#half the things i like i have at least one serious fucking grievance with. like beyond just 'well its not my taste'

[wavetapper]

one thing I guess about liking something obscure is that there's basically no criticism of it. like the posts you do see are either calling it underrated or perfect or whatever like people want this thing to be more popular and are scared that saying anything bad about it would stop that somehow

[justhere4thevibez]

Write me a Drabble about a cute spur-of-the-moment date night for Hellcheer 💗

goofy silly spur-of-the-moment date night coming right up!

“Come on, come on!”

“Damn, Chrissy, let me get my shoes on first,” Eddie said with a chuckle.

He slipped on his sneakers with one hand and braced the other against the front door of the trailer to keep his balance while Chrissy tugged restlessly at his shirt.

“Okay, I’m good.” He let her lead him out to the van, where she pushed him into the driver’s seat and promptly climbed in the other side. “Where are we going, sweet thing?”

“The Hideout,” she said firmly, waving her hand for him to get started.

With a sigh, he shifted into gear. “Are you going to tell me why?”

“Mr. Impatient,” she teased with a smile. God, she was gorgeous. “I’ll tell you when we get there.”

With a shake of his head, Eddie drove to the Hideout. Not that he’d even considered denying her—ever since Chrissy waltzed into his life he’d been at her beck and call (and loved every minute of it). But that didn’t mean he wasn’t a little baffled as to why they were going to the Hideout on a Thursday. Nobody played on Thursdays—nobody good, at least—so why bother? At least when he played they could get free drinks.

“Alright, angel, we’re here,” Eddie said as he shifted into park. “Now what?”

“Can I have your bandana?” she asked, giving him an innocent smile that he knew better than to trust. But, of course, he still gave it to her.

“Now close your eyes,” she instructed.

“Getting kinky on me, sweetheart?” he asked as he obediently shut his eyes.

“No,” she said, giggling like she was very pleased with herself. “Don’t move.”

She slid something over his face, something that definitely wasn’t his bandana. He lifted his hand to his right eye just as something soft plopped on his head.

“Chrissy—” he glanced in the rearview mirror just to double check, but he could only see out of one eye. “Is this an eyepatch?”

Chrissy didn’t respond, she just looked at him innocently as she tied his bandana around her head. He ducked down to see what else she’d put on him, and lo and behold, a pirate’s hat with a giant, fluffy feather sat squarely upon his head.

“What the hell—”

Chrissy had her lips pinched together like she was desperately trying to stay serious, and when he looked over again she had a stuffed animal owl on her shoulder.

“It was as close as I could get to a parrot,” she said apologetically, like the bird on her shoulder was his biggest grievance.

“Chrissy, sweetheart, darling,” Eddie said, cupping her hands to his chest. “What the fuck are we doing dressed as pirates?”

She batter her eyelashes at him innocently. “Tonight’s half off drinks if you do.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

She pointed out the window, and he saw several people dressed in various half-assed pirate gear. One guy even had on a full captain’s costume, complete with a sword and everything. Fuck, they’d better not let that idiot get drunk or somebody might leave tonight with a real pirate peg-leg.

He turned back to her with a suspicious glare. “Okay, but why do you get to look cute in a bandana while I get this goofy-ass hat?”

Chrissy shrugged as she jumped out of the van. “You’ve got the hair for it.” She looked back at him, all enticing blue eyes and pouty lips. “Are you coming?”

Eddie threw back his head and laughed, making the pirate’s hat shake precariously. He loved her so fucking much.

“Aye-aye, captain.”

[zhongli-lover-69]

so, i'm currently reading a court of silver flames. which, considering that it's a part of the acotar series, i really should have expected the severe amount of fucking. but. feyre's sexcapades never went on for half as many pages as nesta and cassian's straight-up porn. i feel like half this book is just straight sex in excruciating detail. which, if you're looking for a solidly lengthy porn with plot novel, great! unfortunately, i read these books for the cheesy plots and generally kinda skim the porn parts. which is really kind of annoying in this one, because i really love nesta and cassian. i really like nesta's character development, and cassian is the most fun character in the series (imo). but every time we get some good emotional development, i get absolutely BLINDSIDED with some sudden fucking. oh, conversation with friends? thinking abt rawdogging nesta last night. trouncing through an extremely fucking dangerous prison? thinking abt rawdogging nesta last night. literally about to fucking die? thinking about- you get the gist.

like. i understand that they're horny, ok, ok, whatever. but it gets more than a bit grating when nesta can't keep her mind of cassian's magical fae man meat (and vice versa) for long enough to have a serious conversation -- or just to get through a scene! it's giving me constant emotional whiplash. and as someone who cares Significantly more about the story (this is book five!! there's a decent amount of irons in the fire by now!!) than the position in which nesta is getting railed tonight, it feels annoying and unbalanced and it makes it difficult to take the plot seriously.

like. as cheesy as the first three books are, at least feyre and rhysand had the decency to separate their serious moments from their sarah j maas wing kink fulfillment moments. the serious parts were serious, and the romantic parts were romantic, and the sex scenes were placed in ways that made sense. it Flowed. and a court of silver flames Very Much Does Not. i keep feeling like i'm being jumpscared by random smut that does not match the tone at all, and it's really taking me out of the story.

honestly though, the "lack of a porn/plot balance" thing is just one of my small multitude of grievances. my other annoyances:

1. how gwyn and emerie feel like undeveloped props for nesta's character development. they are, essentially, traumatized girl 1 and traumatized girl 2, and befriending and training with them gives nesta the support she needs to become the Ridiculously Overpowered Girlboss that all sarah j maas characters inevitably become. it's a disservice to gwyn and emerie, imo. like, i understand that they're side characters, but it also feels like their importance to the plot begins and ends with their trauma.

2. feyre. reading about feyre from a non-feyee and non-rhysand point of view really makes her sheer overpoweredness apparent. she is so Magical and Special and Created from the Power of the Other High Lords and No One Else has Ever Had This Power, Her Potential Is Unquestionably Immense etc etc etc whatever whatever whatever. shut the fuck up. she feels like a mary sue -- which, again, i think is a sarah j maas protagonist thing. her only limitations are her own mind, but it was only by finding someone who truly appreciated her power that she could harness it. throws up. she's the crowning jewel of rhys' band of special little strangely overpowered idiots. again, i think this bothers me because it's a balance thing -- the night court is so cool and unique, but there are pretty much no other characters who have equivalent innate skill. only the good guys get cool fancy insanely unique powers. side characters + members of other courts (aside from a few of the high lords) get the dregs.

3. "male" and "female" instead of man and woman. makes me violently cringe. honestly, it's just another sign that this series is basically just abo for people who are into wings + magic powers instead of doggy dicks. they even have the SMELLING AROUSAL thing. like stfu!!!! this is so tmi!!!!! keep it in your pants or in your noses or whatever !!!!!!

4. the target audience has changed halfway through the series. see. first three books? cheesy, but i like the plot. they're melodramatic and magicky and overdone. i enjoy them. this book? it continues the plot, which i am casually invested in at this point, but it kills my immersion with the sudden smut. i think smut should be used like seasoning. take salt, for example. first three acotar books? a sprinkle. most of the fanfic i've read that builds up to a relationship? a few shakes. a court of silver flames? half the goddamn shaker. sodium overload. can taste naught but the salt (hehehe you see what i did there...). but. back to my main point. this is a departure from the previous books, and i am no longer the target audience. i read this book with none of the mildly obsessive zeal with which i read acotar, which i find quite disappointing. perhaps i'd care more sarah j maas spent less time writing immortals banging 20-year-old women and more time giving me a reason to like these characters.

5. and, last but not least, where tf is mor. she has always felt like one of those requires diversity characters to me (she offhandedly drops being bisexual in the third book, i think, and the building tension between her and one of the male characters evaporates with no explanation). and, this is the first real opportunity we get to spend more time with her now that she is suddenly a womanliker. naturally, sarah j maas ships her off to the continent and we don't get neither hide nor hair of her. i had already suspected that the bisexual part had been added in just to check that LGBTQ+ representation box, but this kind of confirms it for me. is it really rep if the token character gets shunted offstage at the first opportunity. and, even more, nesta's story was the perfect for mor, considering that she is one of acotar's token trauma girlies, and that nesta has made it her purpose to collect all trauma girlies she finds.

in short, this book kind of pisses me off, and i really just wanted to put my frustrations with it into writing. i hope the last 25% of it is more streamlined and interesting than the first 75%.

[mellometal]

ATTENTION: This is some recent information about the current events with Chris Chan that I've been able to find, plus additional information that I couldn't find anything on that is now public knowledge.

ALL videos about any updates will be linked so you can watch them for yourself, if you wish.

Again, OBLIGATORY trigger warning: This post will be going into very sensitive subject matter, including r@p3, s3xual assault, elder abuse, and inc3st. I will also be mentioning the site Kîwî F@rm$ and the person who runs it (Null). DON'T go onto Kîwî F@rm$. Just stay away from there. It's like 4chan (another site full of REALLY fucked up shit, depending on which forum you go to), but worse.

If anything I mentioned is triggering for you or makes you otherwise uncomfortable in any way, you don't have to read this post. It's not worth putting yourself in a bad state mentally. Take care of yourself, please. Consume media that sparks joy for you.

ALRIGHTY, LET'S GET TO IT. Because there's quite a lot of bullshit that happened since the first post I made about the current events. And some more information that will most likely be the nail in the coffin for Chris. I'm patiently waiting for more updates as they come and I'll share them here as soon as possible.

The person Chris was in a call with was revealed to be a troll under the name "Bella". The screenshots of messages and the audio from the call have all been confirmed to be real.

It's also been revealed that Chris confided in Null about her having a girlfriend, having s3x with her, all that. Here's a list of things to describe this "girlfriend" below, which I will compare to Barbara in bold:

This woman is "in her over fifties". (Barbara is eighty years old. Most people would assume that someone's in their late fifties when this terminology is used. Eighty is well over fifty.)

Her favorite person was the late Adam West in the 60s, as it was "for her son back then". (I don't know if Chris is referring to her half-brother Cole Smithey [he does movie reviews, and he's most famous for being one of the only people to give Toy Story 3 a negative review] here, or if she's referring to herself before she came out as trans. I'm adding this here anyway.)

Chris has known this woman "for a long time", offline and in-person. (OBVIOUSLY she's known Barbara her whole life, since she's, AGAIN, HER MOTHER! DUH.)

They've been having s3x "every three nights". (Like how Chris admitted to doing to her defenseless mother. PRETTY FUCKING FISHY, IF YOU ASK ME.)

They began having s3x on June 27th. (The same day that Chris admitted to doing to Barbara.)

This woman was an accountant when she was younger. (Barbara's job was EXACTLY this.)

Chris said she feels grateful to "enlighten" her girlfriend with s3x play that she (the woman) "missed from even her exes". (I didn't mention this in my initial post, but if you chose to watch the videos that were linked, Chris mentioned that Barbara's boyfriends and ex-husbands "have never been able to make her 0rg@$m" like Chris did. SHE EVEN MENTIONED HER LATE FATHER. THAT'S FUCKING DISGUSTING AND DISRESPECTFUL.)

Chris has been "keeping her girlfriend safe" too. (She had been "taking care of Barbara" since Bob, her late father, passed away. This right here is proof alone that she was talking about HER MOM!)

Her girlfriend "didn't want to do it at first", it was "very painful" for Chris's girlfriend in the beginning, and it took a few tries for them "to get going". This included Chris doing it FOR her because she thought her girlfriend would "feel better" due to her lack of mobility and lucidity. (Chris said all of this exact stuff TO "BELLA" during their call.)

Null initially thought that Chris was lying about sleeping with her mother to cover up the fact that she had a girlfriend and having s3x with her. Why? Because apparently people would believe Chris would have s3x with her mother than some other unknown woman. Chris told Null to keep her girlfriend's identity secret because she was afraid her girlfriend would get trolled and she'd end up losing her.

What Null realized was that what Chris told him completely matched the description of Barbara. Note that before he looked into this, he was unaware of the context Chris was giving him about her "girlfriend".

It's extremely possible now that Chris admitted to s3xually assaulting Barbara to Null and "Bella", but she wanted Null to keep it confidential. Chris wanted NULL to keep the fact that she admitted to committing a VERY serious crime A SECRET.

If Chris WAS actually lying, she'd use a lot more CWCisms (her own phrases) or say that she was "using her psychic powers" to have s3x with Barbara's fictional counterpart in another dimension. But no, Chris was VERY straightforward and talked about it casually like if you were to talk about the weather.

Chris, according to Null, slept in a parking lot in her car the other night. At least for a few hours, though I don't remember where the FUCK else she slept (maybe a hotel room eventually), considering she had -$200 in her bank account. I believe some people who are in contact with Chris sent her some money to get food too.

Null revealed that he set up a GoFundMe previously for Chris to attend a Brony convention, which was a test to see how Chris would be able to handle commissions. The GFM was successful, to say the least. Chris fulfilled commissions successfully, DESPITE NOT WORKING ON THE FUCKING COMIC. Y'KNOW, THE THING SHE'S PAID FOR ON PATREON TO DO!

Well, due to recent events, he has since taken down the GFM and is refunding all the money to all the donors. He was debating on sending Chris money (the GFM money, since Chris isn't able to go to the Brony convention), but he decided not to do so. He told Chris to sleep in her car, spend the night under the stars, and reflect on her current situation until the morning, when Null would help her find a temporary roof over her head until August 5th.

Barbara tightly manages Chris's finances. Those are Null's words, not mine. You want to know why Barbara's been having trouble with the house and shit? CHRIS HAS BEEN STEALING MONEY FROM HER FOR YEARS. HER CREDIT IS ALL SORTS OF FUCKED, SHE'S BURIED IN DEBT, AND IT'S CHRIS'S FAULT. THE PERSON WHO'S SUPPOSED TO BE TAKING CARE OF HER.

How did we find out about Chris recently getting more money, specifically $750? Well, Null has had access to Chris's emails for the past few years (Chris knows this), and he found an email that Barbara had sent Chris money.

That's a violation of the EPO (Emergency Protective Order) that was put into affect for Barbara. Chris was NOT supposed to contact Barbara in ANY way, shape or form.

Null asked Chris about this and told her that this was a violation of the EPO. He asked her if her mom sent her money. Chris denied it at first, and then went into the whole goddess bullshit she goes into. She then admitted to accessing Barbara's banking account online and wiring the $750 to HER account. Chris also said that she'd pay her back the $750 after receiving the $1000 that Null was supposed to send to Chris. Null was obviously upset with what Chris had done. Who wouldn't be?

Guess what Null did in reaction to what Chris told him? HE BLOCKED CHRIS AND REPORTED HER TO THE POLICE. I'm honestly surprised he stuck with her this long. He genuinely wanted to see Chris become a better person.

It's only a matter of time for Chris's arrest. With all this information that's out there now, more information probably coming very soon, plus people close to Chris confirming all of this....I feel it's safe for me to say that Chris did s3xually assault her mother.

I don't feel bad for Chris anymore. I have no sympathy for Chris. Any ounce of respect for this person has been long since gone. I don't feel comfortable even referring to Chris as a person. She's a monster.

I talked about Chris a few times a few years ago on Instagram, and I got yelled at for tearing this motherfucker apart. Because apparently I was an "ableist bully" for having my grievances with Chris, despite the fact that I'm autistic too and I've never "bullied" Chris for being autistic. Not even once. My grievances had more to do with Chris using her mother and their animals to exploit them for her own monetary gain INSTEAD OF TRYING TO FIND A JOB. I've even tried to suggest that she go work through a temporary work industry and get paid daily. (At that time, I didn't know that trying to interact with Chris wasn't a very good idea. I've since learned, obviously.)

Here's a link to Gibi's video:

Dillon Thomas's video:

The stream with Null:

Geno Samuel's stream:

Here's Rogue's video and live stream he did about the situation. Rogue is one of my FAVORITE YouTubers, as edgy as his content is.:

Thank you for your time.

[baebeyza]

What is a plot hole or subplot in any Transformers show/series that you dislike/hate? Have a nice day! Ps: I love your art!

Thank you! <3

Okay, lets see...PS: I love most of these shows with all my heart, if I don’t I’ll say it. So don’t take me criticizing some aspects of them as me hating them, some of these don’t even bother me much and I find them hilarious instead :>

G1: This show is full of plot holes and that is part of the charm, however, I could have lived without Optimus coming back, ruined everything my boy Roddy went through before. 

Headmasters:  I love Sixshot’s “redemption” (I wouldn’t call it redemption really, more a heel-face turn) but the decision to take this character whose been written as a merciless killer with an on-screen death count of 3, including beloved baby Ultra Magnus, and giving him depth in the last 4 episodes was a truly bold move xD Personally, I think they handled it well enough, but I don’t know how other people feel about it - if you watched Headmasters PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR OPINION! Super-God Masterforce: Hmmm, I mean there are things that aren’t so sweet when you watch the show, like the slow pacing in the first half, but looking at the story as a whole it doesn’t matter much. Said slow pacing makes sense when you think about it.  So for this show, I don’t have complaints, I love it and love the plot! <3 Victory: There was a story to be told between Deszaras and Leozack, Leozack and Hellbat and between Greatshot and Guyhawk, but these arcs just faded out without conclusion.   I explained my grievance better in this post! Beast Wars: I love Beast Wars but I hate the love triangle with Blackarachnia and Silverbolt and the teenage third wheel Cheetor. So annoying 🙄 Beast Wars II: Kind of a bummer to me that Megastorm just kinda turned pathetic towards the end instead of being a threat with more evil methods than Galvatron as he was introduced to be. I mean the idea of him being more evil and serious without Galvs around and being a suck-up annoying lil brother with Galvs around was nice, but I would have liked to see more of his advertised evil methods.  Beast Machines:  I hate the way they handled Jetstorm and Silverbolt, they could have written that far better.  Here a post explaining it! Robots in Disguise 2001/Car Robots: The most hilarious thing in this show’s writing is that in the first episode Yuki’s father gets kidnapped and Optimus is like “We’ll save him!” Then they don’t save him and it takes around 30 episodes for the father to be rescued by fucking SKY-BYTE xD Armada/Micron Densetsu: The show I enjoyed the least and don’t even really like: I liked the ideas with Optimus, Megs and Starscream, liked the conclusions, but the build-up to them all was so boring, confusing and unnatural that I couldn’t feel for it.  The characters, their interactions and conflicts are nonsensical most of the time and contrived as well, it just ruined the experience. This whole show would need an overhaul from the very start to give it justice to the good ideas it had. Energon/Superlink: This show isn’t better than Armada when it comes to good ideas and lazy writing, but unlike Armada, it was fun to watch and had its characters act like people- And while character arcs were just stopped out of nowhere as well, at least it happened via death xD Inferno’s arc stopping was sad, but at least his death scene was nice.  If there is one thing I was a little sad about then it is Mirage not having an important place within the Cons as Starscream had. I would have thought both him and Star would be the serious ones and flank Megs on both sides, but nah, he’s in a dumbass trio with Demolishor and Snow Cat in the end. 😔 And while I celebrate his canon crush on Megs, it would have been nice to see Megs acknowledging it.  Cybertron/Galaxy Force: This was an awesome show, but as a Decepticon and Megatron lover, I was disappointed. Megatron was boring as an evil leader! The only person he had any interesting dynamic with is Starscream, and even that fell short. He didn’t care about any other Decepticon. And I don’t mean it in a “he’s bad boss” kinda way, he just doesn’t care. Decepticons join and leave without him ever reacting to it. I don’t think he spoke a word with Demolishor.  I would have thought he and Flame Convoy would develop something awesome, but even with that guy, nothing meaningful happens between them.  I know this is a story about friendship and you gotta show the villain as being friendless, but even that could have been showcased instead of just not bothering to write the dude. Animated: One thing I find sad is that Blackarachnia has nothing to do with the rest of the Decepticons. Megatron never even asked about her. And it is sad because she joined them because they accepted her while the Autobots would have not and that was interesting! But nothing gets revealed. Prime: Breakdown dying was a real bummer, because they had implied for him to get more development. Robots in Disguise 2015: The one grievance I have is the problem of characters never developing and going through the same lesson all over again. Also, Steeljaw being the best thing the show has as a main villain, but just getting sidetracked the whole time. Prime Wars Trilogy: I like the plot of Prime Wars, the storytelling, in general, is lacklustre though. Starscream could have had something better than just trying to take power and failing immediately. Cyberverse: I find Cybeverse to be boring and a thing I hated is how in season 3 they have Kup telling the story to the audience for the last four episodes of the Quintesson arc. It took away any kind of dread you could have felt for the story because Kup being able to tell it means that all goes well.  Which, yeah, of course it’ll go well, but Kup reassuring me the whole time that all will go well the whole time was just annoying.  Imagine watching an intense action flick where the characters are in mortal danger, but the action gets interrupted the whole time by some random character just to be like “this was intense, but don’t worry, we gonna survive :)” Makes it impossible to get invested in the drama! War for Cybertron: Not done yet I know, but while I celebrate this show and like it a lot, I am miffed about the lack of backstory to the conflict and characters. Siege should have been a second season with a season one that explains how it got to the point they are in Siege.

[whistlewhileiblogit]

Thoughts on TLoU Part 2....Again

Yeah, I am back with another vent, rant, thoughts on...thing. I wanted to wait a long time after writing my initial reaction to the game, because I figured I’d get more clarity or something. Anyway, so here are my unedited and unfiltered thoughts...8 months later. So as always, this is going to be rambly, and I’ll probably just bold parts of note in case anyone wants to jump around. So here we go!

Oh and, SPOILERS AHEAD

Things I liked: These pretty much haven’t changed. The game is obviously beautiful, the gameplay itself I enjoyed immensely (when mentally separating it from the plot), the Joel and Ellie flashbacks. They were fantastic, and made me feel very reminiscent of the first game. Jesse and Dina were cool, but I found them underutilised, which is a massive shame because they were cool characters.

Yara and Lev were also great, and again, Yara was another completely wasted character potential. But love them nonetheless.

So yeah...that’s pretty much it, I think?

Now for the things I didn’t like...

The writing is the biggest sin in the game to me, as it creates so many structural issues. The pacing is wild and jarring, we aren’t given enough time to bond with certain characters before they are killed off, the narrative itself manages to be incredible simple yet complex simultaneously, but it is a total mess.

Let me explain. The end of the game essentially comes down to “revenge bad”, no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can also include other aspects like, “do good deeds”, but they seem sort of tacked on, considering what happens throughout the game. Ellie goes through the entire story with vengeance for Joel being basically the only thing on her mind (or at least, at the forefront of it), and then just...doesn’t go through with it at the end.

Honestly, the game felt by that point that she HAD to go through with it, after all, how would she learn her lesson? Yet she learns her lesson, without actually getting revenge? So what was the point? Some have said that she learnt in that final fight with Abby to forgive Joel, but this makes no sense. Ellie had already started to forgive Joel before his death. Obviously, she wasn’t over it yet, but she clearly wanted to make amends with her father figure. Besides, she’s fighting Abby, after all. And she certainly didn’t forgive her.

I think a lot of people took Ellie letting Abby go as forgiveness, but in reality, it was in complete grief. There was no point in killing her anymore.

But again, THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Given every. Single. Thing Ellie went through the game, all to find and kill Abby. Losing others she loved and cared for, her family, her fingers (and her ability to play guitar which was the only thing she had left connecting her to Joel)...all of that and she just let Abby go?

It would have made so much more sense had she gone through with killing Abby, only THEN to realise it didn’t make her feel better in the long run. That she was still conflicted in her feelings for Joel. Why bother having Ellie go through every point in the game, only to have her back out at the last second and STILL lose everything? What is that saying? If you do the “right” thing, you’ll still get shit anyway? Ugh.

So speaking of Abby...I thought hey, maybe after all this time, I’ll be able to grow to like her! Yeah, nope. She is just as unlikable as always. Abby is a deuteragonist that we are meant to grow to care for, like we do Ellie. But here’s the thing; Ellie has an ENTIRE GAME beforehand PLUS a freaking DLC game that gives us so much time to love her. So you would think that the writers must think, we’ll make Abby super likeable! NOPE.

Throughout the game, Abby is stoic (which isn’t a bad thing on its own), serious, and just flat-out boring. Sorry Naughty Dog, but I don’t find a character who collects coins as her biggest personality trait interesting. She isn’t funny, or kind or particularly clever. She has her strength, and that doesn’t count as a personality. She’s also a shitty friend, and person, and gets called out for that in the game by Dr Preggers (still don’t remember her name).

Even Abby’s flashbacks do little to make me like her. Oh wow, she has a magical, amazing, super perfect animal-helping papa? And? I just can’t latch onto her character and story. Even if she were really well written and interesting, I wonder if I could have after the game presents her as a total fucking barbaric monster in the first two hours of gameplay.

No, I’m still not over Joel’s death. And despite what some people try and say, it isn’t BECAUSE he died. I went into the game fully expecting Joel to die (I was lucky enough to see no spoilers prior to playing), because I felt like that would be the next step narratively that ND would go. This was a terrible decision on ND’s behalf, but I’ll get into that later.

Joel’s death as the way it plays out, does not only Joel a great disservice- but Abby as well. If ND wanted us all to like Abby so much, they easily could have just made her show some remorse, or conflict, or even just a quick, somewhat merciful death to Joel. But instead, we get ~torture porn~, which becomes the first scene of many of these in the game. This scene is so fucking brutal and sickening, I personally cannot watch it. I have seen it ONCE, and after that I have avoided having to watch it again. And I am not a person with a weak stomach.

Instead of having a death scene worthy of Joel’s character, like having him save Ellie somehow or going out in a blaze of glory, as many have suggested...we got an incredibly beloved character being treated as merely a plot device.

Imagine if the roles were reversed, and Ellie had been killed in Part 2, not Joel. I doubt those saying they’d be cool with it really would be. Especially in such a disgusting, horrific manner.

And one of my biggest grievances with the game- the retconning. I’ve had some people argue with me, that the game doesn’t retcon anything. Those people are fooling themselves or just being wilfully ignorant. Part 2 completely contradicts facts from Part 1. Including:

- Joel didn’t completely lie to Ellie. He half lied. If Joel finds all of the recorders in the hospital, it is revealed that the fireflies DID find dozens of immune people. And killed all of them trying to make a cure...and it didn’t work. This is literal in-game proof that the fireflies never would have succeeded in their quest, had Joel let them kill Ellie.

- Part 2 would have you believe that the fireflies were doing well with their groups and their research. Part 2 shows a beautiful, modern-day looking hospital. But the fact is, as shown in Part 1, the fireflies were on their last legs, and killing Ellie to try and find a cure was their last-ditch attempt to find meaning in their cause. It never was going to work. The hospital is shown to be filthy, and barely up to scratch by all standards. The fireflies were struggling, despite what part 2 tells us.

- The character design changes. We have all seen the comparison pictures of the doctor in part 1 vs part 2. They tried to make Jerry (?) look so wholesome and kind, begging for humanities sake. That isn’t how it went down, and he isn’t the same person. They just wanted Joel to look like a total villain.

I also want to mention what a disservice the marketing was to this game. I know Naughty Dog is very anti-spoiler, for obvious reasons, but they went above and beyond hiding spoilers that they straight up falsely advertised the game. And no, I will not forgive them for that.

The game completely undoes what made the first game special. It was a story about two people, struggling to survive, and somehow through it all, finding a familial love and trust within each other, and fighting to keep it, no matter what.

Ellie and Joel ARE The Last of Us, and Part 2 literally kills of half of what made the first game so incredibly special. As soon as Joel was killed, I wondered how the game would remedy those moments, and aside from the few Joel flashbacks, there really isn’t anything comparable to these scenes. Ellie is alone, so she doesn’t get to develop, or show her personality. And even when she is partnered up for short periods of time, she is too miserable (for good reason), to be the joking, lovable character we knew from the first game.

Final thoughts...

All in all, I would say my opinions have stayed pretty much the same for Part 2. I will forever love Part 1 (played it not long ago for the millionth time), and it is always going to be special to me.

But part 2, as it is, is nonredeemable to me. It really could have been something truly special, like part 1, but I guess that’s just what made The Last of Us so special.

[mentalisttraceur-long]

So a Karen had a crying breakdown, after (not?) trying to hit black woman.

Ideally I just wouldn't have to experience this discourse, let alone ever need to talk about it, but if this preempts even on unpleasant-for-me take on this recent event, it's worth it. So here's why (almost) everyone is wrong somehow about this latest thing:

Your immediate reaction, in every situation ever, should be to consider the possibility that before the start of the footage, the seemingly obviously in-the-right party was doing something awful which justified what the seemingly obviously in-the-wrong party did. Ideally you readily think of at least one such situation, put yourself in the shoes of the superficially in-the-wrong party, and go on in alert for evidence of that possibility.

Similarly, you do not get to instead jump to the conclusion that the party most superficially in-the-right, was just looking to game how it looked and turn social outrage against the person. Same requirement: you should be able to think of at least one scenario where the party actually is really in-the-right, but for some reason feels legitimately worried and looking for evidence, put yourself in their shoes, and go in alert for evidence of that possibility.

In almost every situation where something bad happens, more than one person can be at fault or bad in some way, and that is almost always the case. Finding one person in the wrong in a situation is for immature children - you should be expecting that each person did something that was bad in itself, or made the situation worse than it should have been.

In this specific situation, the facial expression at the start of the footage is clearly pleading, possibly escalating to panicky, not one of the looks people tend to have on their faces when deliberately assaulting someone.

In this specific situation, the movements at the start of the footage look most like a reflexive panicky movement of instinctively wanting to grab or push down the recording phone. Given the facial features in the split second prior, this is the more likely interpretation. Given everything that happens after, this is the even more likely interpretation. Less likely in the unfavorable direction, the hand was being raised in a wind-up for hitting. Less likely in the favorable direction, the hand was being raised as emphasis/communication. More than one of of these could have been true, either at various moments, or even at the same time if the person was conflicted or still figuring out what they wanted to do.

In this specific situation, the recording person maybe had very good reason to want to record the interaction for their own safety, and the good reason may have included race-related stuff.

In general in the current social reality, a person in a confrontation often enough has good reason to want to record the interaction for their own safety, and a black person confronting a white person often enough has extra good reason on top of the race-independent good reasons.

We do not have good enough resolution on the face in a lot of frames to easily judge facial expressions, and this increases the danger of people reading in whatever they want into her facial expressions. I already see this. People seeing smiles in pixelated frames where I would say a more experienced gaze sees no likely smile, and where even if there is a smile there is not enough detail to distinguish a nervous or supplicating or reassurance-seeking smile from the smiles that would suggest malice or duplicity.

The person being recorded exhibits what is both entirely consistent with a genuine meltdown of an emotionally sensitive person being severely upset and panicking because they don't know how to handle the situation they are in, and which is consistent with a deliberately played-up reaction.

The repeated insistence of "no I didn't" with no elaboration could be true and the person is having a hard time figuring out how to say what they actually were doing, or could be false and the person is having a hard time coming up with a cover. Personally I find it much easier to come up with a believable lie which fits people's impressions on the spot, than to come up with a believable way of getting the truth around people's already-formed/forming wrong impressions.

The slow sink to the floor, especially with a sudden reduction in crying volume around the same time, is extremely consistent with people having a really bad upset. People freak out while crying badly enough, until they get light-headed and weak and it's like a half-involuntary thing which looks exactly like that - the involuntary part being that the person recognized that if they don't do a controlled descent, they're gonna have a worse uncontrolled collapse instead. On the other hand, any emotion is consistent with this - it's the crying and degree of physical activation that does it, not the nature or legitimacy of the emotion. But of course a skilled-enough faker can probably either fake it or work themselves up to a real one.

The person recording the interaction repeatedly exhibits signs of callousness, and a couple of instances of what sounds like cruel glee. If you have a person who's having a crying fit or is lying on the ground, what the fuck compels you to make snide comments or laughs at or about them, especially within hearing range? I understand that you might want to keep the camera on just in case something bad or new suddenly happens, but I'm sure if you tried to think really hard you could find a way to maybe not keep your camera persistently trained on a person actively begging you not to record their breakdown, or to least be less of an agitating, escalating dick about it.

But if we're being maximally charitable, the person recording it was probably in a very confrontational state, the kind where all sorts of social monkey politics instincts and emotions sway how we act. She might have also been trying to communicate with her TicTok friends live, giving them an update, and maybe her friends were genuinely worried.

The person doing the recording is also persistently managing to interpret and spin everything towards the bad-faith interpretation. I think this should be understandable and sympathetic and ideally you find a way to relate, but it also should be recognized as uncritically presenting some possible explanations as certain while omitting roughly-as-likely less-bad explanations.

We should also consider that as a black woman, the person recording was almost certainly acting from substantial pain history - who knows how many other experiences with people, and with white people or white women in particular, she was really cumulatively reacting to in that moment? Like when I finally physically fought back and won against my dad in my teens, in that situation I was needlessly escalating and if you looked at that situation by itself I was overly vicious, but I was lashing out against my entire history of his physical discipline and growing up in fear of angering him, and it felt very righteous at the time. (Of course, white people and Karens are not all one entity the way my dad is, so one overkill victory doesn't cash out the same way, but our brains and instincts aren't really built to handle that - in a small tribe where everyone knows each other, if you were routinely abused or oppressed or coerced by tribe members, one over-retaliation against one person would be very adaptive.)

Anyway, when the person being recorded eventually gets up and starts actively charing the person still recording them, that's obviously the same kind of thing psychologically going on as when you have a cornered animal in pain and you keep poking it with a fucking stick. If the recording person had been less of a persistent ass after basically "winning" the whole interaction, that would not have happened. It is not proof of violent or hostile nature, and it does not suggest any greater odds that the person had violent or hostile intent in any prior situation unless they were already persistently and severely harassed by then as well.

In fact, that was still communication - it was physical bodily communication implying that the recording person was hurting the recorded person enough that it's getting desperate enough for physical retaliation to be tempting, but actually attempted violence is usually silent. When people get serious about doing bodily harm, they tend to shut up. If she wanted that to get violent she wouldn't have been yelling "get her away from me" the entire time. That was a plea for help to the other humans so that the situation could still be resolved non-violently.

When the cops and security finally got there, the recording woman has some legitimate critiques/complaints/grievances. For example, if the two women's races were reversed, there is a real chance that the cops would've handled the situation very differently.

[hopeisour4letteredword]

personal furnace, ch3

Summary: Winter renovations at the inn in Zaphias leave Yuri in need of a warm bunk for the night. Good thing he can always count on his good buddy Flynn.

Read it below or at the link to AO3 in the notes.

When Yuri climbs in through the window again that night, Flynn looks up with some disbelief. He'd gotten the impression Yuri was upset with him that morning, or at least upset about being woken before he was ready. Flynn does feel guilty about that. He knows Yuri doesn't always fall back asleep after disruptions as easily as Flynn can. He should have been more empathetic to that this morning. "They still haven't fixed up enough of Mariam's rooms?"

"I know," Yuri says. He looks frustrated about it. "Sorry, man. I can find somewhere else to crash if—"

"No, you're always welcome here. I'm just surprised."

"Yeah. I don't know. I keep stopping by at the end of the afternoon to check with her and she said they're still getting separate rooms ready for the people who were forced to share before." The winter already seems harsher than usual this year, so it's not completely implausible that more folks than usual are seeking shelter from the elements. Yuri continues, "I guess I could at least try sleeping in my usual room for part of the night and see if it's tolerable."

"I just told you, you're always welcome here. You don't need to settle for tolerable, and you certainly don't need to risk worse. You can sleep here for as long as you're willing to put up with the inconveniences of sharing a bed with me."

"It's not that it's inconvenient," Yuri says. He's got the grim, irritated look he gets when he's about to say something sincere about his emotions. "It's just annoying to watch you work yourself to death."

Flynn pauses. "Oh. You're worried."

"I didn't use the word worried," Yuri snaps, cheeks flushing a darker pink that Flynn suspects has nothing to do with the cold he's just fled. It occurs to him belatedly that Yuri still hasn't moved away from the window to get himself a blanket or go closer to the fire. Maybe he's waiting for Flynn to indicate that he's welcome? But Flynn already said he was. He stands from the desk to grab a blanket from the bed and toss it at Yuri, who has the nerve to look surprised.

"Nobody says working yourself to death unless they're worried."

"Well maybe you shouldn't be giving me things to be worried about!" Yuri draws the blanket around himself in a facsimile of a cloak, as usual, and glowers at him. "It's one thing to get up early if it's standard for the Knights, but then what the hell are you doing going to sleep at the same time I do? And working right up until then?"

"Yuri—"

"I can't stop you from self-destructing if this is how you get your rocks off, but what the fuck, Flynn. If you're gonna live like this, at least have the decency not to turn around and act like I'm the one who needs to rest more."

"You do need to rest more," Flynn protests, weakly. He'd known Yuri was upset with him, but he wasn't prepared for it to involve actively combatting Flynn's attempts to look out for him. "At least I sleep consistently. You don't, always."

"Yeah, but at least I fucking try." Yuri tucks his hands close up against his own body. It's difficult to take the glaring seriously when he's swaddled in Flynn's quilt. "And I don't spend every second I'm not in bed working."

"I don't either," Flynn insists. "I usually—"

"Three nights in a row I've come here past eleven to find you still at your desk—"

"That's not—"

"So unless you're writing a fucking novel on the side—"

"Yuri, stop interrupting me." They both stop to take a deep breath. Flynn soldiers on. "I don't usually work this late so consistently. It's just a hectic time of year. There are a lot of bureaucratic deadlines that we—the Knights—need to be prepared for before the new year, but I won't be able to spend all of that time working because I have political and social obligations for the winter festivals. I'm trying to burn through this now so I don't have to worry about it at the last minute."

The tense line of Yuri's shoulders relaxes a little. He studies Flynn warily. Flynn adds, more gently, "I swear, I take some time to relax most of the time. You think all those books on the shelves are just for decoration?"

"Nerd decoration," Yuri mutters, but the fight slumps out of him. He makes no objections when Flynn closes the gap between them to take the edge of the blanket in hand and lead Yuri over to the hearth again. Their hands brush when Yuri adjusts the drape of the quilt around himself as he settles down, and Flynn jerks away on instinct. He's absolutely freezing to the touch.

"No wonder you're grouchy. You're like ice."

"A pipe burst in Ted's apartments right at the end of the evening," Yuri says, tiredly. Flynn takes the hand he'd brushed against back into both of his own and tries to rub some warmth into Yuri's cold fingers. Yuri redirects his glare from Flynn to the flames, cheeks flushing red again. "I got freaking drenched earlier while I was trying to help him."

Aghast, Flynn says, "You got completely doused in freezing water in sub-zero weather and you just threatened me with trying to sleep in the cold at the inn?"

Yuri smacks at him half-heartedly with the hand Flynn isn't massaging. "How is doing stupid things that only hurt myself threatening you?"

Flynn isn't even going to dignify that with an answer. He catches the hand Yuri bopped him with and tries to massage warmth into that one, too. "Is Ted going to be alright overnight?"

"Yeah, Hanks is putting him up for the night."

"That's good. Is someone—"

"Yeah, yeah, your people already have a plan for dealing with it." Yuri sighs. He gives Flynn an exhausted smile. "Don't go getting a big head about it, but you've got a pretty good thing going with the Flynn Brigade."

"You say that and then you refuse to make nice with Sodia."

"I am specifically talking about everyone except Sodia."

"Witcher?"

"...Yes. Fine. I'll include Apple-Head."

Well, at least that's something. Although Flynn is pretty sure the only grievance Yuri ever had with Witcher was in solidarity with Rita.

"Shall I draw a hot bath for you? Since you got soaked."

Yuri hesitates. That's a yes, then. If it's tempting enough to make him consider letting someone else take care of him, he's definitely cold enough to need it.

"I can do it," Yuri manages to say, without any sincere enthusiasm, when Flynn nods briskly and heads into the bathroom. "You've been working all day too—"

"I've been at the desk most of the day, aside from a training session," Flynn says. Yuri trails behind him and hovers in the doorway as Flynn opens the faucet to begin filling the tub. "And frankly, with all due respect, please do not try to do magic in any part of my quarters. Especially not fire magic. I have to live with whatever destruction you wreak."

"No faith," Yuri says, with a faint grin.

"Not for this." Flynn shakes his head, watching the water fill the tub. "Not before, and definitely not now that it's all mana."

"Rita says magic with mana is probably actually more intuitive for beginners to learn than magic with aer. She thinks it seems harder right now because everyone's trying to unlearn aer magic at the same time."

"If Rita is encouraging you to try fire magic, I'll have to have words with her."

Nonetheless, Yuri stays out of the way while Flynn uses careful application of fire magic to the porcelain basin to heat the water. He shuffles forward when Flynn steps back. Flynn takes the quilt back and leaves Yuri to disrobe while he goes to change into pajamas and fetch another set for Yuri.

He comes back in right as Yuri climbs into the bath, clothes in a pile on the floor. His hair pools on the surface of the water in inky swirls as he sinks deeper into the bath with a long, contented sigh. Flynn has to tear his eyes away before his gaze can follow the elegant curve of Yuri's neck below the water line. He turns to the bathroom counter.

"Better?"

"Yeah, lots. You're a hero."

"We're safe in my quarters at the end of the night. Nothing I need to save the energy for."

"Mm. Still." There's a gentle splashing sound behind Flynn, presumably as Yuri shifts. "Thanks."

"Maybe I should have been more careful," Flynn muses, more to himself than Yuri, as he reaches for his toothbrush. "In specialized climate training they always tell us you shouldn't put someone with hypothermia directly into a hot bath."

"I was not hypothermic," says Yuri, indignantly. "Just cold."

"Mm-hm. I don't know. You were more worked up than you usually get in your right mind."

"I get to be crabby when I can barely feel my hands without that meaning I'm on the verge of death," Yuri says, "And I was still right. If I find you staying up past midnight doing more paperwork after the new year, we're gonna have a real fight about it."

"Alright, alright."

"I'm serious."

"Hi, serious. I'm Flynn."

After a moment of furious silence, Yuri says, with deadly calm, "I am going to fucking drown you."

Flynn bursts into laughter. He had begun to put the toothbrush into his mouth, but now has to remove it so he doesn't choke. Yuri continues, "I'm going to have to explain to Cecelia why you're dead in the bathtub, fully clothed, and I'm the last person who saw you."

"Nobody else knows you're here," Flynn says, cheerfully. He glances at Yuri in the mirror. The mirror is safe. Yuri only exists from the shoulders up in the mirror. He glares sullenly back at Flynn. "You could get away with it."

"Yeah, nobody could solve that incredibly confusing riddle."

Flynn grins at him in the reflection and goes ahead with brushing his teeth. Yuri settles into the bath water up to his chin with another, surlier sigh.

"I take back everything nice I said."

"You can't take back being grouchy because you were worried about me. I'm going to remember that," Flynn says, around his toothbrush. He knows Yuri cares no matter how reluctant he is to put plain words to it, but it's still a treat whenever he slips up.

"I was grouchy because it's cold as hell," Yuri mutters. He rests the back of his head against the rim of the basin. He's quiet for a moment. Then: "You know in some places, people's whole concept of hell is a frozen wasteland?"

Flynn makes an interested sound. He had not known that.

"Estelle told us that," Yuri continues. "And I guess that's what they think in Dahngrest, because Karol was like, 'yeah, that's what hell is, what are you talking about?' And then we had to explain the concept of hell as a fire pit to him. He was so weirded out, it was hilarious."

"I can't believe you argued with a twelve year old about the concept of hell," Flynn says, except he can, actually. It's a very Yuri thing to do. He finishes brushing and spits into the sink.

"We weren't arguing," Yuri protests. "It was a cultural exchange."

"You can't just repeat Lady Estellise's euphemisms to me like I won't know that's what you're doing."

Yuri laughs. "Ah, fine. You got me there."

"I wouldn't mind hearing more about Dahngrest, though," Flynn says. He rinses his toothbrush under the faucet and puts it away, then turns around to lean back against the counter with his arms crossed. He's careful to keep his eyes on Yuri's face. "You started to say the other day that it's almost as though the citizens hibernate through the winter?"

Yuri lights up. He twists in the tub, water splashing dangerously, so he can face Flynn and rest his chin on his arms along the basin's edge. "Yeah. It's so wild. I mentioned the dawn's later, right? Well, the sunset's earlier, too."

"You're messing with me."

"No. It's dark a lot. And mostly people just sleep when it's dark, because it's colder there, too. So a lot of folks just stay inside and try to stay warm. Stay in their blanket nests or whatever."

How... gloomy.

"You'll never believe me, but I'm one of the most productive people in the city right now."

"You always seem to find plenty to keep yourself busy in Dahngrest," Flynn allows. Guild life is good for Yuri, after all. "But so does everyone else. It must be strange, for it to be a ghost town after dark."

"Not quite a ghost town, there's still a little nightlife. But it is weird. Good for Brave Vesperia as a business venture, I guess. There's less people taking jobs right now, so we're getting plenty."

"If it's colder there, are you staying warm enough? They aren't having the same issues as Zaphias?"

"Yeah. I mean, the Empire already restricted the Guilds' access to blastia, right? So the buildings are built better for the winter, already, because most of them couldn't depend on furnace blastia. Lots of fireplaces and ventilation systems. I just sleep with plenty of blankets and bundle up when I go out."

"As long as you're doing alright," Flynn says, doubtfully. He doesn't like to think of Yuri in the cold and dark, but at least it sounds like he's staying active.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting by okay. It being dark all the time sucks more than the weather, honestly. Anyway, I'm going to be in Zaphias for a while."

Flynn perks up. Yuri doesn't always stay in town all that long. "Really?"

"Really," Yuri says. His grin goes a little less smirk and a little more soft and fond. "Gotta be here for the solstice festival and then new year, don't I? Or Ted'll kill me. And I thought I'd stick around for a bit after that, see if there's any chance we can establish a little guild business in Zaphias."

Flynn beams at him. "Pleased to hear it."

Yuri shakes his head, still smiling, as he lifts his arms from the edge of the tub and sinks back into the hot water. "You'll be sick of me by the time I go, don't worry."

Flynn really doesn't think he will be.

---

Yuri doesn't leave fast enough in the morning to miss Cecelia bringing breakfast for two. Flynn and Yuri both stare at her, befuddled. Yuri's got one boot on.

"There were two sets of pajamas set aside on the dresser last afternoon when I left for the day," she says, flustered. Flynn had re-folded Yuri's set along with his own so that they wouldn't create an absurd amount of laundry when he could just wear the same ones again if he showed up. "Sir. Um. I'm sorry. I can take one of these back to the kitchens, if you don't—"

"I mean, I'll eat it," Yuri says, reaching out to take the tray from her. "But you really didn't have to. The renovations seem to be going alright, it should be done soon. And Mariam's always willing to feed me when I get back over to the Lower Quarter. I'm not your problem, Cece."

Completely red in the face, Cecelia says, "It's my job to maintain the Commandant's quarters and if he's decided you're to be included in them then yes, you are my problem. Good day."

She curtsies aggressively and sees herself out before either Yuri or Flynn can say anything about it.

"Well then," Yuri says.

"I've no idea what that was about," Flynn says, baffled. "She asked if she should bring two breakfasts after the first morning and I told her not to."

"Hope I haven't offended her by declining her hospitality or something," Yuri says, which is a new layer of social etiquette Flynn doesn't want to think about so early in his morning. Shouldn't he be the one dictating the hospitality levels of his own quarters? Is Flynn also in hot water for telling her not to be hospitable? "Well, whatever. Yay for free breakfast."

"Indeed." It does sound nice to take a meal with Yuri, instead of just having him hop right back out the window. And it is. Flynn enjoys it immensely.

[waterloou]

🔥 on the oc c- i’m joking i don’t wanna start anything aalaksjakjsan, tel me unpopular opinions on riverdale

It should’ve been canceled after s2

They should have made jughead aroace

Nothing is similar to the comic books but the names

There is literally no consistency

Most of the fandom annoys tf out of me

I hate bughead

Lili Reinhart isnt all that great

I don’t like most of the cast

The show treats its black characters like shit

Josie and The Pussycats were the only ones who deserved a spin-off

It’s portrayal of gangs was laughable

Kj apa wigs me out

Cole Sprouse sucks ass

Sprousehart shippers are weird back to my post ab shipping real people

All parents but Fred suck ass

Fp is horrible

Why does everyone have sex all the time

The creators have never met a real teenager

The poc on that show are treated absolutely horribly

They really don’t know how to write queer characters

Continuity? Don’t know her

Stop insisting there’s no supernatural element when the connecting show in the same universe is literally ab witches and hell

Tbh half of my grievances are ab the fandom

That scene where Betty strips? Wtf was that. Still one of the most painful things to watch

Chuck deserved better

Sweet Pea and Fangs had potential

So did Toni

SO DID THE GANG BUT THEY LITERALLY ERASED THAT PART LIKE IT NEVERR HAPPENED

Donna and Brett were more interesting than most of the main characters

They’re cowards for not making betty and Veronica an actual thing

Bughead had the least amount of chemistry out of any couple

(This is ab the fandom) the amount of racism that jumped out when sweet pea was paired with Josie was absolutely disgusting

Josie and Archie had more chemistry than archie and any other pairing

Archie should have been queer

They really did the bury your gays trope

Joaquin should have lived

Jughead should have died in s2

Jughead should not have been made serpent king

They expect me to believe Malachai died from an arrow to the shoulder

Kevin really makes no sense to the plot

Musical episodes shouldn’t have ever happened

Also they really didn’t take advantage of the actual Broadway actor in their fucking cast

Writing Josie off the show was lazy

The time jump is one of the best things to happen to the show

The small serpent backstory was actually one of the better stories in the show

The show wants to be serious and camp but fails in both

They tried to include references from twin peaks (literallt tried to make it a rip-off twin peaks) and scream and failed

All of the references it makes are horrible

These kids need therapy

Betty is one of the worst characters I’ve ever seen

They handled Reggie’s ab*se so so poorly

The only reason I have an attachment is bc I’ve met some of my best friends and made such a cool universe out of it

There’s prob more but I think I’m done for now lol I’ll def add if I think of more (I’m not even gonna start on most of my fandom issues bc this post would be twice as long)

[not-delicious-milk]

fuck this shit lemme just *uses humor as a coping mechanism for any and all grievances i face even to the point of inappropriate levity because the thought of being anything less than palatable is paralyzing. to cause anyone the slightest inconvenience would be tantamount to Failure. failure as what? it’s unclear. if i joke at all times perhaps people won’t be annoyed by my constant talking, my suffocating and uncomfortable presence. if i’m always laughing at something then nobody will pry deeper. the thought of vulnerability is disconcerting, not because i am afraid of exposing myself -- on the contrary, i am open and honest about everything that comes across my mind because i have no filter or impulse control, and even if something is embarrassing or offensive, i will usually automatically say it without thinking and feel crippling guilt afterwards -- i believe that if someone were to look deeper into who i am as a person, they would not like what they find. i am afraid that the person people know as me is an elaborate fabrication. i am afraid that if i were to strip away the layers of the persona i present to others, something unpleasant would be underneath -- or, even worse, nothing at all. i can’t describe myself beyond shallow adjectives and scorn. i can’t compliment myself, and feel self-conscious when mentioning my achievements, because i am afraid that people will think i am being narcissistic or boastful. my honest nature and absolute aversion to confrontation make me susceptible to being taken advantage of; i will never be the one to leave a relationship first, no matter how toxic it has become, because i will always convince myself it is my fault. and when, by whatever circumstance, the relationship ends, i will leave believing wholeheartedly i was to blame. i become too attached to people and am hurt much more greatly than they when they leave. the cycle continues and it is my fault each time, proof of my unchanging nature as someone who pushes people away -- no matter how terribly i desire to change, no matter what drastic measures i take to improve myself in my own eyes, i will never meet my own standards and i will never seem to make any progress. i fear that i am intrinsically a bad person, manipulating those around me to like me when under any other circumstances they would not. i fear less being left alone, because that would at least be an honest situation i would feel myself deserving of, but being surrounded by people only pretending to like me out of obligation or politeness. i fear being out of the loop, not knowing something everybody else does, stumbling through my life without something vital to my survival. i fear never being good enough, for myself, for those who could hypothetically care about me. deep down on some level i do not believe myself worthy of their time or their affection. i doubt every kind word said to me, because it is easier to believe they are lying as to not hurt my feelings than to believe that people care about me, of their own free will and accord, of their own volition. i am an open book, easy to read and easy to steal; i am a closed book, written in a cipher and with everything to hide, never feeling as if anyone truly knows me. i crave validation and i desire warmth, yet i reject both as i feel i deserve neither. although i perceive myself through the lens of how others see me, i will never wholeheartedly believe a single compliment given to me, committing only insults to my memory. i am intelligent, so i’m told, but i doubt my thoughts and my every conclusion. i am creative, so i’m told, but i rarely see the beauty in my own work. i am hard-working, so i’m told, but i never feel as if i am doing enough. i will never ask for help, never once in my entire life, because to admit that i need it would be the greatest mistake i could make -- the last thing i ever want to be is a burden on anybody. so i punctuate my deepest confessions with jokes, leaving them half in doubt as to whether i was serious. good. that’s the way i want it.*

*does a gay little dance that pisses you off*

[porscheczar110]

Of Sand and Rain

Rayllum Month 2019 prompt: Beach Day

Written by my sister in law tagged in comments (because tumblr)

Read here

Rayla, despite having complicated feelings regarding bodies of water, absolutely loved the beach. The sand, the smell, the sounds. Everything about it made her feel warm and excited. It was almost like stepping into another world. Your worries and your life , really, stayed behind somewhere along the car ride.

What Raya didn’t love was being dragged to the beach in the middle of winter. Sure, it was a pretty tropical area. Most of the time, they could get away with going year round. But some days just weren’t meant to be beach days. Those days included dreariness, rain, cold temperatures, lack of sun, and flood warnings among other things.

Yet here she and Callum were, on the beach in the midst of a severe thunderstorm warning. In the heart of January.

“You’re an idiot,” she snarled as the wind whipped her hair around. “But I’m an even bigger idiot for agreeing to come with you!” It had been wholly his idea, and he was annoyingly persistent when he wanted to be. Her grievances and reasonings fell upon death ears. That was when he whipped out the puppy eyes.

And, damnit all, he knew that was her ultimate weakness.

She moved a bit past him when she noticed the double red flags flying. Uh oh. That wasn’t good. That meant the water was closed for public use. And it was sort of obvious given the weather conditions, but still. She looked around, unsurprised to find the long stretch of sand on either side of them were completely empty. Not a soul in sight.

Good, she thought with a sniff. At least some people have a brain. She tightened her sweater around herself, but it did little to stop the biting edge to the endless sea breeze.

At least it still smelled great.

“Rayla,” Callum said lowly from somewhere behind her.

He sounded serious. Suddenly, she was overtaken with nerves. She hated when he talked in that tone of voice. That was his ‘royal tone.`` Things were never good when the royal tone came out. Was it too late to run away into the waves? Let them take her away from all her troubles that now, strangely, included Callum?

She began planning a mode of escape that didn’t involve her eventual demise at the hands of a violent ocean.

I’m not feeling well.

Uh-oh, looks like Shark Week just arrived.

I’m a war criminal, and they’ve just found my location!

My aunt’s grandmother’s second cousin thrice removed just had a baby, so I need to go visit.

Sorry, was in a minor fender bender on my way over here.

I’ve just been bitten by a poisonous crab! We need to go to the hospital as soon as possible before I die.

I—

“Rayla,” he said again. She mentally banged her head against the wall and then buried it in the sand. Like an ostrich. She liked ostriches. Well, as long as they weren’t charging her. Surprisingly enough, she had actually had an ostrich charge at her. Completely not her fault, too. If it had been her fault, she’d own up to it. But it wasn’t. That one was all Runaan. She’d only been—

“Earth to Rayla?”

She gave a high-pitched laugh, rubbing the back of her head as she turned around. At the sight before her, the ground disappeared. She went completely numb.

This couldn’t be real.

“I would like you to weigh in on another idiotic idea I had,” he began loudly over the howling of the wind around them. “You see, you stole my heart on this beach a few years ago. Same day, same time, same spot. And, in the time between then and now, I decided I didn’t really want it back. I honestly think it’s safer with you than me,” he laughed, and she couldn’t help but do the same around the tears budding. “You are everything that I am not. You’re my other half, and I cannot and will not live the rest of my life without you. I didn’t even bother trying to imagine what it would be like to live without you because it’s like trying to imagine living without an integral part of me. I have spent my whole life trying to fit in, and everywhere I searched, I just found more emptiness, more loneliness. And then you came along… That all changed. I had somewhere I belonged, somewhere I was safe. You’re my home, Ray. In ever sense of the word. Just seeing you, just hearing your voice, I know that everything is going to be alright. So I’m going to ask you to go along with another wild idea. Arguable wilder than coming to the beach in the heart of winter and in the midst of an oncoming storm.

“Rayla, will you marry me?”

She couldn’t help but smile, her joyous tears mixing with the gentle drizzle that had begun. “You know,” she began, “kneeling for that long must be painful for someone who isn’t used to it, Prince.” He glanced away, and even the cold could do nothing to hide his raging blush.

“Given my position, there are few people I’d kneel down to. And the only one I’d do it for willingly and gladly. You .”

“Callum,” she sobbed, throwing herself into his arms. They fell back into the sand. In the back of her mind, she was grumbling about how dirty they were going to be. How dirty the car was going to get. Sand in their hair and in all places where sand should never be. But she didn’t care. All that mattered was the man before her.

Their lips met.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

“Is—is that a yes?” he asked between kisses.

She laughed against his lips, nodding feverishly. “Yes, yes, yes, you silly fucking goose. A thousand times and more, yes. ”

In the midst of their own sort of personal monsoon, a ring found its way onto her finger (and unfortunately indicative sneezes snuck in there somewhere, too).

Maybe it wasn’t the most perfect beach day. But it was to her.

And that’s what really mattered.

[ladybalem]

Wicked Girl - a Confession about Eddie Kreezer - part 2 of 2

* SMUT ALERT: "YOU'RE FUCK  TEMPTING ME, BABY" SMUT AS FAR AS THE EYES CAN SEE * Pairing: Eddie x Glenda * * * (continuing...)          And it was true. Glenda's first intention wasn't that, but just the joy of dancing, but at the moment she had catch Eddie looking at her she felt a willing of teasing him, although her intention wasn't more than it at the moment - Glenda was just enjoying to see the desire stamped in his eyes and wanted to give him a little fuel to burn, not truly thinking about the consequences, to which she just then was starting to ponder. The time she had been spending at his side had fulfilled her life with danger and confusion, but as well with a craziness and a freedom like she had never experienced before, and if it happened there, on the road, Glenda wasn't caring no more about the danger of being seen, she wasn't caring no more about being catch, as long as she could have him. And noticing it she smiled within herself, thinking about how the time she had been spending with Eddie was making her to discover a wild side of hers to which she didn't ever had no idea to exist before. But to which by now she knew it, she liked it.          Approaching some steps from Glenda, Eddie had his eyes locked to the sensual movement of her hips, just as like fishes hooked by the fishhook, and stretching an arm Glenda took his hat off from him, placing it in sequence on her own head, never stopping dancing, and with his glance fixed on her lean and supple body Eddie just as complained again, at this time looking serious, a grievance that was actually most a warning:          - You're teasing me, Glenda,  you're teasing me.          With a smirk, Glenda pulled the hat out and, as she replaced it on his head, she lifted up to her tiptoes to give him  a quick kiss, and this skin to skin contact was the ignition that was missing for Eddie to boom. With a single movement,  very quick and strong, he grabbed her with his both hands by the laterals of her jeans hotpants and lifted Glenda up from the ground, throwing her laid down over the truck's hood, where she failed with a scream of fright, and as soon as he pulled her to himself, beating his hips on to her spread legs, Glenda swallowed in the wrong way an instant as she felt the stiffness under his pants, and for a second Glenda closed her eyes, cringing her belly tensely.          Slightly inclining himself over the girl Eddie took his hands to her belly, running his fingers under her blouse, lifting it up in a rude manner until to put under complete exposure the bra Glenda was wearing, and for a while he allowed himself to gift his own eyes with the vision of her panting breasts before to put his head down and dive his face between them, making them to tighten to it with both hands, and Glenda whispered:          - Eddie...          - Tease me, you shameless one - he grunted, with harsh voice, before to pull her bra down with strength, making her both breasts to pop out out from it and to take them between his fingers, tightening them - You know just how I am and you still keep on teasing, isn't? - and he descended with his mouth over one of them, making her to moan and smile, while gliding her hands over the dusty hood, tack less, her eyes getting closed - You know... So that's because you want it, isn't?          Opening her eyes to look at him, Glenda just didn't get to respond, although her whole body was saying "yes": The bright in her eyes, her half opened red lips, her accelerated breathing, her smile; and a shadow of a smile showed by Eddie's face too as he quickly descended his hands to her hot pants, cause he was able to read at each of these small signs to Glenda's answer, and while he was opening it, Eddie spoke under a breath, his glance on her face:          - Now you gonna see what happens to the wicked girls who tease me.          - And you... - she whispered, in a sensual voice - Will you punish me for that?          Averting his body to pull her hot pants down in a little brute way, Eddie suddenly laughed a wicked grin - And do you believe you deserve punishment, Glenda?          Excited and amused, she giggled, as he was tearing off her hot pants with her panties inside of it and throwing them away, as he once again spread Glenda's legs apart to place himself between them, holding her by her thighs and gliding his fingers through them, until that suddenly and with no warning Eddie gave her a strong slap with his right hand, making Glenda to let out a little scream, to what he laughed, stretching up his back to start undoing his belt:          - So I've got here something to punish you - and in a single gesture Eddie pulled his belt out, taking it out from his pants, making it in sequence to slap against the hood, at what Glenda, instinctively protecting her face with both arms quickly, cringed herself with a loud moaning, and this reaction of hers just made Eddie to laugh, letting out a loud maniac laughing that was almost able to inspire in Glenda fear of him, and she asked, suddenly trembling as she opened her eyes wide:          - You... are you going to belt spanking me??          Still laughing, Eddie bended his body over hers, bringing the belt in a hand, and taking its edge with the another, he slightly slid it on Glenda's face, who closed her eyes for a while, fearing him a little, before to pass the belt's tip on her lips, which slightly trembled.  And Eddie then lifted Glenda's nape from the hood running his long fingers under it, then making the belt to pass under her nape, taking to the other tip of it at the other side and, with a wicked face, holding firmly to the two sides of the belt he made Glenda this way to lift her head up as he lifted the belt, bringing closer to his to her panting and trembling lips, to which he slightly kissed while smiling before to let it and remove from there the belt as Glenda let her head to fall back again with a sigh, and Eddie once again lifted himself up in front of the girl:          - No, sweetheart - and he then threw the belt away, starting to open his pants in a hurry - I've got something here that's quite better to spank you with.          And when he with strength and in a single impetus took Glenda to himself, grabbing her with strength by her thighs and pulling Glenda in a rude manner to himself at each thrusting he was giving into her with his narrow and thin hips, Glenda moaned out loud, taking her arms over her head, momentarily holding at her long curly reddish hair for a second. The feeling of being fulfilled by him that way it was highly raving and addictive for her,  the same as it was for him to be involved and received by Glenda's narrow heat, and it doesn't delayed not much to the both of them to be moaning and panting to the names and small intimate pet names of the other, all of that intermixed by the so many dirty little words that Eddie liked to repeat out loud at that intimate moments, to which Glenda had not just got herself habituated yet, as well she'd already learnt to like.          Standing still between the two lit headlights Eddie was keeping with his vigorous thrusts until that, suddenly fascinated by the vision she was having of their bodies while uniting themselves in that absolutely animal and wild way, Glenda stretched her both arms to touch him at the trail of blond hair which descended from his navel to his sex with her fingertips, the grayish moonlight giving to the bare track of skin to which she was able to see under his a little lifted up vest that pale tone, and Glenda's touch, allied to the glance full of desire she was giving at that region,  it all lit in Eddie an even more wild desire, and panting between his clenched teeth he began to bury himself into her to the end, with impetus and strength, making Glenda to tremble in pleasure and desire, until to whisper:          - You shouldn't tease a man like me, Glenda... It isn't safe.          As she could, in midst of the moans which were going out of her lips, Glenda responded - I like danger, Eddie.          - Ah, do you like it, yeah? - and he suddenly ventured to put even more strength to that, making the truck to swing and Glenda to almost cry under him, staying voiceless for a while before to finally be able to say:          - Oh, this, yeah, spank me, baby. With strength. I deserve it.          And giggling, Eddie suddenly and with no warning took a leg of hers, lifting it up, throwing Glenda's ankle over his shoulder, as he twisted his own body against hers that was that way incredibly in exposure for him, without to stop thrusting her not even for a second, keeping his frenetic rhythm, with strength burying his fingers at the basis of her spine and, narrowing his eyes, Eddie whispered just at the needed volume to be heard over the music that was playing, after a while, that have been just fulfilled by moaning from both sides:          - Do you know what's better than a wicked girl, sweetheart? A wicked girl who knows how much deserves the spanking she's getting on. * * *************************** * MY CONFESSION TO PRIOR PHILIP: Gods' prior, richness of my church, jewel of my cathedral... Hum? Why so many praises? It must have been here something wrong? No, figure this, what's that, it's nothing... It's just because I value you a lot, just that. What it was my sin today? Hum, I believe that it was none, at least none you could understand, cause you don't know what trucks are, cause you live in the Middle Ages, as well you don't know what radio is. So I'll tell you as it follows: The today's sin, Freud and Jung can explain, cause it had to do with a dream; and dreams, you know, prior, it's an ancestral thing. But as in a dream people sin without wickedness of sinning cause they're innocently sleeping and unconscious, should we let the told by the untold and amen and blessings. A kiss into your heart, you beautiful one. And see ya on the next. Ah, and just before I leave I'll say that, with all the well deserved respect, cause he's by now married, I remembered my friend Maurizio today in here, cause, some time ago, it was him who taught me this idea he called "dick spanking". I'M GONE.  ;V

[creativegodtiers]

Still a God - Sylph of Light

The first inkling I had that something was wrong was... well, the first time someone wrote it down. It's very difficult to tell a compelling story about rebellion when your purview is knowledge and fortune. It's one of those things that I've really just lost a taste for, right up there with thrillers, murder mysteries, and Star Wars. Eternity for me is one great big spoiler alert. It sucks.

Granted, I didn't do much about it. Oh, if I'd only had the universe for a couple centuries, it really would have hurt my feelings, but I've been on top of this for a while. If someone's not threatening to come up to my apartment in New Paris and kick my ass down the stairs, at least on the Internet, I've probably been sitting out a generation or three. There's always going to be divine discourse, I put most of it out of my mind. Let people whine about it on message boards.

The trouble with doing nothing about a problem is that some problems are like plastic cups. If you leave them lying around, in two weeks you have the same problem you had when you left it on your desk. Some problems are like cheesecake. I'll let you fill in the other half of that metaphor yourself, mortals connect dots really well. This was a cheesecake problem, and it really had more to do with the government than people on the Internet thinking they can win a fistfight with a Prince of Breath. Spoiler alert! They can't. I'm sorry.

Right, right, the government. Specifically, uh, all of them. See, we were making real progress with the whole "united fellowship of species" thing. Foreign relations were doing pretty hot, we had joint spaceflight ventures in the early planning stages, humanitarian aid missions, it's lovely. Wonderful, really. Watching the news was a lot more like playing Tetris than watching a car wreck, more putting pieces together and less burning bodies.

That metaphor fell apart a little. Anyway. There's a problem with human nature--and yeah, we're technically the only humans, get over it--and it's called "transcendence." Namely, the best, easiest, and most effective way to unify two different groups is to provide a third group that both of them can hate the shit out of and suppress their differences by so doing. With the governments of the world entering a new age of peace and prosperity, they were starting to turn their attentions outward. Goodwill and peaceful exploration are great and all, but there's no motivation like "Hey, fuck you." In this instance, "you" meant "us." And primarily, me.

The gist of the whole target painted on my forehead was this: these folks, who went to a whole lot of effort to erect all kinds of crazy technomagical eavesdropping protections that didn't work at all, were convinced (rightly) that I was really the greatest threat to a secret plan to overthrow the gods. When your divine sphere is literally "deliver exact information necessary to solve current problem," anyone who intends on becoming a problem needs to solve you. Me. Whatever. Hence all the sigils and magic circles and force shields and osmium bunkers. 

Here's the problem with that plan: it assumed that we were exactly what we'd been advertising for ten thousand years: eternal twentysomethings with magic powers. It assumed that in order to know something, I had to constantly be reaching out for that information, to be actively trying to pull in an answer. Again, maybe when we were green, but come on now. I've got the big boy chlamys. I know how to do my job. And most importantly, I know how to do it gently.

I say all of this to set a particular scene, because you have to know why in particular I was walking through a hallway buried six miles beneath the parking lot of an IHOP in suburban Thule. I had to do my job.

Now, admittedly, all those security measures they had in place were a real pain in my ass. For one thing, they meant that I couldn't just walk into the room and solve their problem, I had to break in. And they also meant that because of how they were designed, it was a real rough time actually breaking in from outside. And I mean seriously. It was awful how much time it took to bust through. I don't think anything has taken me ten seconds to figure out since I was eighteen hundred. Ugh.

I won't go over how I bypassed the security; on the off chance that we need to contain some mad god, they actually did a pretty good job, and I'd rather give that information selectively. Regardless of how I did it, I managed to time my entrance right as Mr. Chairman had just finished saying "may luck be with us all," which, honestly? I could give that moment to myself for Riannmas and be the luckiest guy in the world. I'd decided to dress the part. Sort of. Bright orange suit, deep blue shirt, yellow tie. I'd put on my glasses that morning, so my eyes were only threateningly bright rather than Death By Lumen. When I slipped my hands in my pockets, I made sure that I had my wings unfurled just enough to be visible beyond my shoulders to just about everyone in the room.

"Folks," I began, as all 'you done fucked up' speeches should really begin, "you seem to be in the process of making a mistake."

They took exception to that for a few minutes, but when they'd finished trying to have me shot and failing, and once I'd pulled a bit of shell casing out of my ear, I continued.

"I'm going to level with you. You had a good run. I was really rooting for First Secretary Mulholland's proposal to steal Prince Greg's Spear of Aeolus and shoot me into the Sun. Secretary, would you mind passing around the napkin you used to wipe the marinara sauce off your mouth? It should be written right next to that booger you put there afterward." I watched as his face turned red, then vaguely green.

"That being said, I think it's high time we got this foolishness behind us, right? I think that, with tempers being what they are, and with the bullet holes in Lord Proctor Yamamoto's femoral artery--Prime Minister Vance, you really need to catch up on those shooting lessons, you'll put your eye out--that this isn't the best place to be having the heavy and serious discussions that I think we really need to have."

The room was pin-drop quiet, aside from the sounds of a couple guns hitting the floor. I'd revise that adjective, but "Glock-drop quiet" really doesn't work as well.

"Now, I'll be more than happy to let you folks air your grievances. But I want no more acting out like this." My casual tone hardened slightly, and the smoked obsidian of my sunglasses split into hairline cracks that outlined my blazing irises. "I'd hate to tell your families the kind of behavior that you've been engaging in while they're safe and tucked away at 454 East Yorkshire Parkway, or 1 Piazza Internazionale, or 1 Secure Bunker under the Rialto Mountains, or..."

I kept going for a while, or at least until the tears started falling. Then I went home.

Because sometimes all you need to do when you're God is just have a little heart to heart.

[steves-on-a-plane]

Don’t Get Attached (P12)

Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five / Part Six / Part Seven / Part Eight / Part Nine / Part Ten / Part Eleven / 

Words:1171 Connor x Daughter!Reader W/ Dad!Hank Anderson A/N: It’s been almost a month since I updated! Not much a summary to give on this one, just know that this is what happens after Kamski’s place. :D  XXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Will you take the damn jacket off now?” Was the first thing your father said as the icy air whipped your faces.

“I’m cold.” You replied defiantly.

“Better cold than dead!” He hollered back. “What was your plan if he decided to shoot you?”

“He was never going to shoot me. Were you Connor?” You looked over at the android who seemed like he hadn’t been listening the last few seconds. He loosened his grip on your hand, so you let go of it.

“I-I I don’t understand.” He stammered not really answering you. “I could have shot you, [Y/N].”

“That’s what I was saying!” Hank chimed in.

“Connor, I know you better than that, you were never going to shoot me.” You assured him, but as you took a half step forward, he stepped backwards.

“I should have shot you, [Y/N]. It’s what my programing should have told me to do.” Connor explained with a shaking voice. It shouldn’t have mattered what I wanted or what I thought. My mission is to stop the deviants at any cost.”

“But you must have some sort of…I don’t know sub-programing that stops you from hurting innocent people.” You suggested. “Maybe if the test had really been whether or not to shoot an android, you might have chosen differently.”

“No.” Connor shook his head. “I don’t think I would have. Perhaps I should report this incident to Cyberlife.” He frowned.

“What if you do that and they think you’ve become deviant?” You asked him.

“What if I already have?” He asked you back worriedly.

“Why don’t we get in the car?” Hank shivered. “[Y/N]’s right. It’s cold out here, we can sort all of this out at home.”

“I’m sorry that I almost shot you, [Y/N].” He apologized quietly as the three of you trudged through the snow towards Hank’s car.

You didn’t know what to say, so you did not respond. The car ride home from Kamski’s was nearly silent. All three of you were absorbed in your own thoughts. You didn’t know it at the time, but you were all thinking about the same thing. You were thinking about Connor standing there, pointing the gun at you; his finger on the trigger.

“Connor, why don’t you go inside?” Hank ordered as soon as he parked the car. Connor nodded before getting out of the car and doing as he’d been told.

“I think you should go home.” Your father said once you were alone together.

“We are home, Dad.” You replied already reaching for the handle of the backdoor.

“No, I mean I think you should go back to your own place.” You stopped reaching for the car door and looked up.Your father made eye contact with your through the rearview mirror. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to be around Connor right now.”

“Dad, you’re being paranoid.” You insisted, trying to brush the whole thing off.

“I’m serious, [Y/N].” He told you, looking very worried. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of him, but I think Connor might be a deviant or at least is very close to becoming one. I think you’re a bad influence on him…”

“A bad influence?” You scoffed.

“You didn’t let me finish. There’s something about you…You confuse him. Do you know what will happen to him if we can’t figure out a way to stop these deviants?” He asked you.

“Well, no. I guess I never thought about it.” You pulled the collar of Connor’s jacket close to you. It was a mild defense mechanism for how uncomfortable you suddenly felt.

“They’re gonna shut him down.” Your father replied. “They’ll take his brain chip thing out to analyze it. The rest of him will get melted down and the Connor we know will be replaced with something new. Possibly something even more machine than him.”

“I really thought I was helping him this whole time.” You said quietly. “I thought if I could help him understand humans it might help him understand deviants better. What if he is a deviant, Dad? What if I did that to him? They’ll want to disassemble him anyway, wont they?”

“I don’t know, kid.” He frowned. “But that’s why I think for now it would be a good idea for you to go. Give him some time to clear his head. Let him focus on the cases.”

“Yeah, alright.” You nodded before getting out of the car at last. You shrugged Connor’s jacket off and ignored the sinking feeling in your stomach.

“Is everything alright, Lieutenant? [Y/N]?” Connor tilted his head slightly. He studied you and Hank as you entered the house. You were both wearing unmistakable expressions of sadness.

“Con…Connor…” You took a deep breath, choking back tears. You knew you had to leave, you had to do it for Connor. What you were doing could possibly save his life, but that didn’t make telling him any easier in that moment. “I’ve decided to move back into my own apartment. Things were easier for everyone before I was living here.”

“I don’t understand.” Connor frowned. “I thought you moved in to be with Lieutenant Anderson. Is this because of what happened at Kamski’s place? Are you…are you afraid of me, [Y/N]?” The look on Connor’s face that that of true brokenheartedness. It was too much for you to bare. You wished you could explain everything to him, but that would only make things worse. You opened your mouth to say something, but the words didn’t come.

“No, Connor it’s my fault.” Hank chimed in, coming to your rescue. “I sent you in the house because I didn’t want you to hear us fighting. I told [Y/N] not to wear that jacket. She was asking to get shot dressed like that! I don’t want her around if she’s just going to act like a fucking android. Not in my house! If she wants to be a deviant sympathizer, she can do it somewhere else!”

“I’m gonna go pack my stuff. Connor, please take your jacket back.” You held the coat out to him with a shaking hand.

“Lieutenant, I think you should reconsider…” Connor tried to suggest but Hank cut him off.

“Shut up! I don’t need suggestions from you! What I need is a drink.” He pushed past you and Connor both and headed straight for his bottle of whiskey settled on the kitchen table.

“[Y/N], I do no think that you should leave. Clearly the Lieutenant is not himself.” Connor attempted to change your mind.

“You know as well as I do Connor, there’s no changing his mind once he’s in a mood like this. I’ll come by for my stuff another time. I’ll see you around.” You tossed Connor’s jacket on the couch and left the house. You managed to hold back your tears until you made it to your car. You turned the key in the ignition and before the radio even turned on, you had already dissolved into hysterical weeping.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

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[jinkisbelly]

Eventide - 3/?

Chapter 3, of skyrim au~  Part One, Part Two, can be read on aff as well

Pairing: Jongyu

Rating: pg as of now~ (But small badly written fight scenes)

w/c:2.9k

Summary: They continue on to Windhelm, but not without some difficulty. 

 The river was calm, slowly moving through the twist and turns of the mountains. There wasn’t a bridge in sight on either horizon, which meant they had to walk until finding one or just swim across the river. Jinki wrinkled his nose as he moved towards the banks. They didn’t really have the time to just walk until there was a bridge and with the river as calm as it was crossing it shouldn’t be that much effort. The only thing he was not looking forward to, was the wet and slowly drying clothes. Especially since soon there would be snow falling. He was just about to step into the water when Jonghyun, sounding nervous, spoke from behind him. “Could we try to find a bridge?”

    Jinki turned, hand on his hip as he squinted in the sunlight beaming down on them. “It’s just a little water Jonghyun, and there’s no guarantee there is a bridge North of us.”

    “Please?” Jonghyun was rocking a little on his feet, trying not to look at Jinki in the eye. “I don’t know how to swim, okay?”

    He was in the middle of a deep laugh before he realized the man was serious. “Well Shit. Alright, we won’t swim, but we can’t look for a bridge.”

    “Then what do you propose we do, Jinki? It’s not like it’s frozen.”

    There was a glint in the mage’s eye and it worried Jonghyun for a moment. “Yet.”

    “Yet?”

    Jinki just grinned as blue frost swirled around his fingers and palms. “Just hold onto my robes, okay?”

    He could feel the anxiety rolling off Jonghyun in waves almost as the man stepped closer to him. His fingers curled tightly in the back of Jinki’s robes. Then the frost shot from his fingers, freezing the water of the river under them. “Is this safe?”

    “I don’t know. Never tried it.”

    “Jinki that-” But his voice stopped abruptly as he was forced to follow as his grip was tugged with Jinki’s movements over the freshly frozen water. “If I fall in I will climb on your lightweight ass to survive.”

    “Good to know you still don’t trust me.” Jinki quipped as the continued across the river. Soon they were stepping onto the other banks and the ice behind them began to melt as it was swept downstream. “You can let go now, Jonghyun.”

    Jonghyun’s gaze lifted to find Jinki’s face as he glanced over his left shoulder, soft white hair moving with the breeze, and then to his hand that was still tightly gripping his robes. Coughing roughly he quickly released him, looking at his feet in embarrassment. “Thanks for not making me swim.”

    “We all have our fears, Jonghyun. I can’t fault you for yours as if I don’t have some of my own.” Jinki hummed quietly before heading to find the dirt road a few feet away. “Are you coming?”

    Swallowing thickly he nodded, “Of course.”

---

      With the moon steadily rising above them, if Jonghyun hadn’t finally sparked a fire, Jinki would have had to intervene or freeze to death. Jonghyun made a little sound of happiness at his success, falling back from the growing flames onto his bottom with a big smile on his face. “Told you I could make fire.”

    “Took you long enough.” Jinki teased, moving to put the cast iron pan on top of the flames to heat the already slightly seasoned fish meat. “At least come mid sun tomorrow we should be in Windhelm.”

    “Yes. It’s been a while since I’ve been within her walls.”

    “I’ve never been.” Jinki quietly comments.

    Jonghyun’s eyes were so big it was almost comical. “You’ve never been to the oldest city in Skyrim? Don’t you like history and stuff?”

    “I have had no reason to go within those walls. Until you requested it, I was going to by past it altogether.”

    His eyes had narrowed by then, squinting as he asked. “You support the Imperials, don’t you?”

    “I promise you that my avoidance of that city has nothing to do with my position on this civil war plaguing this land.” Jinki flipped the fish skillfully before quietly concluding, “Or my lack thereof.”

     “It’s odd that you have no stance Jinki.”

      "For the most part, I stay at the College completing my research. Every so often I venture out to meet with the mages of the various courts or to investigate a long-forgotten tome, but otherwise, I ignore the day to day grievances of your land.” Jinki looked over at him through the flames seriously. “One is just the puppet of the Thalamor and the other would see my head on a spike just for not being a nord. I cannot condone either.”

      “The Thalamor are your people.”

      Jinki shook his head roughly. “A Thalamor killed my mother Jonghyun. My race maybe, but my people are the mages of the College.”

      Silence fell then, an awkward tension descending between them before Jonghyun spoke softly. “I’m sorry I insinuated Jinki.”

      “It’s quite alright. We both have our pasts.” He flashed a little smile, looking a lot younger than Jonghyun knew he was. “The fish is ready to eat.”

      Although Jinki continued to be kind and soft in conversation, Jonghyun still felt as if he had struck a chord in the usually calm and collected Mage.

----

    The sun wasn’t even fully above the mountains when Jonghyun was awoken to Jinki’s curses, the jumble of yelling and the sound of ice shattering against a target. “Honestly Jinki what in- Oh Fuck.” Jinki was currently hiding behind the thick trunk of the tree his bedroll had been laying in front of. His hair was in disarray, falling from the usual clips he used to keep it from his face. Jonghyun didn’t even work on getting his breastplate on as he grabbed his ax and pushed off the ground, using Jinki’s ice storm as cover to get close to him. The mage grimaced. “About time you woke up.”

    “I’m a heavy sleeper, what can I say?” Jonghyun’s grin widened when Jinki groaned. “So, what do we have?”

    “Three bandits. There are two archers in the far trees, and one with a sword waiting until he can get close enough to attempt to gut me.” Without looking he set another ice storm toward the bandits, lips pressed together in a thin line. “If I step from around this tree I’m going to get bum rushed.”

    “Can you make one of those mm ice men?”

    “Atronach? Yes.” Jinki squinted, “What are you thinking?”

    “They don’t know I’m here. Your spell has blocked their line of sight so,” Jonghyun whispered, “Send in the ice man. I’ll go around and get the archers.”

    Jinki, looking not the least bit convinced, sighed. He held out both of his hands and standing there was a seven foot tall humanoid of ice. Jonghyun had a split second of fear before he snapped out of it as Jinki mumbled. “Now would be a great time.”

    “Try not to get killed.” Jonghyun’s voice was soft and rushed as he slipped to the left around the tree.

    As he left Jinki’s eyes closed as he took a deep breath, before rolling to his left, ice spike already forming in his palm. “Alright, Nitwit, come get me.”

    “I sure do love killing mages.” The swordsman hissed as he blocked the ice atronach’s blow. Arrows were being lodged into the thick ice and Jinki hoped it held up until Jonghyun held his end of the bargain.

    Jinki smirked, power rising through his chest, eyes ablaze. The power was unleashed just as he said, “You’ve never fought the Archmage.” Even if his voice couldn’t be heard over the hiss of ice swirling through the air. The atronach stumbled a little but resisted most of the blow as the bandit flew and smacked harshly against the rock of the hill. He searched where he knew the archers to have been before, seeing one disposed of, but then he heard Jonghyun call out in what sounded like pain before the other archer was seen crumbling from a blow.

    Jonghyun’s white tunic was stained red as he stepped from behind the tree. His ax was held in his left hand, his right limp at his side because of the arrow sticking from that shoulder. He grimaced, forehead covered in a slight sheen of sweat. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s nothing.”

    “Are you going to let me at least take it out for you before you play all macho?” Jinki asked eyebrow raised. He was trying really hard not to show how concerned he was for the man.

    Softening, he admitted, “Okay, maybe it might hurt like a bitch.”

    He was helping Jonghyun sit near their camp when he gently asked, “Can I heal you?” It was the first time in their short time as companions that he had asked to use his magic directly on Jonghyun. He wasn’t quite sure how it would be taken.

    Jonghyun’s head whipped up to look at him, only for him to hiss as it moved his shoulder. “I’ve never been healed with magic.”

    “If we dress it, you won’t be able to swing your ax, let alone wear your armor.” Jinki scowled. “It could get infected.”

    With a deep sigh, he waved his left hand, gesturing him to go on. “I forgot how much arrows hurt.”

    “At least it’s fully through you.” Jinki reached up and peeled some back from the trunk before handing it to Jonghyun with a small smile. “I’d bite on that.”

    He slowly placed it between his teeth, attempting to speak, “What why d-” And then Jinki was breaking the arrow in half and ripping it from his shoulder. His jaw clenched tightly, almost painfully, as he bit on the bark with a muffled groan. The bloody pieces of arrow were tossed into the grass and Jinki’s hands were held one on either side of the wound.

    “Every Mage has a different signature with their magic. I’d like to think mine is.. Calm. It’ll hurt for a moment and you might be disoriented with flesh repairing itself.” Jinki studied his features, “Ready?”

    He took a deep breath and nodded. Jinki’s magic descended over him and there was a split second of pain, but then the warmth and tranquility fell over him. Jinki had been right to say his magic signature was calm. He wasn’t going to tell him that though. As Jinki stepped back and his magic went with him, Jonghyun rolled his shoulder experimentally. With the pain all the way gone, he smiled shyly up at Jinki. “Thank you.”

    “I’m not all fire and destruction.” Was Jinki's soft reply, the man already moving to get his things together to depart for Windhelm. “I’d eat something before you do anything else. You may be woozy.”

    Before he could really move an apple was being tossed into his lap. He could see Jinki was smiling from under his falling hair as he bent down to look in his pack.

----

    The ancient stone walls loomed before them. Jinki seemed increasingly uncomfortable as they got closer to the open gates of the city. The sun was beating down, even with the small flurry falling around them. Jonghyun went to speak with the blacksmith about the sword he acquired in the Dwemer ruins and to repair his ax, leaving Jinki to his own devices. He thought about possibly going and getting them a room in the inn, but he had heard stories from a dark elf mage back at the college of the way the people here treated non-nord species and wasn’t quite ready to deal with that if Jonghyun wasn’t there as buffer of some sort.

    Instead, he saw a dark elf in his peripheral and decided to inquire about a friendly merchant to sell to. The woman took one look at him and smiled knowingly. “There’s a shop in the Dark Quarter that’ll buy whatever you have to sell and a place for a drink if you don’t feel welcome in Candlehearth.”

    He smiled softly. “How’d you know?”

    “Even I who has lived here most of my life rarely feel welcome in the marketplace or that Inn. You have that look about you.” She smiled, “I can show you if you’d like.”

    “I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you.”

----

    Jonghyun was sitting on the steps in front of Candlehearth inn when Jinki stepped from around the corner. He looked positively exasperated. “Where have you been? I thought you’d have gotten a room.”

    “I was having a drink in the Dark Quarter.” He replied easily.

    “The Dark Quarter?” Jonghyun wrinkled his nose. “That place has only gotten worse. Repairs never seem to happen.”

    “And they probably never will.” Jinki softly stated as the doors to the inn opened and the sound from inside caused Jonghyun not to hear his words.

    “What was that?”

    “Nothing,” He flashed a smile before gesturing toward the doors. “After you?”

    Jonghyun eyed him suspiciously before getting up off the cold ground. “I got a room. There was only one available.”

    Jinki followed without comment, eyes flicking to the patrons of the inn from under his hood. Jonghyun stopped at the last door on the left of the hallway, quickly twisting the key into the lock. “I’ll take the floor. You should rest well with it being your first time being healed with magic.”

    “Don’t be so ridiculous.” Jonghyun huffed, “It’s a double bed. As long as you aren’t a clinger, we can share. Besides, the last time we had a room you slept on a bedroll to make sure I didn’t choke on my own vomit. If anything you should have the bed.”

    “I don’t know, you drool.” Jinki teased, his mood lightening a bit being in their room.

    “Oh shut up.” Jonghyun was smiling though. “Get settled and I’ll go get us dinner.”

    “And bread... If they have some.”

    “Best part of an Inn beside the bed is, the bread.” He slipped from the room then and Jinki exhaled roughly. If he could spend the next 12 hours or so locked up in this room, he’d be all the more content. The man who had threatened the woman he was with for just walking kept flashing in his consciousness. He had almost burnt the man to a crisp just out of disgust, but he didn’t need to get arrested in a city such as this. He wasn’t even sure now if Jonghyun would have even bothered to stick up for him if he had.

    He took the time of Jonghyun going to get them dinner to change out of his robes. While the thickness of the garment was great for the cold, unforgiving landscape of Winterhold, in a well-heated inn it was almost sweltering. He tied his hair up into a tiny ponytail with a piece of ribbon he found and sat at the small table provided with the room. When Jonghyun returned Jinki expected him to have ale or mead to drink, but he had some type of fruit juice for the both of them. He flashed a little grin. “I figured a sober night would do us good.”

    After taking a small sip Jinki ventured to ask, “So, are you afraid of the water?”

    Jonghyun groaned around his spoon, chewing his stew and swallowing before whining, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that.”

    “You know my fear of spiders. It’s only fair.” He commented, stirring his own stew slowly.

    “Not the water per say, just drowning in it from my lack of swimming knowledge.” Jonghyun swallowed thickly, tongue running over his lips. More often than not he was noticing the attractiveness of the other. With his hair from his face, his jaw could be seen easily. The swell of his cheeks and the deepness of his eyes. Such a pretty color too. “Thanks again for not forcing me.”

    “With all that armor without knowing how to swim, you’d have sunk to the bottom like a rock.” Jinki smiled over the rim of his bowl as he lifted it to drink some of the broth. “You protected me from the Spiders. I’ll protect you from the depths of water.”

    Jinki was such a compelling mystery wrapped up in a nice little package. Jonghyun could tell he was more than just a simple mage, that he had a dark past just by the scars he could see from the open collar of his simple shirt and the rolled up sleeves, but he couldn’t make himself ask. One’s past was theirs to share if they desired. He knew first hand how guarded one could be with it. “What side do you want?”

    “Hmm?” Jinki’s eyes flicked to the loaf of bread between them as if asking if that’s what he was referring to.

    Jonghyun snorted, “I meant the bed Jinki.”

     "Oh.” His cheeks were a cute shade of pink as his lips softly formed the word.  He then mumbled, looking at his stew. He was almost cute. "Doesn't matter." 

[pass-the-bechdel]

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, three times.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Three (15% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seventeen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Film Quality:

A mess of illogical plot contrivances that does nothing good with the themes of the first film, but still entertaining on a basic level.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

‘Natalie’ attends to Pepper; they pass again later. Pepper and Christine trade a line.

Female characters:

Pepper Potts.

Natasha Romanoff.

Christine Everheart.

Male characters:

Ivan Vanko.

Anton Vanko.

Tony Stark.

Howard Stark.

Happy Hogan.

Larry.

Senator Stern.

Justin Hammer.

James Rhodes.

JARVIS.

Elon Musk.

Goldstein.

Major Allen.

Nick Fury.

Phil Coulson.

Jack.

Meade.

OTHER NOTES:

Naturally, Tony’s opening presentation includes a bevy of half-naked dancing girls, because Tony loves women as shiny pretty objects. Yay.

Don Cheadle is a superior Rhodey. Terence Howard was good, don’t get me wrong, but I get so much more organic personality from Don Cheadle. 

Hammer calling Tony ‘Anthony’ at the hearing is such a power move. It’s really the only power move (or at least the only successful one) Hammer makes in the whole movie.

Happy, you asked for that ass-kicking, and you know it.

“I want one.” Cool, Tony. She’s a person. If you had a respectful history with women at this point, I would let this line pass without mention, but...ya don’t. 

Pepper is VERY rude to other women. It’s not endearing.

Second-hand embarrassment over Hammer is so so real.

Ah yes, glass showering everywhere. My kind of party. 

Tony requesting a phat beat is gold. I don’t know if him cracking up laughing as he said it was scripted, ad-libbed, or pure accident on Robert Downey Junior’s part, but it’s what sells the line. It wouldn’t have been half as funny if he’d just said the line straight-faced.

If you missed the post-credits scene at the end of the first Iron Man, then this is Nick Fury’s first appearance: asking Tony to get out of the giant donut. The narrative here really treats Fury like we’re totally familiar with him at this point, and considering the extreme brevity of that post-credits scene, it’s kinda weird.

So, wildly-rich Howard Stark had his partner DEPORTED for daring to want to make money from his work? He didn’t actually do (or attempt) anything nefarious, he just wanted to get paid? And we’re supposed to shrug it off and think deporting him was the right call? Howard kept his partner’s work - including the profits! - for himself, and hung the other guy out to dry like a total jerk, and, what? The whole thing is just kinda mentioned in a throw-away fashion as an explainer, with no implication that Howard was in the wrong at all, and it’s VERY dissonant. What the fuck.

Those strawberries look very plastic.

So, how did Howard magically know to hide those blueprints to a new element in a scale model that would one day save his son from Palladium poisoning that Howard had no way of knowing he would have? This is so many levels of idiotic nonsense I don’t know how they convinced themselves to bother.

Did we NEED Happy oggling Natasha as she gets changed? Was it necessary?

It’s played for laughs, but I appreciate Rhodey making the distinction that even though he’s apologising to Tony for his own behaviour, that doesn’t make all of this any less Tony’s fault. You can be sorry for the way you personally handled something without letting the other person off the hook for their own culpability. Good, important distinction. 

The Big Bad ends up being taken down SUPER fast. Disappointing.

“you guys look like two seals fighting over a grape.”

The good: 

1. Robert Downey Junior’s maddening charisma allows Tony to be great fun despite his many and sundry personality flaws; it is charisma with the strength to carry the entire film, and that’s saying a lot because the film really, really needs the help. 

2. It may have a significant amount to do with the quality of the content being given to the character, but Don Cheadle definitely makes something of Rhodey where the first film barely gave him more life than your average prop. 

3. Tony continues to progress in his relationship with Pepper, with the script allowing space for her to be assertive and express grievances, as well as having Tony respond by actually hearing her this time, considering her perspective, and acknowledging his own shortcomings if not exactly making inroads on overhauling them. It’s not a lot, but there is at least some evidence that we’re making good on Tony’s attempted self-improvement from the first film by working on his basic respect for other people. Damn, it’s REALLY not a lot.

The less good:

1. the introduction of Natasha ‘Black Widow’ Romanoff isn’t terrible, but it’s not strong either, and I ALWAYS forget that she’s even in this movie until I’m watching it and she shows up. The narrative attention paid to how she’s ~super hot~ is frankly overdoing it - her ability to use her appearance as a tool/weapon IS relevant to the kind of character/operative that she is, but the framing hammers the LOOK HOT button so hard it all but obliterates any other presence or function she has in the story. She gets a pretty cool fight scene, but even that is so preoccupied with LOOK HOT (and is also fairly inconsequential to the plot) that it tends not to compute as a demonstration of character, and ultimately Natasha doesn’t leave as much of an impression as she could have with just a little less objectifying camerawork and a little more narrative purpose. Much like with Bruce Banner, I feel like you can ignore Natasha’s introductory film and just pick her up from The Avengers without missing a beat.

2. Also low on purpose: Pepper Potts. Where the first film gave her several plot-instrumental actions to ensure she wasn’t just ‘Tony’s annoying love interest’, this movie doesn’t try very hard to give her a reason for sucking up screen time. Low point: a gratingly unnecessary amount of screaming and not throwing Tony his suit-case (hehe, geddit?) while Happy rams Vanko with his car. The entire set-up is stupid, but the screeching (from Pepper and Happy both, really) sends it all way overboard. Happy also has no real purpose, but the difference is, I don’t care. When Pepper is one of only three female characters around - and one of only two with significant presence - I really, really want the story to give her something more memorable and functionally plot-relevant than screaming in a car.

The bad:

Everything else? This movie has no shortage of problems: it has too many plot threads, and it leaps from one to the next with no sense of cohesion or narrative pacing and then never follows any thread to competent completion. Tony is dying, and that leads to some self-destructive behaviour but ultimately has no relation to any aspect of the plot before it is suddenly and ridiculously rectified in the single most nonsensical contrivance of all the nonsensical contrivances that compose the flimsy backbone of the film. Some daddy issues are sprinkled in there like seasoning, but again, they don’t go anywhere or matter in any way, which is both weird and deeply unfortunate since the idea of Tony dealing with his father’s legacy is both a clear carry-through from the themes of the first film, and extremely relevant to the half-assed Vanko story-line. The plot (’plot’, for lack of a better word, we’ll keep privileging to call it that) doesn’t seem willing to actually get in the dirt with Howard Stark’s transgressions, against his son or against his old business partner, and so we get a handful of telling-not-showing exposition-exchanges with none of the emotional fallout or follow-through that such bombshells deserve. Justin Hammer is in there somewhere (and Sam Rockwell is good fun, but the content doesn’t rise to meet him). There’s also a hearing at the start where Tony defends his right to the Iron Man technology, but the rest of the film completely ignores all of the valid and serious concerns raised by Tony’s arrogance and lack of accountability (topics which will be revisited in future films, with infuriating results), and the obvious conversation - expanding on the first film’s themes again by looking at the Stark weapons-manufacturing legacy - falls completely by the wayside within minutes so that we can focus on the completely unfocused senselessness of the rest of the ‘story’. Oh! And don’t forget the completely awkward inclusion of SHIELD! What better way to set up for The Avengers film than to just drape some pointless extra character presence over an already overstuffed ‘plot’? 

All of it together is an absolute mess of a movie that feels kinda like it was constructed by a game of beer pong, with different plot ideas written on Styrofoam cups and the creative team way too fucking smashed by the end of it to realise that beer pong is the wrong way to build a story. In my review for The Incredible Hulk, I said there were other contenders for worst MCU film to date, and this is one of them. The Incredible Hulk at least had cohesion up until it went to pieces at the end, whereas the different pieces of Iron Man 2 are so disparate and lacking in gravity that the whole film seems to go for about a decade too long and builds absolutely nowhere in the process. The only entertaining advantage Iron Man 2 can boast is that same old saving grace, Robert Downey Junior, making Tony Stark enjoyable even when you’re not so sure he deserves to be enjoyed. It is a good advantage, no mistake. But there’s only so long you can coast on that, and only so far, and this movie abuses the Hell outta that power until we all welcome the end credits with at least a little bit of relief.