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heyitssmiller · 4 years ago

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Chop It Like It’s Hot

A Worst Cooks in America O’Knutzy AU

The Sweater Weather Discord group helped me come up with this idea like two months ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. All credit goes to @lumosinlove for her amazing characters!

Chop It Like It’s Hot Masterlist

Chapter 1: Don’t Go Bacon My Heart

The Day Before the Competition

Interviewer (off camera): Finn O’Hara and Logan Tremblay for their introductions.

Logan: * taps on microphone* Is this mic working?

Finn: How do you still not know how to work a mic? You deal with them all time.

Logan: I signed up to compete in a cooking show, not to deal with your chirps.

Finn: You love ‘em. *winks*

Interviewer: So basically all we want from you guys is a brief introduction for the viewers. I’ll ask some questions, but most of this should be you guys just talking. We can edit things out later, so don’t worry about anything like that. Why don’t you guys start with your names and careers and we’ll go from there.

Finn: Yo, I’m Finn O’Hara, and I’m a terrible cook. *finger guns* Although I guess that’s a given, seeing that I’m on this show.

Logan: *mumbles in French, head in hands*

Finn: This asshole – shit, no – fuck! Sorry, I probably shouldn’t be cussing. This is a family-friendly show.

Logan: Dear God, please stop talking. I’m Logan Tremblay, the unfortunate boyfriend.

*Finn pouts*

Interviewer: And you guys play hockey?

Logan: Yeah, we play in the NHL. Gryffindor Lions.

Finn: That’s how we met, actually. Through hockey. We played together at Harvard, then got drafted to the Lions about a year apart. We’ve known each other for eight years and have been together for three of them. Can’t seem to get rid of this one.

Interviewer: And you’re not worried about being rivals on this show?

Finn: Rivals is a strong word… I mean yes we’ll be competing against each other instead of being teammates, but we know going in that it’s not personal. Just a little healthy competition.

Interviewer: So what made the two of you sign up for this show?

Logan: We didn’t. Our teammate Dumo and his wife Celeste did. They thought it would be funny. *pause* They’re probably right.

Interviewer: Out of the two of you, who is the worst cook?

*Finn and Logan point to each other*

Logan: You can’t be serious.

Finn: You once cooked pasta so much that it turned into literal paste!

Logan: You tried to cook pizza rolls in a toaster.

Finn: That’s what it said in the instructions!

Logan: It said toaster oven, you - *more French*

Finn: English, Tremz. How many times do I have to tell you that? I guess we’ll find out once and for all who the better cook is by the end of the next eight weeks, right? *mouths “it’s me” to the camera*

Logan: Whatever, Fish.

Interviewer: I think we’ve got all we need guys, thanks. Start time for tomorrow is 10:00 am, but plan on being here forty-five minutes to an hour early to get ready. We’ll see you then.

Competition Day

“Are you nervous? I’m nervous.” Finn stated, running a hand through his hair and looking around at the studio they’d be in and out of for the foreseeable future. There were cooking stations everywhere and he could already see tools and machines that he had no clue how to use. There were twelve other contestants that he didn’t know and the crew scattered everywhere, running back and forth trying to get everything ready. “God, how am I sweaty already? Is this normal?”

Logan rolled his eyes but still reached over to grab Finn’s hand, squeezing it lightly. “Relax. It’s not so bad.” Finn smiled down at him, glad that they were at least here together. How in the hell did he get so lucky?

“Besides, you’ll be sent home soon enough. So don’t stress too much.”

Finn laughed. “Wow, I hate you so much right now.” He betrayed his words with a quick kiss. “You’re going down.”

Those green eyes flashed at the challenge, but right as he opened his mouth to respond-

“Good morning, recruits!”

All heads turned towards the voice. Three figures stood towards the front of the room: one they both recognized as the producer, who was flanked by who Finn assumed to be the chefs, seeing that they were wearing chef’s outfits. Chef’s uniforms? Did their uniforms have a technical name? Finn made a mental note to google that later.

Anyways, one was a short woman with dark ringlets tied back in a ponytail and an undiscernible expression on her face. The other was tall, blond, and had legs for days Jesus Christ-

“Welcome to your first day of boot camp! This is chef Dorcas Meadowes and chef Leo Knut; they’ll be your team leaders. We’re going to start with some footage of you all walking into the kitchen, so if you all would wait out there until you’re allowed to come back in. Cameras will be rolling, so be ready! After that, our chefs will explain the first challenge and then you’ll start cooking.” He clapped his hands together. “Alright, let’s get this show started!”

“Why did they make us come in here just to send us back out?” Logan grumbled, following the other shuffling contestants out into the hall.

“Probably easier to give directions to the main studio instead of saying ‘hey, just wait out in the hall.’”

Logan hummed noncommittally. “I guess.” He wasn’t overly excited to be here; most of this (besides the initial push by Dumo and Celeste) was Finn’s idea. And god knows he could never say no to Finn. One look at that pout and brown puppy-dog eyes and he was done for. Logan didn’t like cooking, but he did like Finn. And they’d probably remember this for years to come. It didn’t matter what he was doing, as long as he was with Finn and making memories with him he’d do just about anything.

“Wonder what the first challenge is.” Finn mused, his eyes locked on the doors.

Logan laughed. “Always so impatient.”

“I’m a New Yorker,” Finn grinned, leaning into his accent. “It’s in my blood.”

The doors opened and contestants began filing back into the kitchen. Finn made sure to wave enthusiastically at the chefs with a wide smile. Logan noticed the tall one (god, he’d already forgotten the guy’s name) give a little wave in return as the other chef commanded the attention of everyone else in the room.

“Good morning, recruits, and welcome to boot camp! I’m chef Dorcas Meadowes, and this is chef Leo Knut. He’s the rookie of our crew, but don’t worry – he’s still qualified to teach all of you. Even though that’s not saying much.”

There was a smattering of laughter and chef Leo smiled, revealing dimples Logan could see from where he stood. “Hey, y’all. I’m very excited to see what makes all of you qualified to be put on this show. Who knows? Maybe you’ll give me more gray hair.” Dorcas laughed and ran her fingers through the tuft of gray hair at his temple.

“When did you get this? I don’t remember seeing it when we were in culinary school. Is it from Iron Chef?”

“Nah, this is from having Gordon Ramsay come to my restaurant.”

“Truly a terrifying man.” She shuddered. “Anyways, you guys be nice to this giant ball of sunshine. Even if he’s new, he’s still able to eliminate you from this competition.”

“In order to pick our teams, we need to see what kind of skills you have.” Leo winced. “Or don’t have. So today, we want you to make your favorite dish. Easy enough, right?”

“Oh god,” Finn murmured into Logan’s ear. “What’s my favorite dish? Do I even have one?”

“Finn.”

“You all have an hour to complete this task.” Dorcas said, glancing down at her watch. “And your time starts… now!”

“Fuck.” Finn stated emphatically, dashing off to the pantry.

Fuck was right. God, what was Logan going to make? He was wracking his brain for something while he grabbed two aprons from the back. He tossed one to Finn and took the station beside him before hurrying to the pantry. Chicken was always a safe bet, right? Celeste made a barbeque chicken recipe that was to die for. That couldn’t be too hard. It was just chicken and barbeque sauce. And maybe green beans on the side? He could get those canned ones and they’d taste fine if he rinsed them. This was fine.

He guessed on the temperature for the oven. 350 seemed good. Then he dumped two chicken breasts into a pan, poured the barbeque sauce over them, and put them into the oven.

“What are you making?” Logan startled at the soft voice, turning to see chef Leo at his station.

Blue eyes.

Logan blinked, Leo’s question forgotten. “Quoi?”

“You speak French?”

Why was his brain refusing to work all of a sudden? Get it together, Tremblay. “Uh, yeah.”

“What are you making?” Leo asked for the second time, but now it was in French. Weirdly worded French.

“Barbeque chicken.” Logan responded in French, then switched back to English. “What in the world was that?”

Leo flashed him a grin. “New Orleans, born and raised. We speak French there, too. Now tell me how you’re making that chicken.”

“Uh.” He had never said the word ‘uh’ so much in one sitting. Merde. “I put it in a pan, spread barbeque sauce over it, and I’m cooking it at 350.”

“How do you know when it’s done?”

Was this a trick question? It felt like a trick question. “Uh.” Fuck. “It has to get to a specific internal temperature, right?”

The chef nodded. “And what’s that?”

“145?"

Something in Leo’s expression flickered, but Logan couldn’t figure out what it meant. “Well, good luck. Logan, right?”

“Yeah.”

“See you at the judging table.” He said with a dimpled smile before moving to Finn’s station, which was already a mess. “Oh my. How are you doing over here?”

Finn laughed a bit hysterically. “Not good. Not good at all.”

“Ok. What’s going on?”

“Well I’m trying to make carbo’hara, and –“

“Really, Fish?” Logan called from his station. “That’s what you’re making?”

“What’s carbo’hara?” Leo asked as he watched Finn put bacon in a pan.

“Oh,” Finn waved a hand carelessly. “It’s just carbonara, but a pun on my name, O’Hara. Get it?”

Leo laughed, crossing long arms over his chest. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah, but it makes me happy. My parents used to make it every night before my brother or I had hockey games.”

“Oh, that’s right. You guys are hockey players.”

“Go Lions!” Finn cheered, taking a spoonful of butter and throwing it into the pan with the bacon.

“Are you putting butter on bacon?” Leo asked with a raised eyebrow.

Finn responded with full confidence, “I didn’t want it to stick to the pan.”

“Ok. Got it. I… I look forward to seeing what you make.” Finn watched as Leo bit his lip and tried his hardest not to laugh.

Cute.

Finn felt his cheeks flush and blamed it on the steam from the pasta.

The last thirty minutes of the task were absolute chaos, but both boys got it done. Finn’s looked messy, which accurately summed up his cooking style. Logan was pretty proud of how his looked; he just hoped it tasted good. He gave Finn a smile and a fist bump. “Ready to be judged?”

Finn laughed, looking down at his plate. He grimaced. “Not really.”

“We’re all bad cooks. Chances are someone else’s dish is worse than yours.”

“That… actually helped. Thanks.”

***

Finn was chosen to be judged before Logan. He brought up his plate with a sheepish smile and placed it on the table in front of the chefs. Dorcas raised an eyebrow while Leo prodded the pasta with his fork.

“It’s carbo’hara.” Finn stated with pride.

“Well, Finn…” Dorcas met his eyes. “This looks like a mess, but let’s see how it tastes.”

Finn cringed as they both took a bite of his food. Dorcas frowned as she chewed and Leo tilted his head, a confused expression on his face.

“I don’t know how you did it, but this solidifies in my mouth like glue.”

“Oh god, please don’t eat any more.”

“You definitely put a lot of effort in and you have a lot of potential,” Leo said with a small smile. “I think you were just a little too ambitious for this first round and it got away from you.”

“That’s fair. Thanks for the input.” Finn grabbed his plate and made his way back to his station. He wasn’t too upset by those reviews – he already knew he was a bad cook. But he had potential, so at least he had that going for him.

Logan grinned at him back at his station. “I can’t believe you served the judges glue pasta.”

“At least I’m not serving them canned green beans.”

“They taste just fine, thank you very much.”

“Lo, they’re professionals. You’re not getting away with something lazy like that.”

He definitely got in trouble for using the canned green beans. Dorcas looked down at them like they were worms. Leo gave him the ‘I’m not mad, I’m disappointed’ look, which was even worse, please don’t look at me like that.

“Canned food is a no-go, huh?”

“Definitely.”

“And this chicken isn’t cooked all the way.” Leo said, showing him the pink meat. “You said earlier that you’d cook it until it reached 145 degrees, but chicken needs to reach 165 at a minimum.”

“I’m sure it tasted fine, though.” Dorcas added. “You can’t really go wrong with pre-made barbeque sauce and chicken.”

Ouch. Logan grabbed his plate. “Right. Thanks.”

Finn was predictably cackling at his station. “Tremz, they couldn’t even eat yours. Celeste is going to be so disappointed in you.”

“Shut up.”

***

As soon as they were back into their hotel room, Finn kicked his shoes off and faceplanted into the couch. “I can’t believe that took so long.”

“Yeah,” Logan sat down and grabbed his take-out. “Who knew cooking all day would make us so hungry?”

Finn made grabby hands at the other food container. Logan laughed and handed it to him. “I haven’t been this hungry since playoffs, fuck.”

They ate in silence and were finished in record-setting time. Finn collected their trash and stood up to throw it away. “So blue team, huh? I’m kind of surprised they put us on the same team.”

“Me too. But Leo seems like a good teacher, so I’m glad we’re on his team.”

“Yeah, he seems so young, too.” Which sounded ridiculous to say; Leo couldn’t be that much younger than them. “If he’s already winning competitions and starring in cooking shows at that age, he must be pretty good.”

“Winner of Iron Chef America, Chopped, Guy’s Grocery Games…” Logan read off his phone with a low whistle. “He graduated culinary school early and opened his own restaurant a year later.”

“Damn.”

“There’s a video of one of his competitions on here.”

“Play it!” Finn said excitedly, flopping back down on the couch and peering over his boyfriend’s shoulder. Logan gave him a strange look. “What? Maybe we’ll learn something useful.”

“I think this is going to be way too complicated for us, but ok.”

So they sat on the couch watching cooking competitions for hours, learning skills and techniques that went way over their heads. Logan wordlessly switched to Leo’s cooking show Cajun Cooking, watching episode after episode of the blue-eyed chef teaching traditional New Orleans recipes.

Little did they know that halfway across the city in his own apartment, Leo Knut was watching Youtube highlights of the Gryffindor Lions, keeping a sharp eye out for number seventeen and number ten.

#lumosinlove #Sweater Weather #Coast To Coast #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #leo knut #o'knutzy #chop it like it's hot

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 4 years ago

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Sweet, Spice and Hot Water Is Always Nice

Summary- 7.6k Mike (renamed from Me-Playing It Cool) x You. Mike is struggling to get a story line down for his script, and you were sent home from work. You just LOVE when Aunt Flo comes to visit (insert sarcasm), and Mike has a suggestion to make you feel better. Warnings- Period Sex (it isnt overly graphic though) Male receiving Oral, Fingering, One mention of blood. Thigh Riding cause its a mood. That is about it. A mild argument. Oh swear or two, cause ya know me. And I know, another holiday fic with him, but Holidays are my favorite, and I just love these two.

A/N- Fall themed Moodboard added to this was made by @darkficsyouneveraskedfor. Thank you so much, I loved it, and I hope you like the fluffiness it caused.

“Okay Brian, you want this rom com to deliver.” Mike cracked his knuckles and let his fingers lower over the keys, starting to type out the main character's opening scene, picturing the actress Brian described as standing just behind him, sitting at your kitchen table your grandmother gave you, picking at plates of food.

Ally, I could have told you it wasn't going to work out with

Rick two months ago. - Daisy sighs.

Why? - Ally gives a clueless look at her sister across the table.

You love meat, you hate cyclists. - Daisy says flippant.

His hand came up to rub at his face, trying to think ahead as the two blondes faded away from the table, and he was sitting there pondering at the theme of the script he was supposed to be writing. Single woman worried about the amount of men she has been with, and was set on finding the ONE. The man who made all her dreams come true. Of course the man was supposed to be a playboy across the hall.

“Fucking fantastic.” Mike groaned, finding the whole theme of the story kind of stupid. “What woman would worry about that?”

Setting back to trying to type, he heard the door unlock, your footsteps snapping against the tile of the hallway floor leading into the kitchen. Pushing back his chair, he twisted it to face the kitchen with a confused look on his face. You tossed your purse and keys on the counter, and bracing a hand against the counter, you leaned down to yank off your heels to fall to the flat of your feet with a sigh. Using the side of your foot, you pushed them aside so no one would trip over them. “I know- I know… I'm home early Mike. I promise to be quiet.”

Mike just shook his head to disregard what you had said. “I don't care that you’re home so early, I'm just trying to figure out why you're home early?”

You stand there for a moment staring at him, then you give a sniffle that was so out of character, it worried him. Holding out his hands to you, he made a come motion. “Come on baby, now you're starting to scare me a bit.” Which entices you to make your way to him, and stand between his legs while his hands slide up and down the back of your thighs. “You left for work just a couple hours ago?”

Your hands come to smooth over his head, sighing at how good the softness of his slightly grown out buzz cut felt, and you could see the worry lines depending between his eyebrows, always deeper on the left side, his eyes having lost their usual mirth and teasing when they looked at you. “I haven't felt good all morning, and the boss sent me home. The boss caught me puking in my trashcan and wouldnt take no for an answer.”

Mike let his fingers sink in lightly while pulling you into his lap, your hands sliding to lock around his neck. “Well why were you puking? This morning you seemed fine.” His brows furrowed as a worried thought niggled his mind, and blossomed into a full panicked look as it really settled in. “Wait, your not-?” his eyes widened in his panic, and you scoffed at him.

“No so you don't have to worry Mike. Although it's great to see you panic if we should have been.” You snapped a bit although you knew you would have matched that panic as well, and he softened a bit, smoothing his hands along your lower back.

“Sorry baby, you said puking and my mind went away with it.” Apologizing, he tilted his head a bit. “So, You going to put me out of my misery and tell me? Or do I have to keep making dumb ass assumptions?”

You were still a bit irritated with his earlier remark, but were you really mad at Mike? Or were you just feeling like shit and everything was irritating you? You glanced back at his genuinely worried face, you softened to him for how worried he was. “I started to get cramps today, and they just ache badly today.” you sniffled a bit again, and Mike pulled you in closer for a hug, and you settled in against his chest. “And I feel terrible for coming into your space when you're working.” You said softly, and Mike shrugged, the movement making you pull back.

“I could care less, you're not feeling good and this is home first, office second. Besides, I just started it. Not like I have any story yet to get down. Just an idea.” He turned his chair with you in his lap, and moved his finger over the keyboard to wake the laptop back up. You gave a slight chuckle seeing he literally had two whole lines.

“What have you been doing all morning?” You snicker a bit and he picks up Brians notes laying right next to them.

“I have been trying to think of how to get this shit into something decent. Listen to this- Ally is a woman who has many ex-boyfriends who turned out to be losers. Now she believes that she can't find a good guy. But when she runs into one of her exes who is now a 'Prince Charming', she decides to look up all of her exes to see if any of them have changed for the better. When she has trouble locating them, she asks her neighbor Colin, who sleeps with a different woman every night and sneaks out the morning after to avoid talking to them, to help her.” He tossed it back down to the table. “Like anyone cares how many people someone slept with.”

You wrinkled your nose, and you knew you shouldn't say anything. Because you honestly had to agree with him, but that dark little voice in the back of your mind that seemed to always be there when you weren't feeling good poked at you. “Well some people, it does matter Mike.” You push to stand, and go around the counter to search out your midol from your purse. Grabbing the bag, you started to paw through the contents while Mike twisted his office chair to look at you. You could see this slight furrow in his brow as he went over what you had said.

“Did it matter to you, when we talked about it ourselves Y/N? Cause you were pretty chill.” he asked, and you could see from the corner of your eye as you snatched your bottle that he was leaning forward in his chair, the curious look on his face was seriously wondering if you did or not. In that moment you just wanted to snap at him, he should know that you didn't nor ever would care who was a part of his past. Since it was just the past.

“If I had cared, Mike, would I have asked you for your number on that first date? Of course I didn't give two shits about who you dated or fooled around with.” You retorted, shaking out a couple pills and popping them dry before screwing the cap back on and ditching the bottle back in your bag. Going to the fridge, you sought out water, which all were left were bottles half gone. Groaning, you dropped your head. “You haven't been to the store yet Mike?” you snapped as you shut the door, taking one of the bottles anyways. You weren't drinking tap water, that was for damn sure.

“I was going to go this afternoon before you get home.” He brushed off your irritation in favor of your earlier comment, more keen to go back to the conversation you two were having before. “Did someone like say something about me before you even met up with me? Because we certainly didn't talk about our dating history for a while.”

You leaned against the counter for a moment, rubbing at your face for a moment. “Why do you put everything off to the last minute Mike? You always do this, and then I’m left either having to nag you, beg you, and just end up doing it myself.” You grumbled, and ignored his question. “Can you go now please? So the water will be chilled by tonight.” you left him at his computer, going to crash on the couch and grab the remote. But Mike wasn't far behind, following you to the couch.

“I will later, but I’m curious if someone said something to you? Like a warning?” He flopped down on the other end, his arm slinging along the back and looking at you intently.

You flicked through stations and rolled your eyes. ‘Fuck Mike, it was so long ago, drop it. It doesn't matter who told me what before we even met. We're together, aren't we? I make my own decisions about someone.”

“But someone did say something.” He pushed you once more, and you clench your hand around the remote hearing him keep on going.

“Fucking hell Mike, you really wanna know. It's not exactly like you were dating anyone during that time. Mallory told me all about how you two would fool around and that maybe I needed un-fucking-winding. So she set us up. But you already knew that.” You toss the remote at him, and push off the couch. “Then I really liked you, so we made it work. But right this second, if you follow me to the bedroom, I will kick your ass out to the couch for the rest of the week.” you snapped, and left him there to brood, going into the bedroom with a sharp slam of the door.

Mike winced when he heard the door slam, feeling bad now that he pushed for something that really didn't matter. That first hook up was two years ago, and you two had been together ever since. It just nagged at him in a way that he was shocked at, thinking that someone might have said “hey he's a player, be careful.” Maybe you were right, a small part of him might have cared? Not so much that he or you slept with a few people, but that anyone would actually care.

Mike waited a few moments for things to cool down, he knew he shouldnt have pushed on such a stupid matter, cause it honestly didnt matter to him what anyone might have said. It was a stupid fight, and Mike wanted to make it up to you, apologize for upsetting you when you were already feeling so awful. Listening, he could hear you in the bedroom, opening drawers and snapping them shut then it went quiet. Pushing up from the couch, he approached the bedroom, and knocked on the door to ease it open. You were laying on the bed, a heating pad plugged in where your phone usually was. You had it resting on your stomach, and had your other arm slung over your face to block out the light.

“I mean it Mike, you come in here looking to argue, I will scratch those blue eyes of yours out and leave you a blind man.” You threatened him, which he tried not to chuckle at, but a tiny one burst out while he went to stretch on the bed next to you, sliding his hands under your shirt to rub your back.

“Im sorry Y/N, I was being kind of an ass.” He said, and you snorted a bit in agreement. Mike could feel the knots in your back loosen a little as you relaxed into his hand, and he pulled in closer to you. “Is it really bad this time?” he looked at the time, it had only been twenty minutes since you had taken your painkillers, still hadn't had a proper chance to kick in for you yet.

You stretched a bit and pressed yourself back hard enough for him to know you wanted more pressure in his touch, which he did, digging in his fingers. You sighed a bit into your pillow. “It's messing me up this time Mike, not going to lie.” You twisted your head to glance over your shoulder, and your look softened a bit when you saw how concerned he did look. So you twisted to lay on your back and look up at him. “I'm sorry to Mike, I came in looking for a fight because of how I was feeling. Your script will be good, and people who do care probably have boring sex lives.” You joked a bit while lifting a hand to let the back of your fingers brush against the rasp of his beard. It made you tingle to feel it, and his hand slipped along your waist and over your belly where the heating pad didn't cover.

“You know there are other ways to help you.” Mike started, looming over you slightly and you wrinkled your nose, knowing what he was talking about. It always made you feel a little guilty though, like it was something he had to do, not that he wanted to do. All in your head, you knew, but the thought still had manifested there after that time he ended up being late on a deadline cause of a weekend of him taking care of you.

You shrugged a bit and shook your head. “You don't have to do anything, you should probably get back to your script. Brian’s going to want to see it in a few days.” You brushed it off, but Mike wasn't about to be deterred, because he knew how much better you felt afterwards, and he enjoyed making you feel good immensely.

“I know I don't have to “do anything”, but how about I want to?” He pushed up off the bed, and reached down to grasp your hands and ease you up into a sitting position, making you groan and pull off the heating pad, being sure to click it off. Mike gave you what he hoped would be a promising grin to get you in the mood. “Fuck that script, I rather have some dirty sex… in the bed?” He questioned, and you gripped his hands tighter, pulling yourself up.

“You're not going to leave me in peace to wither and die are you?” You scoffed as you side stepped him to grab a couple towels, and draped them over your arm. “Shower, mess be minimal, and the hot water will help my back.” Mike came up behind and ran his hands along your sides, while kissing on your neck, making you sigh a bit in appreciation. That rasp of beard followed by soft velvet lips always did something, even now your toes were curling up the more he did it.

Getting in the bathroom, he reached and grabbed the towels from you, tossing them on the bathroom counter. “Absolutely not going to let you wither and die, you know how much work it would be to find another awesome girlfriend like you?” He cupped your face, dragging you into a kiss while you grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it off when he pulled away, he mimicked you and pulled your top off over your head and discarding them wherever they happened to land.

“Ooh I like being awesome. How awesome am I Mike?” You wiggled your brows at him, and reached behind you to unclasp your bra, which Mike eagerly drew off you when you got it unclasped and cupped your breasts, massage them lightly, thinking about what to say. Thumbs circled around your sensitive nipples and you took a slight inhale that Mike happened to hear, causing him to do it a little harder the next time around. “You're always so sensitive right now, I absolutely love it.” Mike admitted while massaging his palms into the globes, you ended up arching into his touch and dropped your hands to his pants to start working open his belt.

“You didn't answer me, pain in the ass.” You tugged the belt open and popped open the button, sure to watch him as you pressed your hands under the boxer band and wrapped fingers around his cock. You felt him twitch in your hand, a hitch in his breath as his normally bright blue eyes darkened. “Am I distracting you a little too much?”

He took a deep breath as you sunk to the floor, Mike's hand falling to the bathroom counter, his knuckles turning white while he gripped the counter at the anticipation. “Here I thought I was supposed to make you feel better?” Seeing you kneeling, giving him that sultry fuck look from under your lashes while darts of your tongue teased your lips. A tug on his jeans dragged them down further so you could pull his cock out, giving measured firm strokes and breaking eye contact to look at his erection instead, sliding a thumb around his head and dragging your thumb back to your lips to suck your fingertip.

“You are making me feel better. Well actually, hand me a towel?” you arched up to bring your face closer to him, your free hand held out while Mike handed you a towel in which you put under your knees to get comfy. “See you helped me.” Giving a teasing wink, you twist your head to give him a trailing lick of your tongue along the underside of his cock and spit to lube him in your hands. A kiss of your lips to the tip made him shudder com watching the sinfully sweet act, and then you spread your lips to lower your mouth on him and suck with a moan. Already he was cursing above you under his breath as he did his best to not look away.

“Fuck baby” Mike grunted, and you widened your mouth to draw him in further, fluttering your tongue around him while rubbing your hands against the front of his thighs till you circled fingers around the base, pumping him where your mouth couldnt take him yet. You relished the taste and heaviness on your tongue, lips drawing him in further to leave a wet trail on his cock when you bobbed your head faster. Heavy breaths flared your nostrils while you hummed your satisfaction till he hit the back of your throat. His hips rocked to meet your bobbing head until you gagged around his girth. “Just a bit more baby.” Mike grunted as his hands went to cup your face, fingers digging in your cheeks. Mike's head tipped back, and your gaze rolled upwards to see his adam's apple bobbing up and down, the muscles in his torso tighten, and where your hands grasped his thighs to hold on while he face-fucked you, kept flexing. “Fuck… FUCK…” He pulled you off him, his hips stuttering to a stop and his cock weeped with desire to shoot his load. The thick white dribble looked too tempting to you. Your tongue tip curled out and you darted back in close to give a kitten lick to the tip, cleaning the drool and precum off and maybe just to tease him slightly, knowing how close he was.

“God your a fucking little brat.” He hissed at your antics, stepping away and leaning down to grasp your upper arms, and bring you back up while kicking off his pants and boxers fast as he could, making you giggle at how strained he sounded.

“Get out of those clothes.” He instructed as he reached in the shower to start the water and stumbled in. You were tugging your pants off, and getting ready as you heard him swear in the shower. “Fucking water.” You open the curtain to see him drenched already, trying to wiggle the knobs to the proper temperature.

“Well why did you already get in Mike?” you ask, putting your hand in the water to make sure it wasn't too cold, when he reached out to wrap an arm around your waist and drag you in with him making you squeal as the water was still adjusting to temperature. Mike backed you up against the showers wall, his hands rubbing your hips while kissing your lips with a hunger that made your head spin, and your hands grasped the back of his neck and head to hold on.

Pulling away from your mouth, and working his lips against your neck, you tilted your head back into the stream to feel the warmth wash over your sore body twitch a groan. The hot water had already started to fog up the small space. “I was hoping the cold water would cool me off, I want��” Lap of his tongue moved over your jawline. “... to be…” his hand swept down your stomach and cupped your mound between your clenched thighs to stroke your folds. “... inside you when I cum.”

You pulled away a bit to look at him, biting at your lip which caused his eyes to drop down too, wanting to pull at it because of the way you teased yourself . But your words brought him back to you. “It really doesn't bother you Mike? That I'm on my period?” That bit of self doubt starting to come back to the front of your mind, bringing along guilt that maybe he didn’t enjoy this like you did.

He gave a roll of his eyes and nipped at your lips, sliding his tongue over that bottom lip before pulling it from your teasing teeth, laying his own mark on you to cover your bite from before. “We’ve done this many times Baby. Only boys would care about such a thing, good thing I’m not a boy.” He surged to claim all your senses, his fingers spreading your folds to start touching you in a way that would drive you crazy.

You kareened when you felt his fingers start to tease you, his hand planting on the wall as his upper body leaned in closer, eyes staring into yours while rubbing from your clit to your entrance, watching as your breathing picked up and your eyes turned into a needing glaze. “Ahh, just like that, huh baby. Fuck I love how sensitive you get during this time.” He wasn't wrong, everything felt amplified, his fingers felt thicker as he started to pump one into you, your core was hotter, your arousal seeping down your thigh to mix with the hot water.

It wasn't long till your thighs were spreading further for him, and you rocked slightly to meet his fingers plunging back into you, his strokes making you clench tightly around him, as well as grasp his biceps to keep yourself from losing your balance. Mike loved watching your jaw drop as you were fluttering around his thick fingers, sobbing out when Mike twisted his palm slightly to grind the heel of his hand against your clit. “Mike! Oh too much.” you tried pushing him away while moving your hips faster, but he was too solid and was driven to have you come all on his palm. Mike nudged his nose against your jaw to tip your head back, licking the running water streaming down your neck with a low timbre voice making his demands. “Come on baby, this is just the first one.”

Just the first one. Fuck

You dug in your fingers while you rode out your orgasm that crashed over you, Mike slowing his pumps down so you could come down from your high, tilting his head to give you an open mouthed kiss. And he started again to bring you up, his fingers sliding in your sensitive pussy, his thumb sweeping around your clit slowly. “Mike,” you whined softly against his mouth, your forehead pressed against his. His fingers knew just where to touch you. He was able to go much deeper than your own fingers could ever reach. Mike thrummed you again, nudging his nose against yours to have you focus on him. “You're going to come for me once more Pretty Girl, I love how you flood my hand, riding my fingers with that greedy pussy of yours.” His tongue licked over your lips, and greedily you sucked on his tongue rocking harder to meet his fingers faster. Your second orgasm is coming fast, as sensitive as you were. “Ahhh good girl, I'm going to add another cause you're taking me so well.” Mike bit at your lip teasing as your eyes widened, a third finger stretched you, and he smirked, still holding your gaze. “Squeezing so tight baby, you should make yourself cum now Babe.”

You started falling apart once more and Mike let his chest press against yours and your arms locked around his neck, burying your face in his shoulder as he feathered kisses up and down your neck. “Did I tell you yet I love you?” His erection pressed against your stomach, still hard and demanding as when your mouth had been wrapped around it and you rubbed yourself against it, purring in his ear. “Show me Mike.” Your toes curled as remains of your orgasm raced up your spine, any pain you had been in before was replaced with fluttering clenching muscles, and languid pleasure seeping in your system.

Mike's hands fell to the back of your thighs, and he slipped your legs up to swing around his waist, and position yourself to take him. “I'm glad you finally accepted this suggestion.” Mike let go of your thighs once you were holding onto him, and he pressed his cock through your folds, feeling your wet heat welcoming to accept him. You nodded in a rush, blinking out the water pelting over you.

“Yes, Fuck Mike you feel so good, its driving me insane.” You tried pressing yourself on him, and when he pressed in against your sensitive channel, clenching around him as he worked himself into your pussy. “Yes, oh yes.” stiffening against him when he thrusted to bury himself in, rutting against you to make you cry out as he started slow, letting you appreciate the hard drag through you. It wasn’t long though when Mike started to pound himself into you, and your bouncing breasts moved in his face. He freed a hand to massage them, almost on the verge of a blissed pain how his teeth sucked in the curve, and the lash of his tongue dragging over your pebbled flesh till he could pull on it. Stretch the nerves to quiver and mess with your rational thought, till all you could focus on his mouth, hot and wetter then even the steam of water pouring from above, the feeling of Mike's cock driving in harder and harder, sure that you felt him almost kiss your womb, fighting the urge to cum already. Your hands scrambled for purchase against his back, which clenched under your nails digging in, flexing and tightening with each pounding thrust trying to lay claim to your orgasm.

“I can feel you, you want to, your body is trying to.” He moaned into your breasts his face was buried against, his scruff rough between your cleavage. You back bounced off the tile of the bathroom wall at these words, you wanted to deny him, keep feeling him driving back the pain, and keeping you on the edge of pleasure. But it was all so overwhelming, and you caved, cumming again to flood his cock with your arousal, clenching around him. “God your so fucking tight around me. Trying to get me to cum in you.” Mike grunted, and you just squeezed him more, wanting it, so badly to feel filled with him.

“Course I want it, don't you dare pull out.” You cried, flexing around him again as his balls slapped against you and you tighten your legs around him to keep him with you. His grunts became more feral, his tongue marking your skin while he chased water droplets like a man dying of thirst, and you saw nothing but sparks filled your vision while he groaned into your ear that he too was close. You whined as you gave one last demanding squeeze, your own demand that he fill you, which he did. Happily shooting himself to fill you, spreading himself deeper and both of you ended blissed around each other

You lean into him, taking deep breaths against his shoulder while his arm slings around your waist. “Okay, I got you babes. We really do need to get a mat for this tub though. Almost slipped a few times.” You giggle into his neck before straightening, unlocking your legs from around his waist to lower to a stand, careful cause it was slippery. Reaching down, you flick the water back to the facet, and Mike cranks both the knobs off, the last of the water rushing down the drain. Pulling back the curtain, Mike stepped out, and grabbed the last towel on the counter and handed it to you, which after you two stepped out you started rubbing your body down to dry.

He grasped the one you had used for your knees earlier, rubbing it over his head, and whisking across his body, but he was done quick and had yanked on his boxers. You immediately reached down and grabbed his tee from earlier, slipping it on and went to the counter to brush out your hair before it dried in a mess. Knowing you would come out when you were ready, Mike went and stretched out on the bed, leaning against the headboard and flicked on the tv, flipping channels until you came out all dressed for a day in bed. Moving around the bed, you tumbled into your side of the mattress.

You curl up against Mike's side, and he hands the remote over so his arm can circle around your shoulders and let his fingertips brush along the soft part of your upper arm. “Feeling any better Babes?” He tilted his head to look down at you while you focused on the tv, and you hummed, tilting up to put a thank you on his lips. “Much, all relaxed and sated, thank you Handsome.” Mike couldn't deny that made his chest swell a bit, proud and pleased his girl was now feeling better. He dropped a kiss to the top of your head as you finally stopped at the beginning of Con Air.

“Nicholas Cage?” Mike mused as he looked up, and you tugged the blankets over the two of you while you twisted, leaning your back against Mike's chest, and your head on his shoulder.

“Damn straight Mike, Cage, Malkovich, and Buscemi? Doesn't get better.” your love of 90’s movies didn't bypass Mike, so he wasn't surprised. It didn't take long though till you had passed out, within the first 15 minutes of it, and Mike stayed for a while before it was apparent you were really passed out. He eased away, and shifted you enough so you were comfy against the pillows. Going to put his clothes back on, he looked in the shower and went under the sink looking for a quick spray to wipe down the shower with. Running a cloth over the wall, and using the shower head, he rinsed away any bloody traces that might have been left behind. Mike didn't want you happening across it, and having to deal with it yourself. Once he was satisfied, he took care of everything and flicked the lights off to go back in the room, seeing you still sound asleep and relaxed.

Mike went over to your side of the bed to grab the heating pad you discarded earlier and put it on low. Laying it against your lower back as you rolled to hug a pillow against your chest. Snapping the blankets up around you as he started to leave the room, he turned the tv down a few notches, and eased the door almost to a shut.

Mike knew he probably should work on his script, you were right earlier that Brian would be wanting to see it soon, but he bypassed his computer. Grabbing his wallet and phone, he stuffed them in his back pocket. At the kitchen counter he scribbled a quick note, should you wake up. He didn't want to set your phone off and wake you up by sending a message to it. ~went to go pick up that water, message if you need anything baby. XO Mike.~

Leaving the apartment, when he hit the street his hands found their way into his pockets, and he whistled happily. Sure he might have gotten jack shit done for work so far, but he spent his morning loving on his girl, and if that isn't life goals, damned if Mike knew what would actually be better. Reaching the local shop the two of you used near the apartment. The door’s bell jingled when he pushed it open, the clerk lifting her head to see who was coming in and gave a grin seeing him. “Hey Mike, wondering if I was seeing you today.”

Mike grabbed a hand basket, winking at the clerk. “Of course MissThompson, my day wouldn't be complete without you.” he flirted with the older woman, making her chuckle a bit as he went down the first aisle. He grabbed a few things you two typically needed, a loaf of that specialty bread for toast that you liked, a tin of bbq pringles he liked snacking on when watching a game, a bar of chocolate you swore up and down you required during this time, he was also sure to grab a couple gallons of water to bring home. Wandering back towards the counter, Miss Thompson cleared her newspaper off the counter for him to set his stuff down.

“Did you see the fall stuff Mike? I think Y/N would really like them.” She pointed at a small display table nearby, which was covered with a few pumpkin trinkets, some homemade baked goods, and candles. Mike wandered over, and started picking through the items. “She would like them wouldn't she, and she's been having a rough day.” He mused outloud and Miss Thompson tutted in sympathy. Glancing over the stuff, he picked up a few different candle holders, a box of autumn tinted macaroons, and some pumpkin pastries that he knew would remind you of home. Bringing it up to the counter, Miss Thompson gave an approving smile and was quick to ring it up for Mike. “I think she’s gonna appreciate it all.”

“She does love fall, always going on about home this time of year.” Mike stated as he took out his card and gave it a swipe, his stuff was bagged, and he juggled the bag in one arm and the water in the other. “Probably see you tomorrow.”

“You know I will be here.” Miss Thompson offered as Mike worked the door open, and headed home. Once he arrived back at the apartment, he was quiet while slipping off his sneakers, and dropping off his arm loads at the kitchen counter where his note went untouched. Scooping it up and crumpling to shoot into the basket, he paused long enough to make sure he made it, giving a fist pump when it landed inside. Quietly he went down the hall, and pushed the door open a bit to see you were still sleeping. You looked soft in your sleep, relaxed and peaceful. You had rolled once more in your sleep, your arm holding the heating pad to your stomach.

Leaving you in peace, he went back out to take care of what he purchased, sure to put one of the jugs of water in the fridge. Then he spread the ornaments around the coffee table, and set the desserts out on a tray, leaving them on the coffee table as well. Thinking about what else he could do to surprise you, he left the apartment once more to go down to the storage unit in the basement of the apartment complex, just knowing you had to have some of your treasured halloween decorations, stored away in a bright orange bin with a jack o'lantern drawn on the front. Once he saw the tote and pulled it down, he popped it open to double check, and sure enough you had it packed with lights, halloween trinkets, more candle holders, and foam pumpkins. Securing the lid, he brought it up to the apartment, and set it down.

Unpopping the top, he started to pull out the lights, and untangle them. Looking around at just where to hang them, already he was picturing how you had it set up last year, and grinned to himself, knowing exactly how he wanted it to look for you.

Several hours later, you stretched out with a yawn, turning to grab your phone and see it was later in the afternoon. Pushing up to a sit and rubbing at your eyes as you push off the bed, You headed to use the bathroom. Once finished, You came out several moments later, now sporting shorts and a warm sweater just looking for the coziness of the soft material. You pulled your hands into the sleeves, grasping the cuffs in your fingertips to play with the soft material while you left the bedroom. Before you even entered the kitchen, you could hear the clickity clack of Mike's keys on his laptop, and you smiled to yourself. From the rate the keys were clicking, he must have figured out a storyline.

Stepping into the kitchen, you stalled as your eyes roamed over the orange and purple lit up apartment, Mike had hung up your halloween lights around the tv, and living room, along the counter and bookshelves were orange pumpkins glowing, one corner by the door was a scarecrow and your foam pumpkins, like it was the front porch you didn't have yet. On the TV was paused on a Harry Potter movie, and you took a step further into the room, hovering your hand over one of the candle light holders, enjoying the heat for a second before moving on. “Mike, this is… wow, I didn't think you really cared if I decorated or not.”

Hearing you he spun his chair away from his laptop, holding his hand out and when you went to him, he tugged you into his lap, circling around your waist. “I wanted you to wake up to something I knew you loved. Plus you've been too busy at work to decorate.” He kissed your shoulder and rested his chin on it while you slid your fingers gently up and down the back of his neck.

“You are right Mike, I do love it, Thank You.” you hummed lightly and wrapped your arms around his neck to give him a hug, pulling in close. “And all those new pumpkins? Where did they come from?” You slid off his lap and went to go look closer at the new additions, tweaking them just a bit to put them where you wanted them, biting your lip excitedly. Mike was sure to save his work, and closed the laptop. Following you into the living room, he wrapped his arms around your waist. “Miss Thompson insisted you would like them. Want me to throw a pizza in the oven and we crash on the couch to watch a few halloween movies?”

You twisted in his arms, and grasped his face, tilting up to kiss his lips with a teasing nip. “Yes, please. Anything I can do to help?” you fall back to the flat of your feet, and Mike leads you into the kitchen. “Bring us a couple drinks out to the living room, and as soon as I get this in the oven, I will be out to join you.” You grab a couple beers from the fridge, and make your way while Mike is turning on the oven and flipping the box to read the directions to himself. Entering the living room once more, you set the beers on a couple coasters, and fall onto the couch. In front of you were all sorts of sweet treats. You leaned forward, grabbing a pie when your empty stomach started to rumble, your teeth sank into the delicate pastry as you leaned your head back, moaning softly at the flaked crust and sweet filling with the taste of pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. The spices tickle your taste buds, and the sweetness soothed it away.

Mike came around the back of the couch, seeing you slowly chewing and giving that satisfied moan, moving to fall down next to you, arching a brow. “That better than the shower?” he teased you, and your eyes sprang open, shaking your head.

“This just tastes good.” You grinned as you leaned forward to set it down and moved to straddle his lap, dipping for kisses against his lips, where your tongue slid along the seam of his lips till you could work past them, rolling your tongue against his, and he was caught unaware at how you would taste. A mix of your usual sweetness and the desert danced on his tongue, and his hands moved to grasp the back of your hair, to hold you in place, effectively take your kiss as his own. “You taste and feel good.” you pulled enough away to say before he closed the slight space to claim you all over again, strokes of his tongue teasing you.

Your hips started grinding, shifting yourself enough to straddle just one of his thighs while your hands slid along his shoulders, and you started to arch a bit more, a bit faster, harder as you pushed down. Mike's hands fell to your hips, helping you along by guiding you up and down. He pushed forward a bit to draw himself in closer, pulling his mouth from yours and muttering. “That's it pretty girl, make yourself cum again.” you nodded slightly and he pulled you down on his flexing thigh, making you toss your head back when it made your clit throb and your breathing come out in a rush. “Again Sir…”

“Sir?” Mike pulled back, his blue eyes twinkling at you while he watched you pick up speed, chasing your end. Your fingers curled, clutching at his shirt and digging into his shoulders.

“It slipped out Mike, I'm so close now.” your voice high pitched whine. You needed that rush, so close that you could taste that pleasure almost. Your movements started stuttering as your own muscles ached and Mike was quick to take over, picking up the speed you had before and you started chanting. “Yes, yesyesyesyes, fuck please.”

One of Mikes hands snaked up to grasp the back of your head, tilting your head back and he pressed his face against your neck, chaining kisses and nips while whispering. “Come on Pretty Girl, I need you to come now.” Behind you the oven started alarming and the sense of urgency overcame you, to just rock on his thigh, your knee brushing against his hard on in his pants, and you were cumming for him, whimpering as you rode it out and you went slack, Mike loosening his hard grips and rubbing your back as he slid you off his thigh. “I gotta go check that pizza.”

You nodded as he pushed off the couch, grabbing at his crotch to try and give himself some room, making you hide your face on the couch and giggle. You heard the squeak of the oven door and a soft “Shit” from Mike as a clang of a pizza pan went on top of the stove. “Babe, it's a bit crispy, but not terrible.” You wriggled to pull yourself up to kneel on the couch, leaning against the back to watch him in the kitchen look for the pizza cutter in a drawer.

“Not a big deal. Crispy pizza is worth that orgasm.” You couldn't hide the grin as Mike was quick to slice the pizza into slices, and slide a couple on each plate while grasping the paper towels to tuck under his arm.

“You can start the movie, and fuck you were about to make me blow my load in my jeans watching you. And that ‘Sir’? We still have to discuss that.” He sauntered back into the living room, while you were searching for the remote on the coffee table. Sure to hit play, he waited till you were comfy, and set your plate on your lap. You grasp the first piece, working on taking the crust off and rip off a bite size piece. Your eyes went from the screen to Mike.

“It just… happened in the moment Mike. Why, did you like it?” You popped your bite in your mouth, and Mike tilted his head, pondering it a moment.

“You caught me by surprise, but I wouldn't mind hearing it again.” He stated, and you grinned, wiggling brows.

“Just wait till the day I call you Daddy.”

Mike groaned, tilting his head back against the couch with a groan. “Your gonna be the death of me Y/N.”

You snorted while tucking up your legs, and smirking at him. “I can think of worst ways to go.”

You cuddled up closer, laughing before you took another bite of your food, and Mike pulled you in closer, both of you turning your attention to the movie for the rest of the evening.

#playing it cool fic #me #chris evans fanfic #playing it cool fanfic #me renamed mike cause thats how i roll #halloween #halloween 2020 #reader insert #me x reader #me x you

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ikuzeminna · 4 years ago

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Putting Things Into Perspective - Flay Allster

Tumblr decided to eat my other post for whatever reason, so here I go again.

I got asked by an anon whether Gundam SEED would have been better if it was told from Flay’s POV and how things would be different. My answer is as follows.

Well, if they retold the story from Flay’s POV, it would make her the main character.

If they made Flay the main character, she’d get a narrative that favored her, giving her a character arc, redeeming qualities and attempt to garner the audience’s sympathies for her.

As far as Flay goes, that would definitely make things better for her, but if the rest of the story and characters weren’t changed, I’d say it’d actually make the series worse, as it would point out a lot of flaws. The main one being Kira.

SEED as we know it focuses on Kira and his struggles, giving us plenty of scenes where he’s bawling his eyes out to make us feel sorry for him. When Flay later manipulates him, we, the audience being told to be invested in Kira, feel protective of him and automatically dislike Flay since she is playing with his feelings.

And because SEED is 100% kiddie, it never addresses heavy issues the way a story would that wasn’t pandering to teenagers. Meaning acknowledging that the protagonist isn’t the center of the universe and that only their suffering is worthy of screen time.

Because fact is that while the narrative is trying to sell me Kira being a nice guy with his kind smiles and gentle nature, he is a self-absorbed git.

As I said, we get plenty of scenes with him bawling his eyes out but whenever he does, it’s all about him. Specifically, about how he has to fight his friend Athrun. He doesn’t cry about Flay’s father or Tolle being dead. He’s not even bothered by having killed a bunch of people until he meets one guy who squirts some yogurt sauce on his döner. From then on, we get Waltfeld’s face floating across the screen when Kira murders someone because the show honestly wants to tell me that ...what? Kira didn’t feel bad that he has killed people before just because he didn’t see their face?

Way to make him a sociopath, show.

The pinnacle of this is his relationship with Flay. He is painted as a saint who does nothing wrong while the narrative goes out of its way to vilify Flay at every turn. She is manipulative and vengeful, using her body to get Kira to do what she wants, all the while being a homicidal racist and the sole useless crew member, doing nothing but hiding in her bed when a battle starts, while Kira is risking his life to protect his friends.

Ugh, goes the teenaged crowd.

And that’s exactly what the narrative wants. For us to feel sorry for Kira and his struggles while hating Flay for her behavior towards him.

Except when you take all of two seconds to think about it, it’s glaringly obvious that our poor, suffering, selfless cinnamon roll is actually a self-absorbed jerk, shamelessly using a traumatized girl, whose trauma he had a hand in, as an emotional crutch while giving absolutely nothing in return.

Flay’s terrible, terrible acts are feigning sympathy and wanting to make Kira fight. Kira already decided on the latter himself thanks to his other friends, so that point is wholly moot. As for the feigned sympathy, that is more than Kira has the decency to do.

See, thanks to the narrative siding wholly with Kira, we never question his actions towards Flay whom we are supposed to hate. But the truth is, we only see Flay comforting Kira, never Kira comforting Flay. And between the two of them, the one who watched her last living parent get blown to pieces right in front of her and now has nowhere to go anymore needs it more. Unlike the guy whose parents are fine.

It gets richer when Kira delivers a whole speech to Sai about how Flay is always there to listen to him and how she is the only one who ever thinks about him and his struggles.

You know, the girl whose trauma everyone ignores, adults and peers and boyfriend alike, and who only groan and tsk and sigh at her when she does stuff like ask for juice or demand beauty products in the middle of a war. Because the show is bent on making her the most superficial, selfish character in its universe, even at the expense of logic.

Because Flay’s behavior is not how PTSD works.

But even if Flay clinging to her old life was a thing, it’d still be excused as SHE IS TRAUMATIZED AND NO ONE CARES.

Giving Flay the spotlight here through making her the protagonist would show how much of a massive jerk everyone is. The adults are only concerned about Kira’s fighting ability, not caring one bit about anyone’s emotional well-being even though they’re adults ferrying a bunch of unwilling teenagers through the galaxy while being shot at, but who cares? Gotta grow up fast.

Her schoolmates are even more horrible. When Flay lashes out at Kira in her grief, (correctly) accusing him of not having fought to the best of his abilities, which caused her father’s ship to be destroyed and her to lose him, no one speaks up in her defense. Nope, they sit at the mess and take Kira’s side, with no one anywhere mentioning that hey, she just lost her father and is pretty traumatized, maybe we should cut her some slack and, dunno, check on her?? Try to talk to her perhaps? See if she’s really okay???

Instead Sai and Kuzzey later turn their backs on her and Miriallia decrees her the new low for humanity, claiming she isn’t like her when Flay attempts to kill Dearka. Because only Flay is a horrible, homicidal racist, not Miriallia.

The king of jerks proves her eventual boyfriend though. At being met with her accusation, Kira has the nerve to run away from her and cry about himself being treated unfairly.

He completely ignores that she just lost her father. Not a word of condolence. It’s all about him. And the show wants me to think Kira is the victim?

That because Flay throws herself at him, he is the poor one to feel sorry for? Even that doesn’t hold up. He wasn’t the one in physical pain during their night together. He wasn’t the one making a sacrifice sleeping with him, to achieve an ulterior motive. He just got to enjoy himself, if him being the active party once the clothes came off is any hint. The guy was digging her and he got her. Score.

If anything, Flay’s behavior should have set off alarm bells as to her mental state. After all, he knew what she went through and he knew that she had been Sai’s girlfriend shortly prior, so why would she suddenly be interested in him? But that coward never addresses anything. He doesn’t even tell the senior crew. Not that they’d care. When Flay calls him out on his rotten behavior, only ever being concerned about himself, Kira calls off their relationship.

My, what a boyfriend.

What a nice guy.

Objectively speaking, Flay witnessed her father’s death, has no more close family members, is on a ship full of people who ignore her trauma and has accepted further isolation to get closer to Kira to achieve her goals while having to provide for his emotional needs without being allowed to reach out to him for comfort. On top of being a terrified teenager in a war zone.

In other words, the girl is messed up and can’t even talk about it to her boyfriend because it was his fault and she wants and needs him to fight and not wallow in self-pity, so she swallows and ignores her own issues. And no one cares.

Kira’s speech to Sai is terrible beyond belief but he is right about one thing: Flay really is the only one who cares about him and does something for him, unlike Murrue and Mwu who only ever talk to each other and never take any action. And she is the single most messed up person on that ship.

Way to go, guys. Yet the narrative wants us to hate Flay because her concern isn’t genuine and in truth she only wants to harm Kira whereas his friends, who not once inquire about his well-being, get portrayed as the good guys. Even though Flay is what sees him through the war.

If we flip said narrative, these story flaws will become much clearer as we’ll be looking for excuses for Flay, not Kira. And boy, are there many.

That includes her lack of a job on the Archangel. The ship is presumably short-staffed since its crew was killed during the attack on Heliopolis, yet Flay, being a student at the same school as the others (who are manning stations on the bridge) gets to refill soap and change towels. Because...?

Flay’s lack of a proper job grates especially on me since SEED is supposed to pay homage to the original Gundam. But unlike in SEED, the original had all its crew members actually doing something. That she later becomes a bridge member on the Dominion is a bad joke.

The show tries to tell me that she chose to be useless and now feels sorry for it and in its perverse sense of justice and character development goes so far as to make her apologize for it during her heart to heart with Badgiruel. The very person responsible for assigning crew their tasks and who never bothered to actually give Flay something to do. Oh, the irony.

See what the narrative does? Flay is painted as the bad guy for not participating in battle, when anyone who takes two seconds to think about it would tell you that that wasn’t her fault. It was the Murrue’s and Badgiruel’s. Flay freaking volunteered for crying out loud. Contrary to however the show thinks the military operates, you don’t actually just waltz onto the bridge, sit in a spot and boom, that’s your job.

It gets better. Flay’s redeeming moment is when she gets blown to pieces and tells Kira in naked ghost form how sorry she is and that she now truly loves him and wishes to protect him. That is all she is allowed to amount to; a complex girl having gone through various traumas and having the potential to portray the show’s anti-racist message beautifully is reduced to a now gone obstacle to the Kira/Lacus ship that at least apologized for her terrible behavior towards him. Which he never hears because the sole purpose of that scene is to redeem the terrible Flay, not develop characters or something. And her redemption discounts her character completely. She doesn’t go ghosting to the Archangel crew or Sai or has a monologue about how her hatred destroyed her while floating across space to get the message across to the audience that racism is bad. Nope, she only counts in relation to Kira and how her manipulating him made her such a terrible person.

I’m stuck between laughing and being utterly done with that notion when Kira is worse than her.

So, TL;DR. Would the show get better if it was told from Flay’s POV? Not necessarily. You’d need to add responsible adults, characters who are capable of empathy and a more mature handling of the story. Then yes. It would improve.

As it is, it’s just classic fanfic, hand-waving its protagonist’s terrible behavior because it doesn’t recognize it as such and making everyone a one-note character, to not have to bother with more complex character dynamics.

#Gundam SEED #analysis #rant #flay allster #calling Kira out on his rotten behavior #it's funny since I like the character on paper #but Kira gets on my nerves almost as much as Lacus in the show #the majority of the fandom siding with him doesn't help #me having a like-hate relationship with SEED

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Ducktales Reviews: Let’s Get Dangerous!

The Duck Knight Strikes Again as our Darkwing Double Feature concludes! Scrooge, the Kids and Launchpad visit the fair city of St. Canard. While Huey tries to work out how the seemingly world changing project Scrooge is financing for researcher Taurus Bulba .. um.. works, Launchpad and Dewey visit Drake, whose struggling to find any crime to actually fight, but soon finds himself tangled up in the case of a plucky young orphan, her missing grandfather and Bulba’s dark secrets and soon Darkwing and his new family find themselves the only three people standing between the world and it’s untimely end. Let’s Get Dangerous with a full review with recap and spoilers under the cut.

It’s time! I’ve been obviously, being a fan of both darkwing duck, if only finally watching it in full now, and superhero stories in general, and this show having told some REALLY good ones over the past 3 seasons including darkwing’s previous episode “The Duck Knight Returns!”, which I sadly didn’t get to in time before this episode. But this is a worthly replacement to conclude our double feature so it all works out. But yeah a big one hour special that changes the course of the season, brings Goslyn in, and brings in Darkwing’s old rogue’s gallery? Sign me up. And it’s also VERY clear that Disney has plans for a revivial/spinoff for darkwing. Besides this episode setting it up and Frank being very clear he has plenty of ideas for this big duckverse as a whole and is a massive fan of the series, there’s the fact Disney conspciously posted a trailer, 4 preview cilps (Though to their credit none really give the game away entirely and all but one take place in the first act, and the one that didn’t is so they could show off Stephanie Beatriz as Goslyn, which is fair enough). And if that werent’ enough, the killing stroke is that the episode is FREE TO WATCH on Disney Now, and likely on Youtube sometime soon given they usually do that when the make an episode readily avaliable as done with most series premires and, for some weird reason, the season 3 premire of big hero six. But wheras that’s probably just to drum up hype for an aging-ish series, this feels like a delberate move to drum up hype for the episode among both fans of the ducktales reboot and the old darkwing fanbase. The only way they could’ve been more transparent is if they put a giant sign at the end of the episode that says SPINOFF COMING SOON.. MAYBE.. DID YOU LIKE THIS? TWITTER US IF YOU LIKE THIS.. THAT’S THE RIGHT TERM RIGHT?.

That being said I can’t blame them as Darkwing’s a beloved property, superheros are big right now thanks in large part to disney themselves with the MCU, and the fandom reactied with overwhelming praise to “The Duck Knight Returns!”, which is one of season 2′s best episodes even if the cliam that scrooge never went to the movies nor saw one on cable after 1938 is implausable at best and really dumb and I hate it at worst. I mean I get he wouldn’t love rising prises, but I seriously doubt Della wouldn’t have dragged him to one at some point or that someone wouldn’t of tried to get him to invest in theirs long before boorswan. It just dosen’t fit the character and it was dumb.. it’s also unrelated to this episode but I had pent up rage from preparing to review that episode and I might as well get it out of the way now. Point is this episode has a lot riding on it and had all the hype. So did it live up to it? Let’s take a look.

We open in St. Canard, former wretched hive of scum and villiany and soon to be home to the second John Oliver Memorial Sewage Plant. Launchpad’s narrating and nearly getting everyone killed in a car accident as Scrooge argues with Bradford over the project Scrooge is on his way to see.. with the boys in two naturally. And since eveyrone else is missing and I had fun with it last time i’m assuming Webby is with Violet helping Lena with her burdgoening superhero career and trying to ask her out, Beakly is tending to the house , Della and Penny are working out and trying not to admit there’s clear sexual tension and Donald is once again in the Pantry because he never learns. HE NEVER LEARNS.

Anyways we learn their going to visit Tarus Bulba, in this continuity a famous and well loved scientist who I’m sure defintely won’t turn out to still be evil... yeshewillletsmoveon. Huey and Louie are excited about it because of Huey’s well established love of science and Louie smelling the money in a big inavation with Scrooge likely smelling both. As for Launchpad and Dewey their going to check in on Drake, whose living here now: Launchpad because he’s his best budy and possibly future boyfriend and Dewey because he needs more hits for his channel as he’s finally taken Dewey Dew Night to the masses. Bout time. Now he just needs a streaming deal. Make it happen Disney, D+ needs some animated series of it’s own. They also do a naturally terrible job of keeping the fact h’es a superhero a secret. We also breifly see drake doing a superhero dive before also comically tripping up and getting injured off screen. Cue.. Darkwing Colored ducktales logo as we don’t have time for the theme this week! And given this episode is an hour long that’s saying something. Anyways Scrooge and the boys sans dewey head to meet Bulba whose a charming, gregarious man who quickly hugs the boys, puts them on his shoulders and snaps a selfie with the group. And he’s also familiar with the boys: Huey for wining the junior woodchuck science award and Louie for Louie Inc which ended before it’s time.. on public record. He’s a fan of both. And even given later reveals this seems genuine which I did not expect it to end up being anything resembling that. But we’ll get more into Bulba’s character when the time is right for now he shows off his invention: The Ramrod! While it shares the same name as Doctor Waddlemeyer’s device from the original, and as we’ll soon learn he made this one too, instead of a gravity device it instead can make ANYTHING you ask for, with Taruus wisely using Haggis to demonstrate. Huey however can’t help but wonder how it does what it does as surely what it makes has to come from somewhere though Louie tries to shut him up as he dosen’t want him to look a gifthorse in the mouth. I mean Horace gets self concious about it. Meanwhile Launchpad and Dewey meet up with Drake at the reboot version of Darkwing Tower, where he’s set up nicely: Multiple costumes, gadgets, including arrows with his face on them, and the ratcatcher in all it’s glory. Seriously I do love motorcycles even if I’m terrified of riding one. It’s part of why yugioh 5d’s holds a special place in my heart despite card games on motorcylces being patently nuts.. but it’s in the best way possible. As for how Drake got this sweet setup turns out Launchpad introduced him to Fenton who designed all his gadgets and presumibly his HQ as well as his snarky crime detecting and st.canard monitoring computer, W.A.N.D.A. Naturally he also is unaware he’s gizmoduck and freely shit talks gizmoduck again, though apparently Fenton does too. Granted Fenton could just be doing it to awkardly agree but it’s just as likely fenton uses it as an excuse to vent about his superhero alter ego, as we’ve seen that while Fenton loves being Gizmoduck he also resents it at time for keepiing him from doing science and getting glory just for punching people. But I love this dynamic, as Fenton’s just too nice for the old “they both hate each other and want the glory” dynamic to work, so Fenton untetionally pissing DW off as Gizmo but secretly supporting him as Darkwing is great and I can’t wait to see where this goes. Before we get back to the main plot, and there is a LOT of it to get to, I just wanted to point out that Dewey seems an awful lot like drake.. i’m not saying he’s the boys father and Della simply didn’t knoow who it was mama mia style nor did she, in her more selfish form of 11 years ago want to know.. but that’s exactly what i’m saying. THanks to whoever sent me that theory, it got more fire this week. Back on the actual plot turns out Darkwing dosen’t really have any foes to fight as while St. Canard has a reputation as a crime hole, Zan Owlson has taken over as mayor and cleaned it up. I assume in part because Glomgold seems to have no idea where she went and thus hasn’t done some elaborate scheme to show how much better off he is/kill scrooge mcduck. I mean let’s face it it always involves killing scrooge mcduck. His charitable contributions involve killing scrooge mcduck, his team ups with scrooge involve killing scrooge mcduck, his breakfast cereal came with a free knife and a map to scrooge’s house. Though I do defintely want to see Darkwing vs glomgold. I mean he’s not DW��s normal type of supervillian but still, tell me you wouldn’t see that.. and if your serious there’s the door.

Anyways despite having no crime to fight and trying to bluff past it despite WANDA trying her best not to help his case, DW goes out on patrol with his boys anyway.. and procedes to just pose for several hours before trying to stop what turns out to be two guys moving furniture and being force to admit he’s not in a great place. He just wanted to fight crime and inspire people the same way Jim inspiried him.. before he you know went insane, tried to murder Drake and everyone on a film set then seemingly died but is now presumibly still in duckberg’s sewers.. or just as likely hiding in glomgold’s house hider in the house style.

And yes that’s a real movie in which a real gary busey lives in the walls of someone’s house. And funner fact it’s on amazon prime and I was unaware of this or I would’ve watched it sooner and will be as soon as this reivew’s finished. Possibly while this review is going on I dunno. Point is your lives are richer and we might have another possible spinoff/gay love story for Disney. Just saying Disney.

Point is Drake is breaking down, but thankfully he landed in the right alleway as a small figure is breaking into the mcduck industirie’s st.canard branch, i.e. where Bulba is. Also I gotta admit while McDuck industries having a branch in St. Canard wasn’t a huge stretch, it was set up all the way in the pilot meaning Frank had the backdoor to set up an episode here since day one, along with every other major location really. Nicely done.

Darkwing follows her and confronts her, stopping the seeming intruder from stealing the key to the ramrod device and finding out she’s a.. little girl? It’s goslyn everybody!

.... I .. why was this under clap. I mean it’s a very good message with a very nice garfiled head but i jus... what.

Okay that’s better. Thank you Genie and thank you ghost of robin williams.. I miss you man. She escapes, though sans key and security storms in, with Drake looking guilty. After some banter with Scrooge who fails to recognize him which would be funny if it wasn’t utterly nonsencial. And utterly nonseical can be funny it just comes off less as “haha scrooge still dosen’t remeber him” and more “Wait you seriously don’t remember the guy who was crucial to one of your plans during the moonvasion and who got beat up on your behalf.. I expect better from you. “ Scrooge just dosen’t seem like the type to forget someone helping him in such a big way. He can be stubborn, stingy and selfish, but he’s not that forgetful.

However Bulba enters, says he knows exactly who he is.. and we cut to a press confrence where Bulba is lauding him for stopping a dangerous intruder. Presumibly he vouched for Darkwing since he knew about Goslyn and it was an easy way to cover up her involvment and it’s probably not the first time she’s tried this. He’s awarded the key to the city by Mayor Owlson who, while not wanting more costumed vigilatnes, is happy to reward someone doing the right thing. And I .. love this. I was worried she’d be your standard I don’t like superheroes type mayor, the kind gotham keeps getting with predectable results despite you know, the bat family being vital for gotham not becoming more of a hellscape. Instead Mayor Owlson is grateful, respectful and only reasonably dosent want St Canard overun with heroes it dosen’t need.. yet. She may want to use the proper channels but she’s not going to try and run someone out of town or grumble out of them for trying to help her city. She gets it. Meanwhile Huey’s hat explodes with with notes and what not, to Louie’s annoyance, though my boy’s excuse is utterly hilarious “It’s dewey’s hat”... boy still cannot lie. Louie is of course annoyed at him wanting to know how it works and possibly runining his dreams, but Huey is rightly concerned that he has no idea just how the Ramrod works or what powers it or what prinicpals it runs on. And it makes sense: Besides Huey always wanting to know how things work being his deal at this late point in the series there have been quite a few times, both involving huey and not involving him where something seeming to be too good to be true in fact was and had some dark secret behind it. Counting them off:

The House of the Lucky Gander: A seemingly swanky casino with the best water show ever turned out to be mostly an illusion created by a luck vampire.

The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks: Beloved tech icon Mark turned out to be the con artist we all know and love as well as the jackass we also know and tolerate.

Beware the BUDDY System: Beaks new driving robot turned out to be stolen bulb tech that Beaks hadn’t bothered to fix properly. I know Huey wasn’t there for that one but still.

Day of the Only Child: Again Huey wasn’t involved but probably heard about it later but since Louie WAS, he should know better. Louie befriends rich kid Doofus Drake only to end up nearly kidnapped because he’s creepy as shit.

Who Is Gizmoduck?!: While Huey wasn’t the target here, he and Fenton are close friends at this point and he was direclty involved. Beaks trying to sponsor Fenton turned out to be a scheme to steal the Gizmoduck Armor.

The Town Where Everyone Was Nice: A seemingly central american town having a friendly festival turns out to be a carnverous plant monster that wanted to eat them.

The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!: Fenton’s seemingly nice date turned out to be an industrial spy for .. Mark Beaks. Seriously he seems to love this type of scheme. Mark Beaks alone is reason for Huey not to take Bulba at face value.

A Night On Kilmotor Hill: The kids being able to go into their dreams ends in Magica stalking and nearly taking back Lena.

Quack Pack: A wacky sitcom wish nearly gets everyone eaten by horrifying versions of humans.

The Lost Harp of Mrivana: While the Mirmaids werne’t responsible for the dark secret this time, their society was built on the philosphy of a man who turns into a giant sea monster and nearly lead them all to the same fate.

The Trickining: A lost horde of candy ends up being a trap by a bunch of monsters to steal candy that nearly got them all eaten and hurt Huey’s feelings.

The Forbidden Fountain of the Foreverglades: A two-fer as the resort their at steals youtha nd the fountain of youth they went to find turns out to need to drain it from someone first.

And Louie was present for 9 of these! And the only one around for one of them! That’s what makes this frustrating: Huey and Dewey have grown, but Louie instead of learning from his mistakes, blindly trusts something too good to be true despite the fact he has a running tally of when that’s happened! I get he’s lazy and dosen’t want this to turn out to be too good to betrue, but he’s too smart for him not to see the red flags or see that Huey’s not “ruining this for them” but has been through this enough, mostly with mark beaks or people around him, to see a pattern. It’s frustrating when Louie was given a whole season arc, and didn’t seem to have any of it stick despite you know nearly murdering his family and nearly getting murdered by a zombie. The show is better than that and knows it’s better than that and it’s one of the weaker points of the episode.

Back to the stronger stuff though, it’s time for the moment you’ve been waiting for IT’S DEWEY DEW-NITE WITH DARKWING DUCK! I figured after the preview clips this was the one Frank had been hinting at all season and it’s finally here! Dewey, now fully on team darkwing, interviews the terror that flaps in the night.. and has a picture of him just coming out of the shower for some reason.. okay are Launchpad and Drake already together and no one told us? Whatever the case, Darkwing’s first big interview is interupted by Gosalyn. As for how she found them, she followed a combination of the resedue from his smoke bombs and Dewey’s livestream that’s been going on this whole time. As his attempts to hide Drake’s identnity and really this entire show up to this point has shown subtley is not Dewey’s strong suit.

Gos, after snooping around a bit and even letting out a “Keen Gear!” for old time’s sake, and finding Drake’s lunch box and first darkness poster, reveals she came for help since she figures DW owes her one for last night.. or earlier tonight. The timescale in this special is really hard to figure out and only gets worse. Gosalyn fills in her side of the story and why she broke into two places in the span of 24 hours. Turns out the Ramrod was in part created by Gosalyn’s grandpa, who was working under Bulba on the project. But one day Dr. Waddlemeyer found out the Ramrod was critically unstable and went to warn Bulba.. and never came back. Gosalyn wants to find him, and wants to DW to punch Bulba into telling her where he is. DW.. naturally does not and raises valid concerns: He’s an upstanding citzen whose offered his full support, has done nothing wrong in the public eye, and is nothing but nice to everyone and Gosalyn.. is a kid whose clearly in mourning, broke into two places, and has no evidence to back her up. He wants to help but he simply can’t and Gosalyn prepares to storm off herself. However in a VERY nice moment, Dewey goes to her and offers to help, as obviously missing parents are a big button for him and he appricated the fact he had someone when he needed to look into his own missing parent and wants to be Gosalyn’s webby.. his exact touching words. It’s a nice call back that really ties Dewey into this story well: He has a solid motive besides crimefighting stuff to help here. Granted Gosalyn’s confused as she hasn’t met webby, yet, and Dewey’s puns don’t help, but as Dewey explains his Dewey puns to her and his name, Launchpad talks to Drake and encourages him to help her. Drake is in fact reluctant like Gosalyn thought for his image but also because as mentioned Bulba seems to belive in him And that’s. understandable. Since starting out, he’s had no crime to fight, no villians to vanquish and only one person acknowledge his work and existance and that person is standing right there. Bulba is the first person besides Launchpad to not only enourage his Darkwing Duties, but to honor that and got him cleared of possible tresspassing charges, a key to the city and an interview on the hottest show on the internet. This risks all of it. But Launchpad makes a good point.. that he needs to help those who can’t help themselves and while he dosen’t have to fight bulba, he can at least look into him. A look at his dented lunchbox reminds Drake that his best friend/future husband is right, and that he became darkwing to protect people like he used to be.. to help the helpless.. and Gosalyn is helpless right now.. plenty capable, but someone who clearly can’t do this alone. So the four take off in the ratcatcher.

The four sneak into Bulba’s office and root around, but end up having to hide when Taurus comes in, with DW hiding in his massive filing cabinet that resembles Darkwing’s own from the original series, that was retired since by now computers have made that kind of thing obsolete. Still it’s a nice nod. Turns out Huey is confronting Bulba as he genuinely dosen’t know how it works and Bulba is annoyed at all his questions. Really Terry there’s an easy way to fix that.

But instead Scrooge comes in and while Terry TRIES to use him to brush off Huey.. Scrooge dosen’t bite and has learned to take Huey’s inquires seriously. And it’s something I didn’t notice about the series but love dearly now i’ve realized it with this bit: The Adults almost always take the kids concerns into considration and when they are brushed off it’s more due to personal issues, like scrooge’s pride, than because their kids. And given just how many hundred series have had the adults just brush off the kids issues like nothing, it’s REALLY refreshing that even reckless adults like Launchpad usually listen and that the kids competence isn’t entirely ignored just because of age.

Bulba brushes them off by giving them the map to the ramrod.. speficially extensive notes on it that they have to carry out as a team. He then adresses Darkwing as he somehow knew he was there but again, is more than happy to help him with any investigation.. and it just so happens evidence Gosalyn was at least telling the truth on some level flies out of Bulba’s files as it shows a picture of him happily playing with Gosalyn and Dr. Waddlemeyer.

Darkwing asks if he knows them and surprisingly Bulba is completely upfront about it or at least his version of events: Waddlemeyer was his best friend his close partner until one night he ran in raving about a problem with the ramrod and in trying to fix it, it backfired and then he was gone. Gos takes this well.. and tackles Bulba while calling him a liar and pockets the key toossing it to dewey as the two soon run from a pissed off Bulba. While Launchpad tackles Bulba away from the kids, Gosalyn TRIES to trigger the ramrod only for Darkwing to stop her. “I’m Sorry Kid but this isn’t going to bring your grandfather back” it’s then the entire episode is turned on it’s head. While, unfortunatley, the trailer gave away other dimensions would be involved, it didn’t however set this up “He’s not dead, he’s in another dimension!”

Yeah while it makes perfect sense in hindsight I dind’t see him being ALIVE ever being a thing, so well played frank. Back with the rest of the family, Huey, Louie and Scrooge are diving around a stack of papers and Louie is sitll being a little shit, and not in the fun way in the “well not everything’s a missing mystery blah blah blah”... when you .. you learned tolerance for your brother two episodes ago. Thankfully this ends here..mostly because Huey ends up being right as Louie mentioning the misssing mysterys gives Huey his eurkea moment. Turns out the Ramrod uses one of them, Solego’s Circuit. Solego, based on the chaos god from the disney afternoon crossover something I missed on first watch, was in this universe a mad thinker who belived in the old theory that fiction is just a mirror to another universe and everything is real and found a way to open portals to other worlds. Problem was his methods were unstable, and could destroy the world, and likely the universe, if used repeadtly. Wuh-Oh

Back at the Ramrod, Bulba has launchpad on him, while Darkwing aand Gosalyn discuss things and come to the obvious conclusion: If Dr. Waddlemeyer was caught in a ramrod explosion then he’s likely out there somewhere and Darkwing clearly wants to help. Bulba TRIES playing diplomat again and mentoning that even if he’s out there the trillions of dimensions out in the multiverse mean he may be nigh impossible to find.. and the ramrod’s too unstable for that. This however finally backfires on him as Bulba had previously said it was perfectly stable, and has now fully confirmed gosalyn’s side of the story.. and since it is stable, if he’s not lying that is, then that means they can find Dr. Waddlemeyer and get the full truth. Naturally at this point Bulba finally stops playing nice and knocks both over and triggers the ramrod which is now very clearly unstable from use and prepares to throw both into another dimension, also confirming that what happened to her grandfather was no accident. Thankfully Dewey arrives in the nick of time with a well place smokebomb and bulba gets hit with lightning from the machine giving him a scar and cleaving one of his horns. While Gos is able to escape thanks to launchpad it dosen’t last long and Bulba confronts her.. but soon makes the classic mistake of saying no one can save you now. Cue Darkwing with the classic terror that flaps in the night speech. And unlike the original darkwing’s fights with Bulba, this fight is entirely in darkwing’s favor, as in a thrilling fight Darkwing beats the crap out of them then escapes Bulba’s fist , the only blow the man gets in this time. While Bulba still is a legit threat, he can’t match Drake’s speed or misdirection skills. However when trying to get the key, which Bulba grabbed earlier in the scene, Goslayn falls and Darkwing goes to save her. And while our heroes celebrate for a second with launchpad joining them.. Bulba has escaped AND still has the ramrod key. Uh-Oh

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Bulba is of course activating the ramrod with SCrooge and the boys telling him to stop.. it’s too dangerous... but Bulba decides to get dangerous and pissed at darkwing, unleahses the fearsome four! Cue act break. We’ll be right back. Let’s have an intermission shall we.

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Okay break’s over. St. Canard isn’t doing great as the fearsome four have locked down the city, with Gizmoduck barely holding his own against bushroot and unable to get past, and thus meaning implicitly no one else from duckberg can either and with scrooge and the boys missing, Mayor Owlson calls on darkwing to save them, again giving her more points in my book as she rightly figures the guy dressed up as the hero from the tv show and playing him for reasl is the best person to face four villians from a 90′s tv show suddenly out and about and holding her city hostage.

But Drake is spiraling a bit as these are super villians with super powers. This dosen’t quite work for me as A) He’s a super fan and thus should know their weaknesses and B) What.. what did he expect. Even the vast majority of Batman’s Rogues Gallery is super powered. But it’s a quick speed bump, understandable as Drake probably didn’t grasp the very real reality of fighting super crime. We also get to see all 4 classic DW Badguys int heir glory, and beating up bonkers, who apparently exists in this universe which is more suprising than it should be. HOwever Darkwing, ends up accidently coming up with a plan: capture one of them, get them to let them into bulba’s heavily foretfied lab turned lair, and use the ramrod to send them home and find dr. waddlemeyer. Easy. Well okay not so much as the two argue over Gosalyn coming along but Launchpad’s experince has taught him kids are the best adventuerers at all and they just need to be an adventure family. Gosalyn’s dewey, Darkwing’s launchpad and Launchpad’s the uncle.. not quite the right congifuration but his heart’s in the right place.. even if Gos refuses a family since she still has one.. even if you know she can always add the two of them in. Eh semantics point is WANDA found Quackerjack and Goslyn rightly points out they can handle just one villian. So they head out. Also during the scene Fenton tried to contact them but Darkwing semeingly brushed him off.. we’ll get to that later. As the camera closes in on Scrooge and the boys being seen as missing we find the boys at least as Bulba throws them in jail. Scrooge is still missing, though we’ll find out where he is soon enough. Bulba returns to his office to find Bradford. Unsuprisingly finding the circuit wasn’t an accident and Bulba was working out the circuit for F.O.W.L. this whole time. However Bradford also isn’t remotley happy about how big and bombastic things are getting. After all his modeus operandi is stealthy and quite not you know hyjacking an entire city with an unstable super science device and 4 villians from an old cartoon show. Bulba points out hey he wanted the world, this is the way to do it and when Bradford continues to push back against him Bulba rants: he’s just like scrooge or the waddlemeyers or darkwing no vision. Bradford may not see fowl as supervillians, which no dude you are just because you don’t operate in the open dosen’t make you not supervillians. one of you wears a hood for fucks sake. Supervillians don’t have to wear costumes just ask the kingpin.. or his lookalike bulba who has his newfound minons take out bradford and throws him in with the kids. Yeah maybe.. don’t downtalk the well intentioned madman. This is why you haven’t taken the world yet. But with both his bosses gone Bulba feels they need a big splash and takes Liquidator’s suggestion of killing darkwing duck, and sends everyone’s faviorite dog shaped liquid pitchman to bring him to Bulba. Side note I watched a few episodes to see if the series gets darkwing’s villians down.. what changed. and .. yeah it ended up being irrlevant as while the four do get to show their stuff and liquidator, my faviorite so far and sadly the most underused, relaly gets time to shine, they aren’t really that diffrent. Except for bushroot who weirdly only uses godzilla noises now. Thanks I hate it. Otherwise though it’s pretty accurate to the series and hopefully wtih a reboot we’ll get full on reboot versions of all four.

Meanwhile Team Darkwing stakes out quackerjack, with Darkwing still unsure of what to do, and Launchpad having brought snacks like a good uncle. Yeah while he did immitate scrooge for a second it’s clear he’s taking after donald. Awwwwwww. The two then procede to think over one of quackerjacks episodes and while gos goes to find him, they sing the theme song. Great. They do end up finding him.. and as in the episode it’s inside a giant mech.. that probably wasn’t cgi in the show.. or maybe it was but god it’d be awesomely horendous.. somebody make that. They narrowly escape him.. but run into liquidator instead. Wuh-Oh. Meanwhile, literally as these bits are intercut but it was just easier to do it this way, Bradford is thrown in his cell and the kids are curious why he’s here, with Huey assuming he’s getting money and the kids breaking out with Bradford forced to follow, though caling Heron for an evac. Dewey actually has a plan: Since he knows Darkwing an Gosalyn won’t stop till they get to the ramrod, they simply need to find the ramrod and wait for them to show up and offer a way out, though Bushroot bars the way. Thankfully Dewey knows who he is as Launchpad naturally made him watch a LOT of darkwing duck but hey it came in handy and gives him something to bond with his birth dad over so that’s a bonus.

The three make their way through, with Dewey singing the darkwing theme song.. and naturally being the one to trip the vines. our heroes make it out alive but bradford is pisseeeeedddddddddd. And in his rage accidently says maybe a bit too much after dewey incorrectly assumes he’s never felt this alive in years.

“I’ve never been closer to death thanks to your foolhardy adventuring! If you didn’t meddle with forces you didn’t understand Magica De Spell wouldn’t have broken the bin, the moon never would’ve invaded earth and all of reality wouldn’t be in jeopardy! SOMEONE HAS TO PUT AN END TO THIS!” Yeah this speech .. is damn good hence me quoting it in full and Mark Evan Jackson really sells it. While granted we knew this was what started FOWL trying to elimiate the ducks, that’s how we found out FOWL existed still after all at the end of last season, here it becomes clear that despite Bradford saying it’s just buisness and seemingly being business minded.. this is PERSONAL. He genuinely seems to hate the ducks and their adventuers and the damage they cause and seems to blame them and soley them for everything that goes wrong.

And I was going to say “Well he’s not entirley wrong” as their adventures have had consequences.. but as I looked through the episodes.. I realized I was wrong. Out of 60 episodes so far, the ducks actions have only threanted duckberg or Scrooge’s buisness a handful and most of those are Louie. They are :

Louie misusing little bulb in the great dime chase wrecking parts of the bin

The beanstalk incident from Jaw$, which Scrooge was called out on in the public.

Gizmoducks messy bank robbery prevention in who is gizmoduck, easily outweighed by everything since.

Destroying an underwater research station in the depths of cousin fethry which was in part due to natural wildlife.

Scrooge’s flu and stubborness tanking stocks in “The 87 cent solution” not to mention destroying property. While yes Scrooge was being played by glomgold his own stubborness and the kids refusal to call beakly lead to it playing out longer than it should have.

Ruined an expensive movie production (Which is partly Jim’s fault, but scrooge still didn’t get intolved at any point or have anyone more experinced oversee boreswan or even ever contact jim about a cameo. )

Louie nearly destroying time itself in timephoon.

Della giving the moonlanders the blueprints for the spear

And as you can tell almost all of them aside from louie’s two incdients involve some form of extenuating circumstances. While Chaos has insued it’s never been intentional and always been cleaned up. Even the invasion, as close a call as that was, was solved BY the family and their allies.. and glomgold, but hey sometimes you need an x factor. Most of the duck’s actions have only backfired on themselves of people nowhere near duckberg or scrooge’s intrests and most villians gunning for them would regardless if scrooge was active or not: Glomgold hates scrooge for entirely personal reasons, Magica was locked up for good reason and while she got out due to the family’s rift, she would’ve done what she did with the bin regardless, the beagles just want their land back even if Scrooge rightfully owns it, Beaks maniuplated fenton to get the armor and now goes after him out of jealousy, and Lunaris was already going after earth Della just sped it up and did so in good faith entirely unaware he was a invader. These nuts would be gunning for scrooge anyway, and while some of it’s due to his life as an adventuerer, said life was started before Bradford was born. Scrooge isn’t responsible for guys coming after him any more than batman, or spide-rman. Sure a hero being around gives them reason to keep trying but it also means there’s someone to STOP them. And more importantly, as I always intended to prove, their adventures have done more good than harm: Beisdes the obvious mending and extending of their family, with Donald and Scrooge patching things up and Beakly, Launchpad and especially webby being warmly welcomed in and Della finally finding a way home, not to mention their various allies, over the last 60 episodes our heroes have, and yes another list and a long one so buckle up. In chrnological order:

Brought clean, limitless water to duckberg, if through scrooge’s water company.

Defeated a luck vampire that was kidnapping innocent people (Okay Gladstone’s probably mildly incident but even he didn’t deserve that) and likely left him unable to continue his scheme.

Freed a lost and enslaved Egyptian civlization from a tyrant and brought them quite literally into light.. and gave them burritos.

Defeated Zeus.. not really a huge change for humanity but given what a dick he is I’m counting it.

Through Gyro’s invetion of the gizmotech armor and Fenton’s use of it, gave duckberg a superhero whose since cleaned up crime, keeps the city safe while scrooge isn’t around and is beloved by the city.

Stopped a known super spy.. who works for Bradford but still.

Defeated Magica, saved the entire city, and depowered her all in one day and all together.

Found an entirely new and giant species of plankton and gave their cousin a purpose

Destroyed an evil plant monster that had likely eaten dozens before that.

Helped a man find his family’s treasured lamp

Opened a museum wing to share Scrooge’s various treasures with the world.

Hundreds of years ago stopped a robber baron from bleeding a town dry.

Donald selflessly possibly sacrificing himself in a dangerous rocket to try and get home to warn earth and his family of the coming invasion.

Taught Lena how to love herself, got her to turn against magica, and then with Violet’s help Webby helped her return to life, and find a home where she’s actually loved and wanted and finally happy and free.

Stopped beaks rampage.. granted it was with stolen gizmotech, but he still stole it int he first place.

Gave the Drakes an adopted son who genuinely loves them and sucessfuly gave them finacial freedom from their cruel, sociopathic biological son.

Stopped an army of scrooge’s greatest foes from stealing his company.

Formed a resistance against the moonlander invasion, stopping it eventually with glomgold and the cousins help.

After that stopping Lunaris backup plan to destroy the earth itself along with his own people.

As a result of all of this, despite the invasion, introducing a new population of happy, repentant for their invasion of the world aliens into duckberg who have been loyal and hardworking.

If unknowingly stopping Fowl’s own agent from killing everyone in duckberg.

Saving a lost society of mermaids and helping them start over

Sucessfully saving a charity gala from hyjackers.

Helping Daisy start the career she wants.

Saving BOYD from being hyjacked by dr akita

Saving all of Tokyok from Akita’s plans for boyd.

Finally letting BOYD be his own boy and break free from his past.

Defeating team Ragnarok and saving the earth from the end of days.

Defeating the phantom blot while unlocking Lena’s powers, both saving an innocent child from death and giving duckberg protection from Magica once and for all.

Helping penny adjust to earth giving Duckberg another defender besides Gizmoduck and the clan mcduck.

Stopping ponce de leon from draining the youth from anyone else and restoring all his victims.

So yeah five times the number of bad things they’ve done or money they’ve lost. For all the chaos it causes the ducks have changed so many lives and not just their own for the better. And I think that’s the problem: Bradford only sees thing in the terms of possesion in money, and helping people gets him NONE of that. To him all of this is just more risks to the world and his control of it. To him Scrooge has near complete control of duckberg, thousands of buisnesses, the potetial to grip the world.. and he uses it to seemingly endanger it and better lives instead of his own. I mean he has enriched his own but still. Bradford simply CAN’T see past himself or his own saftey and greed to see any benifit for anyone else. ONly himself and with scrooge gone the world is his, the world is safe, and the world is better. In other words.. he’s who scrooge ALMOST became, minus the effort to get things himself. A bitter old man who cares only about himself and his possesions and wants nothing else. We’ve seen it here and we’ve seen it in the life and times: Without his family scrooge grows cold and alone.. and without anyone to really care about Bradford is what he’d become. He’sd also forced to eat his transmitter after blaming his outburst on his lack of medication. Wah Wah.

Back at Darkwing Tower, after what feels like 80 years, our heroes squabble a bit as Gosalyn wants to run off after another villian to get to her grandpa while Darkwing wants them to get some rest while he takes care of some buisness> Gosalyn balks at this, all but shouts YOUR NOT MY REAL DAD! and then runs off to the overlook of hte tower. While Darkwing takes a call with Fenton at long last, Launchpad goes to comfort the girl. She admits straight up she was a bit hard on the guy she’s just desperate to find him. And it turns out darkwing as over hte last.. few nights? Wait....

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I’m genuinely confused as the time skip at the end of act one indicated a day at most yet i’ts apparently been several and drake’s been loosing sleep over it? And even WITH the lockdown the rest of the duck family hasn’t barged in? I mean yes the four are keeping the gates shut but even with fenton trying, I highly doubt della has the patience to wait while her kids and baiscally dad are in serious danger, and they still have the cloudslayer/sunchaser and while yes bushroots pplans could stretch up it’s as simple as della flying up and then landing somewhere. I don’t think mayor owlson would complain TOO much about property damage and while scrooge would grumble he’d pay for it. Point is the timescale here is confusingingly worded. At most i’d say a day has passed and darkwing hasn’t slept since last night, as that makes more sense than “Whelp I guess our famiy’s been missing for days nothing weird about that. As I said the timescale for this episode is really weird and one of it’s few problems, the other being, now we’ve met them might as well get out of the way, how throwaway darkwing’s foes feel. They all, minus mega volt, get a moment to shine but they all feel like interchangable goons. Like any of them could’ve done any of their scens just swap out the gimmick. I do get this episode has a LOTTTTTT going on at once, so I get any character bits with them probably got shoved out and odds are we’ll get “real world” throughly updated versions next time, it just feels weird to make such a big deal and bring the fearsome foursome in and not either give them a bigger roll or have them stick around for the future, though as I said frank will probably remake them from the ground up for the reboot with new origins and what not, and some might intentional take after them like drake did with tv darkwing, so fair enough, just felt it was a bit of a waste but I understand it given the sheer amount of stuff to fit into a 45 minute special.

Back on the actual plot though Darkwing’s been up all night conversing with Fenton trying to find dr. waddlemeyer. And Fenton sadly has no good news: Not only does the Ramrod have only one shot left in it before it breaks reality, but even if that gives them one shot to find Dr. Waddlemeyer.. there are trilions of universes out there. The odds of finding it before reality goes bye bye are slim to none. But Darkwing refuses to give up as he refuses to let Gosalyn down. It shows that despite his earlier fear.. Drake is a damn good person and wants to make up for not beliving in gosalyn, to help her anyway he can no matter what it takes. Gosalyn realizes she’s been kind of a dick and helps darkwing and herself get some sleep, and in a reversal of the scene from Darkly Dawns the duck, hums little girl blue to him. Awwww.. my heart.. it’s too full!.

Back at the tower, the boys and bradford find the ramrod and bradford grumbles as he finds where scrooge is: trapped in the ORIGINAL ducktales reality, though using the remastered proportions and blue eyes. It’s a good gag especially since Bulba specifically trapped him in this scene.

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Beautiful. Bradford wonders how the hell he’s going to cover this up.. and Huey overhears him, having already been suspcious because while good at running a massive shadowy conspiracy, he didn’t you know, tell heron to keep it down on the transponder as the boys were around and her continuned interputions and his outburst earlier made Huey suspcious. Before Bradford can cover he starts coughing (With Dewey’s pricless injection of “Oh no we killed him!”) and coughs up the transmitter.. with Heron inconvently pointing out he’s fowl high command. He’s the bad guy.. from the kids point of view at least. But Bradford just chucks them into the 87 dimension where they stare blankly at scroog’es rampage. So now it’s all down to team darkwing. Speaking of which their all asleep but Wanda wakes darkwing up and in another ddtd parallel, he leaves to take care of this himself, if without Gosalyn waking up this time. His reason is simple though: The ramrod has fired up and this is their only shot at getting her grandpa back. So Darkwing strolls in.. and once Bulba and the fearsome four marvel at his directness, Bulba sends them to knock his brains out and drag him in. Thankfully Gosalyn and Launchpad wakeup and while Gosalyn is mad for a second, she sees him getting drug in and finally realizes just charging in isn’t going to do it. .and since Launchpad knows DW like the back of his hand, he gets them in by dressing them up as Jumbalya Jake and the Bugmaster. I’ve heard of both though why the hell Frank chose Jumbalya jake over .. ANYONE else, is beyond me. Bugmaster is fairly popular, Jumbalya Jake.. is basically a less intresting fuzzy lumpkins. Regradsleess it works and our heroes make their way inside.

Bulba is preparing to his big hyjack the airways villian speech, contacting the leaders of the world.. and killing darkwing, whose none to happy about it to show their serious with an ultimatium: either let him use the ramrod to change the world for hte better or else. And this seems a good as time as any to talk about Bulba.. whose utterly EXCELLENT in the reboot. And I loved the original but instead of just being a super comptietn villian bulba is instead a well meaning one. While he embraces the supervillian lifestyle and flunkies and flamboyance, he’s also just trying to remake the world, to make it BETTER than it was beofre, to end hunger, no traffic acidents. It dosen’t make him a good person, much like magneto or disney’s own toffee, the ends do not jusify the means and he’s likely going to destroy reality in the process, and it’s clear his own arrogance is at much at play as his desire to do goo dand anyone with valid concerns is just a doubting asshole. He’s a compelling villian and James Monroe englehart REALLY fucking brings it, creating a villian with style, a mission and competence galor. He’s really damn good and easily tops the original which is not easy at all, but props to frank for doing it.

But before he can get started, Gosalyn throws the smoke bombs down all around and does Darkwing’s terror that flaps in the night bit for him, and the distractoin allows DW to escape and kick bulba in the face. A HELL of a fight insues. That’s one of the best things this series does is fight corpegraphy as while battles aren’t in EVERY episode, whent hey do happen their spectacular as Darkwing and Launchpad take on the fearsome four in one hell of a beautiful sequence. Darkwing and Launchpad plan to take the four on while Gosalyn gets to the ramrod. Gosalyn understandably questions how an actor and a launchpad are going to take on four villians with the two piping in that bushroot really isn’t na villian which .. I mean he KINDA is but the symapthetic kind that would probably give it up eventually but fair enough. I still like that nod even if this version is less adorakable traumatized plant and more...

Still Goslyn realises their power! THeir nerds! And with the power of fanboyness, and taking a few hits and refrencing the just us justice ducks episode I haven’t seen yet, their triumphant. Singed but triumphant.

Meanwhile Gos continues to try and find her grampapapapapapapappapappaaaaaaaa while Bulba engages Darkwing and Launchpad. Jokes on him their already engaged to each other! She fails to find him but does find the ducks, who wonder what quackaroonie means and why their heads were round.

As the Ramrod rips a massive hole in time and space that threatens to suck everyone in. While Dewey encourages Gosalyn to keep going Huey tells her to stop... which.. Huey you lost your parent too, end of the world or not you can phrase it better. Otherwise top notch youv’e been the best this episode. And in one of the best scnees of the episode Gosalyn realizes what she has to do and despite Bulba tempting her with another relality she ddosen’t even consider it.. she shoots the ramrod with her crosbow, destroying it, with the final portal taking the fearsome four .. somewhere. I dunno? Cleavland..antis? I’m sure their fine. Bulba is knocked out though, and Gosalyn slowly weeps while her new dad consoles her. It’s a touching scene.

Thattt’s soon interupted with one last bit of unfished buisness as Huey suddenly realizes OH CRAP BRADFORD”S MISSING. They find him heading off in a marked FOWL helicopter, which Bradford points out the stupidity of but with Scrooge now having concrete visual evidence his head investor is running one of the oldest and deadliest spy agencies in the world, and their gunning for him decides to give a big of a gloat and tells Scrooge his adventure fantasy is ending while Scrooge remarks their world got a lot more dangerous. And yeah.. while I doubt Bradford will still brook over the top villiany, he now no longer has to hide his agents from scrooge or dance his operation around him and likely has enough embezlled funds to keep fowl going long enough to take out scrooge. And yeah before we get to the end, thank god as while I love this review it’s been one of the longest writing experiments of my life., let’s talk about the FOWL overarching Plot and the interlocked missing mysteries subplot. The progress up till now has.. not really been great. Understandable but wheras season 2 had way too much plot this season took until thsi episode for the plot to really kick in. It’s been aggrivating and both fowl agents after you only crash twice .. really had nothing to do with them in their missions, with both only really using their resources. However.. as slow as it’s been, I will give credit in two places: 1, htis was likely done to get plots out of the way that were lighter and less tied into things, with only two exceptions in the next 6 episodes judging from the just released synposis for novemeber. And 2) the fowl episodes that WERE there set things up brillinatly. You Only Crash Twice set up heron’s lack of stealth and overt villianly, so her calling bradford a ton and bringing a marked helicopter did’t come out of nowhere, while last week’s episode hinted at the fact that FOWL somehow has acess to their own copy of finch’s diary or an equivleant. While we don’t know all the details. This episode also got the plot into overdrive by fleshing out bradford anymore, adding into his lack of liiking cartoon supervilliany by giving him a well and true hatred for scroooge and co. It’s not just the risk, he truly hates their lifestyle and LOATHES all of them and wants them gone.. and now he’s getting his chance. Overall it hasn’t been a bad plot and I get why it’s mostly in the back, but it still could’ve used some build up. But they worked well with what they had. I will also say the focus on Huey is ramping up with the last batch of episodes, so this really has turned out to be his season afterall. Good. So we wrap our story back at Darkwing Tower as Gosalyn bemoans the fact her grandpa is gone. But Drake, for the first time this episode in his civies, softly encourages her to, much like him at her age, get back up again. She got blown up, buffeted around and lost a lot. but they WILL find him. Afterall Drake has a scientest friend who knwos another scientest, and until then.. she can be his crime fighting partner/implicit daughter. So Gosalyn, after so much rejection of it finally accepts her new family while Launchpad runs in to join them with dewey’s blessing. He’s not leaving the show ind, he’s just going to spend days in duckberg, nights in saint canard and sleep on the drive over, to Drake’s pitch perfect “What the actual shit bud” face. Gosalyn is happy, ,and Wanda has a crime for them to chase and our hapy family , back after way too long, heads off into the night to get dangerous. Wheew.

Final Thoughts: God damn this was a long one. I mean it was an hour long but god damn I had a lot to say. But it was a good one. Minor flaws aside, a second watch showed off the pacing, great jokes, amazing emotoinal core, perfomances and plot progression. Unlike the Duck Knight returns the episode wisely ballances darkwing with the boys and scrooge, and interweaves them beautiful as well as finding a credible way for them to find out about FOWL. The game has changed. I also saved the best for last as Stephanie Beatriz was fucking amazing as Gosalyn. While i’ve always loved her, she’s nice, bi and utterly fantastic on brooklyn nine nine why wouldn’t I?, and was excited I was both suprised by how diffrnet her gos voice is from her regular one, though shouldn’t have been as her rosa voice is also vastly diffrent.. seriously stephanie do more voice work your great at it, and Gos was rebooted well, sanding a bit of her hellion streak off while still feeling like the character and instead of just ignoring her grandpa’s death after one episode, making it inot a major part of her character arc here and likely in the future. It’s damn good stuff. The special really overall gets the spirit fo darkwing while making something, new , fresh and bold out of it and easily holds it’s own among the other specials. Nothing much else to say that hasn’t been said, this special was utterly amazing, go watch it.

Now with that done if you like my weekly ducktales reviews, you can follow me for more, comment to tell me how i’m doing and i’m proud to announce.. follow me on my brand spanking new patreon! 2 dollar patrons get a poll once I have enough to do one of those, a discord once I get any, and 10 dollar backers get to pick a review for me a month! If you have the dough, please check it out and if not tha’ts okay. Until next time get dangerous but in the safest way possible, don’t forget to vote trump out and happy halloween! Play us out Jeff Pescetto!

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writelovetomeempress · 5 years ago

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You asked for it! 105 and heartshipping

Ahhh heartshipping. How you give me cavities and block my arteries and put me in a sugar coma... but oooohhhh how I love it so much. Death by sweetness!

I needed some sweetness after the week I’ve had. Thank you for the sweet ship and the CHALLENGING AS F*** prompt, Alecto!

“You can’t make up for it by giving me a tic-tac.”

Yuugi gorged himself on cheesy fries with his brows knit together and his back pressed into the booth; hoping it would swallow him up. This was the worst, most embarrassing, lowest of the low days he’d ever had and he just wanted to disappear. If he was lucky, he’d get a heart attack from eating all this grease and not have to worry about going in to work tomorrow and face him again.

He screwed his eyes shut involuntarily remembering the horrors of his work day. He showed up to work late because his power went out and the alarm clock obviously didn’t go off. He had to dress in the dark, resulting in a backwards shirt, then tripped during his mad dash to work in the rain and fell into a puddle. By the time he finally made it into work, he just hoped he wouldn’t run into his boss. But that wasn’t what fate had instore for him. Running into his boss would’ve been delightful compared to who he actually ran into… literally. Of all his coworkers, Ryou was the LAST person he wanted to see him like that, let alone run into him like that. There was just… something about him and his smile that made his heart try to mutiny every time he saw him. Since that first day he helped him move into the cubical right next to his, He just loved being around him and talking to him. He was sweet and kind and shy, just like Yuugi was, but unlike him, Ryou’s shyness was endearing and adorable. He’d never felt like this about anyone before and of course, the universe made sure to stomp that dream into the mud.

He didn’t just run into him, he accidentally knocked them both over and ended up on top of him somehow. In a matter of seconds, they were both covered in cold rain, mud and hot tea; a terrible combination on a good day and today was not a good day. On a good day, it could’ve been one of those cinematic moments where the main character accidentally trips and lands on their crush and it’s a cute adorable ‘omg I’m so sorry’ and the crush says something like ‘it’s okay’ cause they’re crushing on them too and it’s the start of a beautiful romance. Nope. No such luck. Ryou scrambled away from him like he thought Yuugi wanted to kill him, staring at him like he’d lost his damn mind, muttering a million apologies and ran out of there so fast Yuugi didn’t get to apologize once. All that wouldn't be so bad if Ryou didn’t have this look on his face like he was actually scared about it. He had no idea what that look was supposed to mean, so cheesy fries, the biggest burger in the country, and a double scoop sunday was his plan to forget about the whole thing.

“Hey Yuug’! Can I sit with ya?”

He looked up at his best friend and instantly felt a little better. “Of course you can, Joey. I thought you still had an hour at work?”

“Heh, they let me go early. Not much goin’ on today.” He sat down in the booth across from him and slid his tray of food over the table top. “So- oh…shit. That bad a day huh?”

“I tried to order cookies, but they’re out.”

“Fuck that’s bad. Get fired?”

“No. Worse.” Yuugi went on to explain the awfulness that was his day, top to bottom, watching with annoyance at the obnoxious grin on Joey’s face. “What?”

“I think you’re exageratin’.”

“I’m not. You should’ve seen the look on his face. I’m pretty sure he hates me.”

“No one could possibly hate ya Yuug’.”

“Well, I found the one that does,” he muttered, glaring down at his empty basket of fries.

“I doubt it. I mean, yeah, it’s kinda weird that he freaked out like that, but there’s a fuckin’ like… a million other reason’s he coulda reacted like that,” Joey chortled, picking up his burger and watching pieces of toppings fall out the sides dont the wrapper. “For all ya know, he could be straight.”

Yuugi groaned. “That would be my luck too.” Actually the more he thought about it, the whole thing, from the moment he met him until now, it just made a world of sense. All the girls at the office seemed to like him and talked to him all the time, how uncomfortable he was being that close to him, and avoided his cubicle when Tea came into it to talk about the hot guy three cubicles down from them. He slammed his head down on the table. “I’m an idiot.”

Joey just laughed.

“Now what am I supposed to do? I can’t show my face at work again. I’ll have to move. Maybe I can fake my death.”

He laughed even harder.

He sat up with a sigh to tell him it wasn't funny at all and he was actually considering it, when his eyes locked with Ryou, standing in line at the counter. Not that it lasted long, he immediately turned away. Yeah, he needed to fake his death. Maybe he could change his name to something else. Grandpa would be upset, hell, he’d be upset, but at this point? Totally worth it.

“Look, Yuug’. I make an ass of myself all the time. Chances are no one’s even gonna care. If he is straight, you’ll never have ta worry ‘bout him brinin’ it up again. He’s probably more embarrassed than ya are.”

His shoulders slumped and he sank further into the booth. It sure looked like it.

“Sides there’s other fish in the sea.”

He slumped more.

“And it’s not like ya see him outsida-”

“Hello Yuugi.”

He looked up at Ryou standing at the edge of their table with a tray of food and an uneasy smile. Yuugi forced his voice to work, not sure what else to do. “Uh… hey Ryou.”

He tried not to look over at Joey, but he could clearly see his amused grin. That’s it! Joey’s dead to him. “Ahh, ya work together right? Yuug’s told me ‘bout ya. Nice ta finally meet ya.”

Ryou frowned then his smile grew. “You must be Joey.”

“Sure am!”

His smile faded as he sheepishly examined the rest of the restaurant, then met Yuugi’s eyes with pink tinged cheeks. “It sure is busy here. Is it always like this?”

He might’ve got his voice working once, but Ryou actually talking to him after all that happened destroyed whatever progress he’d made. Joey might still be dead to him, but at least he had his back. He leaned his elbows on the table and readied to take another bite. “Oh yeah. We’re here all the time, ain’t we Yuug’?”

“Yeah… yeah, it’s my favorite place.”

Ryou beamed at him. “Ahh this is the place you were talking about.”

He lifted his shoulders, still wanting to disappear into the booth. “Yeah.”

Out of nowhere a table of girls started waving at them. Ryou turned and watched them point to an open chair next to them. Yuugi looked back at his food, thinking that was that, but Joey caught his attention, glancing between the girls and Ryou. When he turned his attention back to Yuugi, he was grinning ear to ear. Yuugi swore he saw devil horns sprouting out of his head. “If ya wanna sit with us ya can. We don’t mind, right Yuug’?”

Ryou looked conflicted standing there with a tightened grip on his tray. Yuugi wasn’t sure what possessed him, but the next thing he knew he’d scooted over for Ryou to sit down. “Right.”

He held his breath or couldn’t breathe, watching Ryou smile and sit down beside him. He settled in in silence, then glanced up at him. “About today… are you hurt?”

“What?”

He had that same scared look as before. “That tea was really hot. I should’ve watched where I was going. I hope I didn’t burn you.”

“Wh-no. No, I’m fine. I’m sorry I ruined your shirt.”

Ryou giggled, a lot of the tension leaving him, and shook his head. “I ruined that shirt before you got there. Never drink red soda at work.”

Yuugi felt worlds better when he smiled like normal and started to eat his food. He went back to his food too, but Joey’s downright evil grin brought on a whole new level of anxiety. Was he being weird? Was that what Joey was trying to tell him? The silence between the three of them felt heavy, despite the room being loud with chatter. He needed to say something. He had to say something. What could he say?

Joey reached into his pocket, frowned at his phone, then shoved it back in, looking up at him. “Sorry man. I don’t think I can go ta the movie tonight.”

“Oh… Are you working again?”

“Not this time.” He winked and leaned back. “I gotta date.”

“But we planned this for months.”

“And I gotta date.”

“That’s not right. You shouldn’t pick your boyfriend over your best friend.”

“Says the guy who don’t gotta boyfriend.” He turned to Ryou and Yuugi saw it happening before it did, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it. “What’re ya doin’ tonight, Ryou?”

Ryou didn’t answer and just stared at him.

“I really don’t wanna throw away good tickets ta see the new Quest movie, but-”

“But that’s sold out,” Ryou murmured. “How’d you get tickets?”

Joey grinned. “We know the right guy.”

Yuugi scoffed and muttered under his breath, “You mean your boyfriend knows the right guy.” Then mentally kicked himself. What if Joey was right? Now he’s making things more awkward.

Ryou actually giggled as he turned him, “Well… only if that’s alright with you, Yuugi.”

Alright with him?! Yes it was alright with him! Was he crazy? But he couldn’t say that so he tried to think of something a someone sane person would say. ‘I’d love for you to go with me’ nope. Too desperate. ‘You can do whatever you want’ nope. Too nonchalant. Yuugi stuttered and sputtered then cleared his throat, just nodding because his mind STILL hadn’t decided on an answer that didn’t sound stupid and he was starting to get a weird look from both of them.

“Great!” Joey reached back into his pocket and pulled out his ticket, handing it… to Yuugi. “There ya go.”

Yuugi stared at him completely confused, but Ryou didn’t seem to be. He gently nudged him, just like he did at work, and smiled. “So what time is it showing?”

“7:30.”

He nodded and started collecting up his left over trash and food. “I’d better get going then. Could you pick me up? I’m still not really sure where anything is.”

“Oh… Oh! Uh yeah. Sure.”

Ryou stood up and smiled, tilting his head cutely to the side. That was the same thing he did the first day he met him and his heart attempted mutiny all over again. He was so wrapped up in it, he almost missed the three words Ryou happily chirped, “It’s a date!”

He casually walked away while Yuugi stared after him feeling like he’d stepped into the Twilight Zone. He didn’t mean it that way. He just moved here a few months ago. He probably meant something else. Maybe it was a popular saying. He didn’t mean it that way. He didn’t mean it. It wasn’t a date. Oh god what if it WAS a date?!

Joey’s delighted laughter snapped him out of it and he shook a tic-tac box at him. Yuugi blushed and snatched it out of his hands, shaking one out of it into his palm. “You can’t make up for it by giving me a tic-tac.”

“Make up for what? Gettin’ ya a date?”

He got up from the table scooping up the left over wrappers and walked away. Yuugi didn’t pay much attention until he realized Joey wasn’t going the right direction. He was headed straight for the table of girls. He frowned, watching him walk by them when a hand came out and high-fived him as he passed. He quirked a brow and blushed scarlet when Tea leaned out from the group of girls and made a heart shape with her hands. Next thing he knew, all of the girls turned to stare at him and giggle.

Single most embarrassing day of his life, but he didn't care. He got a date with Ryou.

#Heartshipping #Drabble challenge #Alectoperdita asked #I love heartshipping!#I'll scream it from the roof tops #those two angels deserve each other #I hope you like it!

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zen3to5 · 5 years ago

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So I’ve finished Season 7 of That 70s Show.

...It’s better than Season 6.

I mean that sincerely. Like with Season 5, I find myself out of step with a fair amount of commentary that I’ve read about T7S when it comes to the penultimate season. For how bad Season 6 was - and it’s still shocking to me how steep a fall the back half of that season was from a consistent five-year high, and how demoralizing it was for my interest in finishing the rewatch and this rewrite project - I really do think Season 7 was something of a recovery. The damage done couldn’t be wholly ignored, and this year more than any before it was sloppy and airheaded about the show’s (admittedly always somewhat loose) continuity. But I do think this season’s writing was - for the most - part improved. And whether they intended it this way or not, I find that it tries to make lemonade out of a few of the lemons left by Season 6.

The best example of that is Eric. Season 7 continues its predecessor’s trend of treating Eric as the group loser, with “Angie” probably being the absolute worst example of this. His interest in roller disco in the first place, and his dabbling in such left-field hobbies as butterfly hunting, aren’t a great fit for his character either. And his going off to Africa by the end smacks of desperation on the part of writers looking to give their main character a big and permanent exit from the series in the face of Fox’s last-minute, ill-conceived renewal. But this season also attempts to work with what’s happened to Eric up to this point. It acknowledges the fact that he used to be a more driven and ambitious character, tries to retroactively create a story wherein Eric’s changes come from a fear and uncertainty over his future, and gets him to a career path that - if not the first (or second) thing that comes to mind for him - isn’t unfeasible either. The execution of all of this is hit and miss, and there are arguably more misses (though none as bad as his decision on his wedding last season) - but I applaud the staff for trying.

I also applaud them landing on a better less bad way of writing Red and Kitty. They’re a long way from the healthy couple and responsible parents we saw in the show’s early years, or the motivated conflict of Season 5. But - and this may be a case of perception more than raw facts - things seem less negative here than in Season 6. At least there isn’t a mini-arc of Red lusting after another woman. And the bickering and resigned attitude towards marriage seem lessened, if not lost. There’s even a new (if grossly neglected) angle for Red this season as he goes into business for himself, something I enjoyed. On the other hand, having Red blow Eric’s college money on that business is ridiculous... but stinkers like that litter the last few episodes of this season, and we’ll get into another shortly.

Sticking to the positives for now - after having almost no growth whatsoever (but little derailment) in Season 6, Hyde now has an arc. His having a secret, rich real dad is a soap-opera contrivance that I go back and forth on - it’s either dumb but effective, or effective but dumb. It’s also rather redundant; for an orphan, Hyde never lacked for father figures in the show, Red more than anyone else, and I don’t think WB brings a lot new out of Hyde as a father. But as a charismatic businessman who brings Hyde into the corporate world (and then running a record store), he does a lot for Hyde, and makes for a charming character in his own right (something I can’t say for Angie; I find her to be Brooke 2.0, and without any chemistry with either her half-brother or her boyfriend.) Hyde’s whole arc in the front half of the season - entering into a professional world he’s never wanted anything to do with, finding a more suitable job at the record store, but ending up unnerved by impending adulthood and regressing in his personal relationships - not only puts him into new situations and draws out fresh but believable reactions from him, it nicely parallels Eric’s arc. Hyde being a more reserved character, it’s only ever directly stated by Donna, and one could argue the transition needed to be stretched out and in more direct focus. But one can at least see an arc here, and I think it’s reasonably well-executed - on a back-half T7S scale, but even without that caveat, it’s decently done.

Of course, Hyde’s arc runs him into conflict with Jackie, and it’s depressing to think that she has more development this season than the previous one - y’know, the one where the mother who abandoned her rolled back into town. Jackie’s arc is a variation on a theme we’ve seen from her before - rushing to maturity. But while in earlier seasons that manifested as Jackie childishly playing at “adult” things like fancy dinner parties, here she really is more mature, and more honestly longing for commitment from Hyde and a future beyond the Formans’ basement. But with Jackie, I think the lack of build-up is a serious problem. While she gets excited by Hyde’s new job, there really isn’t any clear sign of how ready she is for life after high school until “Winter.” There’s certainly not enough build-up to her wanting a promise for (eventual) marriage, though I can believe Jackie would want that. And while Jackie’s interest in working in local news television was mentioned here and there throughout the show, her actually getting her own program comes out of nowhere and gets hardly any development - a shame, because I think that’s a believable career for her.

As for her and Hyde’s relationship... I don’t hate what’s done here. For all the negative commentary I’ve read about it, I don’t find “Winter” that bad an episode. It’s not great, and one could argue Hyde should be past the stage where he pulls something that childish with his significant other, but that’s part of Hyde’s whole arc. And I think their break-up this season comes from a convincing conflict. The episodes they spend apart - “Street Fighting Man” in particular - have some of the most heartfelt expressions of feeling from either character, even without the other seeing it. But the way they get back together is just awful. It’s sloppier than their first make-up at the beginning of Season 6, and even by this season’s standards, it makes a mess of continuity. And, after getting them back together, the show takes a few episodes to present them as a strong couple, a few to tread water, and then goes into the ultimatum, a mini-arc just as contrived as Eric’s going to Africa, and almost certainly a victim of hasty rewrites after the renewal. The contrivance of Jackie not having a car so that Kelso can get involved and revive the love triangle is all sorts of nonsense from these characters at this point, and it’s such a lousy way to effectively end - even without Season 8 - what was the emotional highlight of the show from Season 5 onward.

Speaking of Kelso - there’s not much to say about him in this season. Continuing on from a trend in Season 6 I didn’t fully realize until now, he’s less broad and wild than in earlier seasons. He’s still cartoonishly dim, but a more mellow dim. The birth of his daughter, and his earning the right to have her on weekends, gives him a bit of development at the beginning and end of the season (until it’s derailed in the final episode.) That leaves a long stretch in the middle where there’s nothing but Kelso’s Greatest Hits - a retread of his womanizing with Angie, a retread of the “dumb guy, brainy gal” dynamic with Angie, some funny bromance with Fez, some generic stupidity - nothing we haven’t seen before, and none of it carried off with the same gusto and energy as before.

Donna doesn’t have much going on either. She has less going on than Kelso, really. After dying her hair and rededicating herself to feminism, that’s pretty much it. Almost nothing of note happens for her as an individual, and she and Eric tread water in their relationship until he announces his trip to Africa. One could argue that her static status as an individual makes some sense; she had declared in Season 6 that she didn’t see the need to go to college since she had the sort of job she was going to college for; if you buy that (and I don’t, but it happened) then you could reasonably say she’s settled into life, for now anyway. And there is an attempt to have her and Eric sort out what happened at the end of Season 6 that is somewhat convincing. But not wholly. And after Season 6 - and with how rote and, frankly, in the background their relationship is for most of this season - it’s hard to root for Eric and Donna at this point. The only reason their relationship still holds up is the goodwill built up over the first five seasons, and it’s a miracle Season 6 left any of that for Season 7 to tread with.

And then there’s Fez, who I’ve really come to hate in these later seasons. I can appreciate that the shy, naive, and malleable foreign kid from the beginning of the season couldn’t (and shouldn’t) have lasted forever, and Seasons 3 through 5 did a decent job expanding on his character. But Season 6 took an element that had, frankly, always been there to some degree - perverted voyeurism - injected a lot of selfish bratiness, and made a mess of the character. Season 7, where Fez is concerned, makes things even worse by adding a really disturbing confidence and comfortability to Fez with just how much of a pervert he is. His attempts to coerce some action from both Donna and Jackie go well past what I can buy those girls putting up with from him, and his “dark room switch” proposal is absolutely terrible. A good portion of this show’s humor about sex hasn’t aged well, but Fez more than any other character has been cast in a bad light because of that, and I’m happy to cut my rewatch off at Season 7 just so I don’t need to see more of him.

To continue on the negatives, the whole show at this point has a listlessness to it that wasn’t present even in Season 6. I’m not surprised this was once intended as the last season, because it’s hard not to get the feeling that everyone was done. This may be another case of perception outweighing the facts, but the impression I have of Season 7 is that, compared to earlier seasons, there are a greater number of scenes, scenes are more fast-paced, and consequently, very few things can build the way they used to. That takes away from earnest and dramatic moments the most, but it hurts the comedy as well. And it also means that, for the first time, the season finale doesn’t even feel like a finale. It feels like just another episode that happens to end on a stupid cliffhanger. And that’s just lame.

The most frustrating thing is that the pieces in the last few episodes - Eric deciding to be a teacher, Jackie’s job offer and her ultimatum to Hyde, Kelso and Fez getting an apartment - could have added up to an effective series finale if the show had more energy left in it, and if Fox hadn’t renewed them. And I’ll certainly try to prove that with this rewrite....

#z's crits #that 70s show #critique #commentary

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clouds-of-wings · 5 years ago

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Rating of all Bioware romances I’ve played

(Note: for a lot of people anything under 7/10 seems to basically mean it’s crap, for me everything under 3/10 means crap, 5/10 means it’s okay - because it’s in the middle - and 7/10 is already pretty good. Also if anyone else wants to make a post like this too, that would be cool, I’d like to read it.)

Baldur’s Gate 2

Jaheira - 7/10 lots of long, intelligent conversations I don’t recall at all, it seems weird to romance your mom figure tbh but nice to not have constant drama Aerie - 5/10 here you double as therapist and cause some serious character development. It’s not really interesting though and then she has a kid at the worst possible moment. I’m still torn on whether the whole “if you sleep with her when she first offers, the romance is over” was a good idea. Viconia - 8/10 starter of countless puberties the world over, you can’t just agree with everything she says or she’ll see you as weak and pathetic, which puts this romance head and shoulders over most of the rest already. Crap ending though, and a shame that they didn’t make her bi like they planned. Although, given Drow gender roles, that would have meant having to write 2 completely different romances probably. Anomen - 1/10 uncontroversially terrible, only gets a single point because you can make him betray everything he stands for, then break up with him, strip him of all equipment and leave him wounded in the wilderness, which I have done on at least 2 playthroughs Edwin (fanmade) - 6/10 the romance a million fangirls were waiting for. Starts out great, becomes unrealistic later due to too fast progression and the player’s response choices being too good. No one really talks like that. Haer’dalis (fanmade) - 10/10 the best, the amazing, everything that’s good and pure in the world, I eventually started responding as myself instead of as my character because it felt like he was actually listening to me, peering at me through the screen, and I wanted to know what he would say. The author is a professional writer if I remember correctly, which might expl- ahh no wait I just remembered that the canon romances are written by professional writers too haha oops Yoshimo (fanmade) - ?/10 too buggy to finish but great alt portrait!

Neverwinter Nights

Aribeth - 9/10 a complicated, sensitive and ambitious woman gets a boyfriend who can’t help her. Here you - spoiler alert - help your mentor cope with her husband being sentenced to death by her king for political reasons, fall in love, then she starts a war and you kill her, meet her again in hell and fight the devil together! Best storyline of all romances for sure! Aarin - 3/10 all I remember is that he tells you endless BORING stories of his life, then gives you gifts for enduring them... but my sister likes him Valen - 5/10 very attractive but also kinda boring. I don’t really like the brooding hero type. my sister REALLY liked him though, one bonus point for horns, one for “yes, my love?” Nathyrra - 3/10 I remember absolutely nothing of her romance, actually had to check while writing this whether she even was a romance option. But I didn’t hate it either, apparently.

Neverwinter Nights 2

All main campaign romances - 3/10 they were utterly forgettable, sorry I could not even bring myself to finish either of them - I don’t even remember who the male romance option was. I wanted to romance Sand and/or Shandra, but nooo we had to... I think there was a paladin and that brown-haired druid, right? And some flirts with this manic pixie dream tiefling? Who gets jealous when you romance druid lady but you can’t actually romance her instead? Bishop - 1000/10 I hated the fucker but it’s funny how realistic his “romance” is: the developers cut the plans for his romance but couldn’t be arsed to remove the writing for it that was already in the game (lol this game is such a mess I can’t believe the balls it took to even release it), so you have a guy who keeps insulting you and being a general fedora DOUCHE... and then betrays you and joins your enemies because “my love meant nothing to you”. Unintentionally great writing! Safiya - 3/10 she’s one of my favourite video game characters ever but the romance made me very uncomfortable. Safiya seems like the kind of woman who’d only be attracted to a very specific kind of person and the game doesn’t give you the option of playing as that kind of personality. I ended up breaking up with her because it felt like the game was holding a gun to her head and forcing her to say she loved me. In a way it’s a point in the game’s favour that both joinable female NPCs are complicated, strong-willed women who would realistically probably not be taken in by the rather generic responses the game allows you to give them (out of necessity of course - a game can’t give you 100 dialogue options and let all of them lead to different outcomes, that would take 293482 years to program). Gann - 9/10 honestly my favourite canon romance. Male Viconia, moody, sardonic, tired of being objectified, pretends to be arrogant as a coping mechanism (lol), it’s actually difficult to make him fall in love with you, which is great - I gained influence with him once by calling him ugly, then lost it again for saying I was sorry he lost his parents. Would romance again anytime.

Dragon Age: Origins

Alistair - 8/10 lots and lots of fun. Saw him and my warden more as bros but played the romance just because he’s so much fun to talk to Zevran - 2/10 wanted to romance him until I actually met him. Very much Not My Type. Still had sex with him in the middle of the camp minutes after Alistair confessed his love to me ahahaha Leliana - 3/10 very boring, didn’t get beyond second romance talk Morrigan - ?? have only played the game once & with a woman but would like to try her romance one day.

#bioware #baldur's gate #neverwinter nights #dragon age origins #bioware romances #others should do this too would like to read it :3

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eph-em-era · 5 years ago

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worlds unlike our own

written for @brokenwoodfanpage’s fic week. prompt was ‘author’s choice’. thanks for another great fic week!

this is a multi-chapter fic, covering every single main brokenwood pairing - one per chapter. you can find the entire work on the ao3

first chapter - kristen/sam at a new year’s party...

They’re all seventeen, and drunk. A little too wasted on Scrumpy that someone’s brother’s cousin bought them from the Liquor King down the road, and a little bit uncaring. It’s New Years Eve, pretty close to midnight, and the party is humming.

Someone’s playing the Killers, and someone’s definitely smoking weed out on the porch. The room is dimly lit and reeks of weed, overly-sweet alcohol, and BO.

Kristen doesn’t do this. She’s the good girl, most of the time. She does well in school, submits her homework on time, and doesn’t really ever go to parties. (She knows what weed smells like but she’s never, ever tried it.)

That’s the thing. Clara dragged her along tonight, to celebrate the start of their last year at high school together - and now Clara’s gone. She went off with her boyfriend what feels like hours ago.

No-one’s really talking to Kristen, they’re dancing, or playing pool on Jacob’s pool table - rich parents, honestly - or getting blazed on the porch. It’s a little awkward.

Kristen wants to go to uni, to study English and Psych and maybe Drama - she’s got it all planned out. Her mum wouldn’t be very happy if she knew what was going on at the party tonight.

(But she’s not going to tell her mum. Hopefully, hopefully, her mum thinks she’s still spending the night at Clara’s. ‘Studying for an assignment’ - honestly! Clara’s never studied in her life.)

She takes another sip of her Scrumpy. It continues to be very, very average. For all she’s heard about high school parties, she’s honestly not loving this one. This is the first time she’s been this drunk.

“Hi!” Someone tall, ginger, and a little pimply falls down on the couch next to her.

Kristen gets it. She used to be a little pimply too. Hormones. Or something. She squints into the gloominess for a second - she swears she could see better when she wasn’t drunk but - “Sam?”

Sam Breen’s in her drama class. And English. And PE too, actually. They just never really talk.

(Cause he’s kinda a dick. Not in the way like Jacob and his friends are - how they make fun of Kristen and her friends - just in a funny, kinda weird way. But everyone likes him, and he’s actually good at things, when he’s not making jokes.)

“That’s the one.” Sam finger-guns her and knocks back something that looks vaguely like Scrumpy as well. “You’re Kris. You did that really great thing from… uh- damn- it was As You Like It, eh?”

“...Twelfth Night, actually.” She replies, but she’s flattered he remembers. “You really thought it was good?”

“Yeah.” Sam blows out a breath. “You can really act. I was super convinced. Do you want to be an actor?”

“Not really. I want to do English...” She says, and then without any kind of approval from her, her mouth just keeps on talking. About her life, about Clara’s absolute nonsense, about Sam’s version of Benedick from Twelfth Night… She needs to stop. She’s never drinking again.

The thing is, Sam keeps on listening. And he genuinely looks interested. Once she stops, he even says, “Y’know, I learned that monologue in a night. Love that guy. He’s a great character. If only I had someone as feisty and strong-willed as Beatrice to work with.”

He side-eyes her, very unself-conciously, and winks.

Kristen rolls her eyes, though secretly she’s pleased, and she can feel herself going a little red. It’s something she can’t ever hide, and it’s obvious that he notices.

“Uh-” She stammers, just a little. “What do you want to do?”

“What, now?” He smiles slowly, a little cockily, but it’s not mean or frightening at all.

“Uh, next year-”

“Oh, you mean in life?” Sam shrugs. “Honestly, my dream is to become an Angel from Charlie’s Angels, but I think you have to be a girl for that. Probably a detective? I think solving crimes would be cool.”

“Being in Charlie’s Angels would be pretty fun.”

“Oh, I know.” He replies, a little dreamily. “But I can’t so - next best thing. Plus, my parents will hate it. They’re hippies, y’know.”

“Hippies?” Kristen knows Brokenwood brings in all types, but this is weird.

“Yeah. We live out on the Island. I-” He lowers his voice and leans in closer, warm breath tickling her ear. “-even stole some of their stash for the party tonight. Don’t tell them, shhhh.”

“That’s bad.”

“So bad.” He replies, but doesn’t move back. “I’m a real bad boy.”

She snorts. She can’t help it. “Really?”

“So bad. Stealing my parents’ weed and not smoking it? Terrible.” Sam says, completely straight-faced. “I’m the actual worst.”

The Scrumpy gives her a confidence she usually doesn’t have. She’s still red, and she can’t quite meet his eyes, but she says, “I think you’re pretty alright, actually.”

“High praise.” He replies, but seems genuinely chuffed. “I think you’re pretty alright, too, Kristen.” He flings an arm over her shoulder, all loose and floppy and relaxed. He smells alarmingly like lavender.

She coughs. “You know that you reek of-”

“Lavender?” He replies, but still doesn’t move. “Yeah. Mum makes organic deodorants, cause the real ones aren’t hippy enough already. She practically covered me in the stuff before I left the house.”

It makes sense. His arm is warm, and he’s comfortable. Honestly - though it’s probably the alcohol talking - she could get used to this. “Out of all the men at this party you’re the one that smells the best.”

“Thank you. Out of all the girls at this party you’re the only one who’s laughed my dumb jokes, so I must be getting somewhere.” He looks at his watch, the LED screen glowing faintly in the dim light. “Three minutes to midnight, Kristen Sims. What’s your plan for 2005?”

“Survive school, mostly.” She replies, because honestly, she’s too floppy and comfortable and relaxed to think much about her future, right now. “Clara wants me to find a boyfriend, and it’s so annoying cause she always talks about Harvey and Jonathan and they’re-”

“All terrible.” Sam says, nodding earnestly. “And I know, they’re my friends, but they’re not- they’re just- not. You know?”

“I do.” The moment holds a little too long between them and she blinks, clearing her throat. “Uh, what is your plan?”

“I’m going to convince Mr Stevenson to let us do RENT for the 7th Form play.” Sam says, looking excited. “I reckon I could be a great Roger, rockstar and all.”

“He’d never let us.” Kristen replies. “All the parents would complain and he would get in trouble again.”

“We’ll never know until I try, Kris.” Sam replies, and boops her on the nose.

She wrinkles her face up at him, knowing she’s being silly and not really minding, and he grins back, eyes bright in the light of the lamp nearby.

Somewhere out on the porch, Jacob yells, and breaks the tension, “Twenty seconds till midnight!”

“Final 2004 wish?” Kristen asks, suddenly desperate to hold onto the moment, the quietness, the calmness - everything about it.

Sam doesn’t even need to think about it. She can see it in his eyes. “Mmm, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? What’s yours?”

She knows what she wants, all of a sudden. It’s obvious in the comfort, and the warmth, and in Sam’s weird lavender deodorant. She wants him. But she can’t say that, not with him looking at her so steadily and nicely and- “Nothing…”

“Five!” Jacob yells, somewhere off in the distance, and she drags himself away from Sam’s eyes.

“Four.” He yells again, and Kristen feels a little like she’s overheating.

“Three.”

“Two.” Kristen says, quietly, just on the edge of a breath.

“One.” Sam whispers, looking deep into her eyes, and kisses her.

Fireworks explode behind her eyes for a moment, and she thinks they’re all in her head, until she can actually hear them booming outside the house. He tastes like Scrumpy, too, sweet and a little heady, as well as that terrible, terrible lavender deodorant.

It is also very idealistic and silly, the rational part of her brain says.

Right now, she can’t really bring herself to care.

#brokenwood mysteries #the brokenwood mysteries #brokenwood fic week 2020 #fic #mine

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thewaitinggamesblog · 5 years ago

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Lets talk about 365DNI

So, I will preface by saying this a rant and a semi review, mostly a rant.

Also if you haven't watched it !SPOILERS!

Also, if you’re under the age of 18, or are uncomfortable with taking about sexual things, this is your opportunity to bump off, and don’t watch the movie.

Also an extra warning because i'll be talking about lack of consent in this movie and yeah!

This is my warning.

So, Let’s Talk about the main characters. We have Laura Biel, who is the movies protagonist. She is a victim of kidnapping and the “source” of Massimo Torricelli’s, the love interest and movies antagonist, affection. Laura, at the beginning of the movie, is made to seem like she has a loveless relationship and a job she absolutely hates, and in my opinion, sets up the frame that getting kidnapped by handsome mob man is a blessing, which some might argue in her case it was.Laura is immediately put in a terrible situation, she is uprooted from her friends, and taken to a place where 1)she knows absolutely no one and has to fend for herself and 2) she’s manipulated, from before she even gets kidnapped to time she “surrenders”. She’s fed this idea that she could leave the life she has behind to be on trial basis with a man who she doesn’t know, so that he can live out his fantasy of being in a relationship with her, which she does not fall for.

The movie spends so much time trying to put Laura in a box and make her conform to these rules and lifestyle that she didn’t agree to. Often times, when she is trying to liberate herself from these rules, and shit hits the fan, she is blamed for “acting out.” Thats victim blaming, and Its not her fault, she’s been kidnapped and thrown into situations that she didn’t ask for. And while yes, it's made clear in the movie that there are worse people who could have kidnapped her, it's still not an ideal situation for her.

Despite all of the turmoil she’s put through, ill say that Laura is not a weak character, She’s not silent, she stands up to Massimo to the best of her ability, but he controls all the pieces on the board, and she has no control over anything in her life other than ability to say no to him and that doesn’t even necessarily work sometimes.

An example of Massimo's extreme power control: At one point in the movie she attempts to run away from Massimo but she cant even get out of the city that they’re in because Massimo and his family have the city on their payroll, and everyone is so scared of him, running away for her becomes futile, because it will never work. She has to become complacent to survive.

Massimo Torricelli is our main antagonist and a major asshole, and not an asshole with a soft heart for Laura, he’s just a pure asshole. Its a common theme throughout the movie. The movie makes attempts to soften Massimo’s personality by trying to make him this guy with good morals, but despite having good morals and a traumatic backstory, you cant avoid the facts the he 1) drugged and kidnapped her and 2) he treated her poorly, up until she finally gave into him.

Now if you’ve seen the movie you may or may not agree with my any statements that I have said and thats fine, but we cant avoid the fact that Massimo is a smart person, he understands how to play the long game in this situation. By allowing her to have access to the things that she asked for (only after she begged for them) he is manipulating and finding ways to gain her trust. He’s not dumb he knows what he’s doing. Its like I said earlier, he controls all the pieces on the board, he knows what to do in order to win the game and he, in my opinion, would hold out for as long as it took to make her fall in “love” with him.

Lets talk about the plot. Laura is kidnapped on her birthday while she’s on vacation with her boyfriend and friends, by Mafia Boss Massimo, who has had an obsession with her for over five years and has on a whim, after one coincidental citing, devised a plan to make her and make her fall in love with him. The plan is is that he is giving her 365 days to fall for him and if she hasn’t fell for him by her next birthday, then he will let her go. Thats the plot.

Now you might ask, why am i I reiterating this again and again and again? Why are we talking about this? Why is this important?Well, the definition of Stockholm Syndrome as defined by Merriam Webster is: the psychological tendency of a hostage to bond with, identify with, or sympathize with his or her captor.

I have a very hard time believing as an audience member that Laura, without this certain set circumstances, would fall in love with Massimo, mostly because, he’s an asshole. Not because of his profession. Massimo in addition to being an asshole also disregards and disrespects Laura’s boundaries and often engages in sexual acts with her without her consent.

I as an audience member also have a hard time in believing that Massimo actually loves Laura. Throughout the movie its clear and stated the Massimo is a man who gets what he wants, he doesn’t chase after anything or anyone, Laura being the five year infatuation has peaked his interest, and the idea of finding her and being with her has floated around in his head for too long. I as an audience member, question would he still have interest in her if she caved in and gave into him from the very start. This would turn out to be a completely different movie.

This whole movie, is forwarded by the chase of her resisting him and he having to “compromise” his sense of self and security to be with her. (FYI:it's not a true compromise if one person still controls most of the pieces on the board by the end of the movie.) Yes, Laura turned his life upside down in some ways, but he also knew the potential risk he took when decided to go forward with his plan.

In my opinion, I think Massimo might care for her, but it's in a way that a child cares for a toy, or someone might care for a gun, a very much, you cant touch that, thats my property attitude. One of the biggest examples of this is Massimo’s “Babygirl.” This was a pet-name picked for Laura by Massimo before he even got to know her as a person. Every instance we see him interacting with her “Are you lost Babygirl?” is an example of him claiming some kind of ownership over her, prelude to what he can and eventually does, take her to be his own.

In the movie, Massimo, in my opinion, makes little to no attempts to get to know her as a person, they have no genuine interaction other than one scene that isn’t overtly sexual. Everything else in the movie relies on unhealthy sexual chemistry created to tell you that Massimo's plan is “working.”

Up until the time she give into him there are so many nonconsensual acts of sex, as an audience member, it was concerning. Often these acts would come after he said he was not going to push her boundaries. (FYI: cuffing someone to a bed and making them watch another woman give you a blowjob, without consent is crossing a boundary) and that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

So, let's briefly talk about Laura’s situation. She is trapped, and she has no one to trust. Massimo's men are loyal to him and not her. She cant tell them anything for fear of one of them telling Massimo, everything that she thinks, and feels she has to keep hidden, because its not safe for her, therefore she has to make nice with her captor or else, prompting some of the compromises on Lauras part in the movie. This is why I say their relationship is not a true compromise, Laura ends up compromising so much of herself by the end of the movie and Massimo in my opinion continues to live the same life that he’s used to living. point blank.

Lets talk about the turning point in the movie. AKA, when Laura first accepts Massimo. The acceptance happens when Massimo saves her from drowning after she goes overboard on his boat when they were arguing. Now how did we get to this point? For me, its understanding how the odds were stacked up immeasurably against her throughout the movie.

Here’s a few that stuck out to me:

1) Laura still had a considerable amount of time to be left in Massimo’s presence, I believe in the movie she had only been with him for two months.

2) Massimo killed a member of another mafia family, making everyones lives more complicated, and she finally comes to the realization that despite her rebellion, Massimo isn’t letting go of her anytime soon.

3) Massimo's right hand man/ Uncle was telling Massimo to cut his losses with Laura, so where does that leave her? Now that she’s been involved with all of this (against her will), will she still be a target?

4) Laura becomes a target to hurt Massimo, literally just by being with him as later shown by Massimo's jealous ex Anna, Laura will need his protection, whether she wants or not.

5) Laura was blamed, by Massimo and others, for the repercussions of what had happened the night before, which is why they were arguing, she cant defend herself when everyone is pointing the finger at her.

6) Massimo made himself the “Savior” by both risking and saving her life twice in less than 24 hours.

You might ask how did he risk her life the first time? Well, he took her to a club with questionable people and asked her to behave by rules that she did not agree to and when she was in trouble, because she has absolutely no idea who she’s dealing with, he comes in and saves her from said questionable people that she did not want to be around in the first place.

When Massimo saves her the second time, the movie, in my opinion, makes it out for Laura to be grateful that she is alive. Massimo could have just let her drown but he didn't, he was a good human being in that instant, and I guess that plus everything else she’s been through makes accepting him easier, because he saved her life, he must really love her right?right? This my attempt at rationalizing and digesting what had happened leading up to her affections for him. To me, she goes from absolutely hating him to showing him affection overnight, and there was no romantic build up of tension that would have prompted her to have sex with him. From my perspective, the tension went away when she went overboard on the boat.

Finally, when she consents to him they have lots of sex. Like lots and thats a prelude to her getting pregnant. (you know how I knew instantly that she was getting pregnant, because not a single thought of a rubber or birth control was given throughout the entire script.) be safe. use protection people!

Anyways, towards the end of the movie, Massimo sends her off to Poland, to be safe, while he does some really sketchy mafia things to whom we can assume is either his ex, who threatened to Kill Laura or the mafia family he has drama with now. She’s supposed to wait in Poland for him to finish whatever sketchy thing he’s doing, and yes, we know its sketchy because before her flight, Laura’s henchman that has been with her for the whole movie has to leave and strictly instructs her to wait in Poland, and thats what she does. Massimo sets her up with an apartment and expenses and she’s supposed to wait for him to i guess meet up with her. While in Poland, Laura visits her friend, Olga, who we can only assume she has had no contact with over the past couple of weeks.

What makes this movie so unrealistic, in my opinion, is the lack of realistic reactions to situations which should be taken more seriously. Lauras friend is pissed for all of five seconds, and she’s confused when Laura tells her what really happened to her, and her solution to all of it was lets go out and and get make overs and go clubbing and get your mind off of everything, which yes, is helpful to some, but also….. If I showed up randomly on my friends doorstep with the same tea Laura had to spill, my friends would do alot more than go out for makeovers and go clubbing, they’d probably call the cops, or my parents, or both, regardless of Massimo’s influence.

So, they end up going out and she runs into her ex at the club, which is already questionable as to how he even knew she was there? Like did the best friend call him? Anyways he’s determined to plead his case to her and literally follows her all night long even all the way to her apartment where Massimo is waiting for her to get home. Once her ex sees Massimo, he stands down, and skip to the next important part because it’s all just sex.

So Laura tells Massimo that she loves him and the next morning he asks her to marry him. Which prompts me to ask what would he have done if she said no?? Like honestly, would he have just let her say no or would he force her to say yes?

So……there’s a fashion montage to show that they’re like happy and in love and then they’re at a wedding with her family, who I think is her cousin and Massimo meets her family and he parents are just chill with the fact that after being gone for months that she all of a sudden has a new man in her life.....I’m just going to assume that she’s been in constant contact with her parents because some of that doesn’t make sense to me. I know that she called her mother when Massimo gave her her phone back, but thats the only time in the movie that I can remember her contacting her family.

So finally, let’s talk about the ending, and im not going to spoil it because, i don’t want to. So, the ending was the ending and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Im not going to spoil the ending because if you end up watching the film or take any context clues from what I've written, you will know that they don’t end up getting married! (oops… never said why they didn’t). I will say, the ending felt very rushed. It was all happening very fast. I believe from time that he proposed to her till the ending of the movie, they packed in weeks worth of story telling in fifteen to twenty minutes, and there were plenty of gaps, that I feel like, if they were filled, they would have made the ending of the movie make more sense.

So, on a lighter not, I want to talk about a very brief similarity in another movie that could technically be considered of the same plot. That movie is Beauty and the Beast. When I was watching this movie, Beauty and the Beast, was always in the back of my head, when i finished watching 365DNI, I compared the two movies. The stories are similar in the generalized sense, both men are beast who rely on women to humanize them, but are doing it under personalized circumstances in a certain amount of time. Just like the Beast, Massimo had a deadline he had to meet, Also Belle was a prisoner, her entire experience at the castle and in the Beast company was to make her fall in love with him.

In conclusion, Id give this movie a solid 5/10, because even though I don’t agree with the basis of the story, its fiction, and in my opinion, its okay to enjoy fantasized fiction, just as long as you’re not taking your fantasy out into the real world. I know its just a movie and I probably shouldn’t have gone this hard on it, but I just had thoughts. (These are my own thoughts and opinions on the movie, I'm not a professional critic, by any means, I just wanted to talk about it. If you have opinions on the movie, or if you’ve got any advice on how to write a personal review, let's talk! cause I definitely want to do more of these!)

-justbeinghonest

#365 dni #sorry not sorry #sorry for the rant #massimo torricelli #365 days #review #personal rant #365dni

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sarahscougall · 5 years ago

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Book to Movie Differences: Ella Enchanted

You know when you watch a movie based on a book, and there’s that one person who points out everything that’s different from the book? Everyone loves that person, right? Good, because I’m going to be that person right now.

If you’ve seen and read Ella Enchanted, you know that they are entirely different stories. I usually say that the only thing they share is Ella’s gift of obedience. There are a few more similarities, but not that many. If you’ve only seen the movie and are wondering how different can they actually be, the answer is: extremely. Before I proceed, here is a major SPOILER ALERT for both the book and the movie. Here we go.

The Background

Ella of Frell is gifted (cursed) with obedience by Lucinda the fairy in both the book and the movie. They both have a birthday scene where she can’t stop eating her cake, and eventually her mother tells her she can’t tell anyone about the curse. The curse works slightly differently in the book though. Although Ella has to do what she’s told, the curse doesn’t do the work for her. If she doesn’t do what she’s told, she starts sweating, gets dizzy, all sorts of stuff. So if she’s told to do something she’s not good at, she has to work hard to do it right. Remember that scene in the movie where Ella is told to freeze, so she literally freezes in midair? Yeah, that wouldn’t have happened. Admittedly, it was funny. On a sadder note, Ella’s mother dies in both book and movie. She also gets her mother’s necklace, and loses it to Hattie who finds out she always has to do what she’s told. Both book and movie have Ella gifted with a book from Mandy, one of the servants. However, in the book, this gift is just a book. Sort of. More on that in a second.

Mandy

In the movie, Mandy is a young, beautiful fairy who isn’t that good at magic. Book Mandy is also a fairy, but she’s old, and Ella’s fairy godmother. She’s very good at magic, but she doesn’t use it. The idea is that she won’t use big magic that could affect other things, including changing her appearance. Fairies are more secretive about who they are in the book, in order to avoid people asking for magical favors all the time. Lucinda is the anomaly who makes herself look young and bestows gifts on people at births and weddings. Back to that book, now. Mandy isn’t terrible at magic, so this book she gives Ella isn’t her boyfriend caught in a spell gone wrong. It’s still a magic book, with maps and letters and things, but sadly it doesn’t talk.

School/Areida

Ella gets sent off to finishing school in the book. There’s a scene in the movie of a school, but it’s more of a day to day school than a boarding school far from Frell. Ella isn’t childhood friends with Areida in the book; she meets her at finishing school. Hattie does tell her she has to stop being friends with Areida, because Hattie is a horrid jealous monster. But, Ella never has to say anything to Areida because she runs away from school to do something else that also happens in the movie. Namely, searching for Lucinda at a giant’s wedding.

Ella’s Father

Ella’s family seems to be just nicely getting by in the movie. Their house isn’t that grand, as Dame Olga quickly points out. In the book they live in a manor, her parents are Sir Peter and Lady Eleanor, and they’re kind of filthy rich. It doesn’t last forever because Ella’s father, who is loving in the movie but distinctly not loving in the book, gets caught in some dirty dealings and loses all of their money. He then tries to marry Ella off, but his first choice isn’t rich enough for his liking, so he marries Dame Olga. Dame Olga and Ella’s father do marry in the movie, but Lucinda has a hand in it in the book. She “gifts” the two of them with eternal love, which Ella’s father is none too happy about, and he spends the rest of the books traveling in order to love from afar.

Ella and Char

The relationship between Ella and Prince Charmont (Char, as most people know him) is a classic enemies to lovers, at least as far as Ella is concerned, in the movie. There is no such relationship in the book. They are friends from the start, she makes him laugh all the time, and everything grows from there. There’s much more buildup in the book, too. That’s to be expected, because there’s more time to build on things, but the book takes much more time to build it up. They know each other for over a year, spending time together and writing letters back and forth, before any kissing or declarations of love. It’s understandable why the movie sped up the process, but that slow burn in the book is very much worth it.

Human to Magical Creature Relations

This one’s a biggie. The movie shows Char’s uncle (more on him later) forcing giants and elves into slavery and claiming ogres are bloodthirsty monsters. The book shows an entirely different relationship. There is peace between humans and other magical creatures, except the ogres. While in the movie ogres are said to be evil but turn out to be just kind of disgruntled, in the book they’re actually evil. Ella gets captured by NiSSh and some other ogres like in the movie, except she saves herself, and Char just shows up at the end to lend a hand. Slannen, the elf who joins Ella on her adventure, is in the book too, but he has a much smaller part. He’s the chief trader of elven goods, and he’s perfectly happy with that. No lawyer aspirations whatsoever.

Cinderella

Ella Enchanted is first and foremost a Cinderella retelling, but you might not know that if you’ve only seen the movie. The movie takes the story in an entirely different direction, with much more action and adventure. The book keeps Ella in Frell for most of the time, and has many more Cinderella parallels than the movie. Ella is forced to be a scullery maid in Dame Olga’s house, there are three balls supposedly meant to find Char a wife, Ella finds glass slippers she then wears to these balls, and loses one of the slippers as she runs away. Talking about it like that makes the book sound unoriginal, but I promise that isn’t the case. Don’t forget about the curse and the ogres and all that other good stuff.

Lucinda

Lucinda the fairy is the catalyst for all the problems Ella has. The movie has Ella spend almost the entire time tracking her down, and then when she finally finds her, Lucinda won’t help her and actually makes things worse, again. The book forces Lucinda to learn her lesson. Mandy bets Lucinda that she’s too scared to try out her gifts on herself, and Lucinda takes the bait. After her ordeal with obedience, Lucinda is horrified and renounces big magic like the rest of the fairies in the book. Unfortunately, this means that she won’t do the magic required to take away Ella’s curse, so Ella still has to find a way out of it herself.

Breaking the Curse

Ella is able to break herself out of the curse in both the book and the movie, and it is because Char is in danger. However, it’s Char’s hypothetical danger, that someone could tell Ella to kill him, that keeps her from saying yes to marrying him, which breaks the curse. It makes sense that it was made into actual danger for the movie. It’s much more dramatic for Ella to be pointing a dagger at him and then drop it. The book was plenty dramatic, but in proper book fashion, where everything’s happening in her head. There was no actual danger because there was no one to create such danger. Which brings me to the last and most important of differences.

Char’s Parents/Uncle

So you know Char’s uncle? The guy who killed his dad and is trying to kill him? The main antagonist of the movie? Yeah, he doesn’t exist. He, and Heston the snake, are complete fabrications of whoever made the movie. Char’s parents are alive, he even has a little sister. This lack of evil uncle is the reason there are good relations between humans and magical creatures, it’s why Ella doesn’t hate Char before she even meets him, and it’s how the movie was able to create actual danger for Char rather than hypothetical. One extra character drastically changed the entire plot, making for a completely different story. But you know what? The fact that they’re so different means I can love both of them, without comparing the two, even though I just did exactly that.

#ella enchanted #book review #book vs movie

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carmenlire · 6 years ago

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Higher than the Big Trees Ch. 30

read chapter one

read on ao3

Alexander, what do you say to meeting on campus and I can whisk you away for our date from there?

The text comes through as Alec finishes his morning run and he can’t help the immediate grin that overtakes his face. It’s early and Alec has to admit that he loves starting his day talking to Magnus.

Sounds great! Just send me the address. I assume we’re meeting at your office?

I can’t wait for this mysterious date tonight :)

“What-- or who-- has Alec Lightwood smiling down at his phone?”

Alec looks up, that smile turning into an instant scowl at the intrepid reporter. He distantly hears the rapid shutter of a camera a few yards away and sighs internally. Damn.

“I was reading tweets from a few fans,” Alec says, the lie falling from his mouth smoothly.

Close to his apartment, Alec starts walking down the block. He sees the doorman and they share a subtly annoyed look. They’re old hat at intrusive press and it’s nice to have someone to commiserate with, however quietly.

The pap tries to engage him in conversation but Alec’s just not in the mood. Not when he has Magnus in his head. It’s less than a minute until Charles is holding the door open for him and Alec ducks into his building with a cheery wave at the pap.

He strides over to the elevator and once he hits the penthouse button and slides his key in, Alec leans against the wall, taking out his phone to see a new message from Magnus with the address.

Just like that, Alec’s back to grinning wide enough to hurt. He can’t help but feel like this is a step-- seeing where Magnus works, being invited into another sphere of his life.

Distantly, Alec thinks about what it would be like to show Magnus around a studio. It’s ridiculous, but he wonders what Magnus would think of his tour bus. Would he hate being on the road or get a kick at the adventure wrapped mundanity?

Alec goes through the rest of his morning routine thinking about Magnus and how it seems like their lives are meshing effortlessly. Alec likes Magnus’s friends and Magnus hadn’t ran away from Simon yesterday.

It bodes well for the future. Their potential future.

Alec scoffs to himself. Forget that he shouldn’t even be thinking about their future. They’ve only been on one official date and he’s already thinking about what it would be like to bring Magnus out on the road with him for a week-- or longer.

He’s just biting into a banana when he freezes at the sudden realization that he hasn’t even thought about another man since he met Magnus. He hazily remembers an old hookup of convenience texting him last month and he had summarily shut him down.

Huh.

As Alec thinks back over the summer, he can’t remember being genuinely interested in another guy since his first night back in town, before he ran into Magnus that first time. He knows that it’s too soon to be having those thoughts but now that he’s realized it, Alec knows that he’s content.

He doesn’t have the urge to go out for a one night stand. Just the thought leaves him hollow. It’d be hilarious if it wasn’t so ground shaking.

Alec Lightwood, king of staying unattached, loves being off the market. It’s only been a week but there’s comfort in it, a security that he had never considered.

Continuing to eat his breakfast, Alec decides to leave it at that for now. It’s too soon for anything else, anything more. For now, it’s enough that Alec doesn’t feel stifled in this new relationship.

He really likes Magnus and that’s all that matters.

Alec goes through the morning playing back the demos, making notes at his piano for any mistakes or ideas for alteration. It’s a quiet morning, Jace and Izzy both out of the apartment, and he’s glad to have the place to himself.

He’s also happy that he doesn’t have anything heavier on his slate today, not when the thought of seeing Magnus this afternoon is all he can think about.

They’ve been texting all morning and Alec pauses where he’s in the middle of practicing the piano for Angel-- he thinks the song could really pop as a stripped version on tour-- when he sees a reply from Magnus. Talking about favorite foods, and Alec decides to cut to the chase.

Care to give me a hint about what we’ll be doing tonight? I need to plan accordingly.

Magnus responds less than a minute later with an infuriatingly blase answer.

No, I don’t think so. It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you as soon as you asked, now would it, darling?

Alec groans, though his mouth tilts up at the brusque reply.

For the millionth time in as many minutes, Alec rolls his eyes at his own behaviour. Christ, but he’s already whipped and he just hopes that no one else picks up on it because he’d never hear the end of it from Jace or Simon.

He’s set to meet Magnus at four and once it’s time, Alec heads to his bedroom where he spends twenty minutes trying to pick an outfit. Magnus still hasn’t given him an answer and Alec has no idea what to wear-- formal or comfortable, outdoor or indoor.

He takes a picture of his closet-- roughly the size of some New York apartments-- with a frowny face and How am I supposed to decide what to wear when I don’t know where you’re taking me?

Alec shoves the phone back in his sweats and mulls over two outfits. He’s torn between slacks and a button down with an open throat or chinos with one of his Tombolo shirts.

He’s weighing the pros and cons of letting Magnus see one of his favorite shirts-- covered with flamingos and other exotic birds-- when his phone buzzes. Alec hurriedly takes it out of his pocket, and scowls.

All I’ll say is we’ll be outside for the majority of the evening :)

Okay, he can admit that he’s intrigued. Most of Alec’s dates are dinner and a party afterward. No thrills and definitely not exposing the two of them to the elements.

At least that gives him something to go on, though. Alec nixes the idea of formal wear. It’s late July and New York is downright miserable in the summer. Wearing a button down would make him melt.

Decision made, he quickly changes into the pants, rolling them to expose his ankles and throws on his flamingo shirt. He slides his feet into plain Nikes-- they could be walking for miles, who knows-- and snags his sunglasses.

With one last cursory look in the mirror, Ale shrugs. This is as good as it’s gonna get and he gets a little laugh at his shirt. He loves the punch of character and hopes that Magnus can appreciate it, too.

Campus isn’t terribly far, so Alec sets out to walk, pausing at the doors to his apartment to slide his sunglasses on.

It’s a beautiful day, sunny with giant puffy clouds overhead and overall not a bad day for an outdoor date. Alec takes his time and relishes the fact that no one stops him or stares at him a touch too long. He’ll never understand it but some days Alec can’t go anywhere without a mob collecting behind him but other times, it’s like he’s well and truly anonymous.

Once he reaches the edges of campus, Alec takes out his phone and enters the building information into Google Maps. It looks like Bowman Hall-- where the history department is located-- is almost all the way across campus, because of course it is.

Alec’s thankful that it’s a Tuesday during the summer because if it was during the regular school year, then there would be no way that he would be able to walk without interruption. As it is, Alec catches one or two heads snap up to him, incredulous.

He doesn’t stay in one place long enough for anyone to say anything and makes a concerted effort to stare straight ahead or down at his phone. He reaches Bowman Hall, a several story building made of stone with floor to ceiling windows along one section, and reaches for the door handle as a trio is walking out.

Holding the door open for them curiously, he throws them a smile. They ignore him and it sounds like they’re arguing passionately about robotics of all things so Alec waits until they’ve all passed before swinging around and entering the building.

It takes him a few minutes to find the third floor-- there are a billion staircases that only go up one floor at a time-- but he finds the history department offices with five minutes to spare.

Shoving his phone into his pocket, he walks into the main area and sees a letter board that lists the faculty and their office numbers. His eyes scan down the names until he sees Dr. Bane and he doesn’t try to repress the shiver that travels up his spine.

His boyfriend is smart as fuck Alec thinks proudly.

He goes down one of two corridors and slowly passes each door. As he rounds the corner, he passes a man and they share perfunctory nods without speaking.

Magnus’s office is the furthest from the main area, and as Alec walks up to the open door, he smiles at the sight. He leans against the door jamb for a minute, just watching Magnus in his natural habitat.

To his delight, Magnus is wearing a pair of black framed glasses that are slipping down his knows as he reads over something. He’s holding a red pen and spins it around his fingers before bringing it to his mouth to chew on absently. A second later, Magnus is writing something on the page he’s reading, eyes narrowed.

Alec’s mouth goes dry at the sight and he clears his throat, shifting.

Who knew that professors really did it for him, apparently.

Magnus looks up from his desk at the noise, expression immediately easing. “Alexander,” he greets warmly.

Taking a step into the surprisingly small office, Alec smiles. “Hey there. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Magnus waves that away as he stands and motions Alec closer. “Of course not, we agreed to meet at four and I do love punctuality in a partner. Did you find the building okay?”

“It was a breeze finding Bowman but it took me longer than it should have to find your actual office.”

Laughing, Magnus winces. “I should have given you directions once you got here. This building was built in the 1890s and they just kept adding to it as they needed more space. It’s a mash of eight buildings rolled into one. There are some seniors that don’t know their way around this place.”

Alec steps closer until he’s behind Magnus’s desk. He leans against it, one foot still on the floor, and pulls Magnus in between his splayed thighs. Magnus goes willingly, wrapping his arms around Alec’s shoulders and ducking in for a quick kiss.

“I’ll always find you,” Alec murmurs, gaze fixed on Magnus’s mouth.

Magnus grins as he leans forward, kissing along Alec’s jaw. “My knight in shining armor,” he replies before Alec brings him back up, pulling him in for a scorching kiss.

This isn’t the first time they’ve done this but it just keeps getting better. That’s never been the case for Alec before and he wants to sink into the feeling. Usually after the first time-- the first kiss, the first fuck-- Alec’s over it. No one’s been interesting enough to return to for seconds unless it was sheer convenience and boredom.

With Magnus though, Alec just wants to dive deeper. Kissing Magnus makes heat sear through him while there’s an undertone of comfort and increasing familiarity. He can’t explain it and as Magnus slips his tongue in his mouth, Alec decides handily to stop thinking all together.

Alec’s hands fall to Magnus’s hips and he urges Magnus even closer, both of them gasping as they find a fit together that makes heat build. Alec loses himself in a kissing jag while desire taps insistently at his spine.

One of Magnus’s hands shift to Alec’s neck, thumb pressing down, and Alec’s helpless to contain the low moan that escapes him. Magnus presses down just a touch harder at the noise, tilting Alec’s head to deepen the kiss and Alec gasps even as his hips buck, pressing him more firmly against Magnus.

Magnus doesn’t seem to have an issue with that as he groans against Alec’s mouth, hand sliding from his shoulders down to his thigh, stroking roughly before lifting it so that Alec gets the hint, hitching it around Magnus’s hip.

From there, it devolves quickly into lazy grinding as Alec settles against the desk, Magnus surrounding him. It’s been days since he first tasted Magnus and already Alec knows that he won’t ever get enough.

Minutes pass in the quiet of Magnus’s office. Alec never thought that he’d find himself making out on top of a professor’s desk but here he is and he has the definite thought that he didn’t know what he was missing.

It’s hot and intense and as Alec tastes the lingering hints of tea on Magnus’s tongue-- something dark with a hint of spice-- he feels almost drunk on it.

He doesn’t hear the footsteps coming closer. They’d neglected to close Magnus’s door and anyone walking past would get quite an eyeful.

Alec’s just started distractedly pulling Magnus’s shirt out from where it’s tucked into his dress pants-- Magnus’s hands buried in his hair-- when they break apart for breath, breathing harshly.

Alec’s gaze immediately drops to Magnus’s mouth, delightfully red and swollen, when he feels Magnus’s focus shift.

“Professor Bane?”

It takes a heartbeat for Alec to register the new voice and what it must mean. He turns around to face the door and sees a student hovering at the doorway, looking uncertain. Magnus shakes his head a little as though to clear it before hastily stepping away from Alec. Alec, for his part, slides off the desk and moves to stand near the window, out of the way.

“Julia? What brings you to my office on a Tuesday?”

Shifting, Julia resettles her bag over her shoulder before saying, “I missed class this morning and just wanted to get a copy of the notes.” She looks between Magnus and him, biting her lip. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Magnus waves that away as he looks down at his desk. His hands hover in the air, moving over the desk as if he’s looking for something and Alec has a feeling that Magnus is more affected by their kiss than he’s trying to let on. It takes him another moment to find the folder he needs and he opens it quickly, taking out a few paper clipped pages and handing them to Julia.

“Here you go, dear. This morning’s notes along with the assignment due Friday.”

Julia takes the packet, scanning over the pages before looking up questioningly. “Do I need to bring this back to you or is it a copy?”

“I have a file kept on my computer so don’t worry about returning it to me. Is there anything else you needed?”

“No, this is it,” Julia says as she waves the notes. “Thanks Dr. Bane. I’ll see you Friday.”

“Goodbye Julia. Make sure to make note of any questions you have for our tutoring session in the afternoon.”

Julia salutes, grinning, as she turns to leave the office, giving Alec one last considering look.

Alec smiles at her even as he grimaces. He knows that look and he just hopes to hell that she didn’t have the time to take a photo-- or god forbid a video-- of what she walked in on.

It’s silent for a minute after the student leaves and Alec waits for Magnus to make the next move. This is his space and Alec doesn’t want to make the wrong move.

After a second, Magnus rolls back his shoulders, clearing his throat as he throws Alec an amused glance. “Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that.”

“The student? Or the groping?”

Laughing, Magnus takes the few steps over to Alec, wrapping his arms around his waist. “Either,” he says dryly. He smooths down Alec’s shirt, smile growing just a bit wider as he takes in the design. “Cute shirt.”

Alec smiles, pleased. “It’s one of my favorites.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Alec confirms. He looks down at the muted but whimsical pattern. “I just think it’s fun.”

“Well,” Magnus says, letting his hands wander over Alec’s chest, “I think it suits you. And it’s altogether too perfect for what I had planned.”

“Oh? Do I finally get to know where you’re taking me,” Alec asks.

Releasing a long suffering sigh, Magnus says, “We, dear Alexander, are going to the zoo.”

“The zoo,” Alec repeats, delighted.

“That’s right. We’re going to the zoo where we’ll spend a few hours walking around with families and senior citizens and more kids than we can count while looking at exotic animals. There might even be plans for ice cream after.”

“I love ice cream,” Alec cries, grinning down at Magnus.

“I thought it would be a good ending to the date. And then--”

“And then?”

“Well,” Magnus says slowly. “At first I was going to invite you back to my place to finish Twilight.” Magnus looks at Alec from under his lashes as he smiles faintly. “However, after what just happened, I think I’ll invite you back to my place and we can just see what happens.”

Alec’s breath catches at the invitation and he leans forward, nosing along Magnus’s cheek. “You don’t think you’ll be too tired after a day at the zoo to-- to watch Twilight,” he murmurs, ducking down to kiss the side of Magnus’s neck.

Alec feels Magnus laugh, hears it change to a low groan as he leaves an open-mouthed kiss over his pulse point, laving at the steady beat before biting down just enough to sting before soothing it with his tongue. He repeats the process a few times before moving back to admire his handiwork.

Magnus’s pupils are blown wide and his bottom lip is red from where he’d been worrying it with his teeth. The look he sends Alec makes him wish they weren’t still in Magnus’s office but with a sigh, Alec steps back, grinning at the look of betrayal that flashes over his boyfriend’s face.

“Ready for our date?”

Magnus glares at him for a long beat before he groans loudly, letting his head fall back so that he can stare at the ceiling. After a beat Magnus straightens, smoothing his shirt down and tucking it back in from where Alec had pulled it.

He sends Alec a dry look. “You’re a menace.”

Unrepentant, Alec shrugs, running his hands through his hair to give it at least a semblance of order. “It’s not my fault you’re so damn irresistible.”

Magnus shakes his head before reaching over the desk and opening the top drawer, snagging his keys and phone. “Ready,” he asks, turning to the door.

“After you.”

It’s appallingly obvious what they’ve been doing. Hurriedly setting their clothes to rights couldn’t mask the redness of Magnus’s lips or the way his eyes were just a hint brighter than usually. Alec was sure that he looked just as debauched if not worse.

He doesn’t really give a damn.

It’s a beautiful sunny day and his boyfriend is taking him on a date. There are worse things than looking like they were just caught in flagrante delicto.

Which, Alec thinks wryly, isn’t far from the truth.

“How were classes,” he asks as Magnus guides him down a flight of stairs.

“They were fine,” Magnus answers. They take the steps together, walking side by side. “I’m almost certain that a student showed up to class with vodka in their water bottle but I was too far away to tell and they didn’t cause a scene, so,” he shrugs.

Alec turns to look at him as they start on the next flight down. “A student was just drinking liquor?”

Magnus’s lips quirk as he sends Alec a pitying glance. “Oh, darling, no need to act so scandalized. That’s downright tame compared to some of the things I’ve seen. At least they had the common sense to put it in a colorful reusable water bottle and not the paper bag it comes in.”

“People are really that stupid,” Alec asks, incredulous.

“Alec, these are college kids and they think of me as their woefully out of touch professor who couldn’t find his ass from a hole in the ground. I may be more well-liked and respected than other professors on campus but I’m very much the them to their us. I’ve had students try-- and dare I say, sometimes succeed-- at much worse. Hell knows the antics I got up to in college,” Magnus adds thoughtfully, wry quirk to his mouth.

Alec laughs as they hit the front doors to the building. “Which zoo are we going to?”

They walk down a winding path that trails between buildings. They don’t hold hands or touch in anyway but Alec’s hyper aware of Magnus’s presence next to him. Alec shoves his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out and when Magnus’s shoulder bumps into his for a brief second, he ducks his head, smiling at Magnus who returns it with an innocent look.

“There’s a zoo that’s within walking distance. That’s why I asked you to meet me. I thought I could show you around campus and it would save some time if I left straight from work.”

“Eager to see me,” Alec teases, nudging his shoulder to Magnus’s.

One of Magnus’s hands reaches up as he fiddles with his ear cuff. “It’s not my fault that you’re so damn irresistible,” he says, repeating Alec’s words from earlier.

Alec laughs and as they walk across campus, he listens attentively as Magnus describes the buildings and special places they pass. Magnus falls naturally into a bit of a lecture tone and Alec can’t help but think that he’d be a model student if he had Magnus as his professor.

They reach the gates of the zoo after a little walk and before Alec can reach for his wallet, Magnus is already handing the cashier his card. He send Alec a droll, satisfied smirk. “It’s my turn to treat you darling, put that thing away.”

Rolling his eyes, Alec acquiesces and Magnus grabs two maps, holding one out for him to take.

They start at the beginning with the elephants and quickly lose themselves in the meandering afternoon. There are tigers and monkeys and an arctic exhibit and when they get to the giraffes, Alec about dies of excitement.

Magnus watches fondly as he goes right up the the barrier, hastily taking out his phone to capture a picture-- or twelve.

“I didn’t know that you were so into giraffes, Alexander.”

“They’re my favorite animal,” Alec responds distractedly, watching as the giraffe reaches up the tree to tear some leaves from it.

He almost doesn’t notice as Magnus comes closer, leaning against his side companionably. Alec relaxes into the touch, turning his head to see Magnus staring resolutely in front of him at the exhibit with a faint smile on his face.

“What is your favorite animal,” Alec asks, curious.

Humming as he thinks about it, Magnus takes his phone out, unlocking the camera. “Probably snow leopards, though I do have a weakness for penguins,” he admits.

He sends Alec a look. “What do you say to a pic? A photo to commemorate the occasion?”

Grinning, Alec replies, “My boyfriend taking me to the zoo? Bet your ass we’re getting a picture.”

Magnus laughs, head falling back and Alec loses his breath for just a millisecond. He’s just so beautiful, Alec thinks, and it feels like something shifts.

“Alright, let’s do this then.”

They turn so that the giraffe is at their back and Magnus raises his arm, playing with the angles to get the photo just right. They take a few and luckily the giraffe perfectly framed in the background.

“Send those to me,” Alec says as Magnus pockets his phone once again.

Agreeing, they move on to the next exhibit. They spend a couple of hours at the zoo until their feet start hurting and it’s closing time, the sun low in the sky.

Exiting the gates, Alec ruminates that this is one of the best dates that he’s ever had. Wryly, he acknowledges that any date with Magnus is his favorite.

He’s just set to ask where the ice cream is at, when Magnus grabs his hand and pulls him in one direction, looking back with laughter in his eyes. “Ready for dessert,” he asks and Alec grins as he interlaces their fingers.

“Lead the way.”

It’s just a few minutes away and they’re stopping at the corner of an intersection where there’s a hot dog stand and a food truck that seems to specialize in sweets. Slowing to a stop, Magnus gives Alec time to look at the menu before saying, “They have anything you could want but I think their twist cone is the best I’ve ever had.”

“Then that’s what I’ll get,” Alec says easily. He lets Magnus order as he looks around. The after-work crowd is just starting to thin and it’s more couples out, heading to dinner now. In his periphery he sees the someone hastily lower their phone and sighs. Damn.

Magnus moves back until he’s standing next to Alec and Alec leans close to whisper in his ear, “I think someone just took our picture. Are you okay with that?”

Magnus is still for a moment, obviously thinking, before he relaxes against Alec’s side. He tilts his face up to meet his eyes and Alec internally releases a sigh of relief at the good humor in Magnus’s gaze.

“I think that we’ve been a little too blatant not to expect someone to see something. I’m okay with it,” he says firmly. “You?”

Shrugging, Alec replies, “Cameras don’t really phase me anymore unless I’m with someone who doesn’t like the public eye. I’m used to it. I just want to make sure you’re fine.”

“I’m more than fine,” Magnus says and his fingers brush Alec’s as the food truck employee calls out their order.

They both step forward and grab their cones, piled high with vanilla and chocolate soft serve. The first lick is the best and Alec gives Magnus an impressed look. It’s a classic, simple dessert but there’s just something really good about it. It’s creamy and sweet and Alec has to admit that Magnus knows his ice cream.

“Yum,” he says as he takes another lick, trying to keep the ice cream from dripping over his hand.

They start walking, enjoying their ice cream and it takes a while for Alec to realize that he recognizes their surroundings.

“You live close,” he asks, taking the first bite of his cone.

Magnus takes another swipe of his dessert before replying. “I’m just around the corner,” he confirms. He looks over at Alec with a hint of a smirk gracing his features. “Want to come up for some coffee?”

“I love coffee,” Alec says seriously and they both laugh as the turn the corner and Magnus takes his keys out.

Opening the door for him, Magnus follows Alec through the lobby toward the elevator where they don’t have to wait for entering.

In the suddenly small space, Alec is even more aware of Magnus than he’d been earlier this evening. He looks over and sees smudged eyeliner and hair a little messier than usual. There’s a smudge of ice cream along his low lip and Alec reaches out, swiping it up before making eye contact with Magnus and popping his thumb into his mouth, sucking the minuscule bit of chocolate away.

“Thank you,” Magnus murmurs, eyes glued to Alec’s mouth.

“Thank you for a really nice date. I had a great time,” Alec whispers into the air between them.

“I’m glad,” Magnus says softly. “I thought you might like an informal night out and I know that I prefer low maintenance evenings after a long work day.”

The two of them move closer together until there’s barely an inch of space between them. “I really like being with you,” Alec admits.

Magnus’s lips tilt at the corners as he says, “I really like being with you too, Alexander.”

He’s just set to close that last bit of distance when the elevator dings and the doors open. There’s a moment of breathless stillness in the elevator before they both break into laughter, shaking their heads at their behavior.

“We really need to settle down,” Alec says.

Looking over his shoulder as he inserts the key into the lock, Magnus grins. “Now what’s the fun in that?”

“I’ll show you fun,” Alec murmurs and Magnus turns as Alec moves forward, leaning against his front door as Alec comes to stand in front of him. There’s a beat, an electric pause before Alec leans down even as Magnus rushes up, mouths meeting in a searing kiss that’s hot as soon as it starts.

Magnus’s back hits the door with a thud as he pulls Alec closer, widening his stance so that Alec can settle more firmly against him.

Alec breaks away from Magnus’s mouth with a muttered curse as he starts mouthing along his neck instead. He licks over the place he’d left an almost imperceptible hickey earlier and he’s rewarded as Magnus releases a moan right into his ear, tugging on the short hair along his nape.

“Please, Alexander,” Magnus breathes and Alec pulls back to see that Magnus’s cheeks are already flushed, color riding high.

“Maybe we should move this inside,” Alec says, raising a brow. The last thing they need is one of Magnus’s neighbors seeing them like this.

Nodding, Magnus fumbles with the door knob, cursing under his breath before it opens and they all but fall into the loft.

Alec immediately resumes kisses Magnus, kicking the door closed haphazardly behind him. Magnus buries a hand in Alec’s hair while the other starts unbuttoning Alec’s shirt, messily slipping a button at a time until it’s hanging open. Magnus pulls back, letting his gaze fall to Alec’s chest with hungry eyes.

He lays a hand over Alec’s heart, dragging it down slowly down until Alec’s stomach tightens at the touch. “Christ,” he says dazedly.

Eager to return the favor, Alec shrugs out of his shirt before getting to work on Magnus’s, unbuttoning the row easily if not quite fast enough to suit him.

He wishes distantly that he had magic so that they could just instantly lose their clothes, though he can’t deny the anticipation that’s thrumming through him at every inch of newly exposed skin. He pushes Magnus’s shirt off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor and he takes in Magnus, losing his goddamn breath at the set of abs that he’s mild jealous of.

“Nice,” is all he says and Magnus barks out a laugh before Alec’s back to kissing him. It’s just as intense even if the pace has slowed down a little. The frenzy has, at least temporarily, left them and Alec indulges in slow, deep kisses as he follows wherever Magnus is leading him. They kick off their shoes somewhere along the hallway, and Alec laughs a little as they trip over one of Magnus’s shoes.

He has enough wherewithal to know that they’ve just passed a doorway but then Magnus rests his hand against the placket of his jeans and Alec gasps, bucking into the hold. They break for much needed air as Magnus runs a thumb over his length and Alec bites his lip to keep some embarrassing sound down.

“Oh no,” Magnus says, turning so that he’s pushing Alec further into the room. “I want to hear you, darling.”

The back of Alec’s knees hit Magnus’s bed and he tumbles back, Magnus following him much more gracefully until he’s leaning over Alec, looking like a tiger about to pounce.

“This okay,” he asks, fingers trailing over Alec, playing along his waistband. The light touch makes him dizzy and he just wants more.

“Definitely,” Alec says, and tries to ignore just how breathless he is already. Magnus has barely even touched him and he already feels like a teenager, too close to coming at the mere thought of Magnus on him.

Magnus takes his time, leaning down to kiss along Alec’s neck, biting before soothing, moving further down to nibble along his collarbones.

Alec’s tense in anticipation and when he feels Magnus unbuttoning his jeans-- and taking his damn time doing so-- he reaches for him, pulling Magnus back until their lips can reconnect. The kissing now is slower and Alec hums as he feels Magnus’s tongue along the seam of his lips, opening without thought.

It’s a lot. Alec can’t quite remember the last time he felt so immersed in pleasure. His hookups were always more perfunctory than feeling-- in the back of his head he was always thinking about how quickly he could make his escape after things concluded-- but as he lets his legs fall open so that Magnus can have easier access, he feels like he’s totally at Magnus’s mercy and he loves it.

Magnus keeps kissing him as he finally undoes the final button and Alec hopes are desperately dashed as Magnus doesn’t immediately wrap a hand around him. Instead, he pulls back, urging Alec to shove his jeans down, out of the way.

Which he does with alacrity.

Once he’s just in his plain black pair of boxer-briefs, he pulls his knees up, giving Magnus more room to work with.

Magnus doesn’t do anything at first, just stares his fill and Alec knows what he must be seeing. He feels a little fucked out already, heat pooling in his cheeks, that flush sweeping down to his chest. His hair must be a bird’s nest from the way Magnus was handling him earlier and his cock is an obscene length tenting the front of his underwear.

Magnus finally moves but it isn’t where Alec wants him most. No, instead he trails a hand along Alec’s thigh, over his chest, nails scratching softly at his stomach.

“Aren’t you a vision,” he murmurs and Alec feels coveted.

He lets himself drift as Magnus touches his fill, those lingering sensations enough to ground him while still sweeping him higher, closer.

When those touches stop, Alec opens his eyes, frustrated, and glowing with hunger. Magnus hushes him as he leans over him, reaching for the nightstand.

When he takes out the small bottle of lube, Alec can feel himself relax against the golden sheets. Finally.

Magnus must read his expression easily, for he laughs as he clicks the bottle open, pouring a generous amount into his hand. “I need you naked, darling. We’ll talk about your tragic lack of patience later.”

Alec huffs out a laugh as he discards his underwear. He reaches a hand down but Magnus intercepts him, chiding. “I’ll be taking care of that, thank you very much.”

Alec’s retort disappears as Magnus wraps a hand around him, firm and warm and altogether too goddamn good.

His hips buck up, already begging for more, and Magnus gives it to him in slow, sure strokes that make Alec feel the fire licking up his spine. Magnus takes a few minutes, leisurely getting him off and watching the show before he leans over Alec, kissing him as he continues.

Alec moans into his mouth as Magnus rotates his wrist, squeezing more firmly for a beat or two before returning to his regular rhythm. Alec feels completely surrounded by Magnus and as he feels his orgasm growing steadily closer, he’s helpless to keep the small noises from escaping. Magnus’s hand moves to the head of his cock, paying it special attention and Alec swears as he thrusts into Magnus’s hand, seeking that heat.

“Tell me what you like, Alexander.”

Magnus whispers into Alec’s ear and he almost comes from the combination of Magnus’s voice so close and the hand wrapped around his cock.

“Slow,” Alec gasps. “Harder.”

Magnus heeds his direction and as Alec grinds into Magnus’s hand, relishing the warmth, the friction, Alec groans, long and low.

He’s still missing something, though, but goddamn if he knows what. He reaches a hand up tugging at his own hair and pulls Magnus to him for a messy kiss that’s more tongue than anything else.

It isn’t until Magnus carefully, lightly scratches a nail down the vein running along the underside of his sock that Alec sees fucking stars, coming with a hoarse cry. Magnus rides him out until he’s too sensitive and shies away.

Still breathing harshly, Alec briefly contemplates never moving again before he opens his eyes and sees Magnus watching him, pupils blown and lips bitten red.

“C’mere,” he murmurs and Magnus moves until he’s straddling Alec as Alec reaches for his pants, unbuttoning them expertly with one hand while reaching for the lube in the other. Magnus shoves his pants down until his cock is freed, hard and leaking at just getting Alec off.

He doesn’t waste a moment before reaching for Magnus, wrapping a hand around him and he shivers as he feels the hot length, as Magnus shudders and buries his head into Alec’s neck.

He varies his tempo until he reaches a rhythm that elicits these deliciously choked off groans and whimpers from Magnus.

“Yes, fuck, Jesus Christ Alexander,” Magnus mumbles and bites down, hard, on Alec’s neck as he comes, spilling over Alec’s fingers.

It’s a few moments before Magnus raises up to his elbows, gaze roving over Alec’s face with a grin. “Well, that was certainly fun.”

“It was,” Alec agrees and steadies a hand against Magnus’s waist as he straightens up. With his other, come still dripping over knuckles, he brings it up to his mouth and waits until he sees that he has Magnus’s undivided attention before delicately swiping at the mess with his tongue. He’s pretty sure that he can physically pinpoint the second Magnus’s brain goes offline as he licks his hand clean.

“Fuck me,” Magnus says dazedly, eyes scorching hot.

“Not yet,” Alec says easily and laughs as Magnus shoves at his shoulder.

“We should probably clean up,” Magnus says with a sigh and Alec hums in agreement.

Magnus doesn’t climb off of Alec right away, though. Instead, he brings Alec up until he’s sitting, raising his head up for a deep kiss.

It spins out for long moments, the heat banked for now. When Magnus pulls back, they’re both breathless and sporting smiles that light up their faces.

Magnus clamors off Alec and Alec follows, taking in Magnus’s bedroom while his boyfriend heads to his dresser.

The bed is covered in rumpled gold sheets and the room itself is huge with rich brocade and exposed brick. All in all, it looks like how he would imagine Magnus’s bedroom to be and something flutters in his stomach at the thought that he has an idea of what Magnus’s preferences are.

Magnus pushed the drawer closed, turning around with two pairs of clothes in his arms. “I thought you might not want to put your jeans back on so I have an extra pair of sweats. Unless, of course, you weren’t figuring on staying?”

Alec takes in Magnus’s expression as he slowly says, “I didn’t come up here just to get my mind blown, Magnus. I believe I was promised a continuation of the Twilight movies.” He raises a brow. “Unless you’re not a man of your word?”

Magnus laughs, pulling Alec close to place a lingering kiss against his lips. “Of course not, darling. Let’s change and then we can start-- Eclipse was it?”

Alec shrugs-- he honestly has no idea-- and takes the close Magnus gives him, heading to the bathroom where he washes his hands and changes into the surprisingly well-fitting clothes.

They’re on the couch soon enough and Magnus slides the dvd into the player as Alec takes out his phone, scrolling through notifications.

He opens Instagram, choosing a photo that Magnus had taken of him eating his ice cream earlier with the caption The company was sweeter.

He posts it a minute later and as Magnus settles against his side, pulling down the blanket from the back of the couch and throwing it over them, Alec sears this moment into his memory. This is the first time he’s ever lingered after a hookup-- the first time he’s ever wanted too-- and he feels so much that he absently wonders how a body can hold it all.

Magnus takes out his phone and Alec sees that he’s opened Twitter. It’s quiet as the opening credits begin to play before Magnus’s voice breaks through.

“You’re hot news today, darling. And apparently, so am I.”

Alec looks over, raising a brow in question as he sees Magnus holding his phone up so that he can see a picture someone must have taken of them at the zoo. Alec throws a quick glance at Magnus before taking the phone, scrolling through the trending tag and seeing a dozen photos of him walking on Columbia’s campus solo along with pictures of the two of them at the zoo.

He has a brief moment to thank that TMZ hadn’t picked up on yet before he scrolls through the tweets and sees the accompanying hashtag. “Malec,” he asks, looking up to see if Magnus knows what’s going on.

Smiling softly, Magnus moves imperceptibly closer. “I think that’s our ship name. Magnus and Alec-- malec.”

Alec rolls his eyes, though he can’t help but smile at the insinuation. He likes his name linked with Magnus’s.

He sees a few fans speculating and looks up again. “What do you want to do?”

Magnus hums, narrowing his eyes as he thinks before looking at Alec. “I say go for it.”

Grinning, Alec likes a few tweets.

Omg, isn’t that Magnus guy a professor? What if that’s why Alec’s on campus???

They look so cute watching the lions together!!!! It’s what he deserves!! #malec

I bet Alec lost his shit at the giraffes ksdjfgkdfg but look how Alec’s looking at Magnus instead of the exhibits:’) when will your fave ever!

Magnus watches as he likes the tweets before turning to watch the movie. The room is dim as the tv plays and when Magnus softly asks, “Want to spend the night? It’s getting late,” Alec doesn’t even think of refusing.

#if this is terrible i tried my best lol #my writing #httbt #malec fic #malec wip

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