#i know nothing else but think of the awesome costume possibilities! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

calliethetrekkie · 4 months ago

Text

Star Trek TOS S01E19: Arena

Original Thoughts

"Well now I know which episode those screenshots of Kirk fighting lizard men that are clearly guys in uper cheap costumes come from. So Kirk is forced into a battle to the death more or less against a vicious alien species by another alien species of greater power. Man, they’ve had bad luck with the latter thus far. Despite the cheapness making it hard to take seriously, it was cool to see Kirk get to fight full-on against something since episode 3. Shatner kinda overacted a bit with the dialogue, but was fine otherwise in a more action-oriented episode that had Kirk completely on his own with no help available to him. Kirk’s proven to be quick-witted in the past, such as in the previous episode, but he had nothing but wits and a communicator here, and he was awesome! The Gorn are also dangerous but also display intelligence and cunning like how the one came pretty close to killing Kirk and devising a way to trap him. The Enterprise’s helplessness in this situation is also very strong with even Spock unable to do anything but wait it out. A cheap episode for sure, but a good episode regardless."

Rewatch Thoughts

Wow Callie, way to not even pay attention to the moral of the episode, you dummy!

When going back to rewatch this one, I only remembered two things about it: the Gorn and the scene where McCoy tries to hold Spock's hand while they're watching Kirk struggle. The former cause of that legendary costume, the latter cause... well, me taking in every Spones moment that I can. Otherwise? I remembered virtually nothing else. It sucks that I forgot about most of it, but it's also kind of nice cause I got to experience it again, and DEAR GOD this is so much better than I had remembered!

The first part of the episode is great, from Kirk and McCoy being all giggly and cute in the transport room to them finding the base they were going to utterly obliterate. Only one guy was still alive and it was an active blast zone as well that only our three mains, the dying guy, and one Blue shirt survived. We're left wondering WTF happened and Kirk... well, he doesn't take the incident well. He declares it an invasion and goes after the ship of those responsible, fully intending to return the favor.

It was a little scary TBH to see Kirk so... I guess the word that works best is vengeful. I don't think I've ever seen him this willing to kill an enemy before, even in Conscience of the King he kept his cool overall. I guess given the amount of life lost, even compared to say Balance of Terror, it makes sense. It's not OOC either, we've seen Kirk flare up whenever any of his men are killed/threatened (The Man Trap, Balance of Terror, The Corbomite Maneuver to some extent) so what looks like a calculated attack on this level? And when he's the only one in a position to give pursuit? Yeah, Kirk ain't gonna let that go. He's going to find whoever/whatever did this and stop it before such a thing happens again.

This presents a problem, however, that being how irrational Kirk is being. I don't mean that in a bad way either, it's interesting to see this side of Kirk. He's so determined to pursue this enemy, to take them down, that he doesn't care about any possible explanations about why the Gorn did what they did. Spock tries to express that very concern, but it falls on deaf ears and he pretty timidly falls back into place. Spock's very much been willing to question Kirk before, we saw it in Conscience of the King, but in that instance, he had time to go over everything before choosing to confront Kirk and also discuss it with McCoy, who noticeably stays in Sickbay until Jim gets whisked away. Given McCoy's the one who would most likely speak back and try to talk Jim out of it/appeal to him emotionally, keeping him in Sickbay with the traumatized, nearly dead officer and thus unable to be Kirk's soundboard to vent his emotions to had to have been on purpose. That's not to say that Spock is a mindless follower, he isn't by any means. But at least at this stage of ST, I don't think he has the nerve to argue or defy Kirk without being prepared for it or without McCoy or someone else in his corner to back him up. Plus logically, what can he argue against Kirk when he's not gonna listen? He can't. This is why in cases like Conscience of the King and later in Obsession, you need Spock and McCoy both standing up to Kirk: alone they probably couldn't do much, but together? Jim doesn't stand a chance haha.

Even the crew is pretty mortified by Kirk's recklessness and... for lack of a better word, murderousness. Uhura gives him some mega side-eye when he and Spock are talking, and everyone looks mortified when Kirk keeps making them go up to more and more dangerous Warp levels. They don't go against the orders, but it's very clear that they're unsettled. Kirk is very much presented as in the wrong and dangerously reckless for everyone. He doesn't even really give a damn when Uhura tells him that they're being scanned nor questions why the Gorn are coming to a dead stop when entering the mysterious galaxy, only caring that they have the chance to shoot them down. He is laser-focused on shooting down the enemy, and this bites him in the ass hard as the Metrons, unhappy to have this quarrel brought to their end of the universe, forces Kirk and the Gorn Captian to settle the matter... one-on-one.

Kirk is in a bad position, but it's kind of cool to see him under conditions like this. He has no weapons, no way to communicate with he Enterprise, he has nothing but his own wits. He's against a Gorn, who is much stronger and as Kirk finds out, very much intelligent. That's one thing I enjoy about the Gorn, they are brutish and violent, but the Gorn Captian at least isn't stupid. Kirk mistakes the alien translator that the Metrons outright told him that they were giving him to talk directly to the Gorn. In other words, because Kirk didn't pay close enough attention to the Metrons words, he gave away EVERYTHING that he was thinking and doing to the Gorn, who took all of that, and countered. He even set up his own trap and Kirk survived by the skin of his teeth. Ironically the guy in the cheap lizard costume was the one being smart and calculative, while Kirk... well sorry honey, but you're kind of an idiot during most of this. But it's okay, I know it's cause your two brain cells aren't with you.

Speaking of said brain cells, the Spock and McCoy moments during all of this are so good! I mentioned the hand-chasing bit, which is still fantastic and I'll never get over the fact that De Kelley decided that was perfectly IC to do. But even disregarding that, this is a really good one to watch if you wanna see a good example of their relationship when they aren't bickering. You can REALLY tell that McCoy wants to when he gets to the Bridge and presses Spock for answers, but he actually holds it in. Likely due to the time-pressing circumstances, but still. I mean he even turns the Captain chair so Spock can sit in it properly (my hilarious theory is Nimoy somehow missed it when filming so they had to have De holding it so Nimoy wouldn't hurt himself), how anyone can look at them here and think they hate each other I'll never know. I also love how it's when McCoy appeals to the Metrons to let them see Jim that the Metrons decide to show some compassion and comply. It's an early sign to them that humans aren't just savage killers, and it's Leonard 'The Heart' McCoyt hat starts it.

Spock also doesn't even attempt to hide his emotions here, his uncertainly over what to do and how he doesn't know where Jim is, his fear and worry when seeing Kirk near death, his relief when Kirk starts piecing together what to do with the resources around him, and let's not forget earlier where he decided that going after Kirk in an active blast zone was a perfectly logical thing to do. Seriously, this is also a great episode to point to whenever Spock claims he has no emotions cause... yeah sorry Spock, all you've proven is how Vulcans are giant ass liars.

Honestly, this is such a good episode showing how devoted the Enterprise crew is to Kirk. When Kirk instructs Sulu to abandon the landing party if necessary and to protect his ship, Sulu very clearly does NOT want to do it. He knows he has to comply, but if he has the chance to save Kirk and the others, I don't doubt at all that he would do it. Despite the visible shock regarding Kirk's orders and actions, all of the Bridge are horrified and worried when he disappears and when they see how badly he's doing. Poor Uhura looks like she's about to cry I swear. Kirk has his bad moments, but ultimately he's a respected Captain for a reason and Uhura, Scotty, and Sulu especially know that (and Chekov but he ain't around yet). No one wants anything to happen to him and if anyone on that ship could do something to save him, they would. They're so devoted to Kirk, even when they disagree with him, and I love it.

All that said, in the final stretch the Gorn finally speaks and we find out why they obliterated the Base and everyone on it: because Starfleet were the invaders. The space was the Gorn's and Starfleet suddenly setting up a base there scared them and they concludedconclusion that it was an enemy attack waiting to happen. While they certainly jumped the gun... I don't blame the Gorn too much, to be honest. You see these people that look virtually alien to them settling in without any explanation about where they're form or what they intend, what other conclusion is there to make? I don't believe Starfleet was attempting to do anything malicious, at least in this case, but the fact that they just assumed the space was free for the taking... yeah, not one of your better moves guys. Did that justify the Gorn's actions? It's hard to say since they certainly had an understandable reason, but it still caused massive casualties that I think could have been avoided had the two sides just... talked and mediated things. Still, as McCoy points out, Starfleet was the one in the wrong first, and Kirk just about nearly caused even more unnecessary bloodshed because he didn't at all consider why this happened to begin with.

Given that, it makes sense why the Metrons would see us humans as primitive savages (poor Spock getting lumped in there too haha), especially with Kirk's behavior up to that point. It makes his decision to NOT kill the Gorn Captain, despite having blasted him to near death and having the perfect opportunity, all the more impactful. Throughout the episode, it's all he'd wanted to do, to the point of endangering the Enterprise and everyone on it to get the chance. But having now heard the Gorn's reasonings and being able to look at his own actions, he realizes how wrong he was. The Gorn aren't mindless monsters, they were afraid and were trying to protect themselves from what they saw as invaders, and it was a matter that Starfleet provoked first. He even refuses the Metrons offer to kill the Gorn and instead wants to properly mediate things over. It convinces the Metrons that there's hope for humanity before returning Kirk back to the ship safe and sound.

Given recent times, the moral honestly this a lot harder. The Gorn were motivated by fear, Kirk was motivated by vengeance, and had it kept going I could easily see things escalating into full-blown war. Ultimately though, Kirk decides to be the better man and not continue it. He's seen the destruction that the Gornc caused and likely people he knew got killed, he fought the Gorn Captian face-to-face and both of them were fighting to the death, and acted irrationally all throughout the episode. But Kirk learned and chose the diplomatic route instead. I wish that it were that simple, to realize all sides feelings and decide that there's been enough hatred, fear, and vengeance by everyone. I wish that more leaders chose to communicate and mediate things out, which si certainly more difficult than it sounds but it's still a better option than war and death. TOS is outdated in so many ways, but is also still incredibly relevant in others and I think that this is very much one of those kinds of episodes. It certainly hit me a LOT harder this time around than it did the first time.

This episode is so freakin' good. A great plot with a very well-handled message, great character moments for both our main trio and the Bridge crew, and very well-executed tension. I knew full well how this whole thing ended and I was still worried about if Kirk would make it out, that's how well this episode does in immersing you in it. Even Shatner's over-acting, which tbh wasn't even as over the top as I made it sound in the first viewing, didn't phase me. Also that Gorn suit is perfection and it needs to stay the Gorn's default look, I don't make the rules! I thoroughly enjoyed this one... and hopefully, the memory of it helps me survive the next episode, The Alternative Factor, cause if it's like I remember... yeah I'm not gonna be feeling much joy after it. But that's for then, for now? Arena is great~!

Original Rating: 4/5 Rewarch Rating: 9/10

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

#star trek #star trek tos #tos s1 #st reviews #tos s1 reviews

42 notes · View notes

incorrect-koh-posts · 2 years ago

Note

Baldwin for the send me a character 💫

Of course! Let me present the tea on everyone’s favourite leper:

favourite thing: his altruism. Baldwin always puts other people and his kingdom first, no matter how fragile his health is and how badly things could go for him if he isn’t careful. His tendency for self-sacrifice makes him both a great king and a very sympathetic (and badass) character, but it also has a heart-breaking quality to it in the sense that he seems to think he has nothing else to live for or look forward to. His role as the king he thinks he must be overshadows all else.

least favourite thing: the leprosy that he's a bit too perfect personality-wise. I know much of it comes down to his sadly very limited screen time in the film, but even in fiction and fanfic, Baldwin sometimes just seems a little too angelic for my taste. He’s clever, he’s wise, he’s gentle, he’s an accomplished warrior and commander, he’s tolerant, he’s kind, he’s witty … you get the gist. I’m not saying that he isn’t or shouldn’t be awesome, because he is, but our man could do with one or two flaws, as far as I’m concerned.

favourite line: "None of us know our end, really, or what hand will guide us there." I mean, all of Baldwin's lines are great and endlessly quotable, but this one has a sweet, wistful, carpe-diem quality about it that really resonates with me.

BrOTP: Baldwin & Salah ad-Din. I love, love, love their dynamic – how respectfully they treat each other and what wonderfully deep conversations they could have if circumstances were just a little different. Their personalities complement each other really well, I think.

OTP: Not sure. At the moment I'm quite fond of the idea of Baldwin x Balian or Baldwin x fem!Balian because I quite like their character chemistry, but I’m still somewhat undecided about the logistics of the whole thing. But in theory Baldwin is quite shippable in general, which opens up a great amount of possibilities yet to be explored. I’ve also encountered some nice Baldwin x Salah ad-Din fics in the wild.

NOTP: Baldwin x Raymond, for reasons I mentioned before.

random headcanon: If I ever were to write a daemon AU for KoH, Baldwin's daemon would be a dove. Not only would it match his aesthetic really well, but the biblical reference would also fit the goal he dedicated his life to quite nicely. Perhaps I'll write a snippet one day.

unpopular opinion: I would probably like him better if the film had presented him as a little less angelic and a little more human.

song: No Light, No Light (in your bright blue eyes) - Florence + The Machine. Or Age of Kings - The Mountain Goats.

favourite picture: These two because they're fancy. 2000s character design really peaked when the KoH costume department created Baldwin's look and you can pry that opinion from my cold dead hands.

#asks #ask games #kingdom of heaven 2005 #baldwin iv #I am so sorry anon for taking so long to get to this #life got in the way #I’ve got some more asks lined up in my drafts but I’ll get to them all as soon as possible I promise

84 notes · View notes

epickiya722 · 2 years ago

Note

for the ask game!!! gotta ask you about the nation's girlboss, miruko 🩷

And you know I gotta pour my fangirl heart out here for her! 🐇🌙

How I feel about this character: She is everything, she's a queen, she's a goddess, she's a badass, she deserves several awards, people don't appreciate her enough for me, I don't see how anyone could hate Miruko.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: As a multishipper, I do like quite a bit or don't mind a lot of Miruko ships, but my top three ones? Miruko/Burnin, Miruko/Fuyumi, and Miruko/Fat Gum.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: I love how she and Bakugou interacted. It was just too hilarious how they went back and forth with each other.

My unpopular opinion about this character: WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN HERE?! Overall, I feel like there are some things that the fandom complains about when it comes to Miruko is just not that big deal to me. Some, not all.

Like leg shots. She kicks, she's gonna have quite a bit of leg shots and it's not all that often she does that leg shots. Mt. Lady had a whole butt shot and I barely saw complaints about it.

Her costume isn't as bad some people make it out to be. I get it. It's a whole leotard, shows off some skin, but at the same time if you have no problem with Vlad King having a whole cleavage window, then what's the issue? Toga fights in a whole skirt and I don't see people complain much about that. The whole team of the Wild, Wild Pussycats fights in skirts!!

Her costume is practical compared to some of the other costume. She doesn't like heavy clothing because she has to move around a lot.

I also think she is probably the most real Pro Hero. She is blunt, honest and she says what's on her mind. She doesn't care to please people and put on a show like some other Pro Heroes. She knows she's doing a job, much like Rock Lock does. Miruko knows its her duty to protect people.

And I said it before, but I find she is much more entertaining than some of the other characters. There are still some things we don't know in canon about her, but I like that.

I find that when characters don't have a lot to go off on, your mind is more open to the possibilities of what could be.

She's a total badass! She only fights with strength, speed and instincts. She doesn't have anything else to work with it and yet took down several Nomus along with High-End one! What other character can say did that with their legs? Probably can throw hands too given how muscular her arms are! I doubt Miruko would just work her her arms for nothing!

One more thing! I don't think Miruko is just what she's on the surface. Look, if other characters can get the "they're misunderstood, deep down there's more something else", so can Miruko.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: A. Vacation. I would have also loved for her to mentored Midoriya (along with some other characters like Ojiro and Kendo). Despite being a minor character, I find she and Midoriya are quite a bit alike besides the kicking thing. I actually wrote a whole post about why I would have love for her to be his mentor!!

Favorite friendship for this character: I don't care what anyone says, I think she, Hound Dog and Vlad King would be an awesome trio of best friends. All three could be equally chaotic and sane. I feel like a friendship with them would allow Miruko to be Miruko and not play "the second/sidekick" to someone.

My crossover ship: Hm... okay, I don't have one. It's not often I think about crossovers to be honest.

FANDOM ASKS

#kiya answers #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #miruko #mirko #miruko bnha #mirko bnha #miruko mha #mirko mha #usagiyama rumi #rumi usagiyama #I'M SHIFTING INTO MIRUKO FANGIRL MODE #💜🐇🌙

7 notes · View notes

denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

Text

youtube

"That's Chris' ambition; is to entertain people. He's managed to kind of fit several different genres into this picture as a, you know -you can say it's a biopic but it's not a conventional biopic, you can say it's a thriller, it also has horror elements to it, so I think he's kind of trojan horsed a lot of these different genres in, into the movie."

"I don't know how you tell this, this story and not have it be disturbing; I mean it's an incredibly disturbing story. It's, it's kind of amazing - the second you start to engage with it, you think like: 'Why am I, why am I - how am I thinking about anything else ever? Like, how are we getting on with our days and how have we been for the last eighty years?'"

"I think he was very aware that what he was saying was the absolute truth, and when you say a line like that when it's the truth, you just completely commit to it. And it was a rage that he felt that these scientists - he felt like they were children in a lot of ways; they were brilliant, but Groves was brilliant as well. He, he needed these guys but they were so different in their world philosophies right - the military was, was absolutely obsessed with secrecy and compartmentalization and everything's on a need-to-know basis. And that was for a very good reason; there were spies, there were people trying to steal this information, this was about the life and death of the human species, this - there's nothing more important. It is the most important thing to happen in the history of the world."

"Yeah, it was manifold; I did, I had about six months; I could, I would if I could've, taken more. There's so many different elements, you know, there's the, there's the, there's all the stuff that exists online - all the videos of him; there's so much, texts and books and academic pieces on him. But ultimately, the script is your primary resource, always. I kind of started from the outside in with him; you know like, we really wanted to get the silhouette right and the voice right and the, and the physicality right - a lot of work with hair and make-up and costume. So it was a long process, but I worked very, very closely with Chris the whole time."

"He's mesmerizing."

"One of the best performances I've ever seen; it really is phenomenal. And the only time I think you get performances that are that good is when a director is that clear about they need and an actor goes there and is that locked in for months and months and months. And the two of them together, watching them build this character, it's why the whole movie works."

"So moving."

"Yeah and it's, it's, just - it's, it's an awesome piece of work and it's - it was, it was really, really a privilege to watch the two of them."

"He's so rare because, you know, he's - he's as delicate as he is powerful. You know, he's just an extraordinary actor and Oppenheimer was enigmatic and he wasn't - there was an ambiguity to the character that Cillian managed to laser into and it just keeps you leaning in. I can't imagine what a sort of titanic undertaking it must have felt like for him, and it's why he never hung out with us. He was just in room eating almonds -"

"We invited him to dinner every night and he never came once."

"I just don't think he had anything left in the tank."

"He had nothing left in the tank. He also wasn't eating because he was losing weight; I mean -"

"Yeah."

"I mean, Cillian's a naturally thin guy, but he had to look even, yeah, even thinner."

"Oppenheimer didn't eat; he just smoked cigarettes and drank, and I don't think Cillian drank - "

"Nor, nor did he smoke, he just didn't eat anything."

" - and I don't think he smoked cigarettes, he just - he just ate almonds."

"Oh man, I mean it's - it's a little overwhelming really. I mean, you know, we've known each other twenty years, we've made six films together, but you know; to be given the chance to play the lead in one, of of the greatest directors in the world, in one of their films, which I think it could possibly be his magnum opus, it's - it's a gift man. A total gift. Yeah."

"Yeah well apparently the people that are seeing it are kind of devastated and speechless and then, and then everyone really wants to talk about it. And I had; I watched it - I didn't watch it on IMAX - I will, but I had the same experience. You know, I was kind of winded and; because it kind of grabs you by the throat from the beginning and then it just doesn't let up. I love that in, in films; that's what I want from films - is that it alters you in some way emotionally."

"I think the decision that Chris made to tell it, even - even when you read the script, it was written in the first person - so instead normally you read a script and it's like: 'Oppenheimer walked across a room, Oppenheimer did this', but it, it was all like: 'I did this and I saw this, and then I saw him across the room and then the lights started hitting me' and like - it was just so traumatic being him. And you felt that when you read the script, and you feel that when you watch the film; it's so internal."

"Well it was a shocker to read it, you know, because it was all written in the first person. I'd never read a script like that before, so I knew then that it was gonna really; he wanted to put the audience very much kind of on Oppenheimer's shoulder, to have them right there to exp - to be experiencing what Oppenheimer's experiencing as, as we go through the film; which is an amazing device. You know, and then, he then uses the kind of objective through Strauss' character, which is used - I think he's used that device in Mem, in Memento again, in the past, but I think it's, it's very clever; again in telling what could be a conventional biopic, he tells it in an unconventional and stimulating kind of way."

#Oppenheimer #Cillian Murphy #Emily Blunt #Matt Damon #Memento #Christopher Nolan #Youtube

2 notes · View notes

rengokugutspill · 1 month ago

Text

product & art opinions + inconveniences

I been feeling real jazzed about the Mugen Train anniversary event ! For some reason I'd thought I'd already mentioned it.

I was surprised this Halloween theme is wizards, though I think it's more accurate to say “magic academy,” since they are clearly dressed like Hogwarts students. I wonder what made them choose ? But I did feel like last year's masquerade was very vampire.

I do think Rengoku's very cute, but I kind of don't understand his ? Because everyone else is doing something that corresponds to wizardry or magic in some way, but he just kinda standing there looking swaggie ?? I don't complain really, it is cute, I'm just confused. Though cute wink but my favorite measure by far is the star charms on his hat. I love that so much !! Though is this the first time we get a wink ? For some reason I thought there was another one where he did, but as I'm looking around the room I realize I must be confused ? Maybe confusing with that one piece of artwork in the commemorative art book ? So in that regard.... so precious !! So handsome !! What an immensely swaggie boy !! <3<3<3<3<3<3

Nevermind. Lmfao his was charming omg

Which is really fantastic because word I guess he did just charm mad people. Highest grossing movie of all time for two years & all. & even right now he's basically dominating the anniversary event lol

baby boy killin' it ! :)

Which I suppose it does fall in line with his character two fold for if the first dream in Mugen Train is his, then he dreamt that everyone thought he was an awesome hero & revered him for it. But the closing line for his first backstory comic says how he really wanted to be a hero. Then in comparison with all the other hashira liking him & the bonus breathing styles comic where the demons interviewed killed by Rengoku all talk about how cool he is, I suppose he's out here charming. It's so cute to me !!

Even if I'm not Harry Potter, it at least felt close to me by association with Geo's academy of magic. It's abstract & niche but so meaningful to me in that regard. I don't know what costuming is better lol Geo academy uniform isn't anything to write home about, & though I love the hats for the sprite work because they're reminiscent of cat ears, I'm definitely not for putting everyone in bonnets lol so it's just as well ! But the charms on that hat ? They really do it for me. So inspiring !! Perhaps I should do something similar !! What an adorable boy !! I love to think he just attached star charms to his hat, that's too cute !!

It do kind of make you wonder though for personality. Originally I'd thought he was a more modest & humble character, being more self assured & just doing things for the sake of others, but then I guess if you pick him apart for actually striving for the admiration of others, the charms on the hat kind of become cuter & more comical.

I'm slightly ambivalent about the merchandising. I'm super amped up that there is more product this time around, because I feel like for some of the other designs I feel like I wanted to see more product. I don't super understand the importance on glasses but I did buy the glasses pouch because honestly I always need something like that. Just thinking about in the summer how many times I've destroyed sunglasses in my purse or how I don't have enough cases for my blue light glasses so two pairs just float around getting grimy. The glasses pouch is truly something where there's so many possibilities for use that I feel especially positive to buy it & even more excitable because it is something I can bring out with me & have in my purse wherever I go for whatever reason. I just wish they would quit pairing him with Zenitsu because looking at Zenitsu kinda ruin a product for me. But I actually do like Zenitsu's art for this event tbh but nothing redeems him as a character for me.

I think my favorite product for this event was the stickers though. I'm disappointed it's split in two & I could be misunderstanding, but I thought they are going to be small & relatively stamp sized, but I feel like they are very expensive for something small that isn't even a full set. Though I do understand they do all kinds of unique & dazzling effects with their stickers that just truly cannot be shown via an image. I'd read somewhere, though it might have been a mistranslation, that the intent for the stickers was for collages & I'm saying Hell yeah, that makes me feel even more excitable. Thinking about how my interacting picture is a Rengoku collage as well as posting pictures of my dresser & ceiling collages. I feel recognized lmao (footnote: after typing this part I did see the Rengoku sticker listed on Mercari beside the acrylic stand & I don't think they are as small as I thought, but only slightly bigger..)

For the beach event I bought two sets of Rengoku's lot as well as one of the other lot because I liked the character art for both & I liked the sticker effects, though I do have the full intention of selling the characters who art I feel fell short imo but this time I am just getting one set of Rengoku's lot. I do really like the stamp theme but I didn't feel super compelled to get the other half. I think moreso because I personally don't align with character portraits. But I do love the set & idea. For me it's like money wise idk what I would do with the other characters & currently I do have to cut costs & take losses.

I was surprised because though studio had announced the Mugen Train anniversary event, I really thought it was going to launch on the anniversary rather than before, but it seems like they were taking a few days to roll out everything they had planned. Now, I'd seen a translation that may have been inaccurate, but it was in regards to the physical lottery & to the effect of “the lottery where Rengoku always wins” & even if that's not what was being said, I love that !! I had been up when I got the email for the global posting & just looking at the merchandise I even had the thought he stay winning. Baby boy got his own event lol baby boy got so much new merchandise <3<3<3<3<3<3

I ordered six of the dioramas & will see if I can get the rest on resale after the fact. I also think I'd like to get his unsheathe acrylic stand on resale as well. I'm really tempted by the keyframe action set & bromide holder but I still don't even know what a bromide holder is yet because I haven't received the one I'd ordered before. I really like the idea of the keyframe set, there is so much you can do with it realistically & I do like the action they chose, but I'm not sure where I could possibly put it in my house. Some things I'm like whatever, I'll move eventually & just buy it, but this one I am unsure how to apply, I can't figure out where I would possibly put it :\ & I admit it is really hard to see clearly by the stock photo. It's possible I could still end up getting it... Maybe they'll post a product image of it & make it look really sexy lmao

I also do like the magic cards for the Halloween event, but I decided not to pull because there are other things I have to attend to this month. Just like the coasters as well. But for the cards, I wish I could find in a paper product lot for a markdown because even now people charge a little too much for just one card. There were other paper products of his I feel that way about. Like his bromides from Swordsmith Village & Entertainment District. I want them, but it's ridiculous to buy each one as one for like seven dollars but any time I see someone selling any paper product featuring one of those bromides it's always like four times the price of just buying the damn single bromide. & I feel the same way for that other recent set, I forget what it was called but it was the pastel colored set. I think he had two arts, I think they're bromides but honestly I'm not even sure what they are really, but you can find one of each selling for like five to eight dollars but for both of them together is like thirty & it feels like wtf is that ?? & it piss me off even more because this is deadass shipping a piece of paper. Even if I buy the five dollar one, I'm still paying more on top of it for the proxy service. It's annoying. However, years old now even previously coveted postcards seems to be dropping in price considerably & selling in lots of a few. So maybe one day. That's how I got my Lawson shikishi.

& yeah. I don't understand bromides really but his bromide box expensive as Hell & I am going to get it later this month because I want to know what the six secret ones are but also I'm sure to just spend this ridiculous amount on them here is going to be far cheaper than buying any one of them on resale. So I'm sighing but I'm doing it. I'm not quite sure what I will do yet ! I been wanting to make a little book for my Rengoku art. Cute scrapbook ! :3 <3 At this point, I'll probably have enough artwork for like three or four scrapbooks lol

Of course I'd imagined Japan would get double what international is getting & so far that does seem to be true. Of this, the things I want the most are of course the location specific shikishi which I am absolutely dreading because I imagine the price could possibly be retarded. But I also think they might not actually be super rare ? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding ? So we'll really have to see.

I'm not a fan of the contrast; how global is getting a kuji but it's just the artwork of him & Tanjiro. Admittedly, I am not compelled enough to interact so I am a bit frustrated because I want the flame breathing forms bromides & the stickers. I would definitely be paying for pulls if it meant getting those. So it does feel frustrating to me.

I know the xross link figure is coming out this month, which I want so bad & have been attentively waiting for. My gindaco order also finally fulfilled & yeah, it was a really good call to order it directly from them because not only have I just plain not really seen the acrylic stand selling but for so far one instance, it's of course selling for thirty dollars, which I think is roughly how much the more expensive set of items costed anyway. But I'm disappointed because I have to wait until like the end of the month to organize shipping since I got my sumall shirt preorder. Though because of that, I started thinking about if I could order the xross link figure through that proxy & ship all the items together. To get the figure directly from a carrier to save on cost, even though since it's a prize figure, I don't think it's going to be very expensive anyway but for maybe the first week of availability. This ended up being ridiculous because although USA can view Japanese Amazon for example, it wouldn't show me any product availability. I was able to find a bypass which claimed the order would fulfill in November & I'm not sure if that's incorrect because other sources were saying October twenty fifth ? The problem could be that I hadn't preordered it earlier or maybe it's a translation error ? I guess it doesn't matter but I am annoyed for how confusing it was. But I don't think it will be so difficult or expensive to get. Hopefully. I'm definitely feeling foremost about it lol & really kicking myself for the reality that I am just going to hand over a ridiculous amount of money for pictures of Rengoku. I...

Admittedly I was on sumall again to gawk at their goods & they had the rikishi calendar & like word yeah, I really do want that. I'd read Sumall say they specialize in sumo wrestlers & cute things & yeah, no lie, a majority of the rikishi look really cute in that calendar. But again, it was unclear. Because I was thinking about ordering it but other items had shipping etas & this didn't & if I did order it, it would be really important that it would arrive around the time as my preorder shirt. It's frustrating when certain information is just really unclear but you also don't know why. Admittedly I did want to get the bath salts but I didn't know if they would be weird to ship ? :< & they do be getting me on their sumo inspired foods. Rip

It's funny how admiration & idolization work. How the Taylor Swift fans will buy something if they seen her endorse it. I feel so rare like I'll start sweating to see a Rengoku product even if it's not really something I need but then having a sumo wrestler endorse something I feel consideration like “I love those guys, maybe I do want that.” lmfao affection & feelings of fondness are so silly

Outside of this my allergies are really bad with bad chest congestion. It's making me nervous & want to see a doctor but I'd let my insurance lapse, so now I have to do something about that @.@ which no, I don't actually think it's anything serious but I am annoyed because I keep getting prescribed inhalers & typically I don't feel like I need them, but I do want one for my dumbass chest congestion. It's distressing.

Also my laptop updated within about the past four days & did this hot new thing that I see other people had before that they're pissed about where Windows makes News & Interests a mandatory program & what pisses me off is like, my laptop isn't super high end, so even nothing programs like web browsers fucking chug, especially in association with like media player or Clip Studio. But then to have News & Interests keeps opening is destroying my processing & basically feels like soft crashing my laptop. To say everything just keeps freezing & moving so fucking slow. I spent like three hours earlier fucking around in the settings to do anything to stop this piece of shit program from existing. Which obviously I been had a history with this & other inane Microsft mandatory programs for years of weaseling & brute forcing but the consensus seems to be no one can figure out how to completely nuke the program. & I'd seen the threads of people speaking with Windows representatives who feign ignorance about the whole thing. & then other people saying they're working on scripts to shut the whole thing down. I feel like what a fucking shitshow. Someone was insisting it's a tracker, which they may be right & I'm saying honestly I could give a shit if they wanna have a tracker on everyone's technology in the regard that it probably does keep people safer. If you're not doing any crimes then you have nothing to hide so who cares, but I don't want the dumbass tracker to be nuking my entire system so I can't even use my laptop for what it's supposed to be made for.

In other news, I'd been trying to draw again now that Burger is okay to be left unattended. We're still in an awkward stage where I don't really know what I'm doing about feeding. Because if he goes in his room to eat then I can put food down for everyone else but some cats don't want to eat when others are eating. I consider do I get ten plates & give everyone their own plate like three times a day ? Because either way Burger has to wait for everyone to finish eating before he can leave his room. & I still like the free feeding even if some likely do still need diets... He is still pretty in the mindset of I need to go in my room to eat & then I go to sleep. So I don't know if I just keep putting him away for naps until he's big enough to eat adult food ? It's really weird. But at the same time I guess it's reasonable until he's neutered. & right now I don't know when that's going to be either.

So I tried to do a little nothing drawing to remind myself that I know how to draw & I for sure without even trying drew Rengoku from the Ha Ha Ha scene. But I'm happy because it's my best one yet ! It was half reference based because I was just free drawing him but of course look at the typical wall art I look at when I draw him.

My biggest problem is just not being creative. I have the technical understanding to learn & get better but I can't apply it & move forward if I never have ideas. Also for some weird reason my Clip Studio files got mad weird so they used to show a thumbnail of the canvas & now they don't ? So now I seriously have to go through all my Clip files to discern wtf they even are. Because I'm still working on the expressions in semi profiles pallet, the first point was the tracing, but now I am trying to redraw each one just from looking at the traced version. & it's disparaging but enlightening lol I can see pieces clicking together for me in my execution but when I falter I definitely get so embarrassed & hate myself for it. & I am still keeping a note pad of more elaborate ideas that would require backgrounds, vibes, special coloring, & effects. It's discouraging to have so many problems with Clip Studio.

I'd like to keep doing the baseless sketches in learning to simplify & move quicker. I feel really silly to keep drawing the exact same Rengoku over & over but I also do understand that that actually is a really important aspect of learning to draw a specific character. & I admit, it is fun. I do enjoy doing it. I think I judge myself to say wow loser you keep drawing the exact same thing over & over... But each time it gets better.

I'd seen it posited a pose & anatomy practice was to just quick draw a bunch of figures in various poses. I ended up finding compelling posing to trace, I think from there maybe I will find favorites, ones that resonate & redraw from there. Even in tracing a body, I am learning something. I definitely don't want everything to seem trace based though because it is such an easy crutch to fall on. & I did end up finding a couple pose that even though I said no, I'm not going to be doing couple poses because I don't want to draw myself, I was like okay whatever & did the trace & it resonated with me so I ended up finishing it. & it was one where the outline looked so easy, so it starts by a traced base but since the original piece isn't concise or exactly accurate, there were consistent modifications throughout & like differences in arm movement & body placement & after working into it I was like holy fuck this pose is way harder than I thought it was going to be. But my roommate said it was one of my best pieces yet. & it really did turn in to a brain teaser because there were things that had to be changed from the base & I could not parse wtf they should be doing & really just had to feel it out & be like damn, is this right ? Should it look like this ? Would a body look like this ? So in the end, I don't know if it even is anatomically right, but just like other illustrators have pointed out, some things you fudge a perspective or measurements to make it compelling for you to look at & convey what you want to see. Like in planes especially. There are some things you see in an anime that look really good, but you would never be able to view a person in that exact perspective. So I know it is okay if it's not always right, but it's definitely a matter of learning how to work with that knowledge in a way that is comfortable & still looks like it's right...

I want to keep drawing, even if it does turn into only making the same little sketch once per day, at least I would still be making something & learning. But as I keep saying, I really want to try the fantasy sceneries. I ended up getting really irritated & set back by Clip Studio because idk if people are talking about this since I kinda been locked out of Tumblr & Youtube, but even outside of that, I don't personally interact with people directly who are adamant about Clip Studio. The outline is they offer a plethora of payment types to utilize the program. Some of which are monthly subscriptions & others being a “one time ownership payment.” Now, I would imagine something calling itself a one time ownership payment might mean that you won't have to pay anything again because you have paid the single cost for the ability to interact with the program... But apparently not ? & my problem with this is of course very personal, as someone who grew up in poverty. I don't know if you would say I am middle class now because word I have the money to interact with my Rengokus, but in doing so there is also a lot I am going without, like having government aid covering my phone service & paying lowest cost internet, only one subscription service & no vehicle. So I think it looks like I have more money that what's actually there. I am saying, I want the accessibility for impoverished not because I think a platform needs to be undercut, but because there should at least be an option for low income people to still interact with such programs... But maybe that's wishful thinking & that's not what it's for ? Especially because I feel like the avenue of art is very much a money sport, you're not really allowed to do it unless you have money to fuck around with in the first place.

So idk, I guess I was flying too close to the sun to imagine I would be able to consistently use the program by paying an alleged one time fee. You know, because that's a scam to target & punish impoverished. Last year I'd did the payment, but then earlier this year I got locked out for an update. Saying they were hiding the new update behind a paywall. On it's own it's not that bad, but it was confusing from my perspective because I didn't understand why it was behind a paywall, that information was not clear to me. I don't know if maybe it is a language barrier thing or for like not following their social stuff ? Because I didn't know originally the update was behind the paywall, I'd updated when prompted, but the issue became after the update, they locked me out & are telling me in order to use the version of the program I paid for, I would have to reinstall the program to the version I'd paid for. & though being a little bummed out because I like getting assets, I was like sure, okay, that's fine... But I couldn't install the previous version ?? Like, I would run the installer to install the previous version & it would take forever to run through something, but then it would still claim to be the newest up to date version with no way to actually reel back. & I'd ended up messaging a representative for help, which I did get a response within twenty four hours, but by then it was kind of pointless because obviously I was trying to use the program then in that moment. So at that time I was like whatever, I'm locked out, I'll just pay the fee & that's what I did & then everything was fine.

So Clip Studio recognizes that I've paid for two plans, it shows up on the website under my account, but when I went to do the doll blueprints, apparently another update had launched just four days prior, locking me out again. The difference this time was I never actually updated my version though the program continually insisted I did & the program itself continually insisted I did not have any plan & had never paid for anything. But since everything is so anti theft with these codes like the Sims for example, you can't reuse codes, so even though I'd saved all my codes like they'd directed me to in purchase confirmation emails, I can't apply them anywhere to confirm I am an owner who did pay for the usage because the code was already used ??? The whole thing was beyond infuriating. Like I was being strong armed into paying again. Literally extortion, which is of course illegal. But at the same time they kept trying to act like they had this real sexy deal for me since I'd already given them money in the past, acting like they were going to cut the cost down on a “one time ownership fee”... you know, kinda like the kind I ALREADY PAID FOR, but then turn around saying the shit was like over a hundred dollars ?? Why would I ever want to spend a hundred dollars on something like this when they constantly revoke my usage for no reason ?? I did end up paying the annual monthly subscription, but of course I know at any given moment they're just going to lock me out of the program again. So it's like, I was really looking forward to making all this new art with my new assets & stuff, but now it's like why bother even learning if I'm just gonna keep getting this shit taken away from me ?

& my roommate has said things like getting me an ipad to use for digital art for Christmas & getting me a new laptop... Which is all really nice, but at this point I'm a bit nervous to say for anything because I did buy the Rengoku from Spiritale & I already know that's going to be a massive bitch to ship. There's no real quote, but I'm quoting myself on the high end & saying it's going to be three hundred dollars to ship, so hopefully I should be pleasantly surprised. I hope. Especially cos I'm so jazzed for it, I'm really “do it for him” about this.

There is another program I am going to get, I just keep forgetting to download it. The whole thing is just so frustrating.

I'm also having other small heart aches. Even if I settle into a really good routine training Burger who is so smart & attentive, apparently for some reason Tempura is randomly getting upset & had decided the best way to convey this is to piss on furniture ?? & obviously I'm trying to understand where the problem is coming from so I can remedy it. But I really don't know, I don't understand what she's actually upset about ?? My first thought was thinking they can be territorial about litterboxes, so I bought another litterbox. & I am trying to clean the litterboxes more frequently, but of course I still have to contend with depression getting in my way sometimes even if I am reminding myself it's an easy process that just takes fifteen minutes & everyone is so much happier when it's done. Even on days where I have injury to arm, back, shoulder, & neck, I am still able to do it simply without much upset. But it's hard to fight against extreme fatigue. & some days it's not that I'm even being stubborn about it, but like I've ordered the litter & am just waiting for the delivery people to give me my damn delivery because some days they're fucking around until night falls to give me my damn order. & then I'm explaining & apologizing like yeah I know your litterboxes need to be cleaned, I want to & I'm going to, but I literally can't do anything about it if I don't have litter. & it's really only her & Relm I think are bent out of shape about it. Relm feels fully confirmed that's what her problem is, but I'm still really not even sure if that's what Tempura is upset about ? Because I currently have the litter but didn't think the condition of their plethora of potties was bad, & at the same time I have to put my foot down on both sides like word don't let it get gross but also I can't have them pushing me because I really do have days I need to lay down for a ridiculous amount of time. I'm just really upset by this behavior.

I'd noticed someone had peed on the bed in Burger's room, but that was hard to explain because Mephala used to pee on that bed & my first thought was Relm. I had not even considered Tempura. So I didn't know who it was, I didn't know why it was. Especially because there's a litterbox in that room ?? But then I started buying those bags of seasoned tuna because I thought it might be easier for me to eat meat from a bag even if it is ridiculous. Especially because currently I'm in an era where I am just not eating at all. I eat one meal a day before bed that my roommate makes for me. Though it's a hearty meal. So of course everyone wanted the tuna, to the point where I couldn't even sit down because everyone was piling on me & being unreasonable. So I just stood there eating & then she deadass pissed on the loveseat ?? Pissed on the loveseat because I didn't give her tuna. & I'd considered after the fact that she was trained as a kitten to understand she wasn't getting something if I said “not for you,” she just wanders off & stops asking. I started to wonder if maybe she was aggressing me because she felt aggressed since I didn't actually tell her no, so then maybe she thought I was being spiteful or didn't understand why she wasn't actually getting a special treat ? But also I feel like damn, if you're going to piss on the furniture, you're never going to get a special treat ever again because you don't deserve special treats if this is how they make you act.

But I was so fatigued yesterday. I ended up staying up late talking to my roommate which was ambivalent, it wasn't a bad discussion, but there definitely were a few times I was trying to leave to go lay down & then they'd start up again. & I had to wake up early for studio package. Then somehow going through studio package managed to take three hours even though I'd just got five pulls of the hashira in the shadows acrylic stands & the beach shack sticker sets. I'd of course checked each blind bag & discerned what was being kept or sold, as well as dividing up the stickers. Which I did keep most of the stickers. I really like the beach shack stickers. I was surprised because they appear to be bigger than the previous Halloween ones & the constellation ones, so they are the biggest stickers I've seen so far & I really love the effect. I put a lot of them on the furniture in my bedroom with taped backs so I could use them for something else later on if I wanted to. & they make so many neat light effects !

I'd also gone on to get a lot together for Tokito & a new lot for Gyomei. I'm working on lots for Zenitsu & Genya. I have new pieces for my Uzui & Obanai lots I just haven't added yet. Which someone immediately did send me an offer on the Tokito lot, they wanted three dollars off & I felt like it was really rude because I literally just listed it ?? If you want it so bad when it's first listed then pay full price ?? Like, I'd accept something like that if it'd been sitting for a few weeks but like wtf ?? But I'd also updated the Tanjiro lot as well. I really wanted to take a nap, but since everything took so long, which I didn't even apply the stickers around my room until later, I'd ultimately have to let Burger back out. So I did, but I was hoping since he's getting more comfortable with the house that maybe I would be able to take a nap while he was out. & everyone come to snuggle with me & it was so precious !! Because Relm wasn't feeling good, she really wanted to be held & snuggled, which thankfully she is feeling a lot better today ! But then I had Lucifer in my other arm & Venom on my lap & Burger came to snuggle up in between me & Lucifer. Then Tempura gets on the bed & I am thinking oh, she just wants to snuggle so I'm trying to make room for her & Relm's getting really agitated, & I really thought it was just because she didn't feel good, but sure enough Tempura turns around & pisses on my bed ?? So of course she got yelled at, which really wasn't even that bad, but everyone got scared & ran away except for Lucifer who really does not care about yelling at all. & she went in time out but I'm really concerned because I am kind of feeling like even if she was immediately put in time out, I feel like she doesn't know she's being punished for pissing on my bed. I am not sure how to train this because I don't know what the actual problem is ? But even though the actual act of yelling at her didn't feel out of the ordinary for yelling at anyone for doing a severe act up, I'm worried somehow it was traumatic for Burger because he really hasn't been back upstairs since. But I also don't know if maybe he is just fostering his independence in his own way ? I'm really bummed out about it.

But he seems eepy today, which my guess is due to the rain & change of seasons, I think maybe he just wants a quiet day to do what he wants as he wants around the house. & I suppose that's fine too. I definitely feel bad about the whole thing, but her pissing on my bed especially is really serious because I have some of my Rengokus are really rare & I am not sure how to wash them because some aren't machine wash safe & there are a lot of things I throw in haphazard, but for things like this, I wouldn't want to if it could ruin it & then either there is no replacement or a replacement would be more expensive than what I originally paid for the one I already have :(

So she is still in time out because idk what to do but she hasn't stopped screaming the entire time & I'm like great because this just shows she's not thinking about anything & her only thought is in regards to how she is being slighted rather than acknowledging she did a bad behavior that she got punished for. I feel like it's just inciting more ire & frustration, but I really don't know what to do. I'd been able to quash some behaviors by ignoring someone doing it, but that only works when it's something they're already doing for attention. But like whoever pissed on Burger's bed clearly did that in secret. & she did seem to piss on the love seat another time outside of the tuna incident. So although I can say the tuna had a clear meaning, & for her to pee on my bed right in front of me is like she must have expected some kind of interaction, but I'm not sure what she's really trying to convey ? Because no one is going to hug you & tell you how cool you are for doing something like that & if it really is just a complaint that the litterbox isn't to her standards it's like, that's still not a way to ask me for something ??

I'd finally tried to go back for my nap with Lucifer, which was very precious, we snuggled together like people & it was so cozy. I finally started to fall asleep & I immediately had a nightmare that I was stirred from by Burger fucking with something in my room, so then I had to get up to put him in his room so I could finally take my god forsaken nap.

Outside of this I had ordered two more Rengoku dolls that were along the lines of kind of want, which is really the same with the short hair one I have. There are some I'm avidly against & want nothing to do with, like if they don't fall in line with my appearance standards, & that's fine, I definitely don't feel like I need all of them. But there's others where I'm like “idk, should I ??” So I bought them lol & I got more clothes for them because I'm a fiend who can't be stopped lol but I bring it up because I had ninety dollars in my account from sales & then my mom gave me another thirty dollars just as a nicety. Meanwhile I've been making other sales on top of this, mostly amounting to roughly ten dollars. So I'd spent like eighty dollars on things from Aliexpress, which it wasn't all doll clothes, I had got another comforter because I had an issue where there were two I really wanted & I bought the one, but their measurements are done in centimeter rather than US bedding sizes, so I looked up the measurements & ordered accordingly, but somewhere along the lines information must have got jacked up because I got sent a size smaller than what I'd wanted & I don't think it was the seller pulling something, I do think the search results when I'd looked up the sizes was what was actually inaccurate... So I ordered the second blanket I wanted in a larger size & from there I'm either going to re-buy the first blanket in that size or the size up. But I'd also got a couple things to give as Christmas gifts as well. & like I said, I'd received the thirty dollars while receiving other payments. I went to buy something on Mercari for about fifteen dollars, so of course I checked my bank account before the transaction to make sure I had enough & that the thirty dollars had processed. My bank was saying I had a hundred & thirty dollars, which I didn't think was accurate, but there were the two amounts, the current & expected or whatever & both were over eighty dollars ? But the Aliexpress payment was still showing up as being taken out of the account ?? So I should have had enough for the fifteen dollar transaction, which did go through without a problem, but then for some reason my bank turned around & over drafted me by I think like a dollar ? But then I got hit with like another two dollar overdraft fee. & I'm just really pissed because sure, I did make a mistake to accept eighty dollars was in the account when that shouldn't've been possible, but I still at least should have had twenty dollars so I'm really confused how I got overdrafted in the first place & why my account even had that delay at all ? It's one of those things where I know it's really not that big of a deal or the end of the world but I'm really annoyed by it because wtf was that ??

& I did just go to double check my account after typing that & I'm even more confused because one of my biggest complaints with Ebay is their payments are extremely unclear. So I have a transactions from Ebay where they took ten cents from my account but then deposited two cents ?? Like, they're claiming I made two cents off a transaction & idk how that could be possible if I have buyer paid shipping ??

& idk what the ten cents is because I know you get x amount of free reposts for auctions, but it seems like they don't warn you or ask for your consent to keep relisting them ? So if that is what this is from, I'm not even sure what item did it ?? Because they literally don't tell you anything.

0 notes

mister-e-filman · 2 years ago

Text

DC Earth-32505

Issue #4: Revelation

At first nothing happened until the sounds of aged gears started turning. Every sound then led to a circular hole being opened right in the middle of the barn that made the floor shake, a hole that led to a secret hidden headquarters. "Oh cool! This is be-awesome!" Rhino squeaked in excitement.

"Yes it is Rhino," Bailey responded with all eyes turning to him in confusion to where he pointed to a hearing-aid-looking-type-device. "Intergalactic communicator. It was mass-produced by your father, Penny." He held out his hand saying, "Shall we?" Penny hesitated before nodding and taking his hand and stepping onto a tiny elevator that lowered them all into the hidden headquarters which was filled with all sorts of early 2000s computers and hardware mixed with more futuristic tech. One monitor had a loading bar and the words "upload complete" on it. Penny headed for it and clicked on the what had been uploaded, which turned out to be a video of her father during Steppenwolf's rampage. "Test. My name is William Forester. Whatever lies will be told about me... ...l would like the world to know the truth. Luthorcorp was already a leader in genetic research...

...when Lex Luthor made a deal with a foreign military organisation...

...to continue funding my research. And l discovered what they were going to use it for. Weapons. Biological weapons, of course. So l refused. And now, to eliminate me from the picture... ...Lex Luthor has falsified evidence against me... ...in order to take control of my work. But it doesn't matter, because there's something else... ...that Lex doesn't know. The human DNA... ...that l implanted in the orb, apart from Rosie's own DNA of course... ...was my own. Which means that without me... ...without my bloodline... ...Luthorcorp can never replicate or continue my experiments. l have destroyed as much as possible from the archives. But l didn't have time to stop Luthor's meeting with Steppenwolf and Bolt. So as a scientist, my choice is very clear now. l either have to disappear or... die. l have to get as far away from here as l can. But as a father... ...it means l may not see my little girl again. And nothing is as important to me... ...as my daughter, Penny. Nothing in this world. But I have a responsibility... ...to protect this world of ours from what l've created... ...and to protect her from what l know Luthor is capable of. People will say l am a monster.. ...for what l've done all thanks to his lies and deceit. And maybe they're right. l always thought that l'd have more... ...time. l'm so sorry." The feed then ended with an uncomfortable air of silence. Penny then shook her head and proceeded to press a button that revealed an armored-superhero costume: it was a light-weight, highly durable armor for her conflicts against enhanced individuals such as Superman

and Aquaman.

The armor appeared to be flame retardant, as it seemed to be able to survive an explosion from a bomb, however the tensile strength of the armor seemed to have its limits; like it could be ripped apart by Superman. The armor also didn't seem to be durable enough to endure the trauma of being impaled with the razor-sharp spikes from her Sky-Stick by anyone. Penny and the others took a closer look at Dr. Forester's gift with Bailey correctly guessing the components.

"Okay, so I'm guessing that you'll be able to ride this hi-tech snowboard-shaped glider I'm calling the Sky-Stick. It looks like it can fire rockets, protrude two razor-sharp spikes, as well as other things. Now as for the super-suit, it looks like it's in the level four of durability, and it looks like a flame-thrower is in the left arm, retractable arm blades on both arms that look like they can be projectiles, skydiver wings, and an ionic sword. Wow, your father really DID think of everything, all for you, Penny," Bailey finished as he put his hand on his girlfriend's cheek. The look in her tear-stained eyes was the look he hadn't seen in 8 years. A true genuine understanding of everything that he had told and shown her. "So my dear, what would you like to be called?"

0 notes

janeeyreheresy · 2 years ago

Text

The Gypsy Woman Episode

Some readers and fans find this funny. I don't know, YMMV, I guess, my issue is with the deception. It was not the case of Rochester dressing up for a masquerade ball or a game, like when they played charades. He lies. He pretends to be someone else to get people's secrets out. Young unmarried women's secrets, in particular, because those were the only ones the fortune teller would speak to. Gods only know what he dragged out of them and what he told them. And to what purpose.

While Edward is preparing his gypsy cosplay, a new visitor comes to Thornfield. From overheard conversations, Jane learns he is a Mr Mason of Spanish Town, Jamaica.

The fortune teller arrives to Thornfield Hall. In the absence of their host, who they think is away on some business, the merry company put her in the library, where she can meet her customers. All the young unmarried ladies go in--the two Misses Ingram and the two Misses Eshton--to have their fortunes told. Then the fortune teller asks for Jane, as she is, of course, part of that demographic. Jane is actually quite glad to escape the drawing room, as well as curious about the gypsy woman.

Using poetic language, the fortune teller attempts to get Jane to bare her soul. Jane admits she often feels tired, sleepy. Like she wouldn't, duh. She works all day and spends her evenings sitting in the drawing room with people she has nothing in common with, and who don't consider her an equal. She tells the fortune teller that the biggest dream that can come true for her is to save up enough money to open a school of her own. A worthy goal! The gypsy woman appears to know a lot about the goings on at Thornfield, she admits she's acquainted with Grace Poole. Then she gets really pushy, trying to extract info out of Jane regarding Rochester, but Jane, luckily, keeps her head. She comes across really well in this scene.

But she also needs some answers herself.

Jane: "Is it known that Mr. Rochester is to be married?”

Rochester, as the fortune teller: “Yes; and to the beautiful Miss Ingram.”

Then the fake fortune teller recites a word salad about Jane's eye and forehead, until the disguise is finally discarded and Rochester steps out of his costume.

Jane is not surprised. She doubted the authenticity of the fortune teller from the start. She knew gypsies and fortune tellers did not express themselves as this old woman. (Why would a genuine fortune teller limit her customers to young unmarried women? Why lose business?)

Her saying that makes me think Jane possibly encountered gypsies before, perhaps while at Lowood. Imagine her coming across the ancestors of Peaky Blinders. A century too early, but if Jane ever met Aunt Polly (*cries* RIP Helen McCrory *sob-sob-sob*), she'd have warned her about a certain gloomy middle-aged employer of hers--but would Jane listen?

So Jane suspected it was a disguise, but, as with the fire in Rochester's bedroom, her mind was set on Grace Poole. She calls Rochester out, and quite rightfully--as I said, she is really good in this scene. She asks if she can retire but he won't let her. He wants her to tell him what the people in the drawing room have been doing and what they said about him. Jane tries to get out of it by pointing out that it's late, and mentions the new visitor.

Upon hearing the name Mason of Spanish Town, Jamaica, Rochester goes all white. He clutches his chest and nearly collapses. Here, unfortunately, Jane sheds all her awesomeness and literally says:

“Can I help you, sir?—I’d give my life to serve you.”

Sigh. It was nice while it lasted.

#jane eyre #edward rochester #rochester is a villain #jane eyre meta

1 note · View note

marauderundercover · 3 years ago

Text

Taking Chances Chapter 6: Let’s Play a Game (Overprotection)

AO3

Marinette ended up not staying for dinner. She talked to Bruce for a little bit, but he had to leave for some WE emergency and Marinette wasn’t really up to bonding with the boys- her brothers- yet. But that was fine. It wasn’t like she was desperate to get to know the man and wouldn’t be able to after this trip because she had to stay in Paris because of Hawkmoth. No, she wasn’t upset. Not at all. It didn’t hurt her feelings. Nope.

---

Walking into Madame Soleil's Wax Museum with Adrien by her side, Marinette is hit with a major wave of deja vu. And not a good deja vu. No, the memories of the last time she was in a wax museum with Adrien were awful, humiliating and- feeling a hand wrap around hers pulls her from her spiraling thoughts. Glancing down, Marinette tries (and fails) to hide her grin. Adrien is holding her hand. Adrien is holding her hand!

“Hey Marinette!” A familiar voice calls, a hand squeezing her shoulder, making Marinette squeal and whirl around.

“Dick? What are you doing here?” She asks, frowning at the boy- her brother- as he stands there with a huge smile.

“Well I heard that a new wax figure is being revealed today, and I thought I might come and see it.” He says with a nonchalant shrug.

“Really? Who?” Adrien asks. Dick’s smile twitches slightly as he glances at Marinette, making her frown. Was he seriously about to play the overprotective big brother card? Really?

“Jagged Stone.” Dick finally says, glancing at their entwined hands. Marinette tries hard not to roll her eyes. Come on, her crush is finally holding her hand and her brother (who she’s known for a day!) is seriously trying to ruin that for her?

“Oh cool! Do you think he’ll come to Gotham to see it, Mari?” Adrien asks.

“I think he’s definitely scheduled to make an appearance in Gotham in the next couple days. He’s picking up his new suit in person.” She whispers, grinning at the idea of seeing her “Uncle” in person again. He’d been touring for several months and she hadn’t been able to see him for awhile, just the occasional video call.

“So! What figures did you guys want to check out first?” Dick asks, wedging himself between the two and forcing Adrien to drop her hand. Glaring at her brother, Marinette scoffs when Dick just smiles innocently.

“The hall of heroes and villains sounds cool.” Adrien suggests, looking around Dick to see Marinette.

“Hmm. Okay, but if the Nightwing figure is in his disco costume, I reserve the right to melt the statue.” She says, frowning at the choked noise Dick makes. “Are you okay?” She adds.

“Oh, uh, yeah, yeah I’m fine. What’s 1so bad about that costume?” He asks, a hurt expression on his face.

“Have you even seen it? The only worse costume is Riddler’s.” Marinette says, adding a shudder for dramatic effect. Walking past the local celebrities room and the pop stars room, Marinette’s eyes widen as their small group walks into the hall of heroes and villains. Walking away from Dick and Adrien, she’s almost instantly drawn to the Batman figure. She reads the little plaque about the artist and frowns, turning to Dick who had moved to stand next to her.

“I thought it’d be taller.” She says, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion when Dick starts choking on air, gasping for breath as broken chuckles flood out of him. “Ookay then.” She mutters, turning and walking back towards the villains. Nightwing was, luckily, depicted in his most recent costume. As was Robin. Which meant the only real fashion tragedy (besides the god awful helmet Red Hood wore) was the Riddler. Pulling her sketchbook out, Marinette circles the wax figure, occasionally making notes and sketching out slight adjustments to the man’s costume.

“His costume might be terrible, but it’s still better than half of the akumas.” Adrien whispers, leaning over her shoulder. Marinette looks up at him, eyes wide as her face heats up with a blush.

“I, uh, um, yes. Yeah.” She says, trying not to wince at her lack of speaking skills. “I mean, at least we can rule out any fashion designer in Paris as Hawkmoth. Because if Hawkmoth was a designer, that’d almost be a bigger crime.” She adds, smiling as Adrien laughs.

“Good to know you’re not moonlighting as Hawkmoth, m’lady.” He says with a mock bow. Marinette snorts, then covers her mouth, embarrassment rushing over her. Adrien just shakes his head, wrapping an arm over her shoulders.

“In case you forgot, we’ve definitely seen each other at our most embarrassing.” He says, making her groan.

“Oh god, no. I tied us up with my yoyo!” She moans, turning and burying her face into his chest so she doesn’t have to look at him anymore. Her face heats up more when she feels him chuckle and wrap his arms around her.

“I’ve always thought that was paw-sitively adorable.” He says, laughing when she groans again. She pulls away slightly, looking up at him with a timid smile. He smiles back, starts to lean forward and-

“Hey guys! I heard they’re about to unveil the Jagged Stone figure. Come on, let’s go! Don’t wanna miss it.” Dick says, grabbing each of their hands and pulling them towards the exist (and successfully separating them again). Marinette tries not to glare at Dick. She’s about to have one less brother.

---

Dick Grayson wasn’t used to having a little sister that he could protect. Sure, he had a little sister. Cas was awesome, but she could also kick his ass without breaking a sweat. No, he’d never had a little sister to protect. Someone he could watch out for and support. But now….now he has Marinette. And he’ll be damned if he lets some little punk take advantage of his little sister. Ignoring Marinette’s glare, he positions himself right between her and...the boy. He’d need to ask Timmy to do a background check on the kid later. Especially if he thought he was good enough for Marinette.

“So are you guys big Jagged fans?” He asks, trying to pull the two back into a conversation. He narrows his eyes at the smile the kid gives Marinette. It’s too...adoring. Too much. She’s only...what, fourteen? Much too young to date. Especially this kid.

“Mari’s a bit of a fan, I think. But, personally, I much prefer Jagged’s designer.” He says, and Dick turns to him, missing the way Marinette’s face turns bright red.

“Are you talking about MDC? I love them! Their work is amazing! And Jagged Stone says that he’ll never have another designer. I heard that there’s a possibility of them opening their commissions again. God, I hope they do. I’d do anything for something made by MDC.” Dick rambles with a wide smile, deciding to ignore the kid for a minute in order to ramble about his favorite designer. As the group walks into the pop star room, Dick steps back and glares at the kid. He’d stepped just behind Dick and was apparently trying to hold Marinette’s hand again. Not on his watch. No siree. No one’s gonna hurt his little sister.

---

Bruce sighs, running his hands through his hair. He’d been checking the street cameras in Paris, trying to figure out what time Ladybug and Chat Noir patrol so that he can set up a meeting. Try and offer help, or maybe even offer to take control of the situation. Anything to get rid of Hawkmoth. But instead, it was like the heroes didn’t exist. He’d read reports of the heroes patrolling before, so why were they so quiet this week? The only akuma from the past couple days wasn’t even taken care of by both of them. Ladybug did it alone, and seemed worse for the wear when she came out of the battle. Where was Chat Noir? And why did it seem as though they had gone into hiding?

---

Marinette was five seconds away from committing her first murder. Okay, probably her only murder, unless her other brothers decide to be as involved in her love life as Dick is. Because Dick won’t have the chance to be a problem for much longer. Because Marinette was honestly going to kill him. Right as she turned to finally yell at him, and tell him to knock it off, the lights flickered. She pauses her tirade, glancing to gauge Dick’s reaction to see if this is normal. And if his worried glances back at her are anything to go by, this is not normal.

“Let’s play a game! Solve my riddles and you all can leave freely, but make a mistake and someone will pay greatly! Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?” A man’s voice asks, Marinette frowning as the Riddler walks in, a wide smile on his face. Ten goons walk in behind him, all of them carrying guns. She was used to the akuma attacks almost every day, but didn’t Gotham’s rogues have anything better to do than attack every place her class went? With guns? Come on. Riddler smirks and points at Adrien with his cane.

“A match.” She blurts out, ignoring Dick frantically shaking his head. If nothing else, she should be able to work with Adrien to get everyone out. But she knew his style. And riddles weren’t really his thing.

“Oh goody. We have a volunteer. Tell me, what has to be broken before you can use it?” Riddler asks, stalking towards her. Thinking for a second, Marinette tries to suppress a smile.

“An egg.” She says. Riddler narrows his eyes.

“I have 13 hearts, but no lungs or stomach. What am I?” He asks, Marinette frowns, running through possible answers in her head.

“A deck of cards.” She finally says.

“Buzzy, come over here and hold onto our friend.” Riddler says, gesturing to one of the goons. The man comes over and grabs Marinette’s arm roughly, she winces. That’ll definitely bruise.

“I answered your riddles.” Marinette says, deciding that now's as good a time as any to start distracting the man.

“And how did you answer them so quickly?” He asks, the frustration clear on his face.

“What do you mean? Were they supposed to be hard?” Marinette taunts, ignoring the choked sound Dick makes behind her. She knew what she was doing. She did. She had to.

“Why you-” Riddler starts, stepping forward and pulling his hand back as if to hit her. Squeezing her eyes shut, Marinette waits for the slap. The slap never comes. Opening her eyes, Marinette’s jaw drops when she sees the Riddler’s fist held tightly in Dick’s hand.

“Don’t. Touch. Her.” He says lowly, a dark look on his face. Well that was unexpected. Riddler opens his mouth, probably to start spouting more riddles or other nonsense, when the goons blocking the exits drop. Noticing Red Robin and Red Hood picking off the other goons, Marinette throws her elbow back into the gut of the goon holding her. Not waiting for him to recover, Marinette stomps his foot and twists out of his grip. Grabbing his arm, Marinette manages to yank the man off balance and toss him to the ground. A hand on her shoulder makes her jump back and prepare to hit the person.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay ma’am.” The voice attached to the hand says. Marinette whirls around, ready to tell off the person, but immediately stops when she sees Red Robin.

“Sorry!” She yelps, jumping away from him. And she was too. She was determined to hit the person who grabbed her shoulder, so locked into battle mode, but she had managed to stop herself. Glancing around the room, Marinette notices Dick talking to Red Hood, his usual smile back on his face. That’s good. That’s normal, that’s right. The sudden blaring of the akuma alarm makes Marinette want to scream in frustration. Really, right now? It’s definitely already dark in Paris which means- Chat Noir. Ignoring everyone else, Marinette runs over to Adrien and grabs his hand.

“Akuma?” He asks, his voice low. She nods and tugs him towards the bathrooms, unaware of the eyes following them out.

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @imarivers8 @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks

#maribat #maribat bruce wayne #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat adrien agreste #maribat adrienette #maribat bio dad bruce #maribat bio dad au #maribat bio dad! bruce wayne month 2021 #maribat batfam #mbdbwm2021 #day six overprotection #ao3fic

146 notes · View notes

h2bakugou · 3 years ago

Note

Hey! i just wanted to say that i love your writing. So this may be a little complicated if thats okay but i had cancer when i was younger and i would like to see if you could write about kirishima and bakugo (separately) crush being hit by a quirk that makes them younger again or something like that and them seeing their crush in a horrible state like they cant walk anymore . IM SORRY if this is complicated you dont have to do bakugo if its too much.

a/n: hi! tysm <3!! of course, i hope you're doing well hun !! if there's anything you need me to change/edit within this please let me know!!

headcanon: them reacting to their s/o being hit by a quirk that makes them the age when they were sick

key: (y/n) - your name / (f/n) - first name / (l/n) - last name / (e/c) - eye color / (h/c) - hair color / (y/q) - your quirk

warnings: fluff, swearing, angst

;cut for length;

»»————-　★　————-««

katsuki bakugou

»»————-　★　————-««

It’s been a tough day on the field, especially with a villain attack appearing from seemingly nowhere. It’s caused a mess, and everyone’s on edge.

Most noticeable though is Bakugou. You’re fighting one on one with this villain and he doesn’t doubt your abilities by any means, but you’re worn down and tired, your movements are slower, you’re starting to reach your limit.

And all it takes is one hit from this nameless villain’s quirk and you’re down for the count.

Bakugou’s tired of fending off goons and dashes over to you, taking down the villain to the best of his ability.

But what he doesn’t expect is when he turns back to you, instead of seeing you, he sees the pile of your clothes covering a much smaller version of you.

You’ve shrunk?

No, you’ve gotten younger.

Just barely lifting your head, you start to cough.

“Shit, hey get someone over here!” Bakugou shouts to one of the other students, hoping an adult could rush over and try and help-not that he needed it, but he was worried.

It wasn’t long before another pro hero was wrapping your younger self up in your clothes.

If Bakugou had to guess, he’d say you were around five to eight years old.

You sat in a hospital bed for a few hours before Aizawa finally arrived, noticeably worried about the state you were in. You didn’t even remember the people standing around you.

“They’re in critical condition. If this age regression quirk has sent their body back in time, we’re going to be in a bit of hurry to get them back to their normal state. They’ve had a history of medical concerns.”

Bakugou has to step out of the room, supported by Kirishima and Kaminari as he tries not to seem like he’s heavily affected by the state your in.

“They’re going to be fine, if it’s just some sort of temporary affect, they’ll be back to their healthy old self soon!” Kaminari tries to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t seem to help.

When you’re released from the hospital to return back to campus, you’re placed under surveillance.

You’re much younger now, and you can barely walk, it’s tearing everyone apart. All of your friends stop by whenever they can, trying to see if you remember them which usually never works.

Bakugou stops by often as well, normally at night when no one else comes around.

He talks about little things like All Might and always brings in his little toy figurines that he’d swore he’d never show anyone.

You laugh and smile, waving them around making all sorts of noises all while ignoring the fact that Bakugou is nearly in tears at the sight of you.

The effects last two weeks. It’s the longest two weeks of everyone’s lives, most importantly Bakugou’s.

When you wake up and see Bakugou sound asleep beside you, his head laying on the medical bed you’d been sleeping in for the past two weeks, you’re confused.

“Hey, Katsu’?” You ruffle his blonde hair and he’s up instantly.

He’s embracing you in the tightest hug known to man, surely putting All Might’s to shame.

Kissing you too, he can’t stop himself from holding you and mumbling about how worried he was about and how he’ll never let something like that happen to you again.

“I never dabbled in my past much, but I’m doing much better now, I’m sorry I gave you a scare.” You rub his cheek, wiping away a few rare tears that fall from his crimson eyes.

“I love you so fuckin’ much.” He utters, his lips pointing upward in a smile.

“I love you too.”

»»————-　★　————-««

eijiro kirishima

»»————-　★　————-««

The fight is surely rigged. There’s no way you’re going to win, not alone anyway.

Kirishima is making his way to you as fast as he can, but when he gets to you it’s far too late.

You’re cowering before him, your costume baggy on your visibly smaller and weaker frame, tears pouring from your eyes as your body strains to stand upright.

The villain is gone, but not too far gone that they don’t get captured by patrolling pros on the scene.

Rushing you to the nearest hospital to undergo some sort of evaluation, all Kirishima can do in the meantime is wait alongside Kaminari, Mina, Sero, and even a slightly less angry Bakugou.

When the nurse returns to explain your situation, Kirishima is mortified.

Refusing to leave your side until he’s forced to by Mina to take care of himself because it’s what you’d tell him to do, all he can do is wait and hope that you’ll get better.

You can’t walk without having someone help you, and the worst part is, you don’t even recognize him.

Kaminari takes the role of making you smile and laugh while Kirishima adds throws in random memories turned into stories hoping it’ll jog some part of your memory connected to how old you actually are.

But nothing seems to work and all you can do is sit in wonder as he tells you about how present-pre age regression quirk you is really super awesome.

After being scolded by Mina on day one, Kirishima manages to take care of himself, but he spends most if not all of his free time with you.

In a way it’s domestic, imagining the possible inevitability of raising a family with you, you’d always jokingly said he was great with kids.

Taking care of you is nice, he enjoys doing it now, buying you little gifts, helping you get something off a high shelf or just being a gentleman for you.

Holding the door for you, carrying your bags even when you yell at him not to and he swears a part of you has been inspired by Bakugou.

After the first week, he begins to get settled in, thinking if this is going to last a while, he wants to help however he can.

Aizawa ushers him to pay attention to studies and that you’re strong enough to power through this, and he understands, he believes wholeheartedly you are.

But part of him is sort of upset. He’d never known that you used to be like this. He hoped when it was all over you could explain.

And sure enough, after two weeks, you wake up, as if those two weeks had never happened.

You don’t seem to have much recollection of the two weeks, only a few hours on the last day seem to make it through to you.

Kirishima greets you with a hug and thousands of kisses.

He doesn’t let you go for hours, weeping into your embrace as he begs you to never scare him like that again.

You console him all while telling him about your past and the history of your medical condition and he understands. He’s thankful you’re where you are now, and he’s so happy to see back to your normal self again after those two weeks.

“I stayed with you as much as you could.” Kirishima whispers, kissing your cheek. Kaminari lifts his head up and starts laughing.

“Yeah, he was so worried about you. You’ve got yourself a keeper.” He jokes, making Kirishima’s cheeks match shades with his hair.

“I love you.” You mumble against his skin, hugging him tightly.

“I love you too.”

»»————-　★　————-««

masterlist

263 notes · View notes

spacejellyfish3 · 3 years ago

Text

the utena show’s ending is extremely powerful on its own yes but utena’s final apology? to anthy of not being able to be her prince in the end never stuck right with me. and I think that’s cause in a sense it’s still centering the prince as important, as aspirational, that maybe it could have been a better ending for them—that utena could’ve survived if she were her prince. and of course I might be reaching with that possibly probably but I still wanted to air that opinion out (maybe someone else has similar misgivings as I do and can expand on it so there).

but the real problem for me is that show anthy still very much places utena as a savior figure, as her “prince”. while I live for anthy’s savage verbal takedown of akio as a powerless coward trapped in a Sisyphean game of pretend for all eternity but even so she herself is still shown to subscribe to the dogma of the heroic prince. even visually anthy’s idealization of utena is displayed with her dressed in pink. this visual marker is carried over into the movie with anthy’s bridal gown changing from red (which makes sense since anthy is indian coded and an indian bride’s sari is traditionally red) to white and pink, connoting her as utena’s princess.

movie anthy’s placement of utena onto a pedestal of princehood also often extends beyond subtext and into the text itself, a key example being the scene right before utena’s famed car wash makeover where anthy says “you’re the prince of the academy now, every miracle and all eternity is yours…so long as you stay in this world.” anthy believes that you can only exercise power, have power, be happy, be free within the system, and it’s important to note that there is very much truth in that notion but this power I’m referring to is that of self actualization, the power of maturity. yet…utena rejects that noise, she says no, she says fuck that let’s go be free in the outside world.

if the show is about breaking away from the confines of abuse, then the movie is about breaking away from the confines of trauma. it’s extremely powerful when anthy takes the steps out of ohtori; it’s hard even just to find the strength to leave an abusive situation let alone actively do it. but the pain remains, trauma doesn’t disappear it’s haunting it’s ghostly sometimes literally manifesting. both movie utena and anthy are hounded and bound to apparitions they’ve forgotten are actually dead.

touga died years ago sacrificing himself for nothing in the end and became princely an ideal to strive for and utena has to come to grips with that and she basically says no you don’t control me my grief my trauma does not control me thank you for being my prince but I can’t be a prince I don’t want to be it’s not real

anthy is real

I am real

akio is abuse he is torment and toxicity he is anthy’s monster, maybe a monster that she created once upon a time but he chose to perpetuate his monstrosity. and when confronted with his actions he couldn’t face it he hurt her more made it her fault for the hurt he caused her and he died he’s dead he’s gone but he remains in the ground anthy buried him beneath the roses. the rose garden is a prison she is the only one held captive by the roses and it grows up up high up but it’s still there the roses remain he’s still there in her mind and he’ll never leave but he’s not in control. he’s dead, he’s been dead for so long he remains but he’s not real and he’s no prince because the prince was a lie that never existed it’s not real

utena is real

I am real

and they blaze past everything. there are obstacles but there are friends too who aren’t there yet but they’re on the path they’re trying they’re growing they have high goals they want to reach and someday they will but you can now. it’s anthy’s story it’s anthy journey and it’s hard of course it’s hard

but they break free. they break the castle so huge so big so impossible but it wasn’t real

it’s just rose petals flying in the wind

akio doesn’t control her and though it might be so that she and utena can’t make it outside, that they have to continue as princesses stuck in the role that people give them but they don’t have power over them, they’re free and no longer draped in any costume or performance, they’re truth out of her well to shame mankind and that’s fucking awesome. they might not make it, they might fail like the broken down husks of those who came before them, but they can try they’re free to try. they have the power to try. to revolutionize the world. to revolutionize their world.

“the outside world has no roads, but you can always build new roads.”

I binged the entire series and the movie last year around March maybe, sometime right before quarantine…and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, analyzing it, since. I’m pretty sure it radicalized me and honestly I’m glad it did. revolutionary girl utena speaks truth to power and exists as a creative work in a way that I don’t think anything else has or will. it’s fundamentally itself but simultaneously thrives on external interpretation. it’s both an enigma wrapped in a mystery and as obvious and unsubtle as a trainwreck. above is my favorite quote of the entire franchise because it’s so simple but so profound—you could say it’s my equivalent of “what is grief if not love persevering”.

there are no roads to follow, but you’re open to build your own path your own way. no one defines you but you and that’s simple that’s kinda naive but what’s wrong with that. I’m not sure who originally said this or stated this proverb or whatever, I know I read it somewhere but I’m not sure where, and I’m definitely paraphrasing but

adults are so quick to say the world is unfair and be done with it, but a child would look at that and say: why not make it fair? that’s really simple and it’s innocent of course but it’s still true. why can’t we make things fair, because we definitely could it’s not impossible.

I’m not sure how to end this post—I definitely should cause it’s plenty long already—but rgu is highly foundational to me on a visceral level. it’s helped me in ways shifted me in ways I can’t describe and I can’t really imagine myself now existing without its influence. the best way I could describe its impact its power its importance really boils down to

the outside world has no roads, but you can always build new roads.

words to live by.

#revolutionary girl utena #rgu #adolescence of utena #adolescence apocalypse #shoujo kakumei utena #sku #utena tenjou #anthy himemiya

144 notes · View notes

babybluebex · 4 years ago

Note

can I please request a sebastian stan imagine where sebastian and the reader are both dating other people but they end up liking each other after filming something together, and the rest is up to you? xx

distance [sebastian stan x reader]

➽ pairing: sebastian stan x fem!reader (y/n) ➽ word count: 1.9k ➽ summary: see above! ➽ warnings: explicit language, mentions of tom hiddleston x reader, angst, pining ➽ a/n: enjoy!

Jealousy was new to you. Sure, you turned green every so often, but it wasn’t a usual occurrence. It happened infrequently enough that you forgot the way it felt every time it bubbled up again. Recently, though, you were familiar with jealousy.

You weren’t quite sure when it started. Maybe when you first met Sebastian. It was at the premiere for Avengers. You had been in it, playing Tony Stark’s daughter Lucy, who was kidnapped by the crazed Loki. In filming your scenes with Tom Hiddleston, you had grown to appreciate him, and the premiere was a sort-of announcement that you were dating. By that point, you already knew that you would be in the next Captain America movie, and you were thrilled to work with Chris and Scarlet again. On top of that, you were excited to meet Anthony Mackie.

You didn’t know that Sebastian would be in Winter Soldier until he approached you at the premiere. He looked handsome, suit and rings and slicked hair, and he congratulated you on an amazing performance. “Oh, I loved you in First Avenger,” you told him with a smile. “Bucky was my favorite by far. I cried when he died.”

Tom wrapped his arm around your waist and nodded in agreement. “She was truly a mess,” he said. “We had to pause the movie.” He shook Sebastian’s hand, and the force of it wasn’t lost on you.

“I got emotional during your scene together in the Tower,” Sebastian said. “Lucy begging for her dad, and Loki’s unrelenting cruelty. I just… Wow. It blew me away!”

“Thanks,” you said. “Are you gonna visit the Winter Soldier set?”

Sebastian laughed and bit his bottom lip. Full and pink. He was so totally handsome, and you felt lightheaded even being in his presence. “Well,” he started. “I’m actually in it.”

You gasped. “What? How? Bucky died!”

“He was rescued,” Sebastian said slowly. “By HYDRA. And he comes back.”

“Oh, my God,” you laughed. “Oh, you just made my entire night. Wow! I-I can’t wait!”

Sebastian nodded, and he looked to his side. A few meters away, a woman was talking to the press, and she quickly came and kissed Sebastian on the cheek. You recognized her as one of his co-stars from Once Upon A Time, and you felt that unfamiliar jealousy bubble in your stomach. Why were you jealous? You were on the arm of one of the most talented and successful actors, and, besides that, you loved your boyfriend.

So why did you want more?

Filming for Winter Soldier started, and you quickly found out your character’s storyline. She was working with Steve and Fury to help in reparations of the New York fiasco from Avengers, and she was the first one to encounter the Winter Soldier. She wouldn’t recognize him and would tell Steve about her encounter with a super-soldier, and Natasha would tell the story of the Winter Soldier, how he was a myth and a ghost. The directors, the talented Russo brothers, had told you that an arc would extend past the movie and into the sequels where Lucy helps break Bucky Barnes from his brainwashing and they would eventually fall in love. But, they assured you, that was several films off. They didn’t even plan for Lucy and Bucky to kiss until the next Captain America movie.

You and Sebastian became quick friends. Despite the metal-like prosthetic and long hair and heavy makeup that he wore on set, you found comfort in him. You couldn’t explain it, but you felt at ease with him. Between takes, you could be found laughing and jokingly sparing with him.

One night, after filming, you called Tom. He was on a press tour for Dark World at the same time, which meant that your schedules never lined up. That night was the first time you had properly talked to him in weeks. “Hi, love,” you said. “How’re you? I miss you like crazy.”

“I miss you too, darling,” Tom told you in his smooth baritone. “I’m alright. Tired as hell, though.”

“I’m sorry,” you said softly. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Just talk to me,” Tom sighed, and you imagined him leaning his head back. “Tell me about filming.”

“Well,” you began. “A lot more physical than what I’m used to. A lot of running around and everything, ya know? My legs are sore all the time.” You laughed, and you listened to Tom’s scratchy laughter. “But I’m surrounded by great people. The Russos are awesome, and of course, Chris and Scarlet and Samuel are fantastic.”

“And Sebastian?”

You hesitated to talk about Sebastian. You hoped that your boyfriend hadn’t caught onto your infatuation with him, but that’s all it was. It was just a crush on a hot guy. “He’s cool,” you said. “Really funny and friendly. Most of my physical scenes are with him.”

“I know you can’t tell me much,” Tom said. “But do you get to snog him?”

You laughed, but bit your cheek all the same. “Not yet,” you chuckled. “That’s not until the next Captain America movie.”

“Oh,” Tom said quickly. “I was joking, but… Do you and Sebastian have any scenes like that?”

“Not in this movie, love,” you assured him. “Are you jealous?”

“Just a bit,” Tom admitted. “I just wish that it was me that you were kissing.”

You sighed. “That’s the nature of our jobs, huh?” you said. “I wish I was kissing you too.”

Tom was quiet for a moment, then he mumbled, “I think maybe we should take a break.”

You wanted to be shocked, but you knew that it was coming. It was several months in the making and, with nothing concrete keeping you two together, it was inevitable. You weren’t hurt at all. “Me too,” you said softly. “We just… I can’t do long distance. It sounds cliche, but it’s not you, Hidds.”

“Distance is supposed to make the heart grow fonder,” Tom sighed. “But…”

You nodded. “I understand,” you said. “But please, if you ever need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to call me. Alright? I still care about you loads.”

“Same to you, darling,” Tom whispered. And the call ended.

The next day was weird, to put it plainly. You felt ill all morning and you couldn’t figure out exactly why, but, the moment you saw Sebastian, you understood it. Your boyfriend’s jealousy was powerful. As much as Tom wanted to blame it on something else, you knew that it was the green monster that had prompted the break up. “Hey,” Sebastian said cheerfully, placing a playful jab to your arm. “You seem tired.”

“Gee, what a nice thing to say to a lady,” you chuckled. “No, I’m just…” You sighed. “Tom and I broke up last night. I’m a little weird today.”

Sebastian’s face soured. “Shit, I’m sorry,” he said. “You guys seemed so happy together.”

You shrugged. “We were,” you said. “‘Distance is supposed to make the heart grow fonder’... But I guess it doesn’t.”

Sebastian frowned deep, and you pulled you into a tight hug. “I’m really fucking sorry,” he whispered. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No,” you said, pulling out of his strong grip. Even without the actual metal arm, he was strong as hell. “Just a hug is enough.”

“I’m glad I can do that,” Sebastian said. His eyes sparkled, and he added, “I understand what you’re going through. Jennifer and I broke up a few weeks before filming started.”

“Oh my God!” you exclaimed. “Seb! I had no idea! I’m so sorry.”

Sebastian shrugged. “It was for the best,” he said. The hug had yet to break, but you didn’t mind. Even through the layers of his costume, you could feel Sebastian’s heartbeat on your cheek, and it was soothing.

Filming finished several weeks after your breakup with Tom, and then it was time for your own press tour. Marvel paired you with Scarlet for most press junkets, but sometimes you were put with Sebastian. Those days were your favorite, mostly because absolutely no work got done. You two were forever laughing and making fun of each other, and you always saw edits of your interviews on social media.

Finally, the premiere came. You and Sebastian had already agreed to be each other’s dates, but you were blown away by him. His hair was short and styled, and he looked breathtakingly handsome in his expensive black suit and matching black tie. “Oh my fucking God,” Sebastian laughed when he saw you, though. “You look… Holy shit. So beautiful.”

“Oh, God, stop,” you groaned. Your dress was a beautiful thing, custom Dior, red silk that hugged your body just right, and you shivered when Sebastian’s warm fingers trailed down your exposed back. “You look even better.”

“Well, that’s not possible,” Sebastian scoffed. “You’re gonna steal the show.”

“When I’m next to you?” You asked. “Everyone’s gonna be focused on your pretty blue eyes.”

Sebastian smiled softly, his hand finally settling on the small of your back. “I have something for you,” he said gently.

“Oh, Seb!” you groaned. “You did not buy me something. You know I hate that!”

“Aw, c’mon, you’re gonna love it,” Sebastian said, and he reached into a pocket inside his suit jacket. He pulled out a small box, just big enough for a pair of earrings or something equivalent, and he opened it. You gasped. A ring. Silver metal, two diamonds with a ruby nestled in the middle. It was dainty and gorgeous, and you felt tears pricking at your eyes.

“You piece of shit,” you sniffled. “I just had my makeup done and now you’re ruining it!” You hugged him all the same, though, and you whispered in his ear, “It’s so gorgeous, Seb. Thank you.”

When you pulled out of the hug, you looked at Sebastian, admiring him. He was truly a gorgeous man, and you felt your chest grow hot at the look in his eyes. Were his pupils blown from love? Lust? Something else entirely?

He answered the question. Sebastian placed his hand on your cheek and tugged you into a kiss, the hand on your back pulling you in against his body, and you held onto the back of his neck. He was everything you thought he would be: his lips were soft and tasted so nice, like cinnamon and whisky and all things wonderful, and, when the kiss broke, he rested his forehead against yours. “I…” he started. “I’m sorry, Y/N, that was-- I shouldn’t have--“

“Stop,” you whispered firmly. You knew that Sebastian, the man you were able to call your best friend, was prone to anxiety, and you didn’t want a single anxious thought about you to cross his mind. “Don’t apologize. If you hadn’t kissed me, I would have kissed you. Thank you.”

You saw Sebastian’s hands shaking as he slid the ring onto your middle finger, and you smiled at how perfectly it fit. “Bucky,” you whispered, admiring the ring. “Silver and red… Right?”

“Glad you caught that,” Sebastian chuckled. “Look, I know that I’m just your date, but I just really like you. I feel stupid because I’m so nervous about it, but… Seeing you upset over Tom just made me feel so horrible. I never want to see you like that again, and if I can help to make your days better, then I want to. Can I?”

You touched your hand to his cheek, and you nodded. “Of course,” you told him. “I’d love nothing more, Seb.”

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fluff #sebastian stan x reader fluff #request #ask #anon

254 notes · View notes

bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher · 4 years ago

Note

My dearest bouncey! I have a prompt for you if you like: Witchers as a 90s/2000s boyband 😂🤷‍♀️💖💖💖

Ellie, darling, this started as 500 words and turned into like 3.2k words and also a piece of art so... thank you so much. also shout out to my amazing art pal @mawbwehownets for the little comic!!

this contains lots of 90′s/early 2000′s nostalgia so there is also that

tw: hornyish, smooching, perilous music video situations (corny)

---

“Do I have to?” Geralt groans, letting his forehead thud down against the linoleum surface of their tour bus’s shitty dining table.

“Yes,” Vesemir says. His tone leaves no room for argument or whining. “But what if I let you pick the winner personally?”

“There have to be like fifteen thousand letters to go through! How will I manage that in less than two days?”

“There were a few more than fifteen thousand applications, Geralt. There were probably closer to five hundred thousand.”

Lambert wolf whistles and Aiden claps.

Geralt grimaces and keeps his face hidden against the table, releasing a slightly muffled: “Fuck.”

“Language,” Vesemir frowns. He tugs gently at Geralt’s loose ponytail and the singer lifts his head up from the table again, looking at his manager with beseeching eyes. “Anyway, we’ve narrowed it down to about fifty. You can go through those and choose whichever person you’d like to play your love interest. But you have to give me an answer by Friday. The shoot is in three weeks and whoever wins this stupid competition will need time to make arrangements.”

“I thought we were footing the bill for their food and their hotel room,” Geralt raised an eyebrow. “What would they need to arrange?”

“Not everyone can board their pets at the flick of a wrist, dude,” Lambert scoffs from his seat on the couch. Aiden lies draped across his lap, as usual, and the two of them are halfheartedly watching The Lion King. They can only watch movies when the bus is stationary, otherwise the VHS player might move too much while running and damage the film inside the cassette. Even taking advantage of such a rare opportunity, Lambert and Aiden still seem more interested in each other than Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s voice acting.

“Lambert has a point,” Vesemir sighs. He scrubs his hand over his lightly whiskered face like a tired grandparent and sighs again, more heavily. “It’ll be good for you boys to have a normal person around for a few days. Maybe they’ll be able to put some things into perspective.”

Geralt can only roll his eyes a little bit and thank his manager regardless of his own feelings; he and the rest of TW5 owe the seasoned musical expert their entire careers. Without Vesemir’s help and mentorship they would never have made it past their first disastrous record deal. They certainly wouldn’t have reached the heights they’re at now, enjoying international fame and recognition.

The begrudging frontman accepts a heavy plastic bin of file folders from Vesemir and sets them down next to his bunk. “Are these organized in any particular way?”

“Nope.”

“Cool.”

Geralt digs his hand into the pile and pulls out a piece of pale-pink stationary, eager to get started and, by extension, get finished. He can already tell that it’s going to be a long couple of days.

---

“I want this one, please, Ves.”

“Huh?” Vesemir looks up from his palm-pilot. Geralt is standing in front of him and trying to hand him something.

“I want this guy to be in the music video with me.” Geralt holds out the letter again, fingers trapping the accompanying polaroid headshot with great care. A pair of bright blue eyes stares up from the photo, highlighting the subject’s bright smile and unruly mop of messy brown hair. Vesemir tries to hide his amusement; totally Geralt’s type, if the big oaf could admit to having one.

“Alright. I’ll get everything in order. We start shooting in two and a half weeks so get your asses to the gym, please.”

“Yes, Ves,” all five young men chorus.

“Tomorrow,” Coen mutters a moment later than everyone else, not glancing up from his composition notebook. Vesemir nods in understanding. Coen is the best lyricist of the lot and it’s easier to let him work when inspiration strikes than beg him to focus when he can’t get a solitary idea to stick.

“So why’d you pick that one, Ger-bear?” Lambert drawls. Aiden nods and leans against Lambert’s side. Geralt can’t help the mild jealousy that overtakes him every time he sees his bandmates touch each other with such casual affection. He wants that intimacy, that softness behind the veneer of famous indifference. He wants someone to hold.

“Yeah. What drew your attention to that poor unfortunate soul. Was it the floppy hair, the big blue eyes, or the dopey grin?” Aiden smirks.

“Hmm.”

“Fuck you,” Eskel sighs, looking between the two troublemakers with the tired gaze of an eldest sibling, “Fuck you for even asking in the first place and expecting a straight answer.”

“Straight is the furthest thing from his answer,” Lambert chuckles. He is promptly smacked in the head with one of the couch’s hideous throw pillows. The youngest member of the band rubs the side of his face and chuckles, “Alright, I deserved that one.”

---

“Holy shit!” Jaskier practically screams. “Holy motherfucking shit!”

“What!?” Yennefer comes flying around the corner. “What’s wrong!?”

“Nothing is wrong, Yenna! Everything is awesome! Everything absolutely fucking rocks!”

“Did you get hit on the head by a falling branch between here and the mailbox or what? You were whining about your finals work not five min-”

“Look at this!” Jaskier shoves an open envelope into her hands and cuts her off. Yennefer reads the watermarked documents once. Twice. Her eyes almost pop out of her head when the words and their meanings finally sink in.

“Are you fucking with me right now?”

“No, I am absolutely not!” her giddy roommate cheers, bouncing up and down in place. “I did it! I won!”

“Holy shit.”

“I know! I get to kiss Geralt deRiv!” he practically cackles. Then freezes. “Holy fuck I get to kiss Geralt deRiv.”

“You said that already,” Yen teases. She shoves the paperwork back into his hands and grabs a takeout menu from the junk drawer near her hip. “Since you won the makeout lottery, you get to buy lunch. Lucky bastard.”

---

“So this will be your dressing room,” someone’s underpaid PA says, ushering Jaskier into a small, bright room. “Priscilla will be here shortly to get you into hair and makeup.”

“Oh, uh- thanks!”

“Yup.”

And with that, the young man disappears back down the hallway toward the sound stage. Jaskier jogs his leg anxiously as he waits for Priscilla to arrive, nervous and otherwise totally alone in the huge grey building. As the minutes tick by and his heart rate rises, Jaskier’s intrusive thoughts make an unwanted appearance: What if they forget about me being here? What if there’s been a mistake and they accidentally hired two love interests and I just sit in here for hours all alone while-

“Hi!” a bright, peppy blonde woman flies through the door and startles him back to reality. “Nice to meet you, I’m Priscilla! You can call me Priss; I’ll be doing your hair and makeup for the video this week!”

“Oh… hi. I’m Julian, but I prefer Jaskier.”

“Lovely! Well, Jaskier, is your hair naturally this color?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Perfect! I don’t want to mess with such a lovely shade of natural brown, but do you mind if I give it a bit of a trim? I have a few ideas for styles right here in my book- How do you feel about some feathering back here? I think-” she fluffs a few of the hairs around the nape of Jaskier’s neck “-I could really bring out the curls if I adjusted the length a bit and used some product.”

“Just, uhm, go for it, then! Feel free to make me as pretty as possible!” Jaskier declares. He’s committing to this experience wholeheartedly, determined to allow himself every opportunity for positive change. He wants to really let himself enjoy it, and he needs a haircut anyway. Priscilla spends an hour washing, cutting, drying, and styling his hair into a lovely fringed sweep across his forehead. It ends just above his brows, giving his face a slightly softer shape than usual. He grins over his shoulder, “I love it! I’m going to miss you when I’m back at Oxenfurt. Good stylists are so hard to find.”

Priss blushes and nudges against his shoulder, “Oh, you little charmer.”

“I mean it,” he says, examining himself in the mirror. “I look like I could really be worthy of a heroic rescue! This is going to be such a fantastic memory, and I appreciate it. Thank you so much.”

Priss bites back a genuine tear and smiles, “Now that your natural prettiness has been mildly enhanced, let’s get you over to wardrobe, shall we?”

“Wardrobe? Do I have, like, a costume? What’s the music video even about?”

“They didn’t tell you any of this when you got here?”

“Not… not really.”

“Well, my darling, I think you’re really going to like it; they’ve got you in Versace for the first scene.”

“Versace!?”

Then Jaskier is being ushered into a bright, colorful room full to bursting with grim-faced, middle-aged women and he loses track of his only braincell for the rest of the morning.

---

“You must be Julian!” Lambert declares, bounding up to him and grinning. It’s a feral, animalistic grin and Jaskier resists the sudden urge to take a step back.

“I prefer Jaskier, if you don’t mind too much,” Jaskier corrects him quietly. Lambert rolls his eyes in a long-suffering kind of way and throws a meaty arm around the shorter man’s shoulders, completely ignoring the wardrobe technician’s wincing as he wrinkles the expensive silk jacket.

“No need to be quiet and polite around here, my dude. We’re just a bunch of rowdy idiots, aren’t we, guys?”

“Hell yeah!” Aiden calls back. Eskel sighs like the put-upon nanny in a Victorian Redanian comedy.

“Speak for yourself,” Coen barely lifts his frosted tips up from his book long enough to speak. Geralt is-

Holy motherfucking Britney Spears on toast.

Geralt is the hottest thing Jaskier has ever seen in his short, unfulfilled-until-right-now life. Forget Ralph Macchio. Forget Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet and Winona Ryder. This man is… Geralt deRiv is… he’s the picture of perfection. And he’s right there, standing in front of an elaborate party set with his thick, beautiful arms crossed over his chest and his eyes trained on the floor, as if willing it to swallow him whole. Jaskier realizes that he probably didn’t have any choice in the matter; maybe this was just as awkward and uncomfortable for Geralt as it was for Jaskier.

“Ger-bear!” Lambert whoops, yanking Jaskier closer to the brooding frontman. If only he were brave enough to struggle for escape; alas. “This is your boy-toy for the week. Goes by Jaskier, apparently.”

“Nice to meet you,” Geralt manages to grunt. “How did you like the script?”

“I haven’t uh- I haven’t actually seen it?”

“Shit. Fuck. One second,” Geralt huffs, disappearing into the crowd of technicians and machinery operators and PAs. Jaskier loves him already, for real. Sure, he was pretty in the music videos and promo material, but the way he said fuck like it was the noblest word he could think of… Geralt interrupts his train of thought by coming back with a sheaf of papers clutched in his hand. He shuffle-shoves them into Jaskier’s arms immediately. “There you go.”

“Thank you!” Jaskier smiles. It’s genuine and shy, more tenuous than his usual goofy grin. He flips through the pages, glancing between the script to his expensive suit, “So I’m guessing we’re at a party for this scene? Or something?”

“This is… where we meet. This is where… you and I uh…”

Jaskier’s eyes scan the page as Geralt’s ability to speak slowly leaves him.

Lover ENTERS LEFT, dressed to the nines. Lover adjusts their tie/boa and takes a look around the room. S/He looks sad and a little hopeful. PULL BACK to Geralt, who approaches slowly. Their eyes meet. HOLD SHOT. PULL BACK as they move towards each other. Geralt pulls Lover into his arms and they begin to dance.

“Oh, wow.”

“I hope it’s okay! If you’re not comfortable with that kind of thing we can-”

“I’ll be alright, thank you. I came here to put my acting chops to the test. Well, that and meet my favorite band, of course. Thank you again, by the way. It’s been wonderful so far and I really appreciate you allowing me to be here.”

“Allowing? Psh. Geralt ha-” Lambert is cut off by Aiden, who elbows him sharply in the side. “Ow! What the fuck, babe?”

“I knew it!” Jaskier crows, distracted. “I knew you two were an item!”

“They’re not exactly subtle.”

“They never confirm anything either,” Jaskier retorts. Geralt shrugs his acknowledgement and moves back towards the set. Jaskier follows after the taller man like a lost puppy, eyes flicking from one thing to the next, hungry for detail even in his anxiety ridden state. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and he doesn’t want to waste a solitary second of it. “This is incredible, really just...wow. You guys do this all the time? You get to make tiny little movies for already great songs that you get to perform for millions of adoring fans? And you get paid!?”

Geralt hadn’t ever really thought about it like that. He’d been raised in the industry. He’d signed to Kaer Morhen Records as an early teen because his mother was a member of the Board of Directors and he’d been making music ever since; an outsider’s perspective to things was… new. A little strange. “Yeah, I guess that is pretty much what we do.”

“Wow.”

“It’s not that exciting, I promise.”

“Have you ever written a fifteen page paper about the history of lute-string design and manufacturing?”

“No.”

“Then kindly shut the fuck up about what I should consider exciting,” Jaskier grins. Geralt is immediately and irrevocably smitten. Fuck. It hasn’t even been fifteen minutes! “So, which door am I entering from?”

“Left,” Geralt points. Jaskier skips over and begins to introduce himself to the sound and lights crew. His smile seems to be as infectious as his cheer and soon the entire set crew is smiling at one another. There’s been a literal shift in the atmosphere; if he didn’t know any better, the TW5 frontman thinks Jaskier might be some kind of magical creature, because he can’t just be human. Geralt is well and truly fucked, and everyone in the band already knows.

---

“What do you think?” Jaskier asks, slipping anxiously from behind the changing screen. The Versace is gone and in its place are a pair of tight, high-waisted blue pleather pants and a billowing white shirt, which has been strategically ripped in several places to reveal slivers of the lightly tanned skin that lies beneath. He looks like he’s in desperate need of rescuing. He looks like every fantasy Geralt has ever had about the perfect guy. He looks like a fucking dream.

“Nice,” he says.

Lambert and Aiden wolf-whistle and cheer as they approach. Aiden claps twice, loudly, and shoots Jaskier a set of finger guns, “Hot damn, baby. You single? You lookin’ to mingle? Because I am bi and spoon like a Pringle.”

“First of all, babe, I love you but that was the most horrific combination of words yet known to man. Second of all, yeah, I’d dump Aiden for you for sure,” Lambert adds. Jaskier is at a total loss for words. His mouth hangs open and his breath comes in uneven little gasps for a moment.

“Uh… I- Thank you?”

“Oh god, Eskel! Eskel, he’s short circuiting, do something.”

“You absolute-” Eskel groans and makes his way over to the gathered group. He tugs Jaskier away and over to the other end of the set, where a comically huge rocket/bomb (Jaskier can’t tell) is standing at the center of a vaguely science-themed room. A laboratory, maybe? Or like, a really weird spacecraft? A hospital run by rocket scientists? It doesn’t matter, it’s the Evil Lair of the Villain and that’s where Jaskier is being held captive. “Here, Cameron and Elise will help you get set up for the next scene. I’m sorry about the boys they’re... gay?”

“I understand,” Jaskier nods sagely and Eskel relaxes. Then for comedy’s sake he adds an equally dramatic, “I too am... gay.”

The set dresser, an electrician, and a few specialists (likely a rope rigger among them) come over and tie Jaskier to the bomb/rocket/villainous mechanism, ending his conversation with Eskel, who is now in a much better mood than he was before.

Jaskier is told to make sure his hands are crossed behind the small of his back and the director instructs him to wiggle back and forth “as convincingly as possible without actually getting loose or moving the ropes too much”. Which is manageable, he supposes.

“Then, when the chorus comes up, we’ll get a few shots of the boys dancing in front of you,” the director continues to explain. That’s… kind weird, but okay. I’ve seen weirder. “Then we’ll do the action shots, with Geralt rescuing you. Are you okay to do the kiss, or would you rather not? We have dynamic shots with or without, so it’s totally up to you.”

“I’m fine with that,” Jaskier smiles shyly. “I consent to be smooched.”

“Adorable,” Lambert calls. Jaskier blushes and the director shoots Lambert a glare.

“He’s already pink enough, don’t make me change my gels you little shithead!”

“Sorry, Pierre!”

“Fucking sorry my ass,” Pierre grumbles beneath his breath. Then he smiles at Jaskier. “Do something nasty to him for me, will you? Not too nasty but… just a little?”

“I’ve got your back,” Jaskier winks.

“No plotting! Not fair!” Aiden whines.

“You have a team,” Pierre retorts. “Now I have a team.”

“Rules are rules,” Eskel sighs. “Now can we please shoot this damn video?”

“Right,” Pierre claps, getting everyone’s attention. “Places!”

---

Geralt races up the stairs, trying to keep the long sleeves of his black mesh shirt from catching on any of the set pieces. The solid black t-shirt he’s wearing underneath makes his arms and back look bulkier than normal; it’s a visual technique to make him look larger than Jaskier, whose billowing white shirt will hide how wide his shoulders actually are. Fuck, those are some nice shoulders. And the smattering of dark chest hair that peeks from the front of the college student’s shirt? Geralt wants to bury his face in it.

Okay, focus.

He reaches the top of the set and rushes towards Jaskier, ripping the ropes from around his torso and pulling him close. He cups the back of Jaskier’s head with his upstage hand, framing the slightly smaller man for the camera and making him seem even shorter, another trick of angles and body posturing. Geralt plays Jaskier like an instrument, bending him back by placing his downstage arm around Jaskier’s waist, pressing their mouths together and holding them still for as long as it takes the director to yell, “Cut!” with a satisfied tone of voice.

Geralt’s suspicions are confirmed when Pierre laughs and claps some more and cries, “Print it, lads! That was a one-take wonder!”

He tries to ignore the way Jaskier’s shoulders slump as if disappointed. “Good job,” he manages to say.

“You, too.” Geralt wishes he could keep a picture of Jaskier smiling in his back pocket forever. No other sight could light up the world so effortlessly. “Thanks for being gentle.”

“I’m trying to sweep you off your feet,” the singer shrugs. Jaskier wiggles his eyebrows and follows Geralt down the narrow set stairs.

“Are you, really?”

“Is it working?” Geralt asks, turning to look up at Jaskier. The student pauses to look at him and his foot catches on an uneven board. He topples forward with a short cry of surprise and seems surprised when Geralt reaches out to catch him. “Jaskier!”

“Oh my god!” Lambert races over, Aiden hot on his heels. “Are you okay, dude?”

“I’m fine,” Jaskier laughs, a little breathless. “Just a little shocked.”

“You should take him to get a snack or something,” Eskel says, nudging his shoulder against Geralt’s. “He’s been busy all day and hasn’t even been to craft services.”

“You haven’t eaten?” Geralt asks, honestly baffled. Jaskier shakes his head, face heating once again. He wishes he could stop blushing, but Geralt’s presence seems to make it impossible. He wraps one arm around the younger man’s temptingly slender waist and leads him towards the food carts. He shoves a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of punch into Jaskier’s hands, not giving him a chance to argue. “Here, I’ll have something, too.”

“Thanks,” Jaskier smiles, understanding that he is, in turn, being understood. They sit comfortable folding chairs off to the side, food spread across their laps. Jaskier laughs and chats around his mouthfuls, pulling things from Geralt like his favorite color and his least favorite nicknames. Songs he liked and dances he disliked.

“You made it fun again, today,” the singer smiles. “Thank you for that. I wish you could be here for every video shoot.”

“Looking for another member of the band?” Jaskier jokes, doing some half-hearted jazz hands. Geralt shakes his head and laughs.

“I wish we were,” he sighs. “But I guess five is the magic number.”

“Makes the dances look cooler,” Jaskier nods. “I agree with whoever made that decision. I wouldn’t dare ruin the aesthetic.”

Geralt laughs again and Vesemir turns to look, honestly shocked at the volume of the sound.

“Plus, you can’t be the frontman if there’s no front.”

“Shut up,” Geralt chuckles, still grinning broadly.

Vesemir makes a phone call.

---

2 Weeks Later, Backstage in Kaedwen

---

“He’s been sulking like this ever since Jaskier went back to Oxenfurt,” Lambert whines. “C’mon Vesemir, do something.”

“What do you want me to do, make Geralt’s boyfriend appear out of thin air?”

“Not my boyfriend,” Geralt growls, stomping past his bandmates and manager. He can’t help but feel grumpy. Jaskier had been like the sun, bringing light and wonder to everything he touched, and without that joy around it doesn’t seem worth the extra effort to smile. So he’s been moping.

“Fucking hell,” Vesemir sighs. “Thank goodness I thought ahead.”

“What do you mean?” Eskel asks, joining the little group in the hallway outside the dressing room. “What did you think of?”

“Three,” Vesemir smiles, glancing at his watch. “Two… One…”

“Boooooys,” echoes a high tenor. “Where’s my welcome wagon, Vesemir?”

“Jaskier!” Aiden practically screams, leaping out of the dressing room and flying down the hall. Lambert follows at a sprint and Vesemir hears the resounding oof oh fuck of both giddy musicians hitting their mark.

Geralt comes back down the hall at a jog, eyes searching frantically. “I thought I heard-”

“Geralt!”

Vesemir’s heart clenches in his chest at the way Geralt’s face lights up. At the end of the hallway, surrounded by spilled luggage and apologetic boyband members, is Jaskier. Geralt floats to him, it seems, like he’s dreaming the whole thing. Jaskier takes his hands and then releases them and wraps his arms low around Geralt’s hips instead.

“I missed you the most,” he whispers, just for Geralt to hear. “Couldn’t sleep without listening to your CD. I know it’s silly but I really like you.”

“Jaskier,” Geralt whispers reverently into his shaggy brown hair. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to do my thesis on pop culture’s relation to music history,” he says. “And then the manager of TW5 called Oxenfurt and offered me the opportunity to do some… first hand research while I worked on finishing the paper.”

“R-Really? You’re going to be here… every day?”

“Do you… do you not want me he-”

Geralt kisses him before he can even finish the question. It’s a stupid question anyway, of course Geralt wants him here. Wants him right here, kissing him silly. The singer presses his lips desperately, crushingly against Jaskier’s; he never wants to part from this man again. He never wants to be without that glorious laughter and contagious liveliness. Who knew that life could be so full of delight and happiness if he only let it?

He kisses Jaskier for all he’s worth and more, pouring his heart and soul into it. When they pull apart, both gasping for air, Geralt asks, “Stay with me, Jaskier? You don’t have to do anything I just-”

“I’d love to be the big spoon,” Jaskier winks, whispering again. “Thank you, Geralt, for the rescue.”

#geraskier #bouncey's buddies #prompt fill #geraskier fic #geraskier ficlet #geraskier fluff #getting together #boyband au #geraskier boyband au #the witcher five and their hit song 'please lambert stop farting on the bus'#ellie has the braincell #thirsty jaskier #thirsty geralt #soft geralt #protective geralt #clumsy jaskier #soft boys content #bouncey's endless au collection #bouncey's endless getting together fics

244 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 3 years ago

Text

Danger First

Chapter 7

@pocketramblr

"Hey, Midoriya?" asked Uraraka, after Aizawa passed out a costume revision assignment and feigned passing out.

"Yes?" said Midoriya, knowing that his eyes were preturnaturally wide and fine tremors were running through his body. He was a wreck.

"Are you okay? Why did you come to class with Mr. Aizawa?"

"And what's that you're holding onto?" asked Kaminari.

"Um," said Izuku. "I was sort of... abducted by the support department? But in a nice way... And they gave me this grappling hook."

"Wow, cool! I didn't know we could get stuff like that from the support department."

"You should really read the student handbook, Kaminari," said Iida, pushing up his glasses.

"But it's so long!"

Iida tsked and adjusted his glasses more vigorously. "You're a student! You should at least be familiar with what is expected of you! Speaking of which, Midoriya, do you know how to use that?"

As much as he could learn from a ten-minute crash-course. "... yes," said Izuku, but it was clear from Iida's face that he had hesitated too long.

"Midoriya! You shouldn't have something like that in the classroom without knowing how to use it!" Iida half stood up, and Izuku clutched the grappling hook closer to his chest.

"No! Mine!" Maybe he was too attached to something he'd only had for a little over an hour, but the support department hadn't been able to give him any smoke bombs or flash grenades due to 'new school regulations regarding explosives' and he'd gone through a lot this morning.

Distress washed over Iida's face, and Izuku wondered if he'd accidentally smacked into some old trauma.

"I wasn't going to take it!" he said, earnestly waving his hands. "I just wanted to make sure you knew where the safety-"

The door to the classroom slammed open. "Is that my little brother I hear?" asked a beaming man in a track suit. Without waiting for an answer, he bounded over to where Iida was sitting and clapped him on the back. "I have come to embarrass you horribly!"

From the expression on Iida's face, this venture was doomed to failure. "I thought you were joking when you said you'd see me today!" exclaimed Iida, beaming.

"Why... why would I joke about that?"

"You joke about a lot of things. Like knowing vigila-"

"Okay! Yes, haha, funny jokester, that's me! Now why don't you introduce me to your classmates?"

"Of course! I have been remiss in my duties as vice president." He stood and executed a ninety-degree bow. "Forgive me! This is my brother, Iida Tensei! Also known as the pro hero Ingenium!"

Izuku could almost see his classmates start to put together the puzzle pieces of Chibiida and extremely tall older brother. He was more concerned about whether or not it would be rude to ask Ingenium for his autograph... and to check his analysis page on Ingenium...

"That's me! And I'll be your special guest TA today! Now, where's Aizawa? You're supposed to have him for homeroom, right?"

As one, the class pointed to the giant yellow caterpillar in the corner of the room.

"Oh my gosh, Shouta, I thought you were joking-"

Ingenium was, to put it in a single word, cool. To put it in two words, he was unbelievably cool. So cool Izuku was almost able to forget the impending field-trip-related DOOM they were all facing.

But not quite.

So Izuku slogged through his classes, still thrilled to be there and waning to do his best, but unable to truly focus past the crushing weight of what might happen. His classmates and maybe-friends hovered at the periphery of his suffering, clearly wanting to help, but just as clearly unsure how, or what lines they could or couldn't cross, leading them to resort to painfully awkward normal small talk.

Until they sat down for lunch, that is, by which time Monoma and Iida had gotten into a conversational spiral about how amazing UA was, how awesome Ingenium was, and how UA was truly superior for being able to have pro-heroes like Ingenium come in as TAs on such short notice.

"Midoriya," said Uraraka, startling him out of his fourth or fifth 'Kacchan sweep.'

(It was still possible that his bad feeling was related to Kacchan hunting him down and blowing him up. He'd be mortified about making such a big deal over it if that was the case, but it would be preferable to, say, a terrorist attack.)

(Why did he keep coming back to terrorist attacks?)

"Are you... okay? You've just seemed really down today, and-"

"Invisible hug!" shouted Hagakure before grabbing Izuku and lifting him over her head.

There was a beat of whispering near-silence. Then Uraraka stood up, slamming both hands on the table and inadvertently making it float. "You have got to tell me your work out routine!"

Izuku agreed.

("Strawberry," someone whispered.)

"I generally say what's on my mind," said Asui as the Iidas had radically different reactions to the bus seating arrangement.

"Aha," said Izuku. The swaying of the bus plus the strain of probably-Danger-Sense was making him nauseous. "What is it, Asui?'

"Call me Tsuyu."

The first time a person his age let him call them by name since kindergarten, and he couldn't properly appreciate it. Figured.

"I was watching the videos of the battle trials I missed last night," Tsuyu continued, "and I realized, I don't think any of us know what your quirk is."

Izuku's first impulse was to lie or redirect the conversation. Years of quirklessness had left their mark. But on second consideration... was there really a reason to lie? He wasn't going to talk about One for All, obviously, but the rest of it was harmless and bound to come out eventually anyway.

"Well," said Izuku, adjusting the fit of his air filter self-consciously. "That's a good question, actually."

"If you're keeping it a secret, I won't press."

"No, no, that isn't it!" Yes, it was. "It's just that, um, it's really subtle? As in, so subtle I thought I was quirkless until recently. Haha."

"Oh, wow," said Kirishima, "that must have been hard. I mean, I got teased for having a boring quirk, I can't even imagine-"

"Your quirk isn't boring! It's more than enough to be a pro!"

"But what is your quirk?" asked Monoma.

"Um," said Izuku, "well, we're not entirely sure, but... We think it lets me sense things that are dangerous? But I've also got anxiety, so..."

Monoma was frowning, but before he could speak, one of Hagakure's gloves waved frantically in front of his face.

"Is that how you knew I was there?" she asked. "In the battle trial and the entrance exam?"

"Maybe? I think so?"

"You were kind of anxious this morning," said Uraraka, concerned. "Did something bad happen to you?"

"Not- not yet," said Izuku, weakly. "It- We still don't really know how it works, so it could just be the anxiety..." He trailed off. Everyone was kind of staring at him. He pressed back against his seat, wishing there was somewhere to hide.

"Well!" said Uraraka, suddenly pumped up. "We'll just have to keep an eye out! We're hero students, aren't we?"

There was a general cheer of consensus and Izuku managed a shaky smile. So, this was what it was like to have friends.

Eventually, Mr. Aizawa told them to calm down, but there was no heat in the scolding. Maybe, Izuku thought, past the ever-increasing buzzing in his head, today would be okay after all.

"Yeah," said Hikage, "there's really no chance of that."

The Unforeseen Simulation Joint was an incredible space!

Space Hero Thirteen was about a thousand times cooler in person than on TV!

All Might, in his golden age rescue-specialized costume, looked like he'd just stepped off the pages of a comic book!

But just like Tsuyu's name, Izuku didn't have the ability to appreciate it.

As the other students marveled over the USJ, Izuku watched the adults quietly talk to one another. It seemed to be something serious.

"Did you find anything else with the safety checks?" asked Shouta.

"A few of the areas had the difficulty set too high- apparently some of the third-years decided to get some practice in and their supervisor didn't reset everything. Other than that? Nothing." Thirteen shook their head. "No signs of structural failure, no security gaps. Everything seems, well, normal."

"Well," said All Might, "whatever happens, we're prepared!"

Aizawa seriously doubted they were prepared for anything, but the most obvious, most likely things? Yeah.

"What do you think, Ingenium?" he asked.

"Everything looks fine to me," said Tensei, shrugging. "But if it was something obvious, then it wouldn't be so much of a threat, right?"

"We're still not sure how Midoriya's quirk really works," said Shouta. "It could be a threat just to him." He sighed heavily.

Tensei smiled in a way that just about guaranteed Shouta would be teased about this later.

"Well, I'm going to start my speech now!" said Thirteen giving the others a thumbs up. "Wish me luck!"

As soon as Thirteen finished their (surprisingly moving) speech, all of Izuku's attention zeroed in on the air next to the fountain. A swirl of dark mist appeared next to it.

Izuku felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Mr. Aizawa-!" But he was already looking in that direction, already watching the man made covered in emerge from the dark hole, followed by a veritable horde of villains.

And Izuku didn't use the term villain idly here. Several of the people he saw were on wanted lists.

Ironically, now that he was faced with real danger, the panicked siren in his head eased off slightly. Evidently, at least some of the strain had been fear of the unknown, and now the threat was very, very known in the worst way, that particular stressor was gone.

"There he is!" cried the man covered in hands. "All Might! The one we've all come for! Nomu! Get him!"

A large villain with an exposed brain who practically sang with danger charged All Might, who grabbed him by the wrist and flung him away, towards the landslide zone. "Ha! That's not much of a challenge! You'll have to do better than that, villains!"

"Maybe," said a villain made of the same mist as the portal that had brought the others. The large villain came charging out of the landslide zone, none the worse for wear. "Maybe not."

"You might be an elite player, but can you fight the boss and protect the noobs you're powerleveling?"

The other villains surged forwards.

This is when Mr. Aizawa and Ingenium jumped into the fray, and everything immediately got more chaotic. Izuku rapidly lost track of the multiple battles occurring around him - except, wow, Mr. Aizawa was really mowing through villains, wasn't he - that Nomu guy had to have a regeneration quirk, there was just no way - he'd have to write down that villain's monolog as soon as they got out, it might have clues - Izuku had no idea that Ingenium could fly and wow that gave him some ideas for Iida-

Speaking of Iida-

"This is no time for analysis! Hurry up and evacuate!"

Right.

"I won't allow that."

Yeah the misty villain definitely had some kind of teleportation quirk, which made this whole thing even more gutsy. Quirks like that were always monitored by the government. These guys must not care about their identities.

"Greetings," he said, a metal colar slipping into place around his neck. "We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but... today we've come to-"

A gust of air from All Might's fight pushed the mist villain back. But the move had left him partially unguarded, and Izuku watched helplessly as Nomu pounded a fist into his exposed side-

Nomu knew about All Might's injury.

Oh, no.

Izuku didn't have time to process that, however, as Kirishima and Monoma jumped forward, attacking the mist villain.

The feeling of danger spiked, and Izuku barely registered Monoma's bewildered expression.

"Only students... but the best of the best... yes he was right to say you'd be a threat." Darkness spread like an ink stain from the villain's body. Darkness... and portals.

Izuku slammed into Tsuyu and Kaminari, pushing them out of the way of forming portals. He wasn't able to do the same for himself.

"Begone," intoned the mist villain, his voice echoing all around Izuku. "Writhe in torment until you breathe your last."

The next thing Izuku knew, he was in clear light and falling. From at least two stories up, over the flood zone.

And then he stopped.

The ghosts whipped their heads around to stare at Nana. She was sitting on a stool, hiding her face in her hands, though whether it was out of embarrassment or fear for Izuku was unclear.

"Nana..." said Yoichi, softly.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry I saw him falling and pani-"

"What did you do that for!" exclaimed Banjo. "He was only fifteen, twenty meters up! Into water!"

"That's twice as high as Olympic divers go! And they screw up their bodies all the time if they hit wrong!" shot back Nana, other emotions abandoned in favor of rage.

"Uh, guys...?" said Yoichi, weakly.

"Who still watches the Olympics?" muttered En.

"If we had to give him a new quirk, it should have been a combat one!"

"You're just jealous that he has Float and not Blackwhip!"

"So what if I am?" demanded Banjo. "If he had Blackwhip, he wouldn't need that stupid grappling hook gun!"

"So, you admit Blackwhip is just a glorified grappling hook?"

"Better than a glorified- glorified-" He puffed out his cheeks. "I'm going to give him Blackwhip right now!"

"NO!" shouted the other ghosts.

"Banjo," said En, "what do you remember about people who All for One gave three quirks to?"

Banjo went pale.

"Oh, hell," said Banjo. "I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"You can say that again," grumbled Nana.

"But," continued Banjo, "doesn't this mean we can't give him the stockpile?"

They turned to Yoichi, who was far and away the expert on the stockpile quirk. He held up his hands and offered a sick, shaky smile. "We've already started the process of giving him stockpile access. There's... there's really no way to stop it."

Nana started swearing, and even Second and Third looked tense.

"But that's borrowing trouble! Maybe he'll be compatable?"

"With three quirks?"

"It's possible!" protested Yoichi. "I mean, he's- um, he's got One for All? Maybe it's more like All for One than we thought?"

"Disgusting."

"No."

"Absolutely not."

"Never say that again."

"But, again, that's a future problem, unlike the villain attack, which is a now problem."

"I see what you're saying," said En, "but we can't do anything about the villain attack, but we could theoretically do something about quirk troubles. Unless you'd rather watch helplessly while our latest-possibly-last holder is murdered?"

Yoichi sighed. "Okay, yeah, let's take a look."

Izuku's first thought was that Uraraka must have tagged him, but he had been way too far away from her for her to do that. Unless she had run at him when he dove for Tsuyu? Tsuyu had maybe sort of been between them...

But, no, this didn't feel like Uraraka's quirk. He'd only experienced it a couple of times, but it felt like falling. This felt more like floating on the surface of a pool.

This was, he realized as he drifted helplessly upwards and slightly sideways, Shimura Nana's quirk.

It would be really, really cool if the circumstances were different or if he had any control over the quirk whatsoever. As it was, he didn't appreciate the way he was getting progressively higher. Hitting the water at his previous height would have sucked, but he probably would have survived. Now? Not so much. So, if the quirk decided to stop as suddenly as it had started, he was doomed.

Beyond doomed.

He'd be dead.

Wait! The grappling hook!

He pulled it carefully out of its holster, making sure to wrap the loop around his wrist. He could get back to the ground with the grappling hook, anchor himself at a decent height and make use of this, or even attack, but if he dropped it...

Well. Doom and all that.

His best bet was the top of the downpour zone. It was the closest structure by far. He lined up his sights, fired, and watched as the hook fell several meters short.

That was less than ideal.

He rolled over and looked up. He wasn't that far from the ceiling-

Danger Sense screamed at him, and he was falling, just in time to miss getting hit by a jet of water from below. Izuku, naturally, started screaming as well and fired the grappling hook blindly. He rejoiced as a metallic thunk told him it had hit something and immediately hit the stop button, almost wrenching his shoulders out of their sockets. However, his joy quickly turned to horror as he realized he was now headed toward the hard, unforgiving side of the downpour zone at a dangerously high speed. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Float turned back on.

Izuku let out a somewhat pathetic whine in relief, and hit the retract button on the grappling hook gun, letting it pull him up to the roof.

From here, he had an acceptable view of the rest of the USJ. He shaded his eyes to look back at the main plaza and entrance. He could see Eraserhead and Ingenium fighting back to back in the central plaza. All Might and Nomu were tearing up trees in one of the forested areas, and near the entrance he could see Thirteen, Iida, Uraraka, Shouji, Sato, Sero, and Ashido facing down the mist villain. Hopefully, with those numbers, they'd be able to get past him.

Looking elsewhere, Izuku had to assume Todoroki was in the landslide zone, with the spiky ring of ice in the middle of it. He must be holding back. He could make out a fight happening in the mountain zone, but couldn't tell who was involved.

That was more than half the class unaccounted for, including Tsuyu and Kaminari, who he'd thought he'd pushed away from portals. They were probably in the other zones, but...

He took a deep breath. Focus. Where would he do the most good? Danger Sense couldn't tell him that right now, with all these bright threats all around him. He had to decide on his own.

The fight in the mountain area wasn't going well. The number of visible villains was only increasing.

Could Izuku get there? He bit his lip as he contemplated the distance, then jogged back to the opposite side of the downpour zone roof.

Then he ran.

Then he-

-jumped-

-off the roof.

Float activated at the top of the arc of his jump, and his momentum sent him tumbling forward towards the mountain zone. As he approached and began to slow (air resistance still being a thing, apparently), he was able to see Yaoyorozu and Jiro fighting for their lives. Yaoyorozu did not look good.

This wasn't a great way to be proven right about her quirk having drawbacks.

He aimed the grappling hook at one of the larger, closer villains, not really caring about how much damage it would do, and fired.

"Wow," said En. "Kid definitely has a bit of a ruthless streak."

"Imagine how much better he'd do with Blackwhip."

"He wouldn't have been able to get there in the first place without Float."

"Honestly," continued En, "I don't get why Second and Third don't like him. They never shut up about Nana and Eighth being too soft, after all."

"What? They said that stuff about me, too?"

"Yeah, I think they're just unsatsifiable at this point. It's annoying."

"I was much more violent and ruthless than Toshi, though."

"I know."

"Yoichi," said Hikage. "I'm not seeing any sign of additional stress on Ninth's body."

"That's because Izuku is the best."

"Or," said En, "it's because he's only had Nana's quirk for, like, five, ten minutes, tops."

"Or because he's the best. Just look at how he's helped his friends defeat all those villains!"

"Compelling argument," said Hikage.

"What- what now?" asked Yaoyorozu, holding herself up with one of her staffs. The mountain zone was littered with various weapons and shrapnel from Yaoyorozu's quirk use. This included a canon. Which was really cool, but seemed a bit over the top... and maybe not the most efficient thing to make, considering Yaoyorozu's limitations.

"I don't know," admitted Izuku. He'd been flung around the field as a makeshift flail/bola by the girls a few times, and was a little dizzy.

He looked back out at the battles still taking place in the plaza. "I think... Maybe we should go down, and make our way around the edge to the entrance. We could pick up Todoroki and see if there's anyone in the ruins zone who needs help-"

Then he saw the hand villain step forward, facing down Eraserhead as Ingenium was lured away in defense of Tsuyu and Kaminari, who had just run out of the wooded area, trailing villains. Danger flared in his mind's eye, and, for the second time in his life, his body moved by itself.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #danger first #danger first au #fic #fanfic

90 notes · View notes

river-bottom-nightmare · 4 years ago

Text

The Nightwing Suit

There are some absolutely incredible artists out here on tumblr, and seeing their fanart makes me cry tears of joy. Dick Grayson, one of my personal favs, is always a wonderful contender for fanart. His innate grace and agility and flexibility translate beautifully on the artistic spectrum. Bottom line: I love all the Nightwing fanart. However, there is something I want to address with his suit. I’ve been an aerialist ever since I was 7 years old, and I’ve taken gymnastics since I was 3. Now, I specialize in Lyra, while Dick obviously specializes in Trapeze, but when it comes to costume, we’ve got many very important similarities.

DON’TS

When it comes to aerial, we want as much mobility and flexibility as possible. So here are some things that absolutely will not be on his suit.

1. Shoulder Pads. I will scream it from the rooftops if I have to. The Nightwing suit WILL NOT have shoulder pads!! Red Hood? Definitely. Red Robin? Those shoulder pads are important for bo staff strength and support. Robin? Damian probably doesn’t need them, but they won’t hurt. Nightwing? No way. To me, one of the most important parts of my body when practicing and performing are my shoulders. They pull me into hangs and holds, let me rotate myself around, and basically support the rest of my body. This is partially due to user preference: I prefer arm-based stunts and hangs rather than leg based. But it honestly doesn’t matter that much. Nightwing will absolutely need 100% use of his shoulders. Him being able to freely rotate them can be the difference between life and death with his style of fighting. Shoulder pads will just hamper that flexibility. I will admit that shoulder pads look badass, but in this one hero’s scenario? Shouldr pads are a no-go.

2. Sleek Arm Braces. Nightwing, while being well recognized as a solo hero, does often work with a team. And on a team, he isn’t the type to huff angrily and say he can do this by himself. Emotionally? Yes, of course. Physically, and in a fight? He takes all the help he can get, with absolutely no would to his pride. When performing his flips and tricks and such, the other partner will grab hold of him by usually his hands or his arms. I’m just going to straight up say: catching someone by their hands is a Bad Idea. You will not believe the speed we travel when we go through the air, and catching by the hands will lead to dislocations and pain. For a few stunts it’s okay, mainly for the visual aspect of a performance. But when it’s life and death combat? Hands are a last ditch effort if you can’t catch someone by the arms. Because that’s what really counts. The forearms. When Dick is fighting with someone, and that other person has the strength to catch him/throw him from a drop or a flip, they will catch him by the forearms. If Dick’s wearing sleek ‘n sexy arm braces, he’s going to slip right out of their grip. I prefer to keep my forearms bare, but in regards to protective armor, the fabric around the arms better have a grip.

3. Extra Fabric. This one is a given. However, I want to get into the specifics. When you’re in the air, momentum is your most powerful ally, and if there’s anything opposing or hindering that momentum, that spells trouble. Extra fabric can sometimes be good, such as around the legs. Not too much, obviously, but wearing loose or baggy pants while fighting with Nightwing’s fighting style works (as long as you can, you know, actually fight in them and not trip over the extra cloth). Around the middle? Nuh-uh, nope. Anything looping around your waist, hips, or rib cage is a liability if it’s not skin tight. The belt that Robin often wears is okay, as long as it’s wrapped pretty tight around him and doesn’t move. For the kind of stunts that Dick pulls off on a daily basis? I don’t think anything but a skintight bodysuit will help. For arms, extra fabric is ~okay~ but not preferable. And anything strapped to his back, as long as it’s securely in place, will actually help his momentum (so his escrima sticks or any other weapon/item you want to put in there is fine). Nothing around the neck, at ALL. That one issue in Batman where Dick wears a scarf is hot as hell, and sort of makes sense because they’re in the desert. But on missions, at the speed Nightwing fights and flies through the air, anything around his neck will choke him. This entire section definitely wasn’t an excuse to say you should just keep Dick in a skintight outfit, nope, not at all.

4. Spandex. While we’re on the subject of skintight outfits, I just want to point something out that isn’t necessarily important or anything. It’s just a general preference for me. I prefer costumes with a little weight on them. The adrenaline rush is intense for some of my more advanced stunts, and those are things that I bet Dick would consider basic. I prefer something with a little substance/weight/texture to it. Nothing too serious, and nothing too restricting, just something to keep me grounded and focused. We all know how much Dick likes being in the air, but I’m willing to bet he also needs a little extra touch to keep his head in the game. So if you’re designing a serious Nightwing suit, not for crack or fun headcanons or anything, I would steer clear from the spandex, gauze, and showy-light-gossamer fabrics. They do provide extra mobility and flexibility, but that’s because they’re one drop away from naked.

5. Joints. Okay this may seem a little contradictory based on the last point, but around the joints, especially hips and shoulders, the protective padding needs to ease up. It’s one of the hardest areas on the body to injure, after all, even for a professional. And second, I know I’m sounding like I’m repeating the obvious, but flexibility is of utmost importance. If the fabric doesn’t bend with Nightwing, then there’s no point. It can’t chafe, it can’t grind against itself, it can’t break. The material around major joints needs to be malleable.

Dos

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what you can absolutely add to Nightwing’s costume to give it either a little pizzazz, or just your own personal touch.

1. Boots. Yes yes yes, boots are an absolute must! And it’s not just me thinking thigh-high boots are cool. Coming out of a big drop and other major stunts requires rolling on your back and then onto your feet. But Nightwing doesn’t fight with the one-hit-and-done style. (That’s more Jason’s thing. He plants himself like a tree and puts power behind a punch, kinda like Bruce, which is why boots-especially boot soles- are important for them.) Nightwing gets in a punch and flips away, then bounces back and gets in a kick and flips away, then bounces back and gets in another kick and flips away. You see where I’m going with this. Dick is constantly on the move, constantly on the verge of flipping back. The main way he does this is with his feet: landing lightly on the balls of his feet to absorb momentum before using that to hit back. Boots with fricion-specific soles are important, he cannot slide or skid. Also, ones that go higher up aren’t bad either: extra support is always welcome. As long as they don’t cover his knees and allow for ankle flexibility, they’re good to go. They may even help stop ankle dislocation. Anything you want to add to the boots? Go ahead. As long as it’s not gauzy ribbon or something too extra, or something that can easily get caught in something else, it’s good to go. In my performances, I like to cover my shins with something, it can range from simple high socks or performance boots to go with my costume. I particularly like Damian’s long lace up boots, especially in Super Sons. It’s a cute outfit, and it won’t hinder his fighting at all. As long as Dick double knots, he can wear those, and any other variants of boots.

2. Gloves. I’m not actually sure if Dick has ever been called “Fingerstripes” in canon, but I’ve seen it in fanon plenty of times. Regardless, it’s one of my favorite nicknames for him, and it does have a basis. The stripes on his gloves are an awesome artistic choice, and useful too. Assuming they have a different texture than the rest of his gloves, those fingerstripes could help with grip. Grip is one of the most important tools an aerialist can have. I have had grown men look at me with shock when they shake my hand because of my firm grip (and the calluses, ugh). I firmly believe that Dick Grayson has one of the strongest grips in the DC non-meta world, and I bet you he surpasses even a good amount of metas. Having a good, no-slip grip is essential, even if you’re just swinging from the surface for a second, or if the surface is another partner’s hand. Gloves, once again as long as they’re not too restricting, would be awesome with helping with that.

3. Wrist Braces. I said before that Dick can’t have arm braces because of the whole partner-grip thing. But with the amount of force and pressure Dick exerts on his hands on a daily basis, dislocations and sprains should be as common as a bruise. Hell, I’m sitting here typing this and my left wrist is sprained. Fanfic writers, here’s a helpful tip: you can write Dick with a sprained or dislocated or just a plain sore wrist anytime at all, and having him rub his hands with a grimace, rubbing lotion onto them, or doing wrist exercises in his free time is a go-to for if you need anything filler. Or, you know, it could even be part of the plot. Wrist braces help with this, they keep the joints in place and add a little extra stability to his movements. As long as they’re not interfering with wrist mobility, wrist braces are a very very good idea. When you think how long, think about the length of Peter Parker’s handmade web shooters. Long enough to be there, but not immediately noticeable. Also, make sure the material is something cloth, wrap, or gauze based. Anything too hard could scrape against the skin, cause cuts and bruises, and even cut off circulation. Unless it’s armor, it’s not comfortable or easy to do aerial maneuvers with.

4. Back Harness. To be honest, I have no idea what the official name for this piece of equipment even is. But the thing that holds Nightwing’s escrima sticks to his back. The thing that holds Deadpool’s katanas (in the movies, not the comics). The back-strap-harness thingy. That’s a go-for-it when it comes to costumes. Not only does it look badass and hot when it’s on your costume and you draw your weapons from it seamlessly like a boss, it’s practical and doesn’t interfere with your fighting at all. As I said, a majority of Nightwing’s moves rely on momentum. The back harness thingy won’t harm that at all. As long as it’s strapped to your back, unmoving and steady, it stays out of the way and may actually help you with your momentum. Drawing weapons from it is easy and seamless, and one of the quickest moves you can perfect, aside from drawing your weapon from thigh/calf holsters. But as I said before, Dick would probably stick to the back because, once again, momentum.

Okay this got much longer than I thought it would. But regardless, I hope this helps if you’re ever drawing or writing about the Nightwing suit and need specifics. Or hell, if you’re a cosplayer and need some information on how to make an accurate costume, here you go. Now I need to take a breather and chill, because while I considered myself a pretty recreational comic reader and not much of an analyzer, I had no idea how much I picked up about Dick’s individual fighting style and how that fits in with my own aerial experiences.

#i have no idea what to tag this #suit analysis???#superhero costume dos and dont's??#nightwing #dick grayson #meta #dc #nightwing meta #dick grayson meta #dc meta #nightwing suit #river thinks too hard

1K notes · View notes