#because monkey kong can mean other things

[pan-annigans]

mario movie was mid, sorry ;-;

but i liked it when these two dumb idiots beat each other into a pulp and then went on a rivals to lovers arc. y'know, like men

they're either doing a manly fist bump or they're about to kill each other for the 8th time

[mermazing-art]

The real name of the Furious Five 

After the Kung Fu Panda 4 movie I started thinking about what Zhen's first conversations with the Furious Five would be like. I imagined her nervous about making a good impression but fitting quite well with her group dynamic given her mischievous attitude and enjoying their adventures with her, establishing a relationship of trust. Which led me to a thought "Would she, wanting to know them more, ask them what their real names are?"

This theory has been circulating in the fandom for years since it is said that their names actually refer to their fighting styles or their species (as well as Master Ox, Crocodile or Rhino) since those who retain their own name within this discipline are those who have a superior role such as Oogway, Shifu or Po and those who do not have a title such as Zhen or Tai Lung.

Well, I decided to look for a suitable name for each one, one that fit their physique or personality, that was easy to remember and that would distinguish one another, let's go!

Mantis: Xun Yu ( fast jade )

With Mantis I was clear that I didn't want to look for anything that had to do with his size but I did want to highlight his most powerful abilities such as his speed.  That's where his first name, Xun, comes from.  His middle name, Yu (Jade), is because of his green color although this can also mean ''insect'' depending on the kanji with which it is written.  My idea is that Mantis calls himself ''the green lightning'' referring to his real name.

Crane: Zimo ( refined ink )

At first I wanted his name to be related to the sky or the air due to his avian species or his techniques, but it made me think that one of the things that catches my attention about this character is his interest in Chinese calligraphy.  Therefore, I decided to name him Zimo (ink or writing) to reflect his beloved hobby in his name.

Monkey: Wong Sang ( yellow mulberry )

For Monkey, I researched his voice actor, the one and only Jackie Chan, born Chan Kong-Sang. I wanted to take it as a reference by changing the name Kong since it is the name of the Monkey's brother to Wong (yellow), relating it to the color of his fur. I wanted to make a reference to his comic side but I couldn't find a suitable name for the guidelines I had assigned to it.

Viper: Jia Ling ( beautiful tinkle )

As with Monkey, I researched on her voice actress, Lucy Liu, whose full name is Lucy Alexis Liu Yu Ling. I wanted to reflect her charming and sweet personality, so I took the name Ling (tinkerbell) as a reference of the hiss' snake she produces, as well as her happy attitude.  But her first name would be Jia to emphasize the beauty of this character.

Tigress: Xia ( sunrise )

For her, I thought I would delve deeper into her story and her development as a character in order to give her the appropriate name.  This is her story:

When Tigress lived in the orphanage, she received the name Xian ("who lives in seclusion") from the other children perpetuating their contempt and fear of her. When Shifu finally decided to adopt her, after He heard that name many times, almost always accompanied by the word "monster", he asked her what new name she would like. She simply accepted Tigress because she didn't believe she could deserve a name. Shifu pondered and decided to call him Xia. Tigress at first didn't like this idea because it sounded similar to the previous one, but Shifu explained his choice to her. Both names, although similar, did not have the same meaning because now she would no longer be in the darkness, secluded and alone, but rather she had the opportunity for a new life, a path marked by the light that emanated from her, a new sunrise.

So yes, Zhen would ask the furious five their names, giving the situation that Po would find out right then and there about this. Everyone except Tigress would answer this question since for her it is still a very personal matter related to her past and Shifu and she still doesn't feel comfortable sharing it with everyone. Could Tigress talk to a certain panda about this?

[mcmookiemeal]

Can I request a Donkey Kong x Socially anxious human(just reader who came with Mario and Luigi……your choice) Female! Reader? When I say “socially anxious”, I mean as in doesn’t talk alot and often gets nervous around others yet is still pretty stand-offish and seems intimidating despite the small size(but is actually not……just anxiety) but also has difficulty opening up. I also thought it would be a love at first sight thing(like Mario and Peach in the movie) as well as DK being all protective and maybe he gets jealous at one point…..

It can be a whole imagine, headcanon, multi-part story……..imma leave that up to you.😉

Donkey Kong x Socially anxious reader

I’m gonna make you Mario and Luigis younger sister I hope thats okay!!

You and Dk had kind of a rocky start when you first met.

He was just so…out there.

And you were not.

So there were definitely a lot of walls to break before you guys even developed a friendship.

You met at the arena when mario was going to fight in order to win an alliance with the Kong army.

You were sitting up on the balcony with Cranky Kong and peach.

Dk hadn’t even noticed you at first.

He was too busy trying to gain his dad’s attention while showing off his muscle.

Then his eyes shifted in your direction.

And when he saw you he was just struck by your beauty.

“Hey…Hey whats your name?”

You looked around to see who he could be talking to before it hit you like a ton of bricks that he was talking to you.

“I’m (Y/n.)” You responded quietly.

He smiled at you and winked before turning his attention back to his brother.

He was here to fight after all.

After that event it kind of felt like Dk followed you everywhere.

And you didn’t mind, you were just wondering why he had chosen you.

“I’m sorry but is there a reason you’re following me?” You questioned while standing on the porch of the hut

“You’re just really pretty.” He said without hesitation

Did he even know what he was saying?!

Had he by any chance mistaken you for someone else? Never has anyone outside of your family called you pretty before.

In fact, most people considered you intimidating.

You just chose not to respond to his complement because you honestly didn’t know what to say, but that didn’t seem to stop him from keeping his mouth closed.

You didn’t even talk to him much, he did all the talking and you sat back to listen to him.

I mean everyone needed a friend who could listen to them right?

During the events of helping Peach take down Bowser, Dk stayed right by your side.

Seriously he never left once, he was always there.

It was almost like he was a lost puppy.

Mario picked up on what this “smash monkey” was trying to do and he really wasn’t a fan of it.

And the fact you seemed perfectly fine with it bothered him even more.

So whenever Mario would try to separate the two of you and keep you close to him, Dk just wouldn’t have it.

He would snatch you back from your brother and keep you next to him, where you belonged.

You really didn’t like it when they fought over you, but you understood Dk was probably just happy to have a human friend so you didn’t mind.

It was a completely different story from his perspective.

He just had a really really big crush on you.

He just didn’t understand how could a girl as beautiful as you be related to someone as annoying as Mario.

Even though you didn’t talk much, he still loved being around you.

But sometimes it did worry him a bit.

Did you secretly hate him? Were you in love with someone else? All these thoughts ran through his head so finally he decided to ask you about it.

So when you and Dk got swallowed by the giant eel after the big battle at rainbow road, he figured this would be the time to ask.

“Do you hate me?” He asked, breaking the silence.

You looked up at him and raised a brow.

“No.” You responded before looking back down at your feet.

Then why do you never talk to me? Did I do something to upset you?”

You sighed and shook your head.

“No you didn’t…It’s an issue on my part.”

His face contorted from one of worry to one of confusion, He didn’t understand what you mean’t.

“I’m just not good with other people. It’s not that I don’t like you, i’m just nervous around everyone.”

He didn’t understand how you felt, but he didn’t need to understand to help you.

He grabbed your hands in his very large ones and squeezed them reassuringly.

“You never have to be nervous around me.”

You blushed as he stared at you with those big eyes you just couldn’t bring yourself to turn away from.

You know…since we might die in here, I’ve got something I wanna tell you.”

You look at him with a curious expression, wondering what he’s going to say.

“I really like you.” He confesses.

“Huh-?”

You really were not expecting that.

You didn’t know what to expect from him but it definitely was not a love confession.

“I just think you’re really pretty and nice and cool and I just really like you.” He continued

Your blush only grew darker and darker as he continued with his confession to you.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, I get it.”

You sat in your own thoughts for a second, contemplating on what you should say next.

You liked him too but you have never been a romantic person so you really didn’t know what to say right now.

He anxiously looked at you, obviously waiting on your response

You couldn’t keep him waiting forever so it was now or never.

“I like you too but I- I’m kind of scared of getting in a relationship.”

“Scared?”

“Yes I’m scared. It’s a lot of commitment, trust, and it just sounds so scary to be in love with someone.”

He wasn’t sure on how to comfort you, this was obviously a personal issue that he stumbled into by accident.

“Whatever you decide I hope you know I’ll always protect you.”

You look up at him with glossy eyes and nod, wiping away any tears that had stained your cheeks.

“Thank you, but how about we continue this conversation when we get out of here.” You said remembering that you were in an eels stomach.

After escaping the eels stomach on a barrel from Dk’s kart, you two made your way to go crash Bowsers wedding.

Fighting your way through the koopas like badass couples do(you’re not a couple yet but you act like one)

You and Dk came in as the fight was still at its peak, so you helped out by fighting some koopa troopers who just so happened to be in the way.

The fight at the Mushroom kingdom looked like it was about over, You and Mario found Luigi and had your moment as you were reunited, the same went for Dk and his dad.

Everything was fine until Bowser released that giant bullet onto Peaches castle.

Mario stepped in and led it away into one of the pipes which seemed like a smart plan at first, but it ended sucking all of you in with it.

You all landed in Brooklyn and Dk made sure to keep you in the backlines.

The two of you had been through so much together, he didn’t wanna risk loosing you now.

But when Dk has his little brawl with Bowser it wasn’t looking too good for him.

Bowser had him up in a chokehold and was getting ready to punch the life out of him.

You needed to help but you didn’t have anything on you so you grabbed a brick from one of the buildings that had been destroyed and threw it at bowsers head.

He dropped Dk and slowly turned his head towards you.

He huffed and angrily ran in your direction but before he could get to you Dk pushed him out of the way.

“(Y/n) go get the star!” Dk yelled and nodded over to the star.

You understood and ran as fast as you could over towards the star but sadly Dk wasn’t able to hold Bowser off forever and Bowser came after you once again.

He caught up to you and grabbed you by the collar, throwing you back with intense strength.

Dk caught you in his strong arms and didn’t let you go.

He wouldn’t let you go. He couldn’t let that crazy turtle freak hurt you again.

“You’re okay I got you.” He comforted as he stroked your hair with his finger.

You clung onto his big fuzzy arm, shaking violently as a few tears escaped your eyes from the fear you just felt.

The rest of the fight you and Dk sat back to let Mario handle it since you had done all you could do by that point.

The conclusion to the battle was sweet, Bowser was defeated and everyone was happy.

You decided that you didn’t want to stay in Brooklyn anymore, Instead you wanted to go back to the Jungle Kingdom with Dk.

Your brothers chose to stay in the Mushroom Kingdom meaning they were always close, which you were happy about.

Dk and you got together(obviously) and ended up having a pretty successful relationship.

Sure it took a lot of effort to get to where you are now, but you’re so happy you put forth that effort.

Dk is pretty happy you got together because he was really wondering if that crush would ever go away.

A/n: Hope you enjoy!!❤️❤️

[mintiicinnamonii]

Lego Monkie Kid and The Meaning of Being the Chosen One

SPOILERS FOR ALL OF LMK AHEAD. YOUVE BEEN WARNED.

—

Something I don’t see often talked about in LEGO monkey kid is the symbolism in the seasons, especially seasons 3 to 5 and I’m gonna be talking about it because if not, no one’s gonna do it then I’m gonna do it (p.s im using speech to text)

Season 3

Season three’s dilemma is destiny versus choice, which is something that’s gonna appear a lot, I’ve noticed in LMK but season three is when it starts really popping off and you know why. lady bone demon. she’s a really villain she does all these things. like she killed spider queen almost destroyed the world when she said she would protect it and a whole bunch of other things and her excuse was that destiny told her to because she as inferior and not best potential to people like the shittiest known to man like what do you mean that you’re literally literally destroyed the entire world this is not saving people. people are dying- What do you mean?? which is a very valid point. but to LBD, she thinks that what the world’s going through right now or what it was going through at the time, was worse. because she doesn’t think she’s a bad person or maybe she does but she’s doing this for a selfless reason. she thinks she’s saving everybody. This isn’t some façade that she’s convincing herself that she’s a good person and well she secretly knows that she generally person because unlike Demon she actively seeking violence she does this in a meticulous sort of way that makes it like she doesn’t want to kill anybody necessary, like spider queen of course she still a villain and she did bad things, but her reason was virtuous. Sorta like if that makes sense. How does this go back to MK and the theme of the season? well throughout the last three seasons, it’s made apparent that MK has this destiny to be the monkey kid, sort of like one plus one in LMK. In the seasons that LBD’s in, she has the ability to drill it MK‘s brain that

this is your destiny you can’t escape it

and secondly, and most importantly,

this isn’t as great as you thought it was.

Now, if the first points that you can’t escape this, Destiny is the monkey kid was just sent by itself and would be OK with that because ‘cool. I can be a superhero and save people like monkey king did’. but over the time they’re running away from lady bone demon after she takes the staff, he not only realizes that one he’s powerless which is a good example to help his true power and first character they also come face-to-face with other phones that genuinely did bad things to for example Ao Guang. like.. he sees people genuinely hate the monkey king and they’re good people. They don’t like the demon bulking they don’t attack they just live our lives and that’s what I said it in for MK that maybe them being the monkey kid isn’t actually that great because he chose to pick up the staff but if you sat into context later on and season four and five especially question a choice to get the staff or was it just destiny?

Lady Bone Demon is a great antagonist because she sets up this question. and it hits MK hard. I think the fact that LMK is a kid show really helps with the narrative because MK has a glorified image of Wukong, thinking that he is a good person and will Kong is a good person. He just wanted to protect the ones he loves but he makes mistakes everyone makes mistakes and I’ll probably talk about another possibly sees all these. They were all wronged by Wukong. DBK was sealed in a mountain, away from his wife and son for thousands of years. Spider Queen from what we can tell she was just a normal queen. She was just a normal queen. She was just mad and her own business and that said we took that away from her. He was abandoned and left by his boyfriend- I MEAN BEST FRIEND. Wukong had all these people and he betrayed their trust ironically, so he could protect them which is a thing that LMK does great, which is dramatic irony. The fact that MK’s friends are reincarnations of Wukong‘s friends is an example of this because if MK goes down the path that will Wukong once went like he wants, he’s gonna have to face the consequences, which is why Shadow Play from season two is one of the best episodes in the season, or at least my favorite. So when it comes down to the final fight and he beats the Lady Bone Demon. sure he won, yelling out that he can choose his own story. Hooray. but still sticks no matter what they do no matter how hard MK tries. based on what he seen from all the villains he’s fought and what he’s seen… maybe being the monkey kid is just some undeniable fate that is actually so great after all.

Season 4

Season four is where MK comes to terms with what being the monkey kid really means. At this point, he’s made it his identity. Hell his nickname the letters are MK short for monkey kid. His real name is Qi Xiaotian, we all know this. He could’ve chosen any other nickname like Xiao. But he chose MK. chose he specifically chose MK two letters that have nothing to do with his actual name like most nicknames. Rather, its a tie into how hes the monkey kid. when he talks about wanting things to go back to normal sure he talks about delivering noodles for piggies and hanging out with his friends, but he mentions fighting bad guys as the monkey kid that’s become a part of his normal. That’s his life now that’s how he wants the world to be because he’s ingrained into his identity; that he’s the monkey kid. When he discovers, he’s actually a stone monkey, was like a slap in the face to him, I imagine. In media, superheroes are described of these just one off of adventures with no actual story or deep meaning behind them even after Stan Lee and his revolution and humanizing superheroes. MK doubles in these meetings a lot especially ones with the monkey king in them. So when he became the monkey kid, he’s like sweet. I got to be little superheroes, but he did not know the pressure and how insane this would be I dare more important than Wukong now. He wanted to be the main character, but he didn’t realize how horrible it could actually be. And to find out he’s not human, make them have the realization that this isn’t just fun adventures anymore. This isn’t a kid show. This is real and not in the way he wanted it to be. He’s too deep now he can’t go back. He can never go back to how things once were now he starting to question is destiny actually not like a stone monkey he starts to think about how and why he got staff what was all this for? He was trying to deny destiny for two seasons for crying out loud. But now he’s face-to-face with it and he can’t escape it. He mirrors Azure Lion in the sense that they both want to be saviors. they both want to protect those. They love and both of them think they’re saviors but one of them isnt. When Macaque shows MK Azure’s utopia, I believe MK was standing there in that desert where capless of people suffered for this one person to believe that they’re saving people he was standing there thinking.. is this what I’m doing? This the path I chose? and he can’t go back I said before, so he basically become what he thought he wouldn’t or was trying to escape from. The real villain is himself. And that is why Azure is a great foil for MK. They’re stuck in the same narrative. They have a choice to make one that involves them, sacrifice themselves for the betterment of the world. and if you see season five, the realization hurts even more.

Season 5

season five doves in the theme of chaos versus order, kinda like splatoon two’s final fest (I’m sorry I had a splatoon reference). the nine headed Demon, who I’ll will be calling NHD for for this essay is it being made of pure chaos (mecore). do all of this MK has caused so much pain and agony to other people and especially himself. (he’s canonically proven to have a trauma bottling response cmon thats depressing) In season four, in the span of around a few days, he had to grapple with:

his actual role as a monkey kid

his identity

what he’s doing to other people because of this

In the memory school, he was referred to as a harbinger of chaos which I think is actually a very well-deserved title without him sure dimmable king would’ve been free, but the world would not have almost have ended two times; and he put his friends a lot too. Pigsy and Tang are just going to parent stress maximum level I seen in season five when they were abandoned the desert. Mei has developed crippling inferiority issues, maybe even an inferiority complex, or at the very least made her inferiority complex worse but she’s also had her betrayed and the whole samadhi fire incident. MK.. Desperately wants to go back to normal. there’s a decently sized timeskip between season four and season five so he’s taking the time to process all of these things or clearly but he does it because he’s MK and he doesn’t want to process it because trauma. And he tried to ignore all of it because he wants things go back to how they were; simpler times. Is another instance of dramatic irony, due to the whole reincarnation shit, as well as his arc. Pretty much he’s trying to keep things in order so when he gets the stones, this is his final shot. Well, his second to last shot because the ending of season five suggested there may be a season six or even a movie. (I really hope it’s the movie option.) this is finally the chance for him to fix everything and for everything to go back to normal just one final big adventure you can go back to fighting random bad guys with no plot relevance, delivering noodles, hanging out with his friends and bottling up his emotions.

but during the sequence with the 100 eyed demon, he comes face-to-face with all of these oppressed memories that he is shoved away for his “trauma bottling response.” God give this man some therapy. And then the lady bone demon vision tells him to basically kill himself to save the people he loves. Which firstly someone who suffered with those things.. girly don’t do that. Secondly this is amazing storytelling because this season all season before this he’s wanted to keep things in order, back to normal. And he doesn’t know how he just keeps pleading to the universe, which frankly doesn’t give a crap for things to go back to normal. But then when he zoo all of these old bottled traumas, he’s given the answer. Well, I mean a answer. not a good one, but an answer. He’s so desperate at this point, but he just goes along with it. I believe, and I’m totally not just projecting onto this monkey man, that when he sacrificed himself… Part of him actually wanted to die. Because he thinks he’s the cause of everyone’s misery. And not only does he want to you know commit die to save the ones he loves but also because he hates himself for causing them trouble, and all that self-loathing stuff that I’ve been through (dear God help me). he wants to maintain the chaos and he believes the chaos is himself heroes are supposed to defeat the villains but MK sees himself as a villain. So to him, he has to defeat himself. order must be restored, even if that means he must be destroyed. I swear MK’s character arc is just become a depression allegory because he bottles his trauma. He literally offed himself. He sees himself as a monster. (Also is very off topic, but when you go back to season one episode two during the weather station when Wukong said “you could be more powerful like me, but you won’t be invincible anymore. You can die. You can get hurt.” MK was like “okay”. Girl. Bestie. NO. People wouldn’t be that chill to just saying “oh by the way you have the ability to die.” doesn’t scream depression allegory, I’m just projecting. NHD gives him the opportunity to give him a choice and actual choice to embrace the chaos, to set him free. Everyone else free NHD is a great villain not only because I gender envy him immensely but also because he’s a great representation of MK in return bone demon represented MK’s traumas, Azure was more of a foil. NHD Represents his internal conflicts. because despite MK’s crazy, possibly ADHD mentality he wants order. He wants his friends to be safe. And he’ll do anything, even step into chaos itself, to get it.

—

Thank you guys SO MUCH if you’ve read this far. I’ve always wanted to do something like this, and I’m so happy you found this ramble and read it to the end. I might do more like these, possibly talking about MK’s Depression (because he has a LOT.) and maybe even cover ROTTMNT.

Thank you again, and stay tuned.

[zahri-melitor]

Robin 2021 by Joshua Williamson: I’m a few issues in, and I have such mixed feelings about this book.

Damian absolutely required a title by someone that loved him deeply and dearly to refocus and reboot his character. And it’s clearly doing that.

I’m not sure this title is doing anything good for any other character who appears or is mentioned in it, and through that it also makes Damian seem like a self-absorbed smug ignoramus who doesn’t stop to think for a second about anyone outside his own concerns, but that does fit Damian.

Bruce musing on Damian: “calling him entitled would be an understatement. To the role of Robin.”

Yes, well, Damian absolutely did believe he was entitled to the role of Robin. Whether he was actually entitled was another matter given someone else was already in the position, but oh boy did Damian and his writers think he especially deserved it because of being Bruce’s biological kid.

And what do I mean ‘he’s clearly ignorant?’

Stuff like this. Really Damian? You think King Snake knows nothing about your family? Edmund Dorrance? I mean he’s only a major member of Tim’s rogue’s gallery, tends to appear to die every appearance, and is by implication tied up in drama that Cass had in Hong Kong through the fact that Lynx I was his lieutenant, but go off I guess.

Defeating King Snake is not actually a particularly impressive fight, because he always looks like he’s died. Which just makes the League of Lazarus and their competition look like a bunch of wannabe tryhards

Also not helped by this:

So…cheating to win a fight against Ben Turner, Shiva deliberately kept out of this (but if ‘cheating to win’ is acceptable, Tim easily qualifies for this tournament as well, and he’s done it to Shiva multiple times), and if you don’t know that Richard Dragon would lose a fight to help teach someone because he’s more interested in teaching combat these days you don’t read Richard Dragon stuff.

This is not an impressive tournament. Like no wonder they’re all getting over excited about Connor Hawke being in it; he’s literally the only fighter who is near Shiva’s list who is present.

I mean, cmon, Double Dare and Lady Vic are here. They both are fundamentally irritations rather than actual big fights. Nobody is actually scared of Aliki’s fighting skills. NITE-WING is in this thing. Tad is a literal joke character whose entire purpose is to seem like a needy wannabe.

I can possibly see a route to interesting commentary coming out of Damian spending a lot of time beating up Dick and Tim’s rogue galleries, but that would require Damian to even be aware that he’s doing that.

I mean I’ll feel better about it if Connor even noticed that apparently a Silver Monkey is on this island, given their history, but the signals in this title are all over the place.

I have no doubt that Damian is going to have a bunch of personal growth and revelations over this story. It’s just…what the story is telling me and what the characters that are included in this are telling me are giving me very, very different narratives, and given what I know about Williamson’s character focus in his writing on Damian’s personal exceptionality, I’m not fully convinced the narrative of ‘you don’t have to measure yourself against Dick and Tim, and that you feel you need to is something you should work on’ is going to come through clearly enough, even though the seeds are there.

Also wow yeah ‘your son’ and ‘son of the bat’ is used with exhausting regularity in the early issues.

[marioxdk]

Ohhh I love your headcanons! You know what could be fun? A MarioxDK where Mario comes to JK as a kid and is raised among monkeys like tarzan 😋

Thanks for liking the headcanons!

AU where Baby Mario ends up in the Jungle Kingdom

The idea of Baby Mario crawling around in Brooklyn sewers and crawling through pipes is so funny to me

I assume he was left unsupervised and he just started wandering around and somehow ended up in a mysterious green pipe

He ends up being deposited in the Jungle Kingdom, and DK's family decides to take him in

They decide to raise him so that one day he can join the Kong army as a soldier

Mario is trained to be a warrior alongside Donkey Kong

Between sparring and battle training, DK and Mario become best friends

They are constantly hanging out and going on adventures

They become notorious for getting into trouble and doing really stupid things (it drives Cranky crazy)

The incident where they accidentally set all of the karts on fire trying to attach flamethrowers to them

Eventually, as they grow older, they start to transition from "you're my best friend" to "oh, I think I love you"

But neither of them really know how to deal with how they're starting to feel

So they both start subtly flirting with each other, just to see how it goes

It goes very well

But because they're both idiots, they don't realize how reciprocated the feelings are

Everyone can tell that they like each other, and they are so frustrated that they're not even dating

Eventually Cranky decides to have the most awkward/necessary conversation of his lifetime

Cranky: What are your intentions with my son?

Mario: Huh

Cranky: Don't play dumb, I know you both like each other, now what are you going to do about it?

Mario: I mean... I'd like to ask him out but...

Cranky: Then just do it already, I'm tired of watching you pine

Mario: ...Are you giving me permission to date your son?

Cranky: Unfortunately, yes

So Mario asks DK out, but he's super nervous about it

He kinda stumbles his way through it but luckily DK starts to understand and helps him

Mario: so... I was kinda wondering... because I... well... I like you a lot... but not just in a friend way... I mean... you're one of my best friends... but also...

DK: *hope in his eyes* ...Are you asking me out?

Mario: *nods furiously*

So they start dating, and when it comes time to fight Bowser, they do it as a couple

[i-didnt-hate-it]

I didn't hate Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, honestly it was awesome!

I just got done watching it so I'm still digesting it, but here are my initial thoughts. Any potential spoilers will go under a break.

I went into GxK that it would be similar to GvK and the other Monsterverse films: big monkey hit big lizard, big lizard breathe laser, big monkey block laser with big axe, and so on. And don't get me wrong, it definitely was all that, all pro wrestling but with big monsters, but in a cooler way than what I thought. I'm still trying to figure out what all made GxK more than what I was expecting, but I think this is the main bit.

In today's media, there seems to basically be two options. Either you make a show on streaming, which means your seasons are too short so you have to sacrifice character to plot. Or you make a two to three hour long movie, which uses a big budget to explain either characters or concept, hopefully with something of a plot to tie it together.

But GxK is a secret third thing. Worldbuilding. Adding to lore. Letting the landscapes they paint and the creatures that inhabit them speak for themselves. There were long stretches of screentime where the titans weren't necessarily fighting, they were just doing their thing, exploring their worlds.

Now obviously we need some humans to A, be able to connect to the story some, and B, know what is actually going on. Because while I would love a completely dialogue kaiju movie, the concepts and gimmicks of the Monsterverse just get too convoluted to figure out without Exposition Lady.

I can confirm that Legendary realized that the less human characters they have the better. The cast was relatively small, and while character development was minimal, they did make me feel some feelings toward some of the humans. But they made the right call not giving them too much of the story. What is this, Godzilla Minus One?

It's not, and if you can go into it knowing that it isn't even close to being the same movie as Minus One, and just watch it as a fun Monsterverse entry, I think you'll love it. The music is great too, better than GvK, imo. VFX were awesome too.

Okay, now for some spoilers, just random extra thoughts:

Godzilla really did the OMG MOTHRA!!! thing from that one meme! And I did too tbh, our Queen is back and beautiful as ever!

I love how it wasn't an instant father/son connection between Kong and Mini-Kong (I don't remember his name). Kong tried to help him out a couple times, but then gave up after MINI KONG TRIED TO KILL HIM LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES! Like come on, this little guy is just chaotic. But like they actually had growth in their trust and relationship, it wasn't just like "me big, you little, I dad now".

Scar King was actually a lot cooler than I was expecting. Shimo/Shimu whatever her name is did not have as big a role as I was expecting, but I'm glad she's okay.

Shout out to Mothra for stopping her boyfriend from killing Kong, helping them in Hollow Earth, and then just chilling when they all went to Rio. She said, "you guys got this, right?"

When I saw there was another hollow earth inside Hollow Earth, I'll admit I had a bit of an eye roll. But they explained it away pretty well.

SCOTTISH GUY THAT SAID SHIT IN STAR WARS. Alex Ferns is literally the same character he was in Andor.

I love how they imply that they basically imply that the Iwi had something to do with building the pyramids in Egypt by having the portal thing open RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. Made a cool setting for the fight, too.

At this point, I have no idea how big the Coliseum actually is.

Last thing, for now. For having top billing, Godzilla wasn't in it as much as I thought he might be. I think Legendary is realizing that if you have a character like Godzilla who can just level up his powers instantly to take on anything, and just kinda does his own thing, you've gotta limit that screen time. Since Kong is kinda humanoid, it's easier to empathize with him and thus add character development. Godzilla can only convey so much emotion that most humans can relate to (obviously Shin and Minus convey a lot of emotions, but anyway). Godzilla is in the movie, but Kong is more of the star. Honestly the world of the Hollow Earth and the Iwi people and their history are almost as much of the focus.

[whatyourusherthinks]

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire Review

Yay more Godzilla!

Quick rundown on my thoughts of the Monsterverse: I haven't seen the 2005 King Kong movie but I don't know if that counts. I really don't like Godzilla (2014). Skull Island was much better, but had some structural problems. King of the Monsters is the best movie, and probably the second best Godzilla movie ever. (You all know which is the best.) And I watched Godzilla Vs Kong right before going to the theater to see this movie. It was pretty good.

Just like Saints and Sinners, I need to start with a full disclosure: I was somewhat intoxicated watching this movie. I can clearly remember what happened and comprehended the movie, which is why I'm still reviewing it, but I might be nicer than I would be sober. Probably not though, I think I've made it clear in my other reviews I love kaiju movies.

What's The Movie About?

Monarch (the scientists who watch over the giant monsters) receives a signal from Hollow Earth, and with an older Kong goes to investigate. Also Godzilla takes like 3 naps before turning pink and fighting Kong again.

What I Like.

This movie shifts a lot of the focus on the Kaiju characters, specifically Kong. And the physical performances are amazing. There are several scenes of just Kaiju communicating with facial expressions and mime, but you can still tell exactly what the movie is trying to convey and what the characters are thinking. I also didn't mind the human characters. All the humans in this movie (and in the last one thinking about it) are mostly one dimensional, but they have more entertaining personalities and interact in more fun ways. I didn't really like Bernie except when he and Trapper were flirting, but Brian Tyree Henry was really good. My favorite character was Jia, I love that they've kept a deaf character as one of the human leads. Not only that, but she's an adopted character in a happy family. I also liked her mom quite a bit. Anyway, I hope Jia continues to be in the movies. The Hollow Earth people were pretty cool, I liked how their civilization looked and all the crystal spears were cool as well. Of course, the action is awesome. Spoilers, but the finally is basically Godzilla Vs Kong but it's a doubles match and it's so awesome. Also, I joke about Godzilla being pink now, but the entire movie is super neon and colorful. And the Monsterverse should have been like this from the beginning, it's super fun. (Hem hem GODZILLA (2014).) The needle drops in the movie were weird, but I still really liked them. My manager said that the plot seems like it was written by a seven-year-old, and I agree. It's the bet thing about the movie. I'm not saying this to put the movie down! What I mean is it's quite imaginative with the worldbuilding until it randomly gets bored and decides everyone needs to fight a tree. Or that some giant monkeys need to punch each other. And I goddamn love it. Like Godzilla Minus One is obviously super amazing and a better movie in almost every regard to all of the Monsterverse movies, but it is nice to have a movie that just goes "Godzilla now fights a giant squid-crab" at the twenty minute mark for absolutely no reason.

What I Didn't Like.

I'm mixed on using conspiracy theories as world building. On one hand, the Hollow Earth is cool! But on the other, aren't you somewhat giving legitimacy to people who actually believe that stuff, which at best is lending credence to anti-intellectualism, at worst inadvertently supporting harmful ideas? The movie also clarifies that all Titans are supposed to be the same species, which I find to be really weird since about half of the titans look like lizards, a third look like bugs, and one of them is supposed to be the Loch Ness Monster. The movie also missed a great opportunity for a classic Godzilla callback but I won't say what it is because it's a spoiler.

Final Summation.

Just like all the other good Monsterverse movies, Godzilla X Kong is good fun! I'd say it's better than the last one but still not as good as King of the Monsters. I really like the new direction though, bright neon colors, ridiculous plots, and just plain cool moments loosely strung together is what these movies should have been from the beginning, frankly. Excited for more!

[bagheerita]

I am a SO ready to talk Godzilla movies. I’ve only seen a handful of them compared to like the dozens I know exist-the more recent ones where they were trying to do Avengers but the big Monsties-but god I love them.

Admittedly Kong is seared into my brain because it came out at the Height of my Tom Hiddleston obsession-I even own it in dvd like I was that deep-so that’s the one I remember the best. And it’s the one I like the most because of the wide range of monsters we get to see. Big Buffalo guy? The skull lizards? Fuck yeah love my monsters wish more movies were monster movies lol.

Anyways, the others are more spattering in recollection. But I wanna ask, which of these movies is your fave, why, and what do you think of the empty core earth/godzilla goes into the center of the earth to recharge like Superman does to the sun? I remember finding that very. Odd? But ripe for interest bc in Kong they set up that whole. Under-earth world the skull things came from.

I've also only seen a handful of the movies... exactly 6 Godzilla/Monster-verse related movies (that I can recall anyway): the original Gojira and the original King Kong. And then Godzilla 2014, Kong Skull Island, Godzilla King of the Monsters (watched last night), and Godzilla vs Kong (watched today!).

I've only seen each of them once, and Kong Skull Island is the only one I saw in the theater (Tom Hiddleston obsession what....😅😅💚❤). Watching Godzilla KotM's last night was the first time I'd actually seen several of the monsters I already knew of through cultural osmosis, like Rodan and Ghidorah, which was very cool.

My favorite is hard to say. (I mean, to say the best movie would be easy: it would be Gojira, because I think it's awesome and perfect and very much a product of its time that said what it needed to say. But I feel like it's an entirely separate genre than the other movies I've seen.) I enjoyed Skull Island and I remember it being slightly better story-wise than the Godzilla movies, IE it made me care more about the human characters and they had better development and reasons for what they were doing.

Since it's the one I just watched I might say KotM is my favorite, just because I loved all the monster battles, and because there are apparently no locked doors in this world (Millie Bobbie Brown can just walk into Fenway Park, and also her family home that's been abandoned for months/years, without any keys or any problems). And also because of Charles Dance, who is a fantastic villain even though he looked like he was phoning it in and even though he didn't get eaten by a dragon (It was all I wanted... what was promised. lol). GvK was fun, but not quite enough to overcome the silliness of the premise. (like, come on, giant monkey versus radioactive dinosaur. who do you think wins? I did like that the movie turned it into a team up against Mechagodzilla/the ghost of Ghidorah.)

The first mentions of the Hollow Earth Theory kind of took me by surprise, so it took me awhile to get over the silliness of it especially the gravity inversion lmao. (Just last month or so I finished watching Sanctuary, which has its own Hollow Earth theory lol) But I did really love the concept of Godzilla's temple where he would go to recharge in KotM. (Too bad they blew it up 😭 Or did they?? Maybe Godzilla's temple where he hangs out can withstand nuclear blasts? 🤔) I love the idea that he would go to this place of ancient worship to rest and regain his strength, sleeping among the memories of when he was perhaps more literally a god. The whole "recharging from the center of the earth bc there's radiation" is whatever. The origins of Godzilla have changed so much to get him to fit into this new idea of him and his place within the world and what he represents, so... sure. The Earth is a hollow, Godzilla recharging battery. 👍

I really liked the development they did for Hollow Earth in GvK. I like that Kong's axe gets charged up by Godzilla's blasts. And I loved that when you see Kong's "throne," Godzilla is carved into the stones around the base of the throne. To me this suggests that rather than a rivalry, Kong and Godzilla have an ancient symbiosis: Godzilla is King Kong's guard dog... or perhaps "court wizard" in the sense of the archetypal magician, with the knowledge and power to comprehend a balance within nature that he then "advises" the "king" about. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I dunno but I think that would be really cool. I'd love to see more "monsterverse" movies with fewer human characters getting in the way (though I did really like Millie Bobbie Brown's posse wandering around and stumbling onto Mechagodzilla; that was a cool way to reveal that information to the audience). But more stories specifically about the interactions between these ancient creatures would be very interesting. In the special features for KotM they say that Mothra is the only female monster, which is kind of odd. I suppose Godzilla never really "dies" so he doesn't need to... reproduce in a standard-for-higher-Earth-life-forms way, but I'm pretty sure I remember Kong having parents in Skull Island, which I guess makes him (or his mom) an outlier if we're roping him into the monsterverse. Though the continuity for any of these stories is very loose (in KotM there are kaiju on every continent, but GvK is 3 years later and all of them... left? Everything's normal now. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you? And then Godzilla rolls up in Hong Kong and trashes it. There's one shot of a "kaiju bunker" or whatever, but no other preparations or any sort of contingencies for what to do if attacked by world-destroying monsters which last happened 3 years ago).

Anyway I hear there's another Godzilla movie coming out this year, and one called GodzillaXKong which I can only hope is the shipper movie we've all been waiting to see!! ;b

[lurkdragonstuff]

I posted 90 times in 2022

86 posts created (96%)

4 posts reblogged (4%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/sparkylurkdragon

@/showandtelltime

@/dzamie

I tagged 90 of my posts in 2022

#art - 44 posts

#fanart - 27 posts

#botober - 19 posts

#legend of zelda - 18 posts

#botober 2021 - 18 posts

#original art - 14 posts

#pokemon - 11 posts

#ecco the dolphin - 9 posts

#drawtober - 8 posts

#sparky vs - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 72 characters

#you can tell i got into this game with piropito and his bridge can't you

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I wonder how the Yiga open their bananas.

The non-stem end, where you just pinch it open? The stem end where you basically break the banana’s neck?

Using a knife to start it from the stem end? Your teeth?

One or another of these depending on what rank you are? If so, does it get easier or harder as you go up the rank: easier because You Have Earned it, or harder because You Are Badass, Even In Partaking Of the Clan Fruit?

I mean. They’ve gotta have An Approved Way of some kind, you know?

31 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

#4

See the full post

32 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

#3

I had a dream this evening that Tears of the Kingdom came out and instead of playing as Link, we were playing as a monkey. At various points the monkey was like the ones in Twilight Princess, but sometimes it was Funky Kong.

The monkey had to travel Hyrule, finding bits of Link and Zelda's soul, and I got the idea that whoever it revived first would be the main player character.

33 notes - Posted October 3, 2022

#2

So there’s this minor deity in charge of a land at the edge of the world. This land is forbidden to outsiders and said to be cursed. It’s said this deity can command the dead, and it is at best highly respected and at worst feared outside of its own lands.

Could it be called evil? Some certainly do. Others say it’s merely so alien in its priorities that such concepts as good and evil don’t really apply the way they would to a mortal being - this is a deity of its land and it will protect it, but by and large if left alone it leaves others alone. Either way, this deity is a thing-of-awe: awesome and awful in equal measure and depending on who you ask.

Perhaps some of the problem is in how ancient it is, how much sheer time it remembers. On top of everything else, it’s so old that its archaic dialect can be hard to understand.

Am I talking about Dormin from Shadow of the Colossus, or the Ocarina of Time era Great Deku Tree?

37 notes - Posted April 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

829 notes - Posted December 4, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[cotton-candy-in-a-thong]

Noncon stories, Fantasy vs. Reality, and more. fucking. issues.

Recently, I’ve been hit with some drama as to why I’m a “bad person” by various, anonymous users in this fandom. I thought I’d try to address the claim, address my stance on fics that involve noncon, and what I think about the “Tumblr mentality” after everything I’ve seen of this place. I should also note that I’m going to use the specific words and phrases I’ve been forced to constantly repeat as explaining my stance has been very difficult for me, as I’m a person who’s apparently challenging to understand.

This is going to be a long post, with subjects that's obviously going to trigger people so here's a warning right now..

That being said, I’m going to dive into this with some shit I’ve definitely said before:

“Consensual Noncon” Kink

The Appeal of this Theme in Fanfiction:

I don't think calling fics that involve noncon "rape fics" and those who enjoy it "getting off to rape" is a very good way to put it. Many engaging and well done media pieces often involve some very dark themes. Again, Monster by Meg and Dia is a song that features the main character sexually abusing a girl he met. You COULD call this a "rape song", but acting as if the rape is the only thing that matters in this story would be pretty..naive. The story has to do with an emotionally, and physically neglected/abused boy, who grows up and becomes an attention/love starved monster who's SO starving for validation, that he believes forcing himself upon a girl he knew would "prove" to himself that he's capable of being touched and loved. Of course, the main character eventually realizes that rape is not love, that what he did was wrong, and later kills himself in his own bathtub with kerosene and a match.

However, the assault aspect of this song is still a meaningful and alluring part because it talks about how emotional and physical abuse can warp someone's perspective on reality, to the point where they think forcing someone to "stay" with them is how to create a healthy relationship. That's the same energy I have for noncon fics, especially in the slasher fandom. Many slasher fics that contain noncon often have to do with the slasher preying on the reader because of their own fucked up mind. It's intriguing because, let's be honest, pretty much none of the slashers are in a pretty good mental space lmao. Thus, noncon actually falls more in line with how slashers would go about what they believe is a "good relationship" more often than quite a bit of fans here seem to believe. Again, Michael got boners, Jason chained someone up, Fredddy smooches people against their will, Billy Lenz is a sex offender, Chromeskull makes snuff, yada yada yada, you know the drill. That being said, it's interesting to see noncon being expressed with these characters because it gives us a new perspective on how fucked up they'd likely be if the world of sex and relationships was introduced to these characters.

Now why would some people become sexually aroused by the events of the story? First of all, how does “Consensual Noncon” kink work?

u/Jumbledcode. (2015). ‘Can anyone comment on why people (someone like me) enjoy rape/non-con story lines?’. r/TwoXChromosomes.

“I'd suggest that there are several factors that make up the appeal of non-con fantasies.

Guilt/Self-image: For many people, their sexual/relationship desires don't necessarily match their image of themselves, or alternatively they feel guilt over others' perceptions of those desires. Rape fantasies allow them to mantain some illusion of denial over their desires while still indulging in the idea of them.

Responsibility/Laziness: The appeal of abdicating control isn't limited to avoiding guilt; it's very tempting to want a scenario where you have no responsibility for maintaining your lifestyle/happiness. Similarly to before, it's the appeal of being given what you secretly want without even having to choose it.

Transgressiveness: A rape scenario has overtones of danger and taboo-breaking. These can easily be exciting and can therefore be a turn-on.

Desire: Being wanted is often a huge turn-on, and the idea of someone desiring you enough to break laws and disregard everything to have you plays into this feeling.

To me, it seems that most people who fantasize about being the subject of rape do so due to some mix of these motivations I've mentioned. Of course, there are also those who have experiences which have taught them to associate non-consent with their sexuality, but that's a separate issue”.

What if the Fanfic Only Involves the Act though? Wouldn’t it Encourage Actual Rape?

Let’s differentiate fantasy and reality. Towards those with the noncon kink: it offers arousal because of the ideas listed above (the idea of the reader not having to make any moves and the character doing the “intimate work” FOR them, the excitement of such a taboo sexual encounter, and the feeling to be desired through an altered, brutish encounter). Rape is the use of sex to remove control over the victim’s mind and body. The readers DO have control over whether or not they get to “encounter” (the choice to even read) this fantasy, so right away consent is present in reality, and no actual rape is being done.

Now does this mean that the kinkers are getting off on the idea of rape? Not really.

The thing with self-inserts is that it allows you to be connected to the story. That way, even if the story has you bruised up and begging for mercy, a part of you-you (if you’re a kinker) wants to keep reading it as you find it exciting. That way, as you and story-you are connected, what you really want in such a fantasy is for it to keep going despite the brutish, possessive, however yet desired nature of the character you’re dreaming about dealing with. (repeat: the idea of the reader not having to make any moves and the character doing the “intimate work” FOR them, the excitement of such a taboo sexual encounter, and the feeling to be desired through an altered, brutish encounter). That being said, it’s still entirely possible for kinkers to have their personal space and wishes crossed, and ultimately assaulted. Us enjoying the fantasy of such a reverie sexual encounter does not spell out to real life because (in reality) we’re not horny all the time, we would still like our bodies to be respected when we find it necessary, and we still have feelings as we’re still human.

“Fantasy (including video games) leads to violence” fallacy.

It would be like assuming that shooters in games like GTA fantacise about murder, encourage it, and would do it in real life. Taking fabricated anger out on virtual bodies or NPCs is quite different from the weight of murder (the killing of another human being). One can play video games with lots of violence towards such fabricated characters, while discouraging violence towards human beings. The act of using a game controller to beat up Donkey Kong in Smash, to shoot Nazi zombies in a Black Ops game, or to kill a Geisha in Little Nightmares is incredibly, and immensely different from completely eradicating the life of a person on Earth, and to assume that everyone who plays violent video games would spill out to violence in reality would be to participate in a ridiculous fallacy. Yes, there are outliers who are feeble minded enough to let their fantasies influence their actions towards actual people, but I must repeat that there are also people who utilize these fantasies for their personal satisfaction, while understanding the weight of the real world around them (and choosing not to act so detrimentally). Therefore, it wouldn’t be fair as it would be unnecessary to blatantly say that all fantasies are horrible and should be entirely eradicated if there ARE many people who ARE aware enough to understand that some thoughts are better off staying in fiction.

Now is the time to address what’s been said:

...Firstly, I think it’s very disgusting that random users, on Tumblr of all places, are trying to manipuate random victims of sexual assault into hating something or someone just because these users FEEL like “it’s the right thing to do”.. People, victims of sexual assault aren’t your fucking dogs. They’re not carriage horses, they’re not your work mules, they’re not your guns and swords...they’re just people who normally wanna be left the fuck alone like everyone else. Plus, there ARE people who have experienced sexual assault who take joy in reading such dark storylines. What would these users have to say to them? That they’re not “real” victims? That what they’ve experienced “never happened”? That they’re “just like” their own perpetrators for using the consensual nonconsent to miraculously help them overcome their trauma? Should they really abandon their coping mechanism just because there are other victims who cope in different ways?

..If you seriously believe that all people who have gone through a traumatic event are gonna cope in the exact same fucking way, you literally don’t even know enough about PTSD to even be making a bold statement about cope.

This is the part where I finally realized that people, and especially those on Tumblr, don’t actually care about rape victims as much as they may claim. Many users on here, on this platform and in this fandom, don’t truly give a flying monkey shit about rape victims as people, nor what they have to say about the subject. Rape victims..on this place..seem to be used mainly as a means of figurative weaponry for a group’s subjective morality.

I find the similarity close to radical feminism. Radical feminists often believe that women, from near and far, have to do everything in their power to “destroy” the patriarchy. This would mean disobeying the societal expectation of women, even if there are some women who take joyment in engaging in some societal standards for their personal liking. An example would be sex work. Radical feminists acknowledge the flaws in performing sex work, but believe that NO woman should EVER partake even if the woman wants to do it out of her own free will. In demonizing and ostracizing any woman who doesn’t fall into the radical feminist agenda, radical feminists actually contradict their purpose to “let women be free”. At this point, you realize that radical feminists often don’t actually give a fuck about what any woman wants for herself. Instead, radical feminists want to utilize any woman they can find just to flip off men as a group.

In Tumblr users trying to “stand up” for rape victims for their personal “holier-than-thou” ego, they fail to care enough about the very people they defend to understand the dynamics of some of their coping mechanisms, thus begin to bully some members of the group they claim to protect because of the very narcissism, misunderstanding, and controlling nature going on behind their own “activism”. So now that some users have found something to hate, in this case being noncon stories, they attempt to manipulate victims of rape into ostraciszing and demonizing fantasies and other victims of rape just because the “activists” themsleves don’t like it. Even trying to argue that rape victims have a “duty” to agree with everything these “activists” try to do for them.

Sounds awfully familiar to the attitude democrats have towards any minority when it’s time to vote. “I care about you...but you have to agree with everything I say and believe because I want what I think is best for you. If you disagree with me, you’re ungrateful and a traitor”.

Now...a little about myself.

I’m not sure of everyone else who’s into the noncon type of story, but I use it to get away from my past. In noncon stories, I want to read what happens in the chapters. I want to imagine them for morbid curiosity and arousal I feel at the time being. In reality, my attackers didn’t care when I wasn’t in the mood, and never gave me a choice. In noncon stories, I get to choose the character I want to encounter in the fantasy and NOT have it picked FOR me. In real life, I didn’t get to choose who did some things to me. In noncon stories, I get to stop reading them and do something else whenever I’m not feeling it anymore. In reality? My attackers kept going because, in the situation, it was no longer up to me. After noncon stories, my body doesn’t walk away with bruises, bite marks, and physical reminders every time I take my clothes off or try to masturbate. In real life...that shit can mark you, disease you, and then traumatize you. With the stories, I get to delete my search history, join another fandom, and act like nothing ever happened. For reality? Your own body is a reminder of what happened because it was real. In reality, I’m NEVER gonna fucking forget what happened. I’ll be lucky if my own mind and body doesn’t haunt me for at least one day..

So seeing that someone, and probably multiple people not only tried to use victims of sexual assault for their own “go get em” dogs, but to try and phrase me as someone who loves and encourages such an assault on human beings? After the things I felt? After the things I tasted? After pathetically searching for the support of relatives, just to get shut down with “you’re lying”?..

...All the times I've been held down..threatened..clothes getting snagged off..parts being opened and touched after I've fought to just get the fuck away from certain people...

According to this anon..."she likes rape".

...I guess I just fucking LOVED EVERYTHING THEN.

You know...all my life I’ve been misunderstood by many people. It’s honestly really disappointing that even now when I’m better at explaining myself than ever, I’m STILL being phrased as a “psychopath” by random people who haven’t even taken the time to even know me. Not even from a minute-long conversation through a damn computer screen. And you wanna know the funny thing? I’m probably being laughed at as this is being read. Some of these users, these internet stalkers, are probably giggling, smiling, and saying “Haha YES we GOT the bitch!! Cry you piece of shit SLUT!!”. So maybe explaining my past experiences to help everyone understand why some people may use noncon stories to their fantasy advantage is gonna land me messages going: “You haven’t been raped you lying bitch”, “Maybe you should get raped again”, “You definitely enjoyed it”, and the overused, yet strong “Kill yourself”.

So how am I gonna end this message? With me saying that many of you, who THINK you’re doing the right thing by justifying harassment and trying to manipulate others into joining your little crusade to bully people away from the fandom (over extremely mundane fucking things)...aren’t really good people. At best, in this case...you’re fucking stupid. You will never truly speak for any of the marginalized groups you claim to know like the back of your hand. Simply, you will never. be. a hero.

If by chance, by an astrological chance..that any random user wants to come up and apologize out of the blue for talking such shit and for saying such things..I don't even wanna hear it...just get the fuck out of my face..

[blizzardfluffykpop]

The Ko’s Arcade

Summary: Falling for the arcade owner’s son is a lot easier than you think. 

[He would probably propose to you with a vending machine ring ngl very cute tho].

Do or Not Series

Fluff

Word Count: 2,843

Shinwon X Reader

I’ve been going to the arcade on the outskirts of the city for years. To the point where Mr. Ko knows my whole family, considering they were the ones to start bringing me here. My parents thought I would stop going to The Ko’s Arcade when I was a seventh-grader at the latest. But here I am, almost out of college and still going at least once a week. Who knows, there might be a new game there? Or better yet, they have a new prize to win. Or a new thing to get at the vending machine. It’s a reward after a long week of courses, tests, and my job. The stress relief of beating Donkey Kong at his own game is the best feeling. But it not only those, maybe it’s because Mr. Ko’s son Shinwon is working there now? Yeah,... about that,... I may have a slight crush on him,... May. 

“You’re going to that silly arcade again?” My mom asks, and I nod, “It’s Sunday, so yeah.” She shrugs and tells me to enjoy myself and to tell Mr. Ko ‘hi’. I ride my bike over to the arcade, and for the next five hours, I am going to play some games and unwind. And possibly sneak a peek at the cute guy who runs the prize station. The bells ring above the door as I walk in and spot a few kids playing different games. Shinwon goes, “Welcome back to The Ko’s Arcade!” I grin and wave at him and walk to the back to find Q*Bert. After eight levels and three different tries to get up to the ninth level. I give up as I hop on the snake by accident again. I decide it’s not worth the hassle and get a pop from the vending machine. 

While looking around for another game. I catch Shinwon playing a two-player racing game by himself. Working up my confidence, I make my way over to him and challenge him to the next round. He smirks, “Alright. What’s the reward if we win.” I scrunch up my nose and think for a moment before it hits me. I need fifty more tickets to win the giant stuffed animal I have been eyeing. I rarely play the games that spit out tickets, so it is harder to earn than you would believe. “If I win, I want the big stuffed animal you guys have behind the counter.” He nods and tells me, “If I win,... the next time you hit the high score on Donkey Kong, you have to write my name.” I scoff, “Of course,... it has to be my title you are after.” He laughs, and I grin, “So is it a deal?” I nod, and we both shake hands. 

Let’s just say the game did not go as I expected. I expected to be at least in second place, if not in first. Let me say, Shinwon had some tricks up his sleeves and knew the track better than I did. Considering this was my second time playing this game, and probably his fiftieth. I ended up in last place in the first two races, and by the third, I was finally in seventh place. Shinwon moved around in numbers going from second to fifth to first. There goes my Donkey Kong high score title, I’ll miss it, but at least I’ll know that it’s me that has the highest. Mr. Ko will be in shock that my high score got taken by Shinwon. When everyone knows he is awful at the game like I am with racing games. I pout over him as the last race finishes up and totals our scores. He laughs, and in a teasing voice, he goes, “Did someone lose?” I pout and nod my head as he smiles over at me before he types in the winner. I don’t look at who’s name he types in till it circles back to the leaderboard. And printed in bold red letters is (Y/n). He winks at me and helps me out of the chair. 

He walks us over to the prize counter and reaches underneath, and pulls out a clip-on stuffed animal. He hands it over to me with a smile playing on his face. I grin at him as I realize it’s a little monkey. “Here, I had an unfair advantage on that racing game. Plus, your favorite game is dad’s favorite so,...” I thank him and put the monkey on my belt loop with a big smile on my face. I tell him to give me one second, and I race over to my backpack. And take the hot wheel car pin off of it and hand it to him. The one I had won at the arcade years before, “You suit the title of the best arcade racer better than I do.” He gasps, “My dad hasn’t carried these for years! They went out so fast that I didn’t get a chance to win one!” I grin and pin it to his green and white striped jacket. “Well, here you go. You deserve it.” It’s his turn to blush, and we give each other a fist bump before I make my way over to Donkey Kong. 

Three hours later, I hit the high score again. He comes over as I’m about to hit enter. “You don’t have to put my name as the high score, by the way.” He tells me, and I turn around to look at him and hit the enter button as I shake my head. “Yeah, but a deal is a deal. By next Sunday, I’ll have your score blown out of the water anyway.” He smiles, “I’ll gloat while I have the chance then.” I grin, “You go for it, King Kong.” He laughs as he says, “Whatever you say, Speed Racer!” I laugh and grab my backpack and make my way out. “I’ll see you next Sunday?” I ask, and he tells me, “Couldn’t miss it.” My heart is pounding by the time I leave. 

--

Next Sunday, like clockwork, my mom tells me to have fun at the arcade. But weirdly, it isn’t Shinwon standing behind the counter to greet me it’s Mr. Ko. “Good Morning, Mr. Ko!” I exclaim, and he goes, “Ah! Good Morning, (Y/n)! Bright and early like usual!” He notices me looking around for Shinwon, and he says, “If you’re looking for Shinwon, he’s in the back. He’s getting ready to put a new game out.” I nod as he points to the back room, and I decide to go back there. 

I open the door and don’t spot Shinwon, but spot some old classics I grew up playing. Like my mom’s favorite Pong. When that went out of order, she stopped coming in. Or Ms. Pacman, my dad’s favorite. I hope someday they will come back out on the floor. As I head further in, I see Shinwon struggling with a cardboard box, and I can’t help the giggle the falls from my lips. He whips his head around in my direction, I wave, and he smiles at me, “Here to help?” I shrug, “Am I getting paid?” He rolls his eyes, “Depends if you’re good to help.” “And if I’m good help?” He smirks, “We’ll see.” I shake my head as I place my book bag down and try to see what he’s doing. “Usually, the boxes come off easier, but this particular game is a special order so,... it’s packaged weirdly.” I nod and grab the box cutter he was using and slice down the side carefully. We pull on either side, and it still doesn’t give. After a few minutes of figuring out the best approach, we agree on ripping the box open. When we get it open, he asks, “What do you think?” I grin, "This is gonna be fun." He smiles as I take a closer look at it. Unlike the classics that are stand to play, there are chairs for you to sit and play on the tabletop arcade. On the instructions, it contains a bunch of old classics that no longer inhabit the place: like Pong, Asteroids, and Centipede. I help him wheel it out, and we each grab the two metal chairs and bring them over. He plugs it in and says, “I challenge you to Centipede!” I smirk, “You know I’m a pro at the classics!” He shrugs, “Are you?” 

Two hours later, after playing the different games, he has to return to the counter. Five kids walked up to the register with a bunch of tickets. His dad went home after we came out of the backroom, which left him to run the ticket counter. I watch him from afar and see how kind he is with the kids, and my heart melts a little. I remember being that age and rushing up to the counter to see what I could get. Or if I needed more to get what I want. Hoping that I would have enough time for one more game before my parents came. That Mr. Ko would let me have the prize although I was off by a few tickets. It seems that Shinwon is no different in that department; the one kid was off by five, and he still handed him the fifty-ticket item. I smile to myself. How could I ever get tired of this place? It’s filled with my childhood memories and,... Shinwon. 

As I watch him, I realize I’m in deep with my feelings for him. From his smile to his aura, I can’t help but fall more and more for him each second. He comes back over to me and says, “Sorry about that--” I cut him off, “Don’t be, we were both kids once.” He smiles, and I continue, “It was cute how you cared for them. You reminded me of your dad--” He groans, “Ah man, not my dad!” I shake my head and laugh, “Your dad is like the coolest and sweetest--.” He smirks, “Are you trying to say you find me cute and sweet?” I roll my eyes, “I was going to finish my sentence with ‘old man’. But I mean if the shoe fits--.” He shakes his head, and I laugh. I squeeze the little monkey he gave me that is hanging off of my belt loop. And I notice the pin I gave him is still in the same spot. He notices the monkey is still on me. He smiles, “I see you still are wearing the little guy.” I smile, “It seems you still have the pin.” 

Five more games against Shinwon, and it’s time for me to go home. I start to bid him goodbye when he goes, “Before you go, I know I’m going to regret it if I never ask you. Would you want to go on a date with me sometime? It's okay if you don't want to!” I turn around and look him in the eyes and ask if he is for real. He nods, and I grin, “I would love to, when and where?” He taps his chin with his first finger in thought and goes, “Would the pizza parlor uptown be good?” I nod, “I believe so, around six pm tomorrow?” He nods, “I get off at five, so I can pick you at six?” I nod, “Sounds good to me, King Kong.” He laughs, and I bid him goodbye, and he yells after me, “See ya later, Speed Racer!” My heart is beating out of its chest as I race home. The butterflies in my stomach are unbearable, “I have a date with my crush, Ko Shinwon, tomorrow!” I don’t realize I yelled that out loud until my dad let out an, “Um??” I laugh and scratch the back of my neck, “So uh, when were you going to tell us that? Is that why you always go to the arcade?” I shrug, “Partly, but I also have to defend my title as the champion of Donkey Kong.” He laughs, “Well, I trust you two, but be back home at a reasonable time.” I nod and race to my room, throw my head into the pillow and squeal about it. 

--

At 6 pm sharp, I hear a knock on my door, and I race over to it. I bid my parents goodbye after slipping on my shoes and head out with Shinwon. When we reach the pizza place, he asks, “Are you any good at card games?” I grin and nod my head as we slip into a booth. He pulls out a deck of cards and deals them out. “I challenge you to a game of War!” By the time the waiter comes over to take our order, we are in a heated battle. We only break our concertation to order the pizza and our two drinks. Before we are back in action, firing cards at one another to see who will come out on top. Unlike the last time with the racing game, I come out on top. “I win!” He groans and dramatically falls back into the seat. I laugh, and he smiles as I choose the next game like Rummy, and he pulls a pad of paper out of his deep pockets. “How deep are your pockets in the jacket?!” He grins, “I can hide a whole lot of movie theatre snacks in these babies.” We laugh as we start up the game. We finish the game coming out as a tie with a perfect 500 on either side. “I guess that means we’re even.” I wink at him, “Not for long.” He smirks at me as I grab a pizza slice from the pan. “May the best player win!” He exclaims when we shake hands before we devour our pizza. 

“Winner gets a kiss on the lips!” Shinwon exclaims, and I blush, “Alright but be prepared to lose!” I tell him with confidence. He grins, “Either way, I’m a winner.” Thirty minutes and three pizza slices later, I win the card game. I blush as I realize what’s going to happen. He wipes his hands off on a paper towel. I push the pizza pan to the side, and he reaches over the table. I meet him halfway as he puts his hand underneath my chin and places a chaste kiss on my lips. Before he can get away, I pull him back in for another kiss. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while, King Kong.” I sigh as we pull away, and he grins, “So have I, Speed Racer.” I hide my face behind the cards and blush. He laughs at me and pulls the cards down, “You’re cute.” I give him a small smile and tell him, “I think you’re cuter!” 

Three games full of laughter [a few kisses] and two pizza pans later, we’re, finally, worn out. We walk out of the parlor, and right outside is a small vending machine that flattens coins and stamps them. We rush over to it, thinking the same thing. Luckily, I have two pennies in my pocket as I slip one in and type Speed Racer in cursive on the machine. When it comes out with a hole punch on the top for a necklace chain, I hand it over to him. “So whenever I’m not around, I’m always with you.” He grins and puts it in his jean pocket, “Okay! My turn!” He makes mine, and when it comes out of the machine, he hands it over to me. Placing my hand over it so I don’t see it at first. I open my hands to see a few goofy little smiles on it. And in big block letters, it says, ‘King Kong’. I grin and place it in my jean pocket as he tells me, “It keeps me close to you. I think I like you.” I grin, and peck his cheek, “I think I like you too.” He places his hand over his cheek and throws his arm over my shoulder. Before he places, a big kiss on my cheek. I can’t help but laugh as we walk home together. 

When we reach my house, I go, “Do you want to go to the movie theaters next time?” Shinwon grins at me, and I continue, “Well, I got to see how many snacks we can sneak in with those pockets!” He laughs, and before he parts to his house, I kiss him. He kisses me back, and when we part, it feels bittersweet, “I’ll see you soon?” I nod, and he leaves as I go inside, I hear a loud, “WOOHOO!” And I can’t help but laugh because I have the funniest and cutest date possible. I cannot wait for Sunday,... Maybe I’ll see him before that. I tell my whole family, filled with excitement, “So are you going tomorrow to see him?” I grin at my mom, and I nod happily, “I think so.” 

[fishmongeringstudies]

nine: the tender machine kindness of daily routines and actions whose net worth comes not from their immediately visible impacts but the way your hands learn to steady themselves in the warm flickering light of morning, years after the candles and the ouija board have been put away

being a college student means having to face up to big, harrowing decisions every day such as should i drop this shirt on the floor after i take it off or walk the extra two and a half meters to my laundry hamper? most of the time i opt for the former, although the peculiar thing about leaving stuff on the floor is that the ratio of stuff to floor gradually inverts itself like a body turned inside-out to reveal the soft, fleshy inside until there is no more floor and altogether too much stuff. at that point, there are no more decisions to make. either you pick up all those shirts or make the walk to breakfast in the nude. given that the dining hall is known to be unenthusiastic about the smallest of transgressions like bare feet and people without skin, i doubt they would let me in. unless i seduced them. but it is hard to seduce a building.

the dining hall in this college is named after yet another rich alumnus who, fearing that they would be forgotten when they died and fade away into obscurity, therefore experiencing a second, more significant death, decided to assert dominance over one of the key facilities for survival at their alma mater. the building is short, squat, and emits a faint glow like a convenience store glimpsed from afar at four o'clock in the morning. upon entering the first set of swinging doors, one finds oneself greeted with two more sets of doors and a choice of one or the other. the left door will take you past an office. the right will take you past two more doors. one of them leads to the bathroom. the other leads to hell.

the dining hall appears to have been built on some kind of slope, because once you get past the first door and the second and pass through the gates of reckoning, the path splits again into two rather grand staircases of significant width and height, which lead you some two storeys down to a square-shaped room with a big fireplace perched at one end. it dawns on you then that this, this place hidden under the great yawning jaw of heaven, is the real dining hall. you squint at your surroundings in mild disbelief while awkwardly fingering your phone in your pocket so that the other person waiting in line doesn't strike up a conversation. the path outside looks flat as fuck and yet the stairs seemed to go on forever. the only conclusion: this building is cursed.

other things that are cursed: unripe bananas, misplaced sympathies, birds with teeth. liberal arts colleges. sad novels. people who end all their text messages with a full stop. the last one is a lie.

wow liberal arts colleges are really cursed though. i know what you're thinking. not this again, you moan in an extremely non-sexual way, dragging the heel of your palm down your face. not him again. i am tired of him, you complain. excellent. this makes two of us. but one cannot put something away until you are sure of all its contents. and even now, days and weeks and months later, i'll be brushing my teeth and admiring my reflection in the mirror when i'll find myself abruptly subjected to the blunt force trauma that is delayed realization. memories are like mille feuilles. a lot of effort to make and a lot of effort to get rid of. and if you take the lazy way out, slicing your knife perpendicular to this delicate, thousand-layered monstrosity, you are bound to miss something crucial.

question: have you missed anything this semester? what have you overlooked; what have you let slip you by? look over your shoulder. do it right now. perhaps you will discover the ghost of your deceased great-grandmother, trying to whisper to you her beloved recipe for tang yuan. take everything she says down. you will need it one day. i promise.

these days i'm not scared of anything in my head anymore. that's the nice thing about having fear manifest itself as a thing with skin and some internal organs (at least i assume he has them. to be honest you could tell me he has half a kidney in there and nothing else and i'd be like yes that makes sense, of course you're right) that moves and walks and talks like a person but otherwise has the cognitive capabilities of a chair. it's like playing an rpg horror survival game. only the antagonist isn't hot.

i am though. and so is summer, sweet sticky-skin summer, though i woke up today and it felt like february all over again. it was eight degrees celcius in the morning; eleven in the afternoon. now it is nine. so this is how it is when one is thousands of miles from the equator. one step forward, two steps back. take ten steps in a rough circle and then four steps to the left. tango with me. chase cars with me. we can chase cars all day. i'll wear your shirt and you'll eat mine.

this semester the salsa club held its weekly meetings on friday at 8:45 in the lounge attached to the dorm i lived in. on one such friday i was playing pool in the adjacent room with someone i don't talk to anymore and another i wish i still did but never seemed to find in the same room as myself. it was my first time playing pool. the stick reminded me of sun wu kong, the monkey king and his magical monkey king staff. or was it a stick? the details escape me. the evening escapes me, too. i know at one point one of them left to join the salsa club. i know at some point i cleared the table.

it must have been the third or fourth week of the semester when they convinced me to play pool, because i said yes without thinking the way i never had before that and never will again. back then i was still scared and lonely and to be fair, i was scared and lonely for half of april and most of may, but these are fundamentally different sentiments. back then i was scared of everything. these days i am acquainted with a more academic, nuanced fear; persistent laughter, 500-word moodle short responses sent over text, fists.

the first time i did laundry in the spring i googled "[my college name] laundry machines" because i had to be sure that the laundry machines in this specific basement in this specific college weren't super fucked-up for some reason and i was terrified that they would be and that i'd fuck up even the laundry, dear god, if i couldn't do the laundry then what was the point of trying to do friendship? i threw everything in the washing machine at five o'clock in the morning and dragged it across the white-tiled floor to the dryer at five-thirty. at five-fifty i texted good evening to a friend. at six-twenty-seven i washed my chopsticks.

at six thirty-five i stood in front of my dresser in my room with a freshly-laundered shirt pressed against my face and a spill of sunlight sliding down the left side of my body. i breathed in. the fabric smelled like flowers. like it'd emerged from the cycle of reincarnation, pure and dumb as a baby. i breathed in again. my hands and cheeks were warm. the birds outside my window were screaming in french. in that moment i found that i believed, for the first time since i'd gotten here, in the transient nature of all things. even sadness. even the sneaking feeling that i would never settle into this room with its shitty ceiling light, which turned out to be true, which was paranoia later justified by truth. even you.

then i folded it up carefully, and put it away.

05.29.21

[liugeaux]

2021 = 365 Movies

On January 1, 2021 as I laid in bed watching the oft-forgotten Cameron Crowe film Singles, I said to myself “I wish I was more of a movie-guy. I love movies, but with all the other pop culture stuff I follow, its hard to set aside time to watch a whole movie.” Then I realized, our youngest child had just been born in November and I was enjoying my 3 month long paternity leave and all I had was time. 

I asked myself “What if I committed to watching 1 movie a day for the entirety of 2021? I wonder if I could do it. I could front load the the first two months using all my free time and chip away at the long list of films that have slipped through the cracks over the years.” I might have been sleep deprived because, in that moment, I made a commitment to myself to watch 365 movies this year. 

There weren’t many rules. They didn’t have to be old movies, they didn’t have to be movies I’d never seen before, they just had to be movies and there had to be 365 of them. As I type this on 11/24/2021 I’ve been done for about a week. This means I finished my goal nearly 6 weeks early. Had the Braves not had that magical World Series run, I probably would have finished an entire 2 months early. lol 

I tracked all the films to ensure I was keeping pace, and of course this post is where I’m dropping the list. It was a fun adventure and oddly enough it made 2021 feel really special. Sure, having a new baby, and living in a world finally coming out of Covid lockdowns, already made 2021 special, but taking this trip through some of Hollywood’s best and worst movies, was really the punctuation on an already memorable year.  

Here’s the list. (continued below)

Singles

Birds of Prey

Insomnia

Straight Outta Compton

Alita: Battle Angel

My Cousin Vinny

The Spirit

Focus

Atomic Blonde

Elektra

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Hot Rod

Brave

Spider-man

Spider-man 2

Spider-man 3

The Iron Giant

The Legend of Billie Jean

Venom

Rampage

Galaxy Quest

Boogie Nights

Bringing Out the Dead

Superman Red Son

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Tropic Thunder

Terminator: Dark Fate

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Cars 2

Road to Perdition

Orgazmo

Minority Report

Marriage Story

The Big Lebowski

Soul

Vertigo

Cloud Atlas

Goldfinger

The Godfather

The Godfather Part II

The Godfather Part III

Men in Black International

Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim Uprising

Starship Troopers

Easy A

Big Hero 6

Shaun of the Dead

Hot Fuzz

Paul

The World's End

The Good Dinosaur

War of the Worlds

The Spy Who Loved Me

Zoolander

Zombieland

American Psycho

The Big Short

Death Becomes Her

12 Monkeys

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Lady Bird

Vulgar

The Martian

Panic Room

The Argument

The Little Things

2001: A Space Odyssey

Cars 3

The Gift

Bad Education

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Analyze This

Oblivion

Psycho

Analyze That

Tom and Jerry

Judas and the Black Messiah

The Lighthouse

Big Fish

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Idle Hands

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Jumanji

Superman: The Movie

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Superman II

Nothing But Trouble

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

Undercover Brother

Superman III

Rocketman

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

After Hours

Superman Returns

License to Kill

Robocop

Godzilla vs Kong

Better Luck Tomorrow

Heathers

The Social Network

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Jaws

That Thing You Do

Days of Thunder

Attack the Block

Reservoir Dogs

The Butterfly Effect

American Graffiti

The Princess Bride

Pulp Fiction

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Little Shop of Horrors

The Stand-In

The World's is Not Enough

Jackie Brown

Pitch Black

Howard the Duck

Zoolander No. 2

Zootopia

Mortal Kombat (1995)

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Catch Me if You Can

Idiocracy

Aeon Flux

Street Fighter

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

Alpha Dog

Monster

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Mortal Kombat (2021)

The Mitchell's vs. The Machines

The Goonies

Moonrise Kingdom

Little Miss Sunshine

Thunderball

The Revenant

We're the Millers

Midsommar

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Death Proof

Willow

The Chronicles of Riddick

(500) Days of Summer

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Batman: Gotham By Gaslight

Big Eyes

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Inglourious Basterds

Real Genius

Dune

Alien

The Bourne Identity

Django Unchained

Aliens

The Bourne Supremacy

World Trade Center

Alienᶟ

The Bourne Ultimatum

Tremors

The Abyss

Megaforce

Feast

Gleaming the Cube

Crash (1996)

Alien Resurrection

The Bourne Legacy

Crash (2005)

Rebecca (1940)

The Graduate

Cool World

Prometheus

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Jason Bourne

The Hateful Eight

Alien Covenant

Videodrome

Ocean's Eleven

MacGruber

Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

Riddick

Moonraker

Baby Driver

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Ocean's Twelve

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury

Heat

Taxi Driver

Raging Bull

Hotel Transylvania 3

Almost Famous

Ocean’s Thirteen

Neighbors

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Johnny English

The Towering Inferno

6 Underground

Triple Frontier

Fatherhood

Die Another Day

Luca

F9: The Fast Saga

Fatale

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Fast and Furious

The Old Guard

21 Jump Street

Beetlejuice

Jennifer’s Body

Thunder Force

America: The Motion Picture

The Tomorrow War

The Dirt

Boss Level

Accepted

22 Jump Street

Enola Holmes

Good On Paper

The Best Little Whore House in Texas

Johnny English: Reborn

Strange Brew

One Night in Miami…

Black Widow

Spontaneous

2067

Archive

The Shawshank Redemption

Back to the Future

Rebecca (2020)

Late Night

Willy's Wonderland

The Hunt

Cruella

Dr Strangelove

The Game

Planet of the Apes

Clue

Happily

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Space Jam: A New Legacy

The Babysitter

Fear Street - Part One: 1994

The Dark Crystal

Tower Heist

Gunpowder Milkshake

Escape From the Planet of the Apes

Fear Street - Part Two: 1978

You Only Live Twice

Horns

The Irishman

El Camino

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

Fear Street - Part Three: 1666

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Evil Dead

Quiz Show

Magic Mike XXL

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

Paranormal Activity

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The Maze Runner

The Birds

Four Rooms

Dead Space: Aftermath

Dead Ringers

The Warriors

The Man Who Knew Too Little

For Your Eyes Only

Annihilation

The Suicide Squad

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Rear Window

The Breakfast Club

Arrival

Night at the Museum

Stephen King's It

Labyrinth

Jolt

Ratchet & Clank

The Andromeda Strain

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

RocknRolla

Jawbreaker

Demolition Man

Marshall

The Book of Eli

Fruitvale Station

Monster's Ball

Diamonds Are Forever

American History X

Ed Wood

Hide and Seek

Tenet

Radio Flyer

Tread

Octopussy

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

Best In Show

Flight 93

The Color of Money

Napoleon Dynamite

Vacation Friends

A View to a Kill

Johnny English Strikes Again

Coal Miner's Daughter

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Sicario

The Hudsucker Proxy

Spectre

Conan the Barbarian

Nobody

Ocean’s Eight

12 Angry Men

The Fifth Element

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

A Clockwork Orange

The Haunting

Fright Night

Creepshow

They Live

Pet Sematary

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

The Thing

The Mist

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Trick 'r Treat

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Rosemary's Baby

No Time To Die

10 Things I Hate About You

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Tron

Tron: Legacy

Free Guy

V/H/S

On The Waterfront

The Lawnmower Man

The Exorcist

Corpse Bride

The Cabin in the Woods

Ted 2

There Will Be Blood

Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie

Murder By Death

Walk the Line

The Fly

Dune (2021)

Cube 2: Hypercube

The Scorch Trials

Eternals

Requiem for a Dream

Seeking a Friend For the End of the World

The Shape of Water

Shivers

The Voices

Scarface

Ray

Passing

The Skeleton Twins

Blood Rage

I’m not going to come out and say “you should really do this, you’ll love it!” There were definitely points during the year I openly questioned why I was doing it and how it was effecting other aspects of my life. My DVR got pretty full while I was ignoring most TV. I’m sure my yard could have be better manicured during the summer months. At worst, every minute I spent watching movies was a minute I wasn’t spending with my children.

That’s a terribly negative way to look at it, but ultimately I’m proud of myself. I set a goal, and I met it...no, I beat it, by 6 weeks! What other goals can I tackle? Can I learn another language? Can I learn play an instrument? Can I stick to a diet? Can I stick to a solid podcast schedule? Can I spend more time outdoors? The options are endless. The only question regarding any new goals is, do I actually want to do it? If the answer is yes, I’m sure I can make it happen! 

Well, at least for a year. :)

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Out of My Sight

*James Conrad (Kong: Skull Island) x Reader

*Request: “ @midnight-queen-1 asked: Back again! 2nd request, James Conrad x reader. Reader (can be a journalist, photographer, doctor, or scientist. Your choice) is on the expedition/mission to skull island, she is an old "friend" of James so when a creature of the island takes her as food. James doesn't hesitate to save her from becoming the creatures meal and becomes overprotective of her after because he can't stand the thought of not having her w/ him. Hope this is enough info. Thx! As always and love ya😘❤💓💕💖💗💙💚💛💝💞”

*Warnings: Swearing, drinking, slight violence, injuries, mentions of guns and shooting, death. Let me know if I missed anything.

*A/N: This request has been sitting for a while, so sorry it took so long to write. I skip around the plot of the movie a bit because I didn’t want to just rewrite the entire movie, so sorry about that. Right now I’m working through my requests from here and Wattpad, then I’m going to start writing for My Princess again.

My Ko-fi if you want to support my writing

**********

You swore that you were done with James Conrad, and yet, somehow you found yourself here with him again. The two of you had parted ways once you’d settled in Saigon, James going off to drink away his days in shady bars while you decided to do something worthwhile with your time. You took your experience in the medical field and started practicing with a local doctor, though you were starting to consider it your practice with how often you were showing up and he wasn’t. The two Americans had come into your practice, saying that James wouldn’t take the job if you weren’t on it too. So you found yourself in Bangkok, getting briefed on a mission you didn’t even want to be on. You had a feeling you knew why James was here too; the money was just too good.

“It’s been a while,” James said as you tried listening to the briefing. You were sure all of the military men here had some kind of field medicine training, so you really didn’t know why James insisted he needed you on the mission. He hadn’t even come to you himself to ask, just sending the Americans while you were sure he spent the time in the shady bars he loved so dearly.

“Yes, it has been,” you said, not taking your eyes off of the screen in front of you. The boy from Yale (Brooks, if you remembered right) was talking about their goals, and you didn’t want to interrupt him. “I see you’ve shaved. Must be important for you to do that.”

You could tell James wanted to say something, but his attention was diverted when Brooks started talking about seismic charges to chart the island. “You’re using explosives?” James asked, blunt as always.

“Scientific instruments,” Brooks tried correcting. Even you had to roll your eyes at that.

“You hear that, boys? We’re scientists,” one of the soldiers immediately piped up. You couldn’t help the smile of amusement that drew, even though you knew where James was coming from. If it was simply a charting expedition, they wouldn’t need a tracker, they probably wouldn’t need a doctor. It didn’t make sense for them to be bringing bombs, let alone dropping them on an uncharted island. There was something more to this that they weren’t telling you.

After the briefing was done, James left you. It didn’t even surprise you at this point, so you went to speak with some of the scientists leading the mission - Brooks and San. San was the first to notice you approaching while Brooks was messing with some papers. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” you said, addressing her first.

When Brooks heard your voice, he quickly turned to greet you with a smile. “Hey. Right, San, this is (y/n). She’s going with us as a doctor,” Brooks said.

“I don’t really know why I’m needed, but yeah, I’m a doctor,” you joked, shaking San’s hand. “I do have a couple questions though. Why use explosives for charting? It seems counterintuitive to charting an undisturbed island.”

“The seismic charges will help us to chart the underground structures of the island,” Brooks explained.

“But with explosive charges that just disrupts the surface area, not to mention the damage it will do to the wildlife,” you said, turning to San. She was the biologist, maybe she’d have some interest in that. If she even tried to tell you a halfway decent lie, she’d be concerned about it. “It doesn’t make sense. So, what are you guys really doing?”

**********

You and James didn’t see each other again until you were on the ship to the takeoff point. Weaver was on deck, taking pictures of the soldiers and seemingly having a good time with them. You had just spoken to Packard, figuring out what the soldiers didn’t know and where you could help if you were needed, when you found James. He was just sitting, watching the commotion on deck. “Why aren’t you down there with them?” You asked, sitting next to him.

“I don’t see a reason to be,” he told you, glancing over at you before returning his gaze back to the soldiers. You decided to push even though you knew he wouldn’t tell you.

“Not even with Weaver down there?” James turned and looked at you as if scandalized by even the suggestion. “I mean, you disappear last night and then the next time I see you, you’re returning from the cargo hold with that photographer.”

“I was looking at the containers for the explosives,” James groaned, tilting his head back and hitting it against the wall. “I see you haven’t changed a bit.”

“I could say the same to you, James. I just saw the pattern and decided to leave,” you immediately argued back, even though the last thing you wanted to do was argue. “Why did you want me here? We haven’t spoken in months and then suddenly Brooks and Randa show up to my job saying you won’t go on a job if I don’t go too.”

“You’re the only one I trust if something happens to me,” James admitted.

“Don’t talk like that-“

“I’m being honest. We’re going onto an island with no idea of what we’re facing geographically or in terms of predators. Something could happen, and I only trust you to make sure I don’t die,” James interrupted you. “I’ve never known you to be overly optimistic.”

“Then maybe you didn’t know me that well.”

**********

When the expedition started, things seemed to be going fine. Bombs were dropped, Brooks and San were picking up seismic activity, and the scientists seemed to be picking up the readings they needed. Then two of the helicopters went down.

Of course the solution seemed to be packing everyone onto different helicopters to see what happened. James got in next to you, resting his hand on your thigh as your helicopter went up. You had a couple soldiers in the helicopter, but none of you were prepared for what happened next. 

“We’re going down! Brace!” Slivko yelled as the helicopter began taking a nosedive into the trees. James grabbed your hand and squeezed before bracing for impact. With how rough you landed, you were amazed your group wasn’t more injured. Other than Slivko having a minor laceration to his forehead, no one was suffering injuries you needed to tend to. Once you made sure his wound was properly cared for, you went to join James where he was watching the thing that attacked the fleet walk away.

“Did we just get attacked by a giant monkey?” You asked as James put down his binoculars.

“A gorilla, actually. It didn’t have a tail,” James corrected you before turning. He looked you up and down, checking to make sure you didn’t have any visible injuries. “Are you okay? You’re not wounded, are you?”

“I should be asking you that. I mean, I’m the doctor, after all,” you tried joking. James just looked at you, not even cracking a grin.

“Don’t joke like that. You could’ve died.”

“We all could’ve died. We’re lucky more of us weren’t injured,” you corrected him. So what if you were using humor to cope? He could sue you. “We should get back to the rest of the group.”

James nodded, and the two of you returned to your companions. Slivko was trying to get in contact with the others, while simultaneously freaking out about what happened. Nieves looked like he was about to have a major meltdown, while Brooks looked like he was in the middle of one. San was shaken, and Weaver was obviously trying to hide it as she just stood there next to the downed helicopter.

No one talked about what just happened, much to Slivko’s dismay. While your relationship with James was now tentative at best, he was still the best tracker you knew, so you didn’t question his decisions. What you did question was why he insisted on you travelling right behind him, practically close enough to touch. The two of you had worked together on countless jobs - him often dragging you into them - but he’d never behaved like this before.

Eventually, your group reached what looked to be ruins. Where there were ruins, there were people. Right before you could tell James, Weaver screamed, and then your group was surrounded by people with spears. You lifted your gun like everyone else - except Weaver, who only had her camera - as your group crowded together. 

“Don’t shoot,” James instructed, even though he still had his gun raised. You kept your gun raised, but kept your finger off the trigger. One misfire and everyone would be doomed. Even as the group crowded closer together, James managed to shove you behind him. You glared at him, even though this wasn’t the best time to get upset. Just as you were beginning to accept your fate, a gruff looking man came through the people, greeting you all.

Once you met Marlow and he started talking about his time on the island, it didn’t really clear anything up for you. The only thing that really made sense was the idea that Kong wasn’t the worst thing out there and he was stopping the worse things, but even then, that was a tentative understanding. Then again, you were beginning to abandon the concept of normal, so you might as well accept what was happening.

Before long, night fell and everyone was starting to get settled in. Slivko was immensely amused by Marlow, while everyone else was trying to gain their bearings. You watched as Weaver set up her camera to take a picture of the light phenomenon occurring in the night sky, and as James gave his lighter to help her. You grabbed your bag of medical supplies and went to sit outside of Marlow’s little home, not wanting to see whatever was developing between the two.

You rifled through your bag, finding what you were looking for in record time: a silver flask filled with whiskey. You had painkillers and some local anesthetics, but some pains couldn’t be numbed by medicine. You took a swig of the whiskey, looking at the night sky. It was a shame the most beautiful places seemed to be the most dangerous. “There you are, I was worried when you weren’t inside,” James said, disturbing your peace and taking a seat beside you.

“Funny. It looked like you were busy,” you told him, taking another drink. “You know, you’ve brought me on some pretty wild jobs, but I think it’s gonna be hard to top this one.”

“There won’t be another job after this one. When we get out of here, we’re going home.”

“That’s a lot of ‘we.’ Before all this, we hadn’t even spoken in months,” you reminded him. “And what home, James? Saigon?”

“England. After the things we’ve seen here, the whole settling down thing doesn’t seem so bad,” James admitted. “With the payment, we’ll have more than enough to start again. When that helicopter started going down, and even before then, if something happened to you, I never would’ve forgiven myself.”

“James, I knew what I was signing up for, don’t blame yourself,” you told him. “So, you gave her your father’s lighter. Did she get to hear the story too?”

“She asked about the Royal Air Force inscription,” he said. “Darling, you’re the only one who knows me. We’re just working with her now. Once we leave all of this, she won’t be part of the picture anymore.”

“We’ll see what happens. We still have to get to the north side of the island.” You held the flask to him. “Do you want any?”

“I shouldn’t. We have work to do in the morning.” James put his arm around you, pulling you into his side. A month ago, you wouldn’t have let this happen. Then again, that was before all of this.

**********

“Where have you been?” You asked as James came back into your shared apartment. It was the early hours of the morning, long after he told you he’d be back. You stayed up, worried about him, and here he was, walking in like nothing. You did a quick once-over of the man, glad to see he wasn’t hurt. If he wasn’t hurt, you could be upset with him.

“I was at the bar, like I said,” James said, throwing off his jacket. He threw a stack of bills on the table, letting you know just what he was doing at the bar in addition to drinking.

“You also said you’d be back hours ago. I was worried,” you argued. “So you could do what? Bet on pool?”

“We needed money, I did what I needed to.” James made his way to the liquor cupboard, as if the drinks he had at the bar weren’t enough. You took a breath, trying to calm yourself. You succeeded, until he took the lid off the whiskey bottle and took a drink.

“I’m working at the general practice now. We’re fine on money, James. This isn’t a conversation to be had when you’re drunk.” You walked into the bedroom, locking the door behind you. James tried following, but when he found the door was locked, he knew it was a losing battle. He tried knocking, asking you to let him in, but that didn’t last long before he gave up, going to sleep in the living room.

That wasn’t even the first time you’d had that argument. You didn’t care that he was betting on pool - he pretty much always won and it was decent money - you cared that he came home safe. When he came home hours after he said he would, that’s when you started doubting he would come home at all. You knew he got into a fair share of fights - that’s why he had started going to the shady bars that he didn’t want you to go with him for fear of your safety - and the stakes were higher now.

A week later, you left. Four more nights like that, four more arguments, and you were done. You found a small place you could move into not far from your practice, so you packed your bags and left. You gave James one last chance, that was the last night he decided to not come home when he said he would. So you left. That was the last time you saw him before Bangkok.

You woke up slightly disoriented. You heard James and Marlow talking about a boat to get to the north side of the island, and the previous day came rushing back to you. Kong taking down the fleet, trekking through the jungle, Marlow finding your group, your talk with James. You sat up from your bedroll, taking in the room. Everyone was either already awake or waking up, knowing the day ahead was going to be a long one.

You went with James, Slivko, Nieves, and Marlow to the boat, wanting to make yourself useful. While Slivko worked on the wiring and the engine, you just kind of sat there. It didn’t take long for you to realize there wasn’t really much you could do to help, but you still preferred to sit there and listen to the banter between Slivko and Marlow. James walked up next to you, wiping sweat from his brow. “I think we’ll be on water soon,” James told you. “Then we head to the extraction point.”

“Great, we’ll be out of here in no time,” you told him. “Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, but at least I was here if someone got cut or something.”

“That’s more than enough, darling,” James said, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“What’s going on between the two of you?” Slivko asked as he continued working. “Like, you guys weren’t talking before, but now you’re all over each other. What’s the deal?”

“(Y/n) and I are partners. She was working as a medic when I was in the forces, and we’ve stuck together since then,” James explained. “Except for a few months in Saigon when we weren’t talking.”

“Which, you don’t need to know the reason for,” you jumped in before Slivko could ask.

“Alright. Well, I think I got it. Someone should call the others,” Slivko said, hopping up from the engine block. You nodded, figuring you could at least do that. Finding San and Brooks was easy, but it took a bit longer to find Weaver in the village. When you brought everyone else back to the boat, Slivko was already trying to start up the boat. Once, twice, and then on the third time, the boat started up and you guys were ready to go.

Gathering your supplies and personal items didn’t take long, but as you were pushing off from the little dock, Marlow’s goodbye to the Iwi sobered your little group. Travelling down the river was probably the most peaceful part of your journey, even with the little pterodactyl-looking birds circling overhead. Slivko was able to get ahold of the others on the radio (telling them about your little ‘ploat’), and your group was celebrating. Then things took a turn for the worst.

The little pterodactyl-looking birds swooped on you and Nieves where you were standing near the front-end of the ploat. You felt the talons cut into your shoulder, and you were able to pull a knife from your waistband and stab into the bird’s leg. The bird released you, dropping you into the murky waters below. Nieves wasn’t so lucky.

You were able to resurface close enough to the ploat, just as you saw James and Slivko aiming their guns at the birds before James lowered his. James put his gun down, scanning the water for you. You saw the relief flood his face when he saw you in the water. You were sure he’d jump in to look for you if he hadn’t. “Can you swim over?” James called to you.

“My shoulder’s a bit hurt, but I can try, yeah,” you called back. You got lucky you weren’t too far from the ploat, but your shoulder still burned as you treaded through the water. James and Slivko helped pull you back onto the boat, James immediately pulling you into a hug despite your soaked clothes.

“You’re not leaving my side,” James murmured into your ear as he hugged you. He pulled back, immediately looking you over for signs of injury. When his eyes landed on your shoulder, you could see the worry return to his face. “How bad is the wound? Can you move your shoulder?”

“I was able to swim back here, so yeah. I just need to clean it up. Being in that water probably wasn’t the best thing for it,” you explained. “We should probably keep moving. Can someone hand me my med bag?”

Brooks handed you the bag full of your medical supplies, and you had a fleeting moment of relief that you hadn’t been holding the bag when you got picked up. Everyone was watching you as you grabbed the things you needed: your flask, antiseptic spray, antibiotic ointment, and some bandage wrap. Everyone was still just standing around, watching as you gathered your materials. “You heard her, let’s keep moving. We’re not too far from Packard,” James instructed, coming back to his senses.

You opened the flask, taking a drink before you got to work. It was starting to feel light, so you’d have to calm down your drinking apparently. You took some drinking water and rinsed your shoulder, patting it dry with one of your other shirts. You could tell James was hovering nearby, watching as you worked. “I’ll need some help with the wounds on the back of my shoulder, if that’s why you’re watching me like that.”

“Yeah, I’ll help with whatever you need,” James told you, going to sit next to you. You sprayed the wounds on the front before handing the bottle to James who took care of the wounds you couldn’t reach. You repeated the process with the ointment, and then handed James the bandage so he could properly wrap your shoulder. The rest of the ride upstream was quiet compared to the first half, no one wanting to talk about what just happened. For once, even Slivko was quiet.

It didn’t take long for the ploat to reach the meeting point. You had a moment to regroup while you waited for Packard and his men to reach you. James insisted on helping you out of the ploat, and then refilling your water from the little stream as you waited. You were looking around, wary of your surroundings after the attack. When the underbrush started rustling, everyone went on high alert. Guns were raised, you were pushed behind James, and then Packard and his men emerged from the brush.

Men were missing from the group, but that was expected after the attack. Learning about Kong and the things Marlow told you, you didn’t necessarily blame him. You did warn about what would happen to the wildlife if they dropped the bombs, you just didn’t expect it to be on this scale. “We’re still missing a man. Chapman crashed not far from here. I’m not leaving without him,” Packard argued.

“No way, that’s through Skullcrawler territory,” Marlow started before freaking out about not going. That was where the nest was, and you were on Marlow’s side here. If they were even half as bad as Marlow had been telling you, you didn’t want anything to do with them. Packard ignored Marlow, turning his attention back to James.

“That’s your job, right? You’re a tracker, you’re supposed to find lost men. Help me find my man,” Packard said. James looked to you for a second before looking back at Packard.

“We all stay together, head straight where he’s supposed to be. If he’s not there, we leave. We’re back by nightfall and we leave,” James instructed. Packard nodded, and your group went off to find Chapman. James kept true to his word, keeping you close as you trekked through the jungle yet again. If you weren’t right next to him, he made sure you were within arm’s reach. 

Your group reached the mass grave, Weaver making some comment about seeing enough of them to know one. Now you were entirely in Skullcrawler territory, so you had to tread carefully. There was a small explosion from one of the soldiers dropping a lit cigarette in a field of natural gas, and you didn’t quite remember what happened after. When the Skullcrawlers got near, James made sure to pull you along with him, never actually letting you out of his sight. The Skullcrawler coughed up the half-digested skull with the dog tags, but that wasn’t the end of it.

Randa was the first one to get killed, and then all hell broke loose. There was more gunfire, Packard and his men trying to fight off the Skullcrawlers, and then James saw Slivko was in trouble. James pushed you towards Brooks - though you weren’t sure why he chose Brooks - and took off to Slivko. You were going to run after him, but Brooks held you back.

You couldn’t see much, but Brooks still had to hold you back from running into the chaos. The Skullcrawler was running after James and Slivko, but then Weaver threw James’s lighter into one of the natural gas vents. There was an explosion, larger than the ones before, and the Skullcrawler went down. The coast was clear, so you ran to James. 

“You are so fucking stupid,” you said, voice wavering as James sat up. Before he could say anything, you grabbed his face and kissed him. That just seemed to stun him even more. “Come on, are you hurt?”

“Just sore, you should take a look at Slivko,” James told you as he stood. He held out his hand to help up Weaver, and then you helped him bring Slivko to the rest of the group. Once you got to a relatively safe spot, you started tending to everyone’s wounds. The encounter with the Skullcrawlers left everyone beat up, but no one was hurt too badly. You heard James having an argument with Packard, and when you actually started paying attention, you saw Packard dangling the dog tags of the other soldiers lost.

“Then we split up. Me and my men will go to Chapman’s helicopter, the rest of you can go back to the boat,” Packard instructed. “I don’t care what you say. That thing killed my men, it’s going to die.”

That’s when all hell broke loose again, which was starting to happen a lot. Marlow, James, and Weaver tried arguing that killing Kong would throw everything on the island off balance, but Packard was just concerned about avenging his men. Eventually, the group split off, civilians going back to the ploat, and the soldiers going to Chapman’s helicopter. James led the group back through the jungle, making sure to keep an eye on you. When your group reached a small clearing, you took a break. “I need to get to higher ground to figure out where we are. (Y/n), come with me.”

“Wait, I’m coming too,” Weaver said, following you and James away from the clearing. James helped you with climbing up the cliff face, making sure that you weren’t straining your shoulder too much. Considering he was the one to bring you there, it was a bit ironic. As you looked out at the island in front of you, you couldn’t help but feel amazement at the beauty of the island. Maybe some things that were uncharted should remain uncharted.

James and Weaver looked over the island, James trying to locate the landing point of the ploat. Just when he found it, all three of you saw something that made you stop dead in your tracks. Kong was approaching the cliff you were on. Immediately James moved you behind him, putting himself between you and any potential danger. James grabbed your hand, holding it tight as though trying to reassure you that everything would be okay. Maybe he was trying to reassure himself. As Kong grew nearer, none of you dared to move. You were caught in a staring contest with Kong, until Weaver stepped forward and just placed her hand against Kong’s face. He closed his eyes until Weaver stepped back. The moment of peace was broken when explosions started somewhere in the distance. Packard and his men reached Chapman’s helicopter.

Kong ran off, and your little trio made your way down the cliff face as fast as you could. James immediately went into Captain mode, directing Brooks and San to make their way to the boat and leave if you weren’t back at dawn. Marlow wanted to know what was going on, and the second he heard that the three of you were going to save Kong, he wanted in. Once again your group split up, and you headed back into the jungle, hoping you could get there in time to save Kong.

**********

When you got to Packard and his men, they had already downed Kong. There was a moment where guns were pointed at each other, Marlow had his sword drawn on a couple soldiers, and the argument from before resurfaced. It wasn’t until you had managed to convince Slivko to defect that the other soldiers joined him. You left Packard there to his suicide mission, James giving him one last chance to do the right thing before the group made their way back to the ploat.

Everything that happened next seemed to be a blur. The big Skullcrawler was chasing after your group. Cole dropped his AK and went to sacrifice himself, only to be thrown into the side of the mountain. James sent Weaver off to go send a signal flare for the boat, and the remaining soldiers started shooting at the creature. Kong showed up, and it was on sight with the Skullcrawler. Everyone watched in horror at the events unfolding before them, Kong getting trapped in a wrecked boat and the Skullcrawler trying to take advantage of it. Then Weaver shot a flare at the Skullcrawler, the flare embedding itself in the creature’s face. As it was trying to claw the flare from its face, Kong freed himself somewhat.

In the fight, the cliff edge Weaver was standing on got hit, the ground under her crumbling. You and James watched as she was plunged into the water, James immediately jumping into action even though Kong and the Skullcrawler were still fighting. Not long after, Kong finished off the Skullcrawler. He reached into the water where Weaver had fallen, pulling her out and placing her on the banks before walking away. You trudged through the water, going to Weaver as fast as you could. James saw what happened and got out of the water. 

“C’mon, Weaver,” you said, lifting her upper body up. She’d been underwater for a few minutes, and you needed to get any water out of her system. James kneeled beside the two of you, watching as you worked. It took a minute, but she started coughing up water, coming back to the world. The second she came to, she hugged James, like he was the one who saved her life. Then Brooks and San came on the ploat, having missed everything exciting.

“When word gets out, they’re not going to leave this island alone,” you muttered, resting your head on James’s shoulder. James wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you closer.

“We’re the only ones that know, and I’m not going to say anything,” Weaver spoke up. James nodded, and even though nothing more was said, the agreement was understood.

“So, England?” You asked James, looking up at him. “I’ve never been.”

“I can’t wait to show you,” James said, giving you a quick kiss.

**********

Permanent Tag List: @treatallwithkindness

Tag List: @midnight-queen-1