#but like he CAN sing and he's very good i like when we're allowed to hear it

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost—Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

[cjlouwho]

“Tommy!” Eddie cheered, lifting his drink toward the sky as he spotted his friend walking toward him. “Whatcha doin' here, Man?”

“Figured I'd stop by and see how you were doing, Bud,” Tommy replied. He gave Eddie a pat on the back as he sat down in the empty seat next to him. “You come here alone?”

“Mhm. Needed ta get out. House's too quiet.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Too long,” the bartender interrupted as he walked by. “Was about to cut him off. I already took his keys.”

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed, looking around the bar counter. “Hey! You took my keys.”

“I got him,” Tommy said, giving the bartender a nod. “I gotta say, at least you're talking better than you're texting. I was worried.”

Eddie's face scrunched up in confusion. “Huh? I never did texted you.”

“Oh, I beg to differ.” Tommy fished his phone out of his jacket pocket and went to his messages. “'Buuuuuuuck, lezz drink, Buddy.' Then five minutes later, 'Bruck, why rn't you at bar? I waiting.' A good two minutes after that you sent me your location with an angry emoji. Then, and this is my personal favorite, 'Loser too busy kissy kissy with Tummy to be a friendship.'”

"Huh. Thought I was textin' Buck.”

“Yeah, I pieced that together.”

“So where's Buck if you're not kissy kissy?” Eddie asked, his final drink sloshing over his fingers as he attempted to bring it to his lips.

Tommy took the drink from Eddie and set it back on the counter. “Evan is watching Jee overnight so Howie and Maddie can have a night away. So, you wanna talk about whatever's bothering you? I mean, I could take a guess, but...”

“Nah. No, no, nope. I wanna,” Eddie pulled at the collar of his shirt. “Lessgo karaoke, Tomboy-”

“We're not calling me that.”

“I wanna sing to the rooftops,” Eddie continued, his words slurring more and more with each sentence. “I wanna. I wanna be, you know, be free, Tommy. I don't have a rea-,” he hiccuped, “reason to get back home.”

“Really? Seems like that's exactly where you need to be right now.”

Eddie's eyes widened, like he'd thought of the best idea in the entire world. “Let's go to Peeping Tom! That's your name!”

“Peeping Tom is a gay bar, Eddie.”

“I don judge.”

“A very kinky, fully nude gay bar,” Tommy clarified.

Eddie squinted, deep in thought. “No karaoke?”

“No karaoke.”

“Well, then were we go? Don't say home!”

“Home.”

“Ugh,” Eddie groaned, allowing Tommy to wrap an arm around his back and help him up. “You're like a no- no fun dad. Wish I'd texted fun dad.”

Tommy gripped onto Eddie tighter as he stumbled while taking a step. He sighed. “Maybe next time.”

*****

When Eddie woke up the next morning it was to a pounding headache and blinding sunlight coming through his window. He was nauseous and his mouth tasted like a mixture of gasoline and mouthwash.

He laid there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what happened that made him feel so unbelievably ill.

After a few failed attempts, he finally rolled out of bed and made his way into the kitchen to fix himself some coffee.

He froze when he walked through the door to see Tommy sitting there, reading the newspaper.

“Good... morning?” Eddie started, confused.

Tommy set the paper down. “Morning. Sleep well?”

“I- I think so, I guess. It's a little blurry.”

Tommy hummed. “Not surprising. Coffee just finished, if you want some. Your couch is not comfortable, by the way.”

“Buck's never complained.”

“Yeah, well, he's easier to please than I am.”

Eddie was too hungover for this. He had so many questions, but for some reason the first one out of his mouth was: “Where'd you put my shoes?”

“In your closet.”

He grabbed himself a cup for some coffee. “My keys?”

“We have to go pick them up at the bar today, along with your car, obviously.”

“You didn't close my curtains last night. Woke up thinking I was being interrogated by Ice T.”

Tommy sighed, leaning back in his seat. “'Thank you so much for getting me home safely, Tommy. Did it hurt your back having to drag me into the house while I belted out Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of my lungs?'” He stood, walking over to Eddie and taking the coffee out of his hand, drinking a big sip. “Thank you for asking, Eddie. I think my back will be okay, but my ears will never recover.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, turning to fix himself another cup. “Thank you for getting me home safely, Tommy. I appreciate it.”

“Mhm. No problem.” Tommy returned to his seat and Eddie joined him at the table. They sat in silence for a couple minutes, taking small sips of their drinks.

Eventually, Tommy set his cup down a little harder than normal, getting Eddie's attention with the clinking sound. “Wanna talk about it?”

“About what? How your coffee tastes like cigarette sludge?”

“I'll take that as a no then.” Tommy checked his watch. “The bar doesn't open until three. Want me to stop by and pick you up then?”

Eddie shook his head. “I can just get an Uber, Man, thanks though.”

“Of course. I'll, uh, let you recover.” Tommy stood and went to leave, checking his pocket for his keys and phone.

As he neared the door, Eddie spoke. “Wait,” he said. Tommy turned back to face him.

“Yeah?”

“Why'd you sleep on my couch?”

“You're my friend,” he answered simply. “You drank a lot. Wanted to make sure you were okay.” He took a step back toward the table. “Are you okay?”

Eddie cradled the mug in his hands, watching the steam rise from the cup. “You don't... How long has it been? Since you talked to your dad?”

Okay, so Tommy wasn't leaving then.

He came to the table and sat down, taking a moment to think about Eddie's question. “About six years, I think.”

“What did he do?” He looked over at Tommy. “To make you stop talking to him, I mean. Unless you don't wanna get into it. In fact, forget it, I shouldn't-”

“Eddie, it's fine,” Tommy assured him. “I don't mind.”

“Okay,” Eddie nodded, sitting up straighter. “So? What happened?”

“It wasn't just one thing,” Tommy explained. “It was a lifetime of things. He's... He's not a good man. I think the catalyst was about a year after I came out. I hadn't been home in awhile, so I decided to drive to his place one weekend. When he answered the door he said, 'What the hell are you doing here?' I told him I was coming to see him and he said, 'What's the damn point in that?' I thought about it for a second and realized that was a good question, so I turned around, got in my car, and left. Never looked back.” Eddie seemed to be contemplating his words, and Tommy could tell where this was going. “It's not the same thing, Eddie,” he said, beating Eddie to it.

“What if he doesn't come back? What I did, Tommy, it wasn't... It was bad.”

“You made a mistake.”

“I cheated on my girlfriend with a doppelganger of his mom, Tommy, and he caught me.”

“Granted, it was a big mistake,” Tommy deadpanned. “But, still a mistake. He'll come around. You gotta give him time.”

“People keep telling me that,” Eddie replied with an eye roll. “That he'll come around. But it's been months of nothing. And it seems like no matter what I do, it's not enough.”

“You're trying.”

Eddie huffed. “I'm not sure getting drunk alone at a bar is trying.”

“I think it shows you care, Eddie. And, yeah, that shouldn't become a habit, but you're allowed to be upset. You're allowed to hurt. You made a mistake, but you're a good dad and Christopher knows that. He will come around.”

“And if he doesn't?” Eddie asked, staring over at Tommy.

“Then you keep trying,” Tommy replied. “You never stop trying. Keep being there, keep sending him letters and getting him on Facetime. Go for a visit. Send him texts. I'm not saying you gotta smother him, but never let him forget that you're there. That's the biggest mistake you could ever make.”

“Yeah,” Eddie took a deep breath. “Yeah, you're right. I just... I gotta keep it up. Let him know I'm here, whenever he's ready.”

“Exactly.”

Eddie looked over at the clock on his stove, 11:32 staring back at him. He had no idea he'd slept so long. “Why don't you call Buck, see if he wants to come over and watch a game? Then you can drive me to my car.”

“Oh, you want me to call Evan? Don't you mean fun dad?” Tommy asked, eying Eddie.

It took him a minute, but the memory came back to him. “I did say that, didn't I?”

“You did,” Tommy confirmed. “Which I'm very offended by, by the way. I'm fun!”

Eddie sighed, his head drooping down. “I know you are.”

“I introduced you to karaoke trivia. I've flown you to Vegas.”

“I remember.”

“I never tried to seriously injure you in the name of love.”

“Which I'm very grateful for.”

“I don't have control issues when I have a clipboard in my hand.”

“Are you just gonna keep listing reasons why you're fun?”

“I once shoved three cupcakes in my mouth at once! Nearly choked to death, but Evan whacked me on the back and everything went down just fine.”

Eddie stood with his mug in hand, pointing toward the living room, “I'm gonna go to the couch. Get more comfortable.”

Tommy followed behind, pulling out his phone to call Buck. “I'll let Evan tell you who bowled a 230 last week. Hint: it was me!”

[inkedinshadows]

Azriel headcanons

Since I'm working on too many fics and not finishing even one, here's a list of random headcanons I have about our favorite shadowsinger. Seriously, they're very random.

I have so many more, but I didn't want this to be too long lol. Let me know if I should write more of them.

If it weren't for his scars that make it impossible for him (it'd probably be really uncomfortable), Azriel would wear rings. And I mean a lot of them, on both hands. Very slutty of him if you ask me. This is how I imagine it to look like:

And necklaces as well. Like silver little chains and similar.

Azriel is 100% a cat person. I don't think I need to say more, we can all agree on this, right?

The shadowsinger can sing, we all know that. But my current obsession is him playing the piano. He probably learned while healing his hands when he was a child because it helped with coordination. He's really good at it, but he doesn't play in front of people. Only for you. (I wrote a fic about this: Play It For Me)

He has a very neat handwriting. Again, he had to practice a lot after his hands were burned to use them properly again. I picture something like this:

He's the kind of "monster" that eats pizza with a knife and fork instead of just cutting slices and using his hands (I'm Italian, I'm allowed to say this). He would also always stick to the same pizza, never changing the topping too much (relatable). He'd probably keep it simple, with mozzarella, black olives, and maybe anchovies if he feels extra.

Since we're talking food, if you are out on a date or just eating at a restaurant or whatever and you order something you end up not liking, he's swapping your dishes and giving you his. If you do like it but you also like his a lot, then he asks you if you want to share and eat half of each.

He's not a cocktail guy. Here as well, he likes to keep it simple: whiskey, brandy, wine if he's eating, and beer if he's hanging out with Cassian. If he does drink a cocktail, his go-to choices are Black Russian, gin and tonic, Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Negroni (which might be an Italian cocktail, I'm not sure).

Oh, and he loves coffee. Black, no sugar, no cream. Mostly espresso, but also full mugs of it, especially in the morning.

Azriel loves turtleneck sweaters. Leather jackets are another favorite. When he's out, he mostly wears black or dark jeans, but at home? Sweatpants. Those infamous grey sweatpants we all love. Again, very slutty. He bought them without thinking too much about it, but once he saw your reaction to him wearing them, they became his favorite piece of clothing out of everything he had ever owned.

On the topic of clothing, we know he mostly wears black, but we also know he loves Winter Solstice. He could be easily convinced to wear one of those ugly Christmas sweaters, especially if you bat your eyelashes at him. He can never say no when you give him doe eyes. He'll complain about it, but he secretly loves it, even more so if you're wearing a matching one. The first three are nice and simple and cute, the other two if you want to embarrass him a little (but he still wouldn't say no):

Same goes for Halloween. Couple costumes? He's down. Would he admit he likes it? Probably not. Would he refuse to do it until you're begging him to, just so he can see your cute pout? Absolutely. And of course, he lets you do his make-up.

He smokes. Not much, just 2/3 cigarettes throughout the day, but it can be more if he's stressed or nervous. (Just imagine the hand in the first picture with a cigarette, it's just the perfect position already. I don't smoke and I can't even stand the smell, but I would honestly let Azriel blow the smoke in my face fr)

Taglist: @mrsjna @navyblue-eternity @paintedbyshadows @highladyandromeda @starswholistenanddreamsanswered @azrielsmate3 @mollygetssherlockcoffee @mirandasidefics @tinystarfishgalaxy @cynthiesjmxazrielslover @anarchiii @readinggeeklmao @andreperez11 @azrielslittleslut @lilah-asteria @aaahhh0127 @lorosette @azrielsrealmate

[rootspiral]

Agatha All Along deep dive: episode 9 part 4

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][+1] ep5 [1][2][3][4][5] ep6 [1][2][3] ep7 [1][2][3][4][5][6] ep8 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] ep9 [1][2][3][4][5][6])

it's still agatha and her river

mama, I'm sorry I got upset. mama I'm sorry we're both starving tonight. I promise I'll do better tomorrow.

a six year old taking responsibility and apologizing for his mother's shortcomings.

agatha looks down at her precious little boy's pleading face

and she smiles at him, and nicky gives her a big relieved grin.

evanora is not stealing this moment. she did her worst to fuck with agatha's brain chemistry, but in one fundamental thing she failed: agatha is capable of loving her kid. despite all her other shortcomings, she will never blame nicky for her own faults.

she does a cute little dance for him, and this is what they do, isn't it? he's too small to explain his big feelings and she is too scared, and so they sing to each other and hope the love is understood anyway.

see how he touches the brooch? if only she could have loved nicky in vacuum, without any of the emotional baggage. but he is only the last link in a long chain of witches, pain and and tears and blood that made him what he is. agatha cannot escape her identity and legacy no matter how much she tries, and she couldn't protect nicky from it either.

the last time she sees nicky alive he's smiling adoringly at her. this is the boy she can't face in the afterlife, because her own guilt is so strong she's convinced he will hate her.

nicky dies peacefully in his mother's arms. his soul wakes up and sees rio waiting for him.

that some good cinema dear lord

rio waves at nicky. he doesn't know her (when who will return?) but he still trusts her implicity - she's been around him his whole short life, in the woods, in the water, in his lungs.

and - the bit that destroyed us all - rio makes nicky go to agatha one last time. go kiss your mama goodbye.

light and dark, growth and decay, here and beyond.

remember when alice died and the camera turned upside down? it stops halfway here. agatha has been affected so profoundly by nicky's death that she can never let herself go back to the land of the living, but she's also too scared to follow rio to the other side. she's stuck in the middle, consumed by the impossible dream of bringing nicky back, never allowing herself to find peace and companionship again. in love with death, but running away from it.

(people never seem to make crack and humor vids for episode 9, isn't that curious? when it's soooo fun and lighthearted!)

well ain't that just brutal

I have always known

This Road is cruel and wild

I bury my own heart

Here with you, my child

(I think those are lavender flowers? I'm not 100% sure)

coolcoolcoolcoolcool. that's fine. I'm absolutely fine.

BARRIERS UP right away. even if she looks like a mess. especially because she looks like a mess. she's not showing weakness in front of anyone, she's protecting her grief like a jealous goblin, and since she cannot run, she straightens her dress and gets ready to fight. the option to ask for help and comfort doesn't even cross her mind.

her eyes still full of tears / agatha gets another wonderful, awful idea.

we've seen this so many times, haven't we? the real agatha disappears behind the character she plays. the agatha we've seen from the very start, since the moment she walked into wanda's living room, has been a lie. very few people have ever seen a hint of the poor bruised heart she hides inside, and only to rio and (to some extent) nicky she has ever opened up.

how can someone go from total heartbreak to planning murder in the span of two minutes? well, you can if you are agatha harkness and have never learned one healthy coping mechanism in your life. and I'm sure she's already rationalizing it as something like "if I get powerful enough I can bring nicky back." but the truth is, she just wants to get drunk on magic and murder and stop feeling so horrible. she's running away, like usual. she's planning to kill witches in front of the grave of the very kid who begged her not to, and she's using his song to do it. as if that's not gonna haunt her or anything.

(it really gets me how agatha's smiles are so different from kathryn's. agatha never smiles with her eyes, except when she's with nicky.)

agatha's diabolical scam is so stupid if you think about, definitely worthy of the clown she has become. just pretend the Road didn't open and then annoy people into attacking you! better than using a literal child as bait, I guess.

here she absorbs a yellow coven, and yep, it does look like covens are all supposed to be the same color?

the bodies from the agnes of westview opening.

orange coven in the late 1800s. I really like that dress and hat on her

blue coven in the 1920s, and another cunty outfit

I know you guys like the 90s look, but it makes me laugh how hard she was trying for that Craft vibe. and we don't see the beams color here.

and finally, our girls. (I miss you all so muchhhhh)

what do you know! looks like a door has appeared! (sharonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!)

from fuck has my karma caught up with me to well well well, looks like we have another little maximoff on our hands

and speaking of little maximoffs and giant assholes...

go to episode 9 part 5

[teaboot]

My brother and I played a game once called "What's the most annoying noise on the planet" where we'd go on YouTube and try to find the most annoying noise.

It started with "revving motorcycle" and quickly burned through "baby crying" and "guy throwing up", and proceeded thusly.

I thought I'd won when I found an awful, ear-splittingly off-key and saccharine children's church song.

I'd actually lost, you see, because my brother started playing this non fucking stop. Cackling from the other room while I screeched like I was on fire.

Cut forwards a few years. We're both learning piano. He starts going to church. Really starts coming in to himself. Gets on really well with the pastor, a super chill dude in his 90's who was less "yall are burning in hell, so-and-so is evil" and more "Christians aren't allowed to hate anyone, so calm down and do some community service". That kinda guy.

Anyhow, my brother gets really good at the piano. So good that Pastor D asks him to play a song at service some time. Obviously I show up.

Can you guess the fucking song?

I almost lost my mind. Two years. Two years. He'd learned the piano and he'd remembered how much I hated it. I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh or cry or strangle him in the parking lot. Possibly all three.

He finishes the song. We all clap. There are old folks in the front row wiping their eyes. It was all very sweet.

Then Pastor D takes up the pulpit with tears on his face and tells my brother that it was such an interesting choice. And such a beautiful song. Because it wasn't wasn't a popular choice. But he remembered singing it in his youth.

It was a sweet moment.

And Im still so fucking mad about it

[percyluvr]

Hii can i request a pecry jackson x child of asclepius!reader with percy being the sunshine and reader being the grumpy one... totes a little sucker for a grumpy x sunshine thing

percy jackson x child of asclepius!reader summary: percy is a pain in the ass, but he's your pain in the ass wc: 551

Days in the infirmary tended to be very long and seemed to never end, but today was taking it to a new level. There had been maybe 2 campers in the last 5 hours, and you still weren't allowed to leave, so you just had to sit there and stare at a wall because you were the only healer working today.

You were sitting in a chair, looking out the window and humming when you hear the door open. You turn around and are met with Percy Jackson with a wide smirk on his face. You let out an overdramatic sigh and walk over to him.

"Yes, Percy? What can I help you with today?" You ask, hands on your hips.

"What, can't I just come see my girl every now and then?" He says, putting his hands on your waist and pulling you close to him.

You roll your eyes. "Yes, you can, but not while I'm working," you say, painfully aware of how dumb that sounds with the empty infirmary behind you that you know he's going to point out.

"My deepest apologies, you seem oh-so busy right now, should I come back at a different time?" He jokes, that stupid grin that you love so much coming back to his face.

"Whatever, are you really just here to see me?" You ask.

He presses a kiss to your lips. "While I would love to say yes, I can't because then I'd be lying," he says as he lifts up his shirt to reveal a large cut right under his ribs.

"And you waited to show me this after all of your theatrics?" You ask, shaking your head exasperatedly.

You walk over to the bed, motioning for him to sit down, to which he obliges.

As you're getting supplies out of the drawer, you hear Percy singing the song that you were humming earlier, and without you noticing, a smile appears on your face. Of course, Percy notices, and you'll never hear the end of it.

"Babe, whatcha smilin' about? You like my singing?" He teases.

"Shut up, Percy. I could just leave you there to bleed out and die."

"But you wouldn't, 'cause you love me so much," he says, and unfortunately, you know he's right.

"Whatever."

"I knew it! You love me!" He cheers loudly.

You roll your eyes and bring the gauze and ambrosia to the bed.

"So, care to tell me how this happened?" You asked him.

"Well, m'lady. I was fighting another one of your suitors, so I could win your eternal love," he jokes.

"Yeah yeah, I'm serious. What happened?"

"Who says I'm not being serious?"

"Percy, please. We are not in medieval Europe."

"But maybe we are. Who's to say for sure?"

"We live in America."

"Maybe America is a code word for Europe. Conspiracy," he whispers, wide-eyed.

"What the hell are you even talking about?"

Percy bursts out laughing. "I don't even know."

"Thought so," you say, finishing wrapping his cut. "There, you're all good now. Be more careful," you tell him.

"Awww, you're so sweet. You care about my wellbeing," he coos.

"We're literally dating."

"You're right, that's why I get to do this," he says right before kissing you.

You smile into the kiss. Percy really was something else.

[ticklystuff]

Day 3: Cleaning

a/n: ler!itto, lee!gorou — from the lovelytickletober list!

———

"I-Itto, wait! Wahahahait!"

"No can do, pup."

Gorou wasn't sure which he found more embarrassing: the endearing nickname Itto had given him that he was still acclimating too, or the fact he could barely still through the deep-cleaning Itto was currently subjecting him to, deservedly so.

"I-I cahahahan't! Wahahaha!" Gorou squealed as Itto scrubbed the brush into the pit of his underarm thoroughly, kicking his legs uselessly in the tub, while Itto hummed an unfamiliar tune over the sound of his laughter.

It all started out with the Arataki Gang's latest ploy to make a bit of mora— set up a stall at the Inazuman farmers' market to sell beetle protein shakes to the avid fans in the beetle fighting community. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, on top of the fact that the product reeked of a combination of rotten fruit and sulfur, the Arataki Gang, in their short-sightedness, did not expect the beetle fighting community to be so.. miniscule. And the general crowd that knew nothing of beetle fighting but approached the stall anyway were immediately turned off by the thought of "beetle protein shakes" because, well.. it sounds like beetles blended into a protein shake, not a strength enhancing beverage for beetles. And as much as Itto and Gorou stood outside the stall trying to draw people in, singing the silly jingle the two wrote the night before, their attempts were in vain, netting zero profit. If anything, the stall most likely put them in the red due to the fees in place to actually have a spot in the market.

Despite this, the day had been fun! Yeah, the product idea was terrible, Gorou knew this very well when Itto had made the proposal, but spending his free time to set up the stall and support the oni in his made-to-fail ventures was worth it, if one asked the general. It was a good time.

Too bad Gorou had to go and slip in a giant puddle of mud on their way back home, not only dirtying his fur, but dropping the jars of unsold shakes all over the ground, shattering the glass and allowing the smelly concoction to seep all over the poor general, leading to Gorou's current situation.

"We're almost done, I promise," Itto giggled to himself, holding up one of Gorou's legs by the ankle, brush in hand. Just from his expression, Gorou could swear Itto was actually enjoying this.

"I-I think I'm good now," he whimpered, watching as the brush approached his foot in seemingly slow motion. "No! No, Itto! Wahahahait! PleheHEHEhease!" he wailed, throwing his head back in laughter, gripping the sides of the tub with his fingers, anything to brace the bristles running against the length of his sole.

"Alright, alright," Itto laughed to himself, gently setting down Gorou's leg and grabbing a towel from the side. With one arm, he helped to lift the exhausted general from the tub, ruffling his hair with the towel, before leaning in, his nose pressed onto the top of Gorou's head as he inhaled deeply. "Smells good."

"Thanks," Gorou grumbled to himself, letting Itto run the towel against his damp skin. "I'm not helping you sell the rest of those shakes, though. They smell awful."

"I know, I can still smell them on you," Itto mused, prompting a whine from Gorou in response, "but alright, sounds good, pup."

[violentdelightsandviolentends]

could i have a rum or whiskey (you pick!) of lip gallagher? i know you said 'potential' about lip, but i still wanted to ask! i have such a huge crush on him haha (it can be dirty too if you feel like!)

Tradition.

warnings - smut. cursing.

my first ever lip fic!! i've loved shameless for YEARS but I always felt like there wasn't much of a fandom on here for it. but, we're in the JAW renaissance after all. lip girls unite!!

3k celebration post here. 3k masterlist here.

You catch his gaze across the room, and you know you're done for.

Everyone's dancing, singing, drinking. Celebrating Mickey and Ian, at long last. You should join them. But you can't tear your eyes away from Lip Gallagher.

He rises from his seat and walks over to the bathrooms, not looking back once. He knows you'll follow.

You do. You stand up and slink across the floor, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. You knock twice before slipping through the door, locking it behind you.

He's on you immediately. His hands grab at your ass as you gasp, allowing him to slide his tongue into your mouth. He crowds you against the wall, hips rutting into yours.

"Can't stop lookin' at you in this fuckin' dress," he murmurs against your lips.

"Can't stop looking at you in that tux," you whisper back. "You clean up real nice, Gallagher."

He grins at you before kissing you again, hands slipping underneath your dress to pull your underwear down.

Lip spins you around so you're bent over the sink, dress rucked up around your waist.

"I want you to watch," he tells you lowly, body draped over yours. "Want you to watch as I fuck you."

You hear the telltale sound of his zipper coming down, before you feel him pressing at your back. He slides home in one smooth thrust, both of you groaning in unison. He grips your hip with one hand, the other anchored at the back of your neck.

Lip sets a frantic pace, very aware of the fact that his entire family is still on the dance floor outside. You moan when he shifts his hips upwards, entirely too loud for the situation.

"Shhh, baby. You don't want them to hear, do you? Want them to hear how filthy you are?"

You shake your head and he chuckles, low and mischievous. Lip snakes a hand around your body to rest over your mouth, effectively shutting you up.

He doesn't let up, hips snapping into yours as you both get closer and closer. You wrap your fingers around his wrist, holding onto him for dear life.

"Come for me, baby. That's it. Good girl, that's it."

You fall over the edge as his honeyed words meet your ears, stars dancing behind your eyelids. He finds his release as soon as you do, groaning lowly against your back.

Suddenly, you laugh, amusement vibrating your body.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You're a cliche, Gallagher."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"Best man and maid of honour. You've just fed into every wedding stereotype ever."

He grins at you, buttoning himself up as you fix your hair in the mirror.

"It's not cliche. It's tradition."

[vodika-vibes]

So Long As We're Together

Summary: It’s been several years since you’ve settled into a shared life on Pabu with Wrecker. Your enemies are different now, cancer rather than Imperials, but you know you can face anything with Wrecker by your side.

Pairing: TBB Wrecker x F!Reader

Word Count: 1405

Warnings: Cancer

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: So, I will preface this by saying that only my cousin needed chemo when he had cancer. My mom only needed radiation, and my step-brother had immunotherapy. So I used google for the side-effects of chemo. Anyway, I needed to focus on something that's not AU related for a little bit, so here's this.

You wake to the scent of breakfast filling the home you share with Wrecker. And, as much as you would like to curl up into a ball and pretend that nothing exists outside your bed, you can hear Wrecker singing from the kitchen.

Your lips curl up into an amused smile as you roll from your side to your back and stretch out under the thin blankets with a groan.

For a moment, you consider pulling your pillow over your head and going back to sleep, but as you listen to Wrecker in the next room, your heart swells with affection and you decide you’d rather be with him over getting more sleep.

So you sit up and swing your legs over the side of the bed to get to your feet. You absently tug Wrecker’s shirt over your head, and press your hand over your mouth to cover your yawn, before heading out of the bedroom.

You’re still sore and exhausted from yesterday’s treatment, but you didn’t wake up nauseous so you take the win.

The home you share with Wrecker is tastefully decorated with things that both of you enjoy. There’s an entire wall filled with pictures of Wrecker’s brothers and their respective spouses as well as Omega at various sports and school events.

Your wedding picture sits in a place of honor in the middle of the wall of pictures, right over the shadow box that holds your bouquet and the unity candles that Wrecker wanted to save.

You straighten one of the pictures, a picture of you and Omega at the tennis court taken several weeks before your diagnosis. Omega had just won the juniors division and she was so excited that she nearly vibrated out of her skin.

Sure that the pictures aren’t crooked, you continue to the kitchen and lean against the door frame to watch Wrecker move around the open room with an ease that never fails to mesmerize you.

With as much as he loves cooking, you honestly thought that he would become a chef now that he no longer has to fight, but he surprised you. Instead, Wrecker became a private detective.

You weren’t sure what kind of work he would have on an island, but he’s surprisingly busy. Or, well, he was until he closed his practice while you’re going through treatment. 

You told him it wasn’t necessary, but Wrecker couldn’t be dissuaded. And neither could the rest of your extended family. 

Your village has become very large, of late, and you’ve never felt more loved.

“Good morning, Wrecker,” You greet lightly, a smile lifting your lips as he turns to look at you over his shoulder, and a blinding smile crosses his handsome face.

“Good morning, cyar’ika,” He sets the pan back on the stovetop and turns to face you, his arms spreading wide.

You immediately slide into his waiting embrace and press your nose against his chest inhaling the scent of Wrecker, allowing him to fill and surround you. His arms fold securely around you, and you’ve never felt safer.

He kisses the top of your head, “How are you feeling?” He asks.

“Exhausted. Sore. But other than that I’m okay.” You reply honestly.

“You feeling up to eating?” Wrecker asks as he rubs your back soothingly.

You consider his question seriously, a nasty side effect of the chemo is that you just don’t get hungry like you should. Between that and the nausea, you’ve lost a concerning amount of weight.

But today you actually feel pretty good.

That’ll probably change before the end of the day, but for now you’ll enjoy not feeling bad.

“Maybe something light? Some fruit?”

“Well now, you’re in luck. As it happens, I made some fruit salad for you,” Wrecker says cheerfully. He drops one more kiss to the top of your head, and then releases you to turn towards the fridge, “Do you think you can try some protein?”

You sink into one of the kitchen chairs, a plush thing that Hunter made for you after your diagnosis but before your first chemo session, and hum thoughtfully, “Let me try the fruit first, and then we can try something heavier in a bit?”

“Deal,” He makes a small bowl for you and sets it on the table, before setting a mug of tea in front of you as well. “Have you taken your pain meds yet?” Wrecker asks as he leans on the table.

“Not yet.”

“I’ll go get them,”

You lightly touch his hand, “You don’t have to.”

He sets his free hand over yours, “I want to.” Wrecker brings your hand to his lips and presses a light kiss to your knuckles, “In sickness and in health, right?”

You sigh adoringly, “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Hm, well your father got his wardrobe stuck on the stairs and you asked for my help,” He grins at you.

You huff out a laugh at the memory, “Honestly, why a 60-year-old man thought he could move the wardrobe on his own—”

Wrecker vanishes from the kitchen for a moment, and you hear him moving around in the bedroom, and then he’s back setting a pair of pills into your hand, “You know what he’s like, stubborn to a fault. Just like his daughter.”

“Well, at least I come by it honestly?”

His lips press against the top of your head again, “That you do.” Wrecker moves back to the stove to put some of the food on a plate for himself and sits next to you on the much plainer chair.

You watch him for a moment, a warm, gooey feeling swelling inside you. You really do love him more than anything. “Do you have any plans for today?”

“Hunter invited us for dinner, assuming you’re feeling up to it.” Wrecker replies, “His father-in-law bought them a grill, and depending on how it does they’ll probably be giving it to us.”

You make a face, “That’s not the best gift for them.”

“Ah, his father-in-law is old, and keeps forgetting that Hunter’s sensitive to strong scents.” Wrecker explains, “Assuming that you’re still feeling pretty solid this evening, I thought we’d go and see them.”

“I’d like that.”

“I thought you might.” Wrecker leans back in his seat, and watches you for a moment, “And you’re sure you’re okay?”

“I am, I promise.” You watch him watching you, “Are you?”

“I’m not the one who’s sick.”

“No, but you are doing your best to support me. And I know this is hard. As much for you as it is for me.”

He’s quiet for a moment, “I don’t like seeing you in pain.” Wrecker finally admits, “And it’s not like I can punch something to make you better. It’s frustrating.” 

You reach across the table and take his hand in yours, “I know that this is my fight, but you know better than anyone that good support can make all of the difference.”

He flips his hand and threads his fingers with yours, “I just wish I could do more.”

“You do plenty.” You reassure him, “Really, Wreck. I mean it. I have bad days, sure, but my good days are so much better because I’m with you. And, when I go into remission, we can take a vacation.”

Wrecker laughs softly, “We live on a tropical island.”

“Then we can have a party or something.”

He sighs and lightly tugs you out of your seat to pull you onto his lap, his lips lightly pressing against yours. “I love you,” He murmurs as he presses his forehead against yours.

“I know, I love you too. Have since the day we met.”

His hand comes up to cup your cheek, “So,” Wrecker teases, “Did you get your dad’s wardrobe stuck on the stairs intentionally then?”

You pout at him or try to, but amusement tugs the corners of your lips up, “And if I did?”

“Sneaky,” He kisses you again, and again. “How about, after breakfast, we curl up on the couch and watch a holo?”

You bump your nose against his, “Can you give me a back massage?”

“Whatever you want, cyar’ika.” Wrecker replies, his smile warm and loving, “I am at your disposal.”

You catch his lips in another kiss, as you snuggle against him. This is how you know everything will be fine. How can it not be when you have Wrecker?

[writers-requiem]

Title: A Father's Love

Genre: Marvel, Platonic, Headcannons, X-Men

Pairing: Hank McCoy x child/teen!Reader

TW: None

Parents and their children is a complex relationship that everyone experiences or witnesses to some extent. And Hank is no exception.

Yes, his parents loved him and wanted the best for him, but as shown in the early days of the comics, for all his introspective nature, he isn't immune to wallowing in self pity to the point of ignoring others' pain.

But this time, we're talking about Hank as a father himself, and on Earth 41001, he is a great dad. But here on Earth 8096, we have no relevant information on that. But I will try my best with these headcannons.

For starters, he would be a bit nervous about being a parent. Okay, very nervous.

Given the life he lives, it makes sense. He doesn't want to put you in harm's way just because he himself is a mutant and superhero.

He often stresses over your safety and often makes frequent check-ins even in the heat of battle to make sure you're okay.

He also makes it a habit to give you weekly check ups to make sure your health is in good condition, you're eating your fruits and veggies, the works.

When he isn't worried about your safety, which is when you two are in the same place and you're in his line of sight, he makes it a point to let you have some room to breathe so you don't feel like he's overbearing.

He'd be the one to bring you warm soup, blankets, water and medicine when you're sick.

He enjoys it when you pay him a visit to his lab. Especially when you take an interest in what he's doing and even mentors you in science.

If he found you as a baby, he would sleep on the couch with you cradled in his arms.

If you have trouble sleeping, he'll try giving you melatonin, sleepytime tea and a weighted blanket. And if that doesn't work, he'll ask if you want him to sleep with you.

Gives the best hugs and loves getting hugs himself. Man's a giant teddy bear.

If you were interested, he'd teach you how to train your feet to be prehensile and allow you to hang from the rafters like he does.

If you're really young, he'll do a bunch of tricks that he can do with no issue for your amusement and astonishment.

Does inventory checks to make sure you have what you need.

Regardless if you do or don't have powers of your own, he'll do everything in his power to make extra sure that you feel safe with him and the other X-Men.

If you end up saving his and the team's lives on a mission, he'll be genuinely surprised and utterly proud of you. And if you take the battle from that point, he'll be cheering you on along with the others.

When he introduces you to his parents, they'll love you just as much as they love him.

If you had a run-in with his dark doppelganger, he is livid. Nobody manipulates or harms his child and gets away with it!

If you have a lot on your mind, he's right there to help you decompress and sort out your thoughts one at a time.

If someone insults you for having a mutant father, and you react by using your power to humiliate them, he's not amused but is understanding of why you did what you did.

Will be willing to share stories from his childhood and early adult life. Some of them are informative, others are just for laughs.

You show at an early age that you have a similar knack for science and tech like he does and he is proud to tutor you on everything he knows.

Likes to take you for little trips through the country side or on camping getaways.

The instant you say a swear word in front of him, he knows that Logan had some hand in that development.

Likes to sing you sweet little melodies to lull you to sleep. And he would do it all the time if you were really young.

He's basically your blanket at home during fall and winter. He doesn't want you catching a cold now.

He tried using Gen Z slang, much to your and the other's collective dismay. But you all found out it annoyed Logan especially, so you two use it only when Logan is around to annoy him.

If you asked him how to dance for prom, homecoming, a ball, he would set aside whatever it was he was doing to teach you.

If you had a hard time calling him anything along the lines of "dad" he won't hold it against you. But the moment you call him dad, it takes both of you off guard. But all he can do in that moment is take a deep breath and hug you.

Would definitely take you out for little picnics every once in awhile.

Been a long time since I had done some headcannons like this! Thanks for taking the time to read!

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"Hate me, baby, maybe, I'm a piece of art"

27+ Tiffany Blews (pun on Tiffany Blue, absolutely genius) on Fall Out Boy's controversial fourth album Folie a Deux are easily one of the best songs in their discography. Combining everything that makes fob so special in an unforgettable two song run.

27

One of my favorite fob songs period. Genuinely cried when some other city got this song for their Magic 8 Ball suprise song (happy 4 u,, but it should have happend to me :3). This song has one of fob's best lyrics

"If home is where the heart is then we're all just fucked

I can't remember, I can't remember

And I want it so bad I'll shoot the sushine into my veins

I can't remember, the good old days" --- I am going to try to articulate this well but putting the first I cant remember to set up the good old days line is simply genius. I mean, you could interpert it as that or as he can't remember where his heart is, either works honestly and that is genius.

"My mind is a safe, and if I keep it then we all get rich" the way Patrick sings get rich scratches my brain so good. I love the imagery in the chorus, it's not 100% actual imagery of like a phsyical setting it's more metaphorical but it still paints a vivid picture so like let's relax here on the technicalities...

.

.

THE GUITAR SOLO RAHHHHHHHHH

.

Ending the song reiterating "if home is where the heart is" creates a loop that would allow you to play this song for hours on end, but why would you do that when it seamlessly transitions into Tiffany Blews?

Tiffany Blews

Fame sucks!

The concept of not being a crybaby, but being the crybaby. Oh wow, i can feel my long fingernails tapping against my bald head. This song has so experimental compared to what they had previously made. The lyrics are so clever.. they definitely tried to emulate this throughout MANIA with Wilson and in Stardust with Heartbreak feels so good…..But like the lyrics say, this song is a CLASSIC it sounds so timeless and nostalgic at the same time I just love her, she is very gorgeous to me <3

"dear gravity, you've held me down in this starless city"

I misheard this first as darling, then starlit, and finally as starless, lol, love the lil wayne feature!

:) I love how Folie had so many random cameos like Wayne and...... brendon urie...WHATEVR WHATEVA the woke mob cannot take 20 dollar nosebleed away from me

[deke-rivers-1957]

Harum Scarum Review

The second Gene Nelson and Sam Katzman picture starring Elvis Presley. Inspired by Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik and filmed on the original Cecile B. DeMille's set of The King of Kings, Elvis had hope of finally getting a movie that allowed him to be more of an action hero. Given that Peter O'Toole's 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia was a massive success for Columbia Pictures, MGM likely wanted to capitalize on that success by using a guaranteed money maker in Elvis.

Unfortunately, the hype Elvis had regarding the possibility of being a Rudolph Valentino figure was quickly squashed. He received the script and realized that his character wouldn't live up to the expectations he originally had. It's a pretty known story that even the Colonel thought the script was so weird, he thought it should include a talking camel. This of course is in reference to the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movie, Road to Morocco. Ironically enough, the reference I make to Zanzibar in my announcement post was another movie that the duo made. With Kissin Cousins being described as the begin of Elvis' decline, this movie is typically described as being Elvis' rock bottom. Is it really as bad as people say, or is it over hated due to outdated elements? Let's find out.

"Harem Holiday" while it sounds great, is very confusing in the context of this movie. Why is this movie called Harum Scarum when it's called Harem Holiday elsewhere and even has a song with that name? I get that it's a term meaning someone acting reckless and without care, but it doesn't relate to the movie at all. Both titles completely gloss over the very important detail of how Johnny ended up in the position he will end up in.

We immediately open to a movie within a movie as Johnny Tyrone stars in an Arabian film where he saves a woman by killing a jaguar with his bare hands. He even sings to her "My Desert Serenade" while he has the weirdest sideburns I have ever seen. And then the movie just ends to a roaring applause in front of what's an unusually white crowd.

Apparently this is being screened in front of Arabian dignitaries as a diplomacy mission by the US State Department. Why is this specific actor's movie being chosen for this mission when just by what we're shown, would be the equivalent of going into the Soviet Union and screen a movie of Elvis fighting a polar bear in Siberia? Only 2 minutes in and I already have a lot of questions on why this is the set up. He sings "Go East Young Man" and again why is this the song that you're choosing to perform in front of dignitaries you're supposed to schmooze? Again it'd be the equivalent of going into the Soviet Union and singing a song about drinking vodka with Josef Stalin. It's just so stereotypical that if this was a real diplomatic mission, it would be an absolute disaster. Dignitaries that you're trying to establish a relationship with, wouldn't see this as honoring their culture. If anything, what this movie should be about, is Johnny being kidnapped because they found his performance insulting.

Johnny Tyrone in this picture above summarizes Elvis' acting throughout the entire movie. Sir, you are meeting actual royalty and this is how you act? I can understand wanting to make a good impression but for goodness sake crack a smile. Or at the very least show humility by bowing before the prince. For someone who's supposed to be an actor/stuntman that was given a golden opportunity to act as a diplomat of American culture on this mission, Johnny looks like if it wasn't for Aishah, he literally couldn't care less to be there. Even when the prince invites Johnny to the king's palace (making him the first American to ever do so) Johnny looks bored out of his skull.

After traveling with the prince to Lunarkand, Johnny stops at a camp. Johnny goes to flirt with Aishah and we get a Red West appearance as on of the attackers. I know Star Trek didn't come out yet, but what is up with these costumes? These men look like an alien race trying to disguise themselves as human. Also this is the worst depiction of drugging someone I have ever seen. It's obvious that Aishah drugged his drink, but what drug could possibly work that fast? Whatever plot they want to commit would be executed a lot faster if they simply used a little too much of the Brand X drug if it's truly that effective. Drinking something is the slowest method you could possibly use to drug someone. It doesn't go directly to the brain like inhaling a substance.

The prince is obviously behind this and any twist that comes from it, is gone. My reason why it's so obvious: the prince would be completely incompetent if he traveled without any type of security for himself. So the fact that these men were able to enter his camp with absolutely no resistance indicates that this was planned to happen. If this was truly just a plot by Aishah, he would've been a victim as well to get the King's attention or attempt to implicate Johnny for the crime so Lunarkand would go to war agains the US. But that didn't happen. The prince is conveniently resting in his tent while Johnny is kidnapped.

I have never laughed so hard at an Elvis movie as I did when Johnny starts singing "Mirage". You have Johnny who was just kidnapped waking up in a strange place and what does he do? He literally starts singing to the slave women thinking this is just a dream. How in the world are we supposed to take anything that happens in this movie seriously? Johnny is being held captive in a Middle Eastern country and nobody will even know about it until after a week when Johnny doesn't return from his vacation. But no we need to have a gag about how Johnny's horny for slave women.

Even when he's facing Sinan, the leader of assassins who wants him to kill the King of Lunarkand, he still doesn't seem to care. All he does is make a snarky remark about how stupid it is to believe he can actually kill a jaguar with his barehands. Even if it was actually true, that just makes him all the more boring. Why should I care about Johnny Tyrone, if he's shown to be physically invincible and doesn't even seem all that scared about the amount of danger he's in? That isn't relatable. It's especially worse when you get the racist stereotype that poor Arabians are thieves in the form of Zacha offering to help Johnny escape for 10,000 American dollars. He explains how this country is so isolated that there's airport. How would Zacha even know what an airport was if Lunarkand's been isolated for 2000 years? And how does he speak fluent English if Johnny's the first American to even be on palace grounds? I just don't get how this world is set up.

Johnny escapes and runs into Princess Shalimar who for literally no reason says she's a slave girl. This would absolutely never happen and if anything makes me even more suspicious of the prince. Shalimar is a princess so she should have guards everywhere. Johnny would've been immediately captured just by being near her. Shalimar wasn't there during Johnny's movie screening so she has no reason to believe that he isn't going to be a danger to her. Johnny being hot isn't enough of a reason to trust him.

It also makes Johnny's plight even more frustrating to watch. For someone who's supposed to be on the run he sure takes his sweet time escaping. He doesn't take his safety seriously as he stops by the lake and sings "Kismet" to a woman he literally just met. It's a good song but it the movie literally stops when Johnny is supposed to be running away. When he tells Shalimar about Sinan and she runs away, it becomes all the more dumb that he wasted that much time. The guards are right on their heels and only get lucky in their escape.

So Johnny decides to follow Zacha until they find some dancing girls in Bar Esalaam that are part of Zacha's Den of Thieves. The stereotypes don't get better as you have an element out of the 1920s in the form a little person playing the mute fool named Baba. We've seen Billy Barty before in Roustabout and it's nice to have him do more than just one gag. I just wish they could've treated Baba as a real person, given how progressive it was to even have little people (especially since Billy Barty was the founder of the non-profit organization, Little People of America). Heck you know things are bad when you have me praise this movie for having a token black person be on screen in a movie that's meant to be in the Middle East. Are there pale skinned people in the Middle East? Absolutely. I don't mind that the royal family and their servants have pale skin. My beef is that a movie meant to be in the Middle East shouldn't have only one noticeably black person. Especially when you consider that Lunarkand celebrates Ramadan, a holiday celebrated by Muslims, who are typically darker skinned.

"Shake That Tambourine" I guess is good but why on earth are we stopping everything just for this? All we're doing is pro-porting the stereotype that all poor Arabians are thieves. What exactly is this accomplishing when Johnny needs to escape and he's going to pay Zacha $10,000? Nothing. If anything Baba getting caught stealing only brings attention to them. The guards chase Johnny in what's the most ridiculous display of physics I've ever seen in a fight. Johnny might be an actor/stuntman, but that doesn't mean he's capable of taking on a group of soldiers. The fact that this is being treated like one of his movies destroys any possible conflict. Why should I be worried about him getting caught when I know he's just going to beat them up and get away? What's worse is that you have two orphan children throwing rocks at the guards and it knocks them out. These children are about 10 years old at the oldest. Even if they're using a slingshot of sort, I just don't see them as being strong enough to make it at all effective.

"Hey Little Girl" has the worst context I've ever seen. Johnny is singing this song while a barely 10 year old girl dances like a stereotypical adult dancing girl. This isn't me taking the song out of context when the girl literally says she dreams about growing up to be a beautiful slave woman. Not to mention that there's literally a lyric that goes "Hey little girl, I'd like to take you home. Come on, come on, come on I want you for my very own." and another that goes "I want you swing it to the left, and shake it to the right. Hey little girl, you know you're lookin' fine". This is not at all appropriate for a girl this young to be shown doing that.

If you were listening to this song as just the soundtrack version, then it's just fine. It's a different sound that breaks up the monotony of his other songs. But when you watch it in context, it just doesn't match the actual intent Johnny has of wanting to adopt this girl. I of course don't blame Elvis because he didn't choose to have this be included. I don't think he realized that, her even doing this would be inappropriate since the movie itself has associated those moves to an adult woman in a more sexual nature. Movie scenes aren't always filmed in the order the audience sees them in, so I can understand why Elvis wouldn't have made the connection the audience would make. Regardless, there were better ways to have Johnny bond with the children he plans on adopting than this.

Aishah arrives at the Den of Thieves because Zacha is still working for Sinan. Knowing Johnny isn't a complete villain, she intends on holding the slave women and children hostage so Johnny has no reason to chicken out. In what is a very jarring display of seriousness, Sinan's men arrives at the den too with a bunch of weapons. They fully intend to kill these orphans if Johnny doesn't do it. The plot to kill the King is on as the plan is to kill him during the final celebration of Ramadan.

Princess Shalimar meanwhile laments that Johnny doesn't know she's a princess. That was entirely her fault so I don't feel bad for her. I get that she probably only said she was a slave girl to keep herself safe, but once she kissed Johnny, she never told him the truth. She's so down bad for Johnny, that she hallucinates seeing his reflection in her pool. I actually don't mind this break in reality since we're obviously supposed to understand this is just her imagination. "Golden Coins" is probably the only song with a Middle Eastern sound that doesn't feel completely stereotypical. If anything it gives us an insight that Shalimar wants Johnny to worship her by giving her many gifts. Very appropriate given how she's a princess.

So Johnny goes to the palace with the flimsiest disguise I have ever seen and I severely question what Sinan's plan is. Why on earth would you have Johnny try to kill the King when he's surrounded by everyone? If Johnny is trying to warn the king why would he take his knife out before explaining the situation? Having the knife in your hand is obviously going to lead to a "shoot first, ask questions later" reaction. Why is Sinan using Aishah to hold hostages knowing good and well that Johnny would never be killed? Johnny is an American who has people knowing that he'll only be gone a week. If he never returns from Lunarkand, the State Department is going to know he was killed. This was meant to be a diplomatic mission built into his vacation so even if the prince succeeds in killing the King, having Johnny be killed would only lead to war.

This is probably the most amount of emotion Johnny shows in the entire movie. He felt betrayed that Shalimar lied to him about being a princess. He's additionally upset that he let everyone down by failing. "So Close, Yet So Far (From Paradise)" is the most relatable song in this movie. At this point in watching, I looked at the run time and saw that I was barely at the hour mark. This movie felt so long that I had to pause and walk away for a minute to contemplate how a movie could be so complicated plot wise, yet also give you nothing. After coming back to finish this movie, Baba manages to set them all free. I take back what I said earlier as in a way, he did have a genuine character moment by getting past the guards to save his friends as opposed to running away to save himself. Johnny decides to try to reason with the King knowing he would have diplomatic immunity anyway.

Sure enough, things are smoothed over once Johnny explains himself. I guess the King only believes him because Shalimar vouched for his honor. In her heart of hearts, she never believed he could do such a thing. I mean she technically shouldn't anyway since again, Johnny killing the King as the first American to step foot on this land would be an act of war. Johnny isn't that stupid to risk that. Johnny comes up with a plan to keep the King safe, and expose Sinan. Meanwhile, we get actual whippings and the potential murder of women and children at the Den of Thieves. The true mastermind is of course revealed as the prince. However, what I didn't expect is for Sinan to betray the prince so he can take the throne himself. Granted there's the very big issue of Princess Shalimar being the heir to the throne, but I appreciate the attempt to be unpredictable. Sinan does after all, plan on keeping the prince alive so the people don't grow suspicious.

Johnny of course, exposes Sinan and saves the hostages in what's a pretty clever way. Using the slave women's bells as a means of misdirecting Sinan's men is a great way to get to Sinan and make him vulnerable. After a complicated plot involving the King fighting his brother that ends with Sinan getting shot full of holes by a machine gun somehow. The King defeats his brother with Aishah's hands being binded and promises Shalimar's hand in marriage to Johnny despite knowing him for only less than a week. The King doesn't even have his brother executed and instead has him banished. Because I guess blood is thicker than water and having your brother knowingly commit an act of treason without coercion on his part isn't as bad as Johnny only pretending to try to kill you. Aishah was part of the conspiracy too so unless she goes with the prince as banishment she would absolutely be executed for her treason. But no, we just jump right over that as if the King's possible assassination doesn't even matter.

We get one final performance and what I think is a Joe cameo with Johnny's new act in a reprise of "Harem Holiday". It's nice that Johnny fulfilled his promise to adopt the slave children, but what did you expect? Johnny isn't a complete villain to just let orphan children remain in slavery. There's just no reason to even worry about them, when there's no sense of complex morals in this movie. I have no idea why Johnny would even want to call it a holiday either. Sure he was on vacation and got a bride out of this, but getting kidnapped and being asked to assassinate a monarch should be traumatizing. I get that this is an Elvis movie and we need to have an Elvis movie, but really? This is the best way you could think of ending it?

It just raises several questions on how the movie ends. Why is Johnny performing in Vegas during what's supposed to be his honeymoon? Why did Johnny even decide to go back to the US at all when he's married to a LITERAL PRINCESS? If this country is so isolated that it doesn't even have an airport, how did Shalimar and her father even get into the country without a passport? This isn't a diplomatic mission and Shalimar wouldn't automatically be a US citizen just because she married Johnny. I'm just so baffled on how the movie emphasizes Lunarkand's monarchy and isolation only to completely erase that when Johnny marrying Shalimar would be a huge deal. The unfortunate reality is that nothing in this movie that's supposed to be taken seriously is taken seriously. And when you have that happen, all you have left to do is sit there and care about as much as Johnny does about everything: very little.

This movie at times was painful to sit through. I have seen The Sheik and Son of the Sheik before watching this movie. Those were made about 40 years prior to this one and were both silent. I enjoyed those movies a lot more. Things didn't age well but at least they had cohesive stories, and actors that express real emotion. When Rudolph Valentino is angry, he can be explosive, or silently seething without hearing a word. Elvis in this movie is just flat the entire time. This is probably one of the only times where Elvis has visibly given up without having had a concussion only a couple weeks prior to filming. When the movie is supposed to be dramatic, he's just so blasé I lose all investment. If Johnny can't even care about the trouble he faced, why should I?

I have no idea how to rate this. It looks nice visually and most of the songs if listened to out of context actually sound decent. Everything else ranges from mid to bad to (in the case of "Hey Little Girl") cringe inducing. IMDB has a current rating of 4.6 which sounds about right. Since it's not even 50% good, I'm giving this a 4/10. I wouldn't recommend watching this since if you like songs, just listen to the soundtrack. If you're looking for movies in an Arabian setting, do not watch this. Just watch Rudolph Valentino's movies on YouTube since that was what Elvis specifically expected. And when you take those stories for what it was, you'll see why they were used as a source of inspiration and just how unfortunate it was that this didn't measure up.

AN: Happy Holidays everyone. I hope you have a better time than I did. If you want to be tagged in future reviews, please leave a note here: https://www.tumblr.com/deke-rivers-1957/743326835519176704/ecu-movie-taglist?source=share

Tagging: @searchingforgravity, @mercsandmonsters, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @50sexyshadesfashionista, @atleastpleasetelephone,

@iloveelvis2, @arianatheangel-girl, @eapep, @vintagepresley, @peaceloveelvis,

@arrolyn1114, @smokeymountainboy, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis, @littlejoecartwright1842,

and @xanatenshi.

[doobnnoob-tf2]

The mercs on a road trip to who knows where. What are they each doing?

🧌

we're taking this vehicle-by-vehicle, so buckle up

ENGINEER'S TRUCK

Driver: Engineer

Passengers: Soldier, Demoman

Engineer insists he be taking the lead, and asks Demoman to man the map for him. he marked the path in pencil and didn't realize how many times both Demoman and Soldier would erase parts of it and redraw the line to take detours at first. he catches on by the third time they take an exit that made no sense at all and pulls over to demand he look at the map. this also started an argument between him and Sniper who wanted to just take the lead because he didn't need a map

Demoman sits in the passenger's seat, with the map. he mostly watches the world go by, occasionally attempting to reach over and turn the radio on, but would get his hand smacked because Engineer didn't want it on while he's trying to concentrate on the road. he and Soldier end up playing road games like I Spy, or their personal favorite: Punch Buggy. much to Engineer's dismay

Soldier takes the middle seat that is revealed when the center console is flipped up. he was told not to sit there but he did anyway. the reason being is he can't not shove his arm in front of Engineer's face to point out something on the side of the road. he also has snacks galore and there are crumbs everywhere that he says he'll clean out on their next stop but he doesn't. instead he runs inside the gas station to go get more and leaves Engineer to do it

MEDIC'S (stolen) VAN

Driver: Heavy

Passengers: Pyro, Medic

Heavy is the only choice for driver, not that he minds. Pyro can't drive, and no matter what Medic tries to say he legally is not allowed to drive. whether or not he stole the vehicle. he is a very serious driver and tends to dislike distractions of any kind, which is why he's glad there is no radio in the van. he follows behind Engineer, staying as close as he can to avoid losing sight of him without being too close

Medic reluctantly sits in the only passenger seat. he isn't happy about it and pouts for a good while at the beginning of the drive, but eventually he stops caring. he hates the silence and wants to talk, and after several attempts he finally annoys Heavy enough to get him to talk just so he'll stop poking at his face to get his attention. he relaxes more as Heavy starts to relax and chat with him, the two mostly trying to figure out where they hell they're even going since Engineer planned the whole trip and wouldn't tell anyone

Pyro stole Medic's office chair and sat it in the back of the van without anyone noticing. they duct taped themself to it and unlocked the rolling wheels do they could sit and roll around during the whole drive. it's during one of the gas stops that Heavy and Medic open the back and find out when they're trying to ask them if they want a snack. they have to be cut free from the tape, and someone helps them find a belt to use instead that'll be easier for them to get themself free from during stops

SNIPER'S CAMPERVAN

Driver: Sniper

Passengers: Scout, Spy

Sniper has one rule: driver controls the radio. he rolls the windows all the way down and blasts metal music as loud as he can during the whole drive. much to the annoyance of everyone around them, not that he cares. he sings along to it or gripes about how he could have made the drive so much more interesting than long stretches of boring highway and still got them there in good time. though after some time, the other two vehicles they're with notices the music has faded away, and Sniper's taken the other two on a different road trip. Spy's suggestion after Scout noticed some kind of oddities road sign

Spy sits on the other end of the bench in the cab of the camper, mostly reading a book and drumming his fingers along to the music on the outside of the door he's leaned against. however, when he gets tired of that, he puts the book away and starts egging Sniper on to just speed past everyone since they're the only three vehicles on the road. it takes a couple minutes of back and forth before he finally talks him into disobeying the rules of the road and pissing off Engineer as he zooms past loudly several times, taking over the radio when Engineer calls it to speak only in French before changing the frequency

Scout loves taking road trips with Sniper and Spy, always sitting in the middle of the bench. he knows it always starts with Sniper driving safe and eventually relenting to Spy's insistence that he could speed up. he loves the adrenaline rush of hearing the engine roar and the loud music. it's one of the few times he's quiet because he enjoys the banter between the two he's sitting in between when they both finally decide to let loose. especially when Spy starts getting into the music as well

[toscrollperchancetomeme]

I think it could also be about creativity, though? Sam's technique is pretty good, but there are famous singers that go even harder vocally, but lack a little in terms of interpretation imo. And he kept delivering the lines in a different way, adding more attitude to it instead of singing it every verse in the same monotonous way. I think everyone is better at some things than others, and even their qualities can be improved with time and practice, but Sam not having a music career and pulling this off in whatever short time he had to prepare is impressive. And I think in a way it must be more terrifying because it is new territory and he's doing it alone? With acting at least you have scene partners that can help you get to that place. But I always see singers getting self-conscious on recording sessions, even when the producers are praising them, they keep finding flaws where there isn't any because being alone and able to hear themselves like that adds so much to their pressure and perfectionism, while singing live and feeding off from their fans is usually more liberating, fun and relaxing and you're just allowed to feel and not thinking too much. Anyway, I think most people are happily surprised and really enjoying it. I've personally said the same thing about him, I'm not a singer, but I'm passionate about music and follow some vocal coaches on YT... And even among musicians I'm obsessed about, I don't listen to their earliest songs that much because it almost sounds like different people. There's one singer that I basically skip their first four albums because on their fifth record things just reached a divine level (and I loved those albums, but after #THAT the bar was set too high so I only listen to like 1/3 of their discography). And I'm assuming Sam is still recording and he hasn't 'peaked' yet, either vocally or creatively, I believe future stuff will be even better, but we're off to a great start.

There's some very valid points in here, thank you! :)

It really does boil down to how one defines "singer" of course, and I get that there is only so much nuance one can put in a live reaction. I'm not a recording artist, I have written one song 10 years ago with the 5 guitar chords I know and it was shit. :D I just had a few years of vocal training and I enjoy interpreting music and do some community level musical theatre stuff. But I define myself as a singer. Maybe what irks me a bit that it's the same vein of dismissive treatment that musical theatre actors get around here (here being Germany): You're not a real singer because you're actually an actor, but you're not a real actor because you're doing musical, etc etc.

So, as is often the case, I'm seeing this through the filter of my own experience, in this case how I've seen really great professionals treated and often gatekept from breaking out of their genre. It's a complicated issue. I genuinely don't think that anyone meant harm or offense to Sam, but I wish people would be a bit considerate before defining for someone else who and what that person is or is not - especially while they are delivering a great performance. I think at this point Sam has proven that he can do it, and is, actually, a singer. But I'm also really curious about where his vocal journey will go and I can't wait to hear more! ;-; <3

Oh and I would absolutely love to see vocal coaches reacting to the song! I hope that happens soon, I'm really curious what they think. :)

(Also thank you so much for sending me an ask about this and being thoughtful and everything? I came back to tumblr for this fandom when S2 started airing and the experience has been nothing short of wonderful, I'm a bit humbled by the increasing engagement some of my posts are getting. ;-; )

[thecoleopterawithana]

Eras: The Beatles | Episode 6 - Now and Then

In the final episode of Eras: The Beatles, we hear the story behind The Beatles' final single Now and Then, including new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Narrated by Martin Freeman, the episode also features insight on the new track from Sean Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Peter Jackson.

.

[This episode features more complete audio from the soundbites included in the 'Now and Then' short film/documentary. Under the cut are transcriptions of some of my favorite sections. Including Paul's interpretation of the meaning of 'Now and Then' (bonus points if you guess his answer!)]

PAUL: And then 'Now and Then' just kind of languished in a cupboard and we didn't do anything with it. I kept saying, "You know, maybe we should do something with this, seems a bit—" "Hm, I don't know..." There wasn't a great desire to do anything with it. So it hung around for a while. Years! And every so often, I'd kind of go to the cupboard and think, "There's a new song in there! We should do it! We gotta do it!" But it'd go back in the cupboard.

[...]

PAUL: Peter [Jackson] had sent me a text while he was doing the 'Get Back' thing. He said, "Here's a piece of dialogue of John's that I'd like to use, but George is rehearsing in the background," and you could hear George's guitar and you couldn't really make out quite what John was saying because it was distracting. He said, "But we've got this new technology: Machine Assisted Learning. M.A.L., so we're calling it MAL." Which was like— that was really cool! Because our old road manager and dear friend was Mal [Evans].

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I'd had this idea for two or three years about him [Paul] singing a duet with John. And the fact that we'd developed this software now allows us to separate the voices and the music meant that I could take a song that John and Paul were singing on, just separate John's vocal only, and Paul could have that for playing on stage. And then his band and himself could do the vocals and the playing for the rest of the song. So he could do a duet with John. He didn't even blink, he just said, "That's a fantastic idea, I love it! Let's do it!" And so we quickly turned that around and got that underway. So Paul was now touring with a John Lennon duet on 'I Got a Feeling'.

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I got a phone call from Paul saying, "Is it possible to use that technology for another project I've been thinking about? [...] Would it be possible to take John's vocal and clean it up and get rid of everything else? Because that would allow us to finish this Beatles song." And absolutely, it didn't take me more than about a second to get back to him and say, "Of course we can do it!"

[...]

PETER JACKSON: We assumed that the copy of 'Now and Then' that they were working to in the studio in 1995, where the vocals were coming from, was probably not a first-generation copy. [...] So we though, well this is probably a third generation [tape copy]. [...] And so we contacted Sean Lennon and he was very helpful. And sure enough, we got a digital copy of the original. Which is the same demo, same performance, but two generations better.

[...]

RINGO: I'm sitting there thinking, "I don't remember George doing that solo?" It was just like practicing, maybe. Cus it sounds like George! Then Paul said, "No, it's me." [laughs] But Paul did a great job. I mean, he's very good, you know, Paul. He's a very good musician.

[...]

RINGO: Giles [Martin] had to fly out to LA one day to listen to a four-hour string session that Paul wanted, and then fly back to England! [laughs] There's no string sections in England!

[...]

PAUL: Eventually, when we got to mix number 7 it was, "Wow, this is it! Now it's a Beatle record!" And we played it to various people, some of whom cried. Some of whom said, "Jesus Christ! It's a Beatles record!" But the reaction was very favorable.

[...]

RINGO: The difference from the two tracks of John, the old track of John— you know, we have to thank Sean as well, because he found the original tape. So that's the one you can really hear John, not the copy-copy-copies. And... it's like John's there, you know. It's far out. It's so clear now you know it's him. Cus on the original one we were working to I couldn't tell if it was Paul or John singing half the time. But now you know it's John! [chuckles]

[...]

PAUL: I think it just means 'now and then'. "Now and then, I have a cup of tea". I'm not sure it means an awful lot more than that. But, looking at it from today's perspective, now and then. Then you can start to get all sorts of meanings in. The modern-day, the historical past of the Beatles. It lines up with all of that. But we were always very happy to let people make their own minds up. "Here it is, it's a song. Now, the minute we deliver it to you, it's up to you. You can do anything you want with it." And people do!

[...]

RINGO: And that was what it was like for the three of us when we started this role in the 90s. We had to pretend— it always makes me laugh when I think of it— we had to pretend that he'd gone for a cup of tea or his lunch. But that he was still around. Because it was very strange when we started there's only three of us, after all those years, and all that life, that there were four of us. And I still miss him, man!

[...]

SEAN LENNON: It feels very synchronous that the lyric speaks about time and that it's taken so much time. That it sort of fuses the past and the present. It's like a time capsule. And it all feels very meant to be — or fated, or something — in the nicest sense.

[...]

PAUL: When I remember the Beatles, I remember the joy, the talent, the humor, the love. And I think, if people remembered us for that — for those things — I'd be very happy.

[bellesdreamyprofile]

chapter 7 - 1948

the hidden letters

1946         Cece - 8 years old

Dear Elvis,

the weather in California is HOT. The beach is five minutes away from here, so it's a little better. My daddy has another family. A wife and two kids and it feels weird. I start school soon and I'm scared no one is gonna like me. I wrote a letter to my mama and I'm going to give her this one. So she'll give this one to your mama. The kids here are so weird. Their accents are funny.  I miss you. How are you doing in Tupelo? And your mama? Write me back soon?

Sending you a big hug,

Cece

1946         Elvis - 10 years old

Dear Cece,

your mama said you'd be writing letters but I got none. Maybe it got lost somewhere. School is started soon and it's gonna be weird not taking you there. I'll be in sixth grade. I now officially hate my tree house. It's empty and dirty. I miss you 'cause you always cleaned it. Kidding. I hope you're coming back and also I don't like your daddy, 'cause he took you away from your family. I don't know what else to write. Nothing interesting happened.

Come back,

Elvis

1947         Cece - 9 years old

Dear Elvis,

writing you letters feels like an escape from the world here. You haven't written anything back and I know you're mad at me. I tried to run away but my daddy found me and he was angry with me. I'm not allowed to go anywhere on my own now. Which is good, because I now write to you and my mama. I hate it here — I try to convince myself that it's gonna be better, but when will it ever be? I think I'm gonna die of loneliness. Would you come here to attend my funeral? There are no churches nearby. Do you remember when we listened to the choir on your birthday? I wanted to relive that. I miss you. Please write something.

Love,

Cece

1947         Elvis - 11 years old

Dear Cece,

I don't remember the last time I picked up a pen so often. I like writing to you. It seems like a journal. I write and nothing comes back. Except I feel better. I tried to continue writing that song. Remember? It goes like oh, sweet, Cece Flora. Once it's done I'll send it to you. My mama said it's hot in California. Is it? Once again I hate your daddy. 

Bye Cece,

Elvis

1948        Cece - 10 years old

Dear Elvis,

I'm finally ten years old. I got two numbers. It's not one anymore. My daddy asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said I wanted to go back home. He said no and then bought me a guitar. This one is very pretty, though I don't remember how you can make it sound right. I wish you were here to teach me. I started writing a song. It's called that's all right. Maybe we can sing it together when I'm back? My step siblings are okay now for the most part. It's still weird seeing my daddy so happy with someone other than my mama. He said that maybe we're paying you a visit. Visit or not I'm staying there and I'll never come back again.

Hope your mama and daddy are doing fine. Miss you,

Cece 

1948         Elvis - 12 years old

Dear Cece,

when my family and I moved to Tupelo I remember how scared I felt. That I wouldn't fit in and whatnot. I still feel that way somehow. I'm not very good with emotions and all that crap, but I feel alone right now. Mama said it's a phase and I'll get over it. I hope so, because I hate the way I feel. Like I ain't got no purpose. I just know I wanna sing and do something with my guitar. I wanna make people happy. Daddy announced that we're moving to Memphis for his work and your mama is moving with us. Having her there feels like having you here in a way. I hope that doesn't sound weird. This will be my last letter. I'll keep writing, because I always feel better when I do, but I won't be sending them no more since you don't write back. 

Love,

Elvis

index chapter 8