#but even then that isn't the spider's fault and it's not your fault either. that would be a freak accident

[steakout-05]

as an Australian you American blokes have got to stop talking about huntsman spiders like that. don't diss my weird little lanky wallclimber friends, they're not horrible awful freaks of nature who chase you and bite you on contact. they're actually very docile and timid and they're very reluctant to bite. like, all they really want to do is hang out on your walls or your ceiling and eat bugs all day. huntsman spiders are way more likely to run away from you and go hide away in your pantry than they are to go out of their way to bite you. biting you would probably put them in even more danger than if they just ran away, and if you are messing with a huntsman spider enough for it to bite you, you were likely being an asshole to it. they do not want to bite people! they don't chase you either, not on purpose anyway. the reason it might seem like one is running towards you is because huntsman spiders have pretty bad eyesight and literally cannot see you properly. it can absolutely be frightening and jarring, yes, i would understand as i have arachnophobia and have expereniced the fear of a huntsman unintentionally jumping or sprinting towards me, but they do not want to chase you or scare you. they are trying to run away. they are in the same boat as you, they're scared out of their wits and are trying to avoid danger. huntsman spiders are not these horrible dangerous freaks, they're just little (and sometimes not so little) guys. they can be scary, but all the miconceptions about them are not warranted or deserved in the slightest! and anyway, they're not even "only in Australia". we are home to many huntsman spiders, but they are also present in Asia, Africa and some places in America. they're not even exclusive to this country so i don't get why "only in Australia" gets hurled at them a lot.

actually, the whole attitude Americans have of Australia having weird and dangerous wildlife and the same old "only in Australia!!1!! kill it with fire lol!!!!1!" reddit drivel is pretty shitty overall tbh. every continent on the damn planet has weird and dangerous wildlife, why are we acting like it's JUST Australia you should stay away from???? America has some fuckin strange animals living there, you don't see as many people making a big stupid spectacle out of that. Australia's wildlife is unique and beautiful and wonderful, no Australian wildlife slander in my notes.

[batsplat]

controversial opinion but I don’t think that in terms of rivalries and feuds marc is that interesting. like if you exclude valentino you’re left with who? dovi? they did have exciting on track battles for sure but let’s face it dovi was never really a huge title threat. and their off track relationship as a result had no tension. but who else?

qualified agreement in that, yes, I also don't think marc's slate of rivalries/feuds is all that satisfying... I just don't feel like this is entirely marc's *fault*. I mean, first off, valentino is definitely a positive outlier in this regard in that he was just working overtime in terms of coming up with compelling feuds. he's not quite the spiders georg of fantastic feuds, but he's not far off either. secondly, when compared to the other aliens + dovi... marc is at a very obvious disadvantage in that those guys were all direct peers who already had a lot of history with each other. dovi made fourteen year old jorge cry, twenty year old casey threw a temper tantrum when dani beat him, teenage jorge was judgemental of casey's fan engagement skills, and obviously there's the jorge/dani of it all. even the bits of that diagram that never had any major beef will have at least had a little bit of sizzling tension, like dovi's wariness of dani as a teammate. marc was always going to be on the back foot here - he really could have done with a pol esparagaro-type figure to crack on and become a big deal in the premier class. you need interpersonal history for a strong rivalry, and marc was always working at a deficit by having to start from scratch

this is the thing, right: imagine a world in which marc is born a few years earlier. in your hearts, do you seriously believe he would not have had a major sustained feud with at least one of jorge, dani, casey or dovi? I'm thinking he gets at least 2-3 in all honesty. casey if they ever ended up teammates is practically a given - and even without that you'd have to say it's a near certainty that it would've gone very badly. I mean good lord, casey vs the marc marquez towing addiction feels like it inevitably ends in casey physically assaulting marc on-track at least once. jorge had feuds with literally everyone, so that one also feels guaranteed. dani was a way less prickly character by the time marc got to the premier class but used to be a notoriously difficult teammate - so those two at honda and, again, odds are pretty good you get something going. dovi's a bit more marginal in that it kinda depends on what their respective competitive situations look like - plus dovi was generally more of a single issue jorge lorenzo hater - but you'd still expect it to be at least a little bit snarkier. so yeah, just a straightforward counterfactual - but it should still demonstrate that the picture is more complicated than 'marc marquez sucks at feuds'. there's clearly more going on here

so I kinda feel like there's two interrelated questions here, right. let's break it down:

how high quality are marc's rivalries/feuds?

to what extent can the quality or lack thereof of marc's rivalries/feuds be attributed to him, versus circumstantial factors that were outside of his control?

now with the first question, again, I do agree that right now in his career... marc could be doing better. he's got one major feud - and admittedly it's a doozy, but it's against a guy who has five major feuds to his name. if you look at that without context then it's quite easy to conclude valentino is putting in all the hard work, with little to no contribution from marc needed. apart from that... well, his other big rivalry on paper is with dovi - which, yeah, that one is lacking in narrative tension. the main issue with that rivalry isn't actually the lack of drama per se, it's that it just doesn't go anywhere. it's a bunch of strong on-track battles with no real arc to connect them, just ends up being completely static past the conclusion of 2017. I never got the sense that the two of them felt massively differently towards each other after 2019 than they had a couple years earlier... that's what kills it imo, like you need something to be happening in a rivalry. you need the two parties to have a substantial impact on each other! you can vaguely make that case for 2017 if you really want to push it - but it's just not enough, it only lasts for a few months, and it's lacking in the build-up and pay-off department. there's no real shift in their dynamic, not in terms of their relationship or their title fights or even their on-track battles... their first big battle is dovi beating marc in austria and their last big battle is dovi beating marc in austria, so you can't even say marc's learned how to deal with the red bull ring's final corner better. the only thing that's substantially changed is that marc knows he'll win the title anyway. look how far we've come

then there's marc's rivalry with dani, interesting on paper and they did have a reasonable amount of tension, but obviously you'd be hard-pressed to mention it in the same sentence as any of the real top tier rivalries. it's just over too soon, marc wins it too conclusively, and they don't have a single memorable on-track battle to their name beyond 'that time marc cut dani's sensor cable'. the jorge rivalry isn't terrible - you've got a few strong-to-iconic on-track battles like jerez + silverstone 2013, mugello + silverstone 2014, mugello 2016, austria 2018... but yeah, the tone is really quite muted and reserved by jorge's standards. there's not a massive amount of development in that relationship post-2013, and it just sort of fizzles out over the years. again, really becomes more of a collection of moments than an actual cohesive narrative arc - like something like austria 2018 is a fun throwback, you've got jorge being mad at marc over the aragon 2018 crash that essentially ended his season, but it also doesn't really lead to anything bigger. maybe there was a teensy bit of hope the honda teammate situation would reawaken that rivalry (me and casey both grabbing the popcorn, mind), but jorge just wasn't competitive enough for that to go anywhere

so, who's fault is this? is marc just mid at starting feuds? why hasn't he started more feuds with a bunch of people who showed they were perfectly capable of starting feuds with each other? why hasn't he given the people more to work with? who can we blame for this sorry state of affairs?

now, honestly, I reckon most of the issues with marc's track record can be put down to circumstance and poor timing. I already said that you'd expect marc to be doing way better if he'd been born early enough to run into the aliens in their primes. this is for several reasons. the first reason is that he managed to miss casey entirely - who on paper has to be the alien you'd expect marc to get on the worst. casey has the most rigid belief structure surrounding riding standards and acceptable levels of aggression, he's the least likely to be okay with marc's 'vicious on-track smiling off it' schtick, he had a multi-year vendetta against the exact sort of behaviour in practise and qualifying marc has made a habit of throughout his career, he is a strong believer in the kind of teammate cooperation in development marc memorably eschewed at honda, he would have also found marc's flavour of media games distasteful at best, he's highly sensitive to anything that could be construed as an attack on him... and marc in turn would have been aware of all this and actively enjoyed pissing casey off. in some respects they feel like an even worse match than valentino and casey. marc and casey on the 'alien compatible personalities quiz' score negative points. so that's just poor timing - marc barely missed out on him! you've removed the most irascible alien from the picture, the guy who had the highest quantity of low level beef with the entire paddock... it's already taken away such a major obvious feud opportunity from marc that you have to be a bit more lenient when judging his record

beyond that, let's turn to two interrelated reasons for why marc didn't get more narrative juice out of his other rivalries with that generation: a) the competitive landscape, and b) how the aliens themselves changed over time. the biggest and most important factor is (a). my general stance with feuds is that it's really really hard to start a feud in year one of a rivalry - you simply need more build-up than that. this is incidentally also 100% true of valentino's feuds. biaggi and valentino already despised each other going into 2001 (incidentally the lack of a narrative arc is why that one's also not a top tier rivalry for me), sete and valentino needed 2003 to set up 2004, valentino and casey were more or less fine in 2007 and ditto with jorge and valentino in 2008 and even mostly 2009. you can likewise point to valentino and marc already having enough significant interactions in 2013-14 to set up the volatility of their on-track encounters in the first half of 2015. for a counterexample, check out valentino and nicky hayden - who were title rivals in 2006 and 2006 alone, and managed to get through that entire year with minimal drama and their relationship emerging entirely unscathed. if hayden had still been more competitive after that year, maybe something would have changed... but as it stands, you do need time to build up the kind of interpersonal history for things to get nasty in a meaningful way. see also btw how dani and valentino's rivalry never got properly nasty, despite some build up in 2006

compare and contrast with marc's situation. 2013 is actually perfectly good set up... except then it's immediately followed by a dud of a season, where marc is dominant enough in the first half to make the title fight essentially a non-starter. after 2013, dani really isn't a competitive threat to marc anymore outside of isolated patches, and marc so effectively wrests control away from that team that he doesn't really need to do anything more dramatic. (also a question of the personalities involved - if you paired up jorge with marc as teammates in 2014, that situation immediately looks a lot more volatile.) now, okay, you might query the lack of tension between marc and jorge in 2015... but marc was just too focused on valentino that year, not least because that's the guy he was actually fighting on-track. and he nukes himself out of that title fight fairly early on, so the interpersonal valentino stuff kinda becomes the main source of competitive stakes for him at certain times in that season. 2016 the title fight fizzles out around assen, and then jorge's off into the competitive wilderness himself at first ducati then honda. and with dovi, you've got the obvious problem is that the seasons are in the wrong order. dovi was a serious title threat... but only in the first year of that rivalry, aka 2017. and only for part of that season! at the start of the year, it was really vinales marc was focused on - hence badgering him in pre-season testing - and it really took quite a while for marc and dovi to establish themselves as the two title contenders. as a season, it most closely resembles the chaos of 2006 - which, again, didn't lead to any drama between valentino and hayden in part because it just wasn't as focused on two protagonists. after that, dovi has a poor start to 2018, and by 2019 marc's just flattening everyone. it's basically like if you switched 2003 and 2004 for sete/valentino (though obviously sete's 2003 is a fair bit more competitive than dovi's 2018)... you needed the proper title fight when they were already established rivals. real take - valentino in marc's situation most likely doesn't start a feud with dovi in 2017-19 for the simple reason that he just does not need to. valentino's feuds typically come from some sense of competitive necessity, or at the very least convenience... casey is the strongest example here, where valentino behaves as closely as he ever has to a rational actor and only really escalates that feud when it makes perfect sense to do so. with dovi, given how little threat he posed in 2018-19 and especially presuming there's not a preexisting interpersonal relationship that can be twisted by the injection of competitive stakes (as there was with sete)... why bother?

this, to me, is really the main explanation for prime!marc's feud record. he runs into versions of the aliens that all eventually drop off competitively, and doesn't have to face the same level from them as a collective as he would have in say 2008-09. he doesn't have to face casey. and his sete equivalent is just not as much of a competitive threat as sete was beyond the first year of that rivalry. feuds do need something to get them going - and generally, competing against the same guy across multiple seasons, feeling genuinely threatened by them, is one of the most common and important preconditions. the second alien-related factor is how the aliens themselves had changed. again, we're missing casey... and then with jorge and dani, well, they'd definitely mellowed from where they were at c. 2006-08. there's a few reasons for this. firstly, they grew up. just a little. it's been known to happen. secondly, you do have to mention the sic factor... discussed a bit here and I don't really want to go into too much depth about it, but obviously it does make a difference that jorge and especially dani had gone through this experience where they'd essentially been feuding with another rider who then died. inevitably, that will have played into how they reacted to marc. thirdly, this is a topic for another post but... jorge and dani (and casey) had become pretty determined in 2011-12 not to give the media and fans what they were so desperately yearning for (drama) - in an act of generational solidarity against the concept of beef. it was a bit of a reaction against how they felt constantly misinterpreted by fans and media, as well as essentially being quite contrarian about being incessantly called 'boring' all the time... and a fuck you to valentino and his supporters in the fanbase + media specifically by having things be more civil between the three of them than they had been in times past (plus how they rejected any sort of hard riding). all this means marc has the misfortune to run into versions of the aliens who are actually very much trying not to start feuds. I mean, even valentino wasn't really out to start feuds, it just sort of ended up happening... it's way harder to start a feud with 2013!jorge than it is with 2008!jorge - and the two major jorge feuds that still flare up past 2013 are one where there's already significant history (like, say, jorge thinking dovi was already attempting to 'undermine his morale' when they were both teenagers)

the other situational factor is the time marc has spent in the competitive wilderness. marc was 27 when his arm injury happened. as a point of comparison, that's the age valentino was in 2006 - by which point he has had two major feuds plus a couple more minor ones. in a way, right, you can say marc wasn't doing that badly at that stage... marc is now 31, aka valentino's age in 2010. by then, valentino had added two more major feuds to his collection; he's quite productive in his late twenties you have to say. but marc obviously hasn't been in a situation where he's going to be getting embroiled in great rivalries... the only title he'd been fighting for before this year was champion of crashes. you're less likely to start feuds when you're in the competitive wilderness - there's just not any point and marc quite frankly had better things to worry about. the thing about 2019 is that at the time, people did feel like marc might have been setting up some juicy rivalries... the most common names talked about back then were rinsy and especially fabio. now, as it turned out, rinsy was outshone by his teammate in the one year suzuki was in the title fight, so that probably wouldn't have become a big thing regardless of marc's situation - but fabio... well, I don't know if I think marc would've started feuding with him necessarily, but you'd at least hope for some flavour of interesting rivalry. admittedly, you were giving marc a bit of an unfairly difficult task here, given the age gap equivalent rival for valentino is casey. again, look me in the eyes and tell me you think fabio quartararo isn't harder to start a feud with than casey stoner. starting a feud with casey is easy mode. give me fifteen minutes trapped with him in a conveniently broken lift and I bet you I could make him my lifelong enemy

still, crucially we never got to see that play out. and without the injury, marc would've already had several years to fight pecco and even jorge martin on equal-ish terms, which again just isn't an opportunity he's had until this year. those were some of his prime feud-starting years stolen from him... though also, speaking of casey vs fabio - I mean, that's the other thing, isn't it. whether you want to blame it on this generation of rider personalities or overly professionalised upbringing or the social media climate or whatever, the general willingness to feud with other riders has massively declined in the paddock. even insulting your fellow riders is pretty rare. casey thought the media and fans were too harsh to him back in the day, to put it mildly, but in a lot of ways it'd be far worse for him now. (incidentally, y'know the whole mir apologising to marc thing - can you imagine casey doing that? the correct answer is no, obviously not, how is that even a question, are you insane.) and even that generation was seen as a milder assortment of characters than valentino's lot, who in turn were at times considered oddly friendly by the guys who came before them. there are no max biaggi's in today's motogp. sete failing to threaten to punch valentino after jerez 2005 was considered disappointingly polite by a lot of the media. It Was A Different Time. it's not just that marc's feud rate is flagging - it's the case for everyone, which is how you get acosta offering to try and spice things up between the current title contenders. marc does need someone to feud with, and it doesn't help if they're all being so awfully conflict-averse

so, that's the marc defence case. marc just hasn't had enough plausible opportunities to start proper feuds, and you can't really judge him by how situational factors keep conspiring against him on that front. now, I think that is probably the main reason why it's been quite so dire for him... but still, it's also not quite satisfying to pretend like marc and valentino are quite literally identical in that regard, that they would have ended up with exactly the same profile of feuds in each other's positions. admittedly I don't really believe valentino would have had a radically different number of feuds in marc's career timeline... jorge is if anything the most proactive of the lot, often not even really needing much competitive justification to escalate a feud. still, you do suspect that there are differences in marc's approach that would always make him a little less likely to come up with these high quality feuds. one factor is motivation - valentino generally needs to get more creative in order to motivate himself to win than marc does, cf how much more flighty he gets when things are going well for him. valentino has long had a reputation for using his rivals to motivate himself, building them up as enemies and so on. there's rivals for which this is more the case than others, and it's a bit more complicated than that... but in general, valentino really benefits from these feuds, and is more reliant on them than marc is. marc can also use his rivals to motivate himself, cf 'his record at misano'. the most egregious example is 2019, where he comes in off the back of two back-to-back last lap defeats, hops onto the rear tyres of the yamaha's for much of that weekend until eventually he has that spat with valentino in qualifying that conveniently gives him the fire to reverse the recent trend and snatch victory away from poor fabio on the last lap. that's probably the most proactive he's been about it, and it's the kind of enterprising spirit I'm always happy to see in my riders. but in general... he does also just seem pretty content to reel off victories without any added source of motivation. valentino needs to jump through a few more hoops to get himself going, which happen to be very feud-inducing hoops. marc is far more capable of showing up and just doing the business

there's a related factor here that's a bit more nebulous and it's just... how they go about winning, both races and titles. now, okay, obviously they're both aggressive riders - marc notably so for the entirety of his career, while valentino got more aggressive after leaving honda and having to compensate for a bike disadvantage (having already been a menace in the lower classes). generally marc is the more aggressive rider, with valentino a little happier to pick and choose his moments and only escalating when he really feels he has to. similar peaks, lower baseline of aggression. that being said, valentino relied on one-on-one duels a lot more in winning his titles than marc did. marc's biggest strengths in winning his titles was a consistent and relentless pace advantage over the opposition, where he was able to score higher on his bad days than they were on theirs. his wins were generally more likely to be dominant than valentino's were (though it is admittedly quite hard to tell at times whether valentino was really riding anywhere close to 100% in his honda days) - and the momentum swings in his title fights tend to be because his opponents had made errors. valentino kinda needed the 1 vs 1 thing to be clicking for him to win his titles, because that's what his whole game is built on. 2004 plays out completely differently if valentino doesn't win any number of close duels - obviously welkom, but perhaps even more importantly the mugello/catalunya/assen stretch of the season he entered with a points deficit and left the new championship leader (with his relationship with sete rather worse for wear to boot). 2008 is obviously the poster child for this, as to a slighter lesser extent is 2009, which has been covered elsewhere on this blog and will be again in the near future... marc, by contrast, kinda thrives on losing close duels against his title rivals that are worrying to them because he was so close to victory at his weaker tracks. you can cite various mugello and austria and qatar races here... again, has been discussed elsewhere, but the point is that it's just a bigger part of valentino's game than it is for marc. and if so much in terms of stakes and championship momentum is attached to these single races... well, that's actually pretty much the perfect trigger point for starting feuds. by the latter half of his prime, marc kinda knew he could get away with losing some of these fights, especially against dovi (vs how he allegedly was 'angry' after the rins defeat and really relished the triumphalism of beating poor sweet fabio). valentino could extremely not afford to lose some of these duels if he wanted to win the title, and often ended up souring his relationships with his competitors in the process of winning. again, laguna 2008 is the poster child here - valentino's behaviour in this race is far more significant in determining that relationship's trajectory than him being 'mildly chilly' towards casey for the preceding one and a half years

the last factor kinda feels like the most obvious one: valentino often was just more proactive in his shit stirring, especially off-track. marc tends to do a lot of his psychological warfare on the track, which is discussed in more detail in the mind games post but is obviously reflected in stuff like stalking specific riders endlessly in practise and qualifying. valentino does plenty of on-track psychological warfare and he certainly wasn't averse to the odd towing shenanigans (just ask casey), but he was also more prepared to just fire a few shots in the media. he's capable of more subtlety than he's sometimes given credit for, had a pretty good feel for escalation... which can actually be quite frustrating, because at times you have to take his rivals at their word when they say he was being mean about them in the media - not always easy to find actual examples of that! he'd also get creative about how to exert pressure on his rivals - for which one of the more obvious examples would be getting proxies like his crew chief jb to do the mudslinging on his behalf. still, it shouldn't be too controversial to say he's more likely to attack his rivals directly in the media than marc is - who ramps up the subtlety all the way and usually just gestures vaguely in the direction of saying something that could be a snide remark... but isn't really direct enough to actually be a clear attack. now, if you set baby casey or baby jorge on the case, notoriously sensitive characters that they were, there'd still be a decent chance they take offence at the sort of thing marc says about his rivals... but as it stands, marc clearly prefers this less obvious approach, and this current lot isn't going to call him out on it. and yes, obviously sepang 2015 and the repercussions thereof will have strengthened marc's conservatism in this regard, a wish to avoid any further drama paired with a desire to show that valentino was the problem in that particular rivalry by avoiding any further feuds. and if marc's less likely to be proactive in media mudslinging and is also less likely to find himself in the sort of race that burns interpersonal relationships... well, it's not surprising he'd be less predisposed to feuds, is it

there's some other stuff we could bring in here, like valentino's tendency to play an active role in narrativising his career that fortunately just happens to also makes feuds more likely (topic for another post currently in the drafts). you could talk about how marc is less sensitive than jorge or especially casey, how he's more likely to brush off criticisms and then commit himself to on-track revenge. how he has a lot of low level beef with other riders that has just never quite been given the space or opportunity to grow into a proper feud. how jorge is more impulsive and is likelier to start fights immediately in response to a perceived slight, versus marc who is far likelier to bottle things up. in general, though, I still put most of the blame on circumstance. while valentino is definitely the frontrunner in the feuding department, there's no single correct way to go about starting your feuds - and jorge, for instance, has really showcased an alternative approach that can also yield some very positive results. marc should have been given more opportunities to figure out his own way to start up multiple narratively complex rivalries/feuds. he has some traits that are well-suited to a strong profile of rivalries and feuds, from his on-track aggression to his tendency to play games in the media to his ruthlessness to his ability to take defeats personally and feel threatened by rivals. the towing thing. his behaviour as a teammate. how uncompromising his approach towards riding is. there's a lot of strong stuff there, it just hasn't been given the chance to shine as much as you'd like

all that being said... he still has time! there's no reason to believe next year won't give us what we hope for in that regard, as long as that's a reasonably competitive title fight. and I don't think it'd be fair to pecco and marc to attribute any heated rivalry between them completely or even mostly on valentino - they have enough reasons unrelated to him to desperately want to beat each other. if anything, the valentino factor is unfortunately more likely to make them both a bit more restrained in that regard, wary of the drama of it all... but here's hoping! and they've already built up a bit of history now, some significant on-track encounters - I'd say that in an ideal world they've done more than enough prep work for them to get to feud territory next year. the other obvious name is pedro, a charmingly genre aware child with what a rather pronounced scepticism towards marc specifically, who feels like he would not only be up for a feud with marc but has quite possibly already game-planned what that feud would look like. hey, you never know, maybe I will successfully barter away my soul to finally make yamaha competitive again... let's see if we can try to get that depressed frenchie interested in some proper rivalries once he's back in the game. hopefully, marc still has a few competitive years ahead of him - and hopefully, he'll also get some help from the other side to get something narratively compelling going. I believe in him! remember, valentino pissed away two entire years in his early thirties but still managed to start his most long-lasting and emotionally devastating feud at the age of 36. isn't that inspiring? it's never too late to burn bridges. I for one hope marc still has something rancid in store for us

[mlmxreader]

I'm Still Here | Kyle Gaz Garrick x gn!reader

『••✎••』

↳ ❝ Can I request the prompt “I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me.” with Gaz please?

Thanks ❞

: ̗̀➛ Gaz isn't going anywhere, he's never leaving... he just wishes that you could see him.

: ̗̀➛ major character death, swearing, injury detail

↳ DNI if you interact with rape porn, proship, profic, DDNE/dead dove, etc. stay the fuck away from me <3

•───────────────★•♛•★──────────────•

Gaz sat on the kitchen counter, watching you carefully as he idly kicked his legs, the backs of his heavy combat boots hitting the wooden cupboards but without a single sound. His hands planted firmly on the marble counter top as he dared to smile.

He loved to watch you so much; to see you go about your day and to get better and better every day.

The last few months had been so tough on you, Gaz felt so awful; seeing you stay up late every night, crying and sobbing and wailing until you passed out. You would sleep until the afternoon, wake up, and then spend all night either in bed or sitting on the sofa crying and snivelling.

If he had been able to, Gaz would have cried himself; he promised that he would never hurt you, that he would always protect you. But he had failed you; he couldn't protect you any more, he couldn't keep you safe at all.

It was all his fault.

But seeing you now... vibrant, full of life, singing along to old Sodom songs. It did bring a smile to Gaz's face as he leaned back a little, folding his arms across his chest. He listened keenly to the sound of your voice, and watched you like he always used to.

His dark brown eyes completely and utterly focused on you, and only you; as if you were the only thing that mattered in the world.

He reached a hand down to his stomach, feeling the cold gush of nothing as a soft draft seeped through the open and gaping hole; the jagged edges and bits of organ that hung and clung onto the bottom. The burn marks around the inner rim.

He frowned. He thought he was going to get used to it after a while, but not anymore.

He wished you would look at him, that you would meet his sunken and empty eyes; he wished you would put your hand next to him, and feel the cold spot that had formed there.

They seemed to be all around him these days, cold spots and flickering lights.

But you hardly seemed to notice. He would scream at the top of his lungs, call your name as he stood in front of you, and you didn't even hear him; you didn't even see him standing there with his voice breaking and hoarse.

He slid himself off of the counter, his heavy duty boots making no sound as he paced around you, nudging your cup slightly so that it wouldn't fall. Flicking the spider away from the tap so that you didn't accidentally touch it; he knew how much you would have hated to startle the poor thing.

But then the phone rang, and Gaz frowned as he looked at the caller ID; Price. You picked it up, sniffling.

"Hey, John."

"Hey," Price sighed. "How you holding up?"

You shrugged, swiping a hand down your face. Gaz knew you were about to lie, you always did that when you were lying. "I'm okay... I'm okay..."

"The funeral's next week," Price told you. "You think you can make it?"

"I have to," you scoffed. "He was... Gaz is everything to me. I have to be there."

Gaz cleared his throat, watching as he tried to put his hand on your shoulder, only for it to sink right through. "Don't lie to him, darling. Please. He can help you."

But you didn't hear a single thing. "Look, John, I appreciate the whole caring, considerate bullshit you have going on, but I don't need it right now."

Gaz frowned, shaking his head as he begged for you to open up and to talk about it; you didn't have to suffer silently, and nor did you have to suffer alone but... but then he looked at the picture on the wall, and he sighed heavily, knowing why you were being that way.

You had always been one another's confidants and most trusted friends; there were things that you would only talk to Gaz about, just as there were things that he would only talk to you about. Forever joined at the hip. The picture on the wall, taken just after you had gotten together, only reminded him of that.

You looked so happy. So comfortable.

He paced around a little more, only to pause when you called his name.

"Kyle, I dunno if you can hear me," you murmured. "But if you can - I love you, I'm never gonna forget you. You know that, right? I dunno... I dunno if you're here, or if you've fucked off somewhere, but... I don't wanna bury you. I really don't, I mean how... how do you bury your best friend, your husband, and act like you're alright?"

Gaz swallowed hard, shaking his head as he wiped his aching eyes and moved back to you; he put his hands on the side of your head, despite his fingers sinking into you like he was made of nothing, and pressed his lips to your temple. You didn't feel anything, didn't even flinch or wonder why it had gotten so cold suddenly.

He sighed as he pulled away, moving to stand in front of you even though you couldn't see him. "I'm never leaving you. I'm not. I love you. I'll wait for you."

"I love you," you whispered, closing your eyes and sobbing quietly. "I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me. Please... please... Gaz, pull a pet sematary for all I care, just... come back."

"But I'm right here," he told you. "I'm already here. I'm not leaving you, I'm not going anywhere. I just... I wish you could see me. I wish you could hear me."

You moved away, shaking your head and making your way to the sofa, leaving your phone on the counter; Gaz followed, not wanting to leave you alone for even a second.

He loved you.

He wasn't going anywhere.

[chaoticace2005]

Thinking about episode 4 and what's to come with episodes 7/8, the Angel-Charlie-Sibling part of my brain really wants Angel to be the one who comforts Charlie. To both to really nail in his character growth as well as bring things full-circle.

In episode 4 (and before that), Charlie is the one to try to reach out to Angel. She's the one who thinks he has the capacity to do better if he tries. And we see with the faces he makes in episode 5 that it means a lot to him. In episode 4 the whole mess with Valentino happens but she's still the one who asks Husk to make sure he's safe. She's the one who apologizes.

Now we have post-episode 6. All hope seems loss. Similar to Angel in episode 4 she's just too tired. Everything is wrong and she's been using a mask for so long. Now the only thing she can do is cut herself off from everyone. If anyone is going to understand what she's going through it's the spider-boy.

Also, Vaggie seems to be gone. Or at the very least, she's not talking to her. In episode 4, we see Angel hand off an emotional Charlie for Vaggie to deal with and put to bed. But if there is no Vaggie right now that can't even be a fallback. Even in episode 6 when Niffty cries he doesn't know what to do and hands her off to Husk. Emotional shit is hard for him to deal with, which makes sense given the fact he's used to acting for so much of his life. Having to be genuine with your feelings is something he probably isn't used to.

Now, with Charlie we've seen that she needs for this to work. Episode 5 really nails in how much, and throughout the entire show we've seen how much hope she has that it will work. She needs to save her people ("more than anything"), now she's back from heaven. The system seems like a lie. And it seems like she just invited death to their doorstep. She still doesn't know an angel was killed in the last extermination, so I'm sure she blames the upcoming extermination as her fault. She talked to Adam. Adam said NO (with a guitar solo) and followed it by saying "killing is pretty fun actually, we'll be back soon :)" She went to have a meeting about saving her people and left it feeling like she doomed them.

The hotel was probably the only thing she was holding on to, and we see in the beginning of episode 5 just how much. The extermination deadline has her freaked out. And beyond the upcoming extermination being part of the plot, it hasn't been something she personally has talked too much about. If she feels like a "failure" in episode 7, this can also be something touched upon.

Everything seems to have gone wrong from her end, and for Angel to just come in and be like "no, actually, my life is so much better. I'm not living with Valentino. I have friends. I'm being myself for once." would just be so cool. Like, yeah, he's not in heaven, but he's not necessarily in hell anymore either. Plus the change from episode 1 where he's like "I'm here for a free room, crack is expensive," would really bring this all around.

I just need more sibling Angel/Charlie. With Molly being a cameo in heaven, I need Brother Angel to happen. He lost one sister, but he has this one. And Charlie has been acting as support for everyone for so long, she deserves the chance to have someone support her too (well, someone outside of Vaggie because that probably wouldn't be too well received right now, so Charlie really lost the only person who she relies on.) And Angel has been the one getting support, so for him to go around and offer it instead would really be a cool way to connect this all back. She believed in him, now he's there to believe in her.

[taurder]

Hello! Found your blog recently and it's just so good, I just wanted to leave a request for Miguel and a (ftm) reader who just started a relationship and someone finds out?

Their relationship being quite under the radar, but if someone knew what to look for, they'd notice? Perhaps being caught while being affectionate towards one another? If that's not your thing, it's alright, thank you anyway!

ftm!top!reader x miguel o'hara

contains: implied spider-person reader, nothing nsfw, just a little implying. ftm reader but very mild?

note: thank you so much! and i hope you like it, i thought the idea was cute but i realized too late that the reader being ftm isn't as obvious? maybe? still, first sfw thing here, so have at it.

Is it peter's idea or you and miguel seemed different? not in a bad or concerning kind of way, and you had changed this past year but he didn't meant that. he has seen miguel being relaxed, he probably is one out of five people who has actually witness a genuine smile plastered in the face of the headquarters' leader, and even so that didn't happened regularly enough. and still there he was: full on costume as always, towering over you and crossing his arms as he usually did when he was giving a lecture about a mission going wrong, smiling.

and usually peter would take a glance at the room and either step in to try to convince miguel to tone down his anger or he will continue on walking, just hearing the screams from afar, depending of the spider-person receiving the lecture. but now what made him suddenly stop was seeing the smile miguel was showing. his eyes went wild because it was clearly his you screwed up the mission pose, and still he was just rolling his eyes, smiling easy as you seemed to tease with your usual grin.

maybe miguel was just in a good mood (was that even possible?) or he has just finished lecturing another hero and so his pose was like that even though you didn't mess up anything. peter smiled not entirely convinced but continuing on his walk, more slower now. he was about to forget about the interaction he witness when you walked right pass him, a big smile on your face.

"hey, all good?" he asked in reflex, as he did to anyone who walk out of a conversation with miguel. "uhm? oh yeah, i got lectured because an anomaly made a big fuss in the containment room. kinda my fault, see you at lunch?" peter stopped again while you waved goodbye, already shooting webs and getting out of there. he opened his mouth and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. that upbeat attitude and smile wasn't the usual demeanor of someone who just got yelled at, right?

jessica then made a comment to peter while they were at the cafeteria, several days since the meeting. "wasn't that miguel's dinner?" you were sitting two tables away from them, having a conversation with another parker and a spider-robot while eating a sincronizada out of a disposable food container, the exact same one peter had give miguel half an hour ago, the letters MO written at the lid by the cafeteria man who always send out something he thought he would enjoy. but there you were, devouring the cheese, ham and avocado in-between the tortilla. "so? maybe he wasn't hungry and gave it away" peter answered back, but now his eyes wouldn't stop looking at you.

days passed without thinking of that whole interaction, but then they were all called to a quick briefing about new discovered universe and a warning to be careful there. he was just about to leave like the others when mayday made a cute hiccup sound and he needed to show miguel. he turned, holding her in arms already voicing out the spider-man's name when his eyes catch up something quick. miguel's hand pinching your side just as you were walking away, both of you sharing a look and a playful smile (again).

it was casual, almost friendly if people didn't paid attention to both you and miguel's expression. but peter did, even if he continued on his rambling, demanding the attention of the taller man as you walked away, the brown eyes of the man staying a little longer on your figure before paying attention to peter.

"what was the last time miguel offered you his food?" point taken. they didn't talk any more of it, but now that they both were on the same understanding that miguel was acting different it was like every single detail was suddenly cristal clear in their eyes, pointing to the same conclusion.

to the way you seemed to always be near the wing in the headquarters closer to miguel's control room, to the way his eyes would focus for more seconds than intended in you when there was another briefing. one day, and jessica wishes she hasn't but she saw you two leaving the bathroom almost at the same time, him with slightly swollen lips and not exactly put together hair, and you with a cocky and satisfied smile, if she had been suspicious now this was full confirmation. they both noticed miguel's much calmer attitude too, not quite bubbly all around but at least he was less intense and wasn't snapping at people left and right anymore.

"i know two dorks in love when i see them" stated jessica after some weeks, more and more details just piling up after the other, to the way you would smile whenever someone mentioned him, or how miguel would only calm down when his eyes found you after returning from a mission. now both jess and peter were walking to the control room after being called there, the subject being brought up as it always did when discussing o'hara nowadays "...and honestly good for them, at least miguel isn't acting like he has a stick in his ass and is now actually getting something up–" the two heroes stopped, about five meters far from the entrance, just watching as you fully kissed their leader.

he was sitting on top of a desk with you between his legs, and even like that he had to lean slightly down so your mouths could meet properly. it wasn't heated, but there was intimacy in the way your slim hands were on his neck, fingertips touching his hair as his own right hand was at the desk, his left grabbing your arm, caressing with his thumb and enjoying the kiss fully with his eyes closed. peter turned then, taking jessica's shoulders to do the same as they both walked away.

"he's going to hiss at us for not showing up" they both laughed wholeheartedly, having just been presented to the confirmation of their suspicions "let the grumpy vampire enjoy himself, pete, he has bigger concerns than us right now".

[howlingday]

RUBY ROSE RANKING: BUGS

Ruby: Hi, guys! I hope you're ready for another ranking, because we've got some bugs to choose from. Today's gonna be a good day!

Ants

Ruby: Honestly? C. I don't like them, but I can't fault them for being who they are. Like, it's annoying how many there are, but they're also kind of the baseline bug. Somebody says bug, and it's either them or flies you think of. They're a C if you're outside, maybe a little lower if they crawl on you, BUT THEY ARE A FUCKING F IF I FIND THEM IN MY HOUSE! FUCK YOU! KNOW YOUR FUCKING PLACE!

Bees

Ruby: S. Hands down. Like, I used to be afraid of them, like we all were, but- Come on, guys. If a bee is coming at you it's because YOU fucked with it somehow, and you have to own up to it. Let's be real. Plus, it's hard to be mad at them after seeing that video of them landing. We've all seen it. They crash into the ground and stumble around like they've got a concussion. They're little idiots and I love them.

Beetles

Ruby: Mm... A. No, wait, S! They're so awesome! They're those kinds of bugs that you see them, you don't freak out because they are so badass and you wanna pick them up. And then you have a friend. Really. Beetle? Friend!

Butterflies

Ruby: Below ants. D. Real talk, the caterpillar should have stayed the way it was. Butterflies are- They suck. Some of you are saying they're harmless, but it's not about being harmless. It's about being trash, which butterflies...

Moths

Ruby: ...and moths....

Cicadas

Ruby: ...and cicadas- No, wait, fuck cicadas especially! Noisy little losers! I was gonna be nice, but, no, they get an F. If you're a bug with wings that's not a bee, you're going into the D pile. Unless you're a cicada...

Wasps

Ruby: OR THIS ASSHOLE!

Flies

Ruby: OR THIS ASSHOLE! FUCK ALL YOU FLYING FUCKERS!

Caterpillars

Ruby: Caterpillars~! S~! ...Wait, no. No, I've seen the way you guys hurt plants. A. It's cute until it isn't.

Cockroaches

Ruby: ...C for Cock. I'll be honest, I haven't really had any problems with cockroaches because I don't get them in my house. It's just a bug to me. I don't have infestations because I don't live in a fucking trash heap.

Grasshoppers

Ruby: These guys? B. Just don't jump into my house. Or my face.

Ladybugs

Ruby: I would say B, but I've cleaned up too many of these assholes to put them any higher than C. Sure, they're fun-looking, but when you have to clean up after their corpses every fucking year- And people who live in areas with a lot of ladybugs will get what I mean! Just pull back the curtains one day and there they are. THOUSANDS of dead ladybugs!

Mantis

Ruby: A. They're cool, but they're too noodly. It's not S for a reason.

Mosquitos

Ruby: I would put you in F, but to be honest, I don't even want to put you on the board. Like, people are arguing whether or not we should band together to ban YOU. And the only thing holding us back is how important you are to your ecosystem. You're not a bug. You're a freak, and F would be way too generous for you. TRASH. Bottom tier!

Snails

Ruby: SNAIL~! How'd you get on the list~? Oh, who cares?! Instant S~! You're always welcome in my tier list~!

Spiders

Ruby: S. Spiders don't scare me. Wait, no, A. They're cool, but they're very inconsiderate about where they put their webs so they don't make you swipe at your face and go SPSPSPSPSP! Every summer in the garage. A.

Stick Bugs

Ruby: Who's this little idiot? Stick bug? Who is this? Eh. B. You're only here because people like you enough, and that's why you're above C. Sorry. All you have going for you is being in a meme people like. You don't do anything for me except distract people from the real hero of the story, the BEES, and- You're pathetic. You're nothing. No talent!

Worms

Ruby: ...Gonna be honest, I feel bad when I see a worm. Not a big fan of worms. The only time I see worms is when they're dead OR when they're dying. Stay in the dirt where you belong! Knowing you exist without seeing you? A. If I see you ever? F! I'll meet you in the middle and put you at a C. That's fair, right?

[snootlestheangel]

NikGraves? They’re slowly becoming one of my favorite ships

This is gonna be a lot like the last one just without Price so it'll be interesting to see how that changes the dynamics

Feel free to submit ships or other questions about the ship like "Who takes the hottest shower?"

Who was the one to propose? Graves. He knows when he likes something and isn't going to shy away from keeping it

Who stressed more over wedding planning? Still Nik. I can see Graves being stressed at first but then he mentions it to a few of the Shadows closest to him and boom! He's got like a professional wedding planning team.

Who decorated the house? Graves. Nik wanted to but Graves has so much gifted to him from his Shadows they had no choice. Of course, the only stuff that goes up is stuff Graves likes. He's got class, after all.

Who is more organized? Once again going off the idea that Graves is really good at keeping up appearances of being organized, but it's Nik that's keeping track of stuff. They make an incredibly well-functioning duo which scares people. Truly a power couple

Who suggested kids first? Still Nik as a genuine topic. Graves gives in pretty easily, especially when they find the cutest little girl and take her in. Now, all I'm picturing is Graves waltzing into Shadow Base with their little girl just proudly showing her off. Idk why this is a thought I had with this, but Graves calls Nik his "big bear" cause like, duh? And it kinda sticks until they adopt their daughter and then suddenly he's "Papa Bear" and she's little "Pooh Bear". So of course Graves got her a little bear onesie complete with ears on the hood. And she's running around on the base, and the Shadows are all 'screaming' "There's a bear loose!" and it takes a bold Moose to rein the terrible monster in *I am not sorry, Mike :D* Another super cute idea relating to NikGraves and their toddler: Graves, holding her up like Simba in that one scene: BEHOLD, A CHILD! *cheers and screaming from the Shadows. There are some of them crying* *Graves could not be happier*

Who's the cuddler? Nik is still the cuddlier one. Graves gets dogpiled a lot during the day, but poor Nik has no one to cuddle "except for you, lyubov ;)"

Big spoon/little spoon? They interchange a lot, but Graves does his best to be a big spoon, even if he secretly melts when Nik just wraps around him from behind.

Favorite non-sexual activity? Horse back riding. I dunno I just see them doing that for some reason. They continue going to the same place after adopting 'Pooh Bear' because there's a special program for young families (ie families with small children) and she's just giggling madly while riding the cutest pony. (This idea has possessed me. This is your fault, @mike-like-t-scream all yours! We're just trading brainworms at this point, aren't we? First it was you with Moose, then me with the fucking YouTuber AU, and then you with Graves, and now me with NikGraves and their toddler daughter)

Who cooks? Graves. He knows how to feed his man. Mostly cause his Southern ass would drop dead if the love of his life hadn't eaten properly all day

Who comes home drunk at 3am? Nik on the rare occasion, but if there was a party with the Shadows, it's Graves or one time it was both.

Who kills the spiders? Nik, but he's under watch. I genuinely feel like Graves is the type of mf-er to have been like "Oh, yeah, guys I got this" during his recruit days, only for him to have been bitten and break out into a horrendous allergic reaction. Nik and Graves both don't to risk him having another allergic reaction like that

Who falls asleep first? Even though Nik is a pretty chilled out, sleepy looking kind of guy, he's genuinely so bad about sleeping. Look at that man and tells me he gets the recommended amount of sleep at night, I fucking dare you. SO therefore, Graves always passes out the second he hits the mattress. He's either 100 or 0, no in between.

A head-canon? Graves actually has a few siblings, and he's still relatively close to his family. Close as in he enjoys visiting on the holidays and for special occasions but other than that, they don't really talk much. Not for bad reasons, just more like he and his siblings all grew up and have lives of their own now. His family members were not fans of Nik, at first. Especially Graves's parents. Hell, this guy's probably a good ten years older than Graves if I had to guess, and which means Graves's parents are about the same age distance apart, assuming they were in their twenty's when they had Phil. It took a while for them to all warm up to Nik, which he probably expected, but they were never outright mean to either Nik or Phil. His mom definitely voiced her concerns, and his dad definitely threatened Nik (to which Nik treated it with such seriousness and he like shook Graves Sr.'s hand with a grim "With my life, I will protect him" to which Graves Sr. is like "oh yeah, this dude's chill!"). ALSO Graves is definitely a middle child. He gives off such strong feral middle child vibes to me, I just... He's the middle child, I promise.

Do they have any rituals? Graves's rituals for safety, fun, and winning during the Shadow Olympics and Nik's stretches for safe flying.

Who has the most patience? Nik, obviously. This actually concerns his parents-in-law cause let's be honest, the Graves family is probably a bit messy and they all have pretty short tempers with each other. Meanwhile Nik's just chilling, he's vibing with the old family dog while his husband and brother-in-law are wrestling over the last burger, as if they both aren't in their forties.

Gif that sums up the relationship:

*is still sick* Hehe cats

[writingonesdreams]

Avatar 2 first impressions

Spoilers ahead

A visually stunning movie with three main parts. The longest middle part focused primarily on the world of the sea, the breathing (reminded me of Wimhoff breathing techniques that got so trendy during the pandemic), the environment and sea life. Enchanting water scenes, I loved it.

The tukun whale like hunt was chilling to the core. You get these majestic intelligent creatures being killed for fun, sport and an anti age serum and it was heartbreaking. Like Seaspiracy. Impressive way to remind you what's happening to our seas.

I was missing Jake and Neytiri a lot. I loved them in the first movie and I loved all their scenes, but the focus decidedly shifted from them to their kids, which was...intentional on Cameron's part I guess, but I didn't like it. I'm too old to resonate with teenage narratives and their whining of "it's so hard to be special!" and "they just seem me as an outcast cause of my fingers" was annoying as hell. Like Jake was a Sky person, a human in artificially made avatar body - that's hostility and change your ways difficulty on another level. And he still made it as a warrior, chief and a legend. I guess it's unfair that they were born with these prejudice by no fault of their own...but damn, you would think they would be more secure in their idenity and who their dad is and what he achieved. Torukmakto for hell's sake! (The scene with Neytiri roasting Ronal for speaking disrespectfully to her husband was badass. Go Neytiri. You chose a pretty cool guy.) Human legacy is a shameful thing here with all the terrible destructive stuff they do, but Jake did what he did as a human, he was chosen as a human and for me that sends the message that there is still something good in humans/humanity, with individuals like Grace and Norm and those who fight for Pandora and nature. Like, get over yourselves having 5 fingers or cool powers no one else has.

Spider being a human boy so deeply entangled with the Na'vi culture also seems to make a point about this. Yes, humans are the main antagonists in Avatar, and they do horrible things, but Spider shows it isn't being human that makes you bad - it's what you are taught and what you ultimately choose to do with it. Being a Na'vi didn't make Quaritch a better person after all, even when he was learning a bit more about them.

Idk all these teenage idenity angst was just incredibly childish. Maybe it's justifiable for them being teens and all but seriously, why are you complaining you are special? I will admit they did adapt pretty well to the new sea world. They do take after their dad ;).

Jake has a very interesting conflict going on as a father. On one hand he is the legendary warrior, prone to life threatening downright suicidal stunts to do the right thing or fight to save the day. And his sons are very eager to follow his footsteps and "live up" to him. And Jake is understandably...not okay with this. He is scared. He wants to keep them away from the main action as scouts. Reviewers have been complaining Jake is a bad parent, that he had too much of a military approach and was hard on them, but wasn't Jake making the best of the situation? Invaded and in a secret attacks war on humans, trying to keep them all alive?

His distance and conflict to L'oak especially is reflecting this. Jake is teaching Neteyam right now, having him on flights and leading scounting missions from time to time. He is not ready to let either of them fight on their own, he is making baby steps of teaching the oldest, when L'oak comes with his reckless missions to prove himself. Jake just wanted to protect them longer. They were going at a different pace.

The refugee storyline is interesting and parallels the first movie. Coming to a new place, having to learn new ways and rules, adapting.

Jake didn't bring the distaster on the Metkayina from what I can see. Their tukuns were already hunted for the anti-age serum. They were coming either way, that's why that showed that scene and explicitly said the whole current invasion was financed by it. Jake and his family brought Quaritch after them, but a confrontation would have come because of the tukuns regardless. I don't know why so many are blaming Jake for all of that, he was just trying to protect the Omaticaya tribe and his family, by hiding them away.

Quaritch had an interesting arc. It was cool seeing Spider and the Na'vi way and nature having an effect on him - like Quaritch not killing any of the villagers on the Islands, with his personality and temper? Because Spider asked him? That was wild. And them giving up Kiri as his only advantage over the Sullys in the final to save Spider's life? I wonder if there is any chance of Quaritch ending up helping Pandora or Jake in the future. He didn't mind killing any of the wildlife/tukuns though...

That scene with Quaritch finding his dead original's body was chilling. That final there was epic.

The ending battle was way smaller in scale and too focused on the kids and their inability to save each other. Big applaud for Jake and Neytiri managing to save them so many times though. When it came to facing humans and Quaritch, they both lived up to their legendary warriors reputations from the first movie. Loved to see Neytiri going feral over her kids.

The last one on one fight with Quaritch was awesome. Close quarters hateful intimacy. The way Quaritch was making promises to hunt his whole family down and Jake who was on the leave, saying, damn it let's go now then, was pure moment of awesome.

I love love love that the final final scene wasn't any epic fight or whale attack or a big explosion. It was a eerie sad scene of the family divided into pairs trapped under the ship (Titanic vibes), with the children saving their parents. Jake being calmed and taught how to hold his breath by L'oak, Kiri using her connection with Eywa/nature to find and guide Neytiri out...and Spider saving Quaritch.

Idk it felt right and wrong for him to do it. On one hand Quaritch is too great an enemy to pass up of for sequels. And I understand and sympathize with Spider becoming kinda attached to him too and saving him in naive compassionate human stupidity. On the other I was really hoping for him to die and Spider's move felt like a betrayal to the Sully family he belongs to.

Anyway the kids showing that they are not completely useless and actually saving their protective badass warrior parents was great. I love when the caretaker role gets switched around a little.

Jake kinda balancing between being true to his risk loving fun sarcastic nature and a diplomatic proper Na'vi parent was part of his distance to L'oak. L'oak didn't see Jake asking Neteyam, if the bullies were worse off than his kids and that playful proud smile of his. He just saw Jake scolding him and trying to make it good as an unproblematic refugee to the local leader their staying depended on.

I didn't really understand or emphasize with L'oak feeling like an outsider although that was obviously the parallel that connected him to Panayacan. So he has 5 fingers, cool strict dad leading rebellions and armies left and right who would like him to stay safe as long as possible in a very unsafe world. People say Jake focused on Neteyam too much to see L'oak, but I honestly believe Jake was having a hard time allowing Nateyam to tag along in the first place. He couldn't take L'oak at risk too.

Then again I was really expecting Neteyam to die by the final fight. There was no tragic death in sight to mirror the first movie's structure, the danger was prevalent enough, the kids were being reckless enough...and I don't think it was avoidable no matter how much Jake tried. In war conditions like these, there was no way for everyone of his family to survive. Maybe if he accepted that fact sooner, he wouldn't be so strict with his kids and they wouldn't want to rebel and prove themselves so much. But then again, hard to accept a fact like that. At least they can all meat again in Eywa.

I liked Kiri. Total Jesus/Anakin Eywa made miracle child. She had that special connection with nature, just a shame they didn't figure it out sooner or that she didn't use it more. I was so happy about her controlling the corals to protect her siblings. Go Kiri! Her solitary thoughtful little meditations and connection to nature were beautifully made. Also Jake talking to his daughters was so doting and cute.

Why did they take Tuk to every possible risky place they could find? Did they just want screen time for her? Seriously. "We are going on a forbidden mission to warn an outcast tunkun. Let's take the youngest, most vulnerable and most likely to get captured or killed sibling with us." Pfff.

To sum up, it's an interesting movie with surprising emotional weight for it's simple plot, with breathtaking aesthetics and water shots that made you wanna protect and respect nature so much. Too much focus on the kids/new generation for my tastes, would have likes to see more of Jake and Neytiri, but they had a good conflict going on with their children, the right time to fight and to run and with protectiveness vs cause. It's not as good as Avatar 1, but I have some favourite scenes to rewatch anyway.

[the-kr8tor]

muehehehehe angst >:) (as for who hurt me...lets just say i was selfprojecting a tiny...insy weensy bit) Now yall get a break while I yell my lungs out to a song that sounds like something roze would definitely listen to (Nasty Dog by Sir Mix A Lot) Daily Hobie HC! Idk why I've been putting off this prompt for so long but I have Hobie's an amazing cook, which is very obvious. The amount of fulfilling meals he's made just out of throwing random things together and hoping for the best is truly shocking, ever since you learned that he isn't one to really follow the instructions. Hobie uses instructions as very loose guidelines, with everything else being just what he thinks would be good. However, you're grateful he's at least responsible enough to know that he should make sure that meat is properly cooked through, and not just wing it. Hobie loves to cook with and for you, even if you try to stop him from making you anything due to his stress about being Spider-Man. He still does it, wanting to show you that he still loves you to the other galaxies and back, because just to the moon isn't enough. You used to fully trust him in the kitchen unattended, until one day Hobie managed to almost burn down the houseboat. He had left something on the stove by accident, finding that the place was too quiet and wanting to make sure both you and his cat weren't up to something. Seeing you cuddled up to his side of the bed underneath the covers melted Hobie completely, making him forget that a meal was on the stove as he looped an arm around your body, pulling you closer as your face buried itself into his chest. He convinced himself to just stay like his for ten minutes, but eventually you got to him and he managed to fall asleep. Almost 30 minutes later, you both woke up to the smell of smoke, with Hobie quickly remembering the food on the stove and darting to the kitchen. Sure enough, a fire had already formed, and chaos erupted in the houseboat. After panicked yelling about what a fire blanket is, and managing to extinguish the fire somehow, Hobie knew that you would never let him live this down. And you didn't. Every time he entered the kitchen to make something, you found your place on the counter to watch him. If he questioned you, you'd simply bring up the incident, causing Hobie to lightheartedly groan in feigned disappointment. In all honesty, he wasn't surprised in the slightest when you reminded him of it, since in his head it was your fault for being so cute and distracting him. And besides, Hobie doesn't mind the fact that you're now leaning against the wall of the kitchen watching his every move and even helping a few times. However, he swears to never listen to you (and keeps that promise) whenever you're cooking and you tell him to get out of the kitchen, instead just grabbing some random ingredient and trying to taint your food with it, such as the cornstarch in soup one time. Even now, with Billie and Ramona either trying to cling to your legs or swinging from Hobie's arms, you still don't let him in the kitchen. Even if he tries to give the excuse of how the incident was years ago, wrapping his arms around your waist and rubbing little circles into your skin, trying to make you melt, it doesn't work..sometimes. Other times, you give in and let him hang around the kitchen, keeping a close eye on what he picks up and holds near the meal in case he plans on giving the twins something diabolical such as chewy soup. -🐦‍⬛

Lmaoo i don't know that song but it's definitely something roze would listen to 🤣

Daily Hobie HC!!

Finally! 'the incident' (so ominous!)

Bro has cooking talents! I'll say this until my dying breath, cooking together is the highest form of romance 🥰

"because just to the moon isn't enough" 🥹🥹 excuse me i will find a corner to cry in

Omg so that's what happened! I forgive him bc he had a very valid reason 😂 also plus points bc he wanted a cuddle too 🥰

Lmaoo i can just imagine their reactions like how sims react to a fire 😂😂

Ah yes the legendary too much cornstarch in the soup

Awwweee Billie and Mona helping out in the kitchen 😍🥺 I bet b and r asked them abt the incident 🤣

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

How good of a parent is George Stacy?

Okay, this was going to be part of another post, but it got so long that I decided that you know what? Let's give its own.

I want to make one about Miles's parents and a bit of a preview: 1) Rio and Jeff, while not perfect, LEAGUES better than George, and all things considered they almost deserve a medal for how patient they are about the situation and 2) Part of the reason that post hasn't come out yet, is because I had been trying to get dig some sources about some cultural differences between America vs Latin America, as well as Puerto Rico and the importance of family (because I am not from PR, just to make sure instead of assuming is similar because our countries aren't that far,) and how diaspora also impacts this.

As you can imagine, that's a lot of things to consider, unlike this, that is the equivalent of not-so-well adjust adult in their mids twenties screaming about adult parents because hey, I am bitter and I think Gwen deserves better.

This also will talk a bit about cops, implied childhood neglect, nothing would get too graphic but take this into account.

Let's go!

There are many reasons why I think this, but let's start with the biggest one: Peter's death.

Now, I can't say this is entirely George's fault; if you see things from his perspective, it all makes sense in his eyes.

In his eyes, you need to have a public face when you do this type of job, you shouldn't hide. That sounds dumb, especially when taking into account the type of villains spider people fight, which usually is the type that will try to go to your loved ones to hurt you.

However, he kind of has a point. If there is damage, if someone else gets hurt, even by accident, the person who did should be able to face consequences.

Do police do this? Not really, at least not in most places I had lived, maybe is different somewhere else, but let's not dig too much into politics here. Perhaps in Gwen's universe the police system works; this is a work of fiction with super senses that can travel past dimensions and time, this isn't the craziest thing.

Going back to the point.

In George's eyes, SpiderWoman, at least at the beginning, should give a name, since you shouldn't hide with that amount of power. The guy doesn't realize the fine print because either he isn't aware of it, or thinks the bad guys can be stopped easily enough that the vigilante in question shouldn't worry.

Then, the next time you see her, she is with the corpse of your daughter's best friend; and for how she behaves later; the last friend she has to his knowledge.

Sure, he doesn't have any idea of what happened, but as far as he knows, she killed him. This also checks out with the fact that he believes you shouldn't hide, and go by the book; he probably believes that if she truly didn't do anything, Spiderwoman would have cooperated with the police because is innocent; so if she is running, is because she is guilty.

Could all this be fixed if she had talked to him at some point about this? While she was hugging Peter's corpse, while grieving him, before this all happened? Maybe, maybe if he could have known what was at risk, why she was doing it; and emotions weren't running high, this could have been better.

There is some blame on both sides in this situation, however-

This, is a good indicator of something.

Look, we don't have an exact time of how long has been since Peter died, or when exactly this conversation happened, we aren't even sure how much time has been since ITSV in this instant either. We only know this conversation happened a few months before ATSV, and that's not much.

However, I can't believe this is too recent, anyone feels free to bring me the evidence; but until we have something set in stone, I believe Peter died not so long after Gwen became Spider Woman, if only because the bite and the death of someone close to them are fairly close. And by ITSV, Gwen already has been SpiderWoman for 2 years.

(I don't think it was a matter of days, personal headcanon is a few weeks, since Peter had pictures of SpiderWoman and everyone close to her knew about it, which meant she already gathered a bit of a name in the area. As well as enough for Peter to want to be more like her.)

All of this is to say: It has to be a while, and Gwen is clearly not interested in this topic.

Considering the possible timeline, it has been a while since Peter died; I don't think this is the first time they have had a similar conversation, maybe not with Gwen shouting, but with her preferring to not talk about it, or move on.

Is not that odd; sure, partially because Gwen doesn't want her dad to hate her alter ego, but the fact of the matter is this: Gwen is telling her dad that she doesn't want revenge, she doesn't want to continue chasing anyone. Even if Gwen and Spiderwoman were different people; Peter was her best friend, she was the one who suffered the biggest loss, and she has the right to mourn her friend as she wants.

I understand that George needs to do his "job," and that a lot of people feel relieved when the murder of a loved one is captured; but Gwen is telling him that is not going to her grief, and he clearly hasn't been able to help her with that.

I didn't want to put that image because this post is going to be long; however, when Gwen says she quit the band, he looks a bit unsure at first, and then breaks the news that he feels they are closer to capturing Spiderwoman.

George is trying to bring good news, but the fact that she commented on quitting the band, and this was his first idea to how "cheer her up," shows how much he doesn't know how to help her out.

Can't he help her because she isn't telling him the full story? Yes, but that fear comes out of nowhere? Nope!

I try to do one pic with multiple scenes for this one, it's a trial; hopefully, Tumblr doesn't mess up the quality too badly.

George says "I have a job to do," when Gwen says Spiderwoman may be innocent. Not only this is the truth, George doesn't have all the facts; Spiderwoman was cradling Peter's body when he came by, and she ran away after he pointed a gun at her and has been hostile. The fact that anyone would be nervous at that doesn't come across his mind, let alone; the position she was in with Peter wasn't anything close to lethal. Not to mention that the other students should at least have mentioned, that the lizard try to attack them, and probably that regardless of what happened to Peter was voluntarily or not, as far as everyone is aware, no one knew Peter was the lizard. I doubt they didn't examine his body to figure that one out, considering this is supposed to be attempted murder so they probably checked stuff.

I bet this happens often. Look, I get it, both of my parents are alive but I grew up mostly with one parent for most of my life, and this parent had a very time-consuming job, as well as energy-consuming. I understand that even if we don't know how long Gwen's mom has been gone (though you can guess a while considering she isn't mentioned at all in either movie.) George has a job to do. That being said...Gwen has probably suffered from this; you can see it later in her face, in the fact that her color changes (she was blue as sadness, got warm when they hug, and then went back to blue when he left her.) She probably has to spend a lot of time alone for this, perhaps for a while she was terrified that she would lose her dad forever in a job, considering how dangerous is his line of work. And while it may be the right thing to do for your work/duty, it definitely means he is prioritizing his job over her; Gwen said it more than once, her dad is all she has, and she probably doesn't have an uncle Aaron, even with other living relatives, they are clearly not close enough. If he dies, Gwen effectively becomes an orphan, and goes to the house of someone she isn't close to, blood or not. (Sidenote, hey how are the chances Miles also had the same fear, and both becoming heroes partially, to ensure they can be there for their respective fathers?) Let me tell you a painful truth; even if George has good intentions in doing what he does, none of that eliminates Gwen's pain. If a kid loses a parent in a fire-related accident because the parent was a firefighter and they risked their life, it doesn't mean the kid doesn't grieve a parent just because said parent didn't abandon them like a deadbeat; in fact, if it is for a noble reason, it may make those feelings more complicated and difficult to deal, especially without professional help (that I doubt Gwen has gotten much of.) And I am sorry, but there is a difference even in my hypothetical scenario, because is one thing having a risky job when you have another partner, and in case you have family or friends that can be there for them in case something happens to you. As far as we can see, the closest they had was Ben and May Parker, which is nowhere to be found in the present time. I am sorry, but in my eyes, that's failing Gwen, especially because she is suffering from needing to deal with sudden absences, possible wounds, and scares.

She is giving her big speech as to why she needs to do this after he attempts to walk on her for being salty (which I still feel annoyed at, I think he should have groveled, but WHATEVER, not the point.) And he is trying to justify this as "you need to obey the law no matter what." Look, I understand there are laws for a reason, but laws can be fallible, and in this case, hurt the wrong people. Both in real life and in this moment, if they try to go by the law, things would get worse; Gwen would have her identity leaked, and even if proven innocent, more people would be at risk for it.

The last two pics show the same point but also illustrate the gravity of the situation in different ways. First, George refused to listen to Gwen, despite her trying to explain the situation to him. And btw, the second? that's not when she is masked, that's when she has already revealed her identity, just before Miguel shoots a trap at him. Sure, he may not have pulled the trigger, but that's EXTREMELY close to pointing at her, and let's remind you, he didn't stop because he remembered she was his daughter, he didn't have to point directly at her because Miguel threw a trap to him before it happened; maybe he wouldn't have pointed at her, or truly pull the trigger; however, do I need to say how absolutely HORRIFYING is for him to do this to her?

I know, all of this is happening in a specific timeline of their lives, and doesn't necessarily need to reflect their reality the rest of the time, much less that maybe things were better before Peter's death, or before she became SpiderWoman.

To that, I said: that may be an argument for real life, but this is a movie, normally, you try to show often, things that show you how a dynamic works so you have an idea of what's going on in the character's lives.

(For example, in ITSV, we see in the beginning Miles being late for school, barely getting ready, and talking to a bunch of people before his dad picks him up. While this is a new day for him, it also gives us an idea of what's normal for this family and their dynamics on a semi-regular basis.)

George, repeatedly puts his job over Gwen; there are even other hints in moments I didn't bother to show. And this is not new; as I pointed out, which really is a bad look.

Now, do I think is the worst? No, of course not; I had seen way worse before.

To be fair, this is the defense.

He is interested in what she is doing, and being his idea ask her how the practice went and check on her. Yeah, he didn't know what to say about her quitting, but aside from the guy not being the best emotionally wise (which he looks like Gwen inherited from him, not shocking considering the very likely scenario that the mom kicked the bucket early and may have also had the same issue for all we know,) but he is trying to ask about it and isn't mad for her leaving like that.

I know what you are going to say "WAIT, didn't you put this as a negative earlier?" Yes, and I still think is a negative, however; there are nuances in everything, and if I brought up the bad in that scene, I need to recognize the best. Do I think he should take the hint and drop the topic, at least? Yes, but I say this earlier: He thinks this would help, and in most cases, it does help; a big part of the reason is not going to do it in this scenario is because it makes more messes than anything else, yet if the scenario was exactly what he thought it was, perhaps it would have helped. As far as he is aware, Gwen just wants to drop the subject because she may be disappointed this hasn't been solved already, and the fact that even if it isn't, it looks like the real reason she has become so much angry and solitary.

This one kind of addressed both images, and none of them are big talking points, however, I need to say it: 1) It was HIS idea to ask for a hug, and mind you, asking; maybe is because I am someone who can't hug people they aren't comfortable with, but I prefer people ask me, especially when I am feeling emotional. 2) See how he looks at her, he clearly loves his daughter.

Gwen went to hug him, if he was that much of a horrible father, she wouldn't have done this, let alone as quickly.

I know this one carries controversy, but yes, I believe Gwen is a trans girl, and probably has been out for a while (nope, I don't have sources or similar, just hc based on other clues.) I don't think I can say anything that someone else didn't say already, so I will not analyze why I think this is the case. I will say this; yes, I am aware there is no hard proof in the movie. Yes, I think is okay if other people think her dad is trans, or Peter was, or maybe everyone is just an ally. My only issue is people saying is IMPOSSIBLE to happen, or that is not the case because (insert theory with no hard proof, meaning is okay to believe it, but not to push it down anyone's throats.) With that out of the way; as someone who is trans, I can't say enough about how having a parent supporting a transition is MASSIVE. Especially early on.

He QUITS. Did he wait at the end after doing something absolutely horrifying to her, leaving her in a very vulnerable position that technically, lead her to be in a dangerous position? Yes, it took a while all things considered? Also yes. I consider those factors important, HOWEVER, he decided to quit. While the emotional wounds are probably still there, he is finally listening, and deciding to change for Gwen. Mistakes or not, he is doing the right thing, and is up to Gwen if she can forgive him or not. And she does, which should show something.

Again, it needed a very serious experience, but this was the wake-up call he needed. I didn't show it all, but he says how his job as a Captain doesn't matter anymore, because ultimately he loves her more than his position, and she is at the end of the day, the best thing he has ever done. Not becoming captain, not detaining a dangerous criminal or anything, her. I believe it would have been valid for Gwen if she decided to not forgive her dad, or that they still have a long road to recover; nonetheless, I think when you aren't the one who was directly affected, you need to take into account when someone decides to do the right thing, and turn a new leaf. Is one thing to not be able to move past a betrayal for someone really close to you; and another is hearing someone you know to some degree made mistakes and then fix them. It took me a while (in fact, almost 3 hours; there is another post that is half-done since this was part of something else, but yeah.) While I believe George Stacy did mistakes, he is turning a new leaf, and working to be better. And that's amazing in itself. If anyone thinks that the bare minimum or some of my points were the bare minimum, I think that's fine. My baseline for parenting and judging parents is kind of off, and that's as much detail as I want to give about it. One way or another, I think George for a while, wasn't able to support Gwen in all the ways she needed; he was trying his best, and a few things aren't his fault considering the circumstances. However, Gwen definitely needs more than him. Next, Gwen's possibly wanting a mom, and the role Jess plays in all of this.

[ask-a-bot]

Hey Star, if it makes you feel any better, Sunny doesn't forgive Megs for what he did during the war either, but being mean when he's apologised and is trying to be better and make amends isn't the solution. Whether you choose to forgive him is up to you, but it's your fault if you choose to hurt him back. If you want to take out your feelings, do it in art instead. Sunny's painting a 'Wish you were here' postcard of the Urayan Wastes (the part with the boiling oil and molten metal pits, which Ratchet thought was mean, but it's his way of taking out his feelings harmlessly)

But I want to get even and he's a huge spike! And hurting him back is fun – I made him cry, this time. Hahaha! It was so, so satisfying. When he found out I had a spider in my room that he could've seen, I thought he was gonna spill all over the floor. I was a bit disappointed when he didn't. It would've been something else to laugh at him about.

I like the postcard idea! He should do a scrapheap one too. Or something. A recycling facility? Is he going to send it to Megabum when it's finished? Haha! He should. You know he should.

[eternalwritingstudent]

Character Profile Tag

I was tagged by @illarian-rambling. Thank you!

I'll do this for the usual suspect, Freedom from On Shadow's Edge.

Name:

Freedom

Nickname:

Shadow (is more a work alias than nickname)

Kind of being:

Rime Elf, a species of elves that have snowy white skin with blue undertones, like an artic swath of snow with that ancient clear blue ice under it.

Age:

89

Gender:

Female

Appearance:

Freedom is six foot tall with hip length black hair. Her eyes are a unnatural green, like chrome diopside stones, which glow faintly in the dark. She's slim, and usually wears all black both due to her profession and help block the sun from her skin

Occupation:

Thief and assassin

Family members:

Freedom no longer considers herself to have family. But technically she has her parents, Lord and Lady Aladaria, and her deceased brother Isthan.

Pets:

Officially none, but she has her very strange horse Midnight.

Describe their room:

Whatever inn or tavern she can get a place at. Currently, she's staying at the Crimson Rose Inn. Her room is small, but comfy with a bed, table, and dresser. There is a window over the bed for easy escape if it's needed, but the shutters are closed tight to keep the sun out.

Way of speaking:

Very blunt, often rude, and crude. She doesn't apologize for the way she talks either. Though, she can be more refined and polite when it serves her purpose.

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitudes):

She doesn't have much in the way of physical things. She does usually have her hood up on her jacket to hide her face. Freedom's not big on touching or hugging, except for select people.

Hobbies:

Drinking? It's her favorite thing to do. Other than that, she enjoys studying history and battles.

Favorite sports:

Sword fighting, archery, parkour type things (If it's not too high)

Abilities/talents/powers:

Freedom is a shadow mage, meaning when fully trained she can manipulate, control, shape, and move through shadows.

Relationships (interaction with others):

Valric - MMC - Is mildly annoyed by the naive kid, but overall likes him alright. Enjoys taunting him and poking at him.

Inva - FMC - Likes and respects her, but doesn't like being preached at or mothered by her. Finds the young woman to be very smart and kind. Something she isn't used to dealing with.

Amon - MMC - It's complicated? He's handsome, annoying, and a death sentence for her if his bosses have their way. She hates him. Despises him. Has pondered killing him a few times.

Master Mage Stefyan Kadlor - MMC (antagonist) - Freedom is terrified of this man. After the run ins she's had with him, she has ever right to be. She'd love to see him dead, but she's not the person to accomplish it. It's way above her pay grade.

Fears:

Freedom is terrified of heights and spiders. She can push herself through some heights, like a house roof she can deal with if she doesn't look down and treats the roof like the ground. Spiders, there's no dealing with spiders. They die. Violently if necessary.

Faults:

Freedom is suspicious, an alcoholic, secretive, and stubborn enough that its put her in danger more than once. Her determination to rely on no one but herself and keep everyone else at arms length has been a problem for her more than once in her life.

Good points:

Freedom is loyal. Even if she won't admit that someone matters to her or she cares, if she does she'll always be there for you and have your back if she can. She's got a big heart even if she tries to hide it under layers of sarcasm. It might be more of a flaw than a positive, but she will go into danger to keep others out of it. She'll insist that people abandon her in bad situations, just to keep them safe.

What they want more than anything else:

To not be hunted and to be able to settle in one place to have a life. Not moving every few months or few years depending on her situation. She wants to have friends and loved ones, not constantly looking over her shoulder from here until the hells freeze over.

I'll tag @pheita @noveldivergence @cain-e-brookman

[thompsborn]

gonna make little chapter recaps while i reread what's posted of homeward bound so far. and then i am going to bust out chapter seventeen. might not finish it this weekend, but i hope to get a majority of it written. let's get into it.

starting with chapter one - i'm so tired of being afraid

word count: 7,535 (7,515 without the chapter lyrics at the start)

chapter song: six by sleeping at last

chapter lyrics:

what would it feel like to put this baggage down? if i'm being honest i'm not sure i'd know how

recap + lines i felt were important enough to jot down:

peter moves into his new apartment (december 2024)

peter decides that needs to be alone

"when he's alone, there's no one to let down but himself."

peter looks up norman, otto, max, flint, and curt as a precaution now that he knows they turned into villains in the other worlds

norman and otto: started oscorp together during the five year gap between snaps, but have not gotten very far due to the world mourning the half of the population that's gone and also because stark industries is already a powerhouse in all the industries that oscorp is trying to step a foot into. peter deems them not a threat for now but will occasionally check on them just to be safe.

max and flint: peter is unable to find records of anyone with their names when looking them up. that's doesn't guarantee they don't exist in this world, they could have different names or something like that, but peter finds no trace of them and feels like it's safe to assume they don't exist here. he'll still check again occasionally to see if anything pops up down the line.

curt: a professor at empire state university with no signs of any of the things that happened in the other world happening to him here. again, peter will check occasionally to make sure, but overall he thinks that his world is most likely safe from these five people becoming villains like they did in the other peter's worlds.

peter looks into empire state university after looking up curt and thinks about how he'd like to go to college. it's always been part of his life plan. his life is completely different than what it was ever supposed to be and he'd need to get his GED, but he thinks about how he'd like to still go if he can make it work.

peter decides he needs to remake his suit, partially because he other suits can't be used anymore now that karen doesn't recognize him - edith doesn't recognize him anymore, either, which makes peter sad because he feels like he's lost a connection that he had with tony after tony's death - but he also wants to remake his suits because he knows the other peter's made their own from suits from scratch as well, so he thinks it's pretty fitting and thinks that it's kind of like he's building himself up from scratch and starting over for good - "...as both Peter Parker and as Spider-Man"

"and karen not knowing him feels a lot like losing another friend."

he includes peter 2 and peter 3 in his suit design to honor them and remind himself that, even if he is alone in his world, he isn't alone in the universe.

raimi spidey emblem on his chest:

and tasm spidey emblem on his back:

"when peter gets lost, or angry, or overwhelmed... he has reminders of them, interwoven into his suit, for him to brush his fingers against and think to himself, be strong, peter. do it for your brothers."

peter had an uncle ben in his world, but his uncle ben died less than two years after his parents did when he was six and a half years old. peter thinks about how his uncle ben impacted his life in a much different life than the other peter's. his uncle ben's last words shaped his morals and his outlook in life, to the point that, when tony first showed up to recruit peter for germany, he had used his own wording based on what ben said to explain why being spidey is so important to him.

"he remembers ben shrugging, remembers him smiling, remembers him saying, "if i didn't help, it'd be my fault, too." the way he said it had been so simple, so sure - a philosophy he fully and passionately believed in."

actually just this whole section feels very important to me so i'm going to copy and paste it right here:

In a way, Uncle Ben played a significant part in Peter becoming Spider-Man, but not in the same way that the Other Peter’s seemed to be influenced by their Uncle Ben’s. Peter remembers that he didn’t think much of the last words he heard his Ben say for a while, but that they seemed to click in his head around the time he was nine or ten, and suddenly they were words he wanted to live by. Doing good, and getting in the way to stop bad things, no matter how big or how small, because then it’d be his fault, too, if he didn’t.

It’s what he told Mr. Stark, back when he was still fourteen almost fifteen and the man had appeared in his apartment. When you can do the things I can, he had said—not exactly what Ben had said, no, kind of added onto by Peter, altered with the weight of Spider-Man stacked on top of the same philosophy he already lived by—but you don’t, and then the bad things happen… they happen because of you.

It’s not what the Other Peter’s talked about, though—because Ben didn’t tell Peter that great power comes with great responsibility. Aunt May told him that. But, for the Other Peter’s, it had been an Uncle that lived longer than his own did.

Then again, the Other Peter’s didn’t have the Avenger’s, and they never had Mr. Stark. Maybe it’s just different because each world isn’t supposed to be the same, and that’s all there is to it.

also may's line from right before ben died, which peter later tells harley about when telling harley the truth about his life:

“You stupid Parker men,” May had scoffed. “Way too selfless for your own good.”

peter thinks that it feels important that uncle ben had such a huge role in shaping who he is, and how the ben's of the other worlds had such a huge part in the other peter's lives as well, even if it was in vastly different ways. he then thinks about how, out of the very few things that peter was able to get out of his and may's old apartment before it was cleared out, one of them happened to be a box of uncle ben's old stuff - including, at the very top of the box, ben's old camera.

peter learns how to use ben's camera to take pictures properly in order to then take pictures of himself as spidey to sell to the daily bugle. he thinks it's amusing and ironic that the pictures he takes are used for articles that slander spidey, knowing that jjj would probably lose his shit if he knew he bought the pictures from spider-man himself.

"everything seems to be trial and error these days - life was never a certainty before, but now it's pretty clearly up in the air and he's left scrambling to try and figure it out, approaching every corner completely blind to what he'll find when he turns it - but that's alright, because he's got the brain of a scientist and trial and error could just be another term for experiment, so it works out well."

that ^ quote is a nice tie in to the tony flashback that happens in chapter 16, where tony calls peter an observer and says that peter is always gathering information and how peter looks more than most people do because peter likes to be prepared and likes to understand.

peter spends new years eve alone (new years, 2024) and watches the fireworks while thinking about the other peter's not being alone before going back to patrol.

peter gets his first Big Injury since ending up completely on his own. he has no one to call and he has no super pain killers like the ones tony had made for him before tony died. the injury starts at his left hip, goes over his ribs, stops at the center of his chest. it was done with a knife. peter has to stitch himself up. it's the first time he's ever done stitches on himself.

he passes out after finishing the stitches and wakes up almost a full day later. thinks about his healing and how his enhancements are definitely being negatively impacted by his lackluster eating habits - he's broke as fuck and also doesn't have much of an appetite due to being traumatized and depressed.

"part of him wonders how drastic a change it really is - wonders if, maybe, the scars will stop fading away. for some reason, that's the thought that makes him feel sick to his stomach."

fun fact: this injury is the one that peter tells harley about in chapter 15 when harley is asking about some of peter's scars.

and that's the end of chapter one! these little recaps are entirely for my own benefit - the only reason i'm posting them is because giving myself the expectation and responsibility of posting them will make me actually commit to recapping every chapter, which will make working on chapter seventeen a lot fucking easier and will make it so i'm able to finish chapter seventeen a lot fucking faster.

i will be reblogging with the chapter two recap shortly

[eriexplosion]

Tribe! Another fun one off.

Honestly with all the stress and everything of TBB lately given the Wait for season 3, I'm just appreciating these one off adventures, I honestly wish we had more of them putting me at odds with a ton of the fandom.

God I love Tech insisting they do not need to check the chain codes because HE MADE THEM HIMSELF like bby they don't know you and also that is the MOST suspicious thing you could have said.

I feel like Echo is on guard duty because they had DISAGREEMENTS about delivering fake chain codes to whoever the hell. Also the way Omega doesn't even wait ten seconds after Echo goes inside to start wandering off because she just feels something is Wrong.

GUNGI <3

His reaction to clones is painful, it makes complete sense after Order 66 but still. My heart ;_;

The droid hearing "We have a situation" and immediately looking up at the batch like this has to be their fault.

"The cause of that blaster fire is either Echo or Omega..... most likely Omega." Tech is the funniest man in this show.

God Gungi with sad eyes is the SINGLE MOST HEARTBREAKING THING. BABY. I want to cherish and protect this carpet.

Echo and Hunter conferring is one of my favorite things still, they're really co-leaders at this point, even if the orders still come from Hunter.

"He's a Jedi, he's not safe anywhere" WAILING

I'm sorry Hunter calling it a laser sword like he's never worked with a jedi before is still SO funny.

Gungi only remembering Kashyyyk from his dreams is the kind of thing I will think about and then immediately get sad again that is the saddest possible thing to say ever.

The music when they arrive at the destroyed village is GREAT.

"The Empire destroyed our home too. Don't worry, we'll find your people." - this is something that's going to come back in season 3 I'm sure, when Pabu is destroyed. This is why I think that what will end up being irrevocably lost through the show isn't people, it's places, dealing with the loss of a place you Belong, and moving past that by having your People, your community and your family, with you. It permeates through Echo's focus on rescuing other clones, Omega's desire to keep the batch together and reunite everyone, Pabu as a city of refugees who found and support each other.

Ugh the destroying the carved stones, the importance of culture and how the Empire just destroys it without any care while Phee tries to restore and preserve it. But tying in with the previous - as long as the people survive, not everything is lost.

YANNA <3 I LOVE YANNA

"Jedi or not, he's still a child. He needs his people." MORE THINGS THAT MAKE MY HEART HURT IN THE BEST WAY.

Today on 'Cultural Sensitivity With Echo' we cover 'eating unknown foods'

"We'll stay and help you fight them. You don't have to do this alone." AGAIN, THEMES THAT ARE IMPORTANT.

I love how open and chill they are with 'the trees have a plan' like fuck why not, we're following the trees lead here.

Goddddd waking up the giant spiders to attack the Trandoshans, I love it.

The bad guy just being dragged away screaming. Don't want to see what happens to Venomor! Though to be fair, we don't see him die he might be fine. Still, dragged into the spider nest is generally considered Not Fun.

The cut between 'the fire is spreading too fast' and 'the fire is out never mind' is still AWFULLY ABRUPT.

Echo finally trying some soupdrink and proclaiming it Not Bad. See your extreme disgust was unnecessary.

"They're both just kids. But they don't get to be. Not in this galaxy." "When a young one leaves, the trees weep. But when they return, the trees sing. As this child has found his new home, perhaps one day we all will find a new path."

This episode I think also gets passed over as filler a lot but literally Tribe lays out the themes of the show SO explicitly. I think that it would feel a little less terrifying to think of season 3 if we remembered more about episodes like this.

[peachycrime]

SLK or Spider/Kiri/Lo'ak Headcanons

idk what these will be about tbh i’m just writing as i think of stuff lmao

Kiri had a phase where she was convinced she was a witch because everywhere she went an animal would just waddle up to her

Spider, Lo’ak and Jake talk to babies like they’re grown people, like no baby talk and it’s hilarious

Lo’ak was once holding a baby, and you know how you hold them high in the air and they’re above you? Yea they were having a moment and then the little creature threw up all over his shirt and started giggling right after

“Dude seriously? we were having a moment wtf” it took everything in him not to just drop the baby

Lo’ak would copy everything Jake did as a kid, his lil mini me fr

Lo’ak’s first words were either dad or Teyam

Spider and Lo’ak both have severe anger issues and lord knows what would happen if they ever turned on eachother abt that anger

Lo'ak is always reprimanded about the things he does, gets yelled at and gets in trouble in situations where he isn't truly at fault. Authority figures never let him explain himself and always assume he's lying or trying to makes excuses and they expect him to just take it and move on. He does, but all that annoyance and anger at a situation he can't help tends to come back up a lot.

With Spider on the other hand, adults can never seem to shut up with their backhanded comments,

"you're nicer than i thought you'd be considering your dad"

"Oh wow you're so smart I didn't think you'd get it'

"You look just like him" (in a bad way)

"Oh you're good at this, who would've thought"

All this stuff and he can't really say anything because he'd be proving them right. So he stays silent, doesn't argue back and boy does he hate it.

One time Neytiri made a comment on the wrong day at the wrong time and he honestly considered violence before he just silently walked out of the room. He definitely punches and breaks stuff but he tries to restrain himself which adds to the pent up anger

They've both used that anger on their bullies, Spider broke the guys nose and dislocated his shoulder by pulling it up his back and making him promise to never show his face again

Lo'ak just went straight to the punches, broke the dudes nose and left him slack jawed

So if you ever catch them in a slightly off mood and you even try to talk to them or act any sort of way, you're getting sent to the nurse. I'm sorry i don't make these rules

Kiri is the mediator, she doesn't want to be but she sometimes ends up being the most rational because when she's upset, anger isn't her default unlike the other two

Lo'ak collects comic books, Jake started the obsession and he went wild. Have a comic or manga you wanna borrow? Vintage or not it's probably in his room somewhere

Spider is a math genius, the formulas are just free balling in his head and it makes it easy for him.

He's also a literature enthusiast but has a hard time expressing his own ideas on paper, great public speaker though

Lo'ak definitely over analyzes his favorite characters, gets sad and cries silently abt it

Kiri is an all around science nerd, she goes to class just because she enjoys helping out w hands on science stuff, most of the content isn't new for her

Kiri despises chemistry, she understands it but finds it uninteresting. Ofc biology and botany are where it’s at

All language nerds

All great at physical education, i mean like the actually science behind the body, they have all the muscle names memorized etc

Kiri is their little jewel, Lo’ak especially, he tries to make it the least obvious but Spider definitely tells her how much Lo’ak cherishes her

Spider is very open with his affections, he just doesn’t feel the need to hide it, they live that loves that about him

Spider and Neteyam know how to cook a mean meal, put them in a kitchen together and you’re literally drooling at the smell

Spider is a spicy food enthusiast right along with Jake and Neytiri

Kiri has had a cat for 4 years, Jake has only known for 2 years because he used to be terrified of them and Kiri didn’t want him to freak out

He now carries said cat like it’s his mini purse

I’m all out

i’ll be delivering some locorro crumbs soon!

[mysticalrobinthings]

just a dump of sportarobbie

Sportacus: If I may interject... Robbie: Oh, awesome, Sportacus was eavesdropping.

Sportacus: *lying down and crying* Robbie: There, there. Why don’t you take some time off to not be around me while you’re like this?

Robbie: The universe is cold and unfeeling. The only constant is chaos. Sportacus: Was that place out of chocolate-chip pancakes again?

Sportacus, putting their hands over Robbie's eyes: Guess who! Robbie: It's either Sportacus or the cold, clammy hands of death. Sportacus, putting their hands away: It's Sportacus! Robbie: Dammit.

Robbie: I printed up a bunch of fake safety inspection certificates. Go slap one on anything that looks like a lawsuit. Sportacus: Robbie, is that legal? Robbie: When the cops aren’t around, anything’s legal!

Sportacus: When I said bring me something back from the beach I meant like a conch shell! Robbie: *Struggling to hold a seagull* Fucking say that next time!

Sportacus: You need to stop swearing so much. Robbie: Shut the fuck up. Sportacus: Yeah, that's not how you do it. Robbie: Alright sorry. It's just that it's hard not to swear. The words just creep up on me when I least expect it. Sportacus: Now now, don't be like that. Just replace the swear words with 'beep' and you'll be fine. Robbie: Shit the beep up. Sportacus: Robbie: SHUT, DAMMIT! I MEANT SHUT!

Robbie: You’re giving me a sticker? Sportacus: Not just a sticker. That is a sticker of a kitty saying “me-wow!” Robbie: I’m not a preschooler. Sportacus: Fine, I’ll take it back- Robbie: I earned this, back off!

Robbie: This bloodline ends with me. Sportacus: That's the fanciest way I've ever heard someone say "I'm gay".

Sportacus: You ever get so tired that you start seeing spiders? Robbie: Me after I take 17 Benadryl and start seeing the hat man. Sportacus: THE WHO? Robbie: Oh is this not a safe space suddenly?

Sportacus: We have fun, don’t we, Robbie? Robbie: I have never been more stressed out in my entire life.

Robbie: Why would you think any of this was a good idea? Sportacus: Probably because I’m a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence. Robbie: Sportacus: I don’t know how you keep forgetting this.

Robbie, sweating: Sportacus, there’s something I need to ask you- Sportacus: Finally! You’re proposing! Robbie: How’d you know? Sportacus: Robbie, you’ve dropped the ring five times during dinner. Sportacus: I even picked it up once.

Sportacus: As top in this relationship, I think we should- Robbie: I can't believe you're pulling rank on me.

Sportacus: *angrily presses Robbie against a wall* WHERE'S THE MONEY?! Robbie: ... Robbie: Are we about to kiss-

Robbie: Sportacus, you do remember when we agreed we were better off as friends, right? Sportacus, naked in Robbie's bed: No, I absolutely do not. Robbie, already taking off their clothes: Fuck... Me neither.

Sportacus: Okay, truth or dare? Robbie: Truth Sportacus: How many hours have you slept this week? Robbie: Robbie: ...Dare Sportacus: Go to bed. Robbie: I don’t like this game.

*Sportacus and Robbie skipping stones on lake* Sportacus: It’s such a beautiful evening. Robbie, whispering: Take that you fucking lake

Sportacus: Violence isn't the answer. Robbie: You’re right. Sportacus: *sighs in relief* Robbie: Violence is the question. Sportacus: What? Robbie, bolting away: And the answer is yes. Sportacus, running after them: NO-

Sportacus: Okay. I get it. You've had a really hard time lately, you're stressed out, seven people died- Robbie: Twelve, actually. Sportacus: Not the point. Look, they're dead now and really whose fault is that? Robbie: Yours! Sportacus: That's right: no one's.