff.

• Mizuki thought that Akito was a Tiny. Oh were they super duper wrong.

• Not g/t but Kohane drinks vinegar. Like straight vinegar. Idk why i thought of this but i have been. For quite a long time.

• Rui is very curious on how humans taste and Nene is mortified.

• When Akito first spoke to VBS in his giant form, they were flabbergasted with his voice. It was already that deep normally, it couldn't get any deeper.

• An doesn't enjoy being picked up as much as Emu but she sure as hell loves to be on someone's hair as long it's not Toya's.

• Minori doesn't appear in her Tiny form a lot in the livestreams at first due being scared of backlash thanks to...*ahem* the obvious discriminations towards Tinies. But now after Airi literally went off with that one person she now appears in her Tiny size more.

• Everyone in the stream gushes about how adorable she is on stream.

• Shizuku fusses over Shiho alot more than canon since Shiho is a Tiny. Said Tiny is not pleased.

• (HC ADOPTED FROM JUNI @/honey-and-lemon-gt) Tenmama bought Saki a dollhouse when she was little and she absolutely loves it.

• It comes with a weird cat toy and a cheap plastic figure that is totally not Snow White (/j).

• Shiho and Honami were invited alot while Ichika just sits outside. Poor Ichi ;-;

• Whenever she is at Kanade's, Honami oftens shifts into a Tiny to clean the little crevices and shifts taller to clean the ceilings.

• While An, Emu, Shiho and Saki usually uses their enhanced Jump Boost and Increased Stamina to move around their normal human houses. Ena doesn't get that luxury as a human so there are lots of little staircases in the Giant Shinonome household or use Akito as uber.

• Samo is ½ inches tall.

• Akito loves to pickup his tiny friends (Not Toya for obvious reasons) for no reason.

• Nene is insecure about her size and has believed that she would never make friends due to it.

• She was quickly proven wrong the moment Emu entered her life.

• Haruka gets protective of Minori whenever Minori's tiny. It's just that she's so smol.

• I SAID IT AND I WILL SAY IT AGAIN. AKITO AND LEN ARE BROTHERRSSSSSSSSSSS. GIANT BIG BRO AND TINY LITTLE BROOOOOOO-

• Kid Rui once held Kid Nene as if she was a newborn.

• Emu got lost o n c e in Tsukasa's hair.

• He had a panic attack, almost tried to shave his hair bald if it meant finding Emu.

• Tsukasa often buys Saki alot of tiny embellishments and miniature items so she could decorate her dollhouse.

• When they're in the rollercoaster in Kohane's Buddy・Funny・Spend Time ♪ event story, An and Minori were in their Tiny form as Kohane and Haruka desperately clutched onto them the entire ride so they wouldn't yeet off the coaster.

• An pulled a Ratatouille on her friends once.

• When Mafuyu went to Ena's in her 3rd Focus Event (I forgot it's name but it's the I-Nandesu event), she lied to her mom that Ena's house is very far away so her mom wouldn't restrict from going to Ena's house, which is. On the Giant Section

• On the same event, Ena also lied to Mafumom that instead of being Shinei's daugther, she is Shinei's student. Since the ugly ass witch would suspect her being Shinei's student less rather than being directly related to him.

• Airi is super protective as a Giant. Anybody who badmouths MMJ will get a fist from this gal.

• Tsukasa is very experienced in dealing with Tinies considering that his sister is a Tiny and his totally-not-illegally-adopted little brother is a Sizeshifter.

• Akito treats Ena more roughly than other people smaller than him due to Cain Instincts™

•

• Whenever Saki faints in her Tiny form, everyone in the vicinity goes nuts.

• Kohane is also really good at dealing with Tinies. Proof being Minori, Shiho, An and Toya

• Mizuki bluescreened the first time they went over to Ena's.

• They still tease Akito regardless of him being a Giant.

• They also pull off a Ratatouille on him.

• They also pull a Ratatouille on Rui too.

[twilightmalachite]

Hinata Aoi - Cooking is Love 1

Author: Yuuki Yoshino

Characters: Hinata, Yuuta, Anzu

Translator: Mika Enstars

Proofers: meteorgreen

"You need to believe in your Onii-chan! They say that those who believe shall be saved, right? Alrighty now, let’s go~☆

Season: Spring

Location: 1st Floor Passage

⚠️ This chapter is not yet JP Proofread!

Hinata: Yuuta-ku~n! ♪

How’d your fitness test go? I scored above average all around, so I’m super duper pleased~! ♪

It sure is fun to move your body~.

Especially those side-to-side jumps! I went so fast it looked like both of us were there at the same time!

Students and teachers alike had an astonished look on their faces. Ahh, it was a work of art~!

Me and Yuuta-kun side by side, jumping in sync at top speed—the tale of those four identical faces will definitely go down in history, yup yup! ♪

Yuuta: Quiet down, Aniki.

I get that you’re still riding the high of finishing the fitness test, but you know the second and third years are just getting started, right?

Hinata: I know~. But because most of the teachers are busy with the tests, us first years have self-study for the afternoon.

Looks like everyone else is practicing… We also agreed on that, remember?

Yuuta: Yup. That’s why you went back to the classroom to change into the communal uniform, right?

Practicing in our gym clothes should’ve been fine, so why did we change into this?

Hinata: Nuh-uh! It’s important to get in character, right? Well, I actually reeeally wanted to wear our 2wink outfits instead, but it’s laundry day, so…

Anyway, Yuuta-kun. Practice is important, but right now there’s an even more pressing matter!

Yuuta: Something more important? Hmm~. Let me guess, you couldn’t find us a place to practice, so we have to hurry and claim an unused classroom before it’s too late?

Hinata: Bzzzt. Sorry to say, but you got it all wrong, Yuuta-kun—but here’s your consolation prize~! ♪

Well, you know how they say you can’t fight on an empty stomach, right?

Practice is important, but if you practice hungry, you won’t get anything good done!

Yuuta: In other words, we’re going to get lunch. Might as well get it over with—I’m pretty hungry as well.

I’ll go ahead and buy us something. What do you want, Aniki?

Hinata: Something sweet!

Yuuta: Eh~… Maybe something like sweet bread? Is sweet bread even enough to fill a stomach…?

Hinata: Heheheh, don’t you worry! They make the bread at the store uber dense ’cause we’re high schoolers who do a ton of physical activity, y’see~.

To put things bluntly, if you underestimate the power of the sweet bread there, you’ll pay the price. ☆

Yuuta: Alright, I get it. I’ll go and buy you some sweet bread, then.

Were you gonna wait in the classroom? The weather’s nice, so I was thinking we could eat on the roof.

Hinata: The fountain’s not that far from here. Wouldn’t it be perfect to lay on the grass while we eat our food?

Yuuta: Oh, you’re right. I’ll go run out to the store, but behave yourself. Don’t bother the people around you, alright?

Hinata: You worry too much…

You need to believe in your Onii-chan! They say that those who believe shall be saved, right? Alrighty now, let’s go~☆

Location: Fountain

Hinata: ♪~♪~

(To work your body to the fullest and then bask underneath the sun—could there be a more fulfilling day?)

(I want to share this happiness with Yuuta-kun.)

Hinata: (Yup, yup. Before Yuuta-kun returns, I’ll find the absolute best spot here. The sun is nice here, but not radiant enough… Hm?)

Transfer student? Ahaha, it’s you! Were you also thinking about having lunch outside?

Ooh, you rented out the garden terrace’s kitchen so you could make your own food?

And so you came here to eat the sandwich you made for lunch?

Handmade by the transfer student herself… Can I try it, or…?

Whoa, you don’t gotta hide it like as if I’m cornering you! Aren’t we friends?

Huh? You just don’t want anyone to try it ‘cuz you’re worried you might’ve messed it up ’cuz you’re bad at cooking?

It’s not that you’re bad at it, if you wanted to be a chef you wouldn’t be in this school in the first place. So it’s no biggie if it’s not your strong point, okay?

Me? I cook back at home, so I’m pretty good at it. ♪

Though, I’m probably better at baking~. Every Christmas, I give it my all making cakes, you know!

Yuuta-kun’s not good with sweet things though, so I have trouble disposing of it all… But I like them, so at least I can eat them on my own.

Well, if you’re not confident with your cooking, I also think it’d help if you got someone to try what you made and give you their thoughts.

Since I know a thing or two about cooking, I can offer some advice. ♪

C’mon, c’mon~, do you want me to do a taste test? Just for today, I’ll give you my advice free of charge! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal~! ♪

story directory | next →

[feralgoblinchild]

like. As far as I'm aware, most places have taxes that are used for the sake of infrastructure, yeah? So like. Hear me out, here. Here's an idea, maybe a little radical, but bare with me. We take that tax money, which is already being taken, MAYBE increase taxes a TINY bit. We take that, and we upkeep, maintain, and fund public transportation. We make it super duper easy to get a transit card, and you scan or swipe or whatever foe the bus, subway, train, whatever it is you have. It's just so the city knows which modes of transit and which locations need more funding and have higher usage. We don't make anyone pay for it. It's free. 100% free. If you register for your card, you don't pay individually for transit. Me, personally, my vote is that non citizens can also use these cards, free of charge. They still have to get one, but you can register at most of, if not every, stop, so it's easy to do. We could even have kiosks, where you just scan an ID or something (yeah, this would require a lot of places to be way better about access to having an ID), and then since you just say hi, I'm here and I'm gonna use this subway for a commute real quick" by just swiping/tapping/whatevering the card.

That's it. That's the whole thing. It's 100% something we could make work, like in A LOT of countries. You'd still have the availability of personal transportation, cars, taxis, uber/lyft, and anything else we currently have for transit. It just is more accessible to more people since they won't pay for public transit.

Somewhere with super fucking accessible public transit, please give your input. I know it's not a perfect plan, but it sure as fuck seems reasonable to me

the subway is an angel and they've plastered ads all over her

[thenotsosecretdiaryofbiyu]

2024年7月20日-- Beitou Hot Spring Museum, Beitou Library Xinbeitou, Historic Station, Din Tai Feng, and Hot Spring Visit

We went to the Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch today, and what a beautiful museum! I love when the entire aesthetic of a place is wooden and brown, it reminds me of something I can’t quite put my finger on. Nearby was also a train museum that we stopped by where we learned about some Japanese culture, including the Japanese rail system and about the geisha. Seeing the geisha description reminded me of how Kyoto recently banned visitors from entering certain parts of the geisha district due to tourists taking illegal pictures of geisha and harassing them, and I got mad just thinking about it (bc I hate when peeps are disrespectful of local culture smh).

Later we walked through a bathhouse museum (that used to be an actual bathhouse) which had explanations of the way bathing and bathing etiquette worked when it was operating in the past. Funny/Scary thing is, Iris and I noticed that there was a museum label in front of some rocks that 100% spoke about radioactive materials being in the rocks in the area, and that’s mildly concerning (but at least I didn’t soak there I guess lol).

Then we went to this hot spring park, and THE WATER WAS GREEEEEEEN! (Blue?) And super duper pretty!!! But it was really freaking hot. Like I’m pretty sure it was kill-a-person-if-they-fell-in hot. I asked Chief and he told me that Peter said that people used to boil eggs in the water back in the day, which blows my mind. Even walking around it was honestly a little exhausting, and the summer sun was brutal today, so I think I got massively dehydrated at one point because I felt a bit woozy. I’m definitely going to have to start bringing like two or three bottles of liquid with me, because I always chug the one I bring with me almost immediately and then I’m a bit screwed for the rest of the day.

After we got released, me and some of the others (Jasmine, Amy, Jacob, and Andy) all went to the hot springs together! No pics because that would be freaking weird (except for one the Uber driver took of us altogether out front). It was my first time going to a hot spring EVER, although I know that there should be one near Gainesville I think? The hot spring we went to was public and co-ed, so everyone was wearing swimsuits. The hot spring part had three separate levels and none of us could get into the hottest (it was so hot that my feet actually couldn’t PROCESS the heat at first and it took a second for it to set in), so we all just chilled in the second hottest one, and went into the room temperature one from time to time.

Because we’re all cheap-os, none of us bought towels from the lady at the front and we all just drip and air dried or used the hair dryers to dry ourselves off LOL. Turns out Jasmine left her sneakers there and Andy left his whole wallet and PASSPORT???? But he went back to go get them once he noticed, so all’s good.

Also, tonight before Jasmine went out with some of the others, I went with her to the 便利商店 and bought a pack of century eggs. The Seven Eleven cashier was super sweet and he gave me tips on how to eat it! He told me he was worried I might not like it, and told me that I shouldn’t eat it by itself but with some tofu and soy sauce (he gave me some packets!). I’m not hungry enough to eat it right now, but I was super excited to see them because I’ve always wanted to try them and so I’ll probs give ‘em a taste tomorrow.

Academic Reflection

There are so many buildings in Taiwan, like the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, that were built during the Japanese rule. It’s interesting to read about how many purposes it’s held during its lifetime and that it ended up becoming a museum. Reading about this helped me learn a lot, because I don’t usually think about the past of many things, especially buildings. One of my favorite lines to tell myself is that, “All anyone ever sees is who you are now, they don’t see what it took to get here or what the past was.” And that building perfectly embodies that, because it was even a police station at one point, but there’s no way I would have ever been able to guess that!

While reading the news article for Taipei Times about Taipei’s springs, I was legit shocked to discover one of the sources of the springs, Beitou Thermal Valley, is nick-named HELL VALLEY?! It makes sense though, because holy hell, the water is literally steaming and it’s clearly visible from even a distance!!! As I continued reading, I also read about Liuhuangku and that it used to be a sulfur mining area (to produce gunpowder shipped to China!). I also didn’t realize at first that this means there’s an active volcano in Taiwan! This one is the Tatun volcano group to be exact, and after doing a little research, there’s another volcano group on Guishan island! That’s kind of scary, but exciting at the same time.

#doeggsboiledinsulfurwaterjusttastemoreeggy?

[thebananwithaplan]

@artfulprankster (cont.)

🎨

“Really..? You like me and George’s pranks…?” He asked, voice confused. He never really met others who liked his pranks. Especially not adults. Most of the time, when pranks did go off, a lot of kids and teachers got Uber mad!! Like, really super duper Uber mad.

But, it was nice to be appreciated.

Especially when it came to his art. Truth be told, sometimes he didn’t feel confident about his art skills. Usually making comics with George helped heal those worries but. Every artist has those days. So hearing someone say they liked his work…

It made him happy.

The boy giggled, moving to kneel down once again and grinned. “Well alright!! You need a pen?” He asked, pulling out a handful of colorful and sparkly pens from his blonde mess of curls. “If you don’t like these colors, I have more where that came from!! Oh!! Plus! Some smell like fruit!! You can use the banana marker if you want!!” He offered, holding out indeed a yellow marker, decorated with black banana stencils.

Wait, was that awkward? Did it… was it like a person smelling marker to him?

Eh, we’re sure it’s fine.

Maybe.

Probably-

The boy then pulled out a couple pieces of paper from his mess of curls. “I always carry supplies on me! Pranking supplies, art supplies, rations… which is actually just my lunchbox, but saying rations sounds much cooler!!” He handed one to Banana.

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

Oh, ok. So that's where he keeps those supplies. Kid's already got his own hyperspace inventory. Harold's going places, that's for sure-

The banan' was about to pull a poster of his gameshow host self that he could quickly sign, but stopped once Harold offered him his art supplies. Paper, markers, and all. DB... admittedly isn't one with decent artistic integrity, but heck, he'll give it a shot for a fan. Just this once.

. "Don't mind if I do! Thanks!" Taking the paper and a few of the other markers, Banana kneeled down with him to draw his own impromptu signed poster on the ground. He didn't mind, really. He's used to occasionally drawing a few doodles or so alongside his own nephews back at his place.

So he's gonna use some purple, some orange, and even a little of that banana-scented yellow marker (which somehow smells a lot better than he himself did).

And of course, some black to finish off the writing and signature.

Annnnnd done!

. "Here ya go! It's not quite the best art I've got, but hey, it's guaranteed one of a kind!"

[rjalker]

Martha Wells continues to undermine her worldbuilding by making her characters The Most Special People Ever

this time specifically with ART. The fact that it's "Not Like Other Robots" from the start has annoyed me but reading The Imperial Radch series where literally all the spaceships are granted the same "level of personhood" that ART is apparenlty Super Duper Special for is really infuriating.

It's also funny that despite Martha Wells making Murderbot hate the idea of being human, the only robot characters we're meant to really care about are the ones who are most like humans. Murderbot looks, talks, and thinks indistinguishably from a human. Miki looks like a human and also talks like one. ART we're told is Super Uber Duper Special because it uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh also talks like a human? with a speaker? and even the characters from Preservation who Martha Wells wants us to think treat robots like people are surprised and Shocked™ by how Super Special ART is?????

Like how do you read a series like The Imperial Radch where all space ships and space stations are people and then decide to write a series inspired by it but only one Super Duper Specialest Ever spaceship gets to be considered "really a person".

why is Martha Wells telling us that Murderbot doesn't want to be a human when she then goes out of her way to make it so that the only robot characters who get to actually matter to the story are the ones who are more human-like than the rest of them. Why does she have lines like "less sentient than a hauler bot" if we're supposed to think of all robots as fucking people.

She did this with the books of the Raksura too, but rather than her making the Raksura OP messing with the supposed theme of "people deserve rights even if they aren't human", it fucked with the whole theme of "oppressing people is bad" because liek. bitch they literally evolved to eat people. they are not oppressed for people being rightfully nervous around them. that is not how oppression works.

Martha Wells read The Imperial Radch series where spaceships and space stations all get personalities and are people and then decided to make Just One Uber Duper Special spaceship Actually A Real Person Who's SOOOOO Special For Talking Like a Human Which Makes It Better Than All The Other Spaceships Ever.

it's like if someone watched Farscape and then said the story they were writing was inspired by Farscape but there are just no sentient ships at all.

Like literally what the fuck.

People if you prioritize making your favorite characters The Most Specialist People Ever To Exist your story is going to suffer. Your worldbuilding is going to suffer. Your message is going to suffer.

You can have fun with characters that are OP and stereotypical Mary Sues, but you have to at least be aware of what you're doing and make sure that making that chracter The Most Super Special Person Ever doesn't completely fuck with the foundation of the message you're trying to send.

If the theme of your story is "people deserve respect even when they're different from you" maybe don't make all your important nonhuman characters the ones who are most like humans, which literally inherently says that those who are less like humans are less valuable. You are weakening your own story and exposing the biases you have even though they run counter to your theme.

[themovieblogonline]

Eddie Murphy is Funny AF in You People

You People is the new Netflix romantic comedy starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Laren London, and Nia Long. The movie is co-written by both Joah Hill and director Kenya Barris the creator of Black-ish. You People tells the story of a Jewish white man and a black Muslim woman who fall in love. the biggest draw in this movie is the social and cultural clashes with the in-laws that lead to some funny AF moments in the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCMHc-IFAB0 You People Netflix Review I really enjoy you people and I'm going I definitely recommend catching this when you have the time. Here's what I liked: THE GOOD I came into this movie for Eddie and Eddie Delivers. Sure, Jonah Hill's Ezra makes me laugh but I came here for Eddie. Eddie plays Akbar Mohammed the father of Lauren London's Amira Mohammed. I get a different style of comedy from Eddie than I expect but I still really like it. Akbar goes out of his way to make the engagement to his daughter difficult for Jonah Hill's Ezra.  Eddie is matched by his counterpart in Julia Louis Dreyfus who plays Ezra's mother Shelley Cohen. Shelley nails the typical tone-deaf mom perfectly and is hilarious in her performance. Thank you Netflix for providing this SNL reunion I didn't know I needed. Ezra Miller and Lauren London are the focus of the love story in You People and are surprisingly cute together. They're meeting is adorable with Ezra mistaking Amira's car for his Uber and giving her a scare. The montage of their dating life is adorable and I actually believe them as a couple while watching. The crap hits the fan when Ezra wants to marry Amira and decides to ask her parents' permission. Nia Long flexes her comedic range and is able to shine alongside Eddie and Jonah in Rosco's Chicken and Waffles. I really like the absurdity of the moment as it's a creative way to highlight Akbar's polar opposite personality. My favorite parts of You People are when Amira and Ezra's families interact. The humor in these moments can get dark, and sometimes cringe, but they often deliver some funny moments. David Duchovny delivers a super duper dry humor love-it-or-hate-it performance. I won't ruin it but he has a moment in the movie with Lauren London's Amira that had me chuckling. The littering of guest stars for family members makes for some fun moments and adds spontaneity to an already surprising movie. THE BAD Some of the situational humor feels forced or just feel unrealistic. Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy are paired together in some of the funniest scenes in the movie but also some of the worst. There's a scene in which Akbar brings Ezra to play basketball in a black neighborhood.  It's a love-it-or-hate-it scene and I just don't like it. I also don't like the barbershop scene even though I understand the intent. There's also a random joke later about storming the capital that's also a miss. This movie suffers from a lot of missed opportunities. There are times when You People will build momentum and tease leaning into some potentially funny moments but shies away at the last second. These moments happen throughout the movie when You People feels like it's on the verge of greatness but holds back. Even the ending of the movie shies away from leaning into some of the subjects and wraps things up neatly seemingly from out of nowhere. OVERALL You People is a very enjoyable movie and is entertaining from beginning to end. I feel like I came into this movie for Eddie and but I left with a family. This movie does a great job of walking the line and bringing humor to sensitive topics. I can see this movie played for a lot of families of couples in similar circumstances and I will absolutely recommend this to any that I know. Read the full article

[anonymityisfunwriter]

Two Sides of The Same Coin - Welcome To New York (Outtake)

Pairing: Sunshine!Reader x Grumpy!Bucky Barnes

Where this was supposed to go: This would be right in Chapter 1, after Sam decides to be your handler as the two of you leave the SHIELD building.

Why I cut it out: Honestly, I thought about it too late. I liked the chapter where it cut off, and when I thought this scene through, I didn't have a good way to cut if off and end the chapter in a cohesive way. And then the scene with Sam on the phone popped in my head even later on, so they just didn't make it in.

-

"So..." Sam awkwardly starts as you two exit the building. "This'll be fun."

"Fun?"

He sighs in defeat. "Never mind."

You nod, following him to the busy street, marveling at each of the pedestrians though none of them pay any attention to you. He's already made it to the car when he notices you're not following him and still standing at the entrance of the building. He sighs again, walking back, placing an arm around your shoulder and guiding you into his car. This time, trying to be more aware, he opens the door for you, gesturing for you to sit down. 

"I know how to open doors," you quietly chuckle.

He chuckles at the ridiculousness of the whole situation, he'd gained an entire person in the span of an hour. He wasn't going back to the Compound, to his room, or his own bed tonight, but some unfamiliar SHIELD housing in the middle of the city. "Of course you do."

Once you both are seated in the car, he turns the key and the engine roars to life. But that's not what startles you, out of the corner of his eye he sees you staring wide-eyed at the radio. 

"What is that?" you ask.

"The radio?"

You shake your head. "Noise."

"The noise? You mean the music?" He flicks the radio on and off, "That sound?"

You nod wordlessly.

"It's music," he states plainly, he's not even sure how to explain something as mundane as music. And for the first time, he realizes how deep this runs. And how much work this is truly going to be.

- 

A few days later:

Sam's phone rings again. He sees his friend's name flash on the screen and sighs, he doesn't really know what to say to the team, much less his friends. He knew Fury explained to them that he took a secret assignment, and wouldn't be back for quite some time.

Evidently that did nothing to assuage their concerns, not that he blamed them, the situation sounded suspect as hell. But he'd been gone for days now and something had to be said before they came looking for him. 

He sighs one more time before answering. 

"You'd better be dead, lying in a ditch somewhere, or lying dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Aww... do you guys miss me?"

"I've never missed anyone less than I do right now."

"Then why are you calling, Bucky?"

"Because no one will shut up about you going missing."

"I know Fury told you about the super-duper, top-secret, uber-confidential assignment," Sam chuckles, looking at you watching the TV screen, without it even being on, in awe, knowing that you were the super-duper, top-secret, uber-confidential assignment. 

"Yeah, because that didn't sound shady as hell, right? Yeah, Sam didn't pack a bag, say goodbye, or give anyone any notice that he was going to disappear of the face of the Earth, but he's on assignment."

"There wasn't time. Kind of a spur of the moment, smack-you-in-the-face opportunity."

"How long are you gone for?"

"A while."

"Okay, if you're in trouble, just say...er...sunshine."

"I'm not in trouble, Bucky. But thank you for your concern."

"Steve's going to kill you for taking off like that."

"You and Steve will be fine. This is important, I wouldn't have taken off like that if I didn't really believe in this assignment."

"Alright," Bucky sighs, knowing that, much to his disdain, he's going to miss his friend.

"I have my phone on me. I can't keep you posted, but if you need me, I'm a phone call away- only because I know you can't text."

Bucky scoffs in amusement. "Alright. Have fun on your weird assignment."

Sam looks at you again. This time, as if you feel his eyes on you, you turn to him and smile largely. He returns the smile and says, "I will."

"Two Sides Of The Same Coin" Chapter List AnonymityIsFun Masterlist

[pretty-weird-ideas]

Are TWSITD good Villains?

In theory: Absolutely

In Practice: Nice Try...

My issue with them has less to do with them being "unnuanced" and more to do with them being obviously evil yet aren't being addressed as seriously as the rest of the events in the story.

TWSITD plotline was messy simply because the actually upsetting and terrifying implications of their actions were ignored when it was important to be noted. It felt like they wanted to "make it dark and up to your imagination" but at some point, it began to feel like characters were just dead stupid trying to justify actions that with proper analysis seem completely unjustifiable.

When keeping all of the breadcrumbs in each route separate, they are uber villains, put them all together and it's horrifying to an entirely different level.

Looking at TWSITD from a CF and even a VW viewpoint they look like evil guys who must be stopped, but a lot is up to the imagination on how evil and ridiculous their plans have been. When you add AM to the mix of either VW or CF it changes the "flavor" of evil that TWSITD operates under.

Edelgard missing them in her major plotline and the explicit dodging of exactly pointing out their several hands in SEVERAL DIFFERENT genocides outside of throwaway lines in nearly all of the routes really made it feel like a huge lack of self-awareness. Creating a group of "super duper evil with no nuance" people and then not actually having the heart to fully detail and unpack their evil actions makes it feel like it was a "Rhea/Edelgard trap card" for defending them and not a genuine analysis of fascism, war crimes, and genocide. It's also the issue that I had with the lack of focus put on Dedue regarding the Duscur genocide. It feels like it's a trap card for when they want it, but it's never actually used.

The Tragedy of Duscur and the genocide of the Nabateans is essentially the entire inciting action in EVERY route yet these events are used as set dressing but never when, IMO, it's necessary to add nuance. Nobody in CF even mentioned Duscur regarding the actual Duscur people iirc, despite it being legit the establishment centerpiece of their major characters. It's also one of the actions that the Empire, Western Lords, and TWSITD committed that ended in genocide and opportunistic pillaging. And it's also likely that these events took place under the rule of replacements from their ranks, meaning that the racism, genocide, and pillaging of their country was likely ALWAYS THE PLAN.

The lords who abused and took over Duscur likely were in on the false flag or were replaced by Agartheans. The false flag wasn't just to escape the accusation but so that the mole racists who were hiding in the Kingdom's ranks could benefit. None of these possibilities are brought up in base game, despite them not being insane stretches by any means, and that's a problem. That's a fumble on their end. It's not a crazy presumption with this information, yet instead of actively pointing out the fact that the MOLE RACISTS who spend their days pontificating about replacement theory are actually targeting A CRESTLESS SOCIETY OF POC TO PILLAGE. (Reminder that they call Ignatz a beast bc he's crestless). The cast ignores the actual implications made. And sure, not EVERYTHING has to be spelled out, but like, they get really hamfisted in some of these endings, yet a lot of them absolutely miss the mark on discussing racism faced by Duscur and Nabateans. It does get ridiculous at some point that the comically evil genocide committers are basically called "meanie heads who orchestrate evil" and yet certain very specific words and terms that obviously apply to them aren't used in the slightest.

Yet when Edelgard and even Claude go after TWSITD they just spout vague platitudes about how they're "old guys" "destroying peace" and not the genuine pretty capitalizable fear of mole racists who orchestrated a handful of false flags and MULTIPLE genocides. Because they like to dance around the actual descriptor of "mole racists who commit genocide". A lot of TWSITD's actions essentially boiled down to optional crimes that aren't even attributed to them unless you dig deep into the story and aren't blinded by unreliable narration from several cast members.

It's also why I had a hard time with CF despite loving Edelgard. It felt like she was ignoring the acts of targeted attacks for no morally justifiable reason, even though I know that it's mostly because IntSys forgot about the subplot when writing CF and not them specifically writing her as a person who ignores those events. But like... the way it's written and the lack of DIRECT prodding of the subject of racism in CF causes that feeling tbh. IntSys dropped a good plot point on fascism and racism and kinda forgot about WHY they work within the themes by having Edelgard finally turn on them, but seemingly not entirely express or admit certain key factors.

It's the only reason why I'm so convinced that CF was either first made, last made, or was a clearly less planned out route than VW and AM. Entire plotlines from VW and AM are missing and the story is put in a rather horrible light with those pieces of information added for extra context. And I don't think it's entirely purposeful nuance, I wouldn't be surprised if certain aspects and actions of TWSITD were stacked on individually in each route without much care about how it would contextualize CF. And then at the end they just HOPED that it would work itself into a good story.

[siberat]

top ten characters for fat stuff!

ohhhhh this is a good one! Most are prolly going to be transformers tho

top ten- 1 being the best:

Ratchet. OMG he is just soooo fun to beef up. Like, deep down, he don't care that he's a chonk, but he does worry if other mechs will think of him less. AND worries about getting too big to do his job: that could never happen. He needs to work- but loves to pamper himself with over indulging in tasty food.

Drift. Fat stuff with him consists of those thighs getting chonky, and his butt and belly.... its nice imagining him chonking out to just freakin' relax- stop worrying about impression others and just be happy with yourself. I picture him secretly enjoying stuffing himself, but very VERY self conscious about it.

Rodimus. For him- its just kinda funny imagining someone who is probably super-duper in the mindset of 'I gotta be the hotest mech alive' and 'slim is in' crap. He'd be the one to deny he put on weight when he is sporting a starter belly, and even sucks it in when needs to. Big time closet eater, and probably cries over seeing his belly.

Megas XRL- not a transformer, but a robot. online buddy got me into this. And I/we like to imagine him being sentient. HEs not a super common char- but he just seems to always get himself a very VERY swollen gut from cracking open gas trucks and chugging. Big time. To the point he falls over and has trouble getting back up. And when I say big belly, it pretty much turns into the stereotypical 'circle' bely because of the sudden and massive weight gain. BUt its just his belly that chubs up...

Red Alert. I never done any fat art of him or chubfics: but it is one I see not being super heavy, but thic. Like, he got some thic thighs, round belly and a meaty bedonkidonk to go with it- from sitting down monitoring security systems all day... and snacking. Plus, I imagine he idly rubs at his chub throughout the day... ( and inferno enjoys catching him in this act...o.0)

Ghost Rider. yay a 'human' made it on the list! And with all those souls he eats- it goes right to his gut! The next morning, its not just his head that feels as if its on fire- but his massive belly too! JUst imagine a skeleton with a flaming head riding a motorcycle towards you... with a fat ol belly- and he is hungry!

Breakdown: this is another one a buddy got me into, but it makes sense. He just really seems to have the frame to be a biggin and the personally to suit it as well. Poster child for big is beautiful. Never does a half ass job at eating: its all or nothing. And he loves to throw his weight around

Senator Proteus: this was a recent addition. I just learned of this char- and of course, I thought of ideas on him getting chubbed up. He is an a$$hole senator and greedy, cares only for himself... you know, classic politician. Rumor of an energon shortage? Deny it of course ( while stuffing yourself silly to ensure he gets more than his fill) I have a story planned for this guy- just have to wait for other stories to be finished. But this glutton is fun to play with. HE claimes his fat gut is proof enough that he is right ( no energon shortage) and senator shockwave/anyone else claiming there is a shortage is wrong. In your face! ( unless its food, then it will be in Proteus' face, because he eating it)

Wing. His is kinda a double edge sword tho ( OMG LAME PUN) He is just uber-adorable, and it would be so cute to see him sporting some extra baggage. I woudn't imagine him getting really chubby tho, because it would get in the way of his swordy-stuff. And I am sure with his 'rightous' believes, overindulgence would be a sin. But I could see him going on short lived stuffing sprees. Getting himself a firm starter belly, then having to go through a period of fasting to loose the weight.... if he really overdid it for a few days, he'd get some cute love handles and a nice spare tire. But following that would be a period of exercising and fasting. For religious reasons of course ... 0.o

last but not least...i'm kinda digging here...in my mind I have oc's that get chubbed up, but i never drew them or written them. SO i dunno if they'd count. I read a tarn fic where tarn chonked up a bit, and I really liked that concept. I kinda like Tarn getting fat for a few reasons: BE it he is being cocky thinking he is all high and mighty and eats fine delicacies to the extreme, or he stuffs himself in attempts to console his poor, tormneted soul, But also, how much more menacing would being hunted down by a fat tarn be? On one hand- i'm sure you could easily out run him. On the other hand- dear lord, if he caught you.... i'd bank on squashing would be in the cards. Can you imagine being choked out by Tarn's thighs? ( OMFG sign me up)

this was a fun one! thanx anon!