#first time watching and i didn’t skip any filler

[natsukazesan]

Took me 41 days to watch all 1071 episodes of One Piece. Next are the movies. Those are for another day tho.

[dukeofdelirium]

In complete honesty, I kind of wish that Stranger Things would have just been two high quality seasons. They should have let El die in S1, and then focused on Mike, Will, and the origins of the Upside Down in S2. At this point, the story has been dragged on for so long, and, if S5 fails to recontextualize a lot of things from S3 and S4, there was a lot of unnecessary filler that just weighed the entire show down.

I agree with this pretty heavily. It’s obvious that they dragged storylines out and didn’t have everything completely plotted by how dysfunctional s3 and 4 are in comparison with s1 and 2. It almost feels like two completely different shows. When s3 first aired, I almost didn’t finish it because I hated it that much. S4 was pretty similar tbh… the NINA plotline and the Russian shit was so terrible that me and my sister debated skipping the scenes I’m not even kidding lol. Literally the only thing that kept us watching vol 2 was any crumb of Mike and Will scenes and then seeing what happened with Max. That was fr it. The second we finished vol 2 we immediately turned off the tv and then started shit talking it 😂 we were NOT impressed lol.

The Russian plot was dumb as fuck in s3, and it was even worse in s4. Literally the dumbest thing this show ever tried to pull and comes across as more unbelievable than inter-dimensional monsters lol. Idgaf about the Russian fuckery. It’s fucking stupid as hell and I can feel myself losing braincells in real time whenever I have to rewatch scenes of it. Idgaf about the NINA bullshit, when the hell are we gonna move on from this dumb lab/rainbow room/Papa nonsense and get to shit that really matters?

The whole Russian thing is actually what makes the Hawkins lab and stuff dumb lol bc it went from the American gov being the enemy to now suddenly it’s evil Russians like stfu get out of here with this nonsense I cantttttt

And don’t even get me started on the dumb relationship drama in s3. If I wanted to watch a show about middle schoolers making out I wouldn’t be looking for it in stranger things, that’s first of all. Second of all, none of this has any depth and the only reason it matters in any context is to develop Byler and their rain scene is one of the only memorable scenes of the season. Idgaf about hopper and Joyce acting like 12 year olds. Idgaf about Billy’s wack ass redemption. Idgaf that El raises her hand and screams for the billionth time or that she loses her powers cuz guess what… she gets them back. *pretends to be shocked*

Fr, s5 has to recontextualize multiple seasons or else this show will have been a huge disappointment. S4 was ok. But as I said, that’s all it was. Okay. Not great. Not even necessarily good. Just meh. The only good parts were the Hawkins group with Max (she was the best part of the season) and then Mike and Will’s scenes. That’s literally it lmao. The Russian plot? Dumb. El and the NINA shit? Dumb. Yawn, don’t care. Let me spend time with characters I care about please and thank you.

I long for the return of s2 quality….. when Mike realizes Will is compromised and that he’s the spy and Will sends all those soldiers to their gruesome deaths…. come on that was peak cinema. Bring it back. I miss it…. we were a country once

[rubydubydoo122]

Jason gets de-aged because I've seen fics of Tim or Dick being de-aged, and Bruce losing his memory, but no one has realized the potential for angst if you de-age Jason.

Also, and Author's note-- when I wrote this fic, I was using the Latino Jason Headcanon, I don't really believe in that anymore, but this chapter is heavy handed with that headcanon, but it's just filler, so you can probably skip it if you hate it.

Jason tried really hard to find Bruce after that, but he could not cross paths with him. It was like everyone was trying to stop him. 

Damian stopped him first, “I’m going to take Titus and Ace to the park. You are coming with me.”

Before Jason could even tell him that he had to talk to Bruce (because Constantine had told Jason that the spell was going to wear off, but he didn’t tell Jason when) he was being dragged out the door.

The park in Bristol was a 20 minute walk from the manor, and somehow, they didn’t need any adult accompaniment. Sure, they were trained, and they were also going to the safest park in town, but still, whenever Jason wanted to go, he had to go with Alfred, Dick, or Bruce. Though, they were also Jason’s only options for company, so maybe that’s why.

Though Titus was up to Jason’s shoulder , and Ace wasn’t much shorter, so big dogs probably helped. 

Damian dug through his backpack, threw a rope to Titus and Ace, then took a sketchbook out and sat under a tree. Jason sat down next to him and observed the park.

A lot has changed about it. A lot of the trees and benches were in different places. The walkways that had previously been a concrete sidewalk had been changed to a red rubber track, and the playground had been completely renovated. 

A part of Jason wondered if the old playground in Park Row had been fixed up in the past couple years, but he knows even if it was, it probably was ruined again by a rogue attack. Bristol could afford a clean park. It was safe.

He watched as a kid, maybe 5, walked hand in hand, bubbled in between her parents, as they lifted her up in the air every couple of steps. 

He doesn’t think he could remember Mami and Papi walking with him like that. Maybe they had moments like that when Jason was too young to remember, maybe they just never had them at all. Now, all he could remember when Mami and Papi were together was when he was under the table, hugging Sparky tight as trying to block out the sounds of glass shattering, or skin making contact with skin.

Jason’s eyes made their way back to the playground, where a kid, maybe 7, was on his dad’s shoulders gripping the monkey bars. 

He knew that Papi had loved them both. He had to take those jobs to make money for them. To take care of them. He drank to forget the crimes he did to keep the heat on, or put food on the table. If he didn’t love them, he could’ve left. If he didn’t love them, he wouldn’t have gone to prison for them.

There was a mother laying on the grass with her daughter, maybe 11, tying flowers together in a crown. 

And Mami, she had to have loved him too. Jason wasn’t even hers, yet she had loved him like his own. Even though in the end she needed the Heroin more.

Jason could feel Damian’s eyes on him. “What’s up hermanito? ” 

Damian shook his head and closed his sketchbook. “Nothing.”

That was…very convincing. “Am I your muse?” Jason pointed at the sketchbook. 

Damian shrugged and placed the book back in his bag, “I was drawing you before you…shrank. It was missing something, though now I have an idea.”

“You’ll show it to me when you’re done?”

Damian just shrugged and gave the command for Ace and Titus to come along. 

By the time they got back to the manor it was close to 6:30, and Jason really wanted to talk to Bruce. Except he ended up helping Alfred with dinner. And then Bruce wasn’t even at dinner. And then before he could sneak down to the cave to talk to him, he’d already gone out for patrol. Jason wasn’t even allowed to snoop because Alfred wouldn’t let him. 

He was standing across from Batman. In a beat up abandoned apartment. 

He had the Joker in a headlock. He had a gun in his hands. And so did Batman.

Even with the cowl on Jason could see the look of distraught that drowned Bruce’s– Batman’s face. 

“Stop this. Enough. You know I won’t–”

And that was the problem. Jason knew he wouldn’t. He knew Batman could never kill the Joker. But even after Jason revealed himself, he continued to fight him. In fact, the punches felt harder. He thought he had cared. He thought Bruce had cared about him, but he would always put the Joker first. He would always put Batman first. “All you’ve got is a headshot. I’m gonna blow his addled deranged brains out– and if you want to stop me..” He could feel the knot form around his throat, “You’re going to have to shoot me. Right in the face.” Just choose me, Bruce. Show me you still care. I’m scared, Dad. I don’t want him to hurt me anymore.“One…two… the–”

A batarang flew through the air, ricocheting off the wall and embedding itself into Jason’s neck.

He shot up clutching his neck…right where there was a scar.

No. It was just a dream. Just a dream. Batman could never. Bruce would never. 

12:23 am. Bruce probably wasn’t back from patrol yet, but Jason needed him. He needed to hear his voice, deep and soothing. He needed to feel his embrace knowing that he would protect him no matter what. Jason went to the library and waited for him

He heard Damian’s door close first, around two, and then Cass’s door further down the hall. 

Ok, so they were coming back. It shouldn’t take Bruce too long. 

It was just a dream. Why would Jason be holding a gun up to the Joker’s head? Why would he be asking Bruce to kill him?

By the time Tim got back to his room it was close to four in the morning and Jason had gotten halfway through Hamlet. Then Dicks door closed. 

Any minute now. Bruce should be coming up soon. Then thirty minutes passed, then an hour, then two, and when it turned seven, Jason was done waiting. He stormed down to the kitchen. 

It was Saturday morning, in a house filled with vigilantes, and Duke knew no one would be up. Not even Alfred. He wouldn’t be up until 9:00. Except today was his hair care day. Which was why he was up at 7:00 in the morning, nursing a cup of coffee. So was he startled when Jason came down, cursing in Spanish, looking like he got zero sleep? Yes. 

Though Jason stopped in his tracks when he realized he wasn’t alone. 

Duke knew that no one would be up until at least 12, and maybe it would be a bad idea to leave Jason alone to brood. “I have some errands to run… wanna come?”

All Jason did was shrug. 

Duke learned very early on while living at the manor that Alfred did not know how to cut black hair. And his old barber got caught in a rouge attack, so Duke just decided to grow his hair out. Then he figured out that cowls don’t fit the same when you’ve grown out your 4b hair. So he had gotten into the habit of twisting or braiding his hair on the last Saturday of every month. 

Jason probably knew that too. His hair was a little looser than Duke’s, but he still had 3c hair. Duke kinda figured the reason why Jason switched from the helmet to the hood every couple of months is so his hair doesn’t take up space in the helmet. 

They drove down to the Narrows, because that’s where the strip mall with the hair and beauty store and the convenience store is. 

“Do you… wanna tell me what’s going on?” Jason had been quiet for most of the car ride, and yeah, maybe Jason was just… quiet as a kid, but currently it was a sad kind of quiet.

Jason shrugged, “I’m just being dumb. I feel like Bruce is ignoring me, but Bruce is probably just busy now. A lot busier.”

Duke had to suppress the urge to flinch, because Bruce was definitely avoiding Jason now. After getting the news from Constantine that they were playing russian roulette with magic and Jason’s life, Bruce had shut down, and then rebooted as Batman. “I mean, he is trying to find a witch with a stick. He’s in Batman mode.”

Jason nodded, “I know. But I don’t want Batman, I just want Bruce.” 

Duke pulled into a parking space, and turned to face him. “Jason, I think you should tell him that. Or at least, physically drag him. Bruce probably needs that.”

He gave him a tiny smile, and then looked to the shop, “What’re we here to get?”

Duke tugged at one of his twists, “Gotta re-do my hair. The cowl of my suit doesn’t really fit with my fro, and I love Alfred, but the first time he cut my hair I had…”

“So many ingrown hairs.” Janson visibly cringed, “...My mami used to help me maintain my hair. She used to do little braids, but then she couldn’t. And I never learned, so it was usually really frizzy. So I started using pomade.” 

Duke patted his shoulder, “Well, I’m not the best, but I can teach you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, man. You taught me how to kick-ass. It’s only fair if I teach you how to do your hair.”

All Duke needed from the Hair and Beauty store was some mousse, but he let Jason pick out a couple of hair accessories.

“Oh my god, Duke. Duke, Duke, Duke.” Jason tapped his arm to get his attention, “They have little bats on them!” Jason held a package of hair rings that had different bat charms on them. And by bat charms, they weren’t like halloween bats, they were ‘Bats and Birds’ themed, with each of their bat-symbols. 

He picked up another set and looked over all the charms again, “I think the Signal ones glow in the dark.”

Jason cupped his hand over the charm and peeked into the mini cave he made, “That’s so cool.” Then he looked up and frowned, and motioned for Duke to lean in, “Which charm belongs to who?”

Duke couldn’t help but laugh, because of course no one told Jason which identity belongs to who, “I’ll tell you when we get home. The ones that glow in the dark are mine, though.”

Jason grinned and they went to check out.

Then they went to the convenience store, got a bunch of different types of chips, and headed back to the manor.

“Ok, So, let me get this straight. Cass was Orphan, then Batgirl, and now she’s Black Bat. Stephanie was Spoiler, then Robin, then Spoiler, now Batgirl. Tim’s Red Robin? That’s lacking creativity.”

There was a scoff that came from the kitchen, “Hey! It was between that and Drake.”

“Why didn’t you go with Drake?” Jason paused, “Ok, I get that’s your old last name, but that’s perfect. No one would think it’s you because it would completely ruin the point of a secret identity. Also, whenever a villain’s on a monologue–” Jason snickered, “You could quack at people.”

“That’s just–”

“QUACKKK!”Maybe Jason getting no sleep was catching up to him. Oh well, at least he was being silly and not upset. 

Duke set down a bag of plain potato chips for Tim, “I hate to break it to ya Tim, but you have to let go of Robin. Time to stop tweeting and start quacking.” 

“I-” “Quack!” Did Duke actually think that Drake was better than Red Robin? No. They were both equally bad. He just found it really funny. “Come on Jason.”

Jason found that doing his hair did a really good job at distracting from the dream he had last night and fact that Bruce was ign- nope, busy. He’s just busy. 

After Jason got the general motion down—twist left, cross left, on the left half of his head, and the opposite on the other half— he and Duke just started talking. Jason asked questions about his powers, and Duke didn’t seem upset by them, and then they started talking about different books, how much they did or didn’t like them, and before he knew it, Duke was finished with his whole head, and was munching on a bag of pretzels. 

Jason was done with the front portion of his head, but his arms were getting  sore and the mirror was making him mix up his left from his right. 

He felt his eyes start to burn as the twist he was currently working on came unraveled. Why couldn’t he do this? 

“Hey, it’s ok, man. The back is always the hardest part.” Duke threw out the bag and washed his hands, “Why don’t you take a little break. I can take over.”

Duke's fingers gently parted and twisted Jason’s hair, and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine mami, eyes bright, heart and spirit strong. 

Jason locked eyes with Duke through the mirror, “This is the first time we’re doing this together, right?”

Duke gave him a small smile, “Yeah. It’s been nice too. Every time I do my hair, it reminds me of my mom. It's usually in a melancholy way, but with you here, it’s more…”

“Reassuring.”  It was like Duke knew exactly what he was thinking. “Like, even though she’s not here, she’s still here.”

He nodded, and as Duke finished the last twist, Jason could see the grief flash across his face, until it was replaced with something more hopeful, and then determination, “We’re doing this again. Next month. We can do it at your place if you want to, but we’re doing this again .” 

Jason turned around and smirked, “You really thought this would be a one time thing?”

“It better not be.”

Because everyone woke up at different times, there wasn’t really a set lunch time, but everyone was there for dinner. Everyone except for Bruce. Again.

Maybe Jason would’ve been fine with that, if it wasn’t for the fact that he hadn’t seen Bruce at all.

“Hey Alfred, is Bruce in the cave?”

Alfed set down a bowl of roasted vegetables on the table with a sigh, “Yes, Master Jason.”

“Great. I’ll go get him.” and he got up and headed towards the cave.

He heard the sound of chair legs scraping against the floor, “Jason, hold up,”

Nope. Dick wasn’t going to stop him.

He got to the bottom of the staircase and froze when he caught sight of Bruce. Of Batman . Even though it had been hours since he had woken up from the nightmare, the image of him throwing the batarang, the feeling of the blade digging into his skin felt almost like a memory.

Jason crossed his arms, “You’re breaking rules #1 and #2.”

Batman stared blankly at him, and Christ on a stick, he did not get any sleep did he? “How–”

“You left me with the batcomputer unsupervised.” Jason gave Bruce his best imitation of Alfred’s you’ve messed up ™ look. 

Not that Bruce was even looking at him. It was like the first night all over again. Jason rubbed the scar on his neck before marching up to Batman, “Cowl off.”

Batman didn’t even dignify him with a response. 

“I want Bruce, not Batman.”

They held each other's gaze, and for a second, Jason thought Bruce was just going to turn right back around, but he didn’t. He reached up and pulled down the cowl, revealing his eyebags to be darker than usual, and his eyes were slightly pink. 

Probably from looking at the computer all day, because Batman doesn’t cry. 

Though Bruce was currently looking at him with a look of concern. “Are you ok, Jason?”

“No. I’m upset with you.” Jason took a step forward, because Bruce was somehow less intimidating than Batman. Even though they were the same person. “You do realize your brooding has an effect on other people, right? Because you kinda just left in the middle of my mystical diagnosis, and you didn’t even bother telling me when the effects would wear off. And I was waiting for you, ya know? In the library, but you never came up because you were busy brooding, and I haven’t seen you the entire day, and I wasn’t sure if I did something wrong—“

“No! No. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Bruce cupped his face, “Jay, lad, did you wait the entire night for me?”

He looked away. 

“I just got caught up in everything. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you didn’t matter to me. Because you do.  I don’t think words could describe just how important you are to me.”

Jason wrapped his arms around Bruce’s torso, “I know. I know. I just… had a bad dream last night, and I really— I just wanted to see you.” He murmured into the armor. 

He felt Bruce’s arms wrap around his shoulders, “I’m here now. What do you need from me?”

“I’m still upset with you, but if you come up for dinner and then watch a movie with us, maybe I could forgive you.”

Jason pulled away and Bruce took him in, “I like your hair by the way. Are those little bats?”

Jason grinned and nodded, “Duke and I are matching. The Signal ones glow in the dark.”

Dick was pretty sure everyone in the manor could tell that Bruce was starting to go on a downward spiral. So imagine their shock when Jason got him out from the batcave. Not only that, but Jason had also somehow managed to convince Bruce to join them for movie night. Bruce hasn’t joined them for a movie night, unless it was the end, in years, but hey, Dick wasn’t complaining. Just suddenly reminded of the fact that Jason was definitely the favorite at this age. 

“What movie should we watch?” Dick jumped over the back of the couch and grabbed the remote. 

Tim flopped onto the loveseat, but then sat up so Cass could sit behind him. “If you try to get us to watch another Disney movie, I’m leaving.” 

Jason turned his head to Dick so fast, he was afraid he would get whiplash, “You never wanna watch musicals when I suggest them.”

…and yeah, Dick stopped watching musicals by the time he was 14 and thought he was too cool to watch them whenever Jason wanted to watch them. It’s just, after Jason had died, and Dick was missing him, he would go on a Disney movie marathon, or watch any of the musicals Jason had suggested, but Dick had just scoffed at at the time. Now they had become Dicks comfort movies “You’ve converted me”

“So you’re saying, if I asked you to put on Frozen—“

“I’d ask one or two.”

He saw the realization settle on Jason’s face, “it’s 2023. That means Frozen II has been out for four years.”

Damian groaned, “We are not watching Frozen II. If I have to listen to Richard shriek Into the Unknown I will peel my ears from my head.”

“What about The Lion King.” Jason suggested. 

Duke shrugged, “As long as it’s not the live action.”

Jason looked bewildered “There’s a live action?”

“It’s not good. And we’re not watching the Lion King, Dick is going to sob at Mufasas death, and then we have to pause it.” Tim reached for the blanket that was draped over the arm of the sofa, “What about Jurassic Park?”

“Drake, we’ve seen that as many times as we’ve seen Tangled.”

“So? I don’t see you coming up with any suggestions.”

“All of my suggestion are always vetoed by Father or Richard.”

“Wait, can we watch Tangled?”

“No. Dick will sing every single song.” Duke hopped into the armchair. 

“Hey! That entire soundtrack is elite.”

“ Mother knows best, At Last I see the Light, I Have a dream? Top tier.”

“See, Jason gets me.” Dick placed his legs on Jason’s lap, but he shoved them off. 

“No. Dick, you don’t get to say that after saying that Beaty and the Beast was a little kids movie. Do you know how much that hurt my heart and soul?” Jason put a hand to his chest and leaned into Bruce, “Tell him, old man.”

Bruce almost had a fond look on his face, “That we should watch Beauty and the Beast?”

Tim shook his head, “Nope, Dick will pull one of us in to Waltz with him.”

Cass giggled, “I think it’s fun.”

“Yeah but then the rest of us can’t watch.”

Bruce reached over and snatched the remote out of Dicks hand, “I’ve got an idea.”

“If it’s James Bond, I’m doing whatever stunts are done in the movie next time I’m out on patrol.”

“Jason, you already make it a point to do one movie stunt per patrol. Where do you think most of B’s gray hairs come from?” 

Jason shrugged, “Damian.”

“Todd!”

Duke smirked, “Nah, Damian’s the cause of Dicks gray hairs.”

“I do not have gray hair!”

“It’s ok, Dickiebird. It’s normal for 30 year olds to have gray hair.”

“Oh my god! Jason. I’m not 30! I’m 27.”

Bruce ended up putting on Mission Impossible. Mostly because he knew he could finish the mission before Tom Cruise did, but also because he could tell that Jason didn’t get any sleep, and he finds action movies boring. And sure enough, not even halfway through the movie, he felt Jason slump onto his shoulder. 

Bruce knew that the rest of his kids were taking pictures, and he also knew that Jason probably would hate all of them by the time he was back to normal. 

If he went back to normal. 25/25/50 chance . It wasn’t good odds. At all. What if Bruce didn’t have the chance to mend his relationship with him? What if 20 year old Jason died thinking that Bruce didn’t care about him? What if—

The Kremlin exploded on screen, and suddenly, Jason was feeling too limp on his shoulder. 

No. No no no no no. 

The air felt thick like smoke was filling the air. The only thing he could see was the rubble of a warehouse. The only thing he could see was his son, limp, beaten and bloody. The green of his suit soaked brown, the yellow cape splattered red.

No. Jason was alive. 

Bruce placed his hand on Jason’s wrist, and felt for a pulse. 

It was there. Beating strong. 

Slowly the air became less thick, and he realized that Tom Cruise was sneaking out of a hospital building. 

Magic really sucks. 

[stardomtrash]

this utami person looks like an absolute badass. any matches you'd recommend to someone unfamiliar with her work?

You’re damn right she’s an absolute badass :D And heck yeah I can give you some recommendations. I consulted with a few friends to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Some of these I haven’t seen but they came highly recommended. I’ll try and give a helpful rundown where possible :)

In no particular order…

So the unequivocal best match Utami has had is the 5.5* classic with Syuri. It’s LONG, and it may not be a good one to jump in with first, but definitely keep it in your back pocket. It’s 5.5* for a reason. (x)

Alternatively, Utami had a much shorter but all-killer-no-filler match with Syuri in the Gold Rush PPV last year. Really great match between two of the best to ever do it. (x)

Utami vs Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP semi finals. Again, it’s just two fantastic wrestlers giving it all they’ve got. (x)

Utami vs Tam Nakano in the 5 Star GP. Good thing about the 5 Star is the short time limits, so if you need good intro singles matches, they’re a great place to start. You'll also get to see Utami Nakano. (x)

Utami vs Saya Kamitani for the White Belt. I think this was better than the singles they had for the Red Belt, but I think that might be sentimentality for me. I’d only just gotten into Stardom and this was the first match I was HYPED for and watched live on PPV. It’s still a great match, and considering Saya and Utami are partners, coupled with Saya’s unrelenting desire to complete her one goal of besting Utami, it’s a great dynamic. (x)

Utami vs Momo Watanabe in the Oedo Tai/Queen’s Quest best of 5. This is DEFINITELY just me but it’s one of my all-time favourite matches. It presents Utami as an underdog against a heel that she bitterly hates. It’s only short (it's only the first 20 mins, don’t let the 1hr video length scare you) but it’s great if you want to see Utami fighting uphill. (x)

Utami vs Mayu Iwatani for the Red Belt. I haven’t seen this match (I keep meaning to) but I have it on good authority it’s a banger. Annoyingly this match doesn't exist in isolation, just a part of a whole PPV, so skip to 1:56:08 to get to it. (x)

Utami vs Maika for the Red Belt. Maika has been determined to make Utami her rival and these two put on a killer showdown if you like the power fighter vs power fighter style. (x)

Queen’s Quest vs Oedo Tai cage match. This is a massive storyline match that is the culmination of the increasing drama between Saya and Utami. I wouldn’t recommend it until you’ve seen at least some Saya/Utami stuff before (heck, just take a look at the tags on my blog as a crash course lmao) otherwise you’ll miss out on The Feels lol. (x)

Following on from that, when making this list people said I should include Aphrodite matches (that’s the team name for Utami and Saya), but from the matches I’ve seen personally I couldn’t think of One Match that stands out. I got a vote for their match against Konami and Jungle Kyona for the Goddess Belts, which I haven’t seen but really should, so I’ll put that one forward. (x)

Alternatively, since I haven’t included any Goofball Utami moments in this list (except Utami Nakano), the match between Utami and Saya vs Gokigen Death and Riho is a vibe. Utami is madly crushing on Riho at this point and Saya (who has been in love with Utami since Day Dot) is smarting about it. (x)

Last but not least, her debut match against Jungle Kyona is one I haven’t watched but heard good things about. A way to show you she’s been kickass from the start :D (x)

Thank you to everyone who helped me craft this list!

[ciaossu-imagines]

A couple more hours in the day would be awesome, along with the ability to postpone feeling the need to go to bed. Thank you so much. I’m just not used to being a super late replier so couldn’t help but bring it up 😅 It’ll be interesting to know how right or wrong you were and I’m looking forward to talking about it when the time comes and we’ve both read those chapters in English. We haven’t talked about it any more but yeah, I hope so. She’s now watching something called ‘Sign of Affection’ and recommended it to me so I hope to watch that at some point. And that’s so nice that you can do that with screencaps of the manga. It really is great and powerful in another way and I’m so happy to hear that’s the case. Those screencaps are so beautiful, in all kinds of ways 😭

Of course. Your rambles are always a great read. I most definitely am and even though I haven’t read what you posted yet the previous days, I do hope to at some point because they do seem interesting. And that sounds so great. I’m so happy to hear that. And I do like your plan of distributing everything evenly since it lets you try out all kinds of things. That’s nice 😃 I’m looking forward to hearing your opinion on it (the Black Butler manga) when the time comes. Yeah, like we’ve discussed in our private conversation. Like I used to use this website called ‘Anime Filler List’ that would say to what extent every episode was filler or non-filler and it really was so handy for when I didn’t feel like watching certain episodes, though sometimes the wikis also have that on the main episode page. Reading Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun! sounds like a great idea since you do deserve some light-hearted stuff after all that heavy business. And that’s great to hear, that you’re catching up and rereading everything at such a good pace 😃

Of course I like reading your textwalls / novels since they really are so great and interesting to read. Yeah. Like I have WhatsApp downloaded on my computer so it’s another app and it makes it easy to send long texts to my friend but I can indeed imagine it being quite overwhelming for her at times. And it most definitely is when it comes down to word count since there is no maximum so it could all go in one block and the image sharing is pretty good but one of the things that I don’t like about it is that when you send a bunch of images or receive them and go out of the conversation for a bit and then go back into it, they’re no longer under each other so I can’t as easily respond to them one by one like I usually try to do. It most definitely was and even though I know we’ll never see that animated, by the gods that would be amazing to see. Though of course I’m happy that I got to read more about them. That’s such a shame to hear and so strange since Haikyuu is quite a popular series. Hopefully by the time that you’ve watched everything there is to watch about it, it’s back on the app. Yeah, it’s because of that growth that I became so much less normal about my two absolute faves. Different I’ll say. Like he appeared twice before (so once in the first proper time-skip chapter near the end and after that in the first special chapter) and both times he was wearing the same kind of clothes and I was just like ‘In my mind he only wears these kinds of clothes and I love that about him because the thought is just so funny’ and then that chapter appeared and he’s wearing something else and it’s just casual so I love that. That image has become the death of me in more ways than one. But like I’m still convinced that he still mainly wears the clothes that he wore before, this is just a special occasion. And thank you so much for that 😭 Okay. I’ll send it later then and it’s nothing since editing pics like that doesn’t take a lot of effort. I see.

Thank you. There might be some more Nanbaka chapters translated past that point but I don’t think it’ll be that far but yeah, I’ll tell you where I am when the time comes and we can work with that. Oh, that does sound awesome and really handy. Okay, I’ll add it along with the image. I’m glad to hear that you’re healing slowly but surely and do hope that it doesn’t last for much longer. It’s a godsend for me as well since sometimes I forget to close the code for the italics and then I see that there’s something off in the preview so then I just have to go back and check where I forgot to do it. Also, you can save things as drats and I think it’ll remain there for two weeks, it does tell you at the top I think so you don’t have to post things straight away either. Ah yeah, I see. Luckily since I copy from Word I don’t have to use those breaks but yeah, now you know what’s possible and I think there is some more info on the FAQ or anything more that you might need to know. That’s nice 😄

C

I am definitely starting to think I need more than a couple more hours in every day! I got so caught up in writing yesterday that I ended up pulling an all-nighter, relying on coffee to keep me going when I started nodding off. I mean, I’m glad I got a good chunk added onto the queue and it’s going to be increased to twice a day now, but just a couple more hours in these days would be lovely so I can sleep and still do all these things! The ability to postpone needing to sleep would be amazing as well, not going to lie. I’m definitely going to need to tuck in early tonight to catch up on that sleep but I hate it. It sucks to feel like you’re wasting productive time passed out. And I’m looking forward to finally getting that reply to you via dm so we can chat about it but yeah, I called one of those twists, but I still can’t figure out why! Just…WHY!! And I know you normally answer super quickly, a stark contrast to me, who is always running behind on replying to people. I make a kind of lousy pen-pal that way, but thankfully everyone is really kind and understanding about it 😊 I’ve never heard of that one before? Sounds like a romance though, so it would make sense for me not to have in that case. I hope if you get around to watching it that you thoroughly enjoy it though! And yeah, I am horrible – every single panel that has information I want to remember or just has my favourites looking really cool gets screenshot and put into a folder on my phone. I have an SD card the folder is on because it takes up much more room than I would like to admit. I keep saying I’m just going to transfer them on over to my laptop so I can do comprehensive ‘Dee reads’ style reviews of chapters of things I’ve recently read or am reading but I never do get around to that. And thank you for saying that – to me, they genuinely do capture the theme of the manga and are just beautifully done art wise! I hope maybe they’ll get even one more person into the manga, because it truly is a wonderful one!

Aww, you make me smile and blush saying that! I’m glad they’re fun to read though and thank you for wanting to get around to reading all the daily posts I’ve been spamming everyone with. Again, I can’t say it enough, but I really do appreciate all of you lovely readers allowing me to have so much fun with the unrequested prompts so that I can write for all the fandoms I love! I haven’t gotten to the Black Butler manga, though it’s definitely on the list. My manga app is really handy in that it allows me to save all my favourites one place and then to save the ones I still wanna read in another list and I’ve just been working my way through that list bottom to top, which is why there’s really not too much consistency with how I’ve been reading and watching things, haha. I hadn’t known websites like that existed but that sounds so frigging useful, honestly. I’m not a huge fan of filler episodes, which is why I don’t normally love going anime only if a series has a manga, other than the obvious fact that I read a lot quicker. Finding ways to skip that filler would make anime watching a lot better for people like me. I really enjoyed finally reading the manga for Iruma-kun! It’s a lot of fun and the story is great, but I’m also not going to lie…I actually do prefer the anime for this one. The voice acting and especially the music really do add so much to this and I actually prefer the art of the anime more. That being said, having read the manga, I know we’re in for some amazing seasons of the anime!!

I honestly hadn’t know WhatsApp had an app for the computer as well! I know it has one for my phone, but I’ve honestly never tried it out, since I just text or use SnapChat. But having it on the computer would definitely make it easier to type out the long messages and I still maintain that I am sure she loves them, even if it might take her some time to read them all! Ouch on the images doing that though. That would kill my OCD, not even lying. Am I going to be missing out on a lot, by the way, just watching the Haikyuu!! anime? I did find somewhere I can read the manga, but it costs me $2.99 a month and I can only read 100 chapters a day, which will slow me down on my days off where I will sit and binge read. It’s the only thing that really bothers me about my manga reading app – they’ll take stuff down or off the app completely for no discernable reason. All I can guess is licensing issues? And I find being normal about characters overrated, haha, but I get very attached to all kinds of characters myself, haha. And I am going to be very interested to talk Haikyuu with you once I do get all caught up! I’m balancing it around another anime, that way I get to watch something heavily shounen when I’m in that mood but also get to watch something more easy watching and sports themed when I’m not in the shounen mood. And thank you again 😊 You’re very kind!

I keep holding off on reading the Nanbaka manga, just because of all the spoilers I have seen make me really think that I am going to hate the way it wraps up. But at the same time, I want to read it and say I caught up and see what happens with the characters I love! Thank you for that, by the way! I am finally all healed from the cold and hoping I manage to avoid any more like that. Dangers of working in a pharmacy. I legit had one lady sneeze straight in my face, not even bothering to cover her mouth, when I went to hand her her medications. Thank god my work is good about keeping our sink stocked with jay cloths and lots of antibacterial soap because I had to go and scrub my face after that. I love any site that thinks to put in the preview feature. Every writing site, in my mind, should have that feature just automatically built in, because I think it’s easy to forget, but how a story is formatted and presented can really affect how well people receive it, on top of the actual story itself. Thank you so much for the heads up about the draft files too! I love that and will probably make good use of them, knowing me!

[ronwestbreeze]

TO YOU , WORLDS AWAY : PART TWO : CHAPTER TWENTY - ONE

pairing: jake sully x fem!reader

summary: those that wake from nightmares, whisper together in the aftermath

word count: 1.1k

author's note: this is a short chapter but very relevant, definitely not filler so don't skip! anyway, enjoy!

AO3 | prev | next

Year 2162

The nightmares came again one night.

You didn’t remember much of it but you saw the fire, you heard the screams, and you saw Quaritch. That was enough to shake you from your sleep. The sky was still dark and the forest was quiet. It had to have been early dawn or perhaps you hadn’t really slept that long, you could never tell with these days. Besides, you were honestly surprised you were able to sleep with how sore you’ve been lately.

Neytiri was still fast asleep. But the spot next to her was empty. This was a first. Usually, when you woke up from a nightmare like now, you looked to the others to find comfort in their presence. Sometimes finding Jake’s hand and weaving your fingers through them, squeezing his fingers until you were able to fall back to sleep. But now, Jake was missing. And you were a little curious and worried at the same time.

Carefully, you slipped out of the hammock, careful not to wake the others as you did. As quietly as you could, you wandered away in search of your husband. Fortunately, you did not have to wander too far. You found him near a small river, sharpening his blade when you approached.

His hair was down and curtaining his face when you squatted down next to him. Jake’s ear twitched, telling you he heard you coming. 

For a moment, neither of you said anything. Instead you watched him carefully, trying to read his expressions which you’ve found yourself learning with the time you’ve spent with him.

“Talk to me, Jake.” You say quietly for him to hear. “And don’t lie. I can tell when something’s bothering you.”

Jake sighed and stopped his movements with sharpening the knife. You placed a hand on his tense shoulder as he spoke, “Earth’s dying. That hasn’t changed no matter how we look at it.” You frowned as he looked at you, worry written on his tired features. It looked like he hadn’t slept, not just now, but for a while. You wondered how long this had been happening and why you hadn’t noticed until now. “They could come back someday, Y/N. And I don’t…I don’t know what I would do if our family had to be put through war. If we had to be put through another war.” He grabbed your hand, placing the blade in it, “I don’t know what I would do if I lost them. Or you lose you again because of it. So, please…” He ducked his head down to look at the knife he placed in your hand, whispering, “please tell me I’m being paranoid. Tell me that I have nothing to worry about. Tell me that it’s all in my head…”

Your heart was heavy. And your silence was enough of an  answer. 

God, you wished you could tell him he was being paranoid, that you were also being paranoid with all these nightmares. But there was some form of truth, some part of you that always knew—or was worried about the day the Sky People would return. Because Jake was right. Earth was dying. And now that the Sky People knew about Pandora, there was no way in hell they were just going to let what happened those years ago go.

Not thinking about it, trying to focus on the positives, didn’t make it any less true. But you would try. You had decided since you had gotten your second chance that you weren’t going to waste this new life away, constantly worrying about dangers and what you had to do to prevent it from harming your family. Yes, it was always good to be prepared, but you couldn’t allow yourself to fall into a constant cycle of worry. And you wouldn’t allow it for Jake either.

When Jake saw that you hadn’t responded, he sighed and faced the river with a long look. You placed the blade down and scooted closer to him, until your sides were pressed together, feeling each other’s warmth in the chilly night air.

“If that day were to come,” His jaw clenched at your words but you hugged his arm, comforting him as you continued, “I know you will protect this family no matter what. I know that Neytiri would protect this family no matter what. And I know I will as well. And if we did have another war—”

“I don’t want to fight.” Jake shook his head, massaging his face exhaustedly. “And I sure as hell don’t want our children fighting. I just…I’m done fighting. I’m done with war. I’m done with losing people…all I want to do is cherish every moment I spent with this family…but then I realize that this clan needs to be prepared, needs to be protected in case that day does come—”

“And when that day comes, we will be prepared.” You assured him, squeezing his arm as you did. “Jake, I understand you. Believe me, I do. There is not a single day that goes by where I don’t think about what would happen if the Sky People came back…these days it’s been too often…”

There was a quiet pause between the both of you. After a few seconds of hesitating, you took his hand and slowly guided it toward your stomach. Jake instantly looked toward you, eyes wide when he realized, when he felt your stomach.

“I went to see Mo’at earlier today.” You said simply, a slow smile reaching your lips.

Jake grabbed your face, pressing a kiss against your lips before pulling away to stare at you with a mixture of disbelief, happiness, and utter worry. “W-When…When did you know?”

You shrugged, looking down at your stomach, “I didn’t feel much like myself yesterday. Thought I was sick at first so I went to Mo’at today just to give me some medicine. Then she told me I was pregnant—”

Your words turned to a small squeal when Jake lifted you up into a hug, the both of you now standing. “I love you so much!” He said breathlessly, pressing his face into your neck once he put you down. “I can’t believe it…”

“You’re not nervous?” You asked, despite yourself. Jake pulled away slightly to look at you curiously. “I mean—do you think I will be a good mother?”

Jake smiled softly, caressing your cheek, “I can’t believe you don’t see what I see. You’ll be an amazing mother, Doc. I know that for certain.”

Teary eyed, you pulled him back into a hug, allowing yourself to relish this moment of happiness. “We’re going to be okay. That I believe.”

He pressed a long kiss against your cheek before muttering against your skin, “Hopefully it’s twins.”

You cocked your head back, “Shut up, Sully.”

“What? I was a twin! It’s about time I had some!”

“You’re out your damn mind!”

taglist: @luvvfromme @sully-stick-together @jakesullylvr @s-u-t @ssc7514 @cheari @tojigirll @nyotamalfoy @perfectprofessorloverapricot @naityelen @dumb-fawkin-bitch @raggedyoldwitch @nhemmingsf @biooiuygjjgfsrb @thatsenoughformelol @thotd-f1 @beaniebeensbaby201 @theoriginalwife000 @3leni @23victoria @lovesickollie @atxara @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @ladylovegood-69 @lovekeeh @lilithmoon14512 @n7cje @fyfy-world @cleverzonkwombatsludge @goddesslilithmoriarty @itszzmoon @eternallyvenus @bajadotcom @ducks1188 @alexandra-0011 @sweetllamaparadise @padfootsvixenn @avatarmasterlistblog

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What would a cw adaptation of Harry Potter look like?

Having not watched too many cw shows myself (I just hear about their nonsense), I phoned @therealvinelle who made the poor life choices of having watched much more of The Vampire Diaries than I have and watching any Supernatural.

The following is her beautiful response:

So for starters, we merge Snape and Tom's characters. This is because Snape isn't hot, and because Tom needs to be near the kids. Tom still looks like Tom Riddle, and he's a teacher who seduces Hermione. At no point are any thoughts about the fact that he's a teacher sleeping with a student had

Harry is a blond now, and he's also dating Hermione. A love triangle ensues, one where Tom will hover sexily but dangerously in empty classrooms and make vague threats that Hermione find very sexually arousing.

The love triangle is the focal point of this show.

Voldemort is Tom's evil alter ego, who killed Harry's parents over that prophecy. He wants to kill Harry as well, but it's not the season finale yet so he's not actually doing anything about it. Too busy seducing Hermione.

Instead he just does vaguely sinister things, like release a basilisk that Harry heroically saves Hermione from.

He every so often has charged conversations with McGonagall (Who has been aged down and is in her thirties. She's still considered ancient), implying they had an affair once.

Harry and Hermione piece together that Tom and Voldemort aRe ThE sAmE pErSoN.

(Piece together meaning that Dumbledore, who only appeared in the second half of the first season and the show never bothers to clarify what his job actually is, gets a focal episode where he tells them the story of Tom Riddle through flashbacks. Terrible flashback wigs and costumes galore.)

Tom will later, in season 3 where he goes full woobie and we learn that none of his evil deeds were ever his fault, reveal that there's more to the story. That orphanage he grew up in? It was a special school for muggle-borns where they trained a future wizarding militia. Tom was the only one who broke free of their oppressive regime. The other children... GREW UP TO BECOME THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

But I'm skipping how season 1 ended. The answer is that Hermione disavowed Tom in the season 1 finale since he was evil, he was too sexy bad boy to care except subtle wigglings of his eyebrow told the captive Tomione-shipping audience that he did in fact care. Harmione shippers think they're all delusional. She then jumped into Harry's arms.

Which was poor decision making on her end, because in season 2 Harry joins the dark side. This lasts for half a season, mostly because the arc featured so much filler. Tom, who was imprisoned in season 1, becomes Hermione's supportive pen pal through this ordeal and she starts to wonder if maybe there's good in him after all.

Sirius Black is introduced, he's a lawyer living in the Muggle world and he was in love with Lily. We get a flashback showing us how sad Sirius was when she married James, and there is buildup for an arc where Harry's paternity will be questioned. This arc is scrapped, and Sirius is written out of the show altogether, never to be mentioned again.

Ginny gets pregnant by Neville. Neville dies tragically shortly afterwards, killed by Harry because Harry is a dark wizard now. This is actually the spinoff door episode to the new show the CW is trying to launch, "The Weasleys".

Neville's death has no real consequences, Harry returns to the light and is forgiven in time to become the child's godfather.

Oh, and can't believe I forgot: they've all been aged up to 17.

End of season 2, Tom escapes prison.

Season 3, we get the whole "DUMBLEDORE is the real villain!" arc. Tom killing Harry's parents in season 1 is forgotten, the show doesn't outright retcon it but it doesn't want the viewers to remember it either.

Hermione is once again in a love triangle, only this time Tom and Harry have both done bad things (but we'll only bring up the 2 bad things Harry did (killed Neville and said a mean thing to Hermione) and none of the 282985204592 bad things Tom did) so Hermione has a hard time.

Hermione also discovers that she's a uniquely powerful witch. She has the power to make windows shatter, candles flicker, and wind blow all about. Everyone is frightfully impressed with this.

Mid-season 3 finale, Dumbledore destroys Tom's body. It's terribly dramatic, but then turns out to only be a mild inconvenience as he is resurrected four episodes later. He's resurrected by Hermione's window shattering powering, she closed her eyes very intensely and bam, he's back.

We learn about the horcruxes, which by themselves are shockingly similar to the horcruxes of the original books. The big change, however, is that this Tom didn't know he had horcruxes, those evil bastards at the orphanage split his soul in the night through ominous rituals (another flashback here). He has no idea where this other half of his soul is.

Season finale, we learn that Hermione is in fact his horcrux. This is why they had so much in common (they don't have anything in common) and why she got through his bad boy persona (he hasn't been a bad boy since season 1!). They were soulmates this whole time!

Harry despairs in the face of this, and he and Hermione have a teary conversation where she confirms that yes, the Tomione shippers won.

He also has a pleasant conversation with Tom, as a bromance has bloomed between the two.

Alas. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, as the door flings open dramatically. Dumbledore walks in, bearing proof that Tom made an Unbreakable Vow to always serve the Order, a Vow that was obliviated from him. He drags Tom kicking and screaming away from a crying Hermione, the season ends with her resolve to find a way to save him.

(Sorry, I'm on a roll here)

Season 4, a year later. Harry and Hermione have been searching ever since Tom disappeared. They've become closer than ever, but apart from three or four moments of extreme sexual tension per episode, Hermione is Faithful™

News of Tom's terrorist actions as an Order member reach them with regular intervals. Hermione remains convinced that he's being forced to do all this and doesn't actually want to hurt anybody, Harry's not so sure.

They catch up to him in Minneapolis (did I mention this entire show takes place in the states? All the actors are American.) and he tells them to stop trying to save him. Hermione, devastated, takes this to mean he never loved her, he was only ever a psychopath playing with her feelings. She tells him as much, and Tom confirms, yeah, he's a cold-hearted son of a bitch (Harry's favorite insult for him).

They break up, and Hermione gets back with Harry. They return to their home city in North Dakota.

At the very end of that same episode, Tom is able to visit Harry for 15 seconds in the form of a specter and very dramatically tell him how he does love Hermione but he's not good for her, better to make a clean break, yada yada. DON'T LOOK FOR ME.

Harry agrees, sure no problem, he can do that. Just one noble bro to another.

Tom nods, thanks for having sex with my girl while I rot in hell, bro.

It is in this same season premier episode that the show introduces the Blacks. Remember Sirius Black? Yeah, this is sexy family.

They become instant fan favorites, and one of them is shipped with Tom (the fans now hate both Harry and Hermione).

Pandering as always, the show lets said character run into Tom. And it's not Bellatrix, oh no. It's Athena, a CW original Black. She's indistinguishable from the original Bellatrix and it's unclear why she's not just Bellatrix.

Tom is ordered to kill her, but they have a moment of truly intense eye contact so he only injures her (the killing curse doesn't exist in this show. Don't ask how Harry got his scar. No really, don't ask, the show never explained it). Shippers go wild.

Tom is eventually able to break free of the Unbreakable Vow through the power of true love (book fans are sobbing, this show gets nothing right), and he returns to Hermione, begs her to take him back. She rebuffs him, and he goes to get drunk at a bar. This is where Narcissa (aged down to 25) finds him. They have sex.

He has a brief fling with her, only to get into a more serious relationship with Athena. This leads to Hermione getting jealous.

We're now dealing with a love pentagon, of sorts. Harry and Tom love Hermione, Tom also loves Athena, Narcissa wants Harry but she has undeniable sexual chemistry with Tom.

The show descends into back-and-forth-ing, and does not get renewed.

The end.

POST SCRIPT:

The oddly popular side character that the CW never wanted to be popular at all and keeps having to make mysteriously vanish for half a season so that the plot(?) can avoid being derailed is Draco.

He's super competent but the show will never admit that.

Later, Athena plays this same role.

- @therealvinelle

[plutonicmirror]

Zero Hour (1994) #0 [and Zero Hour in general]

Let’s continue my Zero Hour first reading. After skipping some filler tie-in issues, I reached the finale. Again, funny numbering gimmick with a 0 issue. I think Marvel also had something similar with their -1 issues back then. Oh, the 90s!

Hal Jordan Parallax reveals his master plan: “I’m gonna erase the universe so hard, I’m gonna create a new one where everything is right and everyone is happy™”. Classic case of a hero reacting to tragedy the readers are supposed to know about the Emerald Twilight story arc, but I’m LARPing as a snot-eating 10yo in 1994 who just started reading comics and doesn’t have enough attention span to know the lore with absurd amounts of cope and a plan that sounds extremely good on paper, but that other heroes must oppose because morality yadda yadda yadda. Looking at you, Injusticeverse.

Shout-out to my man Danger, a D-lister that was brought to the final fight fOr a ReAsOn. I’m gonna be honest, I skipped his tie-in because I couldn’t give a fuck about who he was. I usually like me some B/C/D/Z listers, but I also don’t give a fuck about DC’s Titans and his book was apparently tied to that whole mess so I was like “meh, next”. I mean, this young dude is a nobody right....?

*one trip to a comics wiki later*

Oh...

Ahem, moving on. The Spectre shows up looking for REVENGE after all of the JSA folks get ultra aged up or straight up deleted from existence, even though they had previously asked him for help and he was like “nah that’s human bullshit, I ain’t movin’ any finger”. Good job, asshole.

So yeah, remember our D-lister? Turns out his power (which is absorbing energy and making explosions) is specifically needed to counter Parallax’s new Big Bang. So our heroes’ plan is...to recreate the universe exactly as it was. So basically Parallax’s plan but done by them because fuck you Parallax, you don’t get to play God. Except...it doesn’t come out exactly as it was, because there’s “““subtle changes”““. In a meta way, this event was supposed to be a soft reboot to fix some of the fuckery that Crisis on Infinite Earths (a big event I haven’t read yet out of fear) caused. Was it accomplished? According to Comic Pop’s Back Issues video on this event... it kind of wasn’t. Sidenote, I highly recommend that channel’s Back Issues series, after reading an event it’s fun to watch a recap that adds background bits for the uncultured (like me) even if I sometimes feel the critique of the host is too harsh.

A not-Killing-Joke’d Batgirl from another timeline who temporarily sided with Parallax because she was doing her best “I want to be a real boy” Pinocchio impersonation got killed in the heat of the moment, so the other normal-powered hero in the room (Green Arrow) gets pissed at his former bestie. After this whole event he ragequits btw and apparently a common joke is that many readers think that should be the standard reaction to the whole thing.

Parallax is seemingly killed but it’s comics so he’ll be fine, trust the process. If I recall correctly, Hal gets to be the new Spectre for a while [*Vietnam flashbacks of Identity Crisis*]. I forgot to mention that the current Green Lantern of the time Kyle Rayner and Wally West were also “killed off”. Again, they’ll be fine. I just didn’t care enough to read a wiki and find out how they come back. But that bit brings us to this “oh yeah, that happened” moment:

Power Girl was pregnant and gave birth to a baby with the help of Wonder Woman who conveniently decided to play midwife instead of stepping up to the threath. Bue hey, guess who also was sort of born in the aftermath of this event? That’s right, I was! So surely that means that baby is a very important char-

Whoops, nevermind.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE WHOLE EVENT:

“7/10 it was alright” - IGN.

The contrarian in me doesn’t hate it like most nerds out there do, but it’s certainly not the greatest event ever written. Granted I went in without knowledge of a lot of stuff, like how was I supposed to make sense of what was happening in the Hawkman tie-in issue aka the whole “let’s try to solve the problem of having multiple origins for this character by literally merging them all into one” thing? How could I know what CoIE fuckery needed to be fixed if I don’t know the big impact of CoIE besides Supergirl being killed off (this fact is cultural osmosis at this point)? Did it matter to me in the long run? Not really, because it’s not like I feel compelled to keep reading DC continuity and make sense of it for the time being. The art was good, the colors were pretty, the Parallax suit was rad, the pose Ollie made at the end was Jojo-esque and dramatic, Batman fucking off from the final fight via being killed was good.

Now, the tie-ins. Some of them were fun, some of them were a drag to read because I had no idea of background info for most of them. Almost all of the Superman tie-ins were fun to read with the exception of Steel because I was tired of wiki-hunting when I reached his issue, shout out to the alternate Jor-El and Lara, the Alpha Centurion and the “Superman tries to save the Kents during the chronal rift” stories (Superman vol. 2 #93, Adventures of Superman #516, Action Comics #703 respectively). The Legion of Superheroes and adjacent issues were extremely confusing to me as a casual but oddly engaging. I had no idea what was happening but it was sort of fun. It revived my itch to read LoSH comics even if I’m still feeling overwhelmed at the mere thought of going further with that task. Oh yeah, the silent Green Arrow issue was a lot of fun! (Green Arrow vol. 2 #90).

The characters introduced were a mixed bag. On one hand we have Bart Allen aka Impulse, who was created in the prequel to this event and was sort of interesting. But then the chronal rift time erasure bullshit happens and since he’s from the 30th century he basically does nothing of importance... Alpha Centurion, as I mentioned, was a fun read in his Adventures issue but in the core event he was... a convenient minion. Thriumph? Thriump was an annoying character, one of those “oh yeah he was totally there in the beggining of the big team but the big name characters just don’t remember tee hee!”. Don’t worry though, he would later die of a cold. Or something like that. Extant felt edgy throughout most of the core issues and the tie-ins, he really had that Madara Uchiha endgame villain energy...until he was revealed to be just a pawn that was just rebelling. And then he fucks off. Shout-out to this specific goofy panel:

Tie-in issues skipped: Anima #7, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #31, Damage #6, Robin vol. 2 #10, Showcase ‘94 #10, Steel #8, Team Titans #24 (yeah, this team got erased from existence and I just couldn’t care), The Darkstars #24. Also skipped: all of the Zero Month aftermath gimmick #0/soft reboot issues.

New Year’s resolution when it comes to DC? I’ll get around reading the 70s Green Arrow and Green Lantern book. Ever since I found some academic paper on it that mentioned the words environmentalism and malthusian I was like “ok wtf I have to read this”.

Tytyty for reading my blog.

[azulawriting]

The Fullbring arc, oh boy

Recently, I watched a video essay detailing how the fullbring arc was, in fact, the best arc in Bleach. The reasons given were somewhat compelling before I read the arc. I mean, I don’t think I could’ve enjoyed the Soul Society arc as much as I did if it wasn’t for the Substitute Shinigami arc, which still is, to me, the main reason why I got hooked on this show/manga. I daresay that the first arc of Bleach is even more enjoyable in manga format. There’s a bunch of cut content that makes it all the more addicting to me, even now.

When it comes to my impressions of the Fullbring arc in the anime, I was surprised to know it wasn’t yet another filler arc. I think that, like many others back then, ending Bleach after Aizen’s defeat was a good decision. It was the culmination of the story, and I really wasn’t sure where the story would even go after it. The Fullbring Arc was interesting as a time skip and how Ichigo would deal with being a completely normal human being while all his friends were not, but I would not have “dragged it” for an entire arc, however brief it could be.

My feelings towards this arc have somewhat changed with the manga, but not that much. I think that, in hindsight, it is a necessary arc for TYBW and it introduces a “power-up” for characters like Orihime and Chad, which will become useful for the upcoming arc. I think Ichigo’s introspection about where he would go with no powers is rather powerful, and it gets to shine a little bit more in the manga, but it is not part of my favourite arcs in this manga. Again, I don’t think the magic of the Substitute Shinigami arc will ever be reached again, though I will admit the Fullbring Arc gets very close.

I will give the manga credit where it’s due in that it made the stakes about Ichigo’s character and how poorly he could handle ever coming back to being a nobody, basically. I think it’s something not a lot of shonen manga have tackled something as heavy as “what would happen if MC lost his powers but the threats didn’t stop?”. His dependence on Ginjo and Execution built a good betrayal plotline but, and I do feel bad to say this, I don’t find any of the new characters all that enjoyable. And that’s my main issue with it. The first arc introduced a varied and interesting cast of side characters, but there’s not much of that in this arc. Tsukishima is somewhat interesting as a villain due to his power, but not much else. The same goes for the rest of Execution, who, at least to me, don’t stray too far from being tropes.

It’s a shame, really. I appreciated the flashbacks for Ginjo and Tsukishima in particular, but man do I wish we had more. Then again, that would have perhaps played against the mystery/betrayal plotline that was decently built over the span of the arc.

I don’t think I’ll continue reading the manga from this point on. I hated the Quincy arc for how rushed and outright bad it was. The anime is airing right now and I’m honestly more interested in revisiting the arc by watching the adaptation. From what I’ve heard, Kubo has the reins and will add some anime-original content to improve the arc. So far, I like the anime and I hope a certain captain does not miraculously come back to the battlefield. If he does, for any reason at all, I’ll have to wonder if the rest of the arc will be improved or just rehash the mistakes from the manga. I don’t want it to come to that.

Before I finish this post, I wanted to add one last thing. Since I mentioned Kazui in my first post ever about bleach in this blog, I do plan on making an even longer rant on the Hell chapter and my problems with it, as well as speculate as to where it could go, assuming it ever gets another chapter. I might do this old blog justice again and write something short for the Hell arc, but I doubt I will even get the time for it. We’ll see.

[paranoidpoltergeist]

Transformers: Cyberverse Review (2/2)

So I finally watched cyberverse and figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and do my review while I was at it instead of having to rewatch it later. This ended up being so much longer than I expected and I tried to look back over it to the best of my ability but I wrote these directly after finishing each season so at some very odd hours of the day if anything is worded weirdly sorry about that. Please keep in mind this is my opinion and you might not agree:) Season 3:

Lemme start this off by saying I was so excited to see G1-Esque Laserbeak again but the absolute BUTCHERING of my boy drifts character. I was so sad dude, let him have his redemption arc:( plus Hot Rod, Cheetor, and Shockwave dying?! Not even right. I also lied because episode 5 of this season is the most confusing thing I’ve ever seen. I am so completely lost. How is Hot Rod back? What is even happening? Is that squid thing a Quintessons? Two of which were partially answered. Next episode we find out what happened with Hot Rod and you’ll notice one great detail here that was missing from season 2 THEY EXPLAIN WHAT WAS GOING ON.

 So far the pacing feels a lot better even if the random time skip is a bit odd, BUT WIRL IS HERE AND HE’S GREAT. STUNTICONS well Stunticon, Dead End is great, I love his design even though I had no idea it was him at first. I don’t know if Hot Rod's voice actor had a cold or something while they were recording this but he was just constantly whispering and it made it so hard to take him seriously bc he’d be yelling somebodies name and it just sounded so flat. I didn’t think I’d like Perceptor at first but I ended up liking him a lot, Soundwave as always was great. I figure I’ll have a soft spot for this version for a long time, now if they’d just let him have all his cassettes back.

 As of episode 12, Skywarp has been name-dropped once, and while I think I know which one she is she hasn’t been introduced yet and I’m on my hands and knees absolutely begging rn PLEASE let us have Skywarp. SPOILER ALERT SHE NEVER SAYS ANYTHING. I am devastated, Skywarp has got to be one of my favorite characters so every time I hear his name mentioned anywhere near a show or movie I get straight giddy bc we see Skywarp less than TC which honestly is a feat so you can imagine how sad I was when after being name-dropped AS THE COMMANDER she doesn’t get a single voice line. Finally, get TC and Warp and have them ripped away. L. In other news, have I mentioned that Starscream’s upgrades are the goofiest yet? Because they are. Judge Starscream has got to be the single worst thing to come out of any piece of transformers media like ever.

 When I tell you I gasped when Megatron admitted he mistreated Starscream, never in a million years did I see that coming. I mean part of it is that Screamer got power-hungry, that his ambitions were too large, that he went a little crazy along the way, but part of it was that he was hurt. Does that excuse him deciding his entire world needed to be destroyed? No definitely not. I feel a character study coming along, but this isn’t the time or place so instead, I’LL TELL YOU HOW HYPED I WAS TO SEE ASTROTRAIN AND THE INSECTICONS. Hey, I’ll let you guess which faction is my favorite lol. The rest of this season is straight goofy and it’s mostly filler. Wild Wild Wheel, in particular, is one I want to touch on. It’s surprising how often the media does this but, as hurt as I know I’d be if I was left behind by my team I feel like you’d also have to realize well it’s war and casualties are in abundance. Someone goes missing and you usually have to assume they’re dead.  The last episode was a bit weird but it was alright. In the end, this season wasn't bad at all but I do wish they'd cut it off at episode 18 and said the rest was season 4 or something. 7/10

Season 4:

This season was weird and I loved it and hated it. The first episode was great but the second one dude I’m so sad. I wish Astrotrain had more screen time I feel like he could have been a super cool character but alas he’s the 207th Decepticon gone. They killed the entirety of high command I was clinging to Soundwave and they VAPORIZED HIM. The way he went out was so sick but man you could have let us have at least one. 

 Now to the actual review part. I loved the Dinobots it was a different take on their story and I liked it. Letting them be an actual combiner was cool but Soundblaster destroying literal planets over a beatbox competition is the funniest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. The story flowed pretty well honestly, though I almost immediately knew what they were doing when Tarn showed up. The look my mom gave when I screamed “IS THAT TARN?!” was great but I did NOT expect the Megatron bashing they had him do lol. It’s a little hard to compare this season with the others because it's so different but I liked it, it was enjoyable. 6.5/10

  

How my system works:

When I do these reviews I base them on a couple of things 1.) What made it different 2.) How enjoyable is it 3.) How’s the plot, pacing, character designs, etc? So while I might really like a character there’s still a chance I’ll dock points because they didn’t just create a new character altogether instead of just stealing a name.

What makes it different?

Most of the changes they made were good. I loved 90% of the design changes, I even really liked the way they used the plot and what we already know from the original story. As confusing as our initial time skip is, it's not hard to fill in the blanks with any other continuities time on earth. So we skip the stuff we already know and instead get new stuff, which kept me interested! However, this part could have been really hard to understand for new viewers. Their approach to the Quintessons was a tad weird but it worked so I’m not complaining. 7.5/10

How enjoyable is it?

It was pretty good. I liked it and despite them killing off half the characters I liked I never felt like throwing my phone down and not watching anymore. It kept me interested and for the most part, it wasn't way too easy to guess exactly what was gonna happen. The number of characters they’d name-drop just to never use physically hurt me and sometimes I’d get frustrated with how they used certain characters or how they set something up or their weird time skips but so I’d pause it, get up to grab some water or something and get right back to it. Which for me is pretty good. 6.5/10

How’s the plot?  

Despite the plotholes, the plot was good. They made it different but close enough I’d still be able to tell it's Transformers if they took away the name. Sometimes the way they won *cough* cybertroniansunitething *cough* was odd but all in all, it's fine. I thought the parade loop was creative and interesting to watch. The apocalypse part was honestly my favorite but I wish Hot Rod's frustration led to something. You win some you lose some ig. 6.5/10

How was the pacing?

The pacing was ok in most episodes. (I’m looking at you Sea of Tranquility) They managed to bring back the absolute mess I feared season 2 would be so I’m giving them points for that. Again the time skips can be weird but close to every episode BUT SEA OF TRANQUILITY THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE did a pretty good job closing up those gaps for us. 6/10

How were the character designs? 

I’ve already partially touched on this but it usually needs its own section so without further ado. Two-thirds of Starscream’s upgrades are the worst, most terrible horrifying things and I hate them with a burning passion. His original design however I liked and his voice actor did a great job. I liked almost everyone's designs until the Allspark got involved EXCEPT FOR JETFIRE whose design was just ok. I’m just kinda sad he wasn’t our gentle giant. That and he was really annoying, sorry anybody who liked him. 8/10 

 Overall: I think I have more conflicting feelings over this show than I do Micheal Bay's first TMNT movie, except its none of the low expectations or nostalgia and all mild confusion. This show is… weird, it was interesting and enjoyable despite Hasbro's never-ending fear of new characters. They took an old premise and made it new even if I can never forgive them for Judge Starscream, they kept the character designs reminiscent of G1 but still kept them fresh and I really liked it. I wish they used the Titans and Insecticons more or expanded on the multiverse part and it could have been interesting to see some of the other combiners. They might have had plans to use some of that before the show got canceled but we’ll never know. 

Overall score: 6/10

[shurisneakers]

shut in [7]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: cursing, implied abuse, death, implied ptsd, injuries, broken bone, origami and paper planes

Word count: 3.7k

A/N: ONE MORE WEEK !!!!!!!!! ONE MORE WEEK !!!!!!!! also gif is somewhat related except steve isn’t there sorry to crush any hopes

i also appreciate feedback so if you would like to, please consider dropping me an ask or comment ly guys!! also if you want to be on the taglist, it’s mentioned at the bottom of the chapter.

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

“Is there a reason you’re back so early?”

Both of the men nervously glanced at each other, silently urging the other to talk. A quiet form of encouragement.

“We chec- we checked all the neighbouring towns. All your safehouses,” one of them finally sputtered up after his partner elbowed him in the ribs.

“And?”

“We coordinated with all our guys across the country to look for them-”

“All I’m hearing are a bunch of excuses,” they twirled the gun on its barrel like it was a plaything. “Get to the point.”

“No one knows where they’re hiding,” he finished, swallowing thickly. “We’re still looking though. We just thought-”

“What?” their voice was surprisingly calm. “That your little status update would impress me? That I’d feel sorry for you for working so hard?”

“N-no boss,” his partner finally pitched in, saving face for his companion who opened and shut his mouth wordlessly. “Just keeping you in the loop. We’re close, I can feel-”

“Do you remember what I told you the last time you were here?”

Both of them shut their mouths immediately. Knuckles white, nails digging into their skin as they clenched their fists shut.

“That you wanted them dead,” the first one said with faux confidence. A waver in his voice gave it away.

“Yes, but you’re forgetting the important part,” they tsk’ed, shaking their head, eyes downcast.

They didn’t give anyone a chance to react. They slammed the gun down, swiftly picking it up before taking aim at his partner’s face.

“I said I’d blow your brains out.” They pulled the trigger.

Bits of bone fragment and blood splattered across the first agent’s face. He inhaled sharply, chest rising and falling haphazardly. He had his eyes shut tightly, face away from the carcass slumped over next to him..

“I want every fucking part of this country searched,” they roared, throwing the gun to the side carelessly, leaving someone else to scurry after it. “And since it’s so fucking hard for you to finish two tasks, just get me their location.”

The agent barely nodded, looking like he was about to throw up. His partner’s blood trailed down the side of his face like sweat.

“I’ll kill them myself.”

Hugh Grant was starting to look less appealing on your 6th rewatch of Notting Hill. In fact, he was starting to blend together with the characters from Die Hard and it was becoming difficult to differentiate which part belonged to which movie.

Sam sat opposite to you at the dining table, a set of papers assigned in front of him. The TV was left on, serving as background noise and occasional fillers to substitute the lack of conversation.

“That movie is not making sense anymore,” he stated objectively.

“It stopped after the third time for me.” Your words were hushed, your focus remaining on the swan you were trying to create from scratch.

“If I hear her say ‘I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy’ one more time, I actually think I’ll projectile vomit.” You could tell that his eyes didn’t shift from the screen though. “I can feel the bile. It’s going to happen.”

You only hummed in agreement, more interested in his lamenting than the actual movie.

Although origami wasn’t one of the skills you picked up in the fucking mafia, you still knew a few basic things. The rest you just folded with confidence and prayed it would work.

What other options did you have when you were stuck together in a house with no WiFi?

Sam had made a paper bowl to hold the car keys and the few dollars you picked up from Pierce’s place. It looked like it would fall apart at any given moment, its structural integrity questionable at best.

You had made a small flower that rested on the table in front of you. You were sure it would go missing the minute a draft entered the room.

He had given up after his contribution of the bowl. Apparently his creative expertise extended only towards that and paper airplanes, not that that stopped him. He was folding and manufacturing them with a vengeance.

“How is this supposed to help, Wilson?” you questioned, unable to contain the smile that grew on your face at the sheer number of planes he was making.

“Just because it’s not a decorative marvel-” he shot back in its defence, “-doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

“Oh, yeah? What else can it do other than not fly?” You watched as he launched one of them. It did a loop before falling miserably to the floor.

“Hey, you can put a message in it. Maybe one of those button trackers, a microphone. The possibilities are endless.” He laughed, folding another one out of the limited supply of paper he had left. “Besides, your thing won’t even lift off the ground.”

“Yeah, but this one can float.” You held up the swan that you had created. That about concluded your knowledge of origami.

“That’s actually… pretty cool,” he admitted. “Teach me how to make one.”

“A true master never reveals their secrets,” you eluded, placing it on the table.

“I dare you to make another.” Sneaky bastard. He knew you wouldn’t be able to replicate it. He saw you struggle the first time.

“Why, so you can just copy off of me?” you dodged, and Sam narrowed his eyes at you. You followed the same.

Neither of you blinked for a while.

“I’m out of paper,” he finally relented, gesturing to the fleet of planes that littered the table.

“I’m out of ideas.” You paused, looking down at how you’d spent the last hour. “Do you wanna go test these outside later?”

Sam looked up eagerly and you could just tell he was intending on getting competitive. “Hell yeah.”

“I’m going for a run in some time.” You got up to stretch your limbs, shrug off the fatigue that was setting in. Along the way you left the swan and one of the paper planes on top of the mini fridge alongside the car keys. It was cute. “We could do it then?”

“Sure,” he affirmed. “What time?”

“At around 6-” your eyes landed on the clock on the wall before widening, “-shit, shit, shit, I didn't realise it was five thirty. We have a call with Ransone.”

“Phone’s on the couch,” he mentioned to the living room, sitting up straight. “Why are you freaking out? We still got a few minutes to go.”

You pushed yourself away from the table, forcing yourself to shakie off the drowsiness that had begun to set in.

“You wouldn’t get it,” you mumbled, “He gets pissy if I don’t do things his way.”

You grabbed the phone, punching in the buttons and having it at the ready.

You noticed Sam focused on you with knitted eyebrows but not voicing whatever he had on his mind.

“Ready?” you questioned, but more as a formality. You had to do it regardless.

He simply nodded, looking on as you let the phone ring. If he had noticed your antsiness towards the call, he didn’t bring it up.

Ransone picked up on the last ring, not skipping a beat in answering, “Y/N.”

“Hey Ransone.” You switched the call to speakerphone.

“Are you alone?”

You glanced at Sam. He shook his head, arms crossed over his chest, edging you to continue with the arrangement you had planned the day prior.

Ransone trusted you more. He was more likely to communicate openly if Sam wasn’t around.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Where’s the other one?”

Sam silently scoffed.

“He’s taking a nap.”

“Ah,” Ransone’s tone was condescending. “How have things been?”

“It’s fine.” You press your lips into a straight line, not elucidating. “What’s the update out there?”

“Everything is a mess. We’re trying to figure out who attacked you but since there wasn’t anything left behind or any kind of trace, it’s proving to be... inconvenient.”

“Is it safe to travel?”

“What, with your face on national television?” he laughed. “Nah, I’d say it’s a little too early to be thinkin’ of a road trip. Just stay where you are, I’ll tell you when you can come out.”

Your fingers were thrumming at the table rhythmically, peeking at Sam every now and then for anything he found suspicious or wanted you to ask about.

“Listen, we’ve paid off every big guy to keep this under wraps as much as possible but Pierce was an important person. All the higher ups want this to be solved as quickly as possible. They don’t care about sacrificing a player here or there.”

Pinning the blame on you was easy enough. The faster you were put away, the faster they could stage an “accident” in prison so that none of their secrets were exposed. Wasn’t like they hadn’t done it before.

“Others in the business aren’t likin’ us accusing them of attacking one of our own. Our best bet right now is Serpentine but we haven’t gotten anything to prove it.”

You doubted they ever would. Even if they did do it, Serpentine was notorious for being cunning and stealthy in their operations. They made sure there would be no tracks leading back to them.

“So, we’re at a dead-end,” you verified. There was no telling when this would end, your exit looking further and further away. “We’re fucked.”

“No. We’ll just- Y/N, listen to me,” Ransone called out, drawing your attention back to the call.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve always protected you,” his voice was noticeably softer. “Don’t you trust me?”

You felt the temperature in the room drop.

“You said there would be no one there!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ransone scoffed. “I never said that.”

“I walk in there and there’s four people, completely armed.” Forcing yourself to recall it was making your head spin. Maybe you could ask the nurse for a painkiller. “It was supposed to be empty.”

“I think the blood loss is making you delirious,” he chided, looking at the bag of drips hanging above your bed. “It wasn’t even that bad-”

“You’re lying.” The words slipped out before you had the chance to think it over.

“Excuse me?” he tilted his head, tone suddenly sifting to that of warning.

You knew he was. You had agreed to this mission because it was supposed to be easy. It was a break.

“Ivan was there when you briefed me.” You lifted your good arm to point at him shakily. “He knows you’re lying.”

“Does he now?” Ransone quirked an eyebrow, studying his aid who stood in the corner of the dingy hospital room.

A beat of silence passed where Ransone stared at Ivan, waiting for a reply of confirmation.

Ivan only lifted his shoulders in unawareness. “I don’t remember you sayin’ that.”

Your mouth fell agape but you quickly rushed to shut it. Fucking liars. You shouldn’t have expected anything better.

“Told you.” Ransone shrugged. “You’re a smart one, Y/N, so I’m going to let that slide this time. But next time you accuse me of something I didn’t say…”

He trailed off, resting a hand on your broken shoulder. You flinched, jaw clenched so tightly you thought your teeth might break. You tried to imagine yourself somewhere else, desperate to reduce the quivering of your body when he squeezed it lightly.

“You know I’ve always tried to protect you.” He put a finger under your chin, tilting your head to meet his eye. “Don’t you trust me?”

A beat passed before you responded.

“I do,” you said through gritted teeth, pulling your face away from him.

“I’ll ask them to up your dosage.” Ransone took a step away from you, dropping his hand. “I’m going to need my best player on the field as soon as possible.”

You didn’t acknowledge his statement. Every part of your body felt like it was going to combust.

Did he really say that no one was going to be there or was it just the injuries playing with you?

“Get well soon,” he offered, one step out the door. “Buttercup.”

“You trust me, don’t you Y/N?” he repeated when you didn’t respond.

“Yes.” You swallowed, gaze falling to the floor.

“And I trust you. You wouldn’t do anything to break that, would you?”

Sam raised his one hand questioningly as if to ask what the hell he was talking about. An intimidation tactic. He had been using it for several years to reinforce your loyalty.

“I wouldn’t.”

There were things you weren’t telling him, of course. Details about that day or where you and Sam were hiding right off the top of your head. More if you thought about it deeply.

“Good,” came his response. “So if there’s anything you need, let me know. I’m always a call away.”

“Thank you.”

“Talk to you soon.” He ended the call there.

You stood there blankly for a while before dropping the phone to the ground and crushing it. Usually you wouldn’t have to do that; removing the battery would be enough. This time you wanted to.

Your chest rose and fell heavily. You loathed him. Yet, you couldn’t fucking leave. 

“Hey.” Your eyes snapped back to Sam. “We still going on that run?”

__

The wind felt good.

Your muscles were burning and you could feel the constriction of your lungs but you liked it. The endorphins were working their charm.

Sam was right beside you, not questioning why there was so much aggression in your movement. You had lost track of how long you had been running. You couldn’t bring yourself to focus on that.

The path was paved with fallen branches and roots sticking out, forcing you to hop over some of them to avoid falling. It only annoyed you further.

You wanted to punch something. Or someone. The tension was rolling off your back in waves, and if someone saw you the’d probably believe you were going to commit an act of violence.

It was a while before you felt your steps begin to falter, the need for a proper breath taking precedence over the want to run more.

“Timeout?” you asked Sam breathlessly, slowing your pace to a jog.

“Sure about that, Usain Bolt?” he huffed, slowing his pace to match yours.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he dismissed it. “T’was fun.”

Now that you had slowed down, it forced you to come to terms with how much energy you had just burnt out.

“You wanna talk about what’s on your mind or ignore it?”

“Rather not talk about it for now.” The more you thought about him, the angrier you got. And as of late, you had realised that your method of dealing with that anger wasn’t the best.

The air was getting colder. It was getting harder to see what was in front of you, relying on the few rays of sunlight that shone through the treetops. You took a roundabout at your self declared checkpoint, changing course back to the house.

Sam followed wordlessly, but his presence was strangely comforting. Warm.

“Thank you.”

“For...” he trailed off, prodding you on.

“I don’t know. This.” You gestured to the path ahead of you. “I didn’t think you’d agree to it.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” His eyebrows knit together in puzzlement.

You didn’t have an answer to that. Probably because you weren’t used to people just doing nice things for no apparent reason.

“How are you so calm all the time? I’ve never seen him get under your skin,” you asked quietly. “How do you do it?”

He didn’t answer straight away. He mulled over it as he dodged broken sticks and upended roots on the ground. You would be fine if he didn’t answer either; as long as he knew that you appreciated it.

“I just realised that everything he put into me was destructive. Actively worked on unlearning it,” he replied after a while. “It took me years to even begin.”

You expected to hear that but it didn’t make it easier.

“I don’t even know how to start,” you mumbled. It was so tiring, even thinking of where and how it began. It was all you knew. All you were taught.

“If I could add something?”

You looked at him questioningly.

“You had a different relationship with him than all of us, Y/N. A deeper one. It’s not easy to forget that,” he pointed out. “But… you’re not him. That takes strength.”

These weren’t new revelations. It was things you had told yourself earlier to rationalise all your actions. You knew it on a surface level but it was difficult to convince yourself sincerely.

You didn’t say anything, just continued jogging with an eye on the ground. 

It felt better to hear it from someone else. A starting point to maybe get to where he was, too.

“I just can’t believe anyone took him seriously enough for him to get this far,” Sam added, a tick of annoyance in his voice. “I don’t condone bullying but someone should have just punched him in the face as a child.”

It wasn’t even the funniest thing you had heard him say but for some reason it elicited a snort from you, soon giving way to a laugh.

His face snapped to yours at the sound of your laughter, a small smile growing on his face.

His brief moment of distraction was all it took for him to not notice the tree root sticking out in front of him. His ankle got caught in the wood, sending him stumbling to the ground face forward.

“Oh shit,” you cursed, halting in your place immediately, dropping to your knees to where he was.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he groaned, turning onto his back. “I think I broke my face.”

“That may be a bit excessive but your nose is definitely bleeding,” you knew this was serious but you were finding it difficult to control your laughter once you realised it wasn’t a life threatening injury.

“Just leave me here to die.” He covered his eyes with his elbow, refusing to look at you.

“C’mon, Wilson. Let’s get you fixed up.” You stood up, offering your hand. He grabbed onto it, hoisting himself up.  “Can you stand up straight? Do you think you have a concussion?”

“World class assassin,” he grumbled, shaking his head to imply he was fine other than a possible broken nose.

“Promise I won’t tell. Your reputation is safe,” you said it humorously but with conviction, hoping to make it less embarrassing for him. Not that you’d let him forget it any time soon.

It took longer to walk back considering how far you had ventured out, along with the fact that you had to guide him as he held his nose in the air to try and control the bleeding.

You pushed open the door to the house, holding it open as he walked in. Sam made his way to the dining room after you told him you’d get the first aid kit for the second time during your stay there.

By the time you returned from the bathroom, grabbing an old t-shirt along the way, he had a single ice cube pressed to the bridge of his nose.

“That’s not going to be enough.” You dropped the kit onto the table, opening the mini fridge. You emptied the ice cubes from the tray onto the t-shirt, twisting it into a small ice pack.

“These are my battle scars.” You could tell that he was trying not to use his nose. He sounded ridiculous. 

“Whatever makes you feel better, Sam,” you chortled. His mouth eased into a half smile and you didn’t get why until you realised it was the first time you had called him by his name. You didn’t acknowledge it, surprised by how easily it slipped out from your mouth when you weren’t actively stopping it.

You gave him a bit of cotton to wipe off the blood that had dried on his face.

“Look up,” you instructed, standing over him so you could assess the damage. He complied, letting you cradle his jaw softly, tilting his head to see if there were any signs of a fracture or anything worse.

It was a bad fall, but nothing he hadn’t been through before in terms of severeness. It wasn’t going to leave a mark.

“Definitely going to bruise but it’s not broken,” you concluded, going over it once more to make sure.

“Thanks, doc,” his voice came softly from below you. Only then did you realise how close you were standing to him. You could feel his breath on your wrist that was still caressing his face.

It felt like eternity, but he didn’t make an effort to move or shove you away. Your eyes flitted down to his lips for a second. If you just leaned dow-

“Right,” you cleared your throat, taking a step back. “Just hold this to your face for a while to reduce any swelling.”

You handed him the makeshift ice pack, feeling the heat creep up your neck.

“Your turn to use the bed tonight, right?” His voice was significantly lower than what it had been a few minutes ago, something you weren’t acclimated to hearing. It only made your face feel hotter.

“Yeah.” You avoided meeting his eyes, using the time to close the first aid kid. “Unless you want it.”

“No, go ahead.”

It was too early to retire for the evening but suddenly you weren’t all that hungry anymore. Apparently neither was he.

“See you tomorrow, then?” you inquired, turning away before he could see you cringe.

“See you tomorrow,” he confirmed, “Good night.”

You just gave him a short wave over your shoulder and physically restrained from walking to the room, shutting the door and never looking at him again. You hoped he didn’t notice or at least never bring it up if he did.

You couldn’t do this. Not again.

Not when you knew the consequences.

Next part

[xmyshya]

summary: Terushima is here for you. As he’s always been. You just haven’t noticed. genre: fluff, a bit of angst in the beginning warnings: mentions of being neglected (not by characters) betas: @vanille--kiss thank you so much, I love you my birdie! special thanks: @prismatales​ for this beautiful banner! I love you baby a/n: This work is a part of HQHQ server collab with the prompt “When will I be someone’s first choice? Tell me, when?” Check the event’s masterlist here! wc: 674

Terushima is in the middle of dressing up for the date, when he’s interrupted by a violently ringing doorbell. He’s not expecting any guests, and for a moment he considers pretending he’s not home. Curiosity eventually wins, which he’s grateful for, because behind the door he sees you. In tears. To embrace you is what he wants to do, “it would be crossing a line” is what he thinks.

“Come in.” is what he says.

You go to his room and plop on the bed, before noticing clothes everywhere. On a Friday evening. Shit, you didn’t even ask if he had plans, which, of course he did. Yuuji joins you in the middle of your frenzy, with two cups of your favourite hot chocolate, and shuts the door with the heel.

“I uhh, I didn’t know you were busy, I’m sorry, I- I’ll go now, so-” “Oi, babygirl, you’re not going anywhere.” “But I don’t want to interrupt your outing!” “Too late, already cancelled.” “Yuuji…” “Y/N~...”

“So, what happened?”

The faux blonde asks like the best friend that he is, after you take a few sips of the drink and calming down a little. Though, in contrast, feeling your head leant on his shoulder makes him feel agitated.

“He…”

Oh good, your boyfriend did something. He’s mentally scolding himself for being hopeful, this is not about him.

“He went to her. Again.” Sniff.

“We were supposed to go,” sniff “on a date, but he…” sniff “she asked him for help and he cancelled. Third time this week.”

Yuuji is quickly eyeing your form and notices you’re wearing a cute dress. For the date, probably. He wouldn’t let it go to waste, if you were his.

“Didn’t he also bail on you last week?”

Ah, he shouldn’t have said that. Your choked sob confirms. Truth is, it wasn’t just last week. He’s been calling off some of your meetings for a little more than 3 months now, only lately so frequently. The excuses? “Sorry babes, friends invited me to a gaming night.”, “I know we were supposed to watch this movie tonight, but there’s this party and I really wanna go.”, “I know you’re not feeling well, honey, but she needs me more.” You’ve had enough.

“Yeah, and today… Today I told him that I was his girlfriend, that I needed him more than some chick.” “Atta girl!” “So we fought and he… he dumped me.”

You bawl out your eyes onto his shoulder, staining one of his favourite shirts. Terushima doesn’t mind, all that matters is that he has you wrapped tightly in his arms. Even for a price of a few snots on the fabric.

“And it’s always like this, always! Everyone just treats me like a time filler and runs whenever an opportunity comes!” “Hey, that’s not true, babygirl.” “Is it so hard? Would you give up parties and all the other girls for someone?” “I would, for you.”

He didn’t mean to say it out loud.

“When will I be someone’s first choice? Tell me, when?”

You realise what he just said and raise your head to look him in the eyes. His gaze is soft, as he brushes wet hair off of your face, wipes tears with his finger.

“You’ve always been my first choice.”

Memories flash in your mind. Terushima leaving a party, because you called him and said you were scared of going back home from your friend’s house alone. Him going with you to see a movie he hated, when his teammates were having a gathering. Skipping practice to tutor you for a test you were anxious about. And just now, he cancelled another date, just to hear you cry about your now ex-boyfriend. Maybe your feelings for him that you’ve been trying to suppress for so long, are mutual. Maybe you don’t have to suppress them anymore, because, you realise, you’ve always been his first choice. And it’s time to choose him too.

“Yuuji?” “Yes, babygirl?” “I choose you, too.” “What am I, a pokemon?”

[roger-that-cap]

weatherman

at first, you loved the words on your body that connected you to your soulmate, your one and only. but the older you got, the more annoying and mocking they became. what weirdo sings rhianna when they first meet their soulmate, anyway?

steve rogers x fem!reader

soulmate au!

word count: 1.7k, she’s a baby :,)

warnings: none besides the fact that this was written in an hour and a half, flufff!

By the time you were old enough to read, the song wasn’t out yet. At the time, you had no idea it was a song, of course, and the words were still cute. It sounded like you had a sweet soulmate. You thought of your soulmate coming to you in a million different ways in your imaginative little brain every single time it rained.

But when you were eight years old, the song came out. And then, you were teased for your words relentlessly. They started to hum the song when you walked by. Someone drew you a picture of a raindrop. One kid was even bold enough to laugh right in your face and tell you that Rihanna herself was your soulmate.

And every morning, you would turn on your side, lift your arm up, and look at the words inscribed in semi-neat cursive, your soulmate’s writing.

You can stand under my umbrella

Who even said that? It was so… cheesy. As the years went by, you doubted that it was rain at all that made the words come out of your soulmate’s mouth. By the time you were in high school, you were certain that it was a pick up line. You no longer longingly stared at every rain shower that happened.

Even though you had a certain, tiny disdain for whoever was behind the words, you knew that you missed them in a way that you didn’t understand fully yet. Perhaps the reason was that everyone else around you was happy with their other halves, living perfect lives with the person destined for them, but you knew that wasn’t their fault that you didn’t have yours. By the end of high school, most people already met their soulmates. You didn’t have yours yet, and it was your second year of college. Naturally, you started to worry.

What if they didn’t exist at all?

The possibility of not having a soulmate and just having filler words in the form of a Rihanna song plagued you every day, and the thought only got stronger when it rained. When you were younger, rain meant good luck, and it was your comfort weather. Now, all it brought was the cold and negative thoughts.

§§

It was your lucky day, because it was quite literally pouring while you served the drenched customer her coffee. You watched her yank the door open and rush towards her car through the glass windows, and you swore under your breath when you remembered something.

Your car was in the shop, and you were supposed to be walking home from work. That meant walking home in the torrential downpour.

You sighed and shook your head, leaning over the counter and already anticipating getting ultimately drenched on your short walk home.

Your boss let you go home early and started closing shop, and you didn’t know if you wanted to thank her or send her the bird for not letting you wait out the storm. She had never let you go home early before, not once in the entire history of you working there. It was unusual. You had full intentions of asking her if she had a hot date, but she started to turn off the lights before you could ask her what made her want to do something nice for once.

You shook your head again as you realized that you didn’t even have a hood or jacket or even worse, and umbrella. You sighed and braced for the cold, yanking the door open and folding your arms, pushing through the uncomfortable feeling of the cold, wet rain with your head down.

You got caught at a crosswalk and had to watch cars fly by. Of course you did. There were footsteps behind you, and you sighed and regretted the second that you stomped your foot, looking up to the sky and letting the rain hit you right in the face. “This is the worst fucking day of my life.”

There was a gasp from beside you and you didn’t even open your eyes. You assumed that whoever it was, was offended by your language. “Sorry,” you said, but you didn’t sound apologetic at all.

Someone cleared their throat from beside you, and you turned your head to the side to see a handsome blonde man with a dark blue umbrella and a pink flush on his face smiling at you, already moving the umbrella your way. Your heart raced. This couldn’t be it. Was it? Your hands were suddenly shaky as you waited for the man to say something, anything. No, not anything, you were waiting to hear the predestined offer (or pickup line) that you now loved again.

“Here,” the man said, and the sound of rain hitting the roof of the umbrella was almost as empty as you felt in the moment. You mustered up a smile at him and said a small thank you, trying to mask the disappointment that came with being so close meeting your soulmate after all.

The man held the umbrella for as long as he walked in the same direction as you, and then he apologized for not being able to hold it for you any longer. “It’s alright, thank you” you said, and hoped that the sound of the pounding rain was enough to hide the tremor in your voice. You were not about to cry.

You went to stand under the roof of a building on the side of it, hoping that the wave of rain would be over in a few minutes. It was better than running for two minutes, you supposed. You saw another blonde man with large strides walk past, with an even darker blue umbrella in his hand, and he was dry.

You groaned. “How am I the only one who didn’t know about the rain?”

The man stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at you with wide, blue eyes as you stood nonchalantly under the roof, arms crossed and still a little hurt after the universe teasing you with the first umbrella man. When all he did was stare at you, you have him a harsh look and looked away. Staring men always meant trouble, and the meaner you were, the faster they would leave you alone.

“You can stand under my umbrella,” the handsome man said, and slowly, your head turned back his way. Your eyes locked again, and it was your turn to stare like an idiot. “I-I mean, if you want to.”

You leaned off of the wall of the building and took a step towards him. “Did you really just say that?”

A grin lit up on his beautiful face, and you already decided that his smile was your favorite thing on earth. Screw churros from the fair. “Depends, did you just say something about being the only one who didn’t know about the rain?”

You threw yourself into his arms, and he nearly dropped the umbrella just to hold you. His embrace was warm and strong, and he used just enough pressure for you to feel he was there. “I didn’t think you were real.”

It truly did felt surreal. You were in your soulmate’s arms after all that time wondering, worrying, and losing sleep, and now it all felt like it was going to be alright. You could see the happiness in you near future coming your way, the questions and the subtle and uncontrollable bitterness towards others fading away quickly. You already held this man high in your mind, and just like that, he was a priority. And you didn’t even know his name yet.

Instead of asking him for the name that you so desperately wanted to know or saying any of the cheesy words swirling around in your mind, you decided to talk about the words. “Because, who quotes Rihanna?”

“Who doesn’t look at the weather before leaving the house?” He retorted, pulling back a bit to study your face. You were glad that he was able to do it, because you discovered that his face was just as comforting as the warmth of his arms.

“Shut up, weatherman.”

He smiled down at you, blue eyes giving you a fond look that only soulmates could give each other after meeting so suddenly. He poked you right on your nose, a fluttering touch that made your heart skip a few beats.

“I can walk you wherever you need to go.” Your heart warmed at his kindness. It turned out the younger you that hoped that your soulmate was a sweetheart was right, after all.

“No, it’s okay, it’s probably out of your way,” you said anyway, disregarding the way the inner you was screaming at the part of you that had control over your mouth.

“I’m not even supposed to be all the way over here right now, and I think I already missed my appointment.”

“Where are you supposed to be?”

“The barbershop.”

You frowned at him. The barbershop was all the way on the other side of town, and he didn’t seem like he was lost. “How’d you find yourself over here?”

He paused for a second, like he was debating on whether or not to tell the truth. “Something told me to walk this way.”

You could have fallen apart, and you believed that without even knowing you, he would have known how to put you back together again. “Looks like you listened,” you breathed out, in awe of the man before you, who was staring at you with the same look of bewilderment.

“How could I not?” He took one of your hands in his after asking for permission with his eyes, and you felt the tingling build up at the connection. “I’m Steve.”

You told him your name, and he repeated it once, and then twice, and then a smile was on his face, like that was the one word he needed to hear. You resisted the urge to touch his face now that you could see the subtle stubble growing in. “Don’t wear it out, weatherman.”

You took a step forward, and his long legs only took half of his normal stride to match up with you. He walked you home while you talked about anything and everything with him, every now and again talking about the words on your respective wrists and how glad you were that you found each other.

It felt so right.

You met him the next day at the park, and it was as sunny as it could be. He was carrying a tackily designed gift bag that he put red tissue paper in, and from then on, you knew he was a big goof. He handed you the bag with a huge, dopey smile on his face, and you cackled when you opened it.

It was an umbrella, an poncho, and a copy of Weather for Dummies.

******

omg omg not my first soulmate au lmao and many more to come in different shapes and sizes bc-

i’m obsessed

hope y’all liked it!!! <3

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Race to the Spire

Today’s episode is extremely detrimental to the ongoing story arc, yet it’s ironically one of the least painful plot episodes to watch this season. Let’s just get into it and hopefully by the end you’ll see what I mean. 

Summary:  Cassandra returns to the Spire to steal the Mind Trap from Calliope. Calliope sends a letter to Rapunzel for help, and she and Eugene set out by hot air balloon. They pass through the frozen tundra of Krestin Lock where they are shot down and reunite with Calliope who claims to have escaped. They battle their way through the fish like natives, but Rapunzel rescues a couple as they leave. They arrive at the Spire where "Calliope" asks for the key to unlock the chest containing the Mind Trap, but Rapunzel sees through the ruse; Cassandra reveals herself and "Calliope" is Zhan Tiri in disguise.

This Is The Only Episode That Ties Back To Season Two In Any Meaningful Way 

Yes, Edmund has a bigger presence this season, but he wasn’t introduced until the season finale, and the Island’s Apart episode that brought back Tirapi Island winds up being pretty useless to the over all arc. In contrast, Race to the Spire is the only episode in season three to feature season two’s locations and characters while also pushing the the story along. 

This means that ninety percent of season two was pointless filler. I think you could skip over half of the episodes that season and it wouldn’t matter in the slightest. Conversely you could also skip over about a third of season three’s episodes and it would not matter either. That’s poor time management right there.  

This is damning with faint praise, but it’s also one of the few reasons why this episode is more watchable than some others this season. It’s also just nice to see Calliope again. 

This Is A Really Poor Way To Introduce This Plot Point 

I mean this is some really fucking lazy exposition here; like, embarrassingly bad exposition. 

You had three seasons to foreshadow this plot point, but you didn’t. Instead the writers just threw the mind trap in here at the last minute with zero explanation what-so-ever. Which just tells me that this wasn’t planned out, and that the crew literally pulled this out of their ass cracks at the last possible second because they forgot that they had to do something with the Brotherhood characters that they fucking created! 

Over four years of development time, plus an additional three years of production and the show can’t even get their bare bones basic plot right!? There is zero excuse for such shoddy work, and no this isn’t a case of them being screwed over by the network like with Korra or Ducktales. 

Chris and Ben knew from the get go that they would only get three seasons. They had time to rework things to fit into that timescale and they still overfilled the series with meaningless filler. Moreover, they wouldn’t have had to scramble to come up with a quick fix for the Brotherhood plot, if they hadn’t of scrapped the original plot during the middle of production to begin with!!! 

So What Did Cassandra Do To The Real Keeper?

At this point, Cassandra has kidnaped, assaulted, and attempted to murder several people by now. Because the series fails to show how Cass snuck into the spire and stole the cloak, along with never showing where the real keeper is at, I and many others automatically assumed that she just straight up killed the dude off screen when this episode first aired. I only know that he isn’t dead because he makes a very brief cameo in a crowd shot during the end of the finale. 

That’s poor presentation. The series leans heavily on the idea that Cassandra can be redeemed because she is someone who the audience should sympathize with. If the audience’s first assumption is that she murdered an innocent man in a quest for pretty vengeance and power, well, then she’s not very sympathetic now is she?  

The writers really should have had the Keeper make an appearance at the end of this episode if they didn’t want us thinking Cassandra was a murderer. 

Also I’m sure, many people are wanting me to point how Cassandra revealing herself prematurely here is a stupid move. And it is. However, it’s clear from this reaction that Calliope knew what was up this whole time and was stringing Cass along anyways. She and Varian are the smartest people in this whole dumb show, and both are severally underestimated.  

Oh Yeah, You’re A Real Saint, Ain’t Ya, Cass? 

Cassandra refusing to harm animals while threating human beings does not make her secretly good deep down. It just means she’s a hypocritical jackass. It’s stupid to think otherwise and anyone who argues this belief is very sus. Like as in ‘are you associated with PETA or ALF, and if so, please go out and like interact in the real world and speak to real people for a change’, levels of sus. 

Don’t You Have Duties to Attend to Rapunzel?

Ok, so I honestly believe this episode was meant to come later in the series, and so I could understand it if several months had past since Cassandra’s Revenge and we had this scene. After all you can’t expect people to be on their guard all the time. However, since someone decided that this episode needed to air right after Cassandra’s Revenge, then this just comes across as Rapunzel being very irresponsible. 

Did we just forget that Cass threatened the entire kingdom and attempted to murder you and your friends? Are you just going to ignore the giant ominous tower that’s looming along the horizon? Hey, what about all the other queenly duties that your in charge of Rapunzel? I mean we haven’t established that the King and Queen are back to ruling yet, so Rapunzel should still be busy over seeing the kingdom, right? Who’s in charge right now while she’s wasting her time dancing? 

Look, I’m not saying that Rapunzel can’t have any fun ever, but there’s a time and place for it and now is not the time. If this season was all about having Rapunzel accept her responsibilities then this scene really undermines that.

Once Again, The Series Seems To Forget That Magic Is Suppose To Be Rare In The World Of Tangled 

As I’ve pointed out multiple times in this review series, the consequence of using ill defined and under explained magical objects to move the plot along, is to undermine the previous movie’s setup.  

Magic is suppose to be a rare occurrence. Not everyone believes in it because most people don’t come across it. That is why a world-weary street-wise traveler like Eugene is such a skeptic and why he’s constantly surprised by the weirdness around him. That’s the point of his character in the movie. He acts as the audience's surrogate and we discover the world of Tangled through him. 

Here though, magic is everywhere. No one questions it. It’s even recorded in easily attainable books apparently because it’s so common. Therefore, Eugene now has no logical reason to be the skeptic, and yet he still somehow is because they don’t want him to be out of character. It just no longer makes any sense. 

Oh, Please...

Show, Don’t Tell!

This series has spent three damn seasons assassinating Rapunzel’s character by slowly morphing her into a bully and calling it character development. 

Just because you verbally repeat something over and over again does not make it true and actions speak louder than words. 

The audience knows she’s not compassionate because she neglected a child for three damn months, left him in a dungeon for a year, and then upon finding that such treatment of individuals has consequences decided to manipulate and guilt trip him into become her ‘friend’ again instead of just admitting she was wrong. 

Having Eugene blindly worship her selfish ass and repeat such hollow lies is nauseating to listen to and does nothing to endear the audience to Rapunzel again after squandering away any good will we may have had towards the character initially.    

I’m Still Irritated That Varian Has Been Reduced To Being The Plot Convince Fairy 

And just to rub salt into the wound, I know he only has even this small cameo because Chris wanted to entice viewers to tune in and watch his stupid Moonassndra plot, not because he’s an actual important character to the plot anymore. 

A lot of people enjoy the fact that Varian actually shows up in season three, but I don’t because it’s so poorly handled. It’s rather like working at a restaurant and a customer gives you a five cent tip, even though you know they have a couple of hundred dollar bills stuffed in their wallet and aren’t hurting for money themselves. I know the series is capable of giving the audience more than just these meager scraps but yet it refuses to actually feed us a decent story. 

Yeah, I guess it’s better to have something rather than nothing, but at this point, it’s really more a slap in the face than anything. Especially to long time viewers who’ve stuck it out this long. 

The Maps Don’t Match 

The Spire should be Northeast of Corona not South. Unless they headed south first and then went northeast... But that still doesn’t make sense. I know Corona is a peninsula and that they would have had to go southeast a little ways to get to Vardaros, but after that they should have been heading north for all of season two according to this map from Rapunzel’s Return. 

It doesn’t help matters that nothing is to scale, but still just a little consistency is all I ask. 

And of fucking course the show never mentioned this glacier before during season two. I have no idea where it is suppose to be in relation to everything else nor how Raps and company avoided it last time. 

Why Is No One Allowed To Worry Over Rapunzel? 

It’s a minor complaint, but like it bugs me how dismissive everyone is of Rapunzel’s safety in this show. She’s not invincible, or rather she shouldn’t be, and it isn’t unnatural to care about someone’s well being. 

But somehow the show has gotten it into it’s collective head that Frederic was wrong because he didn’t believe in Rapunzel’s capabilities not because he was an abusive controlling asshat. Therefore, no one can ever doubt or question Rapunzel in any way or they’re baaaad! Don't ya see? Unless they’re Cass because she is the only other woman in the show...that matters anyways.

This isn’t empowering. It’s just another form of condescension. It’s like, baby talking to a grown woman, going ‘you can do it!’ when no, I can’t do it. In fact most people can’t do it, and I’d appreciate it a lot more if your were honest with me and held a conversation with me like an adult. 

Placing female characters on pedestals is just as bad as making them damsels in distresses. Because it’s lazy stereotyping. Rather then treating women as people, with strengths, weaknesses, and all the complexities therein, they're instead boxed into being only one thing and one thing only. 

Unless, Varian is just subtlety hinting here that he really doesn’t give a shit about Rapunzel at all and is only pretending to be her friend in order to avoid jail. That I could agree with. 

What Is This Box Made Of?

Cass can’t just break the chest open because the writers want to force this stupid dilemma over the key Rapunzel now has. However, it’s incredibly lazy to just suddenly announce that this one random box is now the strongest material in the world when we’ve spent three fucking seasons insisting that the rocks are unbreakable!!!!

Unlike Adria’s sword the chest isn’t made from the rocks and it hasn’t absorbed the moonstone’s power like Rapunzel has, soooo what’s the deal here? We never get any explanation either. Consequently, I’m now thinking that everyone should forget the stupid mind trap all together and just fight over the box because clearly it’s the most powerful object in this world now.

What’s Up With The Sudden Curses Call Back?

This episode has nothing to do with Curses, because Curses was pure pointless filler and arguably the most useless episode in season two. There’s also nothing about flying in a hot air balloon that should logically remind Eugene of that adventure. This is all just lazy set up for a very cringe joke that is indeed... you guessed it, very pointless and useless as well.

This Isn’t Cute, Show

Being a dick to you’re significant other isn’t funny, especially when it’s so one sided. Playful banter has to have actual banter in it. There needs to be a back and forth; an agreement that both sides can dish it out and take it.

By only allowing Rapunzel to take cheap shots while Eugene can do nothing but sing her praises tells me that their relationship isn’t equal. Now add in all the other bullshit Rapunzel puts Eugene through during season three and what we have is a very toxic relationship. One that I am desperately wishing Eugene would just walk away from.

So congratulations show, you managed to kill New Dream....

Wasn’t this series pitch originally about how they got married? What the fuck?

So Is No One Going To Question Calliope Just Showing Up Conveniently In The Middle Of A Glacier?

I know that Rapunzel is keeping silent because she doesn’t want to tip off this fake Calliope, but it’s very out of character for Eugene to not be the skeptic and question shit. He would naturally wonder why, upon wining her freedom, Calliope would run into a blizzard rather then head literally anywhere else. Especially since you can apparently get to and from the spire without going through the frozen loch anyways.

I repeat, the series has to actively dumb down the deuteragonist of the original movie in order to make the main character look good.

Why Are We Conveniently Forgetting Quirin Again?

Both Rapunzel and Eugene know that Quirin is a member of the Brotherhood. They were both right there then Adria told them he was back in The Great Tree. Yet for some unexplained reason the show just pretends like Rapunzel and Eugene are in the dark about this for several episodes? Or rather it acts like Eugene never knew and Rapunzel never mentions it ever because the show is trying to avoid blaming her for what happens next, but guess what? I, the audience, still blames her.

These Are Just Recolors

Once again the series wouldn’t need to resort to such budget cuts if it had been been better managed. These loch monsters aren’t written to be the same as the Vodniks from There’s Something About Hookfoot, they’re treated too much as mindless foes, and yet they so clearly are just recolors of those models.

And all this does is remind me of how fucking useless Hookfoot was and that I miss Serafina. Like why didn’t we ever get a follow up to that, or a return to Varados for that matter? It’s all so poorly planned out you guys.

Don’t Kiss Rapunzel’s Ass For Doing The Bare Minimum

Yes, saving the Ice Vodniks is the right thing to do. Yes, the series should be promoting such heroic actions. However, it should not be using such unchallenging actions as the gold standard of behavior, especially when the main character is super awful whenever its convenient for her.

True strength and compassion means doing the right thing even though its hard. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy and I’m not going applaud someone who only takes the easy way out.

Saving the vodinks here wasn’t a challenge. Nothing was at risk. Rapunzel didn’t have to do anything uncomfortable to rescue them. Yet whenever she’s asked to actually make a hard decision or face the consequences of her behavior, she just completely fails at being a decent person.

And that’s the problem with the series as a whole, It refuses to challenge it’s protagonist in any meaningful way. Praising Rapunzel here is so hollow and cringe inducing, because it’s so utterly tone deaf.

Now That Was A Dumb Move

Yes, Rapunzel had suspected that she was the fake Calliope all along, buuuut she hadn’t figured out who she really was yet. Nor was Zhan Tiri aware that Rapunzel knew she was fake. So what’s the point in revealing herself now? Wouldn't she logically have a better chance at picking Rapunzel's pocket for the key by still staying undercover regardless of Raps’ suspicions?

Also if Zhan Tiri can invade minds and brainwash people, supposedly, then why not just do that to Rapunzel to begin with? Why insist that your big bad has such power and then never have her use it? Unless you’re implying that Zhan Tiri no longer has any power since coming back to the real world, and in which case she’s no longer a real threat and shouldn’t have any hold over Cassandra any more.

Stop Wasting Time Bragging About Yourself, Rapunzel

This is so cringe. Last I checked this wasn’t an episode of Scooby Doo. The audience doesn’t need to hear a break down of how Rapunzel figured everything out. They especially don't need to hear it from Rapunzel herself when there’s more important things she should be doing, like oh, say, actually rescuing the person she came here to save. 

And yes, it’s confirmed here that they had to dumb down Eugene in order to make Rapunzel look smart, when in reality what she did was not all that clever. Tangled the Series nether respects it’s characters nor it’s audience. The creators keep insisting that ‘it’s not a kid’s show’ but then constantly talks down to it’s viewers as if they were toddlers. 

This Does Nothing to Make Zhan Tiri Intimidating Either 

Actually Do Something You Stupid Little Gumdrop!!!

Why doesn’t anyone just stomp on her, right here, right now? 

Yeah, maybe Raps is too ‘nice’ to just punch the grape, but Eugene isn’t. Neither is Casandra for that matter. She has no reason to be following to Zhan Tiri’s orders. Even if she wasn’t sorry and still hell bent on destroying Rapunzel, Zhan Tiri isn’t of any help to her in achieving that goal. She’s dead weight now. Just ditch her already. 

Speaking Of Casandra’s Agency 

Cass just jumps at the bit to kill someone upon Zhan Tiri’s suggestion, no questions asked, as if she was some dutiful soldier or something. But like she can also clearly think for herself and make her own decisions so it’s not like she’s really under Zhan Tiri’s control either. 

So which is it show? Is Cassandra brainwashed and not acting of her own volition, or is she just an asshole? She can’t be both. She can’t have any agency if you want to keep her sympathetic at this point because she has no logical reason to do anything Zhan Tiri tells her too. 

Nothing about the Moonsandra plot makes any fucking sense. What we’re told by the characters is constantly contradicted and undermined by their later actions. 

This Isn’t The Dialogue Of A Victim, It’s The Language Of An Abuser 

Part of the reason why the show utterly fails to convince the audience that Cassandra is being ‘manipulated’ or controlled by some outside force is lines like the above. This is a gaslighting technique that abusers pull all the time, the whole ‘this hurts me more than it hurts you’ hogwash. Cass is trying to shift the blame of her actions onto Rapunzel for not complying to her demands.   

If Cassandra was well and truly being controlled by the moonstone or Zhan Tiri then she wouldn’t have the agency to manipulate others. She wouldn’t have the agency to plan, to desire things, to grieve, or do anything really. We know this because of the Minds Trap itself. Actual brainwashing in this world turns you into a mindless zombie, which Cassandra clearly is not. 

Neither is she being manipulated by Zhan Tiri because Zhan Tiri doesn’t really do anything, ever. She doesn’t tempt. She doesn’t threaten. She doesn’t really mislead or lie, not when it would actually help her anyways. And what truths she does choose to omit is all shit that Cassandra could have easily figured out had she been allowed to use her brain this season. 

So the answer to the previous question is that Cassandra is indeed just an asshole. If she really cared about about Calliope not getting hurt then she simply wouldn’t threaten her to begin with. 

I Still Have Questions About This Mind Trap Thing

Ok let us list them out shall we.... 

Why does this thing exist, in universe? What purpose was it originally intended to serve? 

Who made it? Was it an enemy of the Dark Kingdom or the Dark Kingdom themselves? 

How did they make it? What is it made from? How does it work? What are the magical rules behind it? 

How did it wind up in the Spire? What is it’s history? 

Who else knows of its existence? Were the Brotherhood even aware of the mind trap before coming under its spell? Has it ever even been used before now? 

How did Zhan Tiri and Cassandra find out about it? Why do they even want it? Why don’t they use it right away? 

Questions like these are important to answer whenever establishing any sort of plot macguffin into your story. You have to sell to the audience that this object is a thing that has always existed in your created world. You have to set up it’s internal rules so the audience knows the stakes. And most importantly, you have to connect that back to the characters so that their actions will make sense. 

The mind trap does none of these things so it winds up being a forced and weak plot point. One that just ends up undermining everyone’s character arcs on top of that.  

Why Do You Want A War, Cass? 

That doesn’t actually answer Rapunzel’s nor the audience's question. 

Let me reiterate for the millionth time; Cassandra has no goal nor any real motivation.  

This is bad writing. 

And Cass Tries To Kill Calliope Anyways, Despite Getting What She Demanded 

Once again, serial killers aren’t sympathetic.  

If you want Cass to be redeemable then you need to either have her stop trying to murder innocent people for zero reason, or you have to actually give her a very good fuckin’ motivation, one that ties into her actions. 

And no, you can’t blame Zhan Tiri. Zhan Tiri didn’t tell her to do this. Cass choose to remorselessly kill someone. A person that, just three seconds ago, she claimed she didn’t want to harm. 

Hypocrisy is also not very sympathetic, show.  

This Fight Is Lame

I mean it’s funny, sure, but it also destroys any shred of credibility Zhan Tiri had. There’s no reason to take this character seriously if she can’t even stop a fucking badger! 

Consistency of tone is an important thing to maintain writers.

Also, doesn’t Rapunzel still have that big “fuck you, I win” incantation at her disposal? Yeah, where is that and why isn’t she using it against the rocks? 

Calliope Is The Saving Grace Of This Episode

It’s ironic, and also a testament to how badly written the mains are this season, that Calliope, a character who is meant to be annoying on purpose, is actually the least annoying person on screen right now. 

She’s competent, intelligent, and assertive without being a jackass about it. She says the things the audience themselves are thinking and is the only person allowed to call out Rapunzel for her stupidity without going villain. 

When I say that this episode is one of the more watchable ones this season, it’s solely because of Calliope here. I actually wish she was in the series more. Rapunzel, Cassandra, Faith, and Calliope could have been a good team of female friends that would have fleshed out the series representation more and mitigated some of the worst aspects of the Cass vs Raps conflict.  

This Is So Contrived 

It’s not ‘compassion’, it’s fucking stupidity! 

Rapunzel didn’t even try. 

She could have knocked the lamp out of Zhan Tiri’s hand with her hair whip. She could have pulled Calliope away from them using her hair. She could have used another magic artifact to cause another distraction. She could have used her super Saiyan sun powers to kick both their asses. 

There were a million and one thing things she could have done, but instead she just fucking gave up. And we’re suppose to think she’s compassionate for it? 

And now she’s doomed at least three people, (to her knowledge anyways; there’s actually four), to life as mindless zombies. Zombies that will be ordered to attack their loved ones and homes, and she proceeds to do fuck all about it.

She’s not learned a damn thing since season one. She’s not compassionate, she’s selfish. She only cares about how others suffering make her feel, not about the people who are actually suffering. She wants to avoid any negative feelings like guilt so she’ll do things in the moment that sooths her ego, and then just ignores any real problems that don’t have a quick fix or an outcome that doesn’t boost her self esteem. 

I’m sorry but this is not a character for little girls to look up to. 

It’s not even a character you can really like or root for, not as she’s presented on screen anyways. 

Why On Earth Would Zhan Tiri Reveal Herself Like This? 

What purpose does this serve? What does Zhan Tiri gain by doubling back just to spill her secrets to her opponent? Wouldn’t this just jeopardize her plans, seeing as they rely so heavily on subterfuge? 

There’s also isn’t any larger narrative reason to do this either. The audience could have already guess who she is by this point and the reveal comes too early to push the story further along. Instead things are needless dragged out over two more filler episodes rather than having Rapunzel just use this knowledge to her advantage to warn people. 

That Doesn’t Add Up

How could you physically be the blizzard itself, if you were locked in another dimension this whole time? 

It was suppose to be a curse. That’s what it was called during Queen for a Day. 

Why is it so hard for this show just to connect the dots? They’re the ones who wrote this plot, surely they should know how it’s all suppose to fit together. But no; they don’t. Everything concerning Zhan Tiri is disjointed and contradictory. 

It’s lazy. 

You’re Right, It Doesn't Make Sense Rapunzel. Why Don't You Try Pointing That Out To The Writers?

Pointing out the flaws in your writing doesn’t make your writing any less flawed. 

Why hasn’t Cassandra asked for this bitch’s name yet? Why hasn’t she questioned the little hamburger’s motivations? Where did her fucking brain go this season!? 

Also where even is she during this exchange? Is she just waiting right outside the door twiddling her thumbs? 

I Call Bullshit

As we’ve already established, Cassandra isn’t being controlled by anybody or anything. She’s choosing to go along with this horseshit. And just because Zhan Tiri claims she’s pulling the strings, it doesn’t mean that she actually is. 

Why should I, or Rapunzel for that matter, take Zhan Tiri’s words at face value? If she’s admitting that she’s a liar, then why should the audience trust anything she says? 

I’ve pointed this out repeatedly since season one, but the series desperately tries to gaslight the audience by telling them shit that contradicts what they’ve actually seen with their own eyes and then just expects them to believe the words of the characters without question rather than to think for themselves.    

That’s not how characterization works. That’s not story telling works. And that’s not how people work. 

Also, Why Is Raps Bothering To Indulge This Dumb Ego Masturbation?

Just wrap the boring blackberry up in your hair and carry her worthless carcass back to Corona. 

There, done. Problem solved. 

You can either hold her hostage in exchange for the mind trap, or just dump her ass on the prison barge and wait for Cass to come to her senses. That’s it. 

There’s no conflict here. 

Why Would Warn Your Enemies Like That, You Idiot? 

This is the only foreshadowing for the ellipse we get. 

A single, solitary, blink and you’ll miss it, line! One that tells us nothing about what the ellipse does or why it’s a threat. 

That’s.... That's not real foreshadowing! It’s just more shitty exposition! 

Which is incidentally, the only reason why this scene exists. 

Also, reducing Zhan Tiri’s ambitions to only Corona under cuts her effectiveness as a villain, but we’ll get back that later.   

Calliope Is The Only Character In The Show With A Successful Arc 

I don’t say this because I like her, or because she’s the only person who will tell Raps the hard truth she needs to hear. I say this because, well, it’s true. 

Calliope has a complete arc, one that makes sense, and isn’t undermined by the writers biases. In fact Calliope might be the only character who actually benefited from the rewrites. 

When we first meet her she’s insecure and inexperienced, and keeps covering up her mistakes with bravado and bossiness. Then she learns she doesn’t need to pretend in order to impress people, and finds acceptance for being her self through her mentor. When next we see her she’s confident and competent, and simply doing what needs to be done rather then trying to gain Rapunzel’s or anyone else’s favor. 

That’s how you write a character arc. You establish what the character wants. You explain why they would want that goal. You set up what they need to learn, and then you have them learn it. Thereby changing either their behavior and/or their goal. From there you can either grant them their need/goal for a happy ending, or go the tragic route and deny them what they need/want. That will depend on what type of story you’re going for, but in the end the set up and plot beats will most always be the same. 

This Is A Lie 

And then they proceeded to do absolutely nothing for four fucking episodes, the end. 

Also no, Rapunzel didn't do ‘what she had to do’. She had plenty of other options and she didn’t take them. Stop enabling her incompetence Eugene. 

I Truly Believe This Episode Was Shown Out Of Order 

I mean, I have nothing to prove it, but it’s literally the only thing that makes any sense. 

Why would Zhan Tiri reveal herself so soon? How come Rapunzel doesn’t know who Cass is working with in the very next episode despite this? Why would Cass hold off on using the Mind Trap for so long? Why would Raps and Eugene not warn anybody for three freaken episodes!? 

Grant it, there’s nothing that will save this plot, and this episode shoots both Cassandra’s and Zhan Tiri’s character arcs in the metaphorical foot, but having this episode follow after Cassaundra's Revenge just exacerbates the problem.

It should go right before Once a Handmaiden. That’s the only placement that fits.   

So We’re All In Agreement That This Is The Point Of No Return For Cass, Right? 

I mean look at that creepy smile. 

The bitch is excited to rip away several people’s bodily autonomy and force them to murder their friends and family in cold blood.  

And for no actual reason, I might add! 

There’s also no Zhan Tiri in this scene. This is all Cassandra. She’s the one who chose to do this and yeah, it’s pretty unforgivable.  

And I don't mean that as in she can’t be forgiven, or is undeserving of forgiveness. I mean that as in I, the viewer watching at home, am given no narrative reason to desire her eventual pardon. 

There’s nothing to latch on to here. There’s nothing to relate to, nothing to sympathize with, nothing to indicate that Cass even wants to be forgiven or cares about how her actions effect others. 

Anything you could come up with to excuse Cassandra here, is all bullshit that you’ve pulled out of your own ass. And believe me, people have tried. Good heavens have they tried. But none of it is backed up by what is shown on screen, because the writers cared far less about the character then the fans watching. 

The Brotherhood Is Wasted

I think half the reason the crew pulled this mind trap BS out of their rear ends is because they couldn’t afford to hire the VAs back. Neither Adria nor Hector get a single line in any of their appearances going forward. Nor does this development provide any closure to their respective arcs. 

Edmund is also screwed over because the writers wanted to keep his involvement in the Brotherhood a surprise twist for later, but it’s poorly set up and under cuts the more interesting arc we could of had of him trying to reunite with his siblings, mending his relationships with his family, and trying to fix his past mistakes. 

Don’t Expect This To Go Anywhere

Remember how excited the fandom got when we first saw this scene? Remember all the fan theories and fanfics/fanart? 

Man, we should’ve of known better.   

Conclusion 

As I said before, it’s not good, but it is watchable at least. I still like both Be Very Afraid and Lost Treasure more, but I can put this story on the very short list of season three episodes that doesn't make me want to bang my head against the wall repeatedly.   

Next up is an episode that I actual slept through when watching the first time, A Tale of Two Sisters, so this should be interesting. Also, I would like to thank everyone over on the TTS and Salt discords for helping me gather screen shots for season three and making this review process slightly less painful. You guys are awesome! 

[peachsayshi]

Chapter 10 - Intimate (2)

Tags: Friends with Benefits, Angst, Fluff 

Summary: Gojo uses you to relieve some of his stress after his little argument with your best friend, and poses a question that catches you off guard.

A/N: this chapter was a bit difficult for me to write and I think it's because it turned out to be sort of a filler chapter! Also, please excuse any errors - I am definitely posting this half asleep lol! but I am really excited to share the upcoming ones! I initially said that this was going to be 25 chapters but I outlined the rest of the story and there will be more! Hehe I do plan on doing the few extra one-shots in the end, so I hope you enjoy.

- - - 

“Tell me you’re mine…”  

You blushed at the thought of Satoru’s words, painfully aware of the knot that tightened in the pit of your stomach which then tugged at your lungs, slowing your breath. You reached for the seasoning packets, ripping open the colored wrappers to prepare the ramen broth. You watched as tiny circles began to form from the bottom of the metal pot, bubbling it’s way to the surface. You could hear the shower still running from your bathroom, a bit relieved that Gojo was taking his time because you wanted to bask in the few precious minutes you had to yourself to try and quieten your racing thoughts.

You couldn’t focus on the task of preparing dinner because the word “mine” slipping from Gojo’s lips in a feverish claim was playing on a loop in your head. The way his tone darkened with urgency when he held his body close to yours sent goosebumps to run up your arms. You couldn’t figure out where the possessive streak came from or why he felt the need to assert his dominance over an act that should not have been as intimate as it felt. You folded your arms over your chest, subconsciously pinching your skin as you tried to ignore the way your heart skipped a beat.

There was a difference when you made your own personal comparisons in the safety of your mind versus Gojo bringing it up in the bedroom. Somehow admitting your confession to him made you feel vulnerable and his reaction didn’t make it any  better, appearing to be competitive about the entire situation.

That doesn’t make any sense, why would he care? you wondered.

You never actually paid attention to how Gojo felt about your ex-boyfriend. For the most part he’s always been nice to him. Although the two of them weren’t the closest of friends, they seemed to get along whenever you all hung out together. You never would have anticipated that Gojo would be…

Jealous of him ?

That he would resent him?

Honestly, you didn’t even have an explanation for what it could possibly mean.

“ Pay attention…”

Gojo’s voice startled you, you didn’t even realise he was standing right behind you until you noticed him reach his arm forward to reduce the flame, stopping the water from bubbling over the pot.

“Whoops! Lost my train of thought for a second...” you lied, refusing to look in his direction in the hopes that he wouldn’t catch you blushing.

“That’s a safety hazard, you know?” he teased, still standing dangerously close behind you as he reached for the dry noodles himself and placed them into the pot. “You need sharp eyes when cooking otherwise you’ll end up having an unnecessary accident.”

A nervous chuckle escaped you as you circled to face him. Gojo had borrowed one of your black silk scarves, using it as a makeshift blindfold since his own was now tumbled between your bedsheets on the floor. You could smell your coconut and hibiscus body wash off him, the scent combining with the residual cologne on his clothes. An easy smile spread across that handsome face, his relaxed demeanor contrasting the state he was in when he first knocked on your door.

He’s your friend, you reminded yourself. What happens in the bedroom doesn’t mean anything…  

It shouldn’t mean anything.  

“Whatever you say, sensei ...” you chirped, burying your wayward thoughts. “Why don’t you grab those mats and I’ll bring these over to the table”

You assembled the two bowls, adding a little extra broth for Gojo because you knew he preferred it that way. Meanwhile, he had placed the two mats on the opposite side of the dining table, taking care not to disturb your work set up.

“Here you go,” you said, as you slid the bowl in front of him while he took his seat.

“Thank you!”

At first you both sat in silence, Gojo was responding to a few unanswered text messages but you were studying him with curious eyes, waiting for him to give you an explanation for his sudden visit.

“ Sooo, you want to tell me what that was all about?” you asked.

“That being?”

You waved your chopsticks in the direction of your bedroom, raising your brow before replying, “That being the sequence of events that just transpired…”

“ Stress relief ...” Gojo explained in between bites as he casually tucked his phone back into his pocket.

You thrummed your fingers against the warm bowl in your hands, fidgeting with the chopsticks in the other.  “Well, I’m glad I could help you unwind, I guess...”

He flashed you a wicked grin, “Me too, because I need a repeat of the show...”

“I can’t look at you when you say that,” you remarked, focusing your attention onto the noodles and growing shy at his comment.

“Am I embarrassing you?”

“A little…”

“I don’t understand why, that was fucking hot ...”

Your face burned, the heat radiating all the way to the back of your neck from his words. You cleared your throat as you rolled your eyes at him, desperately trying to brush off his statement in a cool manner. You could feel the knot in your stomach, the thoughts you were having crept back into your mind as you tried to hush them away.

You decided to shift the conversation away from the bedroom and back to Gojo instead. If he wasn’t so flustered by his own emotions, you might have accepted his excuse of needing to relieve stress but you knew there was more to the story.

“Did something happen at work?” you questioned.

Gojo chuckled to himself, “It’s funny how you won’t even acknowledge my compliment... ”

“Are you really going to make me pry a proper answer out of you?” you huffed, and he could hear your annoyance in your tone.

Gojo wished that he didn’t have to get into this particular part of the conversation with you, knowing full well how it was going to bring down the mood.

“No, nothing happened at work,” he said with a sigh, “I was with Rina. She asked me to stop by her shop…”

You knitted your brows in confusion, “That’s kind of random.”

Gojo nodded his head, “I thought so too. She initially told me that she wanted to get my opinion on some new items she was dropping for her menu. Turns out I was only there because she wanted to know how long you and I have been sleeping together for…”

You choked at his statement, his nonchalant words nearly going over your head.

Gojo kept eating, unphased by your reaction. “Need some water?”

“Y-yes…no, ugh, nevermind …she asked you how …”

“ How long you and I have been fucking… ” Gojo replied, flicking his index finger back between you both to fully clarify his statement.

The knot in your stomach cinched, a wave of nausea swirling in your gut as you placed your chopsticks down.

“How... how did she even find out? ” you whispered to yourself as you slumped against the back of your chair.

“She saw us at the park.”

“ Oh .”

You and Rina have both had your fair share of arguments before but sometimes when her emotions got the better of her, Rina’s outbursts often came with her sharp tongue. Over the years you had to explain to her that her words carried more weight than she thought, and in turn she became more conscious around you. However it suddenly dawned on you that Gojo might have been on the receiving end of Rina’s unfiltered anger.

You covered your face with your hands, groaning with frustration. “What did she say?”

“ Hmm ?”

“What did Rina say to you?”

Gojo shrugged his shoulders, “don’t worry about what she said to me. I know she didn’t mean anything by it...”

“But you were upset when you got here…”

“Let’s clarify something, Rina was upset because she was hurt. I was just annoyed by the situation. There’s a difference...”

You wished he would take your conversation a little more seriously and not brush it off with such ease but sighed knowing full well that Gojo wasn’t going to tell you what exactly happened which meant that Rina must have said something deliberately hurtful towards him.

“ I’m sorry… ”

“Why are you apologizing?”

You picked up your utensils, “For dragging you into this unnecessary drama I started. I should have just told Rina what was going on between us…”

Gojo paused after slurping a noodle, “well, why didn’t you tell her?”

“She’s been overprotective recently… ” you explained, not wanting to get into the details that the reason was purely based on your break up and how terrible you have been about getting over it. “I knew that if I told her about our arrangement she would analyze me to death over it and I didn’t want to deal with that…”

“Fair point,” Gojo acknowledged with a hum.

His short responses unsettled you, and you found yourself overcompensating to make up for it. “I’ll talk to her and smooth things over and I’ll make sure she apologizes for whatever it is that she said to you. She shouldn’t take her frustration out on you just because she was upset with me...”

Gojo nodded his head but you could clearly sense that he was not in the mood for any serious conversations right now. Taking himself out of this particular topic, Gojo quickly changed the subject after you made your last statement.

He kept the rest of the chat lighthearted, distracting your worries by telling you little anecdotes he had about his co-worker, Nanami. You suddenly found yourself giggling when Gojo revealed that he practically stalked Nanami for an entire day just so he could force the man to hang out him.

“I feel bad for the poor guy, you completely terrorize him,” you stated, clearing the table once you were both done eating.

You made your way over back to your kitchen where you rinsed off the bowls before placing it in the dishwasher. “You’re free to hang out if you want,” you offered, noticing Gojo get himself together as he was preparing to leave.

“I think I distracted you enough for tonight,” he replied.

You walked him to the door, following in line with his long strides. Just as he was about to reach the handle of your front door, he stopped before turning to face you.

“You don’t owe anyone an explanation about what is going on between us,” he stated, his voice low and serious.

You blinked a couple of times in surprise before parting your lips to respond, “I know I don't owe anyone an explanation but I know what Rina’s feeling and the only way I can see myself fixing this problem is by telling her everything. We never keep secrets from each other and I would probably be equally as hurt if she chose to hide something from me too... ”

Gojo pressed his lips together, navigating the words floating in his mind before reaching his hand out to touch your fingers.

“I get it but I just…”

“ Just ?...”

He exhaled, “I don’t want you overthinking anything between us, okay?”

“Don’t worry, even though we are terrible at sticking to our own rules, I am fully aware of where we both stand…”

You notice the relief wash over Gojo’s face as he slips his fingers away from your touch, “Good, because I like what we are doing.”

“I-I like it too…” you replied almost instantly, your heart racing at your own admittance.

The sorcerer left you a bundle of nerves when he said his goodbye. The knot in your stomach made its presence known, twining itself around your insides as you couldn’t escape this foreign emotion that seemed to have infiltrated your body.

*** 

CHAPTER 11 - FRIENDS

[yumeka36]

Fruits Basket (2019)

*Artwork credited to みるき on pixiv*

Just watched the last episode of the new Fruits Basket anime. Wow, what an emotional ride! I'm someone who watched the original 26-episode anime from the early 2000s but never continued the story through the manga (I considered buying the manga volumes but never followed through with it...I'm just more into anime than manga). It's so great to finally know the complete story behind one of my favorite anime. I wanted to share my thoughts here, as someone who knew nothing about what happens from where the original 2001 anime left off (spoiler warning from here on)...

- Kureno and Rin were the two zodiac members who never appeared in the original anime. It was nice to finally see them and I think they were both good characters.

- The four student council members that Yuki interacts with were also new to me. I can't say I liked them much overall as they (mostly) seemed to be comic relief and I didn't think they were that funny or interesting. I also found myself wondering why we got these new characters when the show already has such a large ensemble - a lot of their filler screentime could have gone to developing the more "forgotten" zodiac members, like Ritsu (seriously, why was Ritsu totally shafted?) But the relationship between Machi and Yuki was cute at least.

-The background music for the series was really nice, though the opening and ending songs didn't really grab me. But then again, the opening song from the original anime, "For Fruits Basket" by Ritsuko Okazaki, is such a beautiful song - one of my favorite anime tunes and very hard to outshine!

- I adored the relationship between Arisa and Kureno, probably more than any other relationship in the show! I couldn't get enough of those early episodes where they first met...but then I was sad when it seemed like they would never be able to get together. Glad that wasn't the case in the end!

- I'm still not clear on what Shigure's motivations were throughout the series. Even in the original anime, although he seemed jovial and fatherly, I could tell he had some ulterior motives. But even in this new series, I'm still not sure what his intentions were. According to the Fruits Basket wiki, he also wanted to break the curse, but his methods didn’t click with me...and he did some pretty despicable things in the past. But did he genuinely care about Tohru and the others or was he just using them for some less than pure purpose? Obviously it’s revealed that he’s always been in love with Akito, but often it seemed like he did more sadistic things to her than trying to help her. I dunno, I just couldn't quite figure Shigure out.

- The backstory with Kyo first encountering Tohru and coincidently forming a bond with Kyoko felt slightly contrived, but it was still nice to see their interactions. The fact that Kyo will forever wonder whether Kyoko actually said that she’d never forgive him is frustrating though. I know Tohru somewhat convinced him that she’d never say that, and the audience obviously knows she didn’t, but I feel like Kyo might still have doubts.

- There were a lot of episodes that got me right in the feels, but the backstory episode about the origin of the zodiac animals’ bonds with “god” was amazing! It was such an emotional shock to finally know where that bond came from and why it was so strong, and then to subsequently see each Sohma break their bond one by one. Such a memorable episode and definitely one of my favorites.

- I tried, but it was really hard for me to feel much sympathy for Akito. I know she had her own personal hell she was living in, but her cruelty towards the others was pretty unbearable. Even though she felt bad about it in the end and was willing to turn over a new leaf, she should have gotten some kind of punishment for what she did. It’s not like she was just a bully - she has many accounts of literal attempted murder and assault behind her. Just saying “sorry” and feeling bad shouldn’t be enough to atone for that in my opinion. I know the Sohmas probably avoid interacting with law enforcement out of fear that their secret will be found out, but they could still punish Akito on their own accord. I know the show heavily advocates forgiveness, but still, accountability when it matters is important too.

- Since I only ever watched the original anime, I never knew who Tohru ended up with. Even though the original series ended strongly on her relationship with Kyo, I still thought Yuki had a chance. I didn’t really have a preference, but now that I’ve seen the new series, I think Kyo makes more sense. His character development from anger-filled delinquent to a caring and confident young man was fantastic and definitely one of the highlights of the series. Though the huge time skip in the final episode’s epilogue was a bit...too far into the future, lol. I would have preferred seeing each of the Sohmas say goodbye to Tohru instead, since they kept talking about it throughout the episode but then we never see them sending her off.

Overall, it was an emotional but rewarding experience to finally know the complete story behind an anime that’s been among my favorites for almost 20 years. I was satisfied with how the original anime ended, but I still longed to know the complete story. Even though the emotional moments and character monologues did sometimes drag on a bit, and the comedic scenes didn’t always hit their mark for me, Fruits Basket’s good points more than outweigh its bad points in my opinion. What it lacks in some aspects it makes up for in excellent drama and compelling character arcs. I’m many years late, but I’m glad I didn’t miss out on knowing the full story!