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kibybun · 4 years ago

Text

It's not over yet! Part 1 here and part 2 here!

Platonic Yandere Hawks x reader pt. 3!

Tw: Yandere, gore, body mutilation, animal killing, delusions

Enjoy!

💛Hawks takes out of the city, deep into the woods. There you help him fix up a cute little cabin and start your new life.

💛Admittedly, it took a month or two for you to adjust but now you love your new life with your big brother!

💛You changed your last name to Takami so the delusion that the two of you are related grow. Hawks also bleachs the ends of your hair to match his hair color.

💛For food everything is homemade. You bake, with his help, with some berries and herbs the two of you collected earlier in the day. Hawks also hunts wild animals for meals.

💛You've tried asking him to teach you how to hunt so you can help but he only replies with a "You're too young," "I can't let my 'Baby' sister get hurt".

💛So you stay complacent inside.

💛On the off occasion you wander outside and meet a friendly animal, Hawks makes sure no other animal wanders by. He ends up brutally slaughtering the little animal and showing off the heads to warn other animals to stay away. It didn't matter if it were rabbits, foxes, deer, or even other birds.

💛At night he shares the same bed as you, holding you close and making sure you couldn't get away even if you wanted too. Bedtime stories, snuggles, wing blankets, and lullabies. The best a big brother can do.

💛One night, after months of bo other social interactions that made their delusions grow, his hands wander your back. It felt so empty.

💛If you were his little sister, where were your wings?

💛He pondered this question for a few days. Why didn't you have your wings yet? Maybe you didn't have his quirk... No. You did. You're just a late bloomer.

💛Or maybe they were stuck beneath your skin.

💛He traces lines on your back where your beautiful wings would sprout, imagining them to be a deep red just like his.

💛Time goes on and he grows impatient, wanting to teach you how to fly and how to groom your feathers. He slowly starts killing all the birds he sees, plucking all their feathers and storing them away for later use.

💛He drugged you in preparation, heavy sleeping medication being put into your food and drink before bed.

💛Its now or never.

💛He carefully carves long divots right next to your shoulder blades, setting room for your new wings. He starts layering and placing in the bird feathers he collected into your back, using many if his own feathers to help keep the others in place. He could always regrow them.

💛Hawks applies healing ointment and bandages the bases of your new makeshift wings.

💛When you wake up all you could feel in your drowsy haze was that your back was in pain. You try to move but it only makes it hurt worse. You call put for Hawks, not knowing what's happening as well as scared.

💛Hawks smiles fondly at you saying you didn't need to worry, it was only your wings growing in.

💛Excitment overshadowed the pain as you try to get a good look of your wings. It hurt so bad sitting up and twisting to see your multiple colored wings but you didn't care.

💛Hawks explains how it's going to hurt for a while because your body is adjusting and how it's going to be a bit before you can move them.

💛A week or two passes and you're stuck in bed. The pain in your back didn't subside, it only grew to a insufferable amount. It left you paralyzed with pain.

💛Occasionally, the bases of your "wings" would ooze puss and blood, heavily indicating that it was infected.

💛Maybe Hawks should've waited a little longer, taking his time to wash the feathers before attaching them to you.

💛He begins to worry, looking for places to discreetly go and have your back healed. That's when he remembered the Shei Hassaikai group.

💛Hawks carefully takes you in his arms and sets off for the city in the veil of night in hopes of not being seen.

💛He arrives and enters the groups hideout. The people inside immediately take defensive stances, worried the former pro would attack.

💛They were surprised when he asks for help instead of a fight.

💛Overhaul approaches Hawks, wanting to take the opportunity of a possible business deal. He listens intently on what Hawks is asking of him befors asking what he gets out of it.

💛Given Overhaul's quirk, he could practically do anything. Hawks was going to take advantage of this.

💛In exchange of healing your back, giving your wings nerves and muscles, and inserting his DNA in you so the two of you ars related biologically, Hawks was willing to give them all the information the heros had on their little group and to let Overhaul test out his special quirk erasing tool.

💛Overhaul was conflicted on doing such a grotesque thing but agreed to do it, it would greatly help his group in the end.

💛Hawks was more than happy to carry you to the backroom, holding your hand the entire time.

💛He watched as Overhaul stumbled back in surprise at the horrific sight of your back. The area was agitated, rashes all over due to the feathers constantly rubbing against your back, and the thick puss mixed with blood constantly oozing out.

💛It was disgusting. Overhaul almost wanted to put you out of your misery but he couldn't compromise all the work he did to achieving a world without quirks.

💛He has Hawk's blood drawn, preparing to rearrange your molecular structure.

💛He takes off his gloves and begins, hives quickly covering his body. Your body disassembles, leaving all parts separated. He quickly separates a bit of your blood away from the rest, incorporating Hawk's and meticulously changing the DNA code for many more blood cells. After that he adds in the nerves and muscles into the makeshift wings, bringing life and feeling into them. As a final touch, he puts you back together and fixes the infection in your back.

💛You were barely conscious as you felt Hawks wrap his arms around you, gently as to not hurt you.

💛Your body didn't feel like your own. It felt as if your skin wasn't yours, your back also became incredibly heavily.

💛You suddenly became so hyper aware of everything on you. Every stand of hair, your breathing and blinking, your fingernails, the feeling of air on your skin. It felt so familiar yet foreign at the same time.

💛You were interrupted by a sharp pain in your arm. Looking over you see an unfamiliar man in a bird mask and hives injecting a serum into your arm.

💛You look to Hawks for help but he only gives you a reasurring smile.

💛A few moments after the syringe was emptied into your arm Hawks asks you to use your quirk. You try your hardest but nothing happens.

💛Both of the men are pleased by the results.

💛Hawks stays true to his word and tells Overhaul what he knew. The last time he looked at the investigation they had located multiple people in the group. By now they must've pinpointed the hideout. Hawks heavily suggests fleeing somewhere more abandoned and secluded.

💛With that, he flies away holding you tight and leaving you confused on why you didn't feel like yourself.

💛Your eyes were also incredibly irritated.

💛Once home, Hawks soothes you back to sleep. You needed rest after all.

💛When you wake up your eyes remain irritated. You also feel you back twitching which really bothered you.

💛You bring it up to Hawks, earning an estatic response from him. He picks you up and spins you around, saying how happy he was because you were finally going to be able to fly. To think, his little sister flying in the sky with him!

💛In the next few days to come you gain more and more controll over your new wings. You also gain identical eye marks to Hawks, as well as part of your eyes shifting to gold to mimic his.

💛The two of you really look like siblings now.

💛He teaches you everything you need to know about being a bird. He slowly teaches you how to fly, how you clean your feathers, and how to bird call. He preens your feathers as you do him.

💛Over time the two of you make your own language, composed solely of coos and chirps.

💛The two of you forgot about civilization, more than happy with just having each other.

💛You wanted nothing more.

Look out for part 4!

Kiby~💚

#bnha hawks #hawks #hawks x reader #keigo tamaki #mha hawks #my hero academia keigo takami #yandere hawks #yandere bnha #bnha #my hero academia #yandere keigo #yandere #yandere x reader

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 4 years ago

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"Explorers raided tombs and paraded the remains of ancient monarchs and dynasties to their homes. Mummies were unwrapped at social affairs and examined—and it was such a popular pastime that tourism companies in Egypt sent such delights to European countries to satisfy their morbid curiosities and struggled to fuel the growing trend."

“So you see,” Sebastian continued, “There is a historical precedent for this sort of thing. I’m hardly the first businessman to notice the wasted resources just rotting away underground. Or stuffed into an urn, depending on customs and family sentiment.”

“There’s historical precedent for a lot of fucked up shit, Shaw. That doesn’t make it okay!” Pyro stared, aghast, at the website. “Does the Council know you’re doing this? They can’t possibly approve!”

“Are you going to run and tattle on me?” Sebastian sneered. “That doesn’t seem like you, Allerdyce, but you have become more of a conformist rule-follower in Krakoa, it seems. At any rate, some of the Council are aware of my side business. They have elected not to bring it to a vote in meetings, so presumably I am breaking no law of the island.”

“But….it’s wrong. It’s bloody grotesque is what it is!” Pyro exclaimed.

“Is it better or worse than burning people to death during a bank robbery, or as part of some half-baked political protest?”

“Oh, give me a fucking break, Shaw!” Pyro snapped. “I know I’ve done some bad things – “

“Some bad things. What an adorable generalization, ducking out of all serious responsibility – “

“I know I’ve killed people, okay?” Not quite as many as some X-Men wanted to pretend, though. He mostly went for guards, police officers and soldiers, who, as far as Pyro was concerned, had it fucking coming. He hadn’t wanted to kill people to rob a bank, and there was never a need to if the civilians were smart enough to stay well back.

“But killing people doesn’t mean I can’t draw any moral lines, ever,” Pyro continued. “And I’m drawin’ a line right here. This is not okay.”

“Why not? Who does it hurt, really?”

“Well, surely the people whose bodies are getting rented out to sickos! No one would want that.” Pyro wasn’t sure he could articulate the sick churning in the pit of his stomach. It was something that went beyond logic, just a deep sense of disgust that seemed to well up from the center of his being. He was an open-minded fellow, he was willing to play fast and loose with a few morals, but surely some things were just….wrong. Right?

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” Sebastian said, waving a hand dismissively. “And apparently X-Factor is running some very interesting experiments with discarded mutant corpses over in their appropriately named “Boneyard.” And I’m quite confident that Sinister is probably churning out clones in his little lab, no matter how he might deny it. So whats the harm in my business?”

“Just because other people are doing it doesn’t make it okay! It’s like a….desecration, isn’t it?” Perhaps there was some of his Gran’s staunch Catholicism lurking under the surface, despite Pyro’s current status as…well, not an atheist, exactly, more like an agnostic who didn’t want to think about things too hard. He had to admit, a childhood of Mass and Confession and Hail Marys really got under your skin, no matter how long ago you walked away from the church.

“All this fuss over discarded meat,” Sebastian shrugged. “That’s all it really is when you remove religion and sentiment from the equation. Really, Allerdyce, I’m surprised at your squeamishness.”

“Are you really okay with it, then?” Pyro asked. “Letting some human fuck a mutant corpse? That’s what they’re doing it, isn’t it?”

“Not necessarily. I believe that’s the most common activity, but a few people want to cook and eat choice pieces.”

“Oh, that’s perfectly all right, then.” Pyro’s words were so heavy with sarcasm, they practically thudded onto the floor.

“Understand, Allerdyce, I find all this personally distasteful. I am disgusted by the idea of necrophilia, and even cannabalsim. But I see no reason to deny others, if there is money to be made. The ‘sickos’ will pay top dollar for discrete fulfillment of their taboo desires.”

“But do you really want to be putting mutant corpses in human hands? Haven’t they got scientists trying to study us or clone us or whatever? Put our DNA in Sentinels to make super-weapons?”

Sebastian laughed heartily. “Really, I didn’t think you were so naïve. Mutants have been in the public eye for several decades. The various governments of the world have been capturing mutant test subjects for a very long time. There are hundreds of mutants buried in graveyards and millions in the heavy layer of ash that still covers Genosha. If some enterprising human scientist wants mutant DNA, it would be very, very easy to lay hands on it. In fact, your own corpse is probably preserved in a government lab somewhere. In other words, there’s no point in closing the barn door at this point. The horses are long gone.”

Pyro couldn’t resist a full-body shudder at the thought. He knew, deep down, that his body was probably stuck in a metal drawer somewhere, or cut into chunks sitting in labelled glass jars. The US government had probably been interested in him as a Legacy Virus victim, back before the cure. It shouldn’t matter, but somehow, it did.

“And the bodies are only available for a limited amount of time, at any rate,” Sebastian continued. “Aside from the obvious natural impermanence of a corpse, I’ve had Sinister inject the bodies with a kind of “kill switch.” After five days, the corpse will dissolve, leaving no trace behind. The humans are only paying to rent, after all.”

“But wait…..” Pyro ventured. “What gives you the right to sell other people’s bodies? Shouldn’t they be the ones to profit off that?”

“What gives people the right to collect discarded trash?” Sebastian said, spreading his arms wide. “Would you begrudge the little old lady collecting aluminum cans for a few pennies from a recycling center? Or the struggling student who takes a sofa from the side of the road? That’s all these corpses are. Trash. Their previous owners have shiny new bodies – bodies gifted to them by Krakoa and the Five, by the way – and left no instructions as to disposal. I don’t use bodies from people who requested to be cremated, or some kind of ritual burial. Just bodies have have been carelessly tossed aside, by people who clearly don’t care.”

“Oh, well I’m sure you’ll be happy to explain that to everyone else, then,” Pyro said. “I’m sure they’ll all be totally understanding.” He realized a moment later, with a nervous twinge, that threatening to tell on the unscrupulous businessman while you were sitting alone in his massive castle and no one else knew where you were was a very stupid thing to do. Fuck. He should have at least claimed to have evidence left with a trusted friend or something, but he’d only just stumbled across this, while exploring the so-called “dark web.” Maybe he could bluff his way out of this.

“I told you, some Council members are already well aware,” Sebastian said, sitting back and regarding Pyro across steepled fingers. “I don’t think you’d find those in authority quite as willing to turn on me as you imagine, Allerdyce. In fact, it’s entirely possible that any attempt to inform the public will lead to a hasty mind-wipe for you.”

“I’ve got proof. I left it all on a flash drive with……” Freddy? Dominic? Mystique? “….a friend,” he finished, not wanting to actually put anyone else in the crosshairs. Hell, Mystique might even know about this. He’d like to think better of her, but she always had schemes within schemes going. He wondered which telepath on the Council might be in on this. Was Sinister a telepath? That arrogant piece of shit Exodus? He seemed too high-minded to approve, but that mission in the Savage Land had shown Pyro that Exodus did not give a single fuck about mutants that he considered weak or “unworthy.” Frost? Even Xavier? Pyro had never trusted that creepy bastard. Something about him had always seemed too good to be true.

Sebastian laughed again. “Oh, you think I’m going to kill you? That’s cute. Allerdyce, you are not in some ridiculous detective story. I am a practical man, and despite your bleating about morals, I know you are, too. I am willing to make you an offer. It’s an easy job. All you have to do is ‘keep mum,’ as they say.” Sebastian wrote a number down on a piece of paper, and slid it across the table.

It was, in fact, a very nice number. Enough to make some of Pyro’s disgust quickly fall away.

“After all, why shouldn’t you enjoy the same kind of luxury experienced by Krakoa’s elite? You serve aboard the Marauder, and you’re obviously on the lowest rung of the crew. None of the power and privilege weilded by the X-Men, none of the wealth bestowed by birth on Christian Frost, my own son, and the Von Struckers. And you do significantly more work than for the Hellfire Trading Company than those spoiled idiots. Why not take a little something for yourself?”

Pyro’s mind whirled. Of course, taking the money now would mean he was “in it,” so to speak. And if the secret got out, he’d probably be implicated along with Shaw, at least in the eys of his fellow mutants. Which would hurt a bit, after all his heroics with the Marauders. He was starting to feel, at least a little bit, like a good guy.

But on the other hand, if Sebastian was telling the truth, and some of the Council already knew, trying to tattle would just get him in the shit. It was all well and good to have movies about heroic whistle-blowers, but in the real world, they got slandered, ruined, and sometimes murdered. No one would stand up for a relative nobody like Pyro, especially if Frost and Mystique already knew. At best he’d just get mind-wiped.

It would be safer to just walk away and keep his mouth shut. And if he was going to walk away anyhow, why not pick up a paycheck for it?

They were just corpses, right? What a resurrected mutant didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

And it didn’t seem to actually be breaking any Krakoan laws.

And it was a lot of money.

And Pyro really did like money.

It wasn’t like he was a proper journo anymore, was he? No need for integrity.

Pyro pushed the paper back across the table.

“You’ll need to add a zero to that number before I’ll even consider it,” he said. “And this is just for silence, understand? I’m not gonna be your employee, don’t start expecting me to fetch and carry.”

Sebastian grinned, making a mark on the paper, and held it his hand to shake.

“I knew you’d see sense. It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Allerdyce.”

OOC: I was going to make that sillier, but the more I thought about it…..Sebastian probably would bribe Pyro to shut up, and Pyro would probably just take the money. He’s trying to be “good,” but not that good. Also, no offense intended to Exodus. After the story in the Quicksilver min-series, when Pyro is working with Acolytes on a mission for a supposed Legacy Virus cure (which doesn’t exist), Pyro probably holds a serious grudge against him.

#sebastian shaw #pyro #st john allerdyce

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mysterioh · 5 years ago

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The Ignorant Beauty and The Beast of New York - Chapter 3

PAIRING: MOB!STEVE ROGERS X READER

SYNOPSIS: Y/N is an exhausted bio major. Steve is danger with a capital DANGER. She thinks he’s a sarcastic prick with an impressive knowledge in art history. He thinks she’s cute even if she’s only running on one brain cell. All he wants is a single date, but she’s adamant upon denying.

Masterlist

We Meet Again My Love

It was rush hour on E 52nd. Two lines of steel and tire, each one tailgating the one in front with disgruntled city folk inside waiting for even an inch of movement. At the junctions, cars weaved into the traffic as seamlessly as a shuffled deck of cards only adding to the frustration of those already on the packed street. Especially, the frustration of one mobster.

The rain softly falling from a thick blanket of gray above provides a sort of peace in the middle of such tedious traffic. Steve looks at the raindrops racing down the window of his black Mercedes AMG, his chin propped up on his hand and elbow resting on the side of the door. His patience wearing thin with every motionless minute that passed. At least he kept himself busy with his thoughts wandering off to the mystery girl from the museum.

Secretly, he'd do anything to meet her again. She plagued his every thought, veering him from his work and making him lose all his focus in anything and everything he did. He hated it but never tried to stop it.

He was on the way for a job with Bucky in the driver's seat and Sam in the passenger. There was a sleek Cadillac in front of them and one behind for backup as if he was the damn president.

It was a simple job. Threaten the pastry chef down on 54th for paying up what he borrowed four months ago. Probably break a few things and stick the meatball’s head in a coffee grinder for good measure. A lot easier than most tasks and definitely not needing three luxury cars filled with notorious mobsters to finish, but then again the kingpin was never shy to boast just how powerful he was. Not to mention, he wasn’t much of a fan of doing the dirty work.

“Steve?” Bucky called. Steve hummed a response, turning his towards him. “We’re here,” he says.

“Took long enough,” Steve clicks his tongue. “You know what to do,” he tells his friend. The man nods with Sam getting out of the car. “Take the guys in the back and make sure to take the kid with you this time. ”

Sam growls quietly. “Is that really necessary?” he questioned with his head ducked into the car. “The kid’s a troublemaker.”

Steve’s eyes flit towards him and Sam was starting to regret what he said. They were friends since high school. Steve saw Sam the same way he saw Bucky; as a brother. And treated him as such. They smoked cigars and drank liquor during Sunday football. They dragged Bucky down to the depths of hell for his lengthy history of psycho girlfriends. But when it came to the matter of the business, Steve wasn’t a friend to him or anyone else. He was his boss and his orders were firm.

"'The kid ain't so bad," Steve said pulling a box of cigarettes out from his coat pocket. "I owe his auntie a favor so do as I say and show the boy what a good Brooklyn beating looks like."

Sam sighs with a nod and closes the door behind him.

“Don't worry," Bucky chimes in. "We'll take the kid," he says, unable to hide his own distaste. "I'll send him to get you when we're done."

Steve lights his cigarette as Bucky gets out of the car. Sam hollers at Clint coming out of the car from behind, telling him to bring the boy with him.

"C'mon, Pete," Clint hissed at the teen. "We don't got all day!"

"Yes, sir!" Peter squeaks getting out of the car and running to catch up with them. He was around the age of nineteen but looked like he belonged in the ninth grade. A bit short and skinny with pale skin - paler than usual today .

Steve watches how the boy follows the rugged men towards the shop. Sticking out like a dandelion in a cluster of weeds. He chuckles at the way Peter frantically nods at what they're telling him. His eyes alert and footsteps light. So light that he ends up tripping over himself and into Bucky.

Bucky smacks him on the back of the head, scolding him for being stupid.

"Quit playing around, kid!" Bucky snaps at him. "The boss is watching ya!"

Peter gulps, bobbing his head up and down while rubbing the back of his head before following them inside. Steve shakes his head while exhaling a puff of smoke. The boy reminded him of himself from a long time ago. The first time his old man took him out on a job. God bless his father's resting soul.

You inhaled the sweet aroma rising from the cup in your hands. Already tasting the saccharine flavor of French Vanilla on your tongue.

The tiny cafe huddled between the high rise buildings on 54th was the best place for some quality coffee and study time. You never understood how the place could be so empty when they had the best service.

It could have been the outward appearance that gave it a bad connotation especially on a droll, rainy winter day like today. Washed out underneath an overcast sky, it hunched in on itself, fighting against the cold rain. Hundreds of people rushed by it, out on the crowded street never giving the poor thing a chance.

If even one ventured to come inside, they would understand just how charming the tiny shop was. Warm and cheery in its aura and its employees with bright lights and colorful walls. Not to mention in its sweet smells of hot coffee and freshly-baked pastries.

Sometimes the best places in the city were the ones no one knew anything about. And you came to the conclusion that it was a good thing. The less people knew of this place the less crowded it would be. The less crowded it was meant that it’d be quieter. The quieter it was made it an even more ideal spot for studying biological mechanisms.

Unfortunately, today was a bad day to study at the cafe on what would have seemed to be an overall good day. Not even a second after you cracked open your notebook, a group of grisly men with guns slammed the door open and walked in, demanding to see the owner of the cafe.

The men were ruthless and destructive, breaking everything that came in their way. Purposefully dropping the cups and plates on the counter to the ground and flipping over tables.

The shop was empty with only you and another customer, an old man reading the newspaper by the window.

You froze in the corner, not knowing what to do. Your heart pounding against your chest and breathing heavy. You could make a run for it but there was a good chance the guy with the long hair would catch you easily.

The men didn't seem to care about the two bystanders, barely even noticing the two of you. Their goal was the head and there was no need for them to drag in the innocent. So you decided to stay put until action was needed.

The owner, Manny, was dragged out of the kitchen by one of the men.

Manny fell at the feet of the brunette who seemed to be the leader. His face twisted in fear and covered in sweat.

"Been a while, Manny, how’s it been?” Bucky asks. “Been missing ya.”

“Please,” Manny begs, his voice strained. “I’ll pay you back just give me some time!”

Bucky clicks his tongue. “You’ve been saying that for four months now, fatass.” He pulls Manny up by the collar. “Ya know how much the boss hates being lied to,” he seethes.

“I know, I know,” Manny nods like a maniac.

“I don’t think you do, buddy,” he shakes his head with a twisted grin, placing his gun underneath his chin. “The big guy is real pissed that you dipped on him and took his money on top of that. So pissed that he decided to come all the way over here to see ya.”

Manny swallows with the color draining from his face.

“Hey kid, go get the boss,” Clint orders Peter.

He nods and dashes out the door to get the boss leaving all of them in horrifying anticipation. He returns in a few minutes opening the door and letting in another man. Taller with broader shoulders and a very familiar face.

Your skin pales at the sight of the freak from the museum.

“You!” you blurt out, pointing at him and making all eyes turn on you.

Steve turns his head and his eyes light up.

Mean Gangster Mode Deactivated

“Rosalind Franklin!” Steve smiles at you, walking past the chaos and towards you in the corner. “How’s it going? How’d your paper go?”

You stare at him confused. “Y-you’re a gangster!” you yelled, pointing at him.

"Gangster's a bit vulgar don't you think?” Steve shrugged.

"You're a fucking criminal!" you emphasized in shock.

Bucky’s gun drops to his side, but his grip on the pastry chef remains tight. His eyes flit towards Steve then Sam then Clint. The latter two asking the same silent question with their eyes.

"Damn, that hurt me right here,” Steve frowned playfully, pointing to his heart. “After all, I’ve done to help you? This is the thanks I get?”

“I never asked for your help,” you spat at him.

“Right, the whole DNA thing again,” he said. “You know, Rosy, I was really bummed out when you ditched me at the museum that day. Stripped me bare of my words and left me all alone without a goodbye. That’s cold, sweetheart.”

“My name isn’t Rosy,” you snapped at him. “And are you mental or something? Why in the world would I drink coffee with a stranger!”

“Then what’s your real name?” Steve asked, stepping into your space. His head leaning towards you with a loose strand of hair falling in front of his ocean blue eyes. His hand is flat against the wall behind you, caging you in from one side to keep his balance.

You have never been this close to a man before. Especially one so effortlessly handsome and dangerous. He licks his lower lip with a sharp smile and you gulp speechlessly.

He was dressed formally. A three-piece suit that looked very expensive, probably costing more than your scholarship. You can see the way his muscles bulge under his coat. He most definitely did not pad his suits. There’s a strong urge within you, pushing you to place your hand on his chest.

Just for a second. Just to see if a man this perfect actually existed.

You could smell the strong, crisp scent of cologne coming off of him and its intoxicatingly addictive, pulling you closer into his temptation.

“I’d really love to get to know you more,” he crooned.

His voice was so tender and earnest and you didn’t understand why. Neither did he. Sure he’s seen a billion pretty faces in the past, but for some reason, yours won’t leave his head. Yeah, he only met you last week without even a single detail but damn, did he want to learn all the explicit intricacies that created you. Maybe he was going mental.

“I’ve been thinking about you lately,” he confesses. Your cheeks heat up and the tips of your ears light up. “You’re always stuck in my head,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you got me runnin’ in circles.”

His subordinates looked at him confused as if he wasn’t the mob boss but some lovesick teenager. You tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“You’re nuts!”

Steve laughs heartily while standing straight. “I had the feeling that’s how you’d react.”

“You can’t just say stupid stuff like that!” you scolded him. “You don’t even know me!”

“All the more reason for us to have a coffee together!” Steve suggested. “And how convenient for us to be in a cafe.” He turns around towards Sam still holding the owner of the shop with a gun to his head. “Hey, Manny, can I get a table for two?”

The man nods slowly while in a chokehold.

“Great,” Steve nods and looks around the place. “God, this place is a fucking mess.” He places his hands on his hips and turns towards you. “Tell you what, how about we ditch this joint and go down to this real classy place on Hyde Ave?”

“I’m not going anywhere with an ugly dirty mobster,” you spat at him, pushing past him and grabbing your bag. You strut past the others who were still frozen in confusion and impressed by your boldness.

Steve grins at your insult. “A pretty face and a sharp tongue?” he said, following behind. “You’re a girl after my own heart.”

“I don’t want your heart,” you snapped at him. “Or anything to do with you. Stay the hell away from me and it’ll do you some good!” you threatened before turning on your heel and pushing past the door.

Steve watches your retreating form with an even wider grin and giddy excitement in his chest. Playing hard to get I see. Mark my words, sweetheart, I’ll win this game. My name isn’t Steve Rogers for nothing!

“Uh, boss?” Clint asked from behind. “Who was that?”

Steve turns to look at him with a coy grin and the distant sound of wedding bells ringing in his ears.

"The future Mrs. Rogers."

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #mob!steve #steve rogers #mobster steve rogers x reader #mafia au

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mst3kproject · 5 years ago

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The Strange World of Planet X

The Strange World of Planet X, also known as Cosmic Monsters, was released on a double bill with The Crawling Eye and stars Forrest Tucker of the same. It’s got a giant spider and a deep-voiced 50’s narrator droning about the terrors of the atomic age, in a film so dry all my plants shriveled up and my contact lenses adhered to my eyeballs.

Mad Dr. Laird, with the help of his assistants Gil and Michele, is baking things in intense magnetic fields in order to rearrange the molecules and turn metal into putty – the general idea is that someday this will allow them to melt enemy planes right out from under their pilots. Would that melt the pilots, too? Gross. At the same time and perhaps related, flying saucers are being sighted over Britain and a mysterious man named Mr. Smith is wandering around in the woods and getting worryingly chummy with local children. After a lot of standing around and talking, Smith reveals that he is from outer space and has come to warn us that Laird’s magnetic fields are tearing apart the Earth’s ionosphere, letting in cosmic rays that will mutate humans into murderers and insects into giants!

Since my last ETNW was fairly well-paced and entertaining, the law of averages tells us that this one’s gonna be a real turd, and sure enough… remember all my griping about how Radar Secret Service was literally unwatchable, as in I could not force myself to keep looking at it? The Strange World of Planet X is like that but with a British accent. Most of it is just ugly gray people in ugly gray rooms, droning on about whatever at far greater length than necessary. Everybody sounds like they’re reading their lines off cue cards, the photography was awful to begin with and the degraded print makes it really hard to tell what the hell is going on. Fuck this movie.

The film’s general insufferability is made all the worse because normally giant bug movies are among my favourite types of crappy old sci fi. What could possibly be more fun than giant grasshoppers crawling all over postcards of Chicago? If the bug bits were fun, that would go a long way towards saving this one, but of course, they’re terrible. It’s mostly too dark to even see the giant insects, and when we do see them, they’re nothing but close-ups of live (and sometimes dead) roaches and grasshoppers. Only a couple of shots even attempt to composite them in with live actors and those are so dark and blurry that it frankly wasn’t worth the effort.

The other main ‘effect’ in the movie is a couple of flying saucers. These are unidentifiable white blobs when far away, and ridiculous tinfoil models dangling from strings up close. The pie pans in Plan 9 from Outer Space are worse… but not by much.

What should be the most exciting part of the film is the battle in the woods between the soldiers and the giant bugs, but it’s mishandled in the same sort of way as the supposedly climactic fight in Invasion of the Neptune Men. There’s no narrative or any characters we care about – just soldiers running around shooting at things. Where are they? How close are they to the town? Are there civilians in peril? We don’t know. To be effective on screen, a battle needs a story. The battle in Army of Darkness is about the need to protect the Necronomicon. We can see the Deadites getting closer to the tower, as Ash pulls out more and more ridiculous secret weapons to keep them back. The Strange World of Planet X is just random people and bugs, not even in the same shot.

There is some half-decent magnetosphere science in the movie, I guess. The Earth’s magnetic field does protect us from the harsh radiation of outer space, although all the most harmful components of that come from the sun rather than from further afield, and such radiation can damage DNA. This is why the ozone layer was such a big deal in the 80’s. This space radiation is much more likely to give bugs cancer than to make them grow huge, but in a movie I can handle that. The really weird thing here is that, because they say it screens out the heaviest of the cosmic rays, they call the ionosphere the ‘heavyside layer’. I would not have thought it possible that Cats could make less sense and yet here we are.

If you want some proper Crap Movie Science, there’s their explanation of how the monsters grew so big – mutations for size were able to pile up quickly because insects breed fast and therefore evolve fast. I guess this makes more sense than individuals growing out of control as a result of whatever… but they appear to have applied it to a whole range of creatures regardless of their actual life cycles. Some insects do breed quickly, but quite a few of them have specific seasons and conditions for it. This feels like a nitpick, though… I mean, by watching a giant bug movie I’ve already accepted that they can become huge so I should probably just shut up.

As an interesting note, Smith mentions that on his home planet there are giant dragonflies. He doesn’t say how giant, though he implies they’re big enough to ride on. Firstly, man, I wanna ride a giant dragonfly! Second, this tells us that Smith’s home planet has more oxygen in its atmosphere than Earth, because the reason insects can’t get bigger than they do is because they don’t actively breathe, but have to let oxygen diffuse into their tissues on its own (this is why there were six foot millipedes during the Carboniferous era — more oxygen in the air). The writers, sadly, do not seem to have known or cared about this, since Smith himself shows no signs of having to adjust to our atmosphere. Missed opportunity there.

Since this is me, of course I’m gonna talk about how the movie treats women. Click the back button now. There are several female characters in The Strange World of Planet X, and while they're pretty bland they do manage to have conversations with each other about things besides men, and the honest impression I get is that the writers are trying really hard not to be assholes. The first woman we meet is Michele, who has been assigned as Dr. Laird’s new computer operator after the previous one was electrocuted in a lab accident. When he learns that the replacement is a woman, Laird complains about it loudly, protesting that ‘this is skilled work!’, and Gil gripes that female scientists are dour and unattractive. Michele, of course, proves them both wrong – she is both brilliant and pretty, the latter mostly so that she can be Gil’s love interest but also at least in part to shatter the stereotype. It's thanks to movies like this setting the precedent that modern films are up to their eyeballs in hot but useless science women… but like I said, they tried.

The script is actually at great pains to emphasize that Michele is intelligent, educated, and the equal of any of the men, at least where science is concerned. Unfortunately, its way of going about it is to have them praise her for every little thing she says and does, to the point where it starts to sound awfully patronizing. They call her ‘clever girl’ like she’s six years old and it frequently comes across as their complimenting her intelligence in order to deflect when she asks awkward questions.

Naturally there’s a love triangle in this movie. It appears only to be immediately and peacefully resolved, and Gil’s rival for Michele’s affections is dead shortly thereafter. Why fucking bother?

A tad better-treated is Jane, the little girl fascinated by arthropods (she describes them as ‘bugs’, saying all insects are bugs, but not all bugs are insects. While entomologically incorrect, this same definition of bug was used by David Attenborough in Micro Monsters, so I’m okay with it). One of the reasons I think the writers were earnestly trying to be feminist is because they place a girl in this role rather than a boy. Susan Redway isn’t any better than any of the other actors, but the character was definitely written by somebody who knew what appeals to children. I love the bit where Jane promises to show her new teacher her favourite type of beetle, delightedly informing her, “they’re horrid-looking!”

The teacher, Miss Forsyth, is another attempt to buck a stereotype. Jane complains that she hated her previous teacher, who was appalled by her interest in crawly things. Miss Forsythe makes a good first impression by encouraging her instead. Again, this feels like the writers really were trying. They want to say that the right thing to do here is to support Jane’s interests and ambitions, and someday perhaps she’ll be a talented entomologist, just as Michele is a computer whiz.

From a twenty-first century point of view, this makes for an odd contrast with one of the other notable features of how women are portrayed in this movie – they don’t come alone. Adult women in The Strange World of Planet X must have a male partner, and if they don’t start out with one they will be assigned one! Michele pairs up with Gil, and Miss Forsythe accepts a date with the man who saved her from one of the mutants. This second budding relationship has no effect on the story and indeed is never referenced again, it’s just there. All the other women we meet are either dating or married… although now that I think of it this may be less sexist than it is a way to make a point of Dr. Laird’s single-minded obsession with his work. Everybody else, even scientists, has time to be a human being – but not him.

I should also discuss one more interesting tidbit offered by Smith. He says his people have been watching humanity and studying us basically since we invented ourselves, and they have never interfered before now. Why now? Out of ‘enlightened self-interest’, he says – this is the closest humans have yet come to destroying ourselves, but it’s also the closest we’ve come to being a threat to our extraterrestrial observers. One of Dr. Laird’s experiments, intended to destroy enemy planes, brought down a flying saucer instead! The fact that Smith is willing to admit this suggests that he is extremely confident about the aliens’ ability to strike back if humanity should decided to start shooting down saucers on purpose. The finale then bears this out… although it also left me thinking that the film could have ended very differently if only hacking had been a thing in the fifties!

So yet another instance of good ideas, unexplored and badly executed. Also yet another black and white movie… what is that, six in a row? Yikes. See you in ten days, when I promise I will have something for you in colour. It’ll be like slogging through the beginning of Season Eight and then finally arriving at The Giant Spider Invasion!

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #the strange world of planet x #cosmic monsters #fuck this movie #50s #tw: spiders #giant arthropod hours

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eyestells · 4 years ago

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hihi i’m lauren and under the cut are my charas bullet bios bc i’m too lazy to write an actual one lskdfj - anywayz like this post and i’ll hyu !!

evie johnson - hecate - 26

evelyn but she goes by evie bc pokemon

she’s the oldest of the johnson’s but doesn’t act like it

she used to model which gave her and her family a lot of money

she owns the buntmuda triangle but doesn’t rlly do anything for it

she doesn’t use any weapons, only relies on her magic

she has the worst memory

you could tell her something one day and she’ll forget it the next

1000% forgot her siblings names as a child

the only thing she never forgets? random song lyrics

she likes to be fake deep

an actual clown tbh

loves taking pics of her siblings and friends

esp when they’re crying

super picky w eating, relies on her sisters to finish her food if she doesn’t like it

has more of a savory tooth than sweet

lobs shopping and buying things for the ppl she cares about

time to get ~*deep*~

she doesn’t know why but something happened when she was young where she’s freaked out about being in a realtionship

bc of this it always seems like she’s leading ppl on bc once they show interest in her/ask her out she’ll peace tf out

loves puns and dad jokes

loves pranks but sometimes she doesn’t know when she’s gone too far

she’s #Straightedge

alcohol tastes bad and she has asthma so no smoking lsdjfd

she has a pet dog, snake and bat that she loves sm

she’s lobs to cook (not bake tho) and often makes random things so there’s always smthn to eat

plot ideas

pokemon go friend

it’ll be funny if they’re on different teams and they always fite for gym dominance

bff

ambassador bff she goes to all the events with !

prank buddy

friend who parents her

friend she parents ( her dualitee )

day 1 friend

crush/es either on her or she has on them bc those are always fun

charla lee - circe - 23

her (step)mom passed away bc of a monster attack

this caused her dad to open a monster slaying business (which turned into nl), and he raised his daughters in mind of them taking care of the business

she was raised to be the ult monster killing machine

bc of this she’s good w all weapons and combat

she was dropped off at the building at a young age bc her dad figured it was the best place to learn/practice how to fight monsters

she’s stupid strong

a rlly bad driver bc she doesn’t care about other drivers but she knows what she’s doing

always has a bunch of weapons on her

wears a pair of moody judys (earrings that change her eye color based on her emotions)

visits the forge a lot bc she likes to try out their creations and they always give her cool upgrades on random things she owns

she has a new weapon that’s a yuka arrow (inspired by marvel) and she’s been practicing her whistling a lot

has a shih tzu named hershey

ridiculously blunt

doesn’t like talking about her family

can’t cook at all

her dad is rlly rich bc his company and he gives her a lot of money

tbh her fear is not dying in battle

isn’t the best showing emotions

if someone’s ko’ed her automatic reaction is to slap them awake

always ready to Fight

v petite

all her life she’s been trying to be nice/benevolent like her mom but she def ended up like her dad

loves 2 sing (bc her mom liked it) and be extra, often djs for the dances that are held

probs would want to do something w music as a profession if it wasn’t for her dad

relationships? doesn’t know heR, she’s too busy training

possible plots

late night buddy ( they can do anything together )

training buddy

drinking buddy

racing buddy

frienemy

enemy

good influence

someone she’s a bad influence on

1000% stole this from b99 but like charla and X have a wager to see who can hunt more monsters by the end of the year and each have their own bets to humiliate/traumatize the other

dia paik - hecate & psyche - 25

born in france

raised in france and nyc

more abt her power ( soul manipulation )

soul: reason, character, feeling, consciousness, memory, perception, thinking, etc.

in order for her powers to fully work she needs a dna sample of the person who’s effecting hair/skin particles/saliva/etc

naturally she’s a touchy person so it helps when she tries getting some Samps

if she’s desperate she can use the skin particles in the air to control someone

but usually it doesn’t last as long and it drains her since there are numerous particles in the air that are from an unknown number of ppl that she has to manipulate

has a bag that she always wears that has everyone’s dna since she needs to be near the samples

it’s enchanted so she can put as many things in it as she’d like without it growing larger/heavier

as a child she could always see how much someone liked her or not and that rlly messed her up growing up

so, once she learned how to fully use her powers she took advantage of it right away

she always controls the people who she has samples of so their like-meter doesn’t go lower than a certain point

this is what it looks like as well as the level she always keeps it at gslkdfjt

she doesn’t use her powers on ppl she trusts but that list is rlly small

eventually she ended up shutting off her love which makes her act incredibly reckless and often times selfish

she did this bc when she was still in nl she was in a long term relationship with someone who she thought she would spend the rest of her life with

that was until she noticed their love her her start to lower

of course, they didn’t know this was happening yet but she knew.

she knew they would break up with her eventually and she was so scared, even if she still loved them, she broke it off abruptly without much of an explanation

then she turned it off so she wouldn’t have to feel that heartache ever again

now she just does whatever she wants without feeling any guilt which is freeing but always causes the worst effects

like before she turned it off she used to be rlly responsible and stuff. like she would make sure all the members got home safe after a party but now she j wildiN and doesn’t care abt basically anyone

now

the past 5 yrs she’s been traveling with daphne, mainly in europe

has lots of monies bc of all the rich, old hwhite men she manipulated in europe lsdkhgsd

when daphne got the call from her mom making her go back to nl, dia immediately came back as well

currently holds the title for most missions successfully completed she never goes on monster missions but has retrieved a lot of items for deities she uses her power to manipulate the ppl who has the items to willingly give them to her

currently in charge of events will probs hold a single’s event bc she’s That person

possible plots **since she left 5 years ago i can only plot old stuff w members who have been at nl for 5+ yrs

her ex that made her block her love that could be fun and chaotiq

regular exes

friends she kept in contact w while she was away , possibly flew them to europe so they could still hang out uwu

old neighbors in nl

ppl who knew her before she changed

fwb ( possibly new fwb ! )

#nlintro

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ofwolvesandbutterflies · 6 years ago

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nothing good is forever

Pairing: NCT’s Taeyong x Reader

Genre: angst

Tags: idol verse!au

Warnings: strong language, mentions of mature themes

A/N: partially based off the song (x). I start crying every. single. freaking. time. so yeah, bringing back my old angsty style of writing.

Happy New Years, my dears! I love you all so much! I hope you all stay warm, eat good foods and spend this season with loved ones.

“Hey, Taeyong.” another brightly smiling face shot the attractive yet permanently scowling male a kind greeting. Sucking in another unnecessary breath, Taeyong bit back a nasty retort before turning and nodding his head in a type of laid back acknowledgement.

“Hansol, how… lovely to see you. I thought you took the week off.”

“Ahh, you heard,” the older male laughed jovially, smile lines creasing happily around his eyes and broad smile. Stepping further into the unusually untidy studio space, Hansol clapped Taeyong on the shoulder. “I am taking the week off, I just thought I’d drop by work to drop off some Christmas gifts from the family.”

“Christmas gifts.” The scowl of Taeyong’s lips tightened as a rush of sour memories began to flood his mind. “...Right.” Shaking off Hansol’s hand, the younger male placed the headphones over his ears once more. With any organic sound immediately replaced with the familiar melody Taeyong had been working on for the past couple weeks, the older male was left with no other choice than to place the tin of home-baked cookies on the couch by the door and leave soundlessly.

Despite his cold front when it came to all things merry and bright, Taeyong didn’t hate Christmas, no. Not at all.

He didn’t hate the lights, the decorations, the smell of peppermint and pine trees everywhere, or the annoying repeats of “Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” that played at least once every hour… He didn’t hate Christmas at all. However, though he didn’t hate it, he didn’t quite like it either.

Why? It was quite simple really. The lights, the decorations, the smell of peppermint and pine trees everywhere and the annoying repeats of “Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” all just reminded him of you.

You were a memory. You were a constant memory. You were a cherished memory. You were a painful memory. And you were a memory he would never be able to love… and that’s what he hated.

Ten years ago, you had been but a mere background dancer for SM. You had starred in many of SM’s performances and a couple of NCT’s stages, as if 18 members wasn’t enough. However, it wasn’t until you had secured a completely different job that you and Taeyong actually met.

“Hello,” you started off cheerfully, wide smile placed across your lips, pen posed millimeters above the fad wad of paper in your hand. “My name is __, I’ll be your waitress this evening.”

The weight of a million eyes landed on you all of a sudden. Glancing up at the table of… many, many young men, an inaudible gasp shot from your lips. Dark, stylish clothing, face masks, piercings, brightly colored hair… These men were… these men were from your other job. And not only were they from your other job, they were idols from your other job. Holy mother of shi-.

You shook the shock from your features. They weren’t here for a show or to be idols, they were most likely here to relax, just be another human and with the reaction you’d just displayed, chances were, they weren’t feeling that relaxed anymore.

“Ahh, sorry,” you rushed to say. A particular pair of dark eyes narrowed at you cautiously, gaze weighing your’s down heavily and it took all of you not to look up to see who it was. Doing your best to ignore it, you continued on. “My mind just slipped. Can I get you started with any drinks?”

A collective murmuring of ‘water’ and ‘apple juice’ sprung up and your eyes widened. Out of nowhere, someone mumbled ‘actually, can I have a milk’. And you sighed.

Damn.. There were ten of the eighteen members of NCT sitting right in front of you and they were all hungry. Throwing a hand over your hip, you tossed them all a weighted smille. This would be a long night.

As you collected orders, waited and cleared tables, offered smile after smile after smile, seconds quickly turned into hours gone by. Soon enough, the only full table left in your section was the one NCT occupied. Leaning against the bar, you smiled, slowly counting off the heads of the remaining customers at the table.

One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven… Eight… And nine. Wait. Shaking your head, you recounted again. Nine. You hadn’t notice one leave. No. You had gotten ten orders of food from then… All ten of those chairs had been filled. Utterly flabbergasted, you began to name off the names of the members from the subgroup of NCT 127. There was Johnny, Doyoung, Haechan, Jungwoo, and Taeil sitting over of the side facing you. The one who just scooted away Yuta must have been Win Win, and that was Mark sitting next to him. Squinting your eyes a little bit more at the hooded figure sitting near Mark, a clear laugh rang out, and a tinge of pink colored your cheeks. Jung Jaehyun.

Though you admired all eighteen of the members of NCT, Jung Jaehyun was your unspoken bias. With that deep, honey-smooth voice, a trim body and the breathtakingly good looks to knock anyone out, there was just something about him that dragged an unwarranted sense of awe over you every time you saw him.

So then… who was missing? You narrowed your eyes, re-listing the names in your head. Johnny… Jungwoo… Win Win… Snapping suddenly, the missing member’s name cleared in your mind.

Lee Taey-

“Excuse me, Miss __.”

Barely able to stifle the shriek from spilling out of your mouth, you spun on your heel to find yourself face to face with the missing member from NCT 127.

In all of your life, you had never visualized yourself ever being this close to the man you found to be as close to perfect as the human population could ever get. Even in a pair of worn out sweats, he was just as attractive, if not more so, than you had seen in photos and in music videos. Realizing you had yet to respond to him, you blinked yourself out of your stupor. Taeyong’s dangerously deep eyes swam recognition when you stuttered out a weak, “yes?”

“I recognized you from the company,” he began to say, soft voice somehow blocking out the pumping of the music throughout the room. “- and I just wanted to thank you for not making a big scene out of us being here. It means a lot.”

“Oh. Uh…” You stuttered, mind suddenly devoid of any intelligent phrases. “I mean, of course. You’re welcome. It’s my responsibility as a civil individual to mind my own business and not make anyone’s life harder than it already might be.” The uneasy, nervous smile sitting on his lips made you double take. Was this the same man who onstage rapped fiercely about suggestive things?

“Still though,” Taeyong protested, gaze not meeting your eyes, an elegant hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I know we can be a handful and I also wanted to thank you and simultaneously apologize for how loud we might have been.”

A warm feeling bloomed in your chest at his heartfelt words.

“Oh-okay.. You’re welcome and it’s fine. It was nice seeing you guys be able to enjoy yourselves outside of idol work.”

He shot you one last, beautiful, genuine smile and went to sit down with the rest of his members, his laugh and clear voice standing out far above the rest. Jung Jaehyun might have been your unspoken bias, but Lee Taeyong… That talented man would always stand far out against the rest of them.

Taeyong was a romantic, but falling in love at first sight was something he had trouble finding credibility in. Love took time. Love was not something one should rush into. He was almost certain that those who claimed that they had fallen in love at first sight were exaggerating. After all, admiration would turn into affectionate feelings and affectionate feelings would turn into love gradually.

At least… that was what he continued to tell himself every time he found heartbeat quickening when his mind wandered to your honest words and your clear smile that first night. Soon enough, the thoughts of you began to appear more consistently and Taeyong began to fantasize about the somewhat slim possibility of seeing you again.

The second time he saw you was just as unexpected as the first. He had been out on a late night jog back to the company to grab a practice bag containing an important flash drive then to the nearest convenience store to pick up some noodles when he encountered you in all of your dancing beauty.

As soon as the lights went out, Taeyong strolled out of the room, just about to pull out his phone to let Doyoung know he was on his way home when the distinct sound of music wafted through the air. Thoroughly intrigued, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and followed the tune of what sounded like “Black on Black”. He snickered to himself, a smirk quirking his lips up, expecting to open the other practice room and find another one of his members.

However, a soon as he neared the windowed door of the other room, Taeyong stopped in his tracks, lips parted in shock, smirk long forgotten.

The last thirty seconds to “Black on Black” reached his ears just as his eyes took in the familiar, lithe figure of the person who had been the cause of his less than focused thoughts. With your hair hidden beneath the beanie and legs wrapped elegantly in a pair of tights, you looked absolutely gorgeous. Taeyong couldn’t help the protective surge that rushed through him when you tripped. But, before he could do anything, you picked yourself back up, wiping the sweat from your brow before rewinding the music and running back through it again.

And he stood there, awestruck, for the remainder of the song.

All concept of time left him as Taeyong stood there, jaw hanging agape as you flowed through the dance moves like they were imprinted in your DNA. The look of concentration in your intense eyes glowed with a renewed passion and rivaled even the glittering city skyline. Never had he been so spellbound.

Finally, the song began to come to a close as the telltale notes rang out through the room. Then and only then was Taeyong able to sober up enough to realize that the reason the quick pace at which his heart was beating… was from you.

Now ten years later, Taeyong was still single. The possibility of him hearing from you had ended years ago, ten years to be exact.

With his eyes bouncing from thing to thing in the quiet of the brightly lit store, Taeyong’s lips remained in the same tight line. Once again, Christmas had rounded the corner without his knowledge and once again his mind found itself wandering to you. A subconscious sigh passed his lips.

He wondered what you were doing now… if you had gotten married, if you had any children.

On the topic of children, Taeyong’s attention was suddenly torn violently out of his thoughts by the sound of small feet shuffling feet against the floor. Looking up, he spotted the smaller kid in line before him, pacing back and forth, clothes thrown in in a disarray, a pair of pretty heeled shoes clutched desperately in his grubby hands.

As always, the appearance of the most random of things ricocheted him back into the deepest parts of his mind. The shoes… you… you loved to dance.

Even with baggy sweats, messy hair and tired eyes, when the music was on your body moved smoothly to the music like it was nothing.

The third time he saw you was at a rehearsal.

As an idol, Taeyong’s life was full of comebacks, stages, performances and this small-scale performance shouldn’t have been any different. Except… it was.

One second, he was rapping the bridge from ‘Boss’. The next, you were there, nearly hidden within the mass amount of other dancers. Although you were dressed in the same ripped jeans and light shirt as everyone else, it seemed different, more attractive, better looking on you. The flip of your hair, the twist of your body… everything seemed to be accentuated and elegant when you did it. And after seeing you dance that time before, Taeyong was sure he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but.

By some stroke of unbelievable luck, he was able to finish the rehearsal without any major slip-ups and almost immediately, he turned to look for you in the crowd of dancers. Black pants, light shirt… Hair pulled back… eyes glittering more brilliantly than any VVS diamond…

It didn’t take him long to find you, smiling, laughing among your fellow dancers. Glancing down at the watch on his wrist, he started off in your direction, only to be stopped by the sudden paranoia of someone watching. However, this time, the paranoia wasn’t of someone watching him. Rather, it was of someone watching you.

You were truly ravishing, easy on the eyes in every scenario. It would have been hard for anyone to keep from looking at you, Taeyong knew that was a given… But this time didn’t feel quite right. Turning again to examine the rest of the stage inhabitants, his lips hardened into a frown when he found the culprit.

Every couple seconds, Jung Jaehyun would casually cast a glance in your direction, eyes hungrily devouring your every move.

The fourth time… you were swaying dangerously in the darkened space of the club after having finished the last tour of the season, hair falling down your back in wondrous tresses, eyes hooded as you signaled for Taeyong to join you.

Sweaty bodies, the strange, mixed aroma of perfume and cologne, the sensation of alcohol hanging heavily in the air… The darkened environment of the crowded room made the bass boosted music seem infinitely louder than it actually was. Another club.

But what could you do, mused Taeyong while twirling a glass he suspected was not actually his. He really had no other choice when it came to what the rest of his legal members wanted to do. They wanted to go clubbing. His eyes swung lazily over the room, doing a headcount for the fifth time that hour.

Johnny… Yuta… Taeil… Doyoung… __… Wait. __?

Straightening in his seat immediately, Taeyong traced every corner of the room in an attempt to find you. He had seen you. That was for sure. He scoured the crowd at least three times before his darkening eye fell over you once again. Immediately, the foreign feeling of butterflies in his stomach picked up again. A blush began to dust itself over his otherwise pale cheeks.

At once, all the oxygen escaped his lungs. He had seen you dance before, but seeing you in at atmosphere like this had all coherent thoughts and phrases dissipating from Taeyong’s brain like lifting mist until the only thing on his mind was how alluring you looked.

Suddenly, as if you had felt the weight of his gaze splaying across your scantily covered body from across the room, you turned. Whether it was your dancing or your bold wink, Taeyong found himself drunk on something other than alcohol… You.

A smirk wound its way onto your lips while you ran a hand suggestively through your hair, eyes still on his. He closed his lips, moistening them nervously with the tip of his tongue. What were you doing to him? As if all that you had done already wasn’t torture enough, you lifted your hand, signaling for him to join you on the dance floor.

Swallowing nervously, trying in vain to calm the excessive beating of his heart, Taeyong found himself traveling across the floor towards you as if in a trance. And as the two of you danced, with you pressed up against him, he also found that he, in fact, had fallen for you long before this and that love at first sight might just be possible.

“Listen kid,” the cashier’s gruff voice split through Taeyong’s unpleasant reverie and said male’s attention was brought back down to the younger kid standing in front of him. “I’m really sorry. I know you wanna buy these nice dance shoes for your mum, but… the price tag is asking for thirty at the very least. Twelve dollars and thirty-nine cents ain’t gonna work.”

Taeyong’s curiosity piqued and he craned his neck to take a good look at the boy. He couldn’t have been more than nine years old, seven at the least, but Taeyong’s dark eyes widened as he took in the strangely familiar features. The younger kid’s eyes were intense and doe shaped, just like Taeyong’s. His eyebrows were dense and bold, drawn upward in desperation just like Taeyong’s. His lips were pulled into a pout that triggered a memory of your pouting lips.

“But sir!” the boy’s high voice begged. “You don’t understand, I need these shoes.”

The cashier’s mouth parted to refute his request, but the boy continued.

“Sir, I wanna buy these shoes for my mom! Please!” His voice cracked, damn near the verge of tears. “It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes… They’re just her size.”

The fifth time he saw you, you were blinking blearily up at him from underneath the thin duvet on his bed, hair mussed from the night before, smile tossed crazily in his direction… until you realized you weren't in your home and that you didn't have a hot boyfriend named Lee Taeyong. Taeyong could still recall the knotted string of apologies falling from your lips in the early morning when you jumped from the bed - still in his shirt - grabbed your underwear, and bolted out of the room.

The sixth time he saw you was when you were dancing late in the same practice room you could always be found in late at night. Sweat was dripping from your face and your breathing was ragged from the long period you had been dancing…

Dancing was your punching bag, your stress reliever. Everything about it helped keep your mind off small mistakes you had made in your everyday life… Like the fact you had just slept with an idol you had admired for a long time and had probably just ruined every chance of having a professional work relationship with him.

Lee Taeyong was handsome, skilled, well rounded and polite… however every time you saw him now, after that night, you were needlessly reminded of how badly you had messed up. What had you been thinking that night? You hadn’t even had that much to drink that night and yet you found your head spinning pleasantly upon meeting his hungry gaze.

The feeling of his up against you, his deft fingers creeping down to rest around your waist, the fleeting caress of his lips against your heated skin, the dark heat that had pooled in your stomach when he growled against your lips… You shook your head vigorously to rid your mind of his low groans. Jaehyun had been your bias all this time and you were convinced he still was... Yet with all of your encounters with Taeyong and the way you found your heart racing every time your thoughts found their way to him, you weren’t a hundred percent sure of anything anymore.

And that was the reason you were now avoiding him at all costs…

And also the reason you choked on your air and fell upon seeing him leaned so casually against the entrance of the practice room. Within seconds of you landing on the floor, he was right there, worry furrowing his brows.

“__, are you okay?”

Up at this close of a proximity, you could see every detail of his attractive features in high definition. The curve of his lips, the concern in his eyes, the faint flush on his cheeks… without fail, your heart pounded loudly in your chest and you were unnecessarily reminded vividly of how soft his lips had felt against yours.

“Y-yeah. I'm fine.” The words came out of your lips unsteadily, immediately alerting him to your uneasiness. “T-thanks. I’ll just- I...I’ll just go now-”

Pushing yourself up and away from him, you made as if to rush out of the room, cheeks flushed an angry red.

“No.” Taeyong’s voice sounded, loud and demanding, contrary to the gentle, soft approach he used more often. A firm hand wrapped itself around your wrist and you looked up in surprise.

“... No?”

“I mean,” he looked away bashfully, voice softening. All at once, the butterflies in your stomach started up again. If Jaehyun was your ‘bias’, why were you even feeling this way around Taeyong?

“Please stay,” Taeyong continued. “I know I fucked up. I didn’t even get to take you on a date before all that happened and I’m so sorry about that, but I…” He paused to cough nervously into his hand. “Um.. Well, I'm not good with expressing myself but I really.. I really like you and I understand if you don't feel the same way, but I thought you should know.”

The seventh time he saw you was similar to the fifth, only it was early evening, the moon glanced off your skin in the most captivating of ways, and this time.. You weren't running away.

“I dunno kid…” Letting out a deep sigh, the cashier rubbed his temples wearily. “You’re still fifteen dollars short. Why do you need them this badly anyways?”

Without a hint of hesitance, the little boy blurted out the most honest thing Taeyong had heard in awhile.

“Look, I know I’m dirty, I know I don’t have the exact amount, I know you probably don’t want to put up with this right now… but please… my mom.” A sniffle sounded loudly in the silent store and he shook the tears from his eyes. “She’s been sick for quite a while, and I know these shoes will make her smile… I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.”

Taeyong’s mouth dropped open. This boy was putting his dignity and wealth on the line for his mother. Finally, out of his pocket, the kid fished out a couple more bills.

“Is this… Is this enough?”

Helplessly, the cashier shot Taeyong a look and the little boy turned to look directly at him. All at once, Taeyong’s heart broke all over again. The kid’s eyes were swollen and red from crying and dried and fresh tears streamed down his cheeks.

“Mama… she made Christmas special at our house even though most of the time, she just went without.”

It was like looking at you all over again. It reminded Taeyong of that last night with you, staring at you at your worst… broken, hurt, angry, confused with tears pouring down your cheeks are he gazed at you through his. Sniffling, the little boy continued.

“Tell me sir, what am I going to do?! My mom… she’s so sick and my dad. He’s given up, he told me she’s not going to live through the night and-and I’ve seen her look at these shoes every time we come to this store, I wanna.. She-” at that, his fragile voice cracked with emotion. His shoulders hunched over as he fought back the sobs, desperate to stay strong.

Taeyong gazed on at the younger boy, the one that hopelessly reminded him of you. He was torn. That little boy… he wasn’t you. You were probably off somewhere else, enjoying a dinner with Jaehyun and your kids. However, the shaken words that fell from the boy’s lips found a way directly to Taeyong’s broken heart.

“Please sir…” The boy’s voice sounded infinitely smaller than it had before. “Somehow, I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes..”

The eighth time however, was not as happy.

It should have been though.

It was the annual SM Christmas Party and Taeyong moved easily through the crowds, blessing everyone with a perfectly content smile. That was until Taeyong saw you and Jaehyun, laughing… smiling… which, in any other case would be fine. But in this one, with the way Jung Jaehyun was looking at you, undressing you with his eyes, with the way his fingers brushed against your arm ever so slightly...

Bracing himself against a nearby wall, Taeyong took a deep breath. He was just… overthinking. Inclining his head towards the ceiling, he took a deep breath and tried in vain to focus on something other than the fact you were with Jaehyun, grinning cheesily at every little thing he said while standing under the mistletoe-

Wait. Fuck. Mistletoe?

“What the fuck, Taeyong?” You spoke, struggling against the vise-like grip said male had around your wrist. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

“Nothing.” He bit out, venom dripping from each syllable as the two of you wove in and out of the crowd. Though you hadn’t known him for that long, you didn’t think you had ever seen someone so mad. Flames burned behind Taeyong’s usually calm, clear eyes and you recalled the dumbfounded look on Jaehyun’s face a couple seconds prior.

“For some reason, I don’t believe you, Lee Taeyong,” you tsk-ed, letting him guide you to a less active area. “And part of me thinks it has to do with you being jealous.”

All of a sudden, the tense male in front of you froze. He had seen that subtle hand on your arm, the way Jaehyun was looking at you… You snickered to yourself over the fact this grown man was jealous over you and you watched, curious, as he turned around… only to push you up against the wall behind you. Eyes wide, you shivered as he traced a light finger down your jaw.

“Jealous? Jealous? Of fucking course I’m jealous.” The growl in his low voice made it only the more sexier. “Jung Jaehyun, one of the most attractive male idols at this company holiday party was flirting with you under the mistletoe. Of course I’d get jealous.”

“Okay, you big baby,” you snorted, rolling your eyes at his unreasonable childish behavior. “I get it, someone’s needy and wants my attention, but like we should really establish some norms. Like just because I’m talking -talking, mind you- to another guy, does not mean I’m interested in them-”

“It’s not that, __,” Taeyong interrupted you, grabbing your chin roughly and directing your attention right at him. “You’re mine. And no other guy is allowed to look at you lik-”

“Hold on just a fucking second, Lee Taeyong,” you hissed, surprised by his exclamation and fed up with his unnecessary possessiveness. His eyes widened at your outburst, obviously taken aback. “Who do you think you are? Manhandling me, ordering me around and threatening to fuck up every single guy that does something as simple as look at me. Hell, Jaehyun and I were just talking and now you’re going around, acting like you own me. We were just. Talking.

“As far as I was know, even if we were a thing, you are not going to treat me like a belonging or act all possessive like a dumb kindergartner would be over a stupid toy. I am not a thing of yours that you can claim as your own. Good night.”

Throwing off his hand, you pushed past him, ignoring the hurt look of complete shock written all over his face.

“__, wait-” Taeyong started reaching out to grab your wrist for the second time that night.

“No, Taeyong. Don’t talk to me,” you mumbled underneath your voice, disappointment laced in every word. “I refuse to be in a relationship with a man that won’t trust me.”

And with that, you stalked away, dismayed at how much your heart hurt.

The ninth time he saw you, you weren’t alone like he was hoping.

As a romantic, Taeyong realized what he had done wrong. You weren’t his. You were merely someone he loved enough to be afraid to lose. And as someone he cared that deeply about, he had the whole night planned out. That was, of course, if you accepted his apology.

Smiling giddily to himself, he fiddled with the bouquet and handwritten apology for a second longer before taking a deep breath in. Opening, the door, he began to walk towards the practice room he knew you would be in. He had just finished up in his studio, brain filled to the brim with lyrics and the rhythm of a heartfelt song yet to be released.

But when he turned down the familiar hall to the practice room he was certain you’d be in, an unexpected sound reached his ears. A deep voice that sounded an awful lot like… Jaehyun’s rang out in a deep baritone laugh in response to your clear, breathy one.

“Shh… Oh my gawd, Jaehyun you idiot! You’re so loud.”

“Look who’s talkin’, __. You’re the one yelling at me.”

All at once, Taeyong froze. No… Not now. Not on Christmas. As if his body had a mind of its own, he subconsciously crept closer to the door, deathly afraid of what he would see. Your breathy giggle sounded again.

Blinking back tears, he peered through the crack in the door.

Fuck. There you were, beautiful as ever, smiling that same radiant smile… pressed up against Jaehyun’s firm body as his arms lay loose around your waist. A pathetic sob built in the back of Taeyong’s throat when you reached up to press a gentle kiss to Jaehyun’s love drunk smile.

Crushed, Taeyong stumbled back soundlessly until his back smacked against a wall. Then, the tears began to fall, blinding him.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

A broken Taeyong left the building in a daze that night. In his hands were a bouquet of torn flowers, a shredded apology and a crushed heart.

No longer could he be around Jaehyun without thinking of the two of you. It was ridiculous, and he knew it… He had trained with this dude for years. But soon enough, Taeyong found himself signing a contract with a different agency in an effort to get awake from the inevitable heartbreak he had been through.

And at once, gone were the physical apparitions of you and Jaehyun, loving, smiling, laughing. Only then entered the haunting of his dreams by you and you only.

“Please sir…” The boy’s voice sounded infinitely smaller than it had before. “Somehow, I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes..”

All at once, an exhausted exhale fell from Taeyong’s mouth. What would you have done in this situation? Grabbing a twenty from his wallet, Taeyong pressed it down onto the pile of scattered coins and crumpled bills.

The kid’s teary eyes widened as the cashier rang the shoes up. A smile grew on Taeyong’s lips when a thankful smile traced itself onto the boy’s face.

“T-thank you so much, sir!” Grabbing the shoes, the younger male wrapped his lanky arms around Taeyong’s waist. Then, as an afterthought, the boy added, “Momma’s going to look so great.”

Just like that, the kid was gone. All that was left was the ghostly feeling of his thin arms around Taeyong’s waist and the mental image etched into his brain of how much he looked like you.

“Hey man,” once again, the cashier’s gruff voice blew away any thought of you. Shaking the fog from his brain, Taeyong redirected his attention to the man in front of him.

“You gonna buy anything else?”

The tenth and last time he saw you, Taeyong thought, was the most painful. It had been eleven years since he had last seen any trace of you or anything somehow related to you.

Or.. so he thought.

Taeyong felt his shattered heart fly out the window. Suddenly, he understood what had pulled him into that graveyard. Memories of you, you laughing, you dancing, you beneath him, you smiling, you crying… All of them shot back at him, hitting him in the dead center of his heart. The weathered gravestone in front of him was an elegant marble and did not fail to remind Taeyong of every single thing about you, but that wasn’t the object that tore the previously unshed tears from his eyes.

He crumpled to his knees, sobbing.

Beneath your name and birth and passing date lay a pair of shoes. A familiar pair of shoes. The same brilliantly simple shoes the boy in the store had bought - with Taeyong’s help - for his terminally ill mother.

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hoogiehowser · 6 years ago

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MEDIA DIARY JANUARY

:::::::::: MOVIES ::::::::::

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) I liked this so much I ended up seeing it twice. The animation is on a whole different level from everything else in theaters I just can’t believe it. Nothing has immediately endeared me to a character more that when Miles gets to the place where he’s going to put up graffiti and yells “BROOKLYN!” to get the echo. Absolutely perfect.

Happy Death Day (2017) The trailer looked good but the trailer for the sequel looked even better. Good time repeating movie. Way better than Blood Punch. I’m excited to see more of this.

Alien: Covenant (2017) Had no clue what to expect going in but I actually dug it. It’s just Alien again like every Alien movie but what they do with David from Prometheus makes it really interesting. There’s also some straight up slasher movie sleaze that definitely appeals to me.

MacGruber (2010) It’s just a bunch of dick jokes while a bad action movie happens. There’s no clever spin to it.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) Wanted to watch this due to the Fast & Furious connection. It’s a great movie about overachievers and getting away with shit. I think Justin Lin is a great director and his unique voice benefits every movie he does.

Collateral (2004) I didn’t realize until the credits that this was a Michael Mann movie but it was so obvious in hindsight. The premise is simple, Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are great, and everything comes together in a genuinely cool film.

Wilson (2017) Based on a comic I don’t particularly like from Dan Clowes’ grumpy old man phase. The cool thing about the comic is that each page works on its own and has a different art style. The movie can’t do that. But it’s still faithful to the book which means it feels like a series of one page gags strung together until it finishes. Woody and Laura Dern are great though and it is pretty funny at times.

Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare (2018) There was another truth or dare based horror movie a year before that was a Syfy original. The Syfy one is better. The problem with them both is the supernatural contrivances that make people play truth or dare against their will. It’s such a strained premise.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Guy Ritchie made a King Arthur movie and it feels exactly like you’d expect.

Thoroughbreds (2017) Girl who can’t feel emotions befriends girl who is very politely hiding her extreme emotions. Things get bad when they start to think about murder. Anton Yelchin plays a druggie scumbag loser. It’s such a good movie. 100% my kind of thing.

:::::::::: TV ::::::::::

The Great British Baking Show (Beginnings, Collections 1-4) Got addicted to this one. I love cooking competitions shows and pleasant ones are usually the best. I like seeing competitors that like each other. I like Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry not trying to tear people down. I love Mel and Sue. It’s just a nice show for the nice people.

Toei Spider-Man (Episodes 1-5) I’m not a big toku guy but Spider-Verse got me curious about various Spider-Men. Takuya Yamashiro wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he was injected with blood from the last survivor of Planet Spider and carries out a mission against Professor Monster’s Iron Cross Army to avenge Planet Spider and his own father. Next to nothing present from the classic Lee/Ditko Spider-Man and that’s totally alright. I’m going to try to watch more because the episode where Spider-Man has to donate his blood to hurt child has some serious heart.

The Prisoner (Episodes 7-17) I started watching this a while ago but only now got around to finishing. Mostly super clever plots and the atmosphere is always great. Patrick McGoohan sells it every single time. Some of the later episodes go really off the rails though. There’s an entire wild west episode. Nothing in this stretch tops my favorite episode, The Schizoid Man, where Number Two brainwashes Number Six to act differently and then forces Number Six to pretend to be Number Six while a different man is already pretending to be Number Six. The ending is solid though and carries a really good tv series to a confusing, surreal end.

Cutthroat Kitchen (Season 7, Episodes 1-7) Polar opposite of The Great British Baking Show. It’s the Mario Kart of cooking competition shows. Everyone tries to fuck each other over and Alton laughs at them the entire time. It’s brilliant.

:::::::::: PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING ::::::::::

TJPW Tokyo Joshi Pro ‘19 (January 4) I don’t follow TJPW and don’t know any of their wrestlers besides Meiko Satomura but I watched this because it was on before Wrestle Kingdom. Meiko vs Reika Saiki definitely made the show worth watching and the rest was pretty alright. Lots of fun, new personalities that I like.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 (January 4) Probably the most I’ve looked forward to a show and it absolutely delivered. For the past few years I’d watch WK and recommended matches but in in July I started following everything NJPW. That added investment made this WK special. Ibushi/Ospreay tore it up and I really hope Ibushi recovers soon. Jay White/Okada shocked me. Naito/Jericho was fucking brutal. And Kenny Omega vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was a match I was so invested in that I thought I was going to cry. If you haven’t checked out New Japan yet this show would make an excellent start. GO ACE!

Impact Homecoming (January 6) Impact has gotten pretty good. I’ve only seen a few of their most recent ppvs but it’s obvious that they have a wealth of talent and they’re willing to tell the kind of dumb stories that I really like. Since Homecoming was in Nashville I went and it was one of the best shows I’ve been to. The energy was insane all night and LAX vs Lucha Bros has to be the best match I’ve seen live. Now that they air on Twitch I’ve been following the weekly show and enjoying it quite a bit.

WWE Royal Rumble (January 27) I always love the rumble but the rumble was weird. Both rumble matches were okay but filled with dumb stuff and way too many recovery spots that were immediately deflated by the person getting eliminated. I like the winners. AJ/Daniel didn’t deliver like I wanted. Sasha and Ronda had a good match. I loved how Finn Balor worked Brock Lesnar’s diverticulitis. Fun show.

NXT UK Takeover Blackpool (January 12) NXT UK doesn’t really grip me aside from the women’s division. I liked this well enough but nothing really changed my mind. Finn Balor made a surprise appearance and he looked like such a star compared to everyone else. Excited to see what WALTER can do here though.

GCW 400 Degreez (January 12) GCW’s brand of hardcore indie nonsense is my absolute favorite. 400 Degreez isn’t the best they’ve done but it was full of disgusting beautiful deathmatch bullshit. Markus Crane vs Nate Webb especially.

NXT Takeover Phoenix (January 26) Takeover always delivers. Johnny Gargano vs Ricochet was definitely the match of the night. I don’t dig the War Raiders schtick but their match was great. Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler also killed it.

:::::::::: COMICS ::::::::::

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volumes 1-10) I wanted something long to start reading so why not One Piece? Enjoying it so far. I like getting the crew together and Usopp’s story in particular is great. Oda is a master cartoonist. I love every time we get reaction faces.

Spider-Man: Fever by Brendan McCarthy Spider-Man fever got me wanting to revisit Spider-Man: Fever because I remember liking it. I still like it. Doctor Strange accidentally opens a doorway into a spider dimension and Spider-Man gets caught in Doctor Strange’s bathtub and the alternate dimension spiders take him. All this and McCarthy’s art make Fever pretty far out.

Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David, Kelley Jones, and Rick Leonardi (1-15) Miguel O’Hara wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he had Peter Parker’s DNA put into him by weird future DNA machine and he wages war against the gigantic corporations that control everything. I like Spider-Man 2099. Miguel is so different from the Peter Parker archetype and he’s got claws and fangs. He’s brutal. It’s got a neat post-hero future kind of like Batman Beyond. I stopped reading because the next part is a crossover with Punisher 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099, and X-Men 2099. I’ll hopefully pick it back up because I want to know what happens with the hologram that’s in love with Miguel.

Spider-Man by Kazumasa Hirai & Ryoichi Ikegami Yu Komori was bitten by a radioactive spider and he definitely wishes he wasn’t. It starts off a lot like our usual Spider-Man but the villains are so much more tragic and Yu deals with some heavy shit. Ikegami’s art evolves from cartoony to serious as the tone of the book changes. He’s a really incredible artist who is consistently pulling neat tricks and trying new things. I really liked this and it may top my favorite Spider-Man comics. It’s just so bleak and unforgiving to poor Yu. By the way, the final plotline is exactly the same as the Sonny Chiba movie Wolf Guy. Turns out the comic that movie was based on was written by the same guy that write Spider-Man. An odd find.

:::::::::: VIDEOGAMES ::::::::::

Axiom Verge Had my eye on this for a long time and finally picked it up on sale on my Switch. It’s okay. There are a lot of clever ideas here that I don’t think work for me. But I do like the decorrupter and the teleport. Some of the movement feels great but some stuff like the grappling hook feels awful. I hate the story. Completely incoherent sci-fi nonsense. But it’s a fun game and I enjoyed my time with it.

Hollow Knight I’ve spent about 30 hours on this game and I feel like I’m close to the end of the story. I absolutely love it. The movement, the combat, and the exploration all feel excellent. I’ve played over ten metroidvanias in the past year (I really like them) and this might be the best. My favorite part about them is how you’re almost never wasting time because there are new secrets to discover all across the map and Hollow Knight does such a good job with that.

#media diary

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 2 Review: Vestiges

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This My Hero Academia review contains spoilers.

My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 2

“Have you ever thought about the feelings of those they left behind?” “I’ve thought so much about it that I’ve gone crazy.”

My Hero Academia season 5 technically started last week with “All Hands on Deck! Class 1-A” and it’s become an unofficial tradition for each season to begin with an episode that functions as a recap or primer for new audiences, but this premiere was especially superfluous. Sometimes there’s enough of a fresh perspective that can analyze past events critically, but “All Hands on Deck!” Class 1-A” merely covers the characters’ hero names and Quirks as they work through yet another mock battle.

It’s a slow start that feels more like a tease, but what that premiere does effectively establish is the larger roster of characters that this season will balance. It’s clear that a lot of Class 1-B is on the way, but episode 2 “Vestiges” takes a very focused look at three characters in comparable situations before it embraces the chaos of Class 1-B.

“Vestiges” is an episode that shouldn’t work as well as it does and structurally it’s kind of a mess. The episode is largely stuck in the past and consumed by major passages of exposition that aren’t the most elegant way to explore this material. It’s a very dense installment that bombards the audience with important information, yet the revelations are satisfying enough and are surrounded with gorgeous visuals so that “Vestiges” is still a successful episode, almost despite itself.

The title “Vestiges” explicitly refers to the former One For All relics that visit Midoriya, but it’s a term that’s applicable to all of this episode’s major characters. This is an episode that’s about the future, but it depends upon the past. Midoriya and Endeavor are completely separated throughout this episode, but “Vestiges” unifies them over how they both just want to do All Might justice, whether it’s as the new Number One Hero or the current bearer of One For All. Endeavor and Midoriya experience the same anxiety, but in totally different ways.

This episode also draws exciting parallels between Midoriya and Hawks. The first half of “Vestiges” could just as easily be called “Keigo Takami: Origins” and it’s kind of beautiful to see how Hawks’ admiration towards Endeavor mirrors Midoriya’s own obsession towards All Might. It’s honestly comforting to see that Hawks is not in fact a traitor and is just playing the long game with his infiltration of the League of Villains. It’s great to see that the Number Two Hero isn’t actually a Number One Asshole, but it also seems unlikely that this scenario is as clear cut as it seems.

It’s possible that Hawks is actually aligned with the League of Villains and there’s an extra level of double crossing that’s afoot, but what seems like the more likely development is that Hawks has now opened himself up to some very big dangers in this new, vulnerable position. This is bound to intensify in some big ways and hopefully this injection of The Departed into My Hero Academia blurs the lines between heroes and villains. Hawks might not actually be a traitor, but that doesn’t mean that every other hero is still on the level.

Hawks sees the good in Endeavor and he’s one of the few people that’s actively excited for the “Age of Endeavor”to begin. The end of My Hero Academia season 4 worked hard to begin Endeavor’s redemption arc and it’s encouraging that this is still a slow work in progress for the hero. “Vestiges” really leans into the Todoroki family and they’re far from reaching a healthy place, but it’s a valuable change of pace to spend so much time with a hero’s family.

The campus nature of My Hero Academia often segregates the students and so this brief moment where the Todorokis attempt normalcy really stands out. Endeavor’s family still has put up a lot of barriers, but Shoto genuinely wants to give his father the benefit of the doubt, which exhibits tremendous growth from where he was at during the first two seasons. “Vestiges” chronicles the emotional connection between Shoto and his father, but it also actively creates more physical similarities between them now that Endeavor has a scar on his face that matches his son’s. Shoto’s matter-of-factly, “That’s a bad scar” is a subtle and perfect response for the situation. This relationship is one of My Hero Academia’s longest running arcs and it makes the payoff here all the greater.

Fractured families continue to be a strong throughline to “Vestiges” and even play a major role with the very nature of two of My Hero Academia’s most important Quirks. There’s an extended sequence spent in Midoriya’s subconscious that’s one of the more surreal moments from the series. The animation is fantastic through all of this and there’s an operatic quality to this dream where every element just screams that what’s going on is vitally important. A fascinating detail that comes forward is that All For One is the older brother of the original One For All bearer, which brings so much of the anime full circle and likely means that a major return of All For One is imminent.

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It’d have seemed contrived if All Might and All For One were brothers, but this variation on that theme and how All Might and Midoriya are just fragments of this original sibling rivalry is an unexpectedly poetic turn for My Hero Academia’s war between good and evil. My Hero Academia has always looked towards the future and pushes a message about how important it is to value and empower the next generation. However, this glimpse into the origins of these two fundamental Quirks is such an elegant extrapolation of this premise.

Every action that Midoriya takes has been in service of doing All Might justice and being the best successor imaginable, yet now Midoriya has the collective expectations and legacies of seven other heroes placed on him. His mission remains the same, but it’s now substantially magnified. It’s no coincidence that the original One For All bearer is also an individual who was born Quirk-less, just like Midoriya.

The most exciting detail from this stylized flashback that plays out in Midoriya’s subconscious is that All For One might have had altruistic intentions at one point. There have been comparisons made between My Hero Academia and X-Men in the past, especially in regards to how Quirks manifest across the planet. This influence has always been present on some level, but it now evolves from beyond subtext. It may be a glib oversimplification, but there are definite shades of Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier in the early relationship between All For One and his brother as a rift forms between them over the right application for Quirks as well as society’s perception of these “special” individuals.

“Vestiges” gets a little too expository during these segments and the same sequences would be just as effective if All For One’s actions could just speak for themselves. It still opens up a rewarding new chapter of the series that feels like it’s the start of My Hero Academia approaching its endgame or final conflict. To the episode’s credit, these developments feel organic and baked into the anime’s DNA even though it’s a major piece of information that gets dropped out of nowhere. It’s also impressive how this sequence retroactively makes All For One even more frightening and succeeds in building anticipation over a possible return of the major villain.

“Vestiges” does an excellent job with how it establishes the larger themes of this new season and the major conflicts that will overwhelm the characters. There’s two episodes’ worth of information in “Vestiges” and this does make up for the disposable nature of last week’s premiere. This is still an entry that functions as an introduction to the new season and technically characters spend the bulk of “Vestiges” in bed and in various states of recovery. My Hero Academia can begin to indulge in pure action and entertainment now that it’s got some of this season’s heavy lifting out of the way. There’s already a grandiose feeling that’s not typically present right when a new season begins.

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Much like what All For One’s brother tells him about his comic book-esque plan to radicalize the future: There’s more to this story.

The post My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 2 Review: Vestiges appeared first on Den of Geek.

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aion-rsa · 8 years ago

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X-POSITION – ResurrXion Revealed With the X-Editors: Part 1

The X-Line is getting a major overhaul this spring, as Marvel launches a whole new crop of comics. The initiative, titled ResurrXion, will see the arrival of new flagship series like “X-Men Gold” and “X-Men Blue” as well as team books like “Generation X” and “Weapon X.” Additionally, a trio of characters will get their own ongoings: “Iceman,” “Jean Grey” and “Cable.” On top of all that, “All-New Wolverine” and “Old Man Logan” will continue slashing their way through villains with new storyarcs and — in “Old Man Logan’s” case — a new creative team.

This week in X-POSITION, the X-Men editors Mark Paniccia, Daniel Ketchum, Christina Harrington and Chris Robinson answer your questions about “X-Men Gold,” “Generation X” and “Jean Grey”!

CBR News: Welcome back to X-POSITION, X-Editors! It’s been a while and we’re glad to have you back. First up, we’ll start with a question about the “Uncanny” cast from Weslley.

While I’m excited about ResurrXion, I am disappointed that Psylocke and Archangel are nowhere to be seen after all the amazing character development both got in Cullen Bunn’s “Uncanny X-Men.” Will we see them anytime soon?

Mark Paniccia: First, let’s give Cullen a round of applause for the work he (props to editor Daniel Ketchum as well) put into the series and the craft he invested in these characters. Second, Psylocke and Archangel are very popular but we need just one more e-mail asking for their return before we can seriously consider anything. 😉

Christina Harrington: These are two of my favorite characters, especially after Cullen’s run on “Uncanny.” And after that great character development, I don’t think Archangel or Psylocke will stay off the table for long…

Daniel Ketchum: We have received so many e-mails and tweets about Psylocke and Archangel! Fear not: there is a concrete plan in place for the pair. You’ll hear about it very soon…

Next up, Ben has a Q about the larger mutant metaphor.

Will the X-Men still retain their civil rights roots? As a longtime X-Men fan, I think that the team’s best stories (“God Loves, Man Kills,” “Days of Future Past,” Grant Morrison’s “New X-Men”) aren’t really about big superhero brawls, but sociopolitical ideas involving race, religion, and sexuality… I just hope that even if they do go more “classic” superhero, that the message behind them won’t be lost. Will that thought continue, and which books is it most evident in?

Paniccia: Those ideas were baked into the X-Men’s DNA from the very beginning, Ben. They’re what make them the most relatable characters in the history of comics and we would never abandon that core concept. We do want to lean into the superhero of it all, the unique power sets, the big battles, the action…all those things that make comics exciting and fun.

Harrington: It’s the most X-Men thing of all, to me, to have these characters dive into contemporary issues and really explore them — with a more fantastical framing, of course. So of course those elements are going to be involved in these new stories — they wouldn’t be X-Men stories to me without them. I think you’re going to find stories of this type across the line — alongside some more traditional super hero tales, of course. We can do allegory…but we have to also do punching.

This time around, Anduinel gets the honor of asking this question.

Now that there are squads of students specifically training to be X-Men over in “Gen X,” what are the odds of getting “New X-Men” relaunch down the line? Between the Kyle/Yost run, the Utopia era, “Second Coming,” and “Schism,” those kids have got to be the most over-qualified student class in X-Men history by this point (and possibly the most disillusioned with the X-Men’s methods).

Chris Robinson: You’re gonna see every era of “X-Kids” revisited in the pages of “Gen X.” From Glob Herman to Hellion to Pixie all the way back to original “New Mutants” cast members.

Ketchum: Chances of a “New X-Men” relaunch are slim, but as Chris mentioned, those characters haven’t been forgotten and will be turning up regularly in the “X-Men” titles already on the slate. Surge and Nezhno make appearances as soon as “X-Men Prime.” The Stepford Cuckoos, Pixie and Graymalkin will show up in “Generation X.” And Anole, Rockslide and Armor turn up in the first arc of “X-Men Gold.” While they may not have a title of their own, they are still very much part of the fabric of the X-Universe.

Paniccia: And speaking of “Generation X” we have a little something special planned in “X-Men Blue.” It’s gonna be really freakin’ cool!

Let’s move on to the “X-Men Gold” portion of this week’s X-PO, with a question from Bernie.

Will Nightcrawler finally be a significant character and not just a fill-in one? Will he go back to his true, lovable, swashbuckling self we love him for?

Robinson: Yes!

Ketchum: “X-Men Gold”!

Paniccia: One of my favorite X-Men!!!

Maestroneto has a major question about one character’s costume.

Jokes about fashion sense aside, will Kitty ever get a unique costume again that isn’t based on a training suit? The last time was in the mid-’90s and I’m disappointed that her Excalibur-inspired costume from “GotG” didn’t make it to ResurrXion. Since Guggenheim’s pitch is that Kitty is all grown up, it’s a little bit weird that she looks about ready to join the New Mutants.

Ketchum: Is there really anything wrong with taking the Steve Jobs approach after years of wearing every color and accouterment under the sun?

“Uncanny X-Men” #149 interior art by Dave Cockrum, Josef Rubinstein and Don Warfield

Truth be told, we didn’t reinvent the wheel with Kitty for “X-Men Gold,” because that classic X-Men uniform really said it all: This is a return to form. Kitty is the quintessential X-Man, the student who rose through the ranks and has stared down every evil, and yet is perhaps still the most stalwart believer in Xavier’s dream. Could the Xavier School’s finest student really wear anything else?

Not to mention, remember when Kitty first tried to take on an individual costume, but Xavier made her change back to the training uniform because a unique look had to be “earned”? I LOVE the idea that Kitty took that restriction and then turned the rules on their head…and now owns that training uniform look. That’s a great message in itself, I think…

Paniccia: I echo Daniel’s sentiment. And [“X-Men Gold” writer Marc] Guggenheim’s vision for Kitty (both as a character and stylistically) comes from the heart. Which is, in my humble opinion, where the best X-Men stories come from.

And here’s a question from Purplevit about everyone’s favorite Ragin’ Cajun…

Gambit wasn’t a part of any ongoing for years and appeared only as guest star. Can we expect Gambit to join any teams in 2017?

Robinson: I think you’re gonna wanna see the cover to “X-Men Gold” #4, Purp…

Paniccia: And there’s some place else he could be popping in the summer. Shhhhh.

Now we’re in the “Generation X” portion of this week’s Q&A, with a question from madroxdupe.

Any plans for a reunion of sorts? I grew up on this book, and I have to say, I’m disappointed it’s not like the New Mutants relaunch from several years ago with the OG members coming back.

Paniccia: I’ll let Daniel speak to that but Christina Strain is writing an X-Book!!!!!!!!!!!! She is one of my favorite people in comics!

Ketchum: “Generation X” was actually the first series I followed from issue #1, so it holds a special place for me as well, madroxdupe! And you better believe that writer Christina Strain and I have talked about how important it is that this book be both the story of a new generation of mutants as well as the return of the original cast. Issue #1 actually opens on Jubilee and Chamber, and the reunions continue from there…

And here’s a question from The Big G about the student body.

We know “Gen X” will showcase the “Oddballs” of the X-Students, but how much spotlight will the students actually training to be X-Men get?

Ketchum: Did Anduinel put you up to asking this question, Big G? Ha.

“Generation X” writer Christina Strain and I were actually just on the phone yesterday talking about how 20 pages per issue just aren’t enough. We would love to give lots of screentime to all of the kids! But with a main cast of relatively new characters who have stories of their own to be told, we probably won’t be able to devote too much time to those students we’re already pretty well-acquainted with. But we promise to do our best to not let them languish in the gutters!

Paniccia: Have I mentioned that Christina Strain is one of my favorite people in comics.

And we close this week with a question focusing on “Jean Grey” from Chandler.

I really miss Emma Frost. Specifically, I miss the interactions between young Jean and Emma…even the Cuckoos. I believe Emma was able to push Jean to try new things making her more than she had ever been before, with exception of the Phoenix Force. Are there any plans to have Jean interact with a Emma or the Cuckoos?

Ketchum: Has everyone read the end of “Inhumans vs. X-Men”? Without giving anything away, that series leaves Emma in a very different place than she’s been for the past few years. Needless to say, there are big plans for Emma. I wouldn’t rule out a run-in between Emma and Jean, but Emma has some bigger fish to fry in the immediate future…

Paniccia: Emma has such a rich history with the X-Men that it’s hard to imagine a world without her. There is something sizzling in the kitchen. You’ll hear about it soon.

Special thanks to Mark Paniccia, Daniel Ketchum, Chris Robinson and Christina Harrington for taking on this qeek’s questions! This two-part X-PO will conclude next week with more ResurrXion talk.

The post X-POSITION – ResurrXion Revealed With the X-Editors: Part 1 appeared first on CBR.com.

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