#i have been plotting a scene in my head where they have to sing karaoke together . im fuckiign crazy dude.

[gay-victorian-astronomer]

okay so I finished my first run yesterday and here are my thoughts

again, major spoilers under the cut

okay so. the ending ended up feeling a little bit flat to me, but I think that was because towards the end of my playthrough I got a little too focused on the murder case and payed less attention to the sidequests.

I know that there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t do- I didn’t fully resolve the plot line with the ravers in the church and (from what I’ve heard) therefore missed out on an important scene with Kim, I didn’t sing karaoke, I didn’t get any of the political sidequests either. I also didn’t find Harry’s gun, and I know there’s a bunch of characters I didn’t meet.

I agree with the people who say that the end of the game is a little railroady- once the tribunal happens & especially once you go to the island, there’s really not much else to do but get on with solving the murder case. That, and the Deserter felt… not entirely out of left field? But definitely not as satisfying as having another character we’d already met and become invested in be the murderer.

That said, it was narratively satisfying to have my efforts to not use drugs & focus on the case rewarded by Kim vouching for me in the final scene. I was even able to recruit him, which was a really nice payoff.

Still, I think the ending would have been more powerful if I paid more attention to the sidequests & dove deeper into learning about the people of Martinaise- for a murder mystery detective game, it is really not about the murder. It shines in everything that happens around the murder.

I think for that reason I want to make my next run a sort of redo version- where I play with similar stats (INT & PSY focused) and make decisions like I would, like I did the first go around. Only difference would be that I let myself look up guides when I get stuck instead of going in completely blind. I want to do a run focusing on the physical stats eventually, but knowing that there’s so much I didn’t see I want to go in “authentically” first.

TL;DR: I didn’t completely love the ending but it was mostly through my own stupidity, and it’s definitely not turning me off of a second run (opposite in fact- I’ll probably be heading back into the breach soon)

augh I love this game (disco elysium spoilers under the cut)

to preface: I’m not done with the game yet so no further spoilers in the notes please, I just got past the tribunal shootout and wanted to yell into the void about it

I think I fucked something up- I don’t know if I could have resolved that peacefully if I played my cards differently, because now Titus, one of his groupies, and at least one of the mercenaries are dead (Kim said there were 6 people dead but I don’t know who the others are)

I am impressed that the game let me continue- Harry got shot and I legitimately thought it was going to be game over, maybe heading into some sort of afterlife sequence with the voices, but no! I played my cards right to get out of that one

and Kim! he trusted me enough to let me save him!!! I am getting a good grade in Kim Kitsuragi which is both normal to want and possible to achieve (please tell me I can make them get together? or did I fuck that up by doing the homosexual underground thought? dammit)

I just played through the little bit after Harry woke up- I haven’t even left the hotel room yet- but it feels like the game has entered a whole new state. it’s getting tense but I’m excited to see what happens next

I think the ending of this game might emotionally ruin me so… into the breach we go

(as a side note, I am very curious how things would be different if I were playing a different build- I’m doing my first run playing Harry as close to myself as possible, so a very cerebral guy with decent emotional intelligence and kinda bad physical/sensory stats. I know I want to try a few more runs with builds prioritizing the other 3 stats, once I finish my first run of course)

[spaloonbabooguuscooties]

band au question: how do dion and frazie get involved? and if you want to talk about the relationship between norma and frazie in the au because i'm interested

OH ... OH YES . Yes I Will Talk About This .. Thank You because ive been dying to bring it up somehow.

SO at about .. a quarter way through their trip there is a point where Morris introduces the band to Sasha and Milla, a duo of eclectic indie rock stars who will help them on their journey (i havent decided how yet . lmao . but theyre here) if they in turn help Them with this show they're trying to perform at a local festival.

Donatella (who has been restlessly tracking her son, thanks to Morris announcing every place they've been so far over the radio,) has finally caught up to them here, but since the festival is so big its difficult to find him. So she has the family split up and look around.

Frazie in all this has... really been looking for an excuse to have a break from the circus life. She's envious as fuck that Raz basically got to escape and run off on a little rock & roll adventure because she's the entire reason he's into this kind of thing in the first place!! she introduced him to most of the music he listens to. shes even been practicing guitar! and its not fair.

so when she ends up being the one to find him at the festival, well... she's pissed, of course, but all he needs to do is explain why he's doing it. wanting to help their nona is excuse enough for her to say "well move over, pooter- i'm coming too!" because she Cant just let her little brother run across the country without a chaperone, right?

dion catches her in the middle of ditching the family and threatens to rat them both out to their mother, but before he can bust their entire operation gisu mistakes him for a rowdy crowd member trying to start problems and ends up knocking him out lmao. frazie explains the situation and in a panic, they end up picking up his unconcious body and piling him into the van and peeling the hell out of there. Dion Is Basically Being Held Hostage The Entire Time. He's Pissed About It .

ill put the frazie/norma content under a cut because this is getting long already and i Have . Thoughts .

so frazie and norma actually knew each other before Lizzie's band gets hired to play the circus- at least loosely.

frazie and norma both have accounts on old ass 2003 youtube . Norma would post videos of her playing various basslines of songs she likes, half informative teaching vids and half like her showing off. frazie in turn posts songs she makes up on the fly on her dinky accoustic guitar ... but both of them have the cameras angled so they cant see their faces in all their videos This Is Important (mostly to show off the chords they play and such) . theyve been following each other for a Long time on there , kind of obsessively in that way where you kind of get a crush on someone that you never really intend to act on because you know so little about them lmao. they just think the others content is cool! and they comment on each others vids from time to time . they build up this little like vague 'friendship' online ...

and when the band plays at the circus, frazie sees norma on stage- and immediately recognizes her by her bass guitar. and at first shes like overjoyed- here's this person she'd made this funny little friendship with , in the flesh... she didnt get to have many friends in person because of how much they traveled, so getting to see norma is like a dream come true!

until she actually talks to her and realizes that... oh. Norma's kind of a total ass . she's stuck up and pretentious, as we know norma to be. She’s not really good at making people like her. and frazie, who is insanely brash and a little rude herself, decides not to reveal who she is at the time because she just had the worst first impression on earth and shes bummed about it.

it’s when they meet the second time at that festival that norma realizes who she is, puts the pieces together, and it clicks in her brain that ohhh god shes kind of ruined that nice little pleasantry they had going. and at first she’s ready to accept it, because in the end she ends up foiling most of her positive relationships anyway so she can focus on her education (she still goes to college because it’s what her parents want for her and she wants to be like.. worth something, she doesnt want to be a disappointment, she cant stand the thought of being useless,) and the band really only keeps her around because shes lizzies sister and they have to.

but now she’s forced to spend all this time in this cramped van with this girl she had a vague weird little crush on and her two brothers and her ex-girlfriend that she broke up with but still has sad mixed up feelings for(gisu, who she is now watching fall for dion and it suuucks) so its all this tension building up in her brain...

one night during a pit stop at a hotel room, frazie finds shes having trouble sleeping and goes out to see norma sitting on top of the band van by herself. she’s noticed that norma ends up doing this a lot, spending a lot of time by herself. So , feeling bold, she climbs up there with her. and normas surprised by it, because theyve spent all this time on the trip getting on each others nerves, but now frazies trying to talk to her again? it’s weird. but she lets her, because it’s better than spending time alone with her own thoughts.

frazie starts off small talk at first , but it blossoms into this whole heart to heart, they end up staying up all night talking about how they hate the expectations forced onto them and how frustrating siblings are, how they got into music and things they like... they get in little arguments, still, but cant seem to stop talking to one another until the sun comes up.

Frazie realizes, oh, maybe norma isn’t so bad! but all norma can think about is oh, that was nice. how long is it going to last?

[1kook]

dreamy

—pjm x (f) reader

summary; You try to not let it get to you, but Jimin is so cool and you want him to be your boyfriend so bad. warnings; ANGST lol, fwb, reader is very :(( rating; mature (18+) bc tiny smut lol  misc; small smut scene, a happy ending <3 wc; 2.5k

notes; i have to post on #JIMIN’s bday or else i cannot live with myself anyway here’s me trying to fit an entire novella plot line in less than 5k words clap for me except maybe don't bc its not proofread anyway hbd jimin <3

Jimin is a nice guy, but you doubt he’d make a nice boyfriend. He fucks you hard and fast, just as you like, but hardly goes out of his way to sprinkle in any other requests. He’s got a one track mind, doesn’t dwell too long on what you say or how you’re feeling. Doesn’t matter because he’s just supposed to be a fuck buddy, the hot guy you met at a party, so you don’t let it phase you. But, well. Jimin is dreamy.

Sometimes he holds your hand while he eats you out and it sends your thoughts into a frenzy, makes your heart pound a little too fast to brush it off as just arousal. He’s got this gorgeous smile, plush lips framing pearly teeth, and when he flashes it your way, it makes your knees weak. Tells you you’re pretty when he picks you up from class, always holds your hand on the way to his place for your routine fuck. Cute and nice like an angel, but just like an angel, he hardly gives a shit about anyone’s feelings but his own.

He laughs when you ask him to hang out that weekend.

“What, like a date?” he snorts, bare chest glistening from his post-fuck exertion. You're pressed against his side now, circling his pretty brown nipple with your finger. “That’s corny.”

You try to not let it get to you, but Jimin is so cool and you want him to be your boyfriend so bad. “Yeah, silly right,” you murmur, ear pressed to his heart. It’s calming and soothing, a slow thrum that contrasts with your own racing heart.

He’s not one for dates or for romantic things like that. But neither is he some player, a cheater, a two-timer. You can count the number of times he’s slept with someone who wasn’t you in your weird fuck buddy relationship, and all four of those had been when you first started sleeping together and only when you had been out of town. You’re no saint either, so you try to understand. He was just horny, liked getting his dick wet, and sometimes he couldn’t wait for you. Understandable, you tell yourself, but your heart hurts a little bit when he begins snoring without really answering your question.

See the thing is, you really like Jimin. It’s been a little over a year now since you’ve met, so you’ve had plenty of time to learn all about him. He doesn’t like pancakes for breakfast, prefers them for lunch actually, and laughs when you tell him that’s weird. He’s got this really dorky laugh, something between a bell and a whistle— it depends on the situation. Sometimes, Jimin likes when you play with his hair, and other times he doesn’t. He’s a sweet boy, you know he is, so why won’t he settle down?

You hate to attribute it to some past trauma, some “my girlfriend broke my heart when I was seventeen” mess, but the more time that passes you begin to believe it’s true. Jimin was a tough nut to crack, and the longer this drags on, the longer he ignores your feelings, you begin to doubt you will ever see them fulfilled.

Maybe you should end this now before it’s too late.

You don’t stay for breakfast the next morning, simply kiss him goodbye at the door like always. He’s older than you, about two years, so he doesn’t go to school anymore, just chills at home all weekend. “I’ll see you soon?” he grins, low-lidded eyes tracking the movement of your mouth as you bid him adieu. You never give him a solid response, figure a guy like Jimin will forget about you soon enough.

Then, suddenly, it’s been two weeks and he doesn’t reach out. Yeah it hurts, but it’s better than having confessed to him and losing him all at once. You’d rather this ending than the one where he terribly rejects you, breaks your heart into a million pieces, and throws you away. Still, it hurts.

Jimin was so cool. He was smart and confident, had a snappy sort of attitude that he liked to use now and then. He could be mean in bed, lick your cunt until you cried and call you a stupid girl when he wanted to. But that same tongue had snapped at a guy who was trying to pressure you into bed with him at a party. That first night you met, where you had sillily followed him home after his dashing intervention, you had thought it would be nothing more. Just a fling, just a fuck.

But then he was in your bed and in your head, twinkling eyes and cocky grin trailing after you everyday. He was so pretty and so suave, made you feel good even when he was being mean. But you suppose most cocky men like Jimin are like that. They know they don’t disappoint, even when they’re not really trying.

Jimin doesn’t call or text. You don’t see his car pull up outside your campus anymore. He’s gone and that’s that. You cry a little (see: a lot) and pretend you’re over him. You definitely don’t think about his soft laughter or his hands on your chest. Nope.

So that ends.

Or so you think.

Your friends say you’re mopey and sad, too down for someone who wasn’t even your boyfriend. It’s true, which sucks, but they honor your admittance by taking you out to a bar that night. It’s supposed to be chill and relaxing, just some drinks with the girls to soothe your aching heart. But the name of the bar reminds you of something, of someone you can’t reach anymore, and you don’t even know why. You’ve never been here before, never even knew this place existed. But everything about it brings you back to Jimin, like you’re in his space now, and you’re unsure why.

It reminds you of his laugh, his smile, to the point you swear you can hear it, right beside you, down the bar, to your left—

He waves.

There’s this look he used to give you every time he picked you up from your last class, this mix between adoration and lust that made your skin tingle with excitement. It’s not there now, in fact, it’s replaced with the complete opposite. It’s, like, the meanest look he can muster, something akin to a scowl. He smiles, but it’s so plastic-y and fake, it makes your head hurt. He’s so obviously unimpressed with you, probably because you ghosted him before he could ghost you. Maybe his pride is hurt and looking at you grosses him out. Maybe he just hates you.

Either way, eleven pm rolls around and you’re crying in the bathroom. Your friends are out on the floor having fun and singing karaoke. They think you’ve gone inside because you got your period, because that’s what you’ve told them. You don’t know how to explain that your ex who isn’t really your ex is out there looking at you like you’re a piece of gum stuck under his shoe. They’ve never even met Jimin. Why? Because he wasn’t your boyfriend. Who meets their friend’s fuck buddy? No one.

You sniffle, press a balled up tissue against your eyes in a feeble attempt to save your makeup. The bar isn’t that small, but neither is it huge. There’s only a few bathrooms in the back, and you’ve been hogging one of them for some time now. Someone knocks on the door, and you don’t even get the chance to ward them off before the crappy knob jingles and the door bursts open.

“Come on,” he grumbles, “you’re not the only one who’s gotta piss—“

He pauses, meets your eye through the mirror in surprise. “I’m sorry,” you blubber, hurriedly washing your hands in an effort to avoid his gaze. Jimin lingers at the door, which has long since fallen shut, and watches you with the eyes of a hawk. Your hands tremble and shake, fumble over the towel dispenser three times before you’re hastily making your escape. “Sorry,” you mutter again, head downcast as you move around him for the door.

Just as it cracks open, the music from outside filtering in, he slams it shut with a flat palm. You flinch, close in on yourself as he steps behind you. “What’re you doing here, doll?” he murmurs, deep yet careful. Tentative. “You don’t like bars.”

You know you don’t like bars. You didn’t know he knew that. “I’m with some friends,” you explain, jump when a hand touches your shoulder. “I— I’ll leave soon.”

A second attempt for the door is thwarted by Jimin. “Don’t,” he startles, breath heavy against your ear. “Don’t leave again…” he sighs, forehead against your shoulder. And then, quietly, “why did you leave me?”

Your heart syncs up with the music outside, thunders in your ears as you purse your lips. You don’t want to talk about it now, don’t want to confess to these emotions that drown you. Especially not when he’ll never understand nor will he ever care. It’s best to leave it as is, you convince yourself, slowly shrugging him off.

��We don’t want the same things,” you reply, eyes burning with the need to cry like a baby. But it’ll weaken your argument, make you look like the sentimental girl you know he won’t like. “It wouldn’t work anyway.”

The hand on your shoulder jerks you around, makes a gasp catch in your throat when he crowds you against the door. He’s got that same glare on from before, the one he had sent you across the bar earlier, and it makes your lower lip tremble when it’s this close. “You never asked me what I wanted,” he hisses.

It is then that you realize it isn't anger or disgust, but frustration that paints his features. It’s pure, unadulterated confusion and distress on his pretty face, furrowed brows and narrowed eyes pointed your way. You don’t know what it means, don’t know what he wants. “I,” you choke, weakly covering your face with your hand before he can see you crumble. “I just wanted you.”

Jimin deflates, steps closer until his body is pressed against yours, hands on your shoulders. “And you have me, doll,” he murmurs, bumps his nose against yours. “Always have.”

You shake your head, choke on a sob that bubbles up your throat. “No, not like that,” you stress, losing yourself in the emotions you spent so much time bottling up. “I wanted more.”

Jimin shushes you, guides your head into the crook of his neck where you paint his skin in dark mascara tears. “Is this about the date?” he sighs, patting your head gently.

“It’s more than just the date,” you cry, fists curling into the material of his shirt until it rumples beyond repair. He doesn’t understand.

Jimin nods, let’s you cry and sob until you’re feeling better and someone else is pounding at the door, yelling at you two to get a proper room. You don’t want a room, you only want his heart. 

He takes you home again, helps you out of your shoes at the door because you’re still sensitive and quiver like a leaf when you walk. His bedroom is familiar, smells like him and his detergent. You miss it so much, want to savor it once more. Something in your gut says this is the last time, this is just Jimin getting one last fuck out of you before he really abandons you.

So you cry when he sits down on the edge of the bed. He hasn’t even said anything, hasn’t even taken his socks off yet, but you’re already a mess.

And of course he’s there to catch you, tugs you between his legs to look up at you as if you’ve hung the stars in the sky. “Don’t cry,” he whispers, reaching up to brush away your tears. But it’s not your fault that he looks like that right before he’s going to break your heart.

He’s so cool, even when you’re falling apart in his hands. “You don’t want me,” you sniffle, let him guide you onto his lap. “You just want to fuck and that’s it.”

Jimin leans his forehead against yours, warm breath washing over your skin. “I never said that,” he murmurs. “We’ve been over this.”

You huff. “Well you never said you did either,” you snap, rubbing at your eyes.

You cry and cry some more, until your sobs subside and you’re left with the hiccups afterwards. Jimin maneuvers you beside him, lets your hair spill across the sheets as he lays you down. They smell just like him, make your head spin when he kisses your cheek softly. “I want you,” he confesses. “I want this.”

You shake your head vehemently. “No, you don’t,” you sniff, but you’re not so sure. It’s what you’ve been telling yourself for the longest. Hearing him say otherwise sounds weird, even if he’s saying what you want to hear. “You don’t.”

Jimin catches your hand in his, pins it to the mattress. “I want you to be mine,” he adds, swallows your cries of denial with his lips. He kisses softly, and for the first time, it feels like he’s paying attention to you. Not your body or your lust, but your heart. “Had me feeling like shit when you didn’t come back. Like I lost something big.”

You still cry when he kisses down your neck, over your chest. His hands pull your clothes off, carefully like you’re a present for him to unwrap. Those plush lips you love so much drown you in kisses, over your tummy and your mound, until they’re buried between your cunt. “You’re mine,” he husks out, hand entwined with yours.

His eyes are dark from down there, long lashes blinking up at you as he dips his tongue in the places you crave him most. It brings you to a shuddering end, has you whimpering his name into the empty air until your toes are curling and you’re coming against his mouth. Jimin has never shied away from you, and doesn’t know, sits up with a hazy look in his eyes as he wipes his face with the back of his hand.

Jimin wastes no time undressing, pushes off that sexy jacket until his lithe body is coming into view, thick thighs and lean abdomen. He slides right into you, holds your knees to your chest as he fucks you like never before. It’s slow and sensual, makes you shiver when he says your name in that low register of his. “Don’t leave again,” he whimpers, cock throbbing between your walls. He’s desperate today, ruts like you’ll slip right between his fingertips. It’s funny because you're the same way, clinging onto his shoulders until you’re practically glued together.

You come and so does Jimin. He pants against your ear, feels so warm and heavy on top of you. He doesn’t say much more that night, just plays with your hair. But he asks you on a date, mentions something about a carnival. “Yes,” you respond right away, because, well.

Jimin was dreamy. Maybe he’d be a good boyfriend.

Copyright © 2020, 1kook on tumblr. absolutely NO reposts allowed.

[waywardnewcomer]

We’ll Always Be More Than a Cast

A/N: I was watching Lemonade Mouth earlier while I was coughing my lungs out with corona and this was born. It’s cheesy but I honestly don’t care. There’s a lot of ideas in my fever dream head that I’m writing down, but I would also love some requests for marvel fics or supernatural. Both RPF and characters, an update of BIBF will be coming soon. Marvel tags anyone?

Summary: Y/N is struggling, and the cast sing her a song at karaoke to cheer her up.

Warnings: Mentions of death, some sadness and a whole lot of fluff.

Pairings: Reader x Platonic!Marvel Cast

Song: We’ll Always Be More Than a Band by Lemonade Mouth.

Word Count: 1.7k

Masterlist

You had only been in one MCU movie so far, and it was such a minor role you were extremely surprised when they asked you back for Civil War and that they wanted it to be a bigger role. You felt a bit intimidated being around people like Robert Downey Jr and Jeremy Renner who you looked up to immensely. It took you 2 months to get used to your castmates on The Winter Soldier, and during the press tour, you became fast friends with them all.

Being back on set and having everyone talking about how they missed their family really bummed you out. Your parents had died almost 3 years ago, and you had no other family. You were alone in the world and it was hard. You often excused yourself from conversations, went back to your trailer and cried. Being around your parent’s death anniversary things were always hard but it wasn’t something you talked about, you kept it all bottled up.

It wasn’t until Chris mentioned his nephew and Scarlett mentioned her daughter and Sebastian mentioned his parents and how they had spent their Christmas and New Year that you got upset. It made you remember your sad lonely Christmas in your apartment eating frozen pizza for dinner and drinking a lot of wine, singing carols to yourself. New years didn’t go much different. Everyone was in their own homes with their own family and friends. You kept yourself to yourself and didn’t have many friends as you had moved to New York recently.

“Sorry I left something in my trailer, I’ll meet you guys on set.” You gave a small smile and ducked from the conversation and headed to your trailer.

As soon as the door shut behind you, you let the tears flow and flopped on the couch looking at the picture of your parents on the side table. Fuck, you needed to get a hold on yourself if you were going to get through this movie.

“Well that was weird,” Scarlett commented as you left them stood outside of the craft tent, making Chris nod with a concerned look on his face.

“I’ll go speak to her, maybe something happened over Christmas?” Seb suggested quietly.

“No, you two have a fight scene to prepare for, I’ll go, I’ll text you if I need you,” Scarlett smiled at them softly and headed over to your trailer.

When she reached for your door to knock, she heard soft whimpering coming from inside your trailer. It shocked her, you’d always seemed so happy go lucky and none of them had ever seen you cry. Fuck it she thought as she grabbed your door handle and opened it, rushing into your trailer without warning.

“Oh hon,” Scarlett whispered to you as she saw your red, puffy face looking up at her in shock. “I’m here now, try to calm down.”

Scarlett took you in her arms and rubbed her hand up and down your back as you hiccupped through your sobs. You were completely embarrassed she had to see you this way.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to be a burden for you. Please leave if you’re uncomfortable.” You mumbled to her, looking at her through your eyelashes apologetically.

“Y/N, you would never be a burden to any of us. What’s wrong? Did something happen over Christmas? Was it your family?”

“I don’t have a family,” You mumbled, more tears running down your cheeks as you looked at her shocked face.

“What do you mean? Where did you go for Christmas? New Years?” She asked almost frightened of the answer.

“My parents died almost 3 years ago, and I have no other family. Only children, their parents are dead. I’m alone. I spent it in my apartment,” You smiled sadly at her sad face.

“Y/N you should have said something, you could have come to any of our houses! You’re always welcome,” Scarlett muttered hugging you once more. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You’re all big famous actors and I’m a nobody. I’m new to the whole business, I needed to navigate it myself. I’m always going to be alone in this world I need to get used to it.” You mumbled, tearing your eyes away from hers and looking at the picture of your parents.

“Y/N were still humans, and most importantly we’re still your friends, and now we’re a big family. You’re never going to be alone again I promise.”

“You don’t have to do that for me,” You mumbled softly.

“I know, but I want to. We care about you, obviously I can’t speak for the whole cast, but I can definitely speak for Evans, Stan and Mackie. Everyone else will be the exact same once you get to know them, we’re all a big happy dysfunctional family.” Scarlett smiled at you.

“Thank you, you’ll never know how much it means to me.” You whispered softly.

“Now we need to get you cheered up girly,” Scarlett smiled at you, changing the conversation which you were glad for. “Get changed, we’re having a night on the town.”

“But we have scenes to film, it’s meant to be a late one.” You said confused, knowing your call sheet ended at 2am and it was only 7:30pm.

“I’ll take care of that one. Like you said I’m a big famous actress, I can easily manipulate producers.” She smirked at you and winked making you laugh. “Get ready, I’ll be back for you in an hour.”

Once you’d had a shower, put some makeup on and into a party dress and heels you felt a lot more like yourself. You needed a night out to let loose, spend time with some friends and get to know your cast members and new friends.

“You ready?” You heard Scarlett call from around your trailer door.

You grabbed your bag and went to meet her, seeing Chris, Seb and Anthony stood at the bottom of your trailer steps.

“What are you doing here?” You asked softly smiling.

“We heard you needed cheering up, and Mackie is one of the funniest guys we know.” Chris laughed and pulled you into a hug.

“You guys didn’t have to do this you know.” You smiled as you hugged Seb and Anthony.

“But we wanted to, we all need a night out. The Russo’s can worry about scenes and that shit later,” Mackie laughed and squeezed your shoulder.

“Where are we going?” You asked them as they all smirked at you. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Karaoke time baby!” Seb shouted making you laugh as you were dragged into the car.

“I hope you all know I will not be singing until I get very very drunk.” You laughed softly, taking a sip of your cocktail you had been handed by Scarlett when you got in.

“That’s fine we have a song prepared first.” Chris smirked and smiled at you making you cock an eyebrow.

“You mean you’re having a band performance without me? Leaving me to sit here all alone?” You asked feigning shock.

“Well not all alone.” You heard a voice say behind you making you turn to face Jeremy Renner, RDJ and Paul Rudd.

“What are you guys doing here?” You asked hugging them all, clearly partly tipsy.

“We heard one of our family members needed us. It’s about time we got to know you properly.” Robert smiled at you, making you gush.

“That’s our queue,” You heard Seb say as the music changed and jumped up with Chris, Anthony and Scarlett onto the stage next to your table.

“This one’s for Y/N to prove to her she’ll always have a family with us.” Scarlett smiled at you making you tear up as you realised what song it was.

----------------- Scarlett, One of the boys, All of them, Y/N.----------------------

“I can’t pretend to know you feel, but know that I’m here and know that I’m real

Say what you want or don’t talk at all

I’m not gonna let you fall.” Scarlett and Sebastian sang.

“Reach for my hand ‘cause it’s held out for you. My shoulders are small, but you can cry on them too.

Everything changes but one thing is true, understand

We’ll always be more than a cast.” Scarlett and Chris sang with the others joining in for the last line of the chorus.

“You used to brave the world all on your own

Now we won’t let you go, go it alone

Be who you wanna be, always stand tall. I’m not gonna let you fall.” Mackie started the verse, the others joined in and Scarlett lead it into the chorus making you tear up.

“Reach for my hand ‘cause it’s held out for you. My shoulders are small, but you can cry on them too.

Everything changes but one thing is true, understand

We’ll always be more than a cast.” They sang once again, pointing at you and Chris reached his hand out for you to take.

“I never knew you could take me so far. I’ve always wanted the home that you are. The ones I need.” You sang taking Chris’ outstretched hand and stepping onto the stage, the other men behind you following suit as you all sang the last chorus with tears in your eyes.

“Reach for my hand ‘cause it’s held out for you. My shoulders are small, but you can cry on them too.

Everything changes but one thing is true, understand

We’ll always be more than a cast.” You all sang together.

“Reach for my hand ‘cause it’s held out for you. My shoulders are small, but you can cry on them too.

Everything changes but one thing is true, understand

We’ll always be more than a cast.” Scarlett sang softly, taking you into a side hug and swaying with you. She looked into your eyes during the last line and at the tears dripping down your face, wiping them softly.

You hugged all of your cast mates in a group hug as people cheered around you in the club.

“I’m so lucky to have all of you,” You mumbled into the circle, embracing the warmth it gave you. You finally had a family once more.

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[maybeacrowdedmind]

My Top Seven Favorite Musical Moments In Shows That Aren't Musically Driven* and why (in no particular order)**

*By not musically driven I mean shows that do not have plots driven by music (i.e. Glee, Smash, etc. etc.)

**I know I said top seven, but I just mean out of the many I have seen, these seven are the ones I like the most.

Note: None of the images used are mine; they belong to various internet gods.

#1

Legacies Season 1 Episode 11: We're Gonna Need a Spotlight

Kaleb and the Vampire faction singing "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone at the Salvatore School talent show.

While the entirety of the talent show was amazing (Kaylee Bryant's singing voice, Raf's slightly awkward yet still appropriately dramatic poetry), it was Kaleb and the vampires who stole the show. Chris Lee has an incredible voice and his rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" was stunning, both visually and vocally. I'm also a great lover of epic dance moves, so it was no contest.

#2

Gilmore Girls Season 7 Episode 20: Lorelai? Lorelai?

Lorelai singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton originally (Whitney Houston covered) at Stars Hollow karaoke to Luke, despite beginning the song as a dedication to Rory.

Lorelai and Luke may be broken up, but Lorelai's beautiful (and slightly alcohol-fueled) version of Dolly Parton's kind of cheesy yet nonetheless tender "if you love someone, set them free" ballad that was later made into an iconic cover by Whitney Houston was proof that they'd never really be over. Sure, she says she's singing it to Rory, but the moment Luke walks in and they lock eyes, everyone knows. Lauren Graham also has a good voice, and the emotion that comes through is so real, a cheesy karaoke moment becomes a heartfelt cheesy karaoke moment.

#3

Everything's Gonna Be Okay Season 1 Episode 5: West African Giant Black Millipedes

Nicholas doing a drag queen routine to Thelma Houston's disco hit "Don't Leave Me This Way" for Alex and his friends.

Okay, so I love this scene so much, because not only is it done to an incredibly fun song, it also showcases Nicholas doing something so utterly entertaining for Alex and a bunch of people he was nervous about meeting. The fact that just a few days before watching this episode I had watched an episode of Ru Paul's Drag Race where two queens had to lip sync for their lives to the very same song made the scene that much more enjoyable to watch. Nicholas looks amazing, his dance moves are to die for, and his lip syncing game is strong. I also appreciated the fact that when he did this scene, Josh Thomas committed to it. The scene is done in full, not going for a bit and then fading out before we get to see the end. Also, I know that Nicholas isn't technically singing, but it still totally counts.

#4

The Magicians Season 1 Episode 4: The World in the Walls

Quentin starting up a group sing-along to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" to get Penny's attention in the mental hospital while under Julia and Marina's spell.

I just started watching this show after having read the first two books, and this scene was HILARIOUS! I loved that the show used a random interaction between Quentin and Penny from a previous episode and turned it into something more because usually shows ignore one-off interactions between characters. Also, Quentin singing off-key at the top of his lungs with everyone else joining in and dancing while Penny suddenly hears it in the real world was so funny and a huge break in an otherwise extremely dramatic and rather dark episode.

#5

Skam Season 2 Episode 3: Er det noe du skjuler for oss? (Are You Hiding Someone From Us?)

Noora singing Extreme's "More Than Words" on William's guitar, initially doing so to make fun of him, but quickly turning into a super sweet and romantic moment between the two.

Skam is another show I started watching recently, and Noora quickly became one of my favorite characters. Now, I'll admit, I wasn't too fond of the idea of William and Noora at first, but this scene changed my mind immediately. I'm also very into the whole "enemies to lovers" thing these two have with one another. All of the songs Noora sings in this scene are good, but "More Than Words" is the one where you really begin to see that William's feelings for Noora are not as one-sided as she says they are. Josefine Frida Petterson, who plays Noora, has an absolutely beautiful voice, and the vocalization and soft musicality throughout are stunning. This is one of my favorite scenes in this show to date, and everything about it was perfect.

#6

New Girl Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot

Coach, Schmidt, and Nick singing "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes from Dirty Dancing to Jess, who eventually joins in, after her date stands her up.

Poor Jess had just broken up with her boyfriend, moved into an apartment with three guys who have little to know emotional know-how when it comes to women, and had her first date since her breakup stand her up at a fancy restaurant. The situation was made worse by the fact that she was told to give up her table. When the boys showed up and claimed to be her boyfriends, it was sweet, but the moment they began singing "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life", they showed that they really did care about her. What makes this scene so funny is the fact that Nick (who begins it) and Coach (who joins in after Nick elbows him) don't really know the words, they're both singing different parts in different tunes at different volumes, and then Schmidt (who initially says he's not singing), comes out of nowhere belting the song with the correct words and tune. Then Jess joins in and they have a great time until the restaurant makes them leave. They head back to the apartment, watch Dirty Dancing, and show that any problem can be solved with good friends and 80s movies.

#7

Angel Season 2 Episode 11: Redefinition

Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn sing "We Are The Champions" by Queen at Caritas after Angel fires them.

Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn had just been fired by Angel so he could kill Darla and Drusilla without their interference and the trio was at a loss for what to do next. Angel Investigations was disbanded, and none of them had any clue what to do about it. Their solution? Terribly sing Queen's "We Are The Champions" at Lorne's bar Caritas and drown their sorrows. While an extremely short scene, Cordy, Wes, and Gunn's reaction to being fired was super relatable, and you can never go wrong with Queen. They also have three very different personalities; Cordelia is snarky, has a lot of wit, and tends to be rather superficial, but she has so much heart beneath the surface, Wesley is a stuffy English professor type, and being a former Watcher means he couldn't be hip and cool if he tried, and Gunn is a hardened vampire hunter with a strong resolution and loyal to the core, who was still relatively new to the group when Angel gave them the boot. As such, seeing them all be together with arms around shoulders singing their hearts out was immensely fun to see.

Honorable Mentions:

Legacies: Alaric singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" terribly off-key before Kaleb and Cleo swooped in and saved the day with their improvised song.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Giles Singing "Free Bird" while playing his guitar in his home.

How I Met Your Mother: Lily and Marshall singing "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" at karaoke, effectively making up after Marshall accepts a corporate job rather than one that fits his morals.

[coll2mitts]

#78 8 Women (8 Femmes) (2002)

Prepare yourself for a good, old-fashioned murder mystery with 8 Femmes: All the different ways a woman can screw over a man.

This movie is an adaptation of a 1950s French play by Robert Thomas, and is spiritually equivalent to a sitcom bottle episode.  The head of the household, Marcel, is killed in his sleep during a snowstorm so horrific that all means of escape have been eliminated, and calling for help is useless.  Now the eight most important women in his life are tasked with the responsibility of deducing which one of them is a murderer.

Is it his invalid mother-in-law who recently moved into the house to be cared for?  

Or his high-strung, hypochondriac, sister-in-law Augustine, who is overly concerned with everyone else’s actions?

Is it his fabulously dressed wife, Gaby, who strides to maintain a high level of wealth and decorum?

Maybe it’s Chanel, the housekeeper who has dutifully served the family for years, but has a secret gambling problem?

Or Louise, a recently hired young sexpot with a mysterious past?

It might be Catherine, his youngest daughter, who always has her nose in a book?  Or perhaps his eldest daughter Suzon, who has recently returned from school for Christmas break several pounds heavier, but suspiciously vocal on how she’s maintained excellent grades?

Or perhaps is it his estranged sex-worker sister who is always asking for money?

As the story unfolds, the layers of these women are peeled back like onions.  Their relationships with each other and Marcel eventually reveal themselves, as well as their personal motivations for his untimely demise.

I won’t divulge details of the plot, because I don’t want to spoil it.  I think everyone should watch this movie and bask in its luxurious glory.  The women start off as allies, but as time progresses, their behavior becomes increasingly unhinged.  Even when their actions were abhorrent, I still rooted for them because the women in this movie are unbelievably charismatic and captivating actresses.  Catherine Deneuve’s glamour just seeped out of her pores.  The way she wears clothes gives me the yearning of a child wanting to put on their mother’s coat and shoes and prance around the house.  Isabelle Huppert’s facial ticks and loud, sharp outbursts that cut her otherwise restrained persona were absolutely hilarious.  Both Fanny Ardant and Emmanuelle Béart made me feel hot underneath the collar due to their effortless antagonization of Gaby.  Virginie Ledoyen and Ludivine Sagnier made me annoyed with their characters in similar ways - Virginie with the feigned doe-eyed innocence of someone who is hiding a secret, and Ludivine as the whiny, outspoken younger sister who thinks she knows everything but knows nothing.  Firmine Richard’s performance was both hilarious and heartbreaking, balancing the loneliness of feeling ostracized by the family she’s supported for years, but trying her best to stay out of the way and let these crazy ladies tear each other down.  And last but not least, Danielle Darrieux’s exasperated reactions to everything that happens and everything she was accused of consistently cracked me up.

The songs in this musical are delightful, and didn’t feel out-of-place in an otherwise straightforward murder mystery.  However, they are not original to the film, making this a dreaded jukebox musical.  I was unfamiliar with the songs outside of the context of the movie, which made it easy to associate them with parts of the plot.  Each woman has their own musical style that fits their character, and when their motivations were called into question, they burst into song to address it.  The actresses all have fairly good singing voices, but what surprised me was how uncomfortable they looked during their musical performances. 

I’m fairly certain they didn’t rehearse the choreography much, as I noticed several of the actresses looking at each other for their next dance move.  Virginie Ledoyen was the biggest culprit of this, with Catherine Deneuve as a close second, which really, really bummed me out.  She is explosive while she’s acting, but you can kind of see the thoughts running through her head every time she had to move.  

In a similar vein, I really didn’t buy that Pierrette was an exotic dancer, because although Fanny Ardant perfectly embodied the sultry seductress, during her musical number she reminded me of a drunk aunt singing karaoke.  When I think of burlesque, I think of Dita Von Teese, where clothes melt off of her like a magician’s sleight-of-hand card trick, not the strong and brazen removal of articles of clothing in this number.

I don’t think these performances needed to be handled by musical theatre veterans, but maybe another day of rehearsals (or perhaps some liquid courage?) might have served them a little better.  Not to put it all on the actresses, either, the choreography isn’t all that elegant to begin with.  I’m just saying, when I was watching the musical numbers, I kept wondering if the actresses were reluctant to really lean into them because they were afraid to screw it up, or if they hadn’t had enough time to memorize the movements where they felt comfortable enough to make them their own.  Based on the behind the scenes stuff I was able to watch, I’m leaning toward the latter.  It’s a bad sign when the choreographer has to dance with them behind the camera to remind them of what they’re supposed to be doing.

I had to purchase 8 Women on DVD for $10 because I couldn’t find it anywhere online with English subtitles, and despite my nitpicky quips, this film was worth the price of admission.  I was along for the ride the entire time, and aside from the shocking ending that I think tried to venerate a dude who absolutely deserved to die, the story was interesting and captivating.  If a campy and emotional whodunit story interspersed with musical respites sounds like your cup of tea, this is absolutely a must-see.

[notasdriedapricots]

The Tender Trap: The Origin Story

This is just pretty much a disclaimer for the disaster that’s coming.

I TALK A LOT OMG HOW DID YOU KNOW? Here's a TL;DR: -The Tender Trap is canon as shit, because I never intended to write a fic, and much less to publish it, but one thing lead to the other and I ended up kinda liking it. I love them so much. There's quite a lot added to it, but there's still a fair bit of the original thing in there, because again, that was the original goal. -However, if you think there's too much still there, let me know! I think I've modified it enough, but that's only my opinion. -If you catch technical mistakes, grammatical errors, weird vocabulary... let me know! English is my second language. -There's an after-villa sequel in the oven that has more angst (the game doesn't leave much space for that) and honestly is more fun. Or at least I've been having so much fun with it. I have to finish it first, though. I might hate it by the end, but we'll see. -Funny story: It was untitled for months. The day I randomly found a title while listening to Ella Fitzgerald, I kinda decided to 'fuck it, just upload it somewhere'. And so here we are. That was literally yesterday. -The first real chapter will likely be posted on AO3 on Thursday/Friday, depending on how much longer I keep messing with it :D

800 words of me rambling under the cut. How annoying is that.

I transcribed the whole goddamned game. In past tense instead of present, mind you. As one of the most popular memes in my country preaches: Why? There is no 'why'?

Well, there is. Just for clarification, that transcription is not what I will be posting. I'm not that dumb. No, I wanted to add nuances to the story without altering it, so I used what the game gives us as the skeleton. I wanted to see if I could make nonsense dialogue and the whole amnesia deal make sense by turning it into inside jokes, sarcasm, and anxiety. (Prosody is a wonderful thing). I tried my best to not contradict what has been explicitly said, regardless of how. much. I. wanted. to. change. it. That was the challenge, to reframe it so it made sense. Did it interfere with the 'creative process'? Nah, it was pretty fun, and I work well with a structure in place. The post-villa thing is way freer and oh god it's so over the place I have to put some order to that I don't even know where it's going but I found out I love writing domestic shit and I LoVe Lucas' mother.

This idea lead up to extending some scenes, adding others I felt were missing, composing internal monologues... And I ended up writing fiction again after like ten years. Which is not a "take it easy on me" card, by the way. Be ruthless, I can take it, mainly because I did this just for fun. I know I'm rusty, what's new? I know it mainly shows in the first chapters because the game forces a pace that's too fast and too slow at the same damn time and there's only so much my brain can do. I might rewrite them at some point, who knows. Also English is not my first language, so I can only hope there's something that sounds hilarious in there somewhere that you can point out so we can laugh about it. Let me know! I've loved this language since I was three, I want to use it properly. Also punctuation is sometimes different (commas and the necessity of explicit pronouns in English are a pain in the ass compared to Spanish) so you're welcome to correct that as well if you catch a mistake. So I don't intend to put myself at the same level as some of the fantastic writers in this fandom; you keep writing art, I'm just here for shits and giggles, and because this was insanely fun for me.

But going back. I started getting sidetracked, as I tend to do when I write, as you can see, so I had to get the scissors and cut those parts that weren't adding much to the main plot (telling Gary to apologize to Marisol is very nice but this chapter is already over 8000 words long, SIR) to make room for other parts that needed more depth, so amongst other things we have the emotional breakdown and apology we deserve after CA (or at least one that makes me feel bad, I don't know) and a lot of chats so these two actually get to, you know, know each other? Oh, and smut, ejem. Yeah. That.

In between I wrote half the after-villa sequel, canons for Liz, headcanons for Lucas, (head)canons for them together, pages and pages of questions and answers from both of them, fashion headcanons, families and exes, best friends; I put together pinterest folders with pictures of so (so) many people, clothes, apartments; I even wrote a musical episode where Liz has a karaoke battle with her ex in a jazz joint that's one of my favourite things because the songs are just *chef's kiss* I mean, Liz singing 'Cry me a river' is so cathartic... Anyway I started adding shit, mostly thoughts, to the game's dialogue, and it ended up in this abomination that never intended to be anything but fun. I'm not particularly proud of the first couple chapters because the cut/don't cut thing looking at the wordcount, trying to decide if I butchered the original dialogue, reduced it to a general paragraph, or pretend the scene never happened, all while having a chapter that was too short to split into two (or that would have one of them containing too little new stuff) but so long to be just one... was painful. I'm still dealing with that as I tweak the next chapters, but as soon as I have a somewhat definitive word/chapter count, I'll let you know. Just know that it's long, so do with that what you will.

SO, welcome. Take a seat, help yourself to a drink, and stay for as long as you like. When I got into this I went to the ball, so now I'm just dancing.

[buddha-in-disguise]

I have so much to unpack from last night's Supergirl episode. Since it ends at 3am UK time, I often tweet a little before I finally fall asleep. But it is now midday, so here goes on further thoughts on it all. I know this is going to be pretty rambling but I hope it makes sense.

First. Up until this half of the season, not only did Supergirl consistently trend in the UK, so did other words associated with it, most notably Kara and Lena.

Since 5B began, the trending has failed to materialise in the UK. The hiatus of two those blocks almost immediately on top of each other hasn't helped, but it is still a salient point.

Now for the rest. I'm not even sure where to start, but I will try my best.

The opening scenes in the bar.

No Nia. No Kelly. Where were they? Nothing was even mentioned. It wouldn't have taken much to have Alex say if Kelly was working, or running late. Anything. Hell, they had Kelly/Dansen and Nia meet up in a bar scenario in 5A. Why suddenly are they not there? They wouldn't necessarily need dialogue (I mean, Kelly has barely had any since Crisis anyway, so what's new?)

Yet in walks William and suddenly Alex is teasing Kara about inviting him. Winn is also there saying, hey it's okay. You barely know the guy, you had a shitty relationship beforehand, but go ahead, date the dude.

We had a prime opportunity for the Danver sisters to do karaoke together. Instead it was with William. At the expense of sister time (so many would’ve loved the sisters singing together).

So much here is wrong for me as a viewer.

If you have a show about female empowerment, yet the lead of that show is having to be told by others that dating a guy she has barely shared any positive moments with, let alone any romantic feelings for beyond a really awkward moment the episode before; that is not empowering a woman.

All too often Supergirl (as the lead in the show) is looking at dating, but not being capable of making her own romantic choices without the interference from others around her.

The only one I can think of who didn't need that was S1 James and to some degree Adam. Kara showed interest, but ultimately made the decisions on her own. Kara also recognised that with Winn, they were better off as friends. Yet S2 began and inexplicably Kara and James had broken up, and the need for Kara to get told to go for it by others began.

Mon-El was extremely problematic. As is William. Both were allowed to lie, to treat women like garbage at times with immunity. Yet here is another double standard. Kara and the Superfriends lied to Lena for 3 years, yet Lena is a bad person for reacting. I will repeat what has been said I don't know how often about Lena's reaction. It isn't without issue in how she is dealing with it. She isn't evil, but she has handled it badly. Her own emotional trauma, that was partly unpacked in 5A helps though explain why she behaved as she has.Yet, Mon-El faced no consequences for his actions. William can be a complete nightmare in how he treated Kara in 5A, but all is suddenly forgotten about or forgiven because of the reset? That is a cop out if ever there was one.

This hypocrisy is what annoys me the most, and frankly it is misogynistic all too often.

I actually pity any woman who believes it is okay for a man to behave as many do towards Kara. The message it sends is awful. I know the men in my family would be horrified by the actions of these love interests. I know of some men watching the show who feel the same way.

As for Lena and Kara. The trauma both have faced has shaped them. Yet Kara appears unaffected by losing her world a second time when Earth 38 was destroyed. On losing Argo. Sure they got it back, but as a changed merged World. You expect us to believe having to watch an antimatter wave destroy those you love has no effect? That being trapped for months with only the other paragons and Lex didn't cause trauma, even with a positive outcome. That seeing Krypton destroyed the first time wasn’t traumatic enough. That’s not something that just goes away. Add in losing Jeremiah, losing Astra (again), the trauma Supergirl must face when she can’t rescue everyone, that has a lifelong impact.

Lena has shown her emotional trauma has also been lifelong, albeit in a different way. To dismiss the emotional abuse Lena has suffered to attack her actions now is pitiful. Winn even suggests to Kara, that in the future, Lena does come through this, and isn't evil personified some want to make her out to be.

Yet Mon-El gets excused, William gets excused. Ugh. I’m sick of the double standard.

So, let’s unpack this further. Kelly Olsen was in the military. She wasn't just trained, but had an active role in the army. She recounted an event at a checkpoint where she was serving in S4. So she had active service, and it was in that moment when Kelly decided she wanted to help others more.

Kelly also knows the stress of keeping an important part of your life secret. She then also fell in love with a woman, someone who was her Sergeant, who was then killed on patrol (another reason we know Kelly was on active duty). It devastated Kelly who hadn't even told James of her relationship.

Later, upon completing her service, Kelly became a psychologist specialising in trauma.

Nia is also someone facing problems. Not only did her becoming Dreamer lead to discord with her sister, as well as the tragic loss of her mother, she has problems with Brainy. Nia offered to be there for Kelly when she was upset over watching Alex get hurt, but we saw nothing to suggest they had a heart to heart. Azie posted something that suggested they filmed a scene that did this, but it never made it on the final edit. Instead, once again we had William taking screen time.

So anyway, the point of all this is: guess who is placed to actively help Lena and/or Kara with the problems?

Kelly. Who apparently doesn't know Kara is Supergirl yet. So while Kara wonders if she should tell William, she could have the exact same conversations with Alex, only substitute Kelly for William. Overall, the plot could easily be maintained, and the established cast get good solid and plausible screen time. She could even talk to Nia about it, yet doesn't.

Another thing I find hard to understand is why haven't they used the link of Kelly, working at Obsidian North, where they could establish the Leviathan link.

If Lex has made the connection to Leviathan, you are telling me, even without Brainy helping them, Alex, Nia, J'onn and Kara haven't made the same connection? C'mon. Two investigative journalists, one who has won the Pulitzer, two DEO trained agents, and if Kelly was brought in, someone military trained; aren't able to make the connections? J'onn has all those computer banks in the tower, and while none of them are Brainy or Winn, he can't use said computing power? Why bother having it, if they are only props in the background. They could even ask Lena to help, since she has shown willingness to work with them if the reasoning was good enough. Leviathan is someone she knows (after all, Lena could have her memories returned by J’onn too). She knows the danger Leviathan poses. She could use the leverage to still get the lens from Obsidian in a similar way to now, but through Kelly if needed.

Actually, if they are using the tower, how does J’onn afford to pay for all this? I can only assume being as old as he is, he made some great investments over time, allowing him to be independently wealthy? But again nothing really suggests this.

Oh as for Alex leaving the DEO, great. After all, she was the Director but hasn’t been able to lead the DEO in all that time. Let alone some of the morally grey areas the DEO skirted around all too often. Still, where will she get her income from? Does she get paid as part of J’onn’s PI firm? Kara barely makes rent and food costs (at least she says her apartment is rent controlled so wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise), so no way can she afford to help Alex out financially. Kelly might be able to support her, but again I cannot imagine it would be sustainable.

I feel like banging my head against a brick wall.

Onto Nia. I've said this a few times now, but here I go again. Back to William. I get the reason he came along in regards to Russell and so the Andrea connection. That story made sense. What hasn't made sense - William being used as a journalist, when Nia is right there! Nia has barely had any screen time, and virtually none as a journalist; you know - her actual job. I'm not sure what the minutes on screen ratio has been this season between the two, but it has felt completely slanted towards William as a viewer.

Instead of Kara and Nia investigating Leviathan after William was 'exposed' in 5A, now Nia is sidelined again, because they want Kara to team up with William to investigate Lex. Why do they need that journalistic pairing of William and Kara, when Nia - who as a Superhero, is better placed if danger from Lex occurs. But no, they're making it about Kara having to work with William because Lex threatened to kill him. Plus Nia was being mentored by Kara. Is she no longer being mentored by Kara? Are they a team? Even if the mentoring has ended, Nia is still not being utilised as a journalist. As the saying goes, make it make sense!

As for Lex. I love Jon Cryer. I’ve loved his version of Lex, but once again I feel Lena is just as well placed to take on his role in bringing down Leviathan. Why add another villain to this plot? We were told it was Leviathan who were the bad guys for this season, but once again we barely have a glimpse of them, but all the screen time on Lex, also to the detriment of Lena. We could be using this time to begin to mend Lena’s relationships with not only Kara, but the Superfriends. Instead we are getting bit and pieces, that seemingly bear little resemblance to the ‘fight for Lena’s soul’, or the ‘Stronger together, weaker apart’ tag lines the SG team used to market the series in 5A. (See attached photo). So again, this is frustrating for us to watch, as there is absolutely no cohesion to the storytelling. We know it is the ‘nothing is as it seems’ season, but to have no really coherent storylines so far this late on? It is baffling for me.

The sidelining of Nia and Kelly also brings to the fore the way the LGBTQ characters are being treated.

Dansen feels like a long lost legend from the mists of time. As I said earlier, there was a perfect opportunity for a Dansen scene in the opening part of the show, yet we might as well watch tumbleweeds fly past, for all the screen time Dansen or Nia have had. Well, rather haven’t had.

It seems we shouldn't ask for justification as to why William is on the show, but when we say the LGBTQ characters are being sidelined, that it doesn't matter one jot how diverse a cast can be; if said cast are not being given credible storylines or screentime, and if we say as much, we have to continually justify why that is the case. We get told to take what we are given. To insist on better, is oppressing white CIS men (in some cases CIS women have argued the same). This isn't oppressing anyone, but asking that if we get given relationships, given characters we want to invest in, they get the storylines to accomplish that. Supergirl is failing the LGBTQ audience so badly at the moment. So many have the same complaints it is ludicrous to suggest this is just one section of a fandom or trolls.

What I'm taking from all this at the moment is that 20% of the main viewing demographic as per GLAAD figures (and more besides, as I've seen straight viewers recognising the problems as well), have serious concerns with Supergirl.

But keep telling us we are overreacting. Or we should take what we are given. Or that we are delusional. After all, it is the kind of crap we have sprouted at us continually away from Supergirl, why shouldn't it be the case here.

I look at S4, heck even 5A, to what the show is doing now and it feels like an unmitigated disaster. Episodes are running out fast, so even if they increase Dansen, or Nia's screen time, it won't be enough to make up what has been lost. They're running out of time to give us a solid ending that ties up the mess they've created.

I really don’t know where this will end? CW Supergirl - do better. You have some phenomenal actors and actresses in your cast. Do them and your audience justice. Because right now you aren’t at all.

[drunk-onsunlight]

Day #9 of Promptmas

Chapter 9: Well maybe just a half a drink more

Summary:

DRUKN KARAOKE!!!

Notes:

I'm sorry for posting late but today was my graduation!!! Finally I received my degree in Literary Studies and I can't be happier. So that's why i'm posting so late, I had a small family reunion and tried to post sooner but didn't work out xD Have fun reading!!

Concept: Ugly Christmas sweater party & Drunkenly singing Mariah Carey

Dialogue: “You have frosting on your face” & “If your hands get cold, you can put them in my pockets”

December 23rd

“I’m going to change, this clothes are soaking wet” Peter dropped MJ’s hand and started walking to the stairs that lead them to the rooms

“Oh, but we wanted to tell you all something first” Pepper hold him back and called everyone’s attention “Tony and Happy did some food for everyone and we want to have a little party. So go get your Christmas sweaters, the ugly ones, and we will eat and play some games tonight”

“Hopefully drink some actual liquor too” Tony added and everyone laughed softly. The wet clothes were making everyone too cold to stay on the living room any longer

“Let’s go change before we freeze to death so we can eat and drink” Happy said to everyone and then grabbed May’s hand and started moving up the stairs. Soon they all started moving and Peter saw MJ walk to the kitchen with Morgan. He decided to let them for a moment and change quickly

Twenty minutes later he was back on the living room, trying to find a place to sit on the huge living room. The coffee table was full of warm food and the TV on the wall was on with a random Christmas movie on it. Peter sat next to May, he loves his Aunt and missed her. Their time together was shorter every year thanks to his responsibilities, and family is very important to Peter

“Pete, do you know where Morgan and MJ are?” May asked him while looking around searching for them

“I don’t know. I saw them walking to the kitchen but I’m not sure if they are changing clothes or plotting something against me” his comment made May laugh a little

“Why don’t you try to find them? Check if they are on the kitchen and tell them we are waiting for them” Peter got up from the comfortable couch and walked to the kitchen. When he got there, he found a pretty adorable scene. MJ was wearing a sweater he gave her last year. It was a black sweater with red rhombuses on the sleeves. On the front a red square that had a ginger bread cookie in the middle and a message in capital letters above and under the red square: Bite me. Morgan was wearing a red sweater with green and white stripes on the arms. Two ginger bread cookies had belts and swords, the message above the cookies was Ginjas. Peter loved their sweaters.

“Try to decorate that Christmas tree with the green frosting and then add some pearls to those cookies” MJ had a pastry bag on her hand, some bowls with frosting from different colors and Morgan was directing MJ’s movements on the cookies

“You’re enjoying this too much, Morgan. You are a good leader too, like your parents” Morgan flushed a little

“Thanks MJ. You’re good at following instructions, by the way”

“Not so much may I say” The two girls looked up quickly and he saw MJ had some red dots on her face. Peter started walking towards MJ and stopped right in front of her

“You have frosting on your face” Peter placed his left hand on MJ’s cheek and removed softly the red frosting dots

“How long have you been there?” MJ whispered but he heard her clearly and he noticed they were too close to each other

“Not long. How is the decoration on the cookies going?” He dropped his hand from MJ’s face and spoke softly too, he didn’t want to break the moment

“Better that I thought actually” He didn’t answer her. A comfortable silence fell on them

“Wow. I never felt like I was a third wheel in the middle of anyone other than my parents” They jumped away from each other and turned to look at Morgan

“How are you doing Peanut? Did you help decorating the cookies or just directing MJ?” Peter tried to ignore Morgan’s comment but he bet his last web formula that he was blushing… a lot

“Of course I helped. Look at my cookies” She pointed a plate with said cookies and he was snowmen and snowflakes. They looked really cute “and MJ is doing the trees. We changed very quickly so we could show everyone these cookies” Morgan looked really proud of herself

“Do you plan to let some cookies to Santa? We have to let him some milk and cookies on a table next to the tree” Peter knew Morgan didn’t believe in Santa but he liked the tradition

“I saved a few cookies for that, don’t worry” MJ was back at finishing the decoration on her tree cookies but pointed another plate away from them to show him the cookies she saved for Santa

“You are a sunshine, Em. We have to go! Everyone is waiting for us to start this party” He grabbed the pastry bag from MJ’s hands and placed it on the sink while the girls cleaned their hands and all of them walked to the living room.

“They are here! We can start with the food!” Happy shouted from the other side of the room and everyone grabbed different deserts and snacks from the table. Morgan ran next to her parents and grabbed a plate to pick her food.

The table had roasted parmesan garlic shrimp, tortilla roll-ups, cheese truffles, cranberry meatballs, fried raviolis, walnut blue cheese stuffed mushrooms and different dips and drinks. Peter was impresses with all the food around.

“You cooked all of this?” Peter had to ask Tony and Happy. Everything looked delicious

“I has been improving my cooking skills and Tony wanted to help, so yeah, we did all of this” Happy confirmed what Pepper had said before and Peter couldn’t be any prouder of them. Everything was delicious

“Happy made his New Year resolution to learn to cook because May doesn’t have idea how to and Thai food is not good for everyday” Tony mocked Happy and May and she blushed a little. They all knew how bad his Aunt could be on a kitchen but he loves her anyway

“Peter survived pretty good to my cooking skills, right Pete??” May tried to defend herself

“Well thanks to that he learned to cook and is pretty good at it” MJ contributed to the conversation and everyone praised Peter

“You are really good too, Em. Have anyone seen those cookies she made? Amazing!” Peter didn’t like to have all the attention on himself so he moved it to MJ’s cookies. He hadn’t tried them but he was sure they were delicious.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this but “Ew”. You both need to stop vomiting unicorns and rainbows at each other. It’s getting gross” Morgan’s comments always made everyone laugh and it served to change the subject back to the food and no-ones cooking skills. After some more chat and laughter the food was running out. Pepper decided to bring wine and eggnog for everyone, some juices and sodas for Morgan. Peter handed some eggnog to MJ and served some wine for him.

“Easy with the eggnog. That thing has been aged for weeks” Pepper warned Betty and MJ that were chatting happily and drinking. Cup after cup they laughed louder every time

“Ned, did you managed to buy Betty’s ring after, you know, I had to sneak out of the store?” Peter hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ned properly since they were on the jewelry store

“Yes! It look’s amazing. I hope she likes it” They were speaking softly just in case someone could hear them

“She is going to love it” Peter wants to support them every step of the way no matter what.

“And I would love if you are my best man. If she says yes, of course”

“She is definitely saying yes, and I’m saying yes too!” They were so engrossed in the conversation they didn’t notice Betty and MJ getting closer to them

“Say yes to what?” The girls asked them at the same time

“Ammm… Karaoke” Ned managed to speak before Peter. He definitely wasn’t good at improvising lies

“YES!!! We all have to play karaoke!” Betty started to jump and took MJ’s hands in hers “We need to sing something together, Em!”

“Betty you know MJ doesn’t sing in public” Peter lived with her and he was used to hear her humming song but never singing

“Then have more eggnog because we are going to sing tonight” Betty handed MJ another cup of eggnog and MJ took it without another word. “Everyone!!! How about we play karaoke?” Betty called everyone’s attention and they were all drunk enough to accept without second thoughts

“Thanks Ned” Peter wasn’t very excited about the karaoke singing, he was a terrible singer

“It was the first thing that crossed my mind. Sorry” MJ heard the boys talking and stopped drinking

“You weren’t talking about playing karaoke?” MJ put her chin on Peter’s shoulder and whispered to his ear

“Nope. It was about Betty’s gift” He turned his head slightly to her to answer but turned back quickly when noticed they almost bump their noses together of how close they were

“Upps. I’m drunk and cold. Don’t we have hot chocolate or something?” MJ didn’t move her chin from Peter’s shoulder. That position wasn’t unfamiliar for them. Like Peter wanted to show MJ a meme and she wasn’t wearing her glasses, what was the normal thing to do? She placed her chin on his shoulder. It was easy, now it was quite intimate

“Do you want me to bring you something warm? If your hands get cold, you can put them in my pockets, by the way” When Peter offered that he didn’t think MJ would actually put her hands on his pockets. Like that, it looked like she was hugging him behind

“Relax Peter. Black Cat mode is turned off so I’m not trying to steal something from you” She whispered on his ear again and he noticed his back was totally rigid, he needed to relax. It was just MJ, his best friend/fake girlfriend, all good.

“I know you don’t steal thing because you want to, it’s because you had too. But we will have that conversation later. Sober”

“Thanks Parker” Peter was surprised when he felt MJ’s soft lips on his cheek. It was a fast peck but he knew he was blushing. He felt his neck go red and then his face. MJ was drunk and affectionate, he could handle it

“Who wants to start singing?” Tony was grabbing two microphones in one hand and pointing at everyone with them. The TV had a karaoke mode that was already waiting for the first victim

“ME!!” Betty screamed and jumped to grab the mic from Tony’s hand. She was really drunk “What songs do we have here?” She checked the list until Morgan pointed that if she sang Jingle Bell Rock she could sing along but they had to dance the Mean Girls choreography together. Of course Betty agreed

“MJ come sing with us!” Morgan tried to go for MJ but she just hid behind Peter

“Nope. Not drunk enough for that” MJ dismissed Morgan’s invitation politely and let the girls sing the first song.

The song started and both girls tried to remember the choreography while singing. The singing wasn’t bad, but the choreography was uncoordinated and Tony was trying to tell them how it went and joined the dancing and singing with the girls after a few seconds. Pepper was laughing softly at his husband while the rest of them helped singing

After they finished, everyone clapped for the improvised trio. Now it was May, Happy and Pepper’s turn. They picked Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and when the song started, everyone was surprised of how good Pepper and May were. Their voices combined perfectly and Happy joined at some parts or the song, trying to make harmonies with them. At the end of the song Morgan and Tony got up to cheer and clap at Pepper. She dismissed them and sat back next to Tony who gave her a lovely kiss and said something to her ear that made her laugh softly

Betty took Ned’s hand and told him they were next. Ned took his glass of wine and drink it all at once before grabbing the microphone Betty offered him. Peter noticed MJ had served another cup of eggnog and was drinking it happily while one of her hands was still in Peter’s pocket

“What are we singing bae?”

“Oh. I perfectly know which song we are singing!” Betty started to search for a song and suddenly stopped and looked at Ned “Ready?”

“Oh, God. Peter and MJ are never letting me see the end of this. Let’s do it” Ned laughed nervously but grabbed the microphone with security. When some bells and an acoustic guitar started playing Peter knew what song it was. Betty and Ned started to sing Mistletoe by Justin Bieber.

“You guys are sooooo cheesy!” Peter was, in fact, not letting Ned forget this, ever

They must have should have sung that song before, they sounded too coordinated and knew every little detail of the back voices to be a first time. After the song ended, they all cheered to them and his friends bowed like they just gave and amazing concert on the living room. After them Morgan took the microphone and picked a song. One I’ve Been Missing by Little Mix started and Morgan sang it perfectly. To Peter’s surprise, MJ hummed the song along too while drinking a glass of wine. She wasn’t in the stage of singing just yet apparently, but absolutely getting there.

After Morgan finished her song, they all clapped and Tony decided it was Pepper and his turn to sing together. Tony picked Christmas (Baby please Come Home) and Pepper sang the song while Tony did the back voices and some dancing. Pepper tried not to laugh while singing but couldn’t help it. Tony’s ugly sweater had actual Christmas decorations and while he danced, all the ornaments moved around him. The song was over too soon and everyone cheered again for the duo.

“MJ! Peter! You guys need to sing something together!” Betty pointed at MJ and Peter turned to see her blushing, but at this point he wasn’t sure if it was the wine or she was actually embarrassed.

“Yes!!! You guys need to sing! Please Pete!” Morgan joined Betty and after that everyone was asking them to sing.

“Ok, loser. Let’s do this” MJ removed her hand from Peter’s pocket and grabbed the microphones “Betty, pick a song for us?”

“Oh yes! I have the perfect one” Betty rose from the couch and searched the song on the set list “Ready? You guys know this one. Everybody does”

Baby It’s Cold Outside started and Peter knew it was a duo. MJ looked at Betty and mouthed something to her he couldn’t see, then she went back to look at the TV with the lyrics on it. When a small ball started to bounce above the lyrics, MJ started to sing and he was so surprised she was actually singing that he almost missed his lines.

The song kept playing and everyone was speechless, Michelle was a damn good singer. She never moved her eyes away from the screen but sang every line in a perfect way. When the song ended everyone started clapping and cheering, even Peter. They were very impressed by MJ’s voice.

She moved back to the couch after letting her microphone on the table. Peter followed close by and when they were sitting together again he couldn’t help but stare

“What?” MJ’s voice sounded little, not close to her actual voice

“You sound amazing. You should get out of that pretty head of your more often and sing aloud” Peter wanted to hear her more often. She didn’t answer anything but her smile gave him all the answers he needed it

Ned, Betty and Morgan took the microphones and Like It’s Christmas by The Jonas Brothers started to play. This time Peter sang along too, it was a nice song and he remembered hearing it on a Netflix series. Then he added it to his Christmas playlist. When that song ended Betty went straight to MJ

“You drunk enough to sing with me?” Betty offered MJ the second mic and MJ ended her cup of eggnog and grabbed the microphone from Betty’s hand

“Come on Betty. Let’s get over this” When everyone saw MJ standing up again, they started to clap once more and Peter joined happily. He could hear her singing his whole life. Betty went to a song and without a chance for them to read the title she pressed play.

All I want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey started and Morgan cheered even louder than before. Betty started to sing the first verse and MJ joined a few lines after Betty. MJ was looking at the screen again but Betty held her hand and when MJ turned to see her they sang the chorus together.

It was like all the drinks hit them right there because Betty and MJ turned to the boys and started singing even louder. Even then, MJ didn’t miss a note. Ned stood up and joined Betty. Morgan, May, Happy, Tony and Pepper started to tell Peter to join MJ too. He stood up and MJ held his hand for a while. They started to sing while looking at each other’s eyes, when the song was getting to its end, MJ decided to knock them out by hitting Mariah’s whistle note perfectly for more time that was humanly possible. The song ended and Peter hugged MJ while everyone clapped the girls.

“You are amazing, Michelle Jones” Peter whispered to MJ’s ear and gave her a little peck close to her lips.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to @spiderman-homecomeme for this amazing idea!

[yeosanqtuary]

gentle breeze - pt. 13

♡ - list of chapters

dang, he really wanted to kiss him. 

--

seonghwa was as lively as ever. he finished showering in 5 minutes(did he wash off all the soap though), and was bouncing back to their room to dress up without waiting for hongjoong like he usually did. that resulted in a clueless hongjoong shouting for seonghwa in the public bathroom for five minutes, walking around looking at every empty cubicle for any traces of him. only then did he realise how dumb he looked when a kind student told him that seonghwa had already left 10 minutes ago. damn, how long did hongjoong take in the shower? 

he gathered his things hurriedly and rushed back to their dorm, walking in to hear seonghwa's singing. he was sitting on his chair with his back faced to the entrance and didn't seem to realise someone had stepped in.

it seems like he was singing 'dive' by jooyoung. seonghwa's melodious voice floated in the air around the small space, filling hongjoong up. he could feel his heartfelt emotions as he sang each lyric. even without the melody, he could hit each and every note perfectly and effortlessly. hongjoong stood rooted to the place, completely swoon by seonghwa's singing. (does this paragraph make sense hhh)

as he sang the last of the song, he had turned around opening his eyes. he sprung up from his chair with full force, knocking it down. "w-w-w-what are y-you doing here?!" he stuttered from shock, placing his hands behind the table for support. hongjoong was startled from the sudden action and jumped back in shock.

"u-um i just finished showering... and entered... and you were singing..." he slowly explained, telling half the truth. he did NOT just finish showering.

seonghwa's expression was a mixture of shock and embarrassment as he gulped, staring straight at hongjoong, thinking of a way to reply to his statement. obviously, he would be in the dorm. this was his dorm too, after all. why should he need to have a reason to be at his own dorm?

furthermore, it was kinda seonghwa's fault too, for not expecting hongjoong to be back anytime. he was even sitting with his back faced to the door, damn it. he should've known better than to do something risky like that.

"s-seonghwa? are you angry? did you not want me to hear that? sorry... but it's okay, i won't tell anyone. never. i promise," hongjoong shuffled closer to seonghwa, and reached his hand forward to pat his head. "sorry for not knocking when i came in. you must have been startled,"

i do not deserve hongjoong!!!!!!!!

--

a while after a huge amount of apologies and lolling around, the two youths were on their way to the movies. they picked a place that was nearby hongjoong's residence. it wasn't only because they could travel home smoothly, but that particular district was a huge place. it had everything a teenager ever wanted in their lives. karaoke shops, arcades, shopping malls equipped with theatres, affordable eateries and an abundance of fast food places. not to mention, there was a street well-known for its night market. in the day, little shops would sell cute stationeries, aesthetic clothing and other things, while in the night, those shops close for the day, and the night market comes to life.

in a nutshell, hongjoong's district was a tourist attraction. and that's not even the whole of the district.

it was 11 am when the boys had reached the shopping mall. it was already buzzing with people, mostly teens. they made their way up to the top floor where the cinema was located. it occupied the whole floor and had many more choices of movies and snacks, thus this particular cinema was frequented by many, young or old.

seonghwa wanted to watch a horror movie, which was fine by hongjoong. he had heard of it, and it was quite the hot topic among yunho, mingi and yeosang. the poster didn't look too scary(not that he was scared), so he agreed casually. he didn't know what else to watch anyway since he wasn't much of a movie fan. if you added up all the times he watched a movie or actually paid attention, it was only once or twice a year. that was how bad he was at movies. or even dramas. heck, he'd rather watch youtube or study.

on the other hand, it was seonghwa's first time at the movies. he had always downloaded movies on his laptop or watched them at home as a kid, so he didn't have a single clue how cinemas worked. he went to the snacks counter to order for tickets, and in a flurry, ordered the priciest menu on the menu, which was an XXL size popcorn along with two large sodas, two medium hot dogs and a plate of nachos with cheese dipping. at that time, hongjoong had gone to the washroom and asked seonghwa to purchase the 11.30 pm tickets to save time. boy, you should've seen his face when he spotted seonghwa.

after the whole fiasco, they finally entered the showing room with their hands full. luckily, seonghwa chose seats that were nearer to the back, so they easily found them. hongjoong heaved a sigh of relief after setting the drink and nacho cheese box on his lap. 

"you're finishing all of this if i can't, hwa," hongjoong whispered, leaning over so that seonghwa could hear. however, all seonghwa heard was the beating of his own heartbeat as hongjoong leaned against his arm as he whispered into his ear. both of his actions sent shivers down his spine as if his spine hadn't shivered enough already from the cold room.

he nodded nervously, playing with the hot dog wrapping. after hongjoong had returned to his normal sitting position, he heaved a sigh of relief, and tried focusing his mind somewhere else. as if it were all planned out, the movie started rolling, and he had his eyes glued on the screen.

the movie plot was a typical one, where some tragic and supernatural incident would occur in an old house, and some broke family would move in due to the cheap price. and of course, shit happens.

the early stage of the movie was peaceful... until that one woman dressed in the white dress appeared in the backyard. the youngest kid had seen it, but of course, his parents, who were stressed out because of their bankruptcy had paid no attention when he voiced out to them.

seonghwa kinda felt the kid in a way. his parents would always dismiss him when he went to speak to them after they had returned home from work late at night. hongjoong had kinda thought of seonghwa when he watched that scene, too. he let his mind drift away to how he wouldn't let seonghwa feel like that ever again whenever he was with him.

as his thoughts led to another and another, his mind was far away from the movie even though he had his eyes peeled on the screen. he got the shock of his life as the female ghost popped up on the screen, with bleeding eyes and all.

hongjoong immediately grabbed seonghwa's arm with such a strong grip that gave seonghwa the shock of his life. he let out a small shout, and another when hongjoong shifted his hands down to his palm, interlocking their fingers. by now, seonghwa had already turned his head to look at hongjoong with shock, and also, disbelief. hongjoong wad actually scared of these kinds of things? a-and most importantly... he's holding my hand? seonghwa froze. he didn’t know what to do. should he comfort him? should he just let him be? 

while he was in the midst of panic, there was another jumpscare which really caught him off-guard, scaring the hell out of him once again. he let out yet another shout and clutched onto hongjoong’s hand which was atop his own, and buried his face in his shoulder. this tiome, hongjoong wasn’t really shocked by the jumpscare, so he didn’t really have much of an reaction to it. he was just, surprised at seonghwa. he didn’t know that seonghwa was actually scared of these kinds of things. 

you see now, the tables have turned. 

“hwa, it’s okay now. the ghost said bye,” hongjoong leaned down and whispered, while rubbing his head with his free hand. 

“j-joong,“ all of a sudden, seonghwa sat up, tightening the grip on hongjoong’s hands, and adding his other hand to the stack. 

“i’m okay, not scared,“ he whispered, keeping his eyes on their hands, silently thanking that it was dark, so hongjoong wouldn’t be able to see his red cheeks.

“hmm? you’re not scared?”

“yes. not scared. hwa is not scared of this!”

hongjoong giggled, and continued to rub his head. “it’s okay to be scared, hwa. i won’t laugh,”

“okay, joong. but i’m really not scared,”

“fine, fine. you’re not scared,“

the two giggled, and leaned against each other. they’ve probably missed out half the movie, but that’s okay. they were together in each other’s warmth, at the back of the cold cinema.

next ->

[mutantsrisingrpg]

Congratulations DEAN! You’ve been accepted as ARIEL.

Dean, you don’t know how overjoyed I am to have you and your take on Lenox back in my life! Lenox is one of my favorite skeletons and you just capture him so perfectly. For Lenox, the devil is literally in the details, since he has the ability to control how they’re perceived. I love everything about him, especially when I view him through the lens you crafted (or is it the lens he crafted, and I’m actually under the spell of his powers right now? my brain hurts)! I can’t wait to see the havoc you and Lenox unleash on this dash.

Welcome to Mutants Rising! Please read the checklist and submit your account within 24 hours.

its britney bitch

NAME/ALIAS: Dean

PRONOUNS: She/her

AGE: 22

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL: GMT, i’m fairly active bean and am always here to plot

In Character Information:

DESIRED ROLE: Lenox Syed

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cismale, he/him

DETAILS & ANALYSIS: This is where you show us who the character is to you! The format of this doesn’t matter, whether it’s in bullet points or in para form, and can be as long as you’d like it to be. Feel free to get creative!

Lenox as a boy’s name is of Scottish and Gaelic origin, and the meaning of Lenox is “with many elm trees”.

Syed or Sayyid or Sayed (Arabic and Urdu: سيدعلی) is a family of Syeds in South Asia, notably India and Pakistan. Syeds are the direct descendants of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

Lenox is lost in his own fantasy world. Creating so many illusions for people each day that he has become lost in one of his own. With a lack of attention through his childhood, he craves the limelight and approval of everyone around him and will do pretty much anything to get it, even if it’s false or trickery.

He’s so painstakingly constructed, he’s his own work of art. Each detail of his personality and appearance delicately manipulated into something strikingly beautiful. Someone you can look at with awe just by the way they talk or move. It’s almost hard to realise there’s another man beneath the mask, someone raw and damaged. Like a bird with a broken wing.

BIO:

Tw: Drug mention

His mother is just fifteen when she gives birth to him, swaddled in a blue blanket and passed immediately to the arms of a doctor; she never held him, never looked at his freshly reddened face as his cries wailed down the corridors. It’s not because of his mutation, not because his birth family couldn’t bare to raise a being burdened with powers. She was a child herself, naivety leaving adoption as the only logical decision.  

A foster home decides to take him in, raising him from infancy without any awareness of any abnormality. It’s where he stays for the first nine years of his life, a cosy house in Oregon that housed five other children. But the dormancy of his powers didn’t stay concealed forever. It started with his foster siblings sleepwalking, Lenox’s dreams imprinting on them accidentally as they’d trample through the house enthralled by the vivid illusions of his fantasy worlds. Then it began intertwining into everyday life, emotional outbursts of temper alluding unsafe situations like fire or monsters that hid under the bed. Games became near impossible to differentiate between make believe and reality from the second he joined in.  

“You’re unsafe,” it’s a comment he’d gladly wear as a badge of honour once he’d matured. But to the little boy being dragged away from his foster family, betrayed by his caregivers and turned in for research, the words grazed his skin like stinging nettles.

The four plain walls of the room only further ignite an overly active imagination, a tool that was dangerous to have with a power like his own. The eleven years he spends there does the opposite of what society would have hoped, boredom allows for focus and practice, it sharpens his talents and he’s able to put them to good use. By the end of his stay the doctors had favoured him among the rest, because he wills it so. They go easy on him, carefully placed illusions write false notes on his reports. Detailed and intricate enough so that he doesn’t get caught out, handwriting remarkably identical to each nurse or scientist that take their turn testing on him. He starts to admire the way it feels, too chaotic to be part of society and embedded with more potential than anyone could have known.

It’s when that potential reaches a point where imagination can no longer be imprisoned by those four walls that he decided enough was enough. The process of discharging himself was a meticulous operation. Theatrically staged and miraculously timed with an annual cell collecting test. Before he can be sedated he’s enticed the nurses into an imaginary induced coma, deep enough into his intoxication that he can use the poisoned needle on them. The theater only has the two women on the floor when the doctor enters, sly projections manipulating each person he’d bumped into on his way to the exit into that same sleep, a psychedelic world of kaleidoscope landscapes and stained glass colours, once awakening they would never see this boy again.

“You’re unsafe,” the same words, just a different context. An ally ushers him to leave Oregon and head to Chicago. A place where policies were loosened and his own kind somewhat tolerated.

The new city put Lenox’s own fresh start in full swing.

Fragile reality was a vehicle for his reinvention, so easily malleable that to change it was simpler and more natural to him than breathing. He’s masterful in the way it’s applied, diminishing a past life of shame and grit in place of high strung worth and superiority. He’d created himself with utter royalty, his own nobility evident by the way in which he moved, regally eloquent and unmistakably ethereal to anyone who crossed his path.

He builds his career on the sins he knows other’s desire. Selling crushed up aspirin as a party drug in the underbelly of the city’s night clubbing scene, using his power to make it seem as if it were the legitimate stuff and not something that cost him a couple bucks from the convenience store across the street. Lenox could make them see whatever he wanted, turn their evenings into a production of his own design and leave with none of the being any wiser. It’s how Benjamin Granger catches word of him, a supposed mutant that was living life as if he were a king. He’s the first person to ever acknowledge his capability, strikes him up an offer he couldn’t refuse. Drawn like a moth to a flame after the slightest suggestion of power and the infatuation that he was finally wanted by someone and to belong to something.

EXPANDED CONNECTIONS:

Chance Matthews: He’s the face he can’t erase from his mind, the curve of his lips engraved in deep fixations when he couldn’t fall asleep on a Sunday night. Perhaps it’s the fact that he shouldn’t do it that makes it more enticing, a lust to ignite underlying passion to unearth exactly what they had both been burying.

Jordan Rojas: Jordan is somewhat of a curiosity for Lenox to unpick. A closed book that is intriguing because of their close association together. Always keen to show his worth, to prove himself to those around him, perhaps it’s a dangerous combination should Jordan utalise the other’s naivety in combination of his powers in the way that Benjamin does.

Jack Mizuno: He likes that he can get so deep into their head, that he can have full control of a world that wasn’t Jack’s domain. It’s all to do with power and annoyance, a deep craving to see exactly how far he can push people before they hit their breaking point. Even then, it’s fun to flip that breaking point into a place of pure bliss and drop it again just when his subject is at ease. He’s like a lab rat, someone he tries his tricks on before taking them to the main show.

EXTRA: 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/dean_ie/ariel/

Lenox spends a lot of his spare time writing and doodling. It’s all extremely sketchy, there’s never any sort of final draft. It helps his imagination, which is a much exercised tool in his life.

He is probably more invested in mental health than most. Meditation and yoga being a crucial part of his daily routine after a bowl full of sugar packed cereal.

He’s naive and eager to please anyone that might create a bond with him, he craves companionship after never really understanding it due to the absence of it in his life.

Lenox works as a part-time artist and painter, he’s guilty of using illusions to get clients to buy his art by playing into their preferences .

He also works as a drug dealer, never selling legitimate stuff but using over the counter medicines with the combination of his powers to masquerade as the real stuff.

He has an unruly sweet tooth. He keeps lollipops in his back pocket and will order dessert off a menu at a restaurant instead of a main meal. His favourite thing on the planet is warm cookie dough and ice cream.

He listens exclusively to Grunge music. Celebrity Skin by Hole is his absolute jam and he only ever sings Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet is his go to karaoke song.

Lenox is openly proud of his sexuality as a homosexual, though he’ll flirt with anyone and anything for the fun of it.

He prefers tea over coffee.

He’s a bit of a poetry dork, he collects first edition poetry books and his most prized possession is a first edition of Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg.

He’s very judgemental of how others present themselves and will tell you if your new shirt is ugly.

Lenox lives in a small apartment, anyone that enters he’s carefully to make them see it as 3 times bigger than it actually is with far more light.

He has a fear of heights.

[hardeepcox]

Working and Sitting Next to an Actual Psychopath

Yes, you read that title correctly. That actually happened.

Once again I will not reveal the name of the company I worked at, only that its name rhymes with Ee Em Gee. So I had been working at this place for about 3 months just having a blast with my bro Huong and my Uncle Corey from the southside of Chicago. And one day we had a new guy in our office, and he sat right behind me. I was doing some work on my computer when I heard two people having a conversation behind me, one American voice and one English voice. The English voice was introducing the American voice to the office and showing him how the schedule worked. I then heard the English voice ask the American voice “so where are you from?” The American voice replies, “I’m originally from Puerto Rico but I grew up in the states.” Instantly I thought, cool! I love Puerto Rican music and now I’ll get to sit next to another minority person or whatever! The English voice left, so now I could say hi to the new guy. I was like, “so you’re Boricua huh?” I knew that Puerto Ricans identify with the native Boricua of the Puerto Rican island, so I was just showing off my history and geography knowledge at this point.  We hit it off right away. Even my Irish manager liked him so much he said, “this is gonna be a fun year!” I asked the Puerto Rican guy for his name, but for now let’s just call him Satan. A couple of days go by and all is great.

I think it was on day 3, a girl from another office happens to be sitting in Satan’s seat while she chatted with her boyfriend chilling at the desk directly to the left of Satan’s. Satan stands right in-between them while they are talking and makes a loud sound of clearing his throat. The atmosphere at this point feels a little bit weird. He asks for his seat back in a way that would sound rude, to literally anyone. There are so many ways to say the same thing, but he chose the most uncomfortable passive-aggressive way. I think hmm, this is odd.

Day 4, the same girl is sitting in Satan’s seat as he comes back into the office. The same exact scenario as the day before. This time he goes up to her and says something like, “are you going to be in my seat every day?” I didn’t quite hear her response but eventually she got up and left. Her boyfriend was understandably pissed off. Keep in mind that her boyfriend is tall as fuck and trains in MMA every other day. Let’s call him Skywalker.

Day 5, it’s 8:00am in the morning. I had just sat at my desk. Suddenly. The door opens and Satan is aggressively yelling at Skywalker about something. I’m barely awake so I’m just confused as hell. Satan yells something like, “don’t touch me bro!” Skywalker’s body language is saying something like, what did I do? Our shift had LITERALLY just started and this drama was happening right in our faces, keep in mind that our office had about 45 people. After about the longest 30 seconds ever, the scene is done. Satan goes back to his desk. Keep in mind that his desk directly behind mine, and directly to the right of Skywalker’s. At this point, Satan decides that I am the person that he wants to tell all his drama to. He tells me that he didn’t realize that he was yelling because he had his headphones on. At this point I saw the red flag, this dude has the symptoms of a psycho. Last time I heard someone make an excuse like this was from my drug-dealing Colombian ex-girlfriend who is also a psychopath. Anyways, apparently Skywalker had bumped into Satan and almost made him drop his phone, and this is what had ultimately triggered this scene early in the morning. I figured, this reaction from Satan should be unacceptable in any workplace so I’m sure he’ll be fired soon. I’ll just wait this out. The days go by. Satan has not been fired. The complaints against him have accumulated from other teachers outside of our office. He has been rude to teachers and even to our cab drivers that drive us to the schools where we teach at. Our head manager, let’s call her Pippy Longstocking, has had multiple talks with him one-on-one and she believes every excuse that Satan comes up with. More and more people start to dislike him, and this makes him think that I am his only and best friend in the world. I keep thinking, okay he’ll be fired any time now so I’ll just keep playing it cool. I’ve dealt with a psychopath before so I’ll just be chill and wait this out. No point in adding another complaint against him, plenty of people have already complained so he should be fired soon, right?

Over a month has gone by, and this dude is still working here! A few times, I give him the benefit of the doubt and actually invite him to hang out outside of work. The first time was to sing karaoke with his landlord and my bro Huong. Huong sang the song, I’m in Love with the Coco, and it was tight. I went with one my go-to songs, the Armageddon song by Aerosmith. You know the one I’m referring to. Satan sang some 10 minute long song from the 70’s, oh yeah this dude is apparently like 40 something. Another time, I invited Satan to have lunch at the famous banh mi lady’s place and Satan was extremely rude to her because according to him the food had taken “over an hour”. It had actually been like ten minutes. That was the last time that I ever invited him out.

A month and a half go by, and I try my best to avoid even being in the office. Now, Satan thinks that everyone is plotting against him. He thinks that Huong is angry with him and he is jealous of my friendship with my Uncle Corey. I of course am extremely fucking uncomfortable. I figure that at this point, the company is gonna let him finish his 2 month probation instead of actually firing him. One day. Satan tells me that he has a meeting with HR in the afternoon. I figure, thank you god they are finally going to fire this guy. Later that afternoon he tells me, “HR says I didn’t pass probation!” I try my best to look shocked. I think, oh my god finally. Then he says, “they’re going to let me work for two more weeks.” I think, what in the actual fucking shit is this fucking fuckery. HR is going to actually let him work until the very last second of his probation, when he should have been fired in week 1. And worst of all… now he has nothing to lose. The last week is here. I try to not even be in the office at all, I don’t wanna be there when that ticking time bomb explodes. Apparently, when I was out, another dramatic scene featuring Satan ensued. While Satan was clocking in, our Vietnamese-American co-worker had coughed. Let’s call him Dragon. Satan thought that Dragon had purposefully coughed on him, so Satan then coughs in Dragon’s face. As they go back to their respective desks, I heard that Satan challenged Dragon to a fight and Dragon called him out to brawl outside. Satan didn’t go for it. This dude was all bark and no bite. I think Skywalker called him a fat fuck, and that made me giggle like the demonic possessed girl from the Exorcist after killing Merrin. If we were in America, I think Satan would have been one of those mass-murdering shooters. Luckily, we were in Vietnam and the ‘gun-shops’ here only sell condoms. He wasn’t gonna lube us to death.

Satan had a couple days left before he was officially done working with us, and every afternoon he asked me to have lunch with him, and every afternoon I found an excuse not to. On his last day of work I almost didn’t even go into the office, I could imagine this dude coming into work with a backpack full of anthrax. Fortunately, nothing happened that day. At the end of the workday as he was leaving the office for the last time he said to me, “we have to hang out soon!”

The nightmare was finally over, and Satan’s desk was replaced with my bro Niall’s actually brother, Big Dog. I never saw Satan again, I only heard his voice at a bar once and I got the fuck out of there faster than you can say “perrea papi perrea.” Feel free to Google image that previously quoted expression. Enjoy.

With Satan gone, our little neighborhood of desk buddies could finally enjoy some peace. It consisted of: Skywalker, Big Dog, Mr.Bean, Draco Malfoy, and I. Good times. Eventually corona appeared in the form of a virus instead of beer, and our office has been closed ever since. Once again, fuck you corona.

[sayyoumadetobemine]

That Titans finale was super underwhelming but I’m not surprised by the way the season went. I wish tv shows can have do-over seasons to make it better cause I would like Titans to redo season 2 so i have better confidence going into season 3 but here we are.

The whole fight with Deathstroke was over just as quickly as the fight with Trigon. Which I hope they don’t do that with Blackfire( more on her in the moment). Slade, i don’t think this is the last time we will see of him. I did like that Jericho jumped into Rose and is no longer stuck in Slade but not sure how that’s gonna pan out.

Dick being dramatic as fuck with his entrances is a mood. I actually did not like the fact that Dick was the one that helped Conner see the light, really wish it was Kory since she did already had a connection with him ( and could have used Kory more than how she was used). Like did not like the fact that Kory lost her powers, like WTF?! (Just to clarify, I don’t know the comic canon too much, so maybe it’s in the comics 🤷🏾‍♀️) Also don’t like the fact that we are left wondering what’s happening with Kory but I guess that will be further in season 3.

The whole Mercy/Gar/Conner storyline was unnecessary in my opinion but i guess it had to be done cause this was the final pull to bring ALL the titans back together including Hank (which his ass just showed up out of nowhere) but not Jason which since Curran is coming back next season, let’s see what they do with Jason. Is he going to become red hood on this show? Who knows?

Hank and Dawn... still don’t give a shit about them and REALLY WISH THEY WEREN’T RETURING. Although loved Donna’s line about Dawn wearing a big bird costume... someone had to say it.

Donna Troy.... as crappy as her character was this season, she did not deserve to be the Titan that died. It honestly should have been Dawn as she is the least useful but whatever. I think Rachel might be able to bring her back so maybe this isn’t the last we see of Donna.

KORY ANDERS... KORIAND’R!!! She was done dirty the most this season by the writers and showrunners. Anna Diop is the best Titans has on this show and she was deeply underuse. Since the cliffhanger is Blackfire arriving to Earth to fuck shit up, Kory better be the main focus with everyone else’s storyline being subplot to her main plot. That includes Dick. Speaking of Dick and Kory, NOT ONE FUCKING CONVERSATION SINCE 2x09 AND I AM BARLEY COUTING THAT. These two have too much to talk about it (his issues and problems, her lack of powers and her sister and battle for her throne.) I had a feeling mid way that DickKory wasn’t going to get together but I didn’t think they were going to interact like did the writer honestly forgot or meant to forget that Dick and Kory has growing connection between them. As a fan of them, this season was not their season and going to have to survive by watching their scenes in season 1 until the new season starts... next year.

So I rate this season as a whole as a C+/B-. There was a lot of areas where they did improve in compare to season 1 but there’s also some things that they dropped the ball on like HEAVY FOCUS ON EVERYONE BUT THE MAIN MEMBERS OF THE CORE FOUR. Hopefully moving forward, Titans will focus SO MUCH less on the old Titans (is Dawn and Hank, honestly it’s hard for me to accept that will be in season 3 since they took up to much screentime and didn’t move the plot forward like at all. Like they had absolutely no storyline they were just there to be assholes to a Dick, sing Karaoke and wear those big ass bird suits) and focus on Gar’s recovery and maybe his history, Rose on she fits in with the titans and now that she has Jericho inside her head, what’s Jason’s next move, Dick growing more into Nightwing, DICKKORY RELATIONSHIP GROWING and Kory, the whole season about Kory.

[dukeofriven]

Captain Marvel Didn’t Need A Subplot About Sad Familyman Pain: A Very Late Captain Marvel Review

So I finally saw Captain Marvel last night  (like a week ago now but it was the Tuesday before Endgame came out and then this sat in my drafts folder for days and days) - yep, down to the wire almost - so I’ve obviously missed all the Super Important Captain Marvel discourse that Tumblr prattled on about: still, I’ll add my thoughts to the pile.

An incredible cast with great chemistry can do nothing to fix one of the blandest scripts since Doctor Strange, which at least had imaginative vistas and unusual set design to carry some of the story-telling weight. Captain Marvel is possibly the worst-looking Marvel film: at the very least I am confident it is probably the worst-edited, and unquestionably the worst-lit film in all the Marvel canon. Captain Marvel almost consciously doesn't seem to want you to see anything in the movie, going out of its way to shoot scenes at night, in boring and dark spaceships, and in sandstorms at night on dark planets. Lousy fight choreography, coupled with rapid-fire edits with lousy coverage, made the film’s frequent hand-to-hand combat scenes visual nightmares. The worst offender is probably Danvers’ escape from the Skrull ship, in which basic shot-to-shot continuity is lost. The action becomes a literal blur as an anarchic assembly of seemingly-random coverage is cut together to create a confusing mess of movement. A fantastic late-film aerial dog fight and an incredibly powerful 'gloves come off' space sequence make the movie's last twenty minutes its visually strongest, but can't repair the damage done by the previous 90 minutes of blur and uncertain scene geography. (Rogue One has this exact same problem viz. rear-loading the entire movie onto the last twenty minutes.) The movie is at its best when it chucks the undeveloped plot out the window and just lets characters talk to one another, revealing their warmth and great on-screen chemistry, making otherwise forgettable dialogue work through great delivery and comedic timing. This is how most MCU films work anyways: good-to-great actors take weak dialogue and make it work through talent and charm. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any dialogue in the MCU that’s good for reasons other than excellent delivery: Marvel doesn’t seem to care much for writers who have a grip on the craft of dialogue.

The moment the plot reasserts itself, which usually means pretending that anyone cares about Jude Law's one-note bad guy, anything good about the film disappears. There's the bones of a great movie here hampered by incredibly poor framing decisions. Rather than reduce the flashbacks to five-second bursts of mental confusion, a better version of the film would have had two parallel stories A) Carol's quest to become a great pilot while fighting against prejudice and B) A present-day fight to regain that past. As is, the film makes the pretence that it has a feminist theme about overcoming patronizing men, but in practice this is introduced through jumbled flashbacks at the start of the film, essentially dropped for the rest of the run-time, and suddenly re-introduced at the final moments with a triumphant declaration of "I don't need your approval." Had the movie spent any of its middle running time acting like Carol was being patronized by anyone, this might have carried more weight. However, perhaps unwilling to make Nick Fury seem sexist in any way, Carol spends most of the movie surrounded by completely supportive people who do nothing but tell her how great she is. A single shitty stranger on a motorcycle with four lines of dialogue does not a 'triumph against chauvinism' narrative make. Even Jude Law's villain seems to be holding Carol back largely out of a need to follow orders and make sure her brainwashing was working - not out of any chauvinistic impulses. You could make the argument that the brainwashing is an analogy for the way patriarchy brainwashes women into accepting false limitations, but the movie isn’t that subtle: it wears its themes on its sleeve. Besides, you don’t get the sense that the Kree are doing anything out of gender motives - frustrating given that neighbouring franchise Guardians of the Galaxy has proven time and time again that you can still fo Asshole Space Chauvinist  without detracting from the heroism of the leading female. (Well, sorta. Guardians 2 does this much better than 1). Part of the problem is that Jude Law spends most of the movie on a ship waiting to get to Carol and having exposition-only phone calls. We get very little sense of Carol's relationship with him outside of the opening punch-up in a dojo - and the weakness is reinforced by Law’s character insisting only that Carol isn’t ready yet to do various things. This could work - there’s more to sexism than blunt and obvious HURR DURR WYMINS CAN’T DO THINGS declaration, but the the narrative repeatedly demonstrates that Jude Law is correct. It takes the whole movie for Carol to learn how to take her own breaks off. Which is a serious problem when she confronts the villain insisting he’d been holding her back. Not... not really, Carol. At no point in the movie did you seem like you were holding back because Jude Law’s voice was in your head telling you you weren’t good enough. You didn’t do X, Y, Z things because you just didn’t know how to do them, and you needed more experience. Jude Law spends the whole movie... not being wrong? It’s an issue. So when Carols stands there and says ‘I've never needed your approval” or some-such it’s great on a thematic level to see a female superhero so utterly reject the so-called necessity of some kind of male mentor (and if nothing else everything Carol learns in the film she learns on her own) - but it’s nonsense in the context of the film itself, where Carol spends most of it ignoring anything Jude Law says to her and doing her own thing, It weird to have her reject a man who has power over her - when he has had no power over her since the pre-credits sequence. She doesn’t listen to him at all the moment they go on their first mission. And, again, despite the text of the movie that framing suggest that Jude Law is not wrong about her not being ready to do the Light Thing until she was ready to do The Light Thing. A better movie would let Larson’s great chemistry with Lashana Lynch sing. I was so hyped going into this movie because Larson was quoted as saying that the “real” relationship of the movie was between Danvers and Rambeau but it’s... it’s not. Maybe in the script Larson originally filmed, maybe it felt that way on set, but if that was the case then it’s completely lost in the edit, where Rambeau has a nice through-line about regaining her place as a pilot but whose relationship with Danvers is mostly relegated to being another “no you’re super great Carol” hype man. Her best scene - where she and Carol sit down and she says how hard is was to lose her best friend - is undermined by some of the most mawkish music ever inflicted on a Marvel film; all the power of the acting  marred by a track that sounds like it came out of All My Children. In a better movie we’d get to see Carol live her life as a woman triumphing in a sexist airforce - half the movie should be flashbacks that build to that fatal, final flight. Danvers and Rambeau meet and crush on one another, mutually crush on Annette Benning (because god-damn), fly planes, fly better than anyone else flying planes, and do karaoke together to forget all the shitty airforce dudes in the lives who resent their good, good plane flying. This shitty people might have identities as villains and maybe do double-casting with Jude Law so we can see the parallels in her old life and her new life instead of pretending for an hour that Jude Law is her friend - like hell, movie, we’re not stupid, that’s not a shock. You cut between those scenes and modern Carol - and you do Good Writing Stuff like make New Carol a different person than old Carol: more timid, more cowed by the brain washing, more subservient to this guy who feeds her approval and virtue. You know - the stuff you do when you want to tell a movie about gaslighting like actually feature gaslighting. And we, the audience, who can see old Carol and how incredible and tough and take-no-shit she was, stare at the screen with burning eyes, hating Jude Law’s guts and waiting for the moment Carol beats his shitty ass into the ground and smooches Rambeau. And we see that Carol come back - fighting and clawing against this brain chip. And maybe the Supreme Intelligence could actually be in the movie as a villain like the movie seemed to want, instead of a brief cameo at the start of the film and then a baffling return at the end as some kind of ‘final boss’ that we don’t give a damn about because they sat out the entire movie. The film should come to a head with the crash of the experimental jet coinciding with the moment Carol remembers it in the present - maybe we take it a step further and use that great Skrull framing device at the start of the film: the past and the recent present align in the actual-present in the Skrull machine as Carol both remembers her old life, realizes the Skrulls are just trying to help her, and wakes up. Her eyes Do The Thing and she leaps out the back of Rambeau’s plane and blows the Supreme Intelligence’s armada up (not Ronan, because nobody gave a shit the first time why would you introduce a nobody like this instead of the person you want to be the Big Bad in your movie?) like a badass just like she does in the current film and then beats the shit out of Jude Law for some serious emotional catharsis. A casualty of this would be less screen time for Samuel L. Jackson. Who gives a shit? This is Carol and Rambeau‘s movie not Scary CGI Plasticine Jackson and Really, Really, Really Scary CGI Plasticine Clark Greg’s movie. You might get less Ben Mendelsohn too. A shame but, and I can’t stress this enough this should be a movie about Carol and Rambeau and Anette Bening. Ben Mendelsohn’s need to reunite with his loving wife and daughter has no place here. Did not need a subplot about manpain.

Or, conversely, if you want a movie about a totally badass female superhero kicking ass then cut out the gaslighting plot entirely. Make a different movie. Go the Iron Man route where Tony Stark is allowed to be an egotistical badass throughout and nobody ever patronizes because we don’t write movies about men that way. Just do the same for Carol (but not literally, because Ant-Man already did “Iron Man But Again” and it sucked). Really: you want to write the great feminist superhero movie? Don’t make it about a woman’s struggles against shitty men. Just make it about an awesome woman doing awesome things and stop making The Woman’s Superhero Movie be defined by her relationship with A Man’s World (see also Wonder Woman and almost every period piece about a female character ever made). Stop Othering the woman in her own movie! Finally, Captain Marvel has one of the most generic and instantly forgettable scores, a problem with Marvel generally but actively noticeable here as scenes with good acting are ruined by saccharine music like a bad soap opera. Captain Marvel is a mediocre and forgettable film, another in a long line of movies I got hyped for as some kind of ‘feminist masterpiece’ and discovered a lot of the same old shitty, lazy superhero tropes with the clunky addition of what a boardroom of executives think constitute feminist themes according to their quantitative marketing data. I will say for the eight year old girls out there it was a powerful movie and they were inspired seeing a woman superhero and I won’t take that away from then or pretend it’s not great. But they could and deserved a much better version of this movie - one in which that unquestionably glorious fuck-shit-up scene where Carol smashes through a battle fleet like it’s fucking paper because fuck you I am the biggest badass this franchise has ever seen Thor got punched by a star once who cares watch me atomize a dreadnought with my face! was matched with the same level of care elsewhere in the picture - so when Danvers lands and beats the stuffing out of Jude Law we’re not struggling to remember his character’s name which I haven’t successfully done once this entire review. I have yet to see Endgame but I have high hopes that - much like Paul Rudd and Benedict Cumberbatch - once out of the confines of her own under-written movie Brie Larson will get a chance to really shine, because we don’t get to really see Carol Danvers until that one great ship-smashing scene and that’s a pity. We should have had a chance to know the Captain Danvers of the USAF and to be able to mourn her even as we celebrated the emergence of the new Space Badass Danvers - who isn’t the same person, who can’t be, but is something greater than before. (For the record this isn’t a bad movie. It really is just a mediocre one. It’s far, far from the MCU’s worst film. That would be - despite my biases screaming ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ - still probably Thor: The Dark World, which you likely forgot existed again.)

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Hi babes! Chapter 4 for you! It’s a biggie!

Eternally grateful to the tripod, without @dirtystyles -and @bleedinglove4h I would fall on my face- maybe into someone’s cleavage if I timed it right!!

Ski Da Yo- Chapter 4

It's silly really, the entire scenario that she's found herself in. Ada could laugh, nobody would hear it over the music. It's loud, and people are taking turns at the stage. Though She could go join the group, she should, rather than lurking in the corner like a weirdo, fixated on a previous performance. She's not laughing, even at herself. She'd kinda drooling, way more embarrassing.

But she just had to watch him.

He was in his element, relaxed, on, charming, lit up like a Christmas tree. Merry, bright.

She'd never seen him like this, in the flesh. Glimpses, in the interviews she watched and called research. She'd seen the fuss there, agreed to the picture partly on the strength of it.

She could see it, what the fuss was about. And it was the first real glimpse she'd had, besides those moments she felt she had to steal from him to get on film. She was beginning to think there was a limited supply of Styles' magic. Perhaps, that was why she was only able to get a precious few minutes a day.

Watching him now, that did not seem to be the case. Harry was incandescent and she felt blinded by the light. She could chalk that up to all of her rockstar fantasizes brought to life, but it didn't explain everyone else's rapt attention on him, their enthrallment. Maybe they all had a grunge fetish too?

When she walked in and she clocked him, even with the stupid glasses that obscured his face, festive she supposed, he looked different.

On set he looked, perfect was the word that came to mind, but not in the way people usually meant. Polished and made up and proper in his prince clothes.  Perfect, fake. And anxious, like the film was a bit of an albatross around his neck. Or maybe the pressure.  And he looked like it was heavy, all the trappings trapping him. Ada worried over it. Like, the movie made him regress. Maybe it felt too familiar. He said that a lot when they talked about scenes, when he was frustrated with himself.

"I know just how he feels."

Because he had been there. Is that why he had such a hard time getting the shot? Because it made him freak out a little, feel like he'd not called his own shots for years? But he'd made these choices. Had agency. Maybe she could help him see it as therapeutic. Because it was a way to safely rebel - a redo, no risk.

She'd talk to him about it. They needed to have that drink. She could order him one now.

Ada shook her head. Not tonight. She didn't want to kill his vibe tonight. It was too lovely to watch, and to live she guessed. No shop talk.

He looked light as a cloud, and as soft edged too.  Nothing perfect or fake about him. His skin was a little slick under the stage lights, the ridges near his nose were shiny especially. He had glitter on his cheeks, but not like highlighter, like the glasses he wore were cheap, and shedding tiny pieces of shine.

But he did shine.

And he had sounded good.

Not everybody could sing Nirvana, in a chest voice no less.

She was weaned on that. And really into indie rock, especially grunge, while her dad was fostering 90's slick hip hop. It was a silly means of rebellion, but she took her opportunities to disappoint Garner seriously.

She remembered her dad had called the cover of in utero obscene, which made her laugh as he had just put out a video full of nearly naked females in bikinis, but anatomical drawings were obscene. Okay.

She had snuck a new copy in after he threw the first one away and poured over the lyrics in her baggy jeans and crop top with a flannel. Had a giant crush on Kurt, May he Rest In Peace, and when she met Dave Grohl it may have been the only time she was really starstruck.

Well, she felt like she had been hit about the head by a celestial being currently. Harry had it, that was for sure. How had she missed it? The bushel basket he'd been hiding his light under must have been thick. There was something obscuring her view or his personality definitely. Not tonight. Star power was all over him tonight; that was the boy she had signed up to direct. Right there, from those red carpet clips she'd watched. Those sold her and then she had watched concert footage, shaking camera and all. Those were another level. This silly karaoke gig almost matched the wattage when he was bedecked and bantering on stage. He looked dashing, and like he could carry a movie on his thick shoulder pads all with a joke on his vibrant lips. That man was in this building, singing one of her all time favorite songs. It had an effect.

Wow, the rasp in his voice. God, she was still reeling and hiding out in the back like her crush was nearby.

Her eyes widened.

That's what was going on! She was doing what she had done with Danny Diaz in 10th grade. She wasn't teenage dream obsessed about him, really. But, she'd paid him a lot of attentions, clandestinely. He'd been so cool, and was really into raving. Which, in hindsight, made his post high school life a little clearer. But he liked music that had nothing to do with her dad and he was cute, had long bangs and a shaved head and he could dance! She loved to dance.

She needed to go, before this bloomed like a cherry blossom and she fell off in a great big clump to wait for shoe marks. Like 10th grade, only less poetic.

The pathway to the door was clear. Her heels on the floor made a click click click, though nobody should be able to hear it. She turned back to make sure nobody was following her, was watching, and her heel caught, right in a crack in the concrete floor.

"Shit!" Her ankle twisted and her heard a crunch, that was not good, but her trajectory to the ground wasn't either. Her hands went out to catch her.

He smelled good, like leather a bit, smoky, with a sweet tinge. And he caught her and hoisted her up like she was feather light. She never felt like that, because she was the tallest of her friends, not even tall, just taller, and she had never been small. She had that insta baddie body before it was popular. Grown up in the big titty, little hippy 90's. She always felt huge.

But not right now. He had her, was righting her before her weight came down and she properly broke something. This felt like that time she'd sprained her ankle jumping fences to go skating with the boys. Stupid heels.

Back to the rom com moment she found herself in. He's caught her under the arms. His hands span her whole armpit and his fingers curled into her scapula. Ada spared a thought for how sweaty her underarms might be. Yuck! But she should be ok, she'd gotten properly ready, lots of antiperspirant. She knew that, took a deep breath and then realized she'd missed something. He's staring at her expectantly. The rockstar with the totally revealed charm. Harry.

"What?" It came out with no finesse, like a burp.

"You ok?" Harry was kinda grinning and loose, left eye more hooded than his right, and his breath, definitely 80 proof. She heard the shift and he's no longer got her in a dip fit for a tango . She felt like she'd been whirled and thrilled.

"Um, I think I'm ok." She realized they were still locked in an embrace when she tried to check her foot. Ada looked down at the place his hands had migrated to, on her hips. She didn't really need to look, she could feel all ten fingertips, like little bruise marks formed from hope not pressure. It saved her from looking at her own hands where they were full of the muscular forearms she knew to be covered in tattoos beneath the green button-up he had on. It was a a stall.

But Harry released her the minute he saw her eyeing his familiar hands. She had him well trained apparently. Massive walls between them. They were massively out of place at the moment, regrettable. She wasn't balanced on her feet yet either. Ada nearly fell before he steadied her with a rebound hand at her hip. She caught it to stand on one foot, for safety.

Her ankle circled around ok. She felt a twinge of pain, but it was entirely manageable. That was good. She'd probably need to stay off of it, no treadmill tomorrow, and she'd need to elevate it. Ice too, she could ask the bartender for some.  She was plotting how to locate an ace type bandage, and who would be best to ask for that. They may have some in makeup - they'd used them to bind breasts on Wildflower, but she couldn't think why they'd have them for this movie. Harry had perky nipples, but they didn't need to be bound. Stop thinking about Harry's nipples. The lowlight would thankfully mask her blush. Wait, Maybe she could ask his friend, Masa, he owned a gym.

Harry. She could ask him too. And that would be really easy because he was still right there. Holding her hand.

They had laced their fingers at her hip. Ada looked at Harry, he had a huge lazy smile on his face. Pleased as punch. She was punch drunk, though she wouldn't say it. He looked so young and toothy. Though the gathering of sweat at his hairline, little droplets above his upper lip, made him real. Imperfect.

She shook herself and their hands unlatched. "I need ice I think?" Of course she needed ice. What was she talking about? Who even was she? Next she's start babbling, and tuck her hair behind her ear and duck her chin.

"Yeah, and a way to put it up." His head swiveled around and he nodded. "C'mon." He gently took her arm and looped it around his shoulder. He was just tall enough.

The table was closer than she would have liked, a walk under his arms was worth remembering, but it was good for her foot. Harry sat her in a booth and put both hands out in a straight stay there motion then grabbed a chair and propped up her ankle gently. The wrong one, but she went with it.

"Be right back." He tripped a little as he looped off to the bar.  Ah, that looked normal. The trip to the bar was only the chorus of the song too. He didn't wait long for the bartender. The whole place seemed to be filled with their group, pleasantly vibrant, but not busy. . It was a quick exchange, with a little sign language thrown in. He was big on hand talking on a normal day. Gesticulating when he described most things. He was very full body engaged and engaging before scenes, before he floated away on her.

Huh, she just thought about that, Henry wasn't gesticulative. A little more in the Akio scenes.

She hadn't noticed that Harry had layered physical control into his performance. She found herself nodding. That was good.  Made total sense for a royal.

He was walking back to her now with a thin white towel and he was crunching ice in it.  Oh shit - she hadn't switched feet, she'd been watching him.

"Cold!" She flinched, "a little warning Styles!"

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I figured me walking from the bar with a towel after I went over to get ice was warning enough." He curled his tongue a little at her and the ice gave her goosebumps.

Wow, maybe he needed liquid courage on set sometimes. All his nerves were gone.

"Usually someone tells you they are about to put ice on you, even nurses, unless they are trying to be little shits!" She arched one of her brows st him. They were her favorite feature and she used them to her advantage.

"You got me, just wanted to see you squirm, since you get to see me uncomfortable a lot." His slow cadence sometimes bugged her on set. It was another thing she could find irritating, during the literal 11th hour. Ada talked fast. She talked a mile a minute on set because they had shit to do and her brain was usually ten paces ahead of her mouth.

But it was kinda nice, the way he took his time.

"You sounded really good! When you were singing." Oh God he blushed. It was his job to sing, did he know that? "You moonlight in a Nirvana cover band often?" She flexed her foot where his hand was still moving ice around to find the sore ligaments, on the wrong foot. She followed the fire and ice.

He squawked a laugh. "No, just the one time, and only because Kunichi is so persistent. I think he could sell bad fish to a Tokyo chef!" He raised his eyebrows and Ada caught her hand just before she covered her laugh.

"So, it's not the song you've always wanted to sing? That wasn't you living out your teenage rock dream?" He shook his head, just hers then.

"Oh, it's a great song, I love rock." He moved his head like, obviously. His body of work spoke to that. "But I like a little more melody when I'm convinced to do karaoke," he made a drinking motion and she was laughing again. "I like disco divas and duets. And if there is absolutely nobody around to tell on me or god forbid, record, Britney Spears is a blast to perform." He'd placed his hand to block his lips from curious eyes and leaned in to tell her this secret. His lips were plump, they like to reach out and touch her faith.

She was thirsty.

Oh shit, did she just say that out loud? How much had she already had, while skulking in the shadows?

"Sure, what do you fancy?" Quicksilver grin, poisonous and enigmatic.

"Um," what had she already had? "A dirty martini!"

"How dirty?" He flashed his eyebrows.

"Very, three extra olives." She gave him her single brow, the one that she used to dare him when that was what he needed on set.

"Three olives!" He made a shocked face. "Well, I never." And he gave her the goofiest grin and went to grab her drink. He looked comfortable. Like a favorite hoodie she wanted to wear. She only got to really watch him one way. He was back quickly.

He sat by her when he put down her cloudy drink. She'd switched legs while he was away and thought she'd got away with it, but caught his eye as he was studying her legs and he smirked at her.

That was a damn good face. "You need to do that for the scene Monday, the one at the club." Ada segued seamlessly into shop talk. She was actually really excited about that one. It was set at a place she had frequented in her time here; she had really happy memories. She was feeling really excited too, this felt like an actual fresh start, she should have taken Harry up on his offer of a drink ages ago. He was a joy loose. This was the rapport they needed, him loose and smirky, handsome with a side of solicitous and cocky sauce. This was the Harry Styles she'd been waiting for!

🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

Harry felt like he should get an Oscar for this performance. For his steady hands, that he was currently sitting on, and the confident smirk. It wasn't all an act, but the amount of times he'd had to turn this on like a lightbulb in an interview was invaluable right now. It was mostly fake those times, maybe even faker now. He had been relaxed and joyous, and then he had been so relieved to see her smile at him, he just went with it. But the minute he walked away from her, the first time, for the ice, the nerves kicked in. But he faked it, like a seasoned porn star, because she was looking at him, and touching him, and holy shit! Ada Scott was hanging with him. He would keep the action and make the moans believable.

Wow! Was this the way women felt all the time? When they had to put on some performance for the man they were interested in, or for the men they weren't, but couldn't offend?

It felt easier to relax tonight. The day had set him up for success. Things had ended so well on set, and he'd been in the best mood, and had gotten brave. He'd gone to her trailer. To invite her again.  Harry was excited about the evening at the bar and seeing music, though he wasn't sure what it would be like, because it wasn't a gig, nor karaoke, some hybrid he had been told. He liked novel nights out.

But everybody was coming. His whole Japanese network, including Jeff and Masa and his girl!

Everybody but Ada. So he'd put on his man panties and went going to ask her.  She needed to be there, and even though she'd turned down all of his invitations and returned the replacement shoes, he was going to ask her again.  For the whole cast. They had months left and needed to bond.

He needed to bond with her. It felt possible after their day on set, her brow wasn't creased and she didn't speed walk away. She slowed down enough for him to keep up. They'd had a conversation, not about a scene. He'd kept up and not drifted away on her voice. She walked and talked fast. He liked it.

Masa loved to laugh at him, and was doing just that while he psyched himself up to go talk to her. "Just go ask the lady." He'd arrived to take him back to the hotel to Harry stalling. Masa was giving him a look.

His grin was presumptuous. Harry didn't like it. It felt like he knew. Yuki knee, Masa might. Harry did, know, but he didn't think he was so obvious. Did she know?

"You need a tutu?" Masa heckled.

"What?"

"Your mind is like a dancer on drugs," he made a flitting motion with his hands. "you might need a tutu for making the decision. "

"Oh fuck off, man!"

"Just go ask her. It's a cast party, I haven't even met her and she's supposed to be the leader. She needs to come. A leader should." Masa's brow shrunk.

"She is the leader, she's the boss!" He was full of defenses for her. "If you were allowed on set you'd see."

"Oh, I'm not allowed." Harry had neglected to outright tell him that, just let him be distracted, that would run out when they had to go on location. Whoops.

"You'd make fun of me, I've been totally fucking up. So you aren't allowed. At all."

"Isn't the movie about a royal fucking up?" Masa said after catching his wheezing breath. He sounded like a dragon with hay fever.

Hmmm, Harry'd have to have a think on that. That was a plot point he should consider when he was flagellating himself. Maybe he could use it, all his self frustration. He shook himself and jumped up and down like he was going on stage, when he turned around to tell Masa he was going, he was laughing at him, again.

"What now?"

"Are you going to punch her?" He gulped the air. "You do that before you box."

"I just need to hype myself up." Harry shook his head out.

"She must be really pretty."

"Shut up." She was really pretty, but it had been an asset today, made the scene work and Harry had decided he needed exposure therapy. So he needed to be around her, more. He was gonna go talk to her, get used to her face.

He strode to her trailer and stopped cold outside before he could knock. For once, it was not over nerves, but his jaw which had dropped to the floor. That sound as coming from her trailer.

She was singing. Well!  To Mary J. Blige's Real Love. And he wanted to sit on the little steps up to her door and listen.

So she could have gone into the music business, had everything going for her there. Connected daddy, pretty face, hot body, and pipes. Wow, she could belt! He had goosebumps. Her voice was rich and evocative. Deeper that he expected.

And he could not talk to her.  Not now. Now she was even more impressive.

So he did what any brave young lad would do.

He asked his manager to do it.

Jeff smirked, but sent the text.  And like the magic 8 ball he could be, he made the face he did when the outlook wasn't good.

So Harry had resigned himself to Ada not coming to the bar.  He was disappointed, but also relieved. Those two feelings must be dating as often as he felt them together when it came to Ada. If she didn't come, he could relax and have fun, let loose, but not bond with her, or have another chance to impress her. Or throw up on her. There would be alcohol involved again. He needed to gain back the ground he'd lost when he spewed at her feet.

A second chance at a first impression.

But Jeff seemed to be right, as he often was. Ada was softer with him after the last cut because he had done a good job. He'd work that angle to bond.

He resigned himself to having another kick ass day on Monday for him and Ada, and having a great time tonight for himself, free of expectations. He was feeling buoyant, Kunichi had noticed right away, pounced and got him on stage. First on the drums, which he played like a 7th grader after a few lessons, and then on the microphone.

God, it was fun. So fun. And he felt the perfect amount of tipsy, like tomorrow he'd need two paracetemol and extra water, a good sweat and nothing else.

He felt extra intoxicated when he spotted Ada. In tight jeans and a slimmer t-shirt than normal, and high heels. He tried not to stare at her ass on a sneaker day, he was doomed with the thrust the 3 inches gave her curves. She looked amazing, but she looked like she was leaving. And he'd just realized she was there!

The social lubricant in his blood didn't give him a chance to think better of it. He was walking to Ada. He got there just in time. Her heel stuck in a crease in the floor, and he caught her. It was every rom com moment he'd ever sat on his mum's couch moon eyed over in one.

He got to help her. And he was able to talk to her like a normal human, and get her a drink. All in the span of 20 minutes!

She seemed relaxed, her shoulders pressed against her tee nicely, but were down, easy. And she smiled at him, a lot.

He was trying his best not to think, he'd spin out. When he went to get her ice towel and then the martini, god, she kind of flirted, right? People flirted with him all the time, or went mute. She didn't do either until tonight. And he was buzzing, more off the flirting at this point than the alcohol.

The little insecure boy inside, the one who was really loud in new situations or around new people, especially people he admired, was chiming in about the stage. The stage cast a spell on people, and he worried about people who knew him from it or expressed attraction to that aspect of him.

It's why he'd always held back with Helene, regrettably.

He didn't want to make that mistake again, he'd made wrong assumptions that cost him Helene's affections. He didn't want to do that here, wanted to do the opposite. Part of him wanted to dive in, head first, but he wasn't sure. Rejection hurt no matter who you were, and though he'd had his share, Harry's skin was still cling wrap thin. He wanted her to like him too.  He wanted this to be real. Which meant he had to be honest, and open. But he was rushing it, like he did when he was crushing.

He was going to let this night be what he hoped it would be, a beginning. And he was that guy, the one on stage, with the smirk, and the wit. He was also less commanding, and lost his cool at times, but she'd seen that guy. He just needed to show her more of his best side, tonight, and on set.

He caught Kunichi motioning to him. Ah, he'd almost forgotten his promise.

He leaned back, let his arm brush her shoulder while he relaxed. He'd turn on the charm for just a minute, he could manage that, he wanted something he'd been a little consumed with for the better half of this night. And he wanted it from Ada.

He flexed the dimple and titled his head to the side. "This smile?" He pointed his finger at his lips.

"That's a good one, but no. The cockier one!" Oooh, he really did love that eyebrow. Gave him tingles.

"I will do my absolute best," he smirked and her lashes fluttered. "If you'll come up and sing with me."

[truthbeetoldmedia]

iZombie 5x10 "Night in the Zombie City" Review

With just three episodes of iZombie left, we are inching closer and closer to the truth about the cure, and characters are going to more drastic measures as time ticks on. 

For this week’s murder, a young sex worker and private eye detective are killed back to back. Liv eats the detective’s brain, bathing the episode in noir. Sad saxophones, light bars across the eyes, and long trench coats. A thunderstorm plays in the background for the whole episode, making every scene feel like a dark and stormy night. The power goes out in the station, giving it a 50’s black and white movie vibe. Bunny, the sex worker, was one of Candy’s girls, so the investigation naturally winds up at Don E Be Good’s. All signs point to the waitress, Jane, who ends up returning to the scene of the crime. Blaine confronts her near the bar, and right before Jane is about to shoot him, Crybaby comes in and knocks her out cold. Blaine eats her brain in hopes of finding out more, and he has a vision. The private eye detective had managed to secure a cure for Bunny, and Jane caught wind of it. Trying to steal the cure for herself, she killed both of them. Of course, getting another cure would be in Blaine’s best interest, and so he eats Jane’s brain in hopes to figure out where she stashed the cure. 

Blaine and Liv cross paths at the private eye’s office while working on the case, but tensions finally boil over between the two when they are looking for the cure in the kitchen of Don E Be Good’s. Peyton gets Liv to come out drinking, and Peyton drowns her sorrows and delivers wobbly karaoke. The fun comes to an abrupt end when someone tells Peyton that she was a bad mayor. She tells him exactly what she thinks about that by sockin him right in the mouth. A huge bar fight breaks out. “Seriously? On karaoke night?” Don E moans. If only he knew the knockout, drag-out Liv and Blaine were having in the back. This is certainly not the first time that these two have come to fisticuffs, but this time it gets ugly. Crybaby intervenes again, with more intentions to kill. Right before he brings the bat down on Liv’s head, Clive comes to the rescue. Blaine throws Crybaby under the bus for Jane’s murder, which is what Blaine does, and Crybaby truly should not be shocked about it.

 Peyton is also arrested. Poor girl is clearly having a hard time dealing with not being mayor anymore. Now that she’s off the hook for all of Seattle’s problems, what else does she have to do? “Did I ever tell you I wanted to be a paleontologist?” she tells Liv. “Seems hard to get fired from that job.” I hope in the next three episodes, Peyton can get her groove back, rather than taking up an extended stay in Margaritaville and getting arrested for bar fights. 

Another character who has been under a lot of stress lately, as well as a new relationship, is Don E. In a bought of frustration, he calls the murders a “hassle” for business, which rubs Darcy the wrong way. Confused about what he said, Liv soothes him while sipping on hard liquor. “Dames got you dizzy, Don E. It’s what dames do.” He has a sweet moment with Candy, where she encourages him to get Darcy back, and it seems a little bit like a final goodbye. Candy has been an unsung hero of this series. She has never had a full plot on her own, unfortunately always at the mercy of the unethical men in her life. We aren’t often in tune with her thoughts and feelings, but she has been with us since the beginning. So when we see her steal the cure for herself and get on the back of a sexy motorcycle, I cheered out loud. Cue the Lucille Bluth “Good for her!” gif! Although it sets our heroes back, yet again ending an episode cure-less, I can’t help but feel like out of all the people to get one of the rare original cures, Candy deserves it the most. Be free, Candy! 

Darcy agrees to speak to Don E, and she tells him that she was angry at his reaction to Bunny because his chief concern was finding a replacement for her. Darcy doesn’t have much time left, so she was worried that would be Don E’s reaction to her death as well. Don E has matured the most out of any character on this show, and so when he tells Darcy that he’s hardened by all the death in his life, but still loves her, it feels like a hard won, vulnerable moment from him. He asks Darcy to marry him, which was the perfect mix of corny and sweet. At first I was sure that we would see Darcy die by the end of the season, but I’m beginning to wonder if the show has a future for these two after all. If there’s any zombies standing after Liv and Martin’s showdown, that is. 

Ravi wastes no time telling Liv the truth about her father, that he also, in fact, is Father of all Zombie-kind. In turn, she wastes no time confronting him about it. Not only is she angry that he withheld something so major, it also means he holds the key to the cure. He created the recipe for utopium that could be the solution to all their problems. He quickly tells her that he was high all the time in those days, so there’s no way he remembers the recipe. The audience knows this isn’t true, and it’s only a matter of time before Liv and the group find out. But not before Ravi lapses judgement a little and tells Martin he was testing rats with Max Rager, the energy drink that gives extreme psychological effects. When it’s paired with utopium, it turns people into zombies. Ravi explains that it stimulants the frontal cortex. Martin seems incredibly interested at this piece of information, and we found out later that Max Rager is the last piece of the puzzle that he needs to control his army. 

At Fillmore Graves, Major is begging for a distraction from the negotiations with the government. His second gives him a note that the keycard system needs to be replaced. While she mentions that it’s “just boring stuff,” it turns disturbing fast. Major catches a janitor with a huge carton of Max Rager with two keycards. When Major tells him that he wants to ask him some questions, the janitor runs into a shower hook, impaling his brain rather than talk. When Ravi hears what the janitor was trying to steal, he brings up to Liv the conversation he had with Martin. Liv proposes sneaking into Martin’s house while he’s in an AA meeting, and boy do they hit the motherlode. Not only do they find the exact recipe from the night of the yacht party that created the first zombie outbreak, but they find the army too. Ravi pulls aside the curtain, hoping for an escape route, and finds a pack of Romeros staring back at him behind a cage. 

Meanwhile, two of the weakest plots of the show finally meet each other and seem to resolve. As a little recap, Hi Zombie is the webseries that Peyton got fired for funding. The premise is two families move in next door to each other — one human, one zombie — and they root out all the stereotypes they have against each other. Every clip or scene we’ve seen of this show has been didactic and a little forced, but surely it was a plot device to build some kind of crucial bridge. The threat of nuclear warfare has been looming over New Seattle for quite some time now, and I mean a long time now. I understand this is a big decision, but it’s been stretched to the point of taking the wind out of the story’s sails a bit. I never actually believed that New Seattle would get nuked, and now we know it’s probably not going to. Why? All because of Hi Zombie! The chairman walks in on her grandson watching the show, and leans over to watch it with him for a while. Over the course of the evening, she has a change of heart about the zombie community. When it comes down to a vote on whether or not to nuke the town, she breaks the tie by voting no. “They have the capacity to become monsters” she says, but she can’t base her vote on “for fear for what they might become.” All of this is certainly not good enough for General Mills, who pays a phone call to our favorite local criminal, Dolly. These two make a toxic team up, for sure, but how will they factor in to the grand finale?

Final thoughts:

Ravi does an amazing noir detective monologue that I can only assume is based off Harrison Ford’s Bladerunner voiceover 

Was it just me, or was there extra alcohol in this episode? 

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” “You’re already dead.” It seems unbelievable to me this joke hasn’t been played yet 

“We’re not talking about your book. By the book. My book.” I’m going to miss Malcolm Goodwin rolling with every brain swing. He’s exasperated by a brain nearly every week, but this one particularly got under his skin. He tells Liv she’s off the case until she eats a brain tube, but that certainly doesn’t stop her. 

“That was just a love tap!” 

I always feel frustrated when this show uses terribly dated language, like “hooker” and “junkie.” It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

“The classic lamp reveal.” Finally, a brain that matches Blaine for his dramatics. 

Don E’s laugh when Peyton starts singing is pure iZombie 

“We’re going to Don E Be Good’s.” “Good’s enough!” Again — so obvious but brilliant. 

Haley’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

iZombie airs Thursdays at 9/8c on the CW.