#everyone went crazy for that banana for some reason

[omarfor-orchestra]

Just found my Lucca comics and games 2015 pictures. I was in a Ten cosplay. With BBC Sherlock and John. That's the most 2015 thing I have right now

[lit3rallyll0yd]

Hey I just wanted to say I love your writing so much it's just 😼😍 if Ykyk and feel free to ignore this request but if you want to could you do ninjago character is basically a rich aunt and grew up with the ninja go character (plus harumi up to you) sorry if I'm not that detailed

have a good day 😼🐮

ninjago x reader: them with a reader who is their rich aunt. ft. ninjas<3 (≧ᗜ≦)

characters: lloyd, kai & nya, jay, cole, and zane

synopsis: basically the reader is the ninjas rich aunts, who they haven't seen in a while.

a/n: tbh i was struggling to understand this request, nothing against you anon, im just bad at reading n understanding, lol. so we ended up with this idea<3

i would add harumi, however my poor fingers hurt so much😞

short, headcanon format, female reader

artist cr: min-play

☆ LLOYD.

. you are misako's sister. she knew the second lloyd was born you were going to spoil this kid like crazy.

. before he was even born you already bought him things. new sets of clothing, baby toys, even some baby food you might know if he'll even like.

. when lloyd was born you swore to protect him no matter what. that was until you found out from your sister he was the green ninja?

. the kid is now at least 11 and his own mother enrolls him in the Darkly School for Bad Boys?

. she told you she left him for a good reason, and it will all make sense in the future.

. you decided to take her word for it, and years passed. you haven't seen your sister nor your nephew since.

. large timeskip, lloyd has aged, he has found his true family in the ninja. sure he reconnected with his mother but he still doesnt trust her much...until he heard her side of this whole story.

. lloyd and her have gotten closer once more, and misako decided to bring you up.

. lloyd had no idea how to react. he barely remembers you, however you remember him. he kinda feels guilty.

. you squish his cheeks together when finally seeing him again, "Oh, look at you!! you've grown up so much~ i remember when you were just a little babyyy! i can see where you got the looks from~"

. it takes a while, just like how lloyd was with his mother, but he glad to have met you once again.

. he asks you both about his father, and you have alot to say about that man.

. even at his age, you still spoil him much to his mothers liking. but who listens to their siblings anyways?

☆ KAI & NYA

. you were ray's sister, and maya loved you. she the first to tell you she was pregnant with the two, and you. went. bananas.

. when both kai and nya were born, you fell in love with them immediately.

. while they were kids you would come visit them, kai was extra excited for your visits because you always had a present for the two.

. ray and Maya just enjoyed your company, although nya was really shy around you first.

. she was a mama's baby, qnd loved to be in her mother's arms so everytime you come over she's in her mama's arms, hiding her face in her chest.

. the more you visit, the more she starts to trust you. ray and maya were surprised when nya started to cry when you had to go home one evening

. seeing them again after many years was very emotional for you, not them, though.

. "im sorry, who are you?" kai asked, seeing a random lady hug his little sister.

. "silly, im your auntie. your father's sister, to be specific, i never did really like labels!"

. "our...huh?"

. it's mostly like the relationship misako and lloyd have, but just you and the smith siblings.

. nya tries to be as kind as possible toward you, kai of course as well, however you and nya seem to have more of a bond.

☆ COLE

. your lou's sister. you never had a passion for singing like your brother, but you were pretty successful in the arts department.

. you were a pretty famous artist, almost everyone in ninjago knows your name.

. your art is seen from lou's dining room, to the ninjagos art museum.

. lou was the one who told you lily, his wife was pregnant. you asked many questions, but the big question was the gender.

. when finding out, because lily wanted to know the gender before birth, you started buying anything "baby boy" related.

. blue. that's what you first think of when a baby boy is coming, right?

. timeskip, yahoo, cole is born and sadly you've had to move away for a business emergency.

. you had a feeling cole wouldn't remember who you were, he was only just born when you had to move.

. before his mothers passing, lily tried to best to keep memory of you around the house, hopefully so little cole could remember some fragments of you.

. he..he didn't, lmao.

. you visit lou one day, and surprisingly, his son, cole, who is now a teenager, also seems to be visiting his father with you, who assumed his friends.

. you pinch his cheeks after hugging him and kissing him all over. cole was beyond uncomfortable and confused.

. "y/n, please, take it easy-"

. "you try not seeing your nephew for years and suddenly seeing him randomly out of no where, lou!"

. "...i...i did, however in this case he is my son."

. you, lou, and cole have had some time to discuss about who you are and coles eyes lit up.

. "you were my mother's best friend? could you maybe, tell me more about her?"

. you smiled, "let's start off with, your mother was the kindest and sweetest soul in the world."

☆ JAY

. let's make this simple. your edna's long time best friend. so you pretty much the same age as her.

. obviously ed and edna are jay's adopted parents, you found out by visiting the junkyard one day and seeing...baby...in Edna's arms.

. she was feeding him a bottle. he was so small, he hits perfectly in your sister's arms.

. "now i may be old, but i ain't stupid, sista'. why didn't you tell me you adopted?"

. edna laughed, "oh dear, no, this little one showed up on our doorstep last night. we couldn't just leave the poor thing there, we had to take him in. and we don't have the guts to let him go just yet so...ed is figuring out the adoption papers..."

. ever since that day, you have been coming around more often to help the elders take care of jay.

. jay was homeschooled, of course when he was old enough; ed taught him the abc's and 123's.

. you would help of course. you would spoil this boy to your full extent.

. he wanted this toy? it's his. wants mcdonalds? one happy meal please. is upset? two tickets to the mega monster amusement park!

. of course, you had a life of your own. you've barely had time to see ed, edna and jay anymore because of your work.

. so one day, ed and edna mailed you a letter, saying they will visit iay and invited you to come. maybe jay will remember you?

. timeskip to them pulling up to the bounty and jay's confused face.

. "ma, who is that?" jay asked looking at you with a confused look.

. yall had the talk about who you are and jay felt terrible for not remembering you. he always assumed his "dad" was taking him to all the amusement parks.

. he tried to catch up with you, wanting to know more of your life and your work placement.

. little does he know, ed and edna have been telling you mall the embarrassing stories he's gone through as a kid; your favorite being his kissing pillow?

. didn't you buy him that pillow?

☆ ZANE

. your dr. juliens younger sister.

. you were astonished at his latest "creation", zane. you were there when zane came fully online, and was "alive".

. he was almost like a human, he had human emotions of course he didn't know that yet. he was basically just born.

. upon hearing of your brothers death, you were deeply affected. you left ninjago for a little while, forgetting the world but never forgetting zane.

. you regret leaving him alone. but you weren't in the condition to be taking care if someone. you have to take care of yourself first.

. timeskip, years passed and you have received a letter from an old friend, inviting you to come back to ninjago and visit you.

. he mentioned zane, so you of course agreed.

. the address lead you to a monestary. you were a bit confused buy you knocked on the large doors.

. moments later, the doors open wide to revel a figure dressed in a white ninja gi, who looked back at you twice as confused as you.

. "good morning, stranger. what brings you to the monestary?" he asked and you felt your heart drop.

. "zane?"

. he tilt his head to the side, "yes...that is my name...how do you know my name?"

. other male voice cuts you off, "yo, zane- who's there?"

. eventually, your old friend who invited you here in the first place appeared beside zane and with a smile invited inside their home.

. insert the other three boys, jay, cole, and kai confused and asking each other questions while zane, master wu, and you spoke in a separate room.

. "so...your my father sister?"

. you smiled and nodded, "i never thought i would see you again!" you hugged the boy who froze at your touch, but politely hugged you back.

. you are family after all.

. you feel so bad for leaving zane all alone, possibly confused and lost until he found sensei wu and the other ninja, but that doesn't stol you from spoiling the heck out of the four boys.

. "but...y/n, i have already forgiven you. we do not need your-"

. jay covered zane's mouth, laughing sheepishly as kai spoke up, holding a bunch of video games you have given to them..

. "oh nono- please, we are more then happy to receive these gifts. your more then kind."

. cole nods in agreement.

. you smile and leave their gaming room, only to have master wu smack each of the boys, beside zane, on the heads

☆ i think i went a bit overbored 😭

[ratatatastic]

"Funny enough I—like, if street hockey, ministicks, I always wanted to be a goalie too! Like, for some reason I always wanted to go in net. You know, probably because of [my Dad] and then, um, you know, once you get dinged a couple times and the shots get too hard you realise—then it's not so much fun after all so... Yeah, it was great he'd always—" "You probably wanted to be goalie 'cuz you're fucking crazy, man! Those guys are bananas! I actually went as a goalie in morning skate one time when I was suspended in the coast, and it was the scariest thing ever, bro. It's nothing like blocking a shot because you're literally just standing there, and these guys are shooting right at you. It's unbelievable!" "Yeah! You gotta get in the way of the stuff to save it! That's crazy! I know, and like obviously gear is like great and they don't really feel—but there is, like, that psychological thing going on where, like, you know, you wanna move out of the way 'cuz it's gonna hurt! I get—I mean, it must not hurt that much, like, 'cuz Bob's crazy, man! Bob loves taking—Well, I wouldn't say loves taking it off the head, but he doesn't hate it, like he—" "Feels good?" "You know, every once in a while—they hit him in the head and you go up and say sorry he's like, 'No, no! It's all good! I love it, I love it!!' and like, kind-of shoos you away so."

The Buzz Pod | 8.7.24 (x)

so speaking of banking pucks off bobbys head and how much he loves it flashback to that day in october of 23 where bobby was doing that for practise and managed to rope in matthew to the shenanigans to the utter confusion of everyone involved (x)(x)(x)(x)

[bunbeeplays]

The Lemon Legacy: Generation 1, Chapter 89 - Last Nights and Reunions Part 2

It's time for breakfast, then they're heading straight for the beach.

Vince: Thanks for having us!

Ophelia: You're very welcome. We hope you guys had fun.

Vince: Yeah!

Val: Definitely.

Violet's mouth is too full of honey banana toast to confirm or deny anything.

After packing his bags, Vince makes the Lemons a thank you card for taking care of them while their parents went on their honeymoon. You should be making an apology card for telling everyone Ophelia's business, Vince

It's time for some beach fun!

Marcie and Joaquin are coming to join them later before going back home, but for now, the boys want to get a swim in and Violet wants water fun too.

Ophelia watches Velma, who's happy to enjoy the shade and look around at everything.

Marcie: Is that THE Ophelia Lemon?

Ophelia: Gets funnier and funnier every time, Mar.

Marcie takes her little one in her arms and lifts her up.

Marcie: Hello there, sweetie! Momma missed her baby!

Velma sure is happy to see her mommy again!

Joaquin eventually gets his hands on Velma so the ladies can chat.

Marcie: How were the kids? They didn't give you guys too much trouble, right?

Ophelia: No, they were great!

Marcie: …Are you sure you watched MY kids?

Ophelia: Sure, there was a lot going on, but it was fun!

Ophelia: I love your tan! Joaquin's is certainly interesting.

Marcie: Yeah, there's a reason your Watcher isn't showing him on screen. I'll have to tell you all about the honeymoon but I want to check in with you.

Ophelia: I told you, the kids were fine!

Marcie: No, not that.

Marcie: Vince texted me saying you were crying.

Ophelia: You should probably have a talk with him about discretion.

Marcie: The kids didn't overwhelm you, right? I'm sorry if they did.

Ophelia: No, no. I… I thought I was pregnant. I'm not. I've just been disappointed.

Marcie: I'm so sorry. I didn't know you and Xander were trying.

Ophelia: We weren't. I thought I had morning sickness but it was just nerves from the wedding and the move. But we both realized how sad we were that I wasn't pregnant… so we're going to try on our honeymoon!

Marcie: That's amazing, Ophelia! I'm so excited for you two. You're going to make great parents.

Ophelia: Thanks! Got any tips on conceiving?

Marcie: Woohoo with Joaquin, the most fertile man on earth.

Ophelia: No offense, but I think I'll pass.

Marcie: I'm just so glad taking care of my crazy kids didn't deter you guys from having kids at all.

Ophelia: I mean, we got less sleep, but if anything taking care of them showed us we can make it work.

Marcie is internally twirling her villain mustache. Her plan worked.

Violet was concentrating too hard on her sandcastle to notice her parents had arrived.

Marcie: A castle fit for a princess!

Violet: Momma!

Marcie: Were you good for Ms. Ophelia and Mr… Xander? What's with the nail polish?

Xander: Ask the little manicurist over there.

After saying goodbye to the Sistems and changing, Ophelia and Xander walk to the plaza and enjoy some alone time.

Xander: It's kind of weird not having to worry about keeping another Sim alive.

Ophelia: And here we are getting ready to do that permanently.

Xander: Yeah, but this will be OUR little Sim. It'll be totally different.

Ophelia: You're right. My most fertile day is coming up soon, so we need to act fast.

Xander: I was looking up rentals on my phone rocking Velma to sleep last night and I think I found the perfect spot.

Ophelia: Look at you taking initiative. I love it.

Xander: Only the best for my Lemon Cake and our future Lemon Poppyseed Muffin.

Ophelia: I just hope we can get said muffin baking.

Xander: Hey, if Joaquin can do it accidentally 4 times, I know we can do it on purpose once.

Xander scoots closer.

Xander: Or, you know, the beach is right down there. We could go for round two on that lounge chair and skip the trip.

Ophelia: Alexander Amir, it is the middle of the day.

Xander: Don't act like you don't want to, Ophelia Marie.

Ophelia and Xander enjoy their alone time, and the peace and quiet, while they can.

Their house is now a lot emptier, but hopefully it won't be that way for long.

[pettyrevenge-base]

Horrible roommate with insane boyfriend who won’t leave? Byeeeeeee!

Managed to find an awesome house to rent after college with two other friends. One was my good buddy from undergrad, let’s call him Ben. The other was someone who I’d gotten to know through another close friend, and let’s call her Crystal. Everything is all fine, and actually great for quite some time. Lived our own lives, but had a great time hanging out together too. The perfect roommate situation.

That is, until Crystal started dating Pablo. Pablo was the ultimate deadbeat with a Napoleon complex. Just a little over a month into our lease, Pablo got evicted from his placed, and Crystal asked if he could stay for a short period while he looked for a new place. Being understanding and empathetic, and trusting Crystal (we had no reason not to), we said sure as long as it’s temporary. Big mistake.

Pablo lost his job. Pablo had been dishonorably discharged from the military. Pablo was a(n) (unsuccessful) gambler. Pablo was a drunk (it was New Orleans, so it’s not like any of us had a leg to stand on here), but he was a dangerous drunk. He would verbally abuse Crystal, waking up the whole household in the middle of the night with fights. He killed her pet fish by running it under scalding hot water. He would hurl racial slurs at my then-boyfriend. He broke Ben’s Wii. On numerous occasions, he left the front door wide open (anyone who knows New Orleans knows this is a bad move, even in the safest areas). He left an empty pot on the stove with the burner on, and I came home to a house full of smoke. He was really putting everyone’s lives in danger.

Ben and I decided to have a house meeting to discuss our concerns with her, and, knowing that sometimes emotions can flair, we came with a written agenda so as to just stick to the facts. Yet Crystal defended him, and offered no solution to when he would be leaving and finding his own place (spoiler: he never would).

[Really rubbing salt in the wound, Pablo had gambled much of their money and Crystal was having trouble making rent one month. She asked if she could borrow it and pay me back next paycheck. Again, being a trusting empath, and feeling like we had no other choice, I did. I was furious to find out that the two of them had left for a long weekend at a casino resort in Mississippi before having paid me back.]

Well, now for the petty revenge:

I had been working two full-time jobs. I saved like crazy, and it was 2008 and housing prices had dipped. I decided to buy my own home. Ben knew all about this (so did my landlady), and was planning to be my roommate in the new house, but I never mentioned a single word to Crystal. I found a great place, made an offer, and closed a little thereafter.

It just so happened that the day I closed on the house, when we were already planning to move and just get the hell out of dodge, Crystal and Pablo took one of their famous casino getaways. We got around 15-20 of our close friends, one of whom had an enormous truck and a giant flatbed (of course someone did, it was Louisiana). Many hands make light work, and within a few short hours the entire house other than their room was cleared out. (Ohhhh, did I mention?: All the furniture, all the kitchen stuff, everything in the common rooms belonged to either me or Ben).

Crystal and Pablo returned home at the end of a full day of gambling, only to find a completely empty house except for their room. We told them we had switched the utilities (that were under my name) to the new house, and we had informed the landlady, and paid out our share of the remainder of the lease. The looks on their faces was priceless. We left and never saw them again, halleloo.

TL;DR - Roommate’s psycho boyfriend moved in, never left, went bananas. Other roommate and I got a huge group of friends to help move all our stuff to a new house without telling them, in just a few hours time while they were away. They returned to a completely empty house except for their stuff. Priceless looks on their faces as we left for the last time.

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

[daddy-socrates]

hey daddy socrates!

as i understand you did MA in philosophy, can i rant a bit in your ask box?

i did my BA in philosophy, now i want to do my MA in philosophy because i love it. but everyone tells me it's useless since this degree is unemployable.

idk, i guess i wanted to ask, what are your thoughts on this? i feel so depressed lately since it feels like i have to pick between a) something i'm interested in, passionate about and love b) something that will land me a well paying job. and it feels like b is more responsible choice but also that it will ultimately make me really miserable.

Okay so, I'm not gonna lie I also thought it was useless in undergrad. I had gone in initially with the aim of an English major and the education certification track (bc my school was quirky and wacky 🤪🤪 a cert for my state rather than a full major) but I found myself so enamored by the mushy-ness of philosophy that I stuck with it. Every time I asked a professor "so what can I do with this degree?" it was ALWAYSSSSSS "you can do ✨️anything✨️ :)" and I'm like, Gary that's not an answer (^':

Right so a lot of people take a philosophy degree (or two) and then go into law school or become a professor. I wanted to take some time to explore other options before committing to a second degree in philosophy and honestly I got about halfway through a school year away from it before I went crazy and applied for some classes at a nearby university. Backstory backstory backstory, etc. If you really want you can find the rest of that in my talking tag (#blah blah blah) if you want all the ramblings and complaints and the victories.

Getting back to your point though, when Gary said "you can do anything," he meant that the skills taught in philosophy - like critical thinking, deep reading, reasoning, recognizing fallacies, awareness of social and political history surrounding the "whys" behind the "whats" of individual beliefs and broader systems/structures - is almost universally adaptable. My mom said through my junior and senior years that those skills are always in wicked high demand, so philosophers are going to be good at whatever we decide to apply ourselves to.

But that's not fun. We know REAL fun! Sitting in a library basement drawing the ghosts out of dead texts and "Um, Actually"-ing them with our 21st century, likely more diverse perspectives :)

Have the others in your life picked out careers for you? Because I have a little list of things I came up with that are not rooted in academia but can use the skills and might help cast a wider net while still related!

Joining an activist organization, or a union organizing group

Political analysis

Editor (maybe for a philosophy journal?!)

Local office ethics board

Human resources is a related option to the above and seems to be in constant demand

It's a short list and definitely a work in progress, but they're just a few little ideas. Use your network!! Use them! Professors, classmates, alumni, friends, family of friends, etc! They may have insight into places you can't even conceive of yourself at this moment!

I did almost go for a job in HR with an environmental technology company but somehow got a job in costuming. Fuckin bananas, the chance of that. But it's wonderful, because it's a job I can leave at work, and once a week last semester I would leave a little early to do just one class. Working full time and being a super-small-part-time student has been uhhhh tricky but it's more or less worked for me to dedicate a few hours each weekend to doing the assignments etc. JUST a few. Sleep and video games and going outside are also necessary.

... But also, if you really want to commit to philosophical research or teaching philosophy (as I am now planning to do), then I say go for it. My current job is definitely not my forever-home, but ALSOOOOOO the idea of a "forever career" feels silly to me. If you are able to let yourself float a little bit from time to time, recognize that you can switch it up if you need to. My partner is currently in a floating spot right now and he's miserable about it, but there is something comforting about knowing that the training he is currently doing in the meantime while between jobs does not have to be the only office he will ever have to sit in.

If you choose to go ahead in philosophy, hell yeah!! Big fan, absolutely love that. If you decide to take a break like I did, try something else, even just for a little while, that's also great! It could be used as a sort of "See? I DID do other things" at your nay-sayers too >:)

WHEW lots to say, too much space allowed to say it. I hope some of that can help a little. Absolutely come back to rant more if you want!

[dimensionwitch]

JJK - Female Chars

Hi I’m Rita. I’m brazilian of japanese descent. I’m a fujoshi and I've been reading manga since the early 2000s. I especially love shonen manga but I read a lot of genres.

Personagens Femininas em Jujutsu Kaisen - uma análise em contexto.

Jujutsu Kaisen Female Characters - A Contextualized Essay

This is a response and an essay about female characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. I watched some videos and read some threads about it and I think many people are missing the point. So I’m adding my opinion. A criminal act, I know.

First of all, we know from interviews that Gege Akutami went to an all-boys school as a teen but, after that, we don't know, and have no confirmation anywhere, that Gege identifies as male. Gege uses both “watashi” and “boku” to refer to himself, and can be a bit ambiguous in japanese. I'll be using he/him for simplicity, but we do not know for a fact. An argument can be made that “he” used to play with his wiener among his friends, but that’s not gender. I don’t think Akutami’s gender is important for this essay, but I also thought it was important to get that out of the way. Although he is probably a man.

Now, the main issues I’m seeing here and there are:

> People created weird expectations about the female characters and were let down;

> The women have “support skills”.

> The women fades away at some point and are not part of the narrative anymore.

JJk is regarded by some as “The Manga For Female Representation”it is not. And it never was. I don’t know who gave anyone that idea. JJK female characters are good. They are well written. But they are not perfect.

But! I can say more: They’re as good as the male characters in this story.

But let’s start at the beginning, what does a “good female character” even mean?

While that may be different for everyone, for me it means the women have drives, stories and personalities that are independent from the male characters. And even better if they pass the Bechdel-Wallace Test, and the Mako Mori Test¹, but those are optional. Those are the BASELINE.

There is an infinitude of manga with good female characters, In Shoujo and in Josei we frequently have deep and connecting stories of female narratives. But we crave and seek them in Shonen and Seinen manga as well, manga that are not intended for female audiences. 

BUT! Many women, like me, enjoy reading shonen with their crazy magic systems and power levels. And the stereotypical female character hurts us. The misogyny is too blatant. Too many boobs and too many panties. The beach episode, or the bath scene, with pervert males and boob-grabs. The male gaze. The characters that are insecure for having small boobs. The characters that fall in love with the male lead because he touched her once. The hypersexualized outfits... the list goes on and on. We’re tired of that and many women I know dread shonen, for this specific reason.

And this IS a merit of Jujutsu. The female characters dress normally and are treated like, well, like any other character. They are not overly sexualized. Even the sexy characters are fully dressed, like MeiMei. That was shown naked on a cover art, but we didn’t actually see anything.

There’s this argument about Uro, because she’s a naked lady in the sky dressed up with the sky. However, there’s a difference between a naked body and a sexualized one.. Sure, if you think that’s sexualization that’s a completely valid point. But we never see a JJK girl slipping on a banana peel just to flash her panties. The only “sexual harassment” ever presented is Aoi Todo asking everyone he meets what’s their type of girl, the questions he learned from Yuki, his master. Todo is also the guy Akutami chose to draw when asked to make a sexy pinup. Todo is also obsessed with a girl idol, a trait that I know everyone would look down upon if he was a girl with a favorite male idol.

The only time I, personally, felt the woman was naked for no reason at all, was that cover art of chapter 218 with naked Yorozu. And the times she ran naked towards Sukuna in her flashbacks. One character. Out of 116.

The “beach episode”, in jujutsu, would be the Okinawa part of the Hidden Inventory Arc, where the point was for Riko-chan to feel alive one last time, and there was not even one smidge of sexyness in that scene. Her swimsuit was demure and she was wearing a cute beach-coat.

So here we are now. The first point. The expectations.

I was there and I remember Bleach in 2001. Kuchiki Rukia was among the first female characters that made me think “wow! this one is NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS! SHE’S NOT LIKE THE OTHERS!”. She had a personality, didn’t know how ro draw, slept in the closet, was short and upfront, confident, she was professional, she was strong and she had a life! But it was a weak effort. Bleach fell flat. The entirety of the Soul Society Arc was centered on saving Rukia and in the end she never actually did anything. The other female characters were basically petite or big boobed mamas that never actually helped the narrative move.

Naruto was a disaster. We all know them. The best written (female) character is Tsunade, but she was written to be “The same personality as the first Hokage. Her backstory is because of her brother and she only made decisions because of Jiraiya and Naruto. And also she does whatever she can to stay pretty and young.”. Sakura never does anything, she heals Kankuro at the beginning of Shippuden, and then punches down a dying dinosaur at the spin off Naruto: Sasuke's Story—The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust: The Manga. Ino just came and went to be the pairing of Sai. Hinata became a housewife... AND DON’T let me even start complaining about TenTen. She didn’t even get a last name.

One piece has good female characters, yes. Their personalities and story lines and strengths are awesome. But it IS a bit jarring how so many of them are drawn sexy. (please watch MelonTeee videos about one piece characters)

And those were the Big 3 shonen manga of the early 2000 - When I was a teenager.

And when Gege Akutami and the other current shonen authors were teenagers.

You can see it clear as day that the big 3 influenced Jujutsu. Be it in the art, or in the way the characters dress. I can see it in the way the characters fight.

And I can see the progress of the last 20 years.

Remember Shaman King? The female characters barely spoke. Tamao “took Anna’s personality” in flowers; Eliza Faust never spoke, not even when she was alive. Ana’s motivations revolved around Yoh. 

Remember YuYu Hakusho? Tell me what Botan, Keiko and Yukina did in the original story. Only Genkai was really a character. Mukuro was more interesting when we didn’t know she was a girl. Think about the Bechdel-Wallace test again. Fun female characters, but none of them mattered. 

The female characters of Jujutsu have motifs and stories and drives that are not related to male characters. Maki wants to be the head of her clan to save Mai. Mai wants to survive. Nobara wants a boyfriend, but she also wants to be herself while doing her duty, she wants to be authentic with herself. Miwa wants money. Uro wants to win the culling game. Many of those “could” be male characters. But some can’t. If you change the gender, you change the story, so they are important female characters, not only characters. Put a pin on this, I’ll get to this again later.

The backstory we see when Mahito attacked Nobara is solely hers. It’s about not wanting to be mistreated for who she is. It’s about going to Tokyo to find a better environment to be herself. And she goes and finds it.

Actually, Nobara’s plot is about trying her best to be feminine and to be herself and to be considered strong in a very patriarchal society. Not only the jujutsu's one, but also Japanese society.

The female characters in Jujutsu ARE well written. Point blank. But please read the rest to see how people could be let down by it.

The second point, all the female characters have support skills.

This is not true, but also not-not true.

Is Nobara’s a support skill? 

So, the technique Nobara uses is called “Straw Doll Technique” and it’s based on Ushi no Toki Mairi (丑の時参り). Wikipedia says:

“[It] refers to a prescribed method of laying a curse upon a target that is traditional to Japan, so-called because it is conducted during the hours of the Ox (between 1 and 3 AM). The practitioner—typically a scorned woman—while dressed in white and crowning herself with an iron ring-set with three lit candles upright, hammers nails into a sacred tree (神木, shinboku) of the Shinto shrine. In the modern-day common conception, the nails are driven through a straw effigy of the victim, impaled upon the tree behind it.”

So it’s not a support technique, but it is one related to women. I flashed this one out because people think it’s voodoo when it is NOT. Please research Vodun and its history. Nobara’s technique is a traditional japanese witchcraft.

I can list every character and go one by one, but let’s not do that. Many do have support skills (like Shouko, who is a healer, and Utahime, who is a buffer). But many don’t (like Yuki who has the power of the concept of mass, and Hanyu, who has airplane hair). About their stories, Momo’s whole life was supporting Mai, and (I know she’s a side character, but) Saori doesn't even HAVE male character around her at any given time. Hanami is a flower and a curse of nature itself.

I will not be disingenuous here. The thing is, they are mostly for support. Yes. Mai creates a sword for Maki. MeiMei uses a huge ax, but her ability is surveillance because she controls crows. Angel can extinguish techniques, but “she’s weak” so she “only helps the male characters”.

The worst part, for me, is how many of them only exist in favor of male counterparts. Angel’s back story is about Megumi. Rika-chan died for Yuta (in Jujutsu Kaisen 0). We never actually met Tsumiki, but Yorozu was obsessed with Sukuna... 

I said “not-not true” because all of those things are also true for the male characters. You see?

Gakuganji is a buffer, like Utahime. Inumaki use words for crowd control. UiUi can teleport. Mechamaru can control dolls. Arata Nitta can “stop existing injuries from getting any worse”. Yaga can put souls into stuffed animals. Amai can create flans out of his blood-sugar. All of those would be read as “feminine” if they weren’t being used by male characters.

Even Aoi Todo, his innate technique is “exchanging places of things with curse energy”, and it can only be used to help anyone who wants to go there and punch. If he was a girl, a girl obsessed with an idol, that has a “supporting technique” would “she” be deemed a badly written character? Food for thought.

What? You’re telling me the female characters are “superficial”? We know more about Nanako and Mimiko than we know about the Kappa guy. We know as much about Takako Uro than we know about Ryu Ishigori.

Even Yuuji is sometimes delegated to a supporting role. Against Sukuna he is there to trigger Higuruma’s domain and another time when they went north to recruit Hakari. He only became THE protagonist, after every single one of the other options were out of the table.

Important Tangent About the Techniques

I believe the techniques are about the things conservative Japanese society deems “improper” in any way. Things the mainstream deem possible, but “you should do it in secret”.

The three big clans deal with Space (and they are the most powerful and revered), followed by Shadows and Blood. And those are from a time where sorcerer's were accepted by Japanese society. Now they hide in plain sight. So the three families get a special pass. “Nowadays” the techniques are ebbed in a kind of shame.

Other powers include: Gakuganji’s guitar, Hakari’s pachinko, Kirara’s constellations, Nanako’s photo manipulation, Ogami’s incorporation of the dead, Junpei’s venom, Naoya and Naobito’s animation-frame-counting, Charle’s manga panels, Reggie’s contracts and the list keep going.

SIGH

There are some shonen stories that can take place anywhere. Ichigo doesn’t NEED to be japanese for Bleach to work. As well as Yusuke (Yu Yu Hakusho) and Shinji (Neon Genesis Evangelion). They could all be Brazilian and the story would be basically the same. Naruto, Goku, Asta and many others are from worlds that aren’t ours and the rules need to be explained to the main character. Jujutsu is not like that. It’s absolutely impossible to separate Jujutsu’s narrative and worldbuilding from Japan. 

As a friend of mine said: If you want to write a fanfic of JJK in China, you gotta reforge the whole worldbuilding from scratch, because Chinese society sees the internal energy of people in a different way. The Jujutsu society only works the way it works because it’s in Japan.

The powers, the energy and its relation to the world, the Heian roots, the curses and how to exorcize them... It’s all VERY japanese.

Remember my pin? So, the female sorcere’s need to deal with the inherent misogyny in jujutsu’s patriarchal society. The manga makes it very clear that it’s an even more conservative society than modern Japan. Maki and Mai’s mom walked two feet behind the man in the Zen’in clan. Momo said that Maki wouldn’t understand Mai’s pain because she let go of the society's expectations that were crushing her sister. Yorozu did her best to be recognized by the best and still couldn’t do it. Again, many of those are trying to survive in this environment, but the struggle is intrinsic to their gender and the relation they have with society.

A quick side note: Because of this (being intrinsically Japanese), Akutami sometimes doesn’t explain concepts very clearly. He assumes the Japanese viewers understand it. And they do. My humble opinion is that this is for the best. Akutami is not that good at explaining stuff. I love this manga with the strength of a thousand suns, but holy moly, are the techniques badly explained.

Anywho.

Screen Time

You can argue that “female characters have less screen time than the males”. Yeah, sure. But it’s because we have lots of screen time about ongoing fights. Satoru vs Sukuna takes 13 whole chapters! But, in universe, this was about 10 minutes? Up to an hour at best? And it was to establish Sukuna as a threat. But if it wasn’t for MeiMei, the others wouldn’t be seeing it; if it wasn’t for Angel, Satoru wouldn’t be there. The participation of all genders is prevalent in all arcs. The only ones with characters of only one gender are Junpei’s arc, without girls; and Maki’s arc, where all the men are destroyed relentlessly leaving only Maki alive.

Back on Track

Another important thing about Jujutsu Society is that it’s deeply ableist.

Yeah, Nobara had a schrodinger's death and came back after 141 chapters had passed, wearing an eyepatch. But Inumaki as well, he fought, got hurt, and then disappeared to come back as a recorder. You’re either perfect, with all your members attached, or you out. Remember? Mechamaru hid himself all his life, until he made a Binding Vow with Mahito, so he could go out in the sun.

I also think that Aoi Todo’s comeback is a plot twist, exactly for that reason. You WOULD think his boogie woogie was dead after he lost his arm, but he came back with the queixada and is kicking. Angel also came back without an arm. Both of them are amazing for that.

I believe none of the hurt characters would come back if it wasn’t for the extra-ordinary occurrence of Sukuna. That’s why the reveal of them coming back is such a strong plot-twist, because the expectation of the abandonment was already there.

“Yeah, but Nobara didn’t have to be left out like that.” you say.

Like what? I ask. Like Nanami’s death?

It’s not about Nobara. Nanami had a compelling personality, we loved him. He was a responsible adult and had a cute and short backstory about cooperative work. He came back to Jujutsu Society and died.

You remember that confusing chapter of Yaga’s death? It showed he used the soul of Kusakabe’s dead nephew on a stuffed doll, so that his sister would smile again.

Think about Junpei. He was bullied at school, with cigarette burns in his forehead, and developed a technique involving poisons, with jelly-fish shikigami. Tell me he is a bad character. And, even more, tell me he would be a bad character if he was a girl.

No. They wouldn’t be. They are all good characters.

Anyway, I think it’s not about the technique. It’s about how you use them.

Then, I completely agree, the main parts of the fights are done by the male characters. 

And I don’t think it’s because the female characters are badly written, I think it’s because Akutami might have an internalized misconception about women. But put another pin in this thought here. 

The only one that “goes there and punches” is Maki, and she only does that because she’s a mirror for Toji. This is a tragedy, because she could be so much more. But, at the same time, what Toji represents is important to the narrative, and his legacy needed to be part of the story. I’m glad it was Maki and not some boy. And even Toji’s legacy is unimportant for Maki’s own story, it’s important for the plot and for the author, but not for the character. Maki doesn't even know who Toji is and she’s developing into her own persona. She is fully herself and she isn’t Toji.

The last point I want to discuss is how the narrative leaves the women behind.

So, I’ve seen people out there saying that “Jujutsu Kaisen is a character-driven story” and I completely disagree.

I think Akutami created a trap. He has a story to tell and he made the characters think they had opinions on the matter, but they didn't. In the first page of the first chapter we see Megumi calling Gojo to tell him “Sukuna’s finger was missing from the spot.”, missing from a meteorological station. What the flying ***** was Sukuna’s finger doing in a METEOROLOGICAL STATION on the way to Yuuji’s school? It was a trap Kenjaku made. Because they created Yuuji to be Sukuna’s vessel. Yuuji never actually had any choice. It was a plot-driven story all along. I mean, the choice he made to eat the finger is solely his, but Kenjaku was his mother and they knew the kind of nature Yuuji had. He would be one to protect. they named him “yuuji” (悠仁) . Akutami said he chose this name because it sounded normal and he had a friend named like that, but it means lasting/lingering virtue.

BY THE WAY, It does not matter what definition you use: Jujutsu Kaisen is a dark fantasy. Because I didn’t not know if the main character, Yuuji, was even going to survive till the end.

The only important characters in Jujutsu Kaisen are Gojo, Sukuna and Kenjaku. The rest is rest, and Gojo died and Kenjaku is nonbinary and also died. In the end, Sukuna also died. 

Satoru Gojo and Suguru Getou both wanted to change Jujutsu society in some manner. This is very different from the normal shonen tropes. The story Akutami created heavily criticizes Japanese society. And it’s bold, I’ve never seen something like this. Usually, the characters of secret societies want to protect the status quo. But not Jujutsu. Akutami even kills off the American Defence Forces and destroys one of the biggest subway stations in the world.

Gojo intended to groom and create a new generation of sorcerer’s that agreed to his ideals, so he could overtake the conservative man controlling the world behind the scenes. That’s why he wore the uniform, to be relatable to the students, approachable. That’s why he killed those men behind the curtains. To get to make the decisions himself.

Geto wanted to anihilate the “monkey population” so people could be free from the fear of curses.

And they both died.

Because Kenjaku (again, nonbinary), wants to experiment with the human form and become MORE. 

This leads me, again, to the female characters. They disappear.

For a while, my thoughts were “I would like to see if Nobara survives”, but that’s not the point. The point is that she was not part of the narrative for a good while. She was the female lead of the story, she was the perfect counter for Mahito’s skills and she took a hit and was no more. We felt betrayed. Even if she came back afterwards, it took TOO LONG.

Yuki was even harder to watch. She was built up as Todo’s mentor. She was one of the class S sorcerers from Tokyo. And her fight with Kenjaku was intense and weird, but the importance was to establish Kenjaku as a threat, and to clarify their powers. And that’s a shame, because we wanted her to be more than that.

Bad ones

I think there are some badly written female characters in Jujutsu.

The middle school friend, Ozawa, was cute and sweet and showed us that Yuuji can see beauty in everyone. She used to be made fun of, but never from the protagonist, and never from the framing. We don't read that part to think she's funny. And even when she's short and fat, the society declares she needs to hide it, and she does, but this isn't a bad characterization. “I'm not like other girls” is not necessarily a good thing. It was also an homage to yu yu hakusho.

Yorozu, Remi and Kurusu Hana are some women that live because of the man around them. Their motivations and strengths are enhanced by their submissiveness. 

But, wait a min, isn’t UiUi the same? He is devout to his sister. Ogami’s grandson doesn’t even have a name and was turned into Toji. Getou had a whole group, full of characters we know nothing about, besides Miguel, Larue and Nanako and Mimiko, their names were Manami Sua and Toshihisa Negi. The Kappa Guy and the Katana Guy are both a mystery.

We can argue about Hana, because her background revolves around liking Megumi and wanting to defeat “the fallen one”, but her relationship with Angel is solely hers.

Tsumiki was a red herring and it was pitch perfect. We never considered she wouldn't survive. It was amazingly written. What a curveball. When Yorozu assumed the body we knew the situation became hopeless. “The poor sister we must protect” was beyond salvation.

Non binary people.

We have Kirara. We have Kenjaku. We have Uraume. Isn't that amazing? Three named non-binary characters.

And a few agender curses, but those are rarely named or have personalities. But many are also male! That’s why I decided to read Hanami as female. But that’s me.

Good and evil and we don't know their sexuality. And it's all fine.

I just wanted to point it out before I forgot.

Final Thoughts 

The conclusion is that Jujutsu Kaisen is not about being the beacon of female representativity. Jujutsu is just a measure for us to see how much we progressed in the last few years of shonen. It’s a mirror. You can think of Akutami as someone with internalized misogyny to work on (remember that pin?). But that’s ok, people can improve.

And this mirror shows us female characters in a non sexualized framing. We never saw panties. The nakedness wasn't for men to ogle. We never got a scene of “let me feel the size of your boobs” or even “I'm sad my boobs are small”. We don't have a perv character for comedy (male or female). Aoi Todo and Yuki asking about their type is jarring because there's nothing like it in the story. And they justify it by saying “the answer tells me about themselves” and it's somehow true, isn't it? They don’t aggressively persecute people who don’t answer.

If you treat JJK as the peak, it means we can never, as a culture, go up from here. And that’s a shame. Because we know it’s not true. Now we know how bad Rukia was. And I can’t wait to see how JJK ages. And this is a good thing.

There are better shonen for female representativity. I’m rather fond of UndeadxUnluck (even with Andy touching Fuuko in the first chapter, please, begin reading from the 2nd. It is one of the most epic love stories I’ve ever read.), and did you know that Kaguya-Sama Love is War is a shonen? Blue Box is shonen and Blooming Love is shonen. All of those are romance stories. The thing is, because they’re from a shonen magazine, they don’t need to conform to shoujo’s narrative expectations. And, above all of those, Akane-Banashi is the best non-battle-battle-manga of the decade, and it has a female lead.

So we should celebrate.

Thanks Akutami-sensei, for all those years of shonen battles, and for your characters.

Thank you for listening. I have the transcript in the description of the video. I apologize for any mistakes and viva Brasil!

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary251

5/25-26/24

saturday - sunday

wowowowowow!!!!!

i love guitar wolf and i also love life!!!!!!!!

today was really good, the bands that opened for guitar wolf were all basically good, one had songs that would go on too long, one was like, they do not work recorded but the guitarist/singer is so insane live (schizo-phonics) that they're incredible to me.

i'll talk about that now i guess, he was just like, thrashing so violently, doing the splits, staggering around the stage, hitting his guitar and playing with one hand while singing, jumping onto the barricade, sliding all over, falling, screaming, and the music was like, really basic garage rock blues scale stuff which honestly added to the general insanity of it, there was one song that was pretty good but i have no idea what it'd be called. just an insane thing to see, the guy was so destructive to his own body, and his own body was like, or is like, this basal thing he is so reminiscent of bataille's essay about the big toe, the places where the body admits its fall, against the upright-ness that develops, as we become as trees or heavenly. the point of non-transcendence, the pin in the side that makes it impossible. this is a liberating thing, though, to acknowledge that, run with it. very very incredible ways to move your body, to me. and the way he played guitar really was violent to the thing, just like, punching it, tapping on the strings with one hand, violent windmilling of it, the acrobatics were psychotic and it looked like he wasn't even playing the guitar but i know he was. he looks like this guy i know who runs a bookstore in downtown, like, very similar, which is super funny.

but anyways, before getting to guitar wolf (is there even much to say? they were loud and incredible, one of the best concert experiences i've ever had, like melt banana and machine girl in ways, and in ways different (i like that they antagonized the venue with their encore antics)). the rest of the day was crazy!!!!!!!! for some reason a bunch of people in downtown were getting married today, so many gowns out and about and stuff. like wow, how weird.

but also like, while walking around downtown, we saw guitar wolf!!

we got to take pics with them (which i am sure i look terrible in...) and that'll appear on their instagram at some point i suppose. but that's so crazy. they're so nice, all of them. the bassist, gotz, especially, we saw him after the show and he was very kind, we got one of the setlists and he signed it, he took pics with my gf, he shook my hand, he liked that she spoke japanese to him. he was so genuine, taking pictures with everyone, talking to them, just really sincere. seiji was backstage, but he was also lovely to everyone, and meeting him in front of the mantis was nice. he was so cool, all the feedbacking, the final encore bit was he went out alone and did a solo song, just so much fucked up playing, singing about love. and it really almost made me cry, it felt like real love, not just like, because it was messy, but its volume, inconstant in form and meter but this does not mean it is not there, only constantly ambling, it is a limping song, but powerful, so odd and sweet he is.

but that's really not all!!!

we also got to hang out with friends before the show, they didn't go to the show with us but they were hanging out. we got lunch with them and hung out for a while after, just killing time, and there's this new thing in downtown also they're doing, nic pizzolatto, the guy who did most of true detective re:writing and some directing, is doing a movie, and apparently it's got vince vaughn and al pacino in it, and we saw them working on that, not the actors but we saw like, the director seat, we got kicked out of a bar because of the filming. so funny and stupid... they also stuck up new signs out in parts of downtown, fake bs for the movie. with all the weddings and the supposed presence of vince vaughn, i kept making elaborate wedding crashers jokes. like he's going to begin crashing the weddings by killing everyone, things like that.

we also got to see our other friend who works at that bookstore i mentioned farther up, my gf thought maybe she was mad at her (semi long story about a birthday dinner thing she tried to do for my gf going poorly recently) but really they both were anxious on behalf of the other more than anything to do with actual resentments. and i love seeing her so i am glad i will continue to do so.

also, here's what i looked like today:

when our friend had to leave a few hours before doors opened to the venue, we kind of had to kill time, so we just sat outside for a while, loitered in a little zone where there were people taking photos after getting married, a party for people who got married, and then like, closed businesses (for the day not shuttered), and then we walked to the mantis again, saw a bunch of tourists staring which is always funny, and then went over to the venue.

the crowd was a lot of older people, which is fun(ny), they were all super respectful and kind, which is also nice. just a good environment, everyone was receptive to everything it felt like.

a very nice night. one thing that sucks, i broke the door handle off the fridge. this place is really ... sucky. in lots of ways. i hate a lot of the appliances and things. but you know. at least i have this stuff at all i suppose...................................................................

i also just worked on one song, more than i thought i would, so very happy with that. i also worked out today, but i expected not to. i'm still on my 6-5 days a week working out and then 1-2 days of break. this week i am gonna do 2 days of break, sunday i'll be off of working out. very happy with the effects of working out, hoping they get more pronounced as welll..............................!

anyway, i need to sleep, really, so

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[memo14g]

Clinic Setup and Training Refresher (7/6) || Calvin Ma (UCI)

The LUXURIOUS morning started out with a wake up time at a reasonable time of 5am. Charles had to do what had to be done and turned on the lights. The sudden flash made me see colors that I did not know existed and woke me up. We had a quick breakfast and had to load the bus with all our luggage and memo boxes to start the road trip to Soc Trang!

We started out loading the larger bus with the memo supply boxes and our luggage’s and once it was at full capacity we were met with a predicament that we still had a lot of luggage left. This resulted much of the leftover luggage having to be put in the smaller bus which I WAS IN. The small bus was at full capacity which was kinda funny since they wanted to fit some providers in here and some more luggage too haha…

Getting on the bus I sat with my 14g bullies of which who did not wanna be named. It didn’t take too long till they started their verbal onslaught but as the trooper I was, I fended them off like a monkey guarding its bananas. I took a nap until we made it to our break stop for a bathroom break. These bathroom were the first of which we saw the famous squat toilets and unfortunately some 14gers had no choice to use both boys and girls. The stop also had this really cool pond where where they had a very large fish called an arapaima and doing a quick little research they are fish that are actually native to South America, rarely attack humans unless to protect their eggs, and can be up to 400 pounds. After some selfies with the fishies, we resumed the journey.

After the two hour bus ride we arrived to a very scenic outdoor restaurant that had a lot of greenery. Food was aight and then we went to the clinic to prepare for the clinic days that lied ahead. When first walking in, the clinic was empty and gave old abandoned haunted house vibes due to how empty the building was. The clinic was also very hot as the AC was not turned on for us for some odd reason and only had this gigantic fan that everyone gravitated towards. Let’s just say it was a struggle but we pushed through! The building did have beds for dental lined with all the machines ready to use. We unloaded all the supply boxes and set up the clinic with tables and chairs for tomorrow. A Dental doctor also went over training that we needed to do for tomorrow going over things like cleaning the tools and what to do when contamination occurs.

After prepping the clinic we went to check in to our hotel. However, once we arrived we were hit with catastrophic storm with some crazy rain. It was literally flooding at the hotel as we were getting our bags out of the bus. Luckily everyone made it into their hotels. Being so tired I slept for the whole time until call time for dinner. There was one lightning that was so loud it woke me up, but I went back to sleep pretty easily. At dinner we ate at a restaurant with a slight ant problem as they invaded some of our drinks and served lotus soup. Bus 2 on the way back talked about some deep stuff to which all agreed to keep it in bus 2(Until Kat broke it the next day). We then debriefed the plan for the first clinic day and all went to bed. All and all it was a fun day :D

Above: MEMO’s check out of Saigon and preparing to go to Soc Trang

Above: MEMO lunch and performance

Above: MEMO and clinic heat struggles with big fan

Above: Calvin and his fish friends

Above: Flooding rain but MEMO survived!

[videogame1up]

Some of my favorite games of all time

If you were to ask me what my favorite game of all time is, i would probably say something like "Of all time? I don't know, depending on the day and my mood it could be ten different games" Or something to that effect. The games listed here are a healthy mix of some genuinely amazing, ten outta ten games and some "I played it a lot when i was a kid" With that said this list is in absolute no order, the #1 on this list is not my all time favorite game, just one of them.

10. Sims Bustin out

Alright starting off with a bit of a left curve, but Sims Bustin out is one of my favorite games of all time. Which is a statement i trust not too many people have said. Is Sims bustin out the best Sims game? No, that's probably Sims 2. Bustin out beats out 2 mostly for that sweet sweet nostalgia. Anyone who has played, and gotten into the Sims knows how addicting the game play is, balancing work, personal life, relationships is so much more enjoyable when done virtually than in real life. I have so many memories of booting this game up late at night when everyone had fallen asleep, excited to get a new promotion in my criminal career path. The gameplay of Sims Bustin out is purely addicting, and it's an addiction i haven't really shaken from childhood. Now I'm off to never say or type "Bustin out" ever again

Release Date- December 16, 2003

Consoles-PS2, Xbox, Gamecube

9. Donkey Kong Country

I remember the first time playing this game, my friend invited me over and about half way through i asked "So, whats the plot exactly? Like, are we trying to rescue your girlfriend or something?" I was beside my self when my friend went "Nah, we're getting your bananas back" It's such a funny premise and shows the game doesn't take its self too seriously, beneath the surface of this over the top goofy game is genuinely one of the greatest 2D platformers of all time . One of those games that has infinite replay ability because its so much fun going through these stages. The difficulty curb isn't too crazy, and eases you into some of the most challenging but fair levels from any game. Not to mention this one of the best looking games to come from the Snes, with one of gamings best soundtracks. I genuinely love this game, and believe its worth playing, even if for only a few levels.

Release date- November 18, 1994

Consoles- Snes, Switch (online snes library)

8. Kingdom Hearts

*silence* WHEN YOU WALK AWAY

The Kingdom hearts series has had its up and its downs, it has had it's Organization XIII and it's time travel (for some reason) the original Kingdom Hearts is still a pretty simple and straightforward game which i definitely think helps with it's longevity, i don't know what is going on in Kh3 and i played all the other games leading up to it. KH is a beautiful marriage between Square Enix and Disney, it should not work out nearly as well as it does. The developers really got things right off the bat, the worlds (for the most part, fun fact you can actually skip under the sea) are fun to explore or at the very least, thanks to the enjoyable combat system, they are fun to fight your way through. Each world of course has its own vibes, they have their own unique heartless and boss fights. If you want extra content KH has you covered. Two (pretty difficult) secret bosses to find in the Peter Pan world and Aladdin world. You also have the coliseum to go back to, eventually making your way up to the Hades cup filled with enemies you have fought along the way as well as a few boss fights including of course Hades him self. You can't talk about side content without talking about Sephiroth. You can beat the game, credits will roll, Sephiroth will still kill you. Or for giggles you can attempt a speed run (for me my best time is around 5 hours) Kingdom hearts was also the first game that was purely just mine, after having to share with my siblings no one but me in the house was all that interested in saving my friends and returning back home to Destiny islands. This is game that scratches that nostalgia itch, and is just a genuinely fun game

"Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too, I'll come back to you. I promise"

"I know you will"

Release Date-March 28, 2002

Consoles-PS2,PS3,PS4, Xbox One

7. Wind Waker

Link to the past was my first Zelda game, but Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game. Wind Waker, how do i love thee, let me count the ways

The open world was vast with so much to see and explore, this is a point of contention as there are those out there who don't like the great sea. And those people are wrong. The great sea offers such a great sense of exploration. Feed the fish to learn about each island (49 of em) take on each enemy outpost you encounter, hunt for treasure, fight sea monsters, explore ghost ships, or simply watch a storm roll in. While Zelda stories are never very deep, i quite like this one. (slight spoilers for a 20 year old game) you discover what happens to Hyrule when it's hero fails to rise, for a cartoony game its story is fairly dark. And of course the game looks fantastic, even going back to play the original gamecube release it still looks very good. Some complain that this is one of the easier Zelda games, but that criticism goes out when you consider Breath of the wild is the easiest Zelda game and that's the one everyone says is perfect. Zelda games aren't meant to be dark souls, and i really do love just sailing around.

"This is the only world that your ancestors were able to leave you. Please....forgive us"

Release date- March 24, 2003

Consoles- Gamecube, Wii U

6. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)

A.K.A the official Nostalgia representative. The Sega Genesis was the first console i ever played, games like Eternal Champions, Phantom 2040, X-Men, Alex Kid in the enchanted castle, while i do have a soft for these games and many others that kicked off my interest in gaming, not many hold up exceptionally well today, that is of course expect for Sonic on Genesis (I'm cheating here a bit and including the three main line sonic games on the genesis ) These games represented the best that the Genesis had of offer and are still a blast to play to this day. Who wants to play as a slow Italian plumber when you can play as a cool blue hedgehog with attitude. Just try and put your controller down, he will tap his foot impatiently. It was the 90s, and being cool was so cool. Speed? Oh speed was the coolest. Race through the levels with master reaction time jumping over enemies and obstacles to race to the finish. 30 years later, and these games still hold up exceptionally well

Release date- June 21, 1991

Consoles- Genesis, and countless re-releases on nearly every console since the ps2.

5. Red Dead Redemption 2

I wanna be a cowboy baaaaby

There is no such thing as a perfect game, but RDR2 is pretty close. The Story is this game is one of my favorites. Following a gang in the dying days of the wild west, it has some twists. It has some turns. And in the end, it had an emotional and satisfying conclusion. RDR 2 excels at what any sandbox strives for, an amazing world to explore. As fantastic as the story is, the world has so much to see and do and explore. Stranger missions (side missions) scatter the world from becoming hunting friends with a war vet to gathering dangerous and exotic animals that have escaped from the traveling circus. Like searching for creepy Easter eggs? Because great, you can explore a haunted swamp, find a woman imprisoned by her own family, and follow the clues leading to the lair of a serial killer. With over 200 animals living in the world of RDR 2, it really does feel alive. The world is diverse and never a bore to travel through, in part thanks to the fact RDR2 is one of the most graphically impressive games I've ever played.

"When the time comes, you gotta run and don't look back. This is over."

Release date- October 26, 2018

Console-PS4,Xbox one, PC

4. Animal Crossing New Leaf

I bought a 3ds just for this game, i went to Gamestop the morning the game released and bought a Red 3Ds XL along a copy of Animal Crossing New Leaf. I won't get into New Horizons here, but New Leaf is still by far the series has offered. New Leaf was peak Animal crossing, it took the game several steps forward while still staying true to the Animal Crossing formula. You move to a village and become the new mayor, which allows you freedom over your town like never before. With public work projects you could decorate your town, as mayor you could set ordinances so villagers either stay up late with your, or maybe they wake up early with you. The music is arguably the best Animal Crossing has given us. Fortune cookies allowed you to decorate your home with items from Zelda, Mario, Pikmin, Starfox, etc. Forge friendships with your neighbors, try to force the ugly ones out, actually upgrade your shop all the way. Maybe the best part, no incredibly long tutorial. The game just, starts. It's easy for anyone from any age to get into New Leaf.

Release date- June 9th, 2013

Console- 3DS

3. Hit and Run

You ever wanna play gta but your mom wont let you? Just play The Simpsons Hit and Run, its sorta the same game. Hit and Run has a fair amount of flaws, like the fact you essentially repeat the same 4 or 5 missions over and over again. Race that car, follow that car, destroy that car, collect stuff the car drops (worst of these missions) However, i am a Simpsons fan and also it's a game from my youth, it was always going to make it on this list. (I see you Road Rage, get outta here) Even though the missions aren't the most thrilling, the game it self is still a lot of fun to mess around in it. Springfield is honestly pretty faithfully re-created, outside the standard missions there are plenty of extra goodies (level gags, collector cards, bonus cars to unlock, costumes such as cool Lisa, Bartman, Donut head homer and officer Marge) driving around feels good and doesn't take long before you start discovering shortcuts in each level, allowing you to absolutely smoke the computer players. For all these reasons Hit and Run is a game I'll consistently go back to and play

Release date- September 16, 2003.

Consoles-PS2,XBOX,GAMECUBE, PC

2. Pokemon Red and Blue

Is Red and Blue the best Pokemon games? Nah. Are the the only ones I'm nostalgic for? Nah. As much as i love Gen 2 Pokemon games Gold and Silver, i just can't justify having them over Red and Blue. These are the games that got me into Pokemon, i was the Pokemon generation and these games are so important to my childhood i just couldn't leave them off. I was on the playground when kids went "Hey you know you can catch a mew by moving that truck" It pained me that it was never true and Justin's dad did not in fact work at Nintendo. Red and Blue have not held up as well as many other games on this list, and even when the complaint for newer games are "Well this is nothing new" They still add onto and improve upon the original formula, however Nostalgia is an incredibly powerful force and this game like few others has the ability to make me feel 5 again.

"Do you believe in ghost? Hahahaha, i guess not. That white hand on your shoulder, it's not real"

Release date- September 28, 1998

Console- Gameboy

Super Smash bros ultimate

Each new Smash bros game instantly becomes the new best Smash game (sorry, Melee fans) at least that's the case for the general public. Each new game updates and adds onto the previous game, Smash ultimate is a rare beast in that whatever comes after it, can't possibly top it. The next smash game will more than likely be a great game, much like all old smash bro games are, but the next smash won't be able to say "Everyone is here!" The amount of characters and stages really does feel like a once in a lifetime thing. You'll never be able to say "Let's play a round of smash, you'll be Pichu, you can be Snake, you can be Ken, and I'll be Sora" Ever again. Smash ultimate is a game i have fairly regularly gone back to play since it's release in December 2018. As of writing this now i have played Smash Ultimate for 535 hours, that's 22 days of my life spent playing this game, and i have no regrets. I'll boot it up only expecting to play a few minutes but then I'll start playing as one of 80 some characters i haven't give much attention to. Figuring their move set out, figuring out whether or not i want to make them a main or not. Each character feels unique, but the controls are simple enough you never feel overwhelmed stepping out of your comfort zone and maybe trying out a little mac if you're used to playing as a Mega Man. Sakuria and his team created one of the greatest fighting games of all time, a game that will be re-visited years after it's own release.

Release date- December 7th, 2018

Console- Switch

[fandomness--randomness]

Nerves {Jean Kirschtein x Fem!Reader} Modern/Highschool AU!

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.1k

Summary: Jean's nervous to tell you about his feelings, but after a stressful day of nagging from his friends - he finally gets the courage to confess.

Playlist: Him and Hym (from banana fish)

Tags: @coltsbitch I hope you like it uwu

“You’re staring Jean-booooy!” Sasha teased, dragging an elbow into Jean’s ribs.

The brunette let out a grunt at the sudden intrusion and sent a glare towards the girl. “The fuck was that for?” He complained. Jean lightly shoved Sasha away as he rubbed at his now sore torso.

Sasha chuckled. Rolling her eyes as she put her head in her hands, she said, “you were staring at (Y/N). Again.” Across the table, Connie snickered into his hand.

Jean’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “No, I wasn’t. I just happened to be looking in her direction. That’s all.” Pushing away the lunch his mother had made him - which Sasha and Connie also made fun of - Jean leaned back in his chair.

Marco, the last and most sensible person of their friend group, cleared his throat. “Ah come on Jean,” he chastised, “they mean well. It’s just... well…” Marco trailed off for a second, a nervous hand coming up scratch at his freckled face. Jean raised an eyebrow at his longtime friend. “Well, you can be a bit obvious. And it hurts to watch sometimes.”

Much to the chagrin of Jean, Sasha and Connie were quick to join in once again.

“Yeah! Yeah!” Sasha exclaimed with a mouthful of fries. “We’re just trying to kick you into high gear and get you to finally ask (Y/N) out!”

Connie leaned forward onto the table. “Haven’t you been madly in love with her since you were like, what - 12?” He waved a lazy hand in the air.

A dark hue spread across Jean’s cheeks, which he quickly hid behind his hand. “Oh shut up ya baldy!” Jean yelled back. He groaned. “I’ve just known her since we were 12. As if I could fall in love with her at that age.”

Sasha let out a triumphant shriek. She practically climbed on top of the poor soccer player in her excitement. “You didn’t deny you love her!” She practically exclaimed to the entire cafeteria. Nearby tables went quiet and glanced their way.

“Shut up Sasha!” Jean retaliated, pushing her off of him. His blush had now reached far past his cheeks, decorating his ears in a pink hue.

Despite the anger radiating off of him, Sasha seemed unperturbed by her friend’s actions. Rather she seemed to get even happier. “Just go talk to her and ask her on a date already!” She said matter of factly before chomping on her slice of pizza.

Jean looked to Marco and Connie for help. As he expected, Connie agreed, saying something along the lines of finally getting with her and to stop acting like a lost puppy. But Marco! Instead of coming to his rescue, Marco simply nodded and agreed.

When the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, Jean was the first to stand up and leave. In his anger and embarrassment he nearly forgot his lunchbox. He swiped it from Marco’s grasp without thanking him before stomping his way to his next class.

By the time he walked through the doorway of the chemistry class, his anger had dissipated and morphed into a mix of embarrassment and guilt at his actions.

“Stupid Sasha and Connie, trying to meddle in with my damn business. Damn Marco for not backing me up.” Jean grumbled as he sat on the stool.

A soft giggle to his left made him jump.

“Oh (Y/N)!” He said, his voice jumping an octave. He hadn’t even seen you as he ranted and raved under his breath.

“Hey Jean. It looks like you’ve had a bit of a rough day. Sasha and Connie being overbearing again?” You asked, moving a stray lock of hair from your face.

Jean gulped as your curious eyes stared up at him. He was always taller than most people his age, yet you made him feel like the smallest person in the world. You were - as cheesy as it was - different from the other girls in the school. At least to Jean. All the other girls at Paradis High, whether they were friends or strangers to Jean, had a level of unattainability. Some of them were for obvious reasons, such as Historia who practically had a bodyguard in the form of her butch girlfriend, but other reasons were much more transparent. Even if Jean did fantasize about bringing a girl on a date and being in a relationship - it always felt like some wacky dream.

But never with you. You always felt just a bit more physical, a bit more real to Jean. Maybe it was because of how comfortable you were with him or your constant curiosity that led to you getting into trouble that would have been easily avoidable (and sometimes dragging Jean down with you).

You were always just an arm’s distance away. A distance Jean didn’t dare cross, not at 12 years old and not at 17.

“Uh yeah, they were just getting on my ass about a girl. Marco wasn’t any help either, so I’m just a bit annoyed at them.” He finally responded, rubbing the back of his neck.

You blinked up at him for a moment before an expression of realization spread across your features like a wave. Excitedly, you grabbed onto his upper arm and pulled him down closer to you.

“Do you like a girl, Jean?!”

Jean thanked whatever mystical being out there that you had enough sense to whisper your conclusion to him, but then promptly cursed them out as you stared at him face to face. He could smell the mint you had after lunch fanning over his face.

Jean opened and closed his mouth quickly, unsure of how to respond, scared that if he spoke his voice would croak and falter.

Thankfully the chemistry teacher Dr. Hange walked in, earning everyone’s attention with a loud clap.

Letting go of Jean’s arm, you stood straight up in your chair and listened as Dr. Hange reviewed what today’s class would cover; but not before sending Jean a smirk.

Fidgeting with his fingers under the desk, Jean did his best to ignore your glances and overall presence, intent on willing the whole discussion about his crush out of existence. That is until you slid a small note to Jean’s side of the black desk. Scribbled in your clean handwriting was a request - no - an order.

You’re totally filling me in on this girl after school! I’m not taking no for an answer!

Jean sighed to himself, grimacing as your playful grin appeared at the edge of his vision.

“Jeeeaaan! Come on!” You whined, bouncing on his bed. “Why won’t you tell me who your crush is!”

Said boy let out a sigh as he dropped his book bag onto the floor next to his desk and all but collapsed into the gaming chair. Leaning his head back on the headrest, he answered in a taut voice. “Because I don’t want to.”

“Totally not because it’s you.” He thought.

You groaned in frustration, tossing and turning on his bed, inevitably ruining the nicely folded blankets. “Come on! I’ve known you since we were in middle school!”

Jean chuckled. “Yeah sure, if you count two kids bored out of their minds on family trips to the mountains only to never see each other until high school as knowing each other since middle school.”

Sitting up on the bed, you pouted at the brunette. “Damn. You really didn’t have to get specific about it.”

The laughter that bubbled out of Jean’s chest was uncontrollable. Doubling over in his chair, Jean finally looked at you for the first time since getting to his house. “Why shouldn’t I? When you showed up in the middle of last year and latched yourself onto me - everyone thought you were my secret girlfriend! Hell, even I was confused as to why you were practically glued to my arm.”

Jean continued to laugh, more to himself now. When his laughter finally fizzled away and his eyes were no longer clouded by tears, he sat back up in his chair - only to go rigid again.

You had pulled your legs into your chest and were staring away from Jean. The sharp glint of your eyes told Jean that he had pissed you off.

“A shit (Y/N), I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

Taking a deep breath, your body relaxed against itself.

“I know, you big idiot. It’s just… you were my first real friend. Of course I got excited when we reunited years later.” You chuckled to yourself at the memory of spotting him in the middle of homeroom. The joy and relief you felt that day was tremendous.

Standing up, Jean walked over to the bed and sat next to you before falling against his plush covers with a dulled thump. He patted the bed. A silent invitation for you to lay next to him. You took it and laid next to him, staring at the ceiling in silence.

No words were spoken between the two of you for some time. This is how it went sometimes. The two of you didn’t need to talk constantly to keep the energy comfortable and flowing. Comforting silences were a rare thing to have.

The soft breathing and heat radiating off of Jean nearly had you falling asleep. That is until he spoke up, startling you awake.

“She’s really sweet ya know.” Jean could see you turn to him with a raised eyebrow out of his peripheral. “The girl I like. She’s really sweet. A little overbearing with her physical affection, but nothing crazy. She’s… people-smart. She knows when to start and stop.” Jean could feel you shift on the bed so that your head was level with his. He continued talking without thinking of the consequences. “She’s got a few unconventional hobbies and does stupid shit all the time. Had to stitch up her pinkie finger once because she cut it while exploring an abandoned house.” Jean’s own pinkie moved towards your hand, making contact with your own pinkie finger. He traced the raised scar. “She’s super smart too and is always working to get better for herself. And… well I’ve liked her for a while but I was always scared to face the feelings she gave me whenever we hang out. I didn’t want to accept them. It was odd. I was used to never having a shot with the people I liked. But you… you just seemed to shoot right into me without me even realizing it.”

Finally, Jean had the courage to look at you. Your cheeks were darkened with a deep blush and your eyes twinkled. Jean didn’t say anything. He waited for your response with bated breath. The two of you laid there on dark covers for what felt like an eternity.

“For fucks sake (Y/N). Ya gotta respond to me.” Jean choked out in a harsh whisper. His hand was trembling from the nerves.

“I can play a 2 hour soccer game without issue, but I can’t make a simple confession without shaking? What the hell Jean.” He thought bitterly.

As though life was breathed back into you - you took a deep breath.

Quick and sudden nods.

Jean furrowed his eyebrows.

Your hand inched its way into his.

Jean pushed himself up onto his elbow and leaned over you

Your gleaming eyes flashed to his lips and back up to his eyes.

A silent exchange of words.

Leaning forward, Jean let his forehead lightly knock against yours. ���Can I kiss you.”

“Please.”

Slowly, Jean let his lips ghost over yours. Just barely touching. As though Jean was scared any harsh movements would make you break. You surged into the kiss, squeezing onto his hand still interlocked with yours.

Jean internally groaned, the taste of your minty tongue invading his senses. If he didn’t stop kissing you now he was going to go crazy.

Pulling back from your lips, he stared down at you. You chuckled nervously, fingers twitching.

“What? Am I that bad of a kisser?”

Jean shook his head quickly. “No way. You’re amazing. Just… just fucking relieved you feel the same way.”

You smiled up at him. “I mean, of course. You were my first friend. Only makes sense that you were my first love too.”

Bonus:

“Jean-boy, I made some sandwiches for you and (Y/N) to e- OH!”

“Ma! It’s not what it looks like!”

“I’m so sorry! I’ll leave you two alone. Make sure to use protection!”

A pillow thudded against the freshly closed door and fell to the floor in a sad lump.

“SHUT UP MA!”

[freckled-words]

Fleeting Worlds - It Only Took 10 Minutes

A/N: Not even 8am in the morning, and I'm back at my old habit of posting fanfiction sneakily while at work (its actually a lot harder this time around, as I have someone sitting to my immediate right.)

I'm on a serious tasertricks kick right now, so you may see a lot of DarcyxLoki content from me ah ha.

This is my take on "What if Darcy had been there when Loki came through the portal?"

All my love to @hijackedreese for dealing with my continuous babble about these two, and for giving this a quick read through to fix the mess that auto-correct was forcing upon me.

Darcy didn’t know why, and didn’t ask why, but she was more or less grateful that Erik wanted her to join him on his super secret SHIELD project.

Director Fury had not been too pleased about her tagging along…right away. It took a couple weeks of cajoling, ignored friendly chattering, and a guessing game of how he took his coffee, but now he’d come around. It also really helped that he loved Nana’s snickerdoodle cookies. (Darcy was 100% convinced he’d sent an agent out to try and recover the recipe.)

Each time Director Fury came to check on their study of the tesseract, Darcy would welcome him with, “Hey Director, how’s the matrix holding up?”

And his response would give her an idea of where his mood was.

This morning he replied, “Stable today Ms. Lewis. How are my researchers holding up?”

At some point in her trying to warm Fury over, he’d decided her official job was “Scientist Wrangler.” Seeing as she was the only one forcing all the egg heads out the door at a reasonable hour every day. She made sure everyone had warm drinks or water at hand at all times, and even left them small snacks within easy reach. If one of them ever seemed to be struggling, she’d wheel them out the door and make them take a walk for some sunshine and fresh air.

Apparently Clint, aka Hawkeye, had reported to Fury that he’d never seen happier, more efficient nerds. The results that Fury was seeing confirmed this, and hearing it from one of his best gave it some gravity.

Along with her fun job title, they’d given her a slight pay raise. So she’d printed out a sign for her work station that read “Darcy Lewis, Scientist Wrangler.” Agent Maria Hill found this infinitely charming.

Darcy pointed to Erik, “He’s concerned, which is why you’re here. He can tell you all the babble. I’m going to the bathroom.”

Fury rolled his eyes, and moved along to speak with Erik. Darcy gave Hawkeye a little wave and called out, “You want more snacks for your perch?”

Clint gave her a thumbs up to acknowledge and answer the question. Darcy knew he’d been on edge since things had gotten a bit weird with their machine lately. Something about doors, and powering itself.

Clint was great. When he was relieved from his post, he’d hang out with Darcy and shoot the shit. Darcy unabashedly praised his arms, and he complimented her on worming her way into Fury’s good graces. They’d swapped perspective stories back from when Thor had crash landed in New Mexico, and bonded over how crazy their lives were these days. Sure he was a super spy, but, Norse Gods/aliens? That sure trumped a lot in the way of weird.

Darcy made a note to grab him more snacks, and hurried on her way to do her business.

She’d been gone for a whole 10, 15 minutes tops. During which time she’d felt the base tremble, causing dust to sprinkle down from the ceiling. And somehow, everything went into crazy bananas land in that short span of time.

As she’d been coming up on the doorway to the lab, she heard gunshots, yelling, and an eerie blue light was glowing from the other side.

Putting down her armful of chips and granola bars, Darcy stuck to the wall and inched her face around the door frame to peek inside the cavern.

The first thing she noticed were the bodies on the floor, some which were pooling blood, and clearly not breathing. Parts of the lab were on fire and sparking dangerously.

This was followed by the sight of Clint standing at ease, and rather close to the source of the violence.

She latched onto his getup of green and black leather. Recognizing the fashion for Asgardian, Darcy immediately dug through her recently built memory of Norse mythology. Which God had come calling with brutality?

“I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

Nice of him to answer her question without her having to ask.

Erik was crouched next to one of the scientists that weren’t moving. She waved a little, and managed to get his attention. He moved his head the slightest bit, indicating she needed to leave.

She shook her head, and motioned for him to come to her. She wasn’t just going to go running without him, Jane would never forgive her.

As Loki began to turn in their direction, Darcy ducked back out of sight.

“We have no quarrel with your people.” Fury’s voice rang out, and Darcy could kiss the man.

He’d been standing towards the machine, which was away from her. She leaned forward and watched Loki turn to face Nick fully. Taking the chance, she pointed at Erik and angrily pointed to the spot next to her.

Erik stood slowly, and much to her frustration shook his head, and motioned for her to get going.

“An ant has no quarrel with a boot.” Loki’s voice was far too calm as he said this. It made her skin crawl.

“Are you planning to step on us?” Director Fury countered back, sounding non-too amused.

Movement from the corner of her drew her attention to Clint. He was looking directly at her, with eyes glazed over with a burning blue edge. Something had been done to him, and as much as she’d love to help him, she didn’t think she could.

“Loki? Brother of Thor?” Erik’s question made Loki stiffen, and turn a hard stare in Erik’s direction.

There was no helping Erik now. But maybe she could get help? Maria had to be around somewhere, she always travelled with Director Fury.

Slowly she inched back out of Clint’s immediate sight. He must have gauged her not to be a threat, that, or whatever had possessed him was making him stick close to Loki.

She took off at a run, needing to find the first person with a comm piece. Or some kind of alarm.

No one knew there was danger in the form of a psychopathic Asgardian.

A spot of red in the middle of a wall caught her eye. A fire alarm! With this being a SHIELD base, she’d bet all her sweaters on this being the noisiest damn alarm ever built.

She just hoped Erik and Director Fury could keep their crazy guest distracted long enough for her to -

“Hello Little Mouse.”

Something with a sharp edge whizzed by her ear, leaving a shallow slice in its wake as it embedded itself just above the alarm. As it settled she saw it had been a dagger. A very lethal looking dagger.

She heard four sets of feet approach her at a quick clip, three of them continued on. Knowing who the remaining set belonged to, she forced herself to take a deep breath and slowly turn around.

He practically loomed over her with his ridiculous height. Roughly around the same stature as Thor, except he was all lean and coiled. Manic amusement bore into her through those green eyes.

Fear took the steering wheel in her head and honked the horn, making her say weakly, “Welcome to Earth…er…Midgard?”

Yea she was totally going to get stabbed to death.

“You don’t appear to be an academic, nor a warrior.” He scanned her up and down, taking in her baggy cardigan, Taco Tuesday shirt, jeans, and knit hat. Smug condescension edged into his eyes and smile.

If it had been anyone else, she’d give them an earful and maybe a taser prong to the nuts. But this was Loki, a sociopath that had managed to brain wipe Hawkeye and make him their best friend.

Thinking fast and kicking down her pride, she dropped onto one knee and kept her head bent down in a bow, “You’re correct. I’m nobody, just a coffee fetcher.”

From Loki’s feet, she could see him lean back, relaxing just a touch. “A mortal with some proper sense at last.”

She hadn’t gotten a good look at it when she’d been watching the show down earlier, but now the tip of his weapon moved beneath her chin.

Loki used the slightest bit of pressure to make her tip her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze, “Tell me Coffee Fetcher, would you like to keep your life?”

She swallowed hard, “If you saw fit to grant such a mercy, I would be eternally grateful.” It was amazing how eloquently someone could speak when their life was hanging a thin thread.

His smile radiated with his pleasure at being acknowledged for who he thought he was. ‘That’s right Crazy Alien, feed that raging ego and get on with your day.’

Of course, this would be the point when Erik came into view. He had apparently been one of the other three that had been travelling with Loki. Like Clint, his eyes had become glazed over with blue fire.

Seeing what was holding up Loki, Erik smiled fondly (eerily) at Darcy, “That’s Darcy. She’s my friend, she’s Jane and Thor’s friend too. She’s no trouble to us.”

Darcy would have slapped a hand to her face if not for the very pointy spear tip under her chin. Said spear had more pressure applied, forcing her to stand if she didn’t want it piercing into the underside of her jaw.

“Well well miss Coffee Fetcher. It seems you’ll be of use to me.” Before she could even think to move, the spear was spun in his hand and pressed against her chest.

Blue light spread across her vision, wiping away all her fear and panic. Loki wasn’t some psychopath, he was her friend.

He placed his arm around her shoulders and led along behind Erik, “Let’s get to work shall we?”

“Just let me know how I can help.” Darcy chirped back, thrilled and eager to help Loki.

[motherlybitch]

I genuinely think Life of Pi is my favourite book in the world.

1. The character is of Pi is so well done. On my first read through I thought that the first and second half of the book were unrelated and it confused me. I felt like I could have skipped over most of the first half. But the first half is necessary for understanding the second half. The reason Pi created his story of the tiger and the lifeboat is due to his characters spirituality. How he believes in Hinduism, Islam and Catholicism at the same time even though these religions contradict each other. He relies on these stories as a way to escape the realities of life, and appreciates them as beautiful concepts rather than literal truths.

2. I think this book is a good way for atheist people to appreciate religion and understand it’s purpose. I feel like the whole novel is meant to simulate the experience of growing up in a religion, learning about all of its complexities and details, and then begin to question the validity of that religion. Feeling let down realizing that things might not really be the way you had always thought they were. You spend so much time reading about Pi’s time on the boat, all the little details down to the number of cans of water he had, that you feel disappointed when he tells the alternative story about the chef. On one hand, the tiger story is much more unbelievable than the version with the chef, but you would rather the tiger story be true. You spent so much time reading about the tiger for it all to be just made up? It’s confusing and disappointing and it’s a lot like I felt when I realized that there were other possible explanations to the things religion attempts to explain.

3. There are so many parallels between the structure of Pi’s tiger story and actual religions. There’s an entire chapter dedicated to listing every single item on the life boat. “193 cans of water. 24 flares... etc.” It takes up more than two full pages. It reminds me of those section of religious texts that are just dedicated to overly detailed documentation. How much cattle or sheep a certain person owned or the extended lineage of a family. There are also huge times skips where Pi just sits in the life boat for a week which reminds me of how some religious texts just skip over a few hundred years here and there. There are some parts of Pi’s story that are actually very possible and make sense, like when he distils salt water to make drinking water in those little contraptions. There are many parts of religious texts that are entirely possible. There are also parts of Pi’s story that are entirely impossible. Mainly when he finds a carnivorous island covered in meerkats. It reminds me of all the parts of religious texts that seem very impossible and on their own seem crazy, but these stories are mixed in with detailed accounts and plausible stories that the completely unrealistic portions seem possible.

And the whole time Richard Parker is just there. Sometimes he interferes, but he mostly just has an underlying presence throughout Pi’s story. And then when Pi lands and the tiger story ends, Richard Parker is just gone. He’s off to roam the jungle and is presumably still out there somewhere, but he is no longer a character in the story, he no longer interferes in a meaningful way. It’s not hard to see that Richard Parker represents a god figure.

4. The conversation with the reporters at the end is very similar to the futile discussions that happen between atheists and religious people. The reporters point out that the whole carnivorous island part is very difficult to believe, although not technically possible to disprove. They also wonder about the part where the gorilla floated over on a pile of bananas because they don’t know if bananas float. This is something they can test and they fill up a sink and put a banana in it to find out that bananas actually do float. But they realize that just because bananas float that doesn’t mean Pi’s entire story is true. Proving one part of the story does not mean that the rest is true by default. My aunt likes to say thing like “You know Noah and the flood must be real because there is geological evidence of a large flood and they found sea shell fossils on Mount Everest.” Which, even if that is true, it doesn’t prove anything about the validity of the rest of the religion. Having “facts based” discussions related to religion are often futile.

There are so many other parts of the story I think a lot about. Like the part when Pi went blind for a bit, came across another cast away who was also blind, but then that cast away was killed by Richard Parker. I feel like I see something new every time I read it. I think that the way I feel about Life of Pi is the same way that Plato buffs feel about the Matrix. I can’t think of another novel from the past 20 years that even comes close to Life of Pi and I think everyone should read it

Sorry this post is so long. I’m not even sure if it makes sense. I just have a lot of thoughts💕

[starberrybliss]

Your Voice (Gabe x F!MC)

Paring: Gabe Ricci x F!MC (Annie Michaels)

Word Count: 904

Summary: Annie and Gabe have a late night phone call

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: sorry this is late, work has been crazy, and I’ve been very sick lately, but here it is! Enjoy!

It was a late night in New York City and Annie Michaels was up late, trying to find something to help them get a lead in the case. Annie had never worked a murder case before and she knew how stressful and draining it would be, but wasn’t prepared for actually feeling it. But seeing Marcus and how hopeless he looked, she was determined to help prove his innocence. Whatever it takes. 

    She’d been looking through the case for hours, repeadatly going through everything, wanting to find something they might have missed. But still, nothing. Sighing she ran a hand through her hair, deciding that she deserved a break, she got up and went to the kitchen for something to eat. Passing by her mirror in the hall she hadn’t realized how tired and grim she looked, she hadn’t eaten all day except for a banana for breakfast. 

Looking away she went to the kitchen, feeling her hunger catch up to her. Opening the fridge she hadn’t noticed how empty her fridge was, she hadn’t been grocery shopping since she moved to the city, all she had were small things that she packed with her, none which could make a proper meal. Groaning she took out the milk and slammed the fridge. Annie retrieved a bowl and spoon, a box of honey nut cheerios from her cabinets. 

Just then her phone rang, picking it up she smiled when she saw who was calling, Gabe Ricci. Picking up the phone she clicked accept, “Hey,” she spoke softly, “Everything all right?”

“Yeah, yeah everythings fine.” He says with the slight hint of nervousness. 

Worry crosses Annie’s face, “What’s wrong? Is it the case? Is it Marcus?” she felt a slight panic rise in her throat. 

“No, nothings wrong, I just wanted to check in, see if you were still up.”

Sighing with relief, she let out a little laugh, he called her, and it wasn’t for business. She bit her lip, he always pulled away whenever they got close, and her mind knew that this wasn’t a good idea, for one he’s her boss, and two, she didn’t think her heart could handle the back and fourth with him. Speaking as casually as she could she replied, “Well I mean I answered so obviously I am.”

“Okay smart-ass you know what I mean, I just want to make sure you’re okay, you haven’t looked so great lately.”

Holding her phone with her shoulder, Annie poured her cereal into the bowl, playfully responding to his last remark. “Way to make a girl feel special.” 

“I didn’t-” Gabe stuttered, coughing he recovered, Annie smiled she could practically feel his blush through the phone. “That’s not what I meant.” He said.

 “I just meant that you look exhausted and it looks like you’ve lost a lot of weight, like you haven’t been eating properly.”

Annies heart flutters at his genuine concern, “I am very exhausted, and I may have not been eating as much as I should, I just don’t want to let Marcus down.” She bit her lip, mindlessly swirling her spoon in her bowl.

“Don’t worry about me though, I’m eating some cereal right now and will be going to bed right after.” She lied about going to bed but she wasn’t going to tell him that

“Too late for that.” He mutters softly, so softly Annie almost didn’t hear him. “Cereal doesn’t count as a meal, that’s barely breakfast.” 

“Hey!” Annie mocked offense, “I’ll have you know I lived off Captain Crunch all through college, it’s enough to fill me up.”

“Annie, I’m being serious, I appreciate the hard work you’re putting in to the case and your dedication to Marcus but you can’t help him if you don’t help yourself.”

She sighed, she knew he was right, but she couldn’t help the sting she felt, she felt slightly foolish for thinking he was concerned for her because he cared about her. She should’ve known it was about the case, and he had every right to be concerned about every aspect about it. Including everyone on the team. “You don’t have to worry, I promise that I won’t let anything get in the way of the case.”

He was silent for a moment. “Annie I care about this case, but I was talking about you.” He spoke softly. “Don’t get me wrong I care about this case and Marcus, but I care about you mo-” He cut short, and sighed, “I care about the whole teams well being, and not just for the case.” 

Annie wanted to know what he was going to say but she knew he would just dismiss it and push her away further. For some reason she wanted him close. Annie was never a commitment girl, but Gabe, he made her feel things she hadn’t in a long time, and even if they couldn’t be together, she still wanted this comfort close. 

“I promise to take better care of myself Gabe, I should really go though.”

“Okay, I’m hoping ending our call means you’re going to be going to bed.” He had a teasing tone in his voice and it made Annie giggle.

“Yes I promise, goodnight Gabe.”

  “Goodnight Annie.” 

Ending the call Annie felt the smile on her face grow even more than it already was, she liked talking to him, she liked listening to him, and she wanted him. Badly.

Tagslist: @panda9584 @adiehardfan

[princessfbi]

Ok I have got to know what happened with Oliver's character on that one show that makes you rage so hard every time you see him.

WELL NONNIE I'LL TELL YOU!

This is a warning for spoilers if anyone wants to watch this show because my rage cannot be contained.

OK SO...

This show is called Into the Badlands and Oliver's character is named Ryder. Basically the premise of this world is that it's kind of post apocalyptic/alternative universe where humanity got so caught up in trying to one up each other that it sort of imploded and now you have this society where either you're super wealthy (the Barrons), super poor (Cogs and Nomads), or somehow a ninja (The Clippers and whatever the hell MK was supposed to be). ANYWAYS....

Ryder is the son of Barron Quinn. Now the surviving land is either divided into like factions run by Barrons (who control a majority of major trade) or there's these lawless lands that are run dredges of society. You either become a Barron by killing another Barron (which is what Quinn did) or you are an heir apparent. Ryder is more an heir presumptive because Quinn won't outright name him his heir even though everyone just assumes it.

This is because Quinn is batshit crazy and thinks he can just live forever through sheer stubbornness and will alone. This is especially hard to do because he has a massive brain tumor that's dwindling down what little bit of sanity he has leading him to make questionable choices such as killing the only doctor they have in the lands who would've been useful pretty much for the rest of the series but go off Quinn. Ryder has a lot of resentment towards his father, which I will get into in a minute, and at the same time has gone out of his way to prove to Quinn that he's a worthy heir. Except Quinn keeps comparing Ryder to his second and regent, Sunny, and he's just all around a shitty person in general.

NOW HERE'S THE AMAZING BACKSTORY WITH RYDER:

So, when Ryder was a child, he was kidnapped by these nomads who were trying to blackmail Quinn. Ryder's mother begged Quinn to pay the ransom and save Ryder. Quinn... refused. So the nomads tortured Ryder and (Gross warning) like cut off part of his toes and disfigured his foot in the hopes of crippling him and scaring Quinn into giving to their demands.

Quinn, again, refused.

Eventually Quinn's regent at the time, Waldo, defies Quinn's orders and goes to rescue Ryder from these nomads. Waldo defying Quinn is a big deal because he's a clipper which is basically a soldier (often brought in from the slave faction called Cogs) and they take their oaths to their Barrons very seriously. Barrons trust no one but their regents because again you can become a Barron by killing them. But Waldo always had a soft spot for Ryder.

SO Ryder is saved and eventually nursed back to health but he always has a bit of a tragedy cloud hanging around him because from what we were told Ryder was a very sweet, bright child before he was kidnapped and was brought back as "a broken bird" and he's been doing everything he can to get rid of the broken bird image ever since.

Quinn resented Ryder for making him look weak and Ryder resented Quinn for... Well being a heartless dick.

But here's the crazy part... They both, in their own way, still kind of loved each other.

Now I won't bore you with my rant about how the best antagonists are often the tragic figures who have fallen from grace (Peter Hale, Draco Malfoy, Loki to name a few) BUT I will say Ryder had the PERFECT foundation of showing that fall. He was an asshole and hard and spoiled and super privilege but also soft and still a little broken. There's a whole other narrative involved too with his childhood love and how his dad planned on marrying her but we won't get into that.

ANYWAYS Ryder still had this desperate need to prove to his dad that he was a worthy heir but in his attempts to prove himself (and his dad's fall into madness) his dad started seeing him as competition. Competition and another objects (like Quinn saw with most other characters but especially Sunny). But Quinn has this weird kind of pride when it comes to things that he considers his and an attack on his property is an attack on him. There's a character named the Widow who lured Ryder out and tried to kill him slowly and personally as well as Sunny as an attack on Quinn and he went bananas (sorta).

Ryder was fine eventually but he realized that trying to prove himself to his dad was never going to work so he decides to try the other option: which is killing his dad. Partially because if he doesn't, Ryder is smart enough to know that Quinn's going to get him killed, but also because Quinn's descent into madness is spiraling faster and faster and Ryder wants to protect the legacy. Nothing to inherit if his dad burns the whole thing to the ground!

Long story short, Sunny turns on Quinn and stabs him and everyone thinks Quinn is dead and Ryder takes credit for it therefore succeeding his dad by becoming not only Barron of his father's lands but some other Barron that got murdered by another subplot that was pointless.

Now Ryder is determined to bring peace to the lands (not out of some noble obligation but because he just wants people to chill the fuck out). And for the most part... he's doing okay.

BUT THEN PLOT TWIST HIS DAD IS ALIVE AND CRAZIER THAN EVER.

Basically his dad storms Ryder's house, chases him down in the garden, and they fight. But Ryder's foot that was crippled when he was a child trips him up and the fight gets even messier. Ryder's sword breaks and Quinn points the sword to his own chest and tells Ryder to finish him.

Ryder hesitates and so Quinn takes the sword and stabs Ryder. You know like a rational father would do.

Quinn then asks Ryder why he hesitated and Ryder whispers "because you're my father" before he dies in Quinn's arms. Quinn is... horrified because he realizes that with the death of Ryder is the death of the last parts of his own humanity. He mourns Ryder but also like... takes no responsibility for killing him but neither did Ryder so he can't process it. Later on he's haunted by Ryder but again the man has a giant grapefruit sized tumor in his brain so it's all very reverse Hamlet if you will.

SO LOOK AT ALL THIS POTENTIAL!

THE REASON I RAGE:

Is because Ryder was set up to fail from the beginning. Which is great!....... If that had actually happened. The show worked so hard to tell us that Ryder was a failure and a coward but if you look at it from a story perspective... Ryder was the opposite of a failure. Every time someone told him he couldn't do something, he proved them wrong. Again and again and again. But that was never good enough for anyone. So that vicious cycle would've been amazing to see!

But instead of exploring any of that, we had to watch a storyline that was frankly ridiculous from the beginning that took up way more time than it should. There's a character named MK, who was supposed to be inspired by the myth The Monkey King, but if you don't know that story then you never would've figured that out. Hell, I knew the story and didn't figure it out until I had to google his name because I kept forgetting it. In comparison to everything else happening in the show, this magical mythical storyline just didn't fit and I'm not kidding when I say I watched a season and a half of this show and forgot about MK every time.

Now if you noticed my icon is Buck in a Box. That's an inside joke I have with a friend about this fucking show. The first scene starts off with Sunny stumbling onto a group of Nomads who go absolutely feral about this massive box they don't want him to look inside. Turns out MK was in this box for reasons that were too weak for me to even remember but again MK was entirely forgettable. My friend and I kept talking about how it would've been better if Ryder had been in the box because the Ryder and Sunny rivalry had so much unexplored potential that would've been incredible if we started from the very beginning instead of just being told over and over again that Ryder hates being compared to Sunny.

Sunny is the main character and Quinn, unlike with Ryder, was incredibly proud to have Sunny "in his possession" and Ryder hated him for it.

But did we get to explore that? NO! Did we get to explore the parallels of Sunny and Ryder chafing at being considered possessions by Quinn? NO! Did we get to explore the trauma Ryder was working so hard to shake off? NO!

Instead the show spent so much energy victim blaming Ryder essentially for being the son of a Villain and his Nonsensical Ambitious Mother who had the misfortune of being kidnapped by bandits as a child while telling the audience that Ryder was never going to succeed. That Ryder had no honor and was a coward and weak.

They spent way more time trying to tell us that we should hate Ryder and that he was a bad guy but didn't do ANY of the work to show the fall from grace to prove that. Ryder remained a tragic figure that didn't fall from grace but was rather pushed off by lazy writing because they wanted to focus again on this magical ninja boy with a penchant for getting in the way and ruining everything.

I rage because Antagonist and Villain are not the same thing. Ryder had the potential of becoming a villain and his death by the hands of his father would've cycled him back into the role of a tragic figure. But instead... it was just wasted.

THAT is why I rage. You had the material right there and yet you spent so long telling us that we, the audience, don't like Ryder instead of showing us anything that would make us not like him (besides the whiny white boy thing).

Instead I found myself rooting for Ryder. Like could you imagine if Ryder and Sunny went against Quinn together instead of having the weakest rivalry known to man? Could you imagine Ryder's fall from grace of wanting peace in the lands as it turned to greed? Could you imagine Sunny becoming actual competition for Ryder instead of being manipulated to do so?

WE GOT NONE OF IT.

THIS is why I rage.

[sorensadness]

1 + 3 + 7 + 12

@justmyownreality im so sorryy but this ended up being waay too long lmao.

1 .book you’ve reread the most times?

hmm... probably Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, the Bone Witch Series by RIn Chupeco, and The secret history by Donna Tartt.

3. what is your favorite genre?

I'm a mood reader so there isn't a particular genre that I would read over others. All of them are my faves but for completely different reasons.

7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?

-okay so probably Harry Potter (i mean are we surprised? are we really ? ).

- there was also this series that I would constantly borrow from the library in middle school and for the life of me, I cannot remember the name. It was about a family of witches and they had an adoptive daughter who they hated but she was always so nice to everyone. Curse my ability to retain information!

- this Italian book series is about an alchemist's granddaughter called Nina that went on this crazy adventure. I don't think they have an English translation so I have no idea what it's actually called.

12. did you enjoy any compulsory high school readings?

Yess i did , some of my now favorite books were required readings. I ended up writing a 20-page analysis exploring how nihilism and absurdism were approached in The Stranger / The Outsider. Also, Shakespeare is a comedic genius. (honorable mentions: Brave New World, Cuore, The Divine Comedy, anything by Goethe ...)

(Exit, pursued by a bear 🐻)