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hohoz · 3 years

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How RE Village (8) SOLVED almost every problem that I had with RE Series

Okay - a few weeks ago I made a post that was “The ones that suffer the most” where I showed and explained my main problems with Chris and Jill and the RE series in general

RE 1 is my fav game of this series and probably one of my all time favs, I player every RE there is to be played except 4 (because I dislike Leon, sry)

Recently, specially after 4, the franchise had a few problems, specially in writing/map design/lore

Resident evil 5 for example (I love this game) but it has it flaws, Chris there is only driven by anger and action - Sheva is used as a tool for lore exposition and to be Chris’s new partner

PLEASE: be aware that game at that generation didn’t have much lore - with some exceptions, like God of War 1 2 3 were a simply game with a simple lore, and the most recent GoW has evolved a little bit in the storytelling

Until we hit rock bottom in RE6 - I know a lot of people like this game, but this is only and action game, bad writing and generic stages.

Chris there is so mistreated that makes me mad (if you want to read more about this go to my other post “the ones that suffer the most”)

Until RE7 appeared, Capcom had a new engine and they wanted to do a game that was more horror like - since RE is know for being a Survival horror game.

I liked 7 - some people complained about Ethan being without emotion and others complained about the mold, a few didn’t like the FEAR vibes from Eveline.

I personally enjoyed the game, I thought RE series was going back on track, that game has it’s problems but it was really nice compared to what we had in 6.

After that game I had a conversation with my best friend and I said that I wanted a game that portrayed Umbrella’s fall since the only game that shows this is Umbrellas Chronicles (and that is most a resume of what happened)

And I said: “Bro, I wish that when they made that game, they could tie some mythological lore and human evolution before Umbrella - using Spencer, this would solve LOT OF STUFF and open new ways to handle this series”

and guess what - this happened in RE8 and kudos to the one writer that did that, i have my gratitude.

RESIDENT EVIL 8 is probably one of the BEST RE games that we had IN YEARS

And I want to address all thing that I loved in this game and do some predictions to what will happen in the next games.

“WELL WELL IF IT ISN’T ETHAN WINTERS” (The Father of the year)

My father was not a great guy... really, so I want to be the best dad ever, I really want be like Ethan - a guy who is ready to sacrifice and fight every monster in the way to save my family.

Ethan was a character that in RE7 was used to make us fell like that it was us in the Baker’s house, so that is why he didn’t had that much personality (in my opinion) but they changed that in RE8, here he has nice dialogues AND a diary

He has one of the best story line in the whole REverse, a guy that did EVERYTHING in his power to save his daughter - and you saw that playing the game, every sentence line that he delivered, he tried to save others too and even tho Chris said to him stay put ... but he couldn’t, he had to go to the altar, he had to help Chris, he had to go forward and keep going, specially after having the tools to face Heisenberg.

The plea from a father, that was his last wish, after he heard that Mia was alive he knew that someone had to stop that monster, he made a promise to his daughter “Daddy won’t let those weird fairy tale monsters get you” so he trusted Chris, to be the one that teaches his kid how to be brave and strong

I will not address Chris and Rose situation here because this is Ethans part and he deserves completely all the spotlight, his sacrifice was 100x times better than Steve (CV)/Piers(6)

My cheers to Ethan Winters - You have my respect !

Revelations -> RE8

So leaks from earlier times said that RE8 sucked and Revelations 3 was amazing

Revelations FYI is know for using old tales in RE stories

Revelations 1 - Dante’s Inferno

Revelations 2 - Frans Kafka

Revelations 3 - Dracula

But since RE8 sucked, Capcom said to the REV3 team that they could make REV3 become RE8 and they accepted

Revelations series is one of the best in the games, they handle Jill in a way that I love, Claire and even Barry - so they deserve all the spotlight for making this awesome game - you CLEARLY can see that they love this series and that they treat all the characters with the love that they deserve.

Keeping that in mind, they are the same team that made Rev 2 and in REV 2 we have this file here

So they had a plan for Jill and we can see that in RE8 - I will address that later but keep that in mind - this team cares for the old characters, they were the ones that brought Barry back to the games :V

Chris Redfield

This is a hard one, because he is my fav character and I usually have the most critics regard him, since I’ve expect a lot from Capcom

In the latest games they made him kind dumb, only muscles type of guy and an alcoholic that let all the people in his surroundings die (RE5,RE6,Vendetta)

RE6 treats him the WORST

But in RE8 he had an amazing part in the storyline, it was obvious that he wasn’t evil and they FIXED HIS EYE COLOR - FINALLY

I still don’t like the model face that much but it’s way better than 7 - so I believe Capcom, I still feel that he need more jawline

But let’s go to the most important thing - here he really feels like a squad leader and a veteran, he has his team but he is the one in the front line, he covers and ask for help when he needs, everything about his line delivery makes you feel like “Woah, this guy is a badass, he is not some stupid guy only driven by emotions”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINALLY GETTING THIS RIGHT

If you remember my post about the ones that suffer the most / Jill is also in that list and I will talk about her a little bit later but if my guess is right RE8 saved her character aswell

Another thing that I enjoyed here is the fact that he is kind of a mercenary / Neo Umbrella kind of guy, even tho he is one of the founders of the BSAA

So I will give you all my score to this game:

9/10

I won’t give 10/10 because of some technical issues, the cursor lock didn’t work and mouse sensitivity was i dunno, not the best.

RE8 and the future (PREDICTIONS) - Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, BSAA, Neo Umbrella, Ada Wong and Rosemary

First let’s look Rose

The first time I saw Rose all grown up - I thought to myself : She has the same problem as Eveline (age a lot faster than normal)

But she also absorbed Miranda’s power since the metalicite (something like this) thought that she was a better host. - so maybe she will live longer or something because I doubt that they will do a 14 years time skip.

This is not the same as Terra Save logo (Claire’s job) but it kind reminds me of it - her shoes appeared at least 3 times in this cut scene so maybe they are trying to show some hints with this

She really reminds me of Jodie (Beyond two souls, a game where a girl has a lot of power and the gov uses her in missions and stuff, but she also is learning how to be her own person)

Another thing here is that they don’t have a logo in this car, it really reminds me the car that Chris as using in RE8

This supports the theory that Chris’s organization is dealing with her instead of the BSAA, the she is a hot headed girl and that she had a lot of powers.

So here you can say that she is just a kid because she is a teenager, but what if she actually grows older really fast (like Eveline) maybe this is just 1 year later / 2 yrs later. (after RE8)

So this is the tricky part, this is Chris’s guard/soldier, someone that Chris trust to stand by her side, in my mind I do believe that Chris is kind of a father figure to her, so when this guys says this he is thinking about hot head Chris but she replies “Yeah” thinking about Ethan - (she has the mold memories, so she can actually remember Ethan’s memories)

Now let’s look at this

BSAA

So in REV1 is hinted that BSAA is not the best organization in the world, but since our heroes work there we think that they are the good guys right ?

In REV 2 (it’s important to remember that the team that created RE8 is the same from the REVELATIONS and they had this file here in REV2)

This email is from Jill and what does Jill have ? T-Virus

Wesker is a different case since he was a project and she had the vaccine but this would make a lot of sense if they had this tests with Jill to get the T-Virus

If that is the case, they explained Jill’s absence in the main games, could even explain why Chris left BSAA and opened a new window to a lot of possibilities

My Predictions:

- Chris had trouble dealing with BSAA and Jill’s case, he wanted to get her out of there, maybe he removed her from there but that resulted in him being expelled from the force

-Jill may or may not know what they are doing with her blood, but she will have a huge part in the BOW used by BSAA

-Chris is married to Jill (sorry- I had to place this here, in a perfect world he has two kids with her and they all love aunt Rose)

-Chris will hopefully be a father figure to Rose and they will be in a game together since in the end they came to get her

-Rebecca is still involved in BSAA activities (leak from new REV3) if you consider Vendetta canon, she maybe the one that used Jill’s sample of blood to create the virus soldiers

-Barry maybe retired

-I don’t think Leon will be in this game, but he will get his RE4 Rmk

- I do believe RE9 will be release after Code veronica rmk and MAYBE they will do a game about Umbrella’s Fall (Chris and Jill in Europe against Red Queen and BOWs)

But that is it, you can see a lot of elements from old RE games in RE8, they tried to do something really smart and the game felt amazing to play, that was something else and it’s been a while since a player a RE game that made me feel that way <3

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sauk · 3 years

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Isa and Chloe for character ask

Isabel

Favorite thing about them: I love your intelligence, ingenuity and design, you can notice the change from season 1-3, I really like uwu.

Least favorite thing about them: I don't think I have anything I dislike about Isabel.

Favorite line: I love every line of hers when she rambles on about science, engineering or mathematics.

BrOTP: Esteban, Elena, Olivia, Gabe and Mateo

OTP:I didn't have any with Isa before, but after reading headcanons about her and James, it made me cute

nOTP: -

Random headcanon: So far I feel that Isabel can get to have a crush, be it Mateo or Gabe, obviously it would not be love. It is normal for a girl to have a crush, she is not in love 100%, about some boy who is older, and I feel that Isabel can happen to her, I imagine the scene with Sakura and Yukito, where she makes her understand that her "infatuation" is admiration . I imagine it so much with Isabel, I feel that it is a situation that can happen to her when she wants to fall in love and confuse her feelings a bit. Because I don't doubt that she has the feeling of wanting to fall in love sometime. This also doesn't say that I like pairing Isa with Mateo or Gabe, I just imagine that he manages to fall in love with either of them because he spends time with both of them, which for me is unavoidable. I don't see it as a ship.

Unpopular opinion: Nope, I don't have

Song i associate with them: I haven't thought about it

Favorite picture of them: gif*

Chloe

Favorite thing about them: I love her hairstyle and her personality.

Least favorite thing about them: The fact that I had to hide things to please others, oh, it hurt :c

Favorite line: "Patada de Chloe" and "En Norgberd no abrazamos, APRETAMOS"

BrOTP: Maliga, Val, Elena, Rebecca and Mateo :D

OTP: -

nOTP: -

Random headcanon: She gives me vibes of being Bi and also that I feel Chloe, even though she does not like magic because of that bad memory, after her birthday with Elena and friends, she tried to stop being afraid of magic with the help of Mateo, I have in my mind that she and Mateo are great friends.

Unpopular opinion: Nope, I don't have x2

Song i associate with them: I haven't thought about it x2

Favorite picture of them: Favorite Line <3

#sauk responds #elena of avalor #isabel castillo flores #princess chloe #thanks for asking #I wish I had answered earlier #but I had a survey test.

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blood-and-poetry · 4 years

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Can you tell us your opinion on the new Rebecca? I have still yet to see it (I know the plot ofc) but as much as I was hoping for a good adaptation, I was fearing it was going to be poor (bc, well...Netflix...)

Hey there anon. Well I'm very opinionated so take this with a grain of salt and it's totally fine if people enjoy the movie (I like a lot of objectively "bad" movies too so I don't judge lol) or disagree with me. Don't want to fight, just saying my opinion. Spoiler warning for everyone who doesn't know the story.

First of all I want to start with something a bit less terrible but still something that bothered me: I think the overall mood of the movie is kinda... wrong. To be precise: there isn't really a mood. There is no sense of darkness or thrill or drama. I especially didn't like the costume design. The visuals are beautiful for sure. It wasn't terrible but it didn't make me feel something either.

Much more troubling to me: The narrator and Maxim were miscast in my opinion (the actors are fantastic! No hate for them, only for the casting director) or at least the roles are very poorly interpreted. They are sweet and lovely and nice and gorgeous. Which fits perfectly into what this 2020 adaption wants to be: a sexy, cutesy love story.

But it doesn't fit into the relationship from the book/other adaptions that should be more influenced by the narrators insecurities, class differences, the age difference (which doesn't exist in the movie btw) and her being "plain" (in comparison to the ever present Rebecca). Maxim really is a nice gentleman and so in love with the narrator from the beginning. There is no questioning it, no hesitation, no insecurity. The power dynamic between them is barely visible (if there is any) and all of that sets the entire movie into a whole other mood from the start. This movie wants to be a love story so bad.

And then there is my beloved Mrs Danvers (might get really subjective here). To make it short: a lot of gay coding got erased. I know this has been said by others on here before but HOW can a 2020 movie be less gay than a movie from the 1940s (and both were directed by straight men)? I already see new Rebecca/Mrs Danvers and narrator/Mrs Danvers fanfiction coming in and that's great. Yay Rebecca fandom, the director couldn't erase all of the gay vibes. But we could have had so much more! If it wasn't for the straight male director. I need to be *that* person and point that out because that's basically what this movie is: watching/reading Rebecca from the viewpoint of a straight dude who doesn't know nuance and doesn't care for the context of the piece of art he is interpreting. We could have had a movie that got a bit more daring, that dared to speak and show what could only be whispered for years and years.

Gay coding in old movies and books is such a passion of mine. The LGBT community has been so drawn to Rebecca since the book but mainly since Hitchcocks movie adaption and more so after the musical adaptions. My gay and lesbian friends alike consider it a "classic" and it's such a huge part of lesbian and gay culture/media. Daphne de Maurier was at the very least bisexual and already uncomfortable with being a woman at that time but even more so with being a woman that's attracted to other women. As someone struggling with internalized homophobia and misogyny myself I always felt like she was expressing these things (maybe subconsciously) in Rebecca and especially with Mrs Danvers.

I would have loved to see a movie with as much depth as the book, with all the nuance it had. But yes, I would have also loved something a bit more... gay. Something that would make a modern lesbian/wlw audience feel the same excitement and "oh is she...? Were they...?" that an earlier audience felt with the first movie. But instead it feels like the little subtext, the little gay coding we got was not even an after thought. In this movie it just feels like something that slipped in by just filming scenes from the book without giving it any thoughts or thinking about implications. There is no depth to it, no feeling, no implications.

Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs Danvers was amazing (yes I will reblog lots of gif sets because hot damn). I don't doubt any actors in this movie but she was actually great for the role she had. But Mrs Danvers almost felt out of place. Some people explained it better than I can but... When you don't understand important aspects of the story, the author, the societal norms of that time, the implications, the cultural meaning of du Maurier... Then you can't write or direct Mrs Danvers right. And that's what it felt like to me.

I don't like to compare old and new adaptions of books because a new take on something isn't automatically a bad take! I'm very open minded about media and I also enjoy a lot of "bad" movies or shows. But this wasn't just a different take. This was tone deaf, completely ignorant regarding historic and societal context and plain boring.

So yea my very personal opinion: the movie was boring. There are much more thrilling, exciting adaptions out there (not even mentioning the great source material itself) and this movie just felt unnecessary to me. I'm sorry this got so long and again: I don't want to attack anyone who liked the movie. (Especially if you are gay and will write fanfiction... Please enjoy the movie further so you can write more ff i can read lol).

This is just an expression of my disappointment.

#i just dont want men to do movies anymore #thank you for coming to my ted talk #sorry this got messy #anon #rebecca 2020 #mine #mp

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justaniche · 4 years

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Never Have I Ever...(accidentally) let someone meet Rebecca

heres the link to chapter 2 on ao3

let me know what you think and happy reading!

word count: 4,622

His talk with Devi shifted from the forefront of Paxton’s mind soon after he got home. Once he finally got home and was ready to collapse, Rebecca found her way into Paxton’s room knowing of his arrival despite his exhausted attempt to hide it and with her came several and I mean several sketches of clothing she had drawn and that meant Paxton had to wake up and fast.

One time, Paxton, following a long day, had fallen asleep an hour into one of Rebecca’s ventures to bounce fashion ideas off of him and he had to work for weeks to make up for it. He loved his sister to death, but he was so tired he couldn’t help it and now he learned to keep energy drinks in their house for moments just like this one. In a movement perfected with repetition, Paxton grabbed a bang energy drink from his side dresser and down it while Rebecca pulled drawing after drawing out of the roll she brought with her.

Paxton hadn’t gotten in as late as he had in the past today so Rebecca had time to show him a good portion of her ideas before they had to start their movie so that they could get some sleep. Rebecca showed him a golden dress with a sequence pattern going down the left side, a take on a plaid skirt, paired with a shirt, she even shows him shoes and accessories to go with each individual outfit among many more. Becca wanted to be a fashion designer and hoped to soon apply to fashion school but she had to complete her portfolio first and did not hesitate to enlist Paxton’s help to do this.

After Becca finished showing Paxton all she wanted for the night, they settled onto the couch to watch the movie that had caught Becca’s eye 2 days prior, After The Ball . The movie included an identity switch, a ball, and a touch of romance. It's a regular Cinderella tale with a twist, the protagonist was an aspiring fashion designer! Paxton could evidently see why it caught Rebecca’s eye. The movie ended rather quickly with Rebecca and Paxton engulfed deeply into the story although the latter tried to hide it. With the energy drink’s buzz leaving Paxton’s mind, his exhaustion followed and he was yawning despite himself. He and Rebecca exchanged goodnights and went to bed.

The next few days went off like normal, school was still new off of summer’s high and students and teachers alike needing time to bounce back, school work was nonexistent. The classes consisted of syllabi and classroom rules and expectations. This caused widespread boredom but fortunately, on this day, lunch approached rapidly and with lunch starting, Paxton found himself in the center of it all with his group of friends inside what students called The Hotpocket.

Lunch unfolded as it always did, after they finished whatever lunch they had that day the soft hum of their light discussions broke out into full-fledged banter and laughter. Accompanying that laughter was parts of the aforementioned group messing around and sometimes engaging in ridiculous activities. Today that activity was Trent and Marcus, another close friend of theirs, battling with their lanyards. They were being dramatic as ever holding their IDs like nunchucks and swinging them about. Paxton was entangled in a lighthearted conversation with Devin, stopping on occasion to eye Trent and Marcus and laugh at their behavior.

Paxton was looking away when he heard someone exclaim “Ow. Goddamn it”. The entire Hotpocket looked up to cringe at the scene that was, apparently, a girl getting, accidentally, slapped in the face with a lanyard. Paxton’s jaw dropped slightly.

“Did I just hit you?” Marcus asks tentatively

“It’s cool” The reply from the girl, Devi, came rather fast considering her reaction from just moments ago. She adjusted her grips on her backpack straps, “Hey, Paxton, can I talk to you?”

Paxton turned towards his friend, giving him a pat and chuckling through an ‘i’ll be back’ while shifting up to stand. “Okay,” his face straightened as he followed Devi out of earshot from his friends.

“So I thought I would follow up on our conversation from the other day and ask if you wanted to hang out later?” The sentence was cool leaving her mouth, none of the ever-building anxiety leaked from her words.

Paxton had to think quickly to what Devi was referencing but it came to him milliseconds later and he blinked through his realization, “Oh, oh, you mean, uh, like, have sex?” he gave a soft smile hoping to give off a comforting vibe despite the twinge of uncomfortableness brewing in his gut. “Sure, uh, maybe” he paused to think “after school today at my place?”

Devi’s calm facade seemed to shatter and the word tripped from her mouth, eloquence long forgotten, “Today?” Her mind blanked with panic for a split second and the words TOO SOON flooded her brain. She hadn’t expected this.

“Yeah.”

“That’s super soon, which is great.” Devi had a feeling she was more so trying to convince herself than anyone else. “Soon is great, it’s just…” an answer popped into her head, “I have orchestra after school today, so I can’t.” she had to stall, to prepare herself but couldn’t for too long. It was a miracle that Paxton had agreed in the first place. If she messes up he could change his mind so she mindfully finished “But maybe later this week?”

Paxton wanted to laugh but held it in, he opened his mouth to answer but just exhaled. His charming smile ever-present as he answered while backtracking returning once again to the Hotpocket effectively ending the conversation. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He turned, striding away.

“Okay, great” Devi called, “We’ll compare calendars tomorrow or something. We’ll figure it out. Later, skater.”

Paxton had already begun to join Marcus and Trent in their makeshift game when he registered Devi’s continued speech, “What?” He asked but she tucked her head, shamefully, and walked away.

~~~

Succeeding lunch, the day sped up considerably. With the commencement of the last class of the day and everyone going to their lockers and then out the door, Paxton was joining them. Today there was no swim practice so Paxton was, thankfully, headed home early. That was his thought until of course his English teacher thought now would be a great time to talk to him about his supposed “lack of participation”. This normally would be something that Paxton would care about and attempt to contemplate but not now, not today when he was getting an early day to relax and who knows what else with this extra time.

It was probably 15 minutes max, but to Paxton, it felt like a lifetime. He was at his car door about to get in as someone called him from his right.

“Hey. I can actually come now. The scheduling conflict I had cleared up.” Devi stated, hands gripping her bookbag’s straps.

Paxton didn’t miss a beat, a split second earlier and he would have cut her off. He found himself buzzed with some semblance of happiness for the company. “Cool. Get in.”

“Okay.” Devi smiled and hurried t0 the passenger side of the car and climbed it as Paxton got settled and they set off.

When they got to Paxton’s house, he got Devi inside before his phone rang and he left the garage to answer the phone. The conversation was rather brief and as it was concluding Paxton re-entered the garage still speaking Japanese into his phone. He hung up.

“Sorry. That was my grandpa,” Paxton clarified, “Can I get you a drink?” he was already making his way over to the mini-fridge he kept in the garage before she could answer. He knew how these matters, if not handled carefully, could easily tip from comfortable to awkward if he didn’t mind sharp, and that was the last thing he wanted with Devi.

“Sure. Do you have any chocolate--” Devi stopped, rather abruptly, when Paxton spun around to face her, beer in hand. She grabbed it despite herself. “Ah. Beer. You read my mind.”

“All right. Well, my mom will be home soon, so...better get to it” Paxton gave a half shrug before stripping off his shirt from the bottom. If there was anything about himself that Paxton was securely confident in, it was his physical appearance. Being that Paxton was a swimmer, he could not afford to think about how others would feel about his appearance at every opportunity. Giving into potential insecure would only throw him off mentally during swim practices and comps, Paxton resolved himself a long time ago that it would help no one. So he tended to, or at least tried to, not think about it every time he showed a part of his body. Plus it’s not like any girl he was interested in who got far enough with him complained, thus taking off his shirt was no big feat and he did so without hesitation.

Devi was sort of freaking out at this point but was doing a great job of not showing it. That was until Paxton’s shirt came off. The beer she was sure she had a good grip on slipped and hit the floor with a thud. Paxton’s eyes followed it, slight confusion on his face but he didn’t comment.

“Oh.” the urge to explain the state of his chest took over, “Just so you know, I have to shave my chest for swimming, so the stubble might, like irritate your skin a little bit.” He lifted her limp hand to his chest for emphasis moving her hand to feel, he looked down following their joined hands, and then looked up making eye contact with Devi. He gave a small smile and she gaped.

“Oh, God”

Her mouth opened and closed for a few moments before her brain reconnected with her mouth. She had just touched the chest of Paxton Hall-Yoshida! Fab and Eleanor were gonna flip! But wait, her mind was now at red alert at the close proximity between her and Paxton that she’s just now processing. And so she did what any normal person would in her situation, she panicked.

“You know what? I just remembered. I have to go home,” She snatched her hand back like it was on fire leaving Paxton surprised and his hand hanging in the air as she patted his shoulders for good measure, “because I have a package coming that I need to sign for.” she nodded trying to regain her composure, it wasn’t working.

Paxton nodded and chuckled as he and Devi switched positions in her attempt to get to the door, he shoved his hands into his pockets, “Word?”

“Yeah, It’s medication for my mom’s...polio.” What the heck Devi? Polio, really?

Paxton could only nod through Devi’s hidden meltdown.

“Yeah, so…” She slowly retreated to the door through her word vomit when she misstepped and a sharp pain spread at the base of her leg, “Ow. Goddamn it!”

“Oh, shit. Are you okay?” Paxton’s stance broke as he rushed forward to the injured girl. She leapt back before he could reach.

“Yep, yep. I’m fine” Devi’s aim to reassure fell short as Paxton’s concerned eyes looked closer.

“Are you sure? You’re...bleeding.” he gestured to her leg

“It’s chill. I’ll see you tomorrow” humiliation ate at Devi’s very being. She had majorly fucked up, in various departments and she was out the door before Paxton could utter another word.

Paxton was extremely bewildered and it showed on his face. With Devi gone the garage fell silent. Paxton stepped back from the door, considered his options. He could go after her or stay home and like she said, see her the following day. He weighed it and decided against trying to catch up to her. She really did seem like she just wanted him to think she was fine and to leave it alone, he wanted to respect that. His gaze swept the floor before it landed on the theorized perpetrator. It was sharpish, in a box on the floor, and sticking out in his direction; one of Paxton’s old swim trophies. He crouched down with a sigh as he picked up the award and rolled it around in his hands examining it. At the very tip was a trace amount of blood, where it had punctured Devi’s cafe. Paxton could not help but think about how strange that was, try as he had to make the whole interaction go as smoothly as possible there was no predicting that and therefore no thwarting it. With the knowledge that there was nothing Paxton could do to help the situation with Devi gone, Paxton shrugged his shirt back on and proceeded with his day.

~~~

Contrary to what Devi said and to what Paxton thought, Paxton did not see Devi the entire school day. He found himself expecting to see her somewhere but always fell short when she was nowhere to be seen. The end of the day came and once again no practice, coach explained it as a new regime he was trying out, sorting out on days and off days and said it would vary until he decided what worked. Paxton was restless after two days and decided on a run after he got home.

He was finishing up his 2-mile run when he saw Devi pacing in front of his house, he ran up behind her. “Sup,” he panted, her response was a scream as he had seemed to startle her. He smirked faintly, “I’m just finishing up a run,” Paxton began. He wanted to get her talking, particularly about why he found her in front of his house talking to herself. He was vaguely relieved to see her but ignored that.

“Okay, cool” she crossed her arms, her demeanor chill. “So do you need to stretch or something, or are you good to just go into your garage and have sex with me?” The words marched from her mouth clear and confident. Let us take a minute to appreciate both the awkwardness of that sentence and applaud the boldness of it.

“Um…” Caught off guard Paxton frowned deeply into his shrug, “I’m good to go to the garage.” She struts passed, her head held high, and as soon as she did Paxton swiftly lifted his shoulder to sniff his armpit, reassuring himself that he did in fact not smell. He pivoted and followed her inside.

Unfortunately, the blind confidence coming from Devi’s words did not translate well into action. That is how they found themselves sitting on Paxton’s couch, Devi’s arm along the back of it, their vicinity too close to not be at least talking and the tension was building. Paxton looked to her for a move and Devi jumped on it.

“So, here we are…” she weirdly stroked from his collarbone down, the tone from outside back on, “about to pleasure each other.”

Paxton did not know if he should be weirded out by her word choice but Devi was proving, with every meeting, to be not like any of the other girls he tends to interact with. He nodded vaguely but when she tapped his nose twice he couldn’t stop his eyebrows from coming together, what exactly was happening?

“But before I can rock your world, I need to freshen up.”

Paxton couldn’t decide if Devi did not see anything wrong with this whole situation or if she was choosing to ignore it, that decision would dictate how he would respond so he needed to figure it out and soon.

“Can you point me in the direction of the ladies’ room? I wouldn’t wanna pee in the middle of doing it.” One point for ignoring the problems, zero for not seeing them. There’s no way she didn’t realize how that sounded coming from her mouth but her face gave no emotion but certainty.

Paxton wasn’t sure if he should respond to the second part but did anyway although the words came slowly full of apprehension, as he lifted his finger in the direction of the bathroom. “Yeah, that’d be bad. First door on the right.”

“Thanks” With that Devi was gone.

Paxton breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn’t think properly with her here. She came back on a new day seemingly ready to have sex despite yesterday’s debacle. The odd opening word choice might have been endearing had it not been followed by a tense silence and more questionable sentence phrasing. It was quickly bordering on uncomfortable but awkwardness was a natural occurrence in sex so this was not a real reason to bail. He just had to wrap his head around her way of speaking and this would be fine. Paxton repeated this in his head, this will be fine.

Several minutes had gone by and Devi had yet to return. Paxton got up from his position on the couch to find her, she really should not have gotten lost. He checked the bathroom to no avail and stopped confused then he continued down the hallway when he heard voices coming from Rebecca’s room.

“I’m Devi. It’s nice to meet you.” Paxton turned glimpsing into Rebecca’s room to see her shaking hands with Devi. Irritation started to build in Paxton’s chest.

“What are you doing?” He directed at Devi but didn’t wait for a response before addressing his sister, “Becca, I thought you were at work.”

Paxton walked deeper into the room, “I switched with Lisa. She gets her braces off tomorrow.” Rebecca explained, satisfied with the answer he received, Paxton turned back to Devi.

“You said you were just going to the bathroom. What the hell?” The irritation was quickly turning to anger at Devi having met his sister. If people knew about Rebecca things could turn ugly, fast.

“Wait. Are you mad at me or something?” The disbelief Devi felt was clear on her face, what was the problem here?

Paxton simply didn’t respond, the budding anger brewing substantially at her attempt to play coy. He walked clear out of Rebecca’s room without a word, his expectation was clear, she was wearing her welcome thin, and she was to go with him outside.

“Why are you sneaking around my house and talking to my sister?” Paxton was comfortable to let his annoyance into his voice with his sister out of earshot.

“Was I not supposed to? I didn’t even know that you had a sister.” Her voice was soft as she tried to get him to understand the genuine misunderstanding but it was far from working and Paxton was too cross to see reason right now. Come on Devi, read the room. Paxton saw this as a jab,

“Oh, you think I’m hiding her now, because I’m embarrassed of her or something?” It was definitely a question but he certainly did not want a response. Seeing someone with his sister sent Paxton into a sort of panic mode. Devi was going to go to school and tell everyone all about his sister and hell if he wasn’t going to get in a lot of fights defending her.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Devi stated, slightly defensive at the attack.

“Okay.” He didn’t believe her for a second as he looked away trying to gather himself, he wanted her out now. He shook his head as the words came out his mouth spiced with venom, “I don’t think this is gonna work. All right, you should probably just go.”

Devi felt the air forced from her lungs leaving her speechless, she knew there was nothing more she could say and honestly couldn’t find the words either way. She gave him one last look before leaving.

Paxton went inside, not stopping to see her go, so many emotions flowed through him but most of all he was scared. Scared of what people would say and all because he didn’t think to make sure Rebecca wasn’t home before he invited Devi inside. He was scared because he loved his sister and could not deal with people and their ignorant words and dumbass opinions but he was helpless. Paxton could not stop people from talking, couldn’t stop Devi from sharing. And Paxton hated feeling this way, the powerlessness ate at him because he was meant to always take care of his sister. So he bundled the emotions up into something he could control, aggravation, and directed it at the person who triggered the emotions, Devi.

~~~

The day passed and Devi and the situation with Becca plagued Paxton’s mind. He was upset, yes but he was also rational enough to know that he couldn’t completely blame his feelings on Devi but he was at a loss. He had accused her and gotten mad entirely too quickly. He now felt stuck between his emotions and the urge to talk to her, to say what? Paxton wasn’t sure as of yet but he couldn’t speak to her, he didn’t know how to.

~~~

Morning classes were a bore especially considering Paxton’s mind was not exactly on task so he found himself once again immensely thankful for lunch’s social reprieve. Paxton was surrounded by his friends and he could almost forget that something was bothering him. That was until the person Paxton was consciously avoiding called to him.

“Paxton, can I talk to you?”

The liveliness among the group died briefly before light laughter spread between them. Paxton’s energy dropped but it did not climb with the rest of his friends’. Paxton looked over, face straight, his eyes met with the expectant Devi. She sort of looked how he felt but he couldn’t compel his body to make a move. His eyes dropped from hers unable to maintain the contact with shame stewing over his behavior. Without a word to Devi, Paxton turned to his friends and continued to converse.

~~~

There was a chance although slight that Paxton held on to that he would not run into Devi during lunch. That did not work out. There was no chance that he could go to their shared history class and not be at a close distance seeing as he sat in front of her. He sat in front of her trying to focus but his mind was racing and he was dumbfounded.

He still didn’t know what to say. The reasons to simply ignore her compiled, her meeting Becca, his anger, his reaction, and now him disregarding her at lunch. He was making this worse instead of better, he knew this but he couldn’t figure out how to fix it. He hated being mean to people, he hated to leave things unsettled, but this time was different. He couldn’t get a grasp on the words that would make this better, so he chose not to say anything at all.

~~~

That night Paxton laid down, progressively his pent up energy was coming to a head and it was coming out as restlessness. Once he had gotten home, Paxton ran until he was spent but still he was unable to relax. He had done a series of activities including various workouts, watching movies, and cooking but nothing was untangling the knot he felt in his chest. The complete stress he felt at being a jerk to Devi. Paxton had to do something. He felt okay at first but it has gotten so much worse in such a short span of time.

He had to talk to her, and not tomorrow, no he needed to apologize tonight, right now. So he grabbed his keys and started to walk to Devi’s house. Thinking about it in a way that makes sense, he would have reached her sooner had he driven but Paxton wasn’t thinking. He was going totally on emotion and that was causing him to act rashly. He made it to Devi’s house relatively quickly and he rang the doorbell before processing a thought. When his finger released the doorbell, he took a breath that finally felt like it entered his lungs. Within moments a woman was answering the door,

“Hello?” she began, despite the door being wide open. She appeared suspicious of the unknown young man who stood at her door at this hour. “Can I help you with something?”

“Um...yes I am sorry to bother you but is Devi home?” He realized at that moment the strangeness of his request and how it could be taken considering when he had shown up.

“Hold on” The woman disappeared, leaving her door open and Paxton again was left to wait.

Paxton took a breath to help calm himself then turned to face the door upon hearing the shuffling of footsteps and was relieved to see Devi at the door.

“Hey”

“Hi”

The greeting was short as they both caught sight of Nalini Vishwakumar, Devi’s mom, leaning along the top of the staircase, eavesdropping not so subtly. Devi could not have her mom listening in. Devi did not know what this conversation would entail but given the nature of her past talks with Paxton, her asking him to have sex with her after all, she could not have her mom hearing that. She would very possibly kill her.

“Let’s talk over here” Devi offered, walking outside and shutting the door behind her. Once they were at a safe distance, Paxton let what was bothering his mind spill out.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for yesterday. I’m just kind of protective of my sister. She used to get bullied pretty bad...even by people I thought were my friends. I guess I’ve always been a little too protective. Like, when my parents first adopted her, I used to sit by her bed every night with a Nerf gun. That’s why our cat only has one eye now.” Paxton finished slowly, slightly embarrassed that a funny story had turned into him admitting to mistakenly hurting their family cat.

Paxton did not know why exactly he was sharing so much with Devi but it felt nice. It started to seem to Paxton that he did not think about every word when it came to Devi. It was weird but it was nice to share this with someone.

“Paxton, I would never make fun of your sister. She’s super fashionable and way cooler than me.” They were sharing a laugh at that blatantly honest remark when Devi’s mom knocking on the window interrupted them.

“No laughing.” She warned

“Mom!”

Paxton had to interject, recalling something Devi had said in his garage, he lifted his hand in greeting. “I’m so sorry about your polio, Doctor Vishwakumar.”

“What?” Nalini shot back but she didn’t care for an answer and that showed when she let the curtain fall.

“Well, thanks for the apology. If we’re cool, should we meet in your garage tomorrow?” Devi’s tone was hopeful but Paxton had other plans. He made a face.

“Actually, I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore. It just got weird, you know?” He felt a lot better and his voice took on a relaxed feel.

Despite the disappointment Devi felt, she played it off, she scoffed “Yeah, sure. I was gonna say the same thing too.”

Paxton smiled and Devi gave a small one back, “Okay.” His words felt final and they knew their conversation was coming to an end. “Well, uh...I’ll see you at school.”

Paxton, pleased with the way the talk went, began his trek home and Devi dejectedly retreated back into her house. Paxton was once again walking away from Devi, but this time there was a difference. This time, Paxton looked back.

#never have i ever netflix #never have i ever #nhie #nhie fic #nhie season 1 #netflix #netflix original #devi x paxton #paxton x devi #devi vishwakumar #paxton hall-yoshida #paxton is baby #Paxton is soft #nalini vishwakumar #fanfic #nhie rewrite #season 1 rewrite

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love-takes-work · 6 years

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Steven Universe Podcast: The Fantasy of Steven Universe

This is an outline of the Steven Universe Podcast regarding “The Fantasy of Steven Universe”: an issue of the podcast in which the creators and writers discuss a multitude of deep issues, along with some Q&A from both fans and insiders. No volume number or episode number was given for this one. The official description:

It's the last new podcast episode of the season and we asked the cast and Cartoon Network Executive team to submit questions to Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar and former Executive Producer Ian Jones-Quartey! They tackle everything from design to wormholes to escapism to advice to your younger self and dreaming big. Then former writers Matt Burnett and Ben Levin sit down with Rebecca to discuss lessons learned, achieving goals, and what they hope people take away from the show. And finally, Kat Morris and Joe Johnston return to answer a last batch of Fan Q&A!

This is a long podcast with a long summary, so as usual I will give you a bulleted list of highlights, followed by a detailed summary.

Highlights:

Many of the show’s themes and important elements were there right from the beginning--all the way back to the pilot.

Rebecca Sugar comments that she didn’t really learn how to have fun until 2016.

Figuring out how to pace the show out and reveal each piece of information at the right time so it could support another later revelation was very exciting to the writers. They had the pieces laid out like a puzzle on their table.

Mostly self-contained episodes still gave the audience a piece of information or represented growth for a character. The less “plotty” episodes helped keep the energy up.

The Crewniverse knew that their titles were sometimes trollish, but Ben was honestly surprised that people expected apocalyptic happenings for “Last One Out of Beach City.” It was just a Less Than Jake reference.

Rebecca really enjoyed getting the chance to “damsel” Greg for the Zoo arc; she really wanted to use a lot of princess tropes, even that one.

Viewers should take away from the show messages of compassion, self-love leading to ability to connect with others, ability to understand and listen to others, and opportunities to see themselves as well as to see others.

Rebecca has drawn all of Fluorite’s component Gems, but all she’ll say is “they’re fun.”

Lars and Lion are not immortal, but they will live for a very long time and have slowed-down lifespans. Kat Morris says Lars may have no sense of taste; that if he eats it’s just for sustenance.

Lars has all the same powers as Lion. He can indeed do a sonic blast and make portals and walk on water. They weren’t able to work this into an episode we’ve seen, but Rebecca assures us that Lars will discover his abilities and it will be “really funny.”

The Crew had specific voice actors they wanted for the Diamonds. They got who they wanted cast by writing excited letters. Susan Egan’s was particularly weird because she had to play Tiny Floating Whale first.

Blue Diamond was the most difficult Diamond to design because her hair was hard to decide on. Rebecca’s influences for her were Martha Graham’s “Lamentation” dance and Fruma Sarah’s ghost from Fiddler on the Roof.

Yellow Diamond was mostly directly inspired by Patti LuPone’s performance as Evita.

White Diamond was influenced by many old-timey vibes, including Hedy Lamarr in Ziegfeld Girl and the artistry of Nell Brinkley. She had heavy eyelashes and fingernails--lots of design elements they did not incorporate into other characters, so she could adhere to old, “stifling” beauty standards.

Rebecca was disappointed that reveals of Pink’s full jester-like outfit got out before we saw it in the show. Her hair was originally higher in early designs, which contributed to her mural having spikier hair.

Greg is based almost entirely on Tom Scharpling; Rebecca was comforted by his voice when she had upheavals in her life. There’s also a little bit of inspiration from various Crewniverse dads in him.

Another Gem could have a hybrid child like Steven only if they had enough power to do it and the complete commitment to the idea that Pink had.

Steven and his “Gem self” are not really separable and can’t exist independently of each other. His Gem half will not remain if his organic half dies. They are one being. He will likely have a very long life because of his Gem powers, but (though the Crew agrees this is grim), he will probably die before the Gems do.

The Jade Fusion won’t be in trouble anymore once the Jades come out of their bubbles; in Era 3, the act they were punished for is no longer disallowed. However, the trauma of being isolated and then punished as soon as they felt it was safe to fuse may require some healing. Rebecca assures us they should be able to have the opportunity to heal and be okay.

Obsidian definitely has future vision powers. In fact, they’re expanded to the point that the noise is difficult to interpret; very powerful, but difficult to get anything useful with them.

Pearl became a more maternal character because of her voice actor, Deedee Magno Hall, being “such a mom.”

Zach Callison as Steven was so genuine and professional to work with, and the vibe in the booth with regard to him was closely mirrored in the show.

Sometimes Deedee’s or Michaela’s ways of interacting with Zach would influence how Pearl or Amethyst would interact with Steven.

People would give lots of space and reverence to Estelle when she was reading her lines, which parallels how the other characters treat Garnet.

Only Steven can take anyone or anything through the pink space connected to Lars’s hair and Lion’s mane, but yes, Steven could take Lars through Lion’s mane, and if he stuck his head out, there’d be infinite Larses sticking out of infinite Lars’s hair until he pulled his head back in.

Designing new characters requires lots of back and forth and hundreds of drawings. Rebecca asks “why,” not “what”--why are you including something in a character’s design? If it doesn’t contribute to who they are, why is it there?

Influences on the show that may have been missed by some fans include G.I. Joe the animated series, Future Boy Conan, and Mr. Bug Goes to Town.

In response to Deedee requesting a fusion between Pearl and any of Rebecca’s childhood favorite cartoons, she suggests maybe either Bart or Detective Conan, then says she’ll have to think about it and get back to Deedee.

Advice Rebecca Sugar might have given her younger self was that it would be okay and she’d get to tell the story she wanted to tell--but also that she should eat, drink water, and exercise.

One profound thing Rebecca learned while working on the show was that she can be out and bisexual regardless of who she’s with, and that it DOES matter.

One profound thing Ian learned while working on the show was that the story you want to tell doesn’t have to be constrained by the medium--and your fantasy story isn’t necessarily someone else’s fantasy. You can tell your story.

The detailed summary is below!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

McKenzie kicks the podcast into gear and starts by asking Rebecca Sugar, Matt Burnett, and Ben Levin about the intentions for the show: what did they think it was going to be, and did it end up being that?

Ben shares an anecdote about how their agent seemed to have thought Steven Universe was based on Rebecca's comic Pug Davis, but then they saw the animatic and it was completely different from what the agent described. Matt felt that the themes and certain important elements of the show were already there from the animatic at the beginning. They were excited to see the show even if they might not end up getting to work on it, and they could tell just from the pilot that there was a lot of mythology to be unearthed. One of Ben's expectations that did not pan out was that he thought there would be more dungeon crawling episodes, but that was not the reality because . . . it turns out episodes like that are really difficult to do.

As for Rebecca, she says she had many goals for the show, and one thing she likes to do with projects is make them about something she hasn't truly figured out yet. The big thing for Steven Universe in Rebecca's mind was the issue of gendered cartoons for children. She felt uncomfortable growing up, because socially she was expected to like what girls like but her favorite things were "for boys," while "girl" cartoons did NOT appeal to her. She felt guilty and weird about it, and so with her cartoon she wanted to attack that at first, use and scramble the language others had used to put her in that position. As she worked on Steven Universe more, she realized that some of the things she wasn't allowed to love as a kid were things she DID love. Learning to understand herself better allowed her to build a better relationship with the symbols and elements of children's cartoons that she could have authentic feelings about. She feels she learned a lot.

Next, McKenzie wants to know which episodes were the most fun to write (or throw ideas around for).

Rebecca quips that she did not learn to have fun until 2016.

Ben says he and Matt had fun though. Their job was to take Rebecca's ideas and figure out how to squeeze her thoughts into 11 minutes. Ben thought it was important to reveal something new about a focus character in each episode. Rebecca thought it was exciting to pace out what to reveal when; she says all the elements were on the table "like a giant puzzle." They had to carefully place when we would understand each thing as the audience before they could do something that built on it. She felt it was "like painting a picture across time." You couldn't do something like "Change Your Mind" at the beginning--you needed all those pieces to get it at all.

Putting yourself in the audience's mind as a writer is important, Ben says. Infodumping doesn't work, and laying the groundwork before you start a story isn't the best way to make a story meaningful. Matt thinks the big story payoffs at the end of season 5 were discussed in the first two weeks of planning, and they all thought it would be so cool to finally get there.

The things that were the most fun were actually the deviations from those stories, though they kept with the themes. The "random idea" episodes that felt more like one-offs were responsible for keeping the energy up, according to Matt. "Steven and the Stevens," for instance, was pretty self-contained (and needed a diagram to keep it together). Rebecca points out that "self-contained" episodes were mostly the goal, but you'd still see a change in the character or get an important piece of information in each one. Steven is LITERALLY not the same character anymore after "Steven and the Stevens."

Weaving the "infodump" stuff into Steven's personal growth was important for the type of story they were writing. They also joke about how certain episode titles were very trollish, like "Last One Out of Beach City" and "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies." (Both of those were definitely NOT "apocalyptic" at all.) They were aware that titles could send a message, but Ben was actually really surprised at the expectations surrounding "Last One Out of Beach City" because for him it was just a Less Than Jake reference. ^___^

They also enjoyed getting to do whole new environments with mini-worldbuilding, like the human zoo. The zoo arc comes up and Rebecca remarks on how much she enjoyed "damseling Greg." She really wanted to do pretty much every princess trope in some way, even that one, and she just loved having the opportunity to have Blue carry Greg away "just like Peach."

McKenzie next asks the group what's something they want people who have watched the whole show so far to come away with at this point.

Ben says he's not sure about others, but he feels the show lets us take home messages of being in touch with your genuine feelings and expressing what they are. Matt agrees with Ben about how the show helps viewers learn to see others' perspectives. They hope people had the opportunity to see themselves represented on the show, and that some people got the opportunity to see representations of people they'd never seen before--and that those people who were newly exposed to folks they'd never thought about before would learn to be more compassionate.

Rebecca wants people to come away with the notion that they must learn to love themselves. That it is close to impossible to connect with others if you haven't learned how to love yourself. Kids deserve to be able to express themselves as long as they aren't destroying themselves or others in the process. She thinks sometimes kids are sent destructive messages about how it isn't okay to be themselves, and that people they trust might be shutting them down, but this show is a message to say it's wrong of them to do that and they deserve the freedom to be who they are and say so. Being allowed to talk about how you feel shouldn't be some kind of fantasy. It should be reality.

The next segment of the podcast involves Kat Morris and Joe Johnston answering fan questions with Rebecca Sugar!

Q: Has there been any thought as to what Fluorite's Gem components are?

A: Joe just immediately says "NO" and Kat teases him, but Rebecca speaks up and says of course she has drawn them all. She gave it to Colin and then says "I don't know where it went." The only thing Rebecca is willing to say about it is "they're fun."

Q: Are Lars and Lion immortal now? Or is their aging process just extremely slowed down?

A: Kat agrees that their aging process is just slow. About as slow as Lars's heartbeat in "Lars' Head." Kat points out that she and Joe have disagreements about what Lars's life is like. She thinks Lars probably lost his sense of taste and only just eats occasionally to sustain his body. Rebecca says "they'll live a really, really long time," and Kat says "longer than they'll want to."

Q: Can Lars do the Lion roar warp thing, or does he have his own power?

A: Kat says he can! They tried to write stories around it but never quite did it. Kat jokes that he can do it if maybe he gets tickled or something. Joe says he can make a warp and he can make a sonic blast with his voice. When they discuss whether he's figured that out yet, Rebecca replies that he WILL figure it out at some point, and when he does, "it'll be REALLY funny. Don't worry about it." They speculate that maybe that's how Lars was getting around doing space pirate stuff (infiltrating the Citrine asteroid and the Cosmic Jubilee), but there's also the fact that he doesn't have a Gem and can't be scanned. They also specify that Lars can indeed walk on water.

Q: Does Lion have the ability to sense Steven somehow? Or did he find Watermelon Steven some other way?

A: Rebecca claims they're in tune, but you can't really pinpoint whether it's magic or whether it's just that animal sense some pets have.

Q: How did you pick the Diamonds' voice actresses?

A: Kat says, "begging?" Rebecca says they knew who they wanted and they agree they wrote passionate letters. Rebecca tells the story of bringing Susan Egan in to do Rose's voice for the first time, but the first time you hear her voice was coming out of the Tiny Floating Whale. Susan did the little "ooo!" noise for it as well as the one line that's spoken in "Rose's Room." She had to explain that Rose was very important later, but for now she just wanted Susan to come voice the whale.

Q: Which Diamond was the most difficult to design? Which was the most fun to design?

A: Rebecca says Blue was the most difficult to design. They took a long time deciding on her hair and what would be "inhuman" about her, and there was a lot of trial and error involved. They actually revealed her cloaked form in "The Answer" before they figured out her hair. Rebecca feels that White might have been the most fun because they had to incorporate so many influences. They're all really influenced by tons of things though: for instance, Blue is influenced by a Martha Graham dance ("Lamentation") and the ghost (Fruma Sarah in a dream) from Fiddler on the Roof.

Yellow is very inspired by Patti LuPone in Evita.

White is inspired by Nell Brinkley and Hedy Lamarr (in Ziegfeld Girl)--the aesthetic of the time, really.

White has many design elements that other characters don't have. The heavy eyelashes, the fingernails, the "perfect thigh gap"--she's supposed to be very different from the others, with "beauty standards" that you haven't seen on other characters, meant to be read as stifling and old. She's even on an actual pedestal with shoes that are actual pedestals.

For Pink, Rebecca describes it as "kind of devastating" that even though we'd gotten the first reveal of Pink when she punched a mirror in Stevonnie's dream and was "contorted with rage," the audience got to see her on a model sheet with her full outfit "looking like a little clown" and people kind of got it instantly. Designs for the Diamonds go back to 2014, though Pink's hair was a little different and "looks like a Truffula tree" according to Rebecca. (Joe says that's why her mural looked spikier, because the early hair designs for Pink were higher.) Rebecca was really excited when they nailed down Pink's hair to look like Steven's hair. Rebecca was excited but Kat was scared.

Q: What inspired you to make Greg?

A: Tom Scharpling! Rebecca used to always listen to Tom's radio show (The Best Show) toward the end of college and she based Greg's character on him. She says Tom is currently doing a thing where he's reviewing every episode of Friends. She felt that during a tumultuous time in her life, moving from New York to LA and being apart from Ian, Tom's voice was a constant and a comfort. On his show, Tom is "more cynical" than Greg, but she describes him as only being mean to meanness, and that even when he's mean it's a "force for good in the world." Being angry is fine as long as you're directing it at other things that are mean, helping to cancel them out. She finds Tom inspiring, and thinks Greg is sort of the result of that cancelled-out meanness. Rebecca also adds that Greg has a lot of her own father in him, and she believes the other Crewniverse folks probably pull in elements of their own dads to write him.

Q: Would another half-Gem/half-human fusion like Steven be possible for another Gem besides Pink Diamond?

A: Pink Diamond couldn't fuse with humans--Steven's unique that way. Pink obviously created Steven (not through fusion), but now Steven is the result of that process and he exists sort of as a bridge. He can fuse with humans because of his humanity, not because of his Gem. He would actually be able to pull other humans into his Fusions with Gems, but he'd have to be there to preserve that connection.

Joe interprets the question a little differently, saying he thinks they're asking whether another hybrid might be possible, and Rebecca says it'd be possible only for a Gem as committed to it as Rose was. She specifies that Rose obviously had the immense power of a Diamond as well as that dedication, so if some other Gem that had a similar level of power and a similar interest in creating an organic child wanted to do it, okay, they could.

Q: If Steven were to die of old age, what would happen to his Gem half?

A: Joe hates this question. Rebecca agrees "that's so grim." She says that Steven is Steven, and he is NOT Steven when he's broken into two pieces. There isn't one without the other. Kat thinks Steven wouldn't die unless he chose to (and might do that if everyone he cared about was gone). Joe apparently hates existential questions and Rebecca sort of comforts him saying the Gems will live and live and live, and that Steven will probably die before them so he won't have to be stranded alive with no friends left.

Q: Is the Jade Fusion from "Together Alone" okay?

A: Yes, she's fine! Rebecca says she got poofed like many other characters have been before, and probably bubbled for what they were doing, but in Era 3 what they were doing is no longer wrong. They will emerge and be allowed to be themselves. Rebecca says, though, that there's also a question of whether they're okay as a person, and that what they went through is really hard to go through. She felt so isolated all that time, and then as soon as they got the courage to emerge in front of other people for the first time they were punished for it, so in that sense she's really kinda not okay. She will have opportunities to heal from her traumas, though, and her future is bright.

Q: Does Obsidian have future vision powers?

A: Rebecca says "Yes" decisively. The others chime in to agree. Rebecca says Obsidian's powers are overwhelming and difficult to handle all at once, though with many components they also have support handling it. The future vision Obsidian experiences is so overwhelming it's almost worthless because it's like noise--it's expanded and cacophonous.

Next, Ian and Rebecca are answering questions submitted by the cast and Crewniverse!

Q (from Zach Callison): What aspects of the characters are inspired by the voice actors?

A: Rebecca says the biggest one is how Pearl became more maternal because of Deedee's influence. She's "such a mom."

The interaction of the cast in the room worked its way into the characters' interaction. She also says Steven's growth from childish to mature for his age came from Zach growing up with him. She describes him as professional, insightful, thoughtful--enough such that adults could take cues from him or aspire to be like him. Ian thinks Zach was really interested in the process and very open to learning from other actors. Steven as an empathetic character was enhanced by Zach's genuine personality. Others who worked with him would be inspired and excited by him, which worked for the authenticity of Steven's vibe too.

Rebecca also noticed that sometimes Michaela or Deedee would cheer Zach up or egg him on, and the way they did those things differently also informed the characters of Amethyst and Pearl when they'd be in similar situations with Steven. They also noticed that if Estelle was there for a recording, everyone would stop and give her space to do her thing, which turned out to be very appropriate for how the others act with Garnet sometimes.

Q (from Matthew Moy): Can Lars go through Lion's mane and vice versa? Would they just fall right back out if they entered?

A: Rebecca points out that she actually answered this recently on the Reddit AMA! First, she wants folks to remember that Steven is the only one who can bring anyone or anything through mane space. Yes, Steven could take Lars into Lion's mane and go over to Lars's tree, but if Lars were to stick his head through the grass there, Lars's head would come out of his own hair. But this would cause infinite Larses to come out of infinite Lars's Heads, until he pulled his head back out.

Q (from Estelle): When you come up with new characters, how much time do you spend revamping the look of each?

A: It's a lot of time. Hundreds of drawings. Ian describes a process of coming up with early characters who didn't have a spot in the story yet, and they'd come up with random looks for them, and then they'd narrow down what specifically that character would need when they learned where they would go. Elements that mean something are retained and elements that do not mean anything will be swapped out. Boarders and designers would all take a crack at the design afterwards. Rebecca says that by the time boarding is happening, they need the character's "shape language" to be nailed down. Rebecca also mentions that many designs just get shelved if they're not really working, like some of the designs for Sardonyx did from before Rebecca realized Sardonyx would be a bombastic nerd, not a stoic and imposing presence. Even after they discovered that, though, the tooth gap was a later addition. Rebecca finds it helpful to ask "why" instead of "what" in design. Why is someone designed the way they are? Everyone will work together to create a design that blends form and function. She usually starts with rough sketches that they'll build off of as a starting point.

Q (from Michaela Dietz): With all the references to other shows (Gurren Lagann, Adventure Time, Revolutionary Girl Utena, etc.), what's a reference fans may have missed?

A: Since they pull from SO many places, it's hard to say, but Ian points out Future Boy Conan (Rebecca identifies a scene where the Quartzes run through Pink Diamond's body as a particular scene that's similar), and Rebecca says the rainbow worm from the Kyanite Colony is inspired by Orbitty (from the 80s Jetsons) and other ugly aliens from the time that were influenced by E.T. Rebecca points out Mr. Bug Goes to Town, an obscure film that nobody really watched because it came out on D-Day. Then Ian mentions the G.I. Joe animated series, how they referenced "It's all a fake-a-roo!" from that. And "Frybo" was a reference to The Thing.

Q (from Deedee Magno Hall): If Pearl could fuse with one of Rebecca's childhood cartoon favorites, who would it be, what would their weapon be, and can we see a drawing?

A: Rebecca says this is REALLY hard because she liked so many cartoons, but she just throws out Bart. Their Fusion would have a skateboard with spikes on the front. Maybe the Fusion would be named Part or Bearl. Or maybe Detective Conan; the Fusion would have all those gadgets. She decided she'd have to keep thinking about it and she'll give Deedee an answer.

Q (from Conrad Montgomery): If you could go back in time to give yourself a bit of advice as you started on "Gem Glow" and the rest of the series, what would it be?

A: Rebecca says she would tell herself to drink more water and exercise, and don't forget to eat. She thinks maybe she would tell herself it was going to be okay, because she didn't know that at the time. She says it may have been helpful at the beginning if she could have known she'd get to finish the story she wanted to tell. She was always anxious that her show would be yanked and she wouldn't get to finish what she'd dreamed up, but she did. She also feels like she was so young at 25 to be doing what she was doing, and maybe she'd like to just turn herself into a 31-year-old.

Ian thinks the show became what it was because of what they were learning along the way, though. If you really could tell people ahead of time what the things they're making are going to turn out like, you don't get to understand the process of something coming back wrong and learning how to deal with that. They feel that created a lot of what was good about the show, the debates and discussions. Rebecca is not sure she would have just said "trust yourself" because sometimes she trusted her team and was grateful for it.

Q (from Rob Sorcher): What is the one most profound thing you learned about yourself as a result of making the series?

A: Rebecca says she didn't understand she could be bisexual and be out. She thought declaring your orientation was about who you were with, not about who YOU were. So even though she was telling stories that spoke to feelings she'd had about partners or potential partners who were NOT Ian, she didn't realize she could claim that and care about that, mostly due to the fact that she'd been repeatedly and strongly told it did not matter. But it does matter. How you feel about yourself and how you experience attraction is a relevant and important thing to be able to embrace. She felt like she was "insane, all the time" because she wasn't supposed to talk about it or was told it wasn't interesting. She was floored when people she had connections with still wanted to be friends with her after she started talking about it, and being open about this aspect of herself has made being alive much easier.

If something matters to you, it matters, period. In terms of cartoons, the incredibly gender-segregated way they were doled out to kids in the 80s and 90s had an effect on Rebecca, and for a long time she didn't know why she so desperately wanted to "scramble" that. She finally found ways to discuss how uncomfortable she was being told that she had to be a woman when she was not. She realized through making her cartoon that though she had plenty of wells to pull from, this particular well was one she hadn't been able to speak about, so she did it through this medium and chose this as one of her stories. It's certainly not the only one she has to tell. She reiterates that she is bisexual and nonbinary, and though the language for that might change in the future, "that's what's going on" with her.

Ian's "profound thing" was that he realized you can share a message without being limited by the expected confines of your medium. For example, he knows that if he claims to be making a science fiction/fantasy cartoon, people will have preconceived notions of what that means, but maybe for some people, a major fantasy is just being told it's okay to be who they are, or living in a world where being who they are is okay. You don't have to worry about whether your reasons for making this art will satisfy someone else's reasons for watching it. Rebecca agrees, and says other people's "escapist" fantasies seemed really one-dimensional to her, never satisfying what SHE would like to escape to, but she realized she'd been holding contempt for escapism in general because of that, which dissolved when she was able to explore hers. There is a place for her, there is a dream she can have, and she no longer resented other people for having theirs. Sometimes a fantasy is about even getting to dream in the first place instead of just being fed these ideas of what you're supposed to want.

Everyone should get to have a dream and say it out loud.

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

#steven universe #steven universe podcast #long post #mckenzie atwood #rebecca sugar #ian jones-quartey #kat morris #ben levin #matt burnett #joe johnston #myblog

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Teleprompter Interview: Katy Wix ‘My First Screen Crush was King Kong’

https://ift.tt/33I5zd9

“Anchors, rigging, shackles,” lists Katy Wix down the phone, “poop deck, wheelhouse, three sheets to the wind…” The comedian and writer has had a productive year. Filming wrapped on Ghosts series two just as UK lockdown began. Since then, she’s finished one book – Delicacy: A Memoir – due out next April, is pitching another, writing a TV show, and thanks to a new-found obsession with Netflix yacht-based reality show Below Deck, has also managed to acquire an enviable grasp of nautical terminology.

Wix is an established UK comic actor, with credits across the board, starting with cult hit Time Trumpet and going mainstream as witless, lovable Daisy in BBC mega-sitcom Not Going Out. She’s currently part of Channel 4’s Stath Lets Flats, the hottest comedy around, fresh from multiple Bafta wins. She plays Fergie in royal satire The Windsors, and was among the comedian-contestants in series nine of Taskmaster. In BBC One sitcom Ghosts, Wix plays Mary, a 17th century yokel burned as a witch and now part of the motley group haunting a modern-day stately home. Mary’s distinctive west country accent “just came out”, says Wix. “It’s an insult really, because I can’t claim to do that accent well. It’s sort of a stock noise. The more I do it, the more I think it sounds like Nanny from Count Duckula. Ducky!”

Ghosts series two, which lands as a boxset on BBC iPlayer on Monday September 21st , will give fans more about Mary’s background, says Wix. “I think people will really love it, and then there’ll be another series next year, depending on the big C. Not cancer. The other big C.”

From superyachts to Alan Partridge, The Day Today to Ghostwatch, Anna from This Life to formative sexual fantasies about prehistoric apes… here’s the Katy Wix Teleprompter interview.

Your parents were quite arty, working in dance companies and the theatre. Did your childhood allow for much TV watching?

Oh my god, yes! My routine was: come home from school, watch the tail-end of Fifteen to One, and when I was really young, repeats of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Then it would be The Broom Cupboard, something like Round the Twist, then the sound of the Six O’Clock News and turning over to The Simpsons. I still do it now, if I’m at home and it’s five to six, I’m going to watch The Simpsons, it’s a tradition.

Welsh telly was slightly different to the rest of the country. We have S4C rather than Channel 4. I remember going through the TV listings and seeing what was on normal Channel 4, like The Word, then I’d look at Welsh Channel 4 and it would just be something boring in Welsh at the same time.

Was there a TV show that inspired you to start acting and comedy?

The one I remember the most is Abigail’s Party. Seeing Alison Steadman’s performance made me want to do character acting. It was just a phenomenal, convincing, detailed performance. Years later, I wrote a radio sitcom that she was in. It was one of those absurd moments where you just have to leave your body and look down on yourself to be able to handle it.

That must happen a lot, you’ve been part of a lot of great comedy casts…

What got me into comedy was Brass Eye and The Day Today. When I was about 15, that’s what changed my brain. It was the first time I’d seen adults being silly and coming up with absurd situations that were my sense of humour. Before that, comedy on TV would always feel like just something your parents would watch but this really felt like it was for us, for me and my friends. It was the same with The Office.

And then you were in This Time with Alan Partridge with Steve Coogan last year.

I was in sixth form when Knowing Me, Knowing You came out and I had it on VHS. Watching people like Rebecca Front and Doon Mackichan… anytime Alan had a guest on the sofa, the level of detail and all the reactions and the tiny little social awkward moments, that made me think I want to do that type of performing. So then, when I got to be in the last Partridge, it was mad. It was phenomenal to be that near to the character and all his tiny micro-expressions. Even the colour of his socks – this weird salmon pink – that was so perfect. Tim [Key] was there as well and we’re old pals, so that made it feel more like, well if Tim can deal with it. But I think even Tim now says he still has times where he has to go into the loo and give himself a moment.

Who or what was your first TV love?

This will sound like a joke, but I swear to God it’s true. It was a running joke in our family that my first crush when I was about four, was King Kong [laughs]. My mum used to tease me about it all the time. It was the combination of brute strength and these massive, soulful, pained eyes – which I still look for in men – that absolutely got me. It was an erotic connection for me. When I look back on it in a Freudian way, it feels like a really obvious, very heterosexual image for a little girl to have, because I wanted to be that woman in the nightie in his massive hairy hand.

Unusual, yes, but then a lot of people our age cite the fox in the Robin Hood Disney film as their first screen crush.

I do get that. I do get that. What was it about that fox?

He’s rakish. And politically, he was sound too – rob from the rich, give to the poor.

You’re right. And he was really confident too.

Growing up, which TV character did you idolise?

There are two, a younger one and a slightly later one. When I was 11 or 12, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I would draw outfits all the time in my school books and I had the Usborne Book of Fashion Design and spend hours on it. So I wanted to be Hilary Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air because she just had incredible fashion. She always got boys and she was really cool and confident and wore amazing clothes. She was everything I wanted to be.

Then a little bit later, maybe sixth form or in my early 20s. I wanted to be Anna from This Life, so much and I kind of still do. Because she was tall and really cool and had dark hair and a lot of attitude and wore black a lot and smoked a lot and didn’t give a shit. That was my vibe at university.

Is there a TV character you’d like to be now?

Probably still Anna?

Which TV show gave you nightmares?

The massive one for me, when I was about 11 or 12: Ghostwatch. I went to a friend’s house to watch it and I remember being a bit like ‘yeah right’ watching it, and then when I got home that night, I just cried. I was in the bath, hysterical and my mum had to come in and calm me down. It was horrendous.

Everyone totally swallowed it at the time, because we were less TV-savvy in 1992. I remember they had a phone-in and someone called in to say ‘There’s a shape in the curtains’, which really fucked me up. The whole Pipes thing. I remember being in my bedroom and seeing a shape of an old man in the curtain all the time. I’ve got really vague memories of Craig Charles being in a park, saying that someone had killed a Labrador. I was thinking about watching it again. I actually don’t know if I dare.

50 best British comedy TV shows on Netflix UK, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, NOW TV, Britbox, All4, UKTV Play

By Louisa Mellor

Not Going Out: the top 10 episodes

By Philip Lickley

When did you last cry watching television?

Last night. Have you ever seen the show Below Deck? I’m obsessed with it. I’m not massively into reality TV but it’s an American reality show all filmed on superyachts that rich people charter. It’s almost like a perfect sitcom family – you have a different captain every time and the deckhands and then the interior, who do the hotel stuff, and then you have the chef, who’s always a temperamental big personality and then each episode has a different group of insanely rich, usually quite horrible, sexist people with loads of money who get really drunk, that’s the premise. It’s non-stop drama. You’re just watching people fall off boats and have arguments.

How did it make you cry?

In this episode, there was a girl who’d been really quiet and grumpy and everyone was slagging her off, and then she revealed that she’d got a text that morning saying her estranged father had died, so that’s what set me off. It’s got me through lockdown, it’s so addictive.

When did you last laugh out loud watching television?

Below Deck, same episode!

All human life is there!

I think it was someone’s malapropism, that’s my favourite thing about reality TV, the way people talk in a kind of Stath-like way and get it wrong.

What was the last TV show you recommended to a friend?

Below Deck! [Laughs] I’ve just got Lolly [Adefope] onto it, and Adam Drake – he’s a comedian in a sketch show called Goose and does Capital, a podcast with Liam Williams – he’s now devoted. One of my best mates was bemoaning that her boyfriend’s not into reality TV, but boys can watch Below Deck too. It’s got loads of boat stuff in it. Chains and anchors. I’m learning all these terms, like shackles, poop deck, wheelhouse, three sheets to the wind… That’s where the expression ‘in my wheelhouse’ comes from. Three sheets to the wind means you’re sailing off course.

Which TV show would you bring back from the dead?

Changing Rooms.

Good call.

I also loved The Late Review. I really loved that.

What’s a TV show you wish more people would watch?

Do you know Iyanla Vanzant? She started off on The Oprah Winfrey Show – I love Oprah so much – and she’s a TV therapist/healer/spiritual. She’s got a show you can only get on American TV called Iyanla: Fix My Life. She just speaks so much wisdom. She spends a week with people who are really traumatised and it’s their healing journey. It’s so moving, it’s so profound. She’s doing incredible work for the human race.

She did an amazing show called, I think, ‘The Myth of the Angry Black Woman’ with a house full of women of colour who all got to talk about this trope that they were angry and how they felt unable to speak without being silenced. She did a show that was rehabilitating people that had come out of prison and women that had been sex workers all their loves, just amazing.

Which current TV show do you never miss an episode of?

In lockdown, what kept me going was I May Destroy you, obviously, Below Deck, obviously. I also became obsessed with the Japanese Big Brother Terrace House, but it just got pulled because there was a suicide. It was so, so awful. I read an article saying the producers didn’t behave well, so I feel like I can’t like it any more. I love Succession too. I started watching this show on Netflix called Intervention and got totally obsessed with it. Again, it’s maybe ethically a bit dubious. It’s American, obviously, and they’ll film an addict who’s in a really desperate state and then the family kind of trick them, or persuade them to go into a room and then the intervention therapist is there and they’re like ‘Guess what, you’re going to rehab now!’ Anything that’s got human suffering, and then a redemption story in it, I’ll watch.

Given the power, which TV show would you commission?

I think about this a lot – what if I had a channel? I’d commission the sketch group Sheeps to make tons of series. That’s Liam Williams, Al Roberts and Daran Johnson, and so far they’ve only done live shows, but I would commission them for hours of TV. Colin Hoult doing his character Anna Mann, I’d commission hours of that. Everyone involved in Stath Lets Flats, I’d just say ‘Turn up, pitch and we’ll make it’. There’s a documentary from the 70s that I adore, that I would like to show again, which is John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. It’s one of the most beautiful, gentle documentaries. I feel like that should be on TV. And just whatever Gemma Collins is doing, commission that.

Also, you know in the 90s, late at night you’d get some weird, bizarre performance art happening on BBC Two? I miss that. The sort of stuff that was on after The Word. And then finally, maybe just all of Peep Show again?

What’s the most fun you’ve had making television?

Ghosts is where I probably laugh the most because of Lolly [Adefope]. We make each other laugh all the time. When me and Anna [Crilly] did our sketch show on Channel 4, it was incredible. It was stressful but exciting. It was such a nice atmosphere to be with all these gorgeous people that you find funny.

Stath Lets Flats is like that, because we’re all genuine mates. When people take comedy so seriously I really love it. I love that attention to detail. Jamie [Demetriou] and everyone involved really cares. There’s no ‘that’ll do’ attitude, everyone wants it to be the best it can be. Why not treat comedy as a science that you have to absolutely get right?

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Ghosts series two starts on Monday the 21st of September on BBC One at 8.30pm. All six episodes will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer from then.

Delicacy: A Memoir by Katy Wix, published by Headline, is available to pre-order now.

The post The Teleprompter Interview: Katy Wix ‘My First Screen Crush was King Kong’ appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/32GM7ya

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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abigailnussbaum · 5 years

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The Boys - Good & Bad

Being an itemized list of the strengths and weaknesses of the first season Amazon’s superhero show The Boys, based on the comic run of the same name by Garth Ennis, which I haven’t read.

GOOD:

The show looks good. It’s not tremendously visually inventive on the level of, say, Legion or Doom Patrol, but it’s got a definite style, and not just in the action scenes. The stagings pop, the street scenes look crisp and interesting, the boardroom scenes take advantage of the set designers’ inventiveness. There’s the requisite loss of saturation once our two main characters lose their respective love interests, but it’s not color-graded out of existence, the way a lot of other shows trying to evoke masculine despondency do. A “gritty”, laddish superhero show conjures up certain expectations where visuals are concerned, and The Boys exceeds them at almost every turn.

There are actual episodes! With beginnings and endings and common themes! I had no idea streaming shows could still do that, but The Boys is really good at finding mini-stories within its overarching plot and structuring its episodes around them (which should be a basic implement in a TV writer’s toolkit and instead has all-but disappeared). Episode 2 is about the Boys realizing how screwed they are by having captured a nearly-unkillable superhero who has seen their faces, and trying to figure out a way to kill him. Episode 5 is structured around Annie and Hughie’s visit to a superhero-themed Christian revivalist festival. It gives the entire season a more engaging structure, and pulls you along with the story in a way that most streaming shows don’t even attempt.

There are some genuinely clever worldbuilding choices that emerge from the “what if superheroes, but awful” premise. The fact that superheroes star in their own movies, for example, or that their power competitions become major sporting events, is hilarious, and perfectly conveys the sense of moral bankruptcy that I think the show is going for. And the crossover the show posits between superhero worship and white Evangelicalism is an obvious and perfect fit, tying into the latter’s barely-concealed love of power and authoritarianism. Also, there are some inventive demonstrations of how combining superpowers, limited intelligence, and corporate greed can lead to horrifying results, some funny - The Deep trying to rescue a dolphin from captivity - and some genuinely gutting - the plane crash scene in episode 4 is the queasy highlight of the season, as the viewer realizes just a few seconds before the characters do just how badly they’ve screwed up, and how horrible their future choices are going to have to be.

The cast is uniformly excellent, and pretty much everyone gets a lot of different layers to play. The highlights are Elisabeth Shue, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, and Tomer Capon (bit of hometown pride here, but it’s easy to see why he’s such a well-regarded young actor in Israel), but pretty much everyone is good and interesting to watch. Even Karl Urban, who gets the show’s most thankless task - he has to carry most of the story while playing its least nuanced character - manages to infuse some humor and complexity into Billy.

There are a lot of interesting, complex relationships, the top one being Homelander and Madeline Stillwell. As a character says near the end of the season, it’s a relationship that is “hard to quantify” - does he want to fuck her, or kill her, or be her child? Does she want to control him or does she genuinely get off on his desire for her? Other relationships are less fraught - Frenchie and Kimiko are incredibly sweet together - but still a lot of fun to watch.

The show seems to understand that at the root of almost every villain, and certainly privileged ones, is childishness. You see this in the way The Deep sinks into self-pity after experiencing the consequences of his sexual assault on Annie, or the way A-Train becomes obsessed with blaming Hughie for his girlfriend’s death, even though he’s the one who killed her. You see it most of all in Homelander’s resentment of Madeline’s baby and the attention she lavishes on it. It’s simply stunning how openly envious this grown man is of a months-old infant, and it makes every scene the two share almost unbearably tense, because you’re just waiting for Homelander to snap and kill the baby. Which ends up much more effectively conveying the point the show is trying to make than the sudden shock of him actually doing it would have - the fact that this character would clearly feel themselves justified in killing an infant, and is only holding back because he knows there’ll be a fuss, is the sum total of the show’s criticism of absolute power.

(This emphasis also justifies the show’s insistence that Hughie is redeemable, because though he starts out quite immature, he does grow, unlike the superpowered villains. He starts the season killing a super who hasn’t really done anything to him, just for the rush of it, and ends it saving the life of the super whose selfishness destroyed his world, because he’s actually realized that his are not the only problems that matter.)

Someone seems to have realized that having a female (Asian) character whose name is simply The Female is an absolutely terrible idea, and the show gives her a name as soon as possible. There’s also hints that she may be regaining the power of speech.

BAD:

The use of violence - and particularly sexual violence - against women ends up privileging men, even when those men are the perpetrators. Both Hughie and Billy are motivated by the loss of the women they loved, and in both cases the show plumps for the classic approach of single scene featuring the love interest being angelic, and doesn’t bother to shade either of them in or give them a personality or a chance to speak on their own behalf. And even when the victim is a main character, as when The Deep assaults Annie, the focus is much more on him than on her. Annie processes her trauma in a scene and a half, and it ends up being folded into her overall dilemma over how to be a superhero. Whereas the Deep spends the rest of the season coping with the consequences of his actions and folding them into his general lack of self-esteem. While there’s the germ of an important point there - just because this guy has problems of his own doesn’t justify his assault on another person or make him particularly tragic or compelling - the show’s insistence on going back to that well, even as the season approaches its climax, is simply baffling.

This feels, in fact, like a smaller component of the show’s broader problem with sexual ethics, the fact that it seems to have no way of distinguishing between sexual behavior is depraved, and sexual behavior that is just weird or maybe a bit kinky. Like, the fact that the Deep has consensual sex with dolphins is not worse than, or even equivalent to, the fact that he assaulted Annie. The fact that Homelander prematurely ejaculates when he and Madeline have sex isn’t a worse reflection on his character than the fact that he may have raped Billy’s wife. And yet those cases are treated as equivalent by the narrative. It ends up feeling profoundly anti-sex, rather than anti-sexual-violence, an impression that is only intensified when Annie and Hughie - the show’s sole “good”, loving couple - have sex that is completely vanilla (and despite Hughie’s earlier assurances that he isn’t intimidated by Annie’s strength, he still ends up being the dominant one in bed, and she even lets him be on top). It also prevents the show from any serious discussion of the one aspect of sexuality that is unique to its setting, the possibility of supers inadvertently hurting their human partners. The scene in which Popclaw crushes a man’s head between her thighs is the nadir of the season precisely because it’s played for laughs, for that “aren’t we outrageous” vibe that everyone told me the comic was suffused with. When actually you could do something interesting and character-based with it, if the show actually cared to.

(Having said all this, I do think that the show is a lot better on the subject of sexual violence than it could have been, and a lot better than the source material might have dictated. It feels significant that - with the exception of the aforementioned Popclaw scene - we never see any act of sexual assault on screen. We see Homelander and the Deep scoping out their victims, Rebecca Butcher and Annie, and maneuvering them into a position of vulnerability. And we see the aftermath of the assault for both victims. But we don’t see the act itself, in a series that is otherwise perfectly happy to depict consensual sex, even if it judges anything resembling kink. I also thought the handling of Queen Maeve, as a woman who has lived for years under a sustained campaign of sexual harassment, was extremely powerful - again, the focus is on how the abuse twists the victim up and makes them feel powerless and alone, not on any overt act of violence.)

I really don’t get why I’m meant to care about Billy Butcher. It’s not even that I don’t like him - I just find him completely uninteresting. He works as an engine of plot and a way to inject chaos into the other characters’ lives (the repeated device in which he authoritatively promises to solve the team’s problems, only for the show to cut away to him alone, wearing an expression that makes it clear that he has no idea what to do and is about to make everything worse, is pretty funny and effective). But as a character in his own right and with his own story, he just feels too one-note and monomaniacal for me to care about. I care what happens to MM and Frenchie and Kimiku and Annie and Maeve. I even care a little what happens to Hughie. I simply can’t bring myself to give a fuck about Billy.

I don’t see why I should be rooting for Hughie and Annie to make it work. It’s great that he feels she helped him rediscover his moral compass, but in the meantime he lied to her, used her, and concealed the fact that he had murdered one of her teammates from her. Annie has the right of it when she hears his confession and replies “the thing is, I don’t care”. It would be one thing if their reconciliation at the end of the season was more of an ethical one, a case of Annie choosing to rescue Hughie and the Boys because she knows they don’t deserve to die, not because she forgives him. But I got the impression that we were meant to read it as a romantic reconciliation too, which Hughie hasn’t even come close to earning.

If you must have interchangeable Middle Eastern terrorists as your go-to, killable background villains, doesn’t it seem obvious that there should be at least a few positive, named Middle Eastern characters in the foreground? (I suppose Frenchie might count? But given Capon’s heritage, he could just as easily be a Sepharadic Jew, which doesn’t really avoid the problem of Islamophobia that the show cheerfully blunders into.)

The plot kind of loses the thread towards the end of the season, partly, I suspect, because of the need to set up characters and plot points for season 2. It’s a particular shame because the plotting had been so strong in the first half of the season.

The sound mix is terrible. It should tell you something that I even noticed this and worked out the right term to use for it, because I’m usually completely illiterate on these matters. But after the millionth time you’ve had to raise the volume during a dialogue scene, then immediately lower it during an action scene, you start to wonder if there isn’t something wrong.

Overall, this is a much smarter, more interesting, and more entertaining show than discussions of the comic had led me to expect, but I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t benefitting from the fact that we’re so saturated with superhero stories right now. There’s less pressure to be the one subversive superhero story, which leaves The Boys room to be more character-focused, and to use superheroes as more of a metaphor for the corrupting influence of power and the evil of corporate overreach. Its supers feel a lot more like generic celebrities - A-Train is an anxiety-ridden athlete; Annie is a pageant kid; Maeve is an aging movie star whose career and soul have been blighted by ubiquitous sexual harassment. Characters who are genuinely set apart by their superpowers, like Homelander, are in the minority (and even in Homelander’s case it turns out his psychopathy has more to do with having been raised in a lab).

Basically it feels like the people who adapted the comic saved it by telling a story that is much more generic than the original, which may be entirely to the good. But I do wonder whether the second season won’t veer further into exactly those parts of the show that I find least interesting. The final scene seems to suggest much more of an emphasis on Billy’s manpain and his conflict with Homelander, and the introduction of superpowered terrorists threatens to move the show away from the criticism of power that made the first season work.

#the boys #this was a lot better than i was expecting #while still having enough flaws #that i can easily see it falling apart in season 2 #still #if you were holding off because of the comic's reputation #the show is a lot smarter and more nuanced

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pokimoko · 5 years

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STEVEN UNIVERSE: THE MOVIE - Personal Commentary

I wrote this to send to a friend, but I decided I might as well post it on here. I did a large portion of this while I was watching the movie, but I did go back and improve on some parts after I was finished, so forgive the inconsistent tenses. I apologise for the length as well, which is a result of me getting completely carried away and analysing a lot of the movie (I bet my English teachers are cheering). Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy my personal thoughts on the Steven Universe movie. (Also, spoilers if you haven’t already watched it.)

- The opening....wow. Not only is it pretty but it's just so dramatic. It reminds me quite a bit of old fashioned Disney musicals (I’m guessing that was their intention). Even the layout of the credits are giving me that vibe. But especially the music. Very fairytale-esque.

- 16 year old Steven, yeah booiii! Now he’s only a few years younger than me. I do like his older voice and design. Bet Zach Callison is relieved that he doesn't have to pitch his voice up high anymore. And I personally really love the pan flag colour scheme of his new outfit. I wonder if they’ll keep it for the season(s) following the movie.

- Aww, the Diamonds are learning. Sort of. They’re maybe just a tad clingy, but that's still improvement. I really love how Steven Universe never makes the 'villians' completely evil, only misguided, and that everyone is capable of changing their ways. Such a great message. (Edit: Ooohh, I unintentionally called what I'd say is the moral of the movie. Noice.)

- Naaww, Steven and Connie are so cute. Steven's happy little grin after the kiss was just adorable.

- Oooh, I like the 'Here We Are in the Future' (Edit: 'Happily Ever After') song. It just shows how much they've all grown over the course of the series. And it’s a great way to recap the journeys of each of the original Crystal Gems to the audience.

- "PEW PEW" Yeesss. I love their handshake. And oh my god, he really is so tall compared to Amethyst now.

- Oh my god, they're reenacting the running sequence from the opening. Love me a parallel. Just shows how far they’ve all come.

-Okay, why do the 'bad' guys in musicals always get such cool songs? Spinel's song was so catchy. Now I'm super curious about her relation to Pink Diamond. Oh cool! A scythe. That's awesome.....AH! Okay, nevermind. Nooo.

- 'Losing your powers' angst. I love it (yes, I know, I'm terrible).

- Greg: "Holy shhhhhheee really got everybody" Me: 😏 I see what you did there.

- Steven: "I have no idea what's going on." Greg: "Well now you know how I feel most of the time." Greg is so relatable sometimes. Kindly stop being my spirit animal, sir.

- AHHH! They've all been reset. Craaappp! And I was just going on about growth and everything! But I'm excited to see what happens because I love angst, god damn it. It always helps to make the happy ending all the more satisfying. (And...admittedly, the amnesia narrative device has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve always enjoyed how it allows you to so clearly see how a character has evolved over time and how much their experiences have defined their identity.)

- "Something is clearly wrong," Pearl sings happily and bug-eyed. Excellent and relatable. That's how I react to most things in life, honestly.

- "I could have lost all of my character development." Ha! Never subtle, are you Peridot? But also nooooo, not Peridot. Don't you dare touch her. She's grown so much and I love her dearly (and also Lapis' top notch dark humour. Perfect.)

- Sad song reprise is sad. I totally understand what Steven is feeling too. Things you’ve gotten so used to (hell, maybe even become dependent on for your emotional welbeing) can disappear so quickly that it can be quite a whiplash to have it gone, so it's completely normal to struggle to accept it, and to yearn for what you had not so long ago.

- Bismuth saying “We are the Crystal Gems” has watered my crops and cleared my skin. And I love her singing voice; the roughness in some parts suits her character so well.

- Rupphire Rupphire RUPPHIRE GAAAARRRNNNEEETTT, yiissss! Wow the fusion animation is really awesome. It's like a behind-the-scenes on how it works from their perspective. But I love how the two of them fusing together doesn't fix Garnet's memories or make her exactly how she was before losing them. Garnet isn't just an experience; she's also a product of her experiences.

- Lil' trumpet salute! Naww, Pearl, that's adorable.

- ....is Onion....immortal? He still looks exactly the same. 😟 I'm unnerved by that child and whatever power he had.

- Oooh, tap dancing. I love tap dancing! Even if Steven is wearing sandals while doing it. Oh boy, I love the friendship between Amethyst and Steven. It's always been one of my favourite things in the show. It's kind of like the sibling interaction I've always wished to have myself: supportive and wholesome. And I also love how their fusion shows that platonic and familial love is just as powerful as romantic love. Oh, YAY Amethyst is back! Like I said, friendship is a powerful thing.

- Oh my god, Steven and Greg are going to fuse. Ahhhh! Oh wow, it's basically Elvis with a six pack! Hehehe, so weird. But not bad either. And, oh wow, what a great song! Individuality is my kink.

- The ANGST is making me feel emotions. Steven looks so ragged, and the high pitched whining in his ears definitely added to that. And having felt that terrible myself a few times, I know how much it frigging sucks. And just like him I brushed other people's concerns off, so I'd be a hypocrite to tell him to take care of himself. (But I am a hypocrite. Take care of yourself, Steven!)

- Yep, here's the tragic backstory to make me sad about Spinel. Hit me where it hurts why don't you. Gosh, Pink Diamond really did some messed up things when she was younger (but thankfully she evolved from that and changed to become Steven). Leaving someone behind without giving them closure or even a reason would mess someone up for sure. You'd feel completely worthless. And unfortunately, being noticed for any reason⁠—good or bad⁠—is generally a way to cope with that feeling. Spinel is doing what she can to deal with what Pink did to her, and that unfortunately involves lashing out and hurting others.

- The 'True Kinda Love' song! Knew it'd turn up at one point. Knowing the context makes it so much better too. And hell yeah, Garnet is back!

- Blood? On this Christian Server? It's more likely than you think.

- “This is the story of my life.” Ahh! Steven's just a kid, and he's gone through so much. But, I gotta say, he is absolute proof that having a rough childhood and being a flawed person in the past (*cough* Pink Diamond *cough*) doesn't condemn you to being a wicked person forever. Anyone, regardless of their circumstances and experiences, can be a good person. Your early years don't define your identity or what will become of your future.

- Spinel: “When you change, you change for the better. When I change, I change for the worse. I used to be just not good, just not good enough for Pink. Now I'm not good at all!” Damn. That's powerful. Trauma can be such a difficult thing to overcome, and some people lose their way in their attempt to leave it behind. Sometimes, though, growing doesn't mean changing yourself and erasing the past; sometimes it means accepting the parts of your past that made you who you are now. Showing the importance of past experiences through the Crystal Gem's recovery of their identities is such a smart way of showing this concept to the audience. Such a great analogy. Now, let's hope Spinel can accept that though she has been changed as a result of her trauma, that doesn't make her ‘bad’ or unworthy of love (because that’s just not true!)

- “There's no such thing as happily ever after”. Sad but true. And also turning the whole Disney vibe the movie began with in on its head. Very smart.

- Steven: “I'll always have more work to do”. Then, Spinel: “I've got work to do. Friendship isn't going to be easy for me. I'm gonna have to work at it”. Exactly. That's how it is. ‘Happily ever after’ is a stagnant concept, and staying the same person for the rest of your life isn't healthy. And deciding to work towards improving yourself can sometimes be the hardest step to take when it comes to overcoming trauma. But change can be good; you should always keep working on improving yourself, no matter how comfortable you are with who you are and where you're at. Evolution is a part of living.

- Ooooh, White Diamond got sassy. She even has the hand gestures down. She’s making up for all the years she spent T-posing.Good for her.

- Oh my gosh, the focus on the Diamond's hands! Instead of destroying, their holding a hand out in a gesture of friendship. Seriously, that's frigging growth. That's such a cool parallel too. Rebecca Sugar and her crew are just brilliant.

- I'm so glad the Diamonds got someone to love and help them through their grief, and Spinel got someone to love her unconditionally, regardless of the flaws she thinks she has. They all got someone to help them heal. That’s wonderful.

- “I can make a change.” 👏Yes👏you👏can! That's your superpower.

Damn, that was so wonderful! I've always loved the message of personal growth, and the movie did it so well. In my opinion, Steven Universe has always been great at analogies to explain real life things (ie. Malachite being a metaphor for toxic relationships) so I really like how they used to amnesia narrative device to show not only how much someone can change and grow over time, but also to show it's our experiences, good and bad, that shape us as a person. Lots of people have traumatic experiences in their life that can inadvertantly shape a lot of their personality, and it can be hard to leave that behind, especially if so much of your identity is dependent on those experiences. Sometimes they can lead us to becoming ‘bad’ people, but they can also help make us good people too. Just look at Steven! He was able to accept his past traumas and use them so as to help others heal their own.

Trauma isn't something you can erase without erasing a large part of your identity. It can be tough to live with, nonetheless. Sometimes, like Spinel, you just need a helping hand in accepting the scars life has given you; to help you grow beyond it and maybe even eventually be able to help others who are going/have gone through similar experiences.

And there's no shame in trying to be better and failing over and over again. At least you are trying. Because trying to be good against all odds, against the whole world doing its best to destroy you, shows just how strong you really are.

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Sorry for getting flowery (and maybe just a tad projective). As you can see I just really like the moral of the movie, as well as pretty much every other aspect. I'm sure there's a lot of little intricacies I missed, but this is what I took from my first viewing of it. And these are just my opinions; you might have got a whole different vibe from the movie. You are completely welcome to add you own thoughts and improve upon mine (because I am by no means an expert).

So, to summarise my own thoughts on the movie, I’m just going to say: Personal growth for the win!

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ticklikeabomb · 6 years

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The Language of Limbo - Part 6

Pairing : Chris Evans x Plus Size Reader ; Marvel Cast x Plus Size Reader

Warnings : Language ; Angst ; Drinking problem ; mention of throwing up ; fluff

Word Count : 2k

The shooting began 3 months and a half ago and you were all entering the last week of the shooting. Today's shooting was special because you would finally shoot the scene at the mansion where you received the 'good' news to be part of Marvel. The production rented a private jet and you all flew to Los Angeles to debut the end of the production. You took a seat and saw everyone look at the seat beside you, without actually sitting on it. You were accustomed by now, to their little looks and didn't mind it, if it would benefit you in being left alone and in peace. You took place at the end of the engine, hidden from everyone but unfortunately your seat had a prime view to the people on the other side who were none other than Rebecca and Chris, all lovey dovey, cuddled together. By cuddled, it was more like Rebecca was stepping on Chris' space with her tight across his lap. He kept his hand on her leg but from his facial expression you clearly could see that he was being oppressed by her presence. His eyes locked with yours once in a pleading mode and you just turned your head at your right indifferent, looking at the clouds. The waitress asked you if you wanted something to drink and you whispered to her to bring you the strongest thing she had in store. Her eyes widened but didn't question it further. She came back with a glass and the bottle. You thanked her before stopping her hand and indicating her to leave the bottle. That's when she was about to question you but you didn't let her the chance and said, "I'm afraid of highs and planes. Please? It helps." It technically wasn't a lie but the wound was much deeper. She eventually left the bottle and you in peace. You hid the bottle and took it discretely everytime your glass emptied.

"You should go easy with that", whispered RDJ beside you. You rolled your eyes before turning to the source, who was already occupying the seat next to yours. You fake smiled at him but he kept a firm and worried expression. "I don't like planes", you replied. He chuckled before asking you the one question you were avoiding. "What about on set? Mixing it with coffee, if we could call that a coffee. Being completely wasted. I still don't know how you managed to keep it neat during the scenes but once the directors would yell 'Cut', you would stumble on your feet." You laughed, a mix of amusement and pain. "What can I say? I guess I'm a good actress then", you replied sarcastically. You didn't stop there. "Apparently I'm so good that I managed to turn everyone against me without knowing why. Well I have an idea how but I'm afraid there's a better player in here", you said while glaring at Rebecca with a look full of hatred. He followed your gaze and his suspicions were cleared. "I knew she was shady. It's just that vibe of hers and concerning you, I'm not against you." This time you couldn't contain your laughter to the point that several other actors turned their heads to you.

"Pff such a freak", commented Rebecca. That's when you lost your cool. "Hey Rebecca why don't you chock on a dick and leave me the fuck alone? Oh wait, I'm pretty sure you already do that." Your comment made some gag and Elisabeth laugh. "Oh you find that funny? At least I finally got a reaction from YOU", you said towards Elizabeth whose smile faltered and bowed her head. "Y/N that's enough. Your behavior has been anything but kind and professional. I -..", stated Chris but you cut him with a laugh. "You still here?", you told him in sarcasm not really bothering to get an answer. "And ohh by the way I'm still waiting for that thank you note regarding your bday present but I guess I'm not worthy to receive that from the one and only Captain America, the most righteous man on Earth", you continued between giggles, the liquor getting the best of you. "Ohhhkayy, come on", said RDJ while helping you stand up and leading you to a more seclude place. That's what you thought but he led you to the bathroom. "Wtf are we doing here?", you asked in confusion. "Kneel and throw up !", he said with a firm tone. "What?"

"You need to get it out of your system. Either you kneel and do it yourself or I'm helping you", he stated with his arms crossed. "Just because your RDJ doesn't give you the right to-." He stepped closer, "Y/N, I'm trying to help you here. I know what's like to be prisoned by those demons and trust me, it will end you. Not only physically but especially mentally. If you're not willing to do it for yourself, I'm doing it for you because I believe in you. I believe in your talent, I believe that you were the one for Y/C/N and I BELIEVE IN YOU." His words shot daggers in your heart and you couldn't contain your tears. You fell to the ground, holding yourself tightly while bitting on your lip to not yell your pain and frustration out. He sat beside you and embraced you in comfort. "I know, I know", he kept whispering until you calmed down.

You stepped closer to the toilets and before doing what you were about to do, you advised Robert to leave. "Nope, I'm staying with you. You don't need to be alone anymore." You nodded weekly and a few silent tears streamed down, while you tried to purge the booze from your system. Robert stepped closer and held your hair off your face while looking away. Once you were done, he mentioned he was just stepping outside to get you some water and aspirin. "Robert? Could you please text Aaron through my phone and tell him I need him, with a red cross emoji. He'll know what that means", you whispered with a raspy voice, shame and pain flashing in your eyes. He nodded, "Of course Y/N." "Thank you, for everything !" He nodded and exited the bathroom.

"Is everything alright with Y/N?", asked Hemsworth and Scarlet while they stood outside the bathroom. The fifty year-old only had to give them a knowing look for them to understand that it wasn't. Before he walked away to get the water, he looked both of his colleagues and quietly said, " You can do and believe however you want but I'm not giving up on Y/N and I surely wont stand on Rebecca's side." His words triggered the others insecurities and they sighed. "I've been thinking about this shit show for days now and talking with Hiddleston put some perspective in my mind and from now on I'm standing behind Y/N !", commented Hemsworth before leaving Scarlet and take his designated seat.

The actress not knowing what to do, walked to her seat and took her phone out. She typed frantically and showed it to Elizabeth who was standing beside her.

Lizzie's face turned crimson and she clenched her jaw, still not facing Scarlet. The actress retrieved her phone again before typing away and shoving it back to Elisabeth's lap.

Lizzie took a deep breath before finally replying.

Scarlet kept pushing on Lizzie. She needed to know the truth, she needed to know if she's was being a jerk to you, if she was an accomplice of some kind of vendetta against you, ruining your life in the process.

Lizzie grabbed the phone tightly, typing furiously and silent tears sliding down her face in shame.

Scarlet's face paled at the last message. She looked up at the actress with widened eyes and saw her quickly clean her face so that no one would see how upset she was. Scarlet closed her eyes and shook her head in anger and disappointment, upset she was mislead by an outsider. Scarlet saved the draft preciously as prove material.

You exited the bathroom, sat down on your seat and drank on the water along the aspirin, Robert gave you. "Thanks", you mumbled. "Here take this and try to rest a little. There's 3 hours left until we land", he said while handing you a cosy blanket. You nodded and turned around, facing the window and trying to forget about how you fell so quickly in an abyss. You were woken up 3 hours later by Scarlet slowly shaken you and calling you. "Y/N? Wake up we've arrived", she sweetly said. You woke up with a terrible headache and frowned when you saw her shyly smile at you. "Scarlet? Why are you here with me, I mean waken me up?", you mumbled while cracking your back. She squeezed your hand tightly and looked deeply into you soul. "I'm so sorry. For showing you the cold shoulder and for my behavior. I hope you find the strength to forgive me", she said with a cracking voice. Your eyebrows raised, taken aback by this sudden change but saw the sincerity emanating of her. You nodded not being able to turn her off, not after seeing and feeling how truthful she was but also because it wasn't in your nature. "Yeah ok, I forgive you." She let out the breath she was holding and leaned forward embracing you. You awkwardly hugged her back still not recovered from your hangover but glad that things were looking forwards for once.

You arrived at the Studios and settled down in your new trailer, feeling like some drummer was doing the performance of his life inside your head. You took another aspirin before crashing once again on the bed and falling asleep. Because you've been early to bed, you woke up along with the sunshine. You cleaned yourself and headed out, enjoying the magnificent star rise and the sky switch his color pallet from orange to blueish. "It's beautiful isn't it?", the voice you came to love commented. He placed himself next to you and impregnated himself with the scenery in front of him. "Yeah all these colors. It is indeed beautiful." Mason chuckled before replying, "Oh the sky? Nah I was referring myself to something else. Someone else." A sad expression crossed your features at the mention of him liking someone that wasn't potentially you. Every day since you started the production you grew closer and closer to the point that so did your feelings. His next comment caught you out of your thoughts. "Yeah it's such a shame that the one I'm fond of is so oblivious about my feelings for her." You nodded still with that small sad expression that caught his attention. He smiled and said, "She's in a rough place at the moment but I will stand beside her, no matter what." You turned your face to him, shocked and not completely believing he was referring to you from the beginning. His hand caressed your cheek and looked in your eyes. "Having a chance to be with her, even the slightest, is worth the wait." You hand reached his and when you were about to drop a small kiss on it, someone cleared his voice harshly. Mason broke the contact and stepped slightly back. He gave a deadly look to Chris (Evans) who dared to interrupt his intimate moment with you. Chris clenched his jaw, upset. "May I talk to you Y/N?", he asked firmly and giving a deadly look back at Mason. You took a deep breath before answering, "I'm sorry Chris but can it be for later. I'm in the middle of something important." You didn't gave him the opportunity to reply back and dragged Mason along with you for breakfast. Chris clenched his fists, annoyed that you turned him off for Mason.

* gif not mine, credit to owner* * screens are mine*

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bigjbonk · 6 years

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Change Your Mind Review (SPOILERS)

Now I don't usually do reviews, but man, I can't NOT talk about this episode. I'll be pointing out the best, the worst, and the confusing, as well as some speculation. Prepare yourselves, because this will be a long one, and I have no idea how to do the "keep reading" thing on mobile. Really sorry! So I guess we'll start from the beginning. At first, I had no clue Steven was sleeping. It didn't hit me at all until it was revealed that Connie was gone. I thought it was a nice way to start, because the audience was just as disoriented and lost as Steven was in that moment. That, and it was made obvious that this was a regular occurrence for Pink. Then there's Blue herself. She was furious because she couldn't understand his actions, and when Steven tried to get her to understand, she retaliated because she couldn't. In real life, people try to explain things using what they know, even if the information they have isn't accurate or reliable. People assimilate new knowledge into the old, because that's easier than changing the information you have. This is where many prejudices come from. When new and old information conflict, it can create a strong dissonance, and generally, people don't know how to react to that. So if assimilating doesn't work, they reject. Luckily for Steven, he was able to contextualize the situation in a way that Blue could understand. Though it's not totally clear if Blue fully understands (and it wouldn't be realistic to expect her to after eons of being told that organics are inferior and that non-identical fusion is atrocious), she realizes that she had indeed been doing something wrong. This scene gave me hope. If one Diamond could find it in herself to change and move on, then maybe the rest would too, though I had no idea how the crew was going to pull it off in the next 40 minutes. Then there was Yellow. She had all of the same issues that Blue had, and more. The thing with Yellow was, she was already trying to fix things, but not in the way things needed to be fixed. Instead of working to make things better, she worked to make things WORK. The problem is that making do isn't helping at all, but rather maintaining the flawed system that continues to hurt the lower-caste Gems, and the Diamonds are still miserable anyway. Yellow is fully aware of this, yet she still reacted violently when Blue tried to do something different. Why? Fear. Ultimately, this is White's system, and to try to change it would mean incurring her wrath. It's mentioned that White had poofed a Diamond before, and if the old murals were anything to go off of, it was probably Blue. Yellow didn't want that to happen again. Even if it meant hurting Blue now, she wanted to guarantee that White wouldn't do something worse. For someone as structured as Yellow, it only made sense that reaching her meant showing her that "making it work" just wasn't working. I thought it was a touching scene overall. And oh boy, was I excited when Bismuth arrived to fight off White. And then when it was revealed who was flying the other ship, BOOM. Lapis and Peridot, ladies and gentlemen! I absolutely loved the new designs, I gotta say, though that was when I got my first nitpick. Where did the orange in Lapis's sash come from? A homage to Jasper? On a blue Gem??? Gems are usually analogous in their color schemes, so to see a contrasting color on her was odd. Though maybe it's possible to see spots of other color in real lapis lazulis? I wouldn't know, and I could be wrong. It still irked me a bit, but in the grand scheme of things it was easy to overlook. Just feel the need to mention. White's ship's eyes? Those are horrifying. Put them away. Put corks in the pupils. Please, for the love of Sugar, those are going to give me nightmares. But at least seeing her trying and failing to swat everyone was pretty dang funny for someone who seemed so poised and perfect a few episodes ago. We. Finally. Got. More. Steven. Fusions!!! Smoky's outfit was adorable, Rainbow Quartz was a little surprising but definitely acceptable (I love Pearl's jacket by the way), and Sunstone was... uhhh??? Unique? Not what I was expecting from Garnet, that I will say. But the Fourth Wall breaks absolutely killed me. I guess I sort of liked the fusions? They were nice, but I was kind of simultaneously wishing to see more of them, and for their introductions to be spaced out more. It kind of felt rushed together. Also, fusing with a Gem before she's ready to reform seems really dangerous, but I guess it isn't. And what was with the whole "our only hope is for the four of us to fuse" thing? There were literally three other perfectly good gems right there. Obsidian. That was their name, right? They were pretty much exactly what I was expecting, and they are great monster mom. "YOU'RE HUGE!" Cue even huger giant woman robot mecha ship monster. The resulting climb/battle was equal parts awesome and amusing. The Gems crawling into the pupil gave me Big Jethro vibes. Considering who Sugar is with, it was probably intentional. (Wink wonk IJQ?) We totally called it with White Pearl. But to think White would do to the other Diamonds what she did to Pearl? That was really unexpected. That whole scene was unsettling and utterly terrifying. You know what I noticed about White throughout? She was projecting. The fandom generally seems to agree that White is very abusive towards the Diamonds, and her behavior definitely lines up. One thing that people as a whole have in common, I believe, is a desire to be good. Nobody really WANTS to be bad, but we are well aware that some people just are. And we don't want to be like those people. For some that means volunteering, and for others that means being polite to strangers. Most will try to suppress their flaws in some manner, as White pretty much outright admitted to doing. In some cases, though, oftentimes in abusive situations, there is a tendency to project those flaws onto others. White told Steven that he surrounded himself with weaker beings so that he could feel strong, but isn't that what White herself did? It's easier to say something is wrong with someone else than yourself. And then she made them "better." She did something that "helped," so now she could say she did something "good." And bad people don't do good things. By changing the Gems like she did, she was reinforcing her notion that she was doing something good, and therefore she could continue with that behavior. This is likely also why she talked over Steven in "Legs From Here To Homeworld." If he got a say, he could say something to challenge her world view, and that's scary. She couldn't accept that she had done something bad. ...There are theories and fanfictions everywhere discussing what would happen if Steven's gem was removed. Most decided that he would die. Some said Pink/Rose would come back. I guess now we know? He doesn't die, but he was severely weakened, possibly dying. Not that anything else could be expected in a kid's show, at least not on-screen. Not a disappointing outcome, though. What I don't get is, what WAS Pink Steven? Whatever that was wasn't a Gem, or at least not a Gem in the sense that we have come to understand Gems. I think that was just the Gem essence within Steven or something? Hopefully there will be something later on further explaining whatever that was. And can we talk about "SHE'S GOOOOOONNNE!" Uh, what?! It got a little Dragonball there for a second. But... why? Why is Pink Steven so OP? He made White, the strongest of all the Diamonds, fall down. Doesn't sound like much, but when a show makes a point of pointing out "Wow, this character is stronger than all of the other characters," that's a really big deal. But how, and why? Why is Pink Steven OP? Why is Pink Steven OP?! Please explain, Rebecca! :0 So, is Steven a human-Gem fusion then? Because that gave me some serious "Jailbreak" vibes. Oddly enough, it makes sense, and I am totally okay with this. White's Blush really brings out her whites. Cutest thing since Peridot's laugh on the Moon Base. Very precious. I shouldn't say this about evil immortal alien queens, but White is a gumdrop. Huh, White sure had a lot of ideas for what she was supposed to be. She had to get those notions from somewhere, right? That tells me that there has to be something out there greater than the Gems, possibly their creators? Everyone has their place in the Diamond Authority, including the Diamonds themselves. That means White was given her purpose. Perhaps she was in a similar boat to Yellow, maintaining the image to prevent wrath from higher up? Not at all related, but how did she know what a child was, anyway? We. Are the Diamond Authority. We'll try to save the corrupted Gems. And if you think we can't, we'll have a bubble bath and prove you wrong. JASPER. PADPARADSCHA. I love how every shot White is in, she just has this sneer like, "Ew, what am I even doing here, what are these things, is this water contaminated, where did these people come from, can we please just get back on the ship." It's nice to see that the Diamonds are really trying now. It's too late to correct their past wrongs, and they're probably not going to do a complete one-eighty after all the conditioning they've been through, but they're on their way to being their better selves, and I am happy for them and wish them the best. All in all, a wonderful episode all around. If this was why Steven Universe has such a wonky schedule, then keep it up if it means we get more like this.

#steven universe #su #su spoilers #spoilers #long post #longpost #review #change your mind #su change your mind

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mymelancholiesblues · 5 years

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You still doing that fandom thing? Resident Evil for 001, Natasha Romanov for 003

Resident Evil

– Favourite character: This is such a hard question for this particular fandom? I mean, Leon is without a doubt my favourite male character, but I can’t decide between Jill and Ada as my favourite female one. Guess it’s a tie;

– Least favourite character: Steve Burnside. I just… can’t sympathize with him and don’t care about him, sorry;

– 5 favourite ships (canon or non-canon): Leon/Ada, Billy/Rebecca, Carlos/Jill, Jake/Sherry, and William/Albert;

– Character I find most attractive: Big surprise to no-one, but… Leon, of course. And, by the way, my forever headcanon for the live-action actor who’d be perfect to play him is Josh Holloway;

– Character I would marry: Jill. She has that soothing demeanour that just assures you she’ll be supportive and understanding when you need her to, but she’ll also be firm when the times call for it;

– Character I would be best friends with: Probably Claire (since she reminds me of @gatesofdelirium) and Rebecca (since she reminds me of @madamoftime);

– A random thought: This franchise would really benefit a lot from developers stopping to try to comply with fandom’s every whim. And also: started retiring some characters – it’s been long enough, stop milking them and let them have their deserved resolutions;

– An unpopular opinion: I can’t stand RE7 as a Resident Evil franchise entry. I mean, sure, it’s a great horror game, but it’s not a good RE. I feel like it was Capcom’s desperate attempt in trying to please those nostalgic whining purist fans – and they even went as far as hiring an American guy to write the script for it and it’s just… like… no. I’ll have my Resident Evil with all the vices and virtues the eastern Asian storytelling has, with all the characters I already care about. If there’s a reboot coming, then at least solve all the established characters arcs once and for all. I don’t want to know about any Ethan before seeing how Leon’s story ended;

– My canon OTP: Aeon. Possibly one of the ships I’m emotionally invested in most in my life;

– My non-canon OTP: Billy/Becca. Bickering but soft babies. I ship them ever since I was twelve and funny thing, but my name is Rebecca and by the time I was 19 I fell in love with Guilherme – which is the Portuguese variant name derived from William, so… Billy/Becca hahaahaha;

– Most badass character: Claire Redfield. My bravest, boldest daughter;

– Most epic villain: Albert Wesker… But that’s Hors-Concours tbqh;

– Pairing I am not a fan of: It’s a tie between Steve/Claire and Chris/Jill. Though I do have to recognize V*alenfield’s merit: they have a bit of chemistry and they did share some strong shippy moments. But they… I don’t know, I can’t feel the appeal. I think Capcom lost the right timing (that timing being RE5) in delivering their canon status and now it feels off somehow, “overdue”… Plus, that Jun Takeuchi’s interview where he states that they’re just brothers in arms/partners – it felt like a cold shower upon any hopes I had in rooting for them to be a couple. In retrospect, I think I always preferred Jill’s dynamic with Carlos, to be honest. Now, about Cl*eve/Burnfiel*d… With all due respect to their shippers, it’s not my cup of tea. I think my ideal scenario for a Claire romantic subplot would be with a character similar to Piers or maybe one similar to Sheva (yes, Claire is totally bi, don’t @ me);

– Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): It definitely has to be Carla Radames. Goddammit, Capcom, that arc deserved more effort in the writing department;

– Favourite friendship: Leon and Helena. They have that best-buddies-for-life energy where you can picture them karaoking together with slurring voice, completely wasted;

– Character I most identify with: Sherry. Of course I was never victim to a series of experiments by the hands of the U.S. government, but I have my baggage in feeling isolated and abandoned by the ones that should care for you the most and put you above all else;

– Character I wish I could be: Jill! My sweetheart!

Natasha (Marvel 616)

– How I feel about this character: I used to dislike her when I was a child, but since my teenage years I’ve grown past that, and nowadays I love buying her comics. I like her character design, the main idea behind her construction, her role in the Avengers, etc.;

– Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: In 616 I ship her with Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier (primarily), and with Matt Murdock, the Daredevil. I also ship her with Clint Barton (Hawkeye) in the MCU;

– My favourite non-romantic relationship for this character: Maria Hill. That sisters-in-arms vibe: too good;

– My unpopular opinion about this character: I’m not really interested in weaponized femininity for this character, so I appreciate when writers avoid it;

– One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: Marvel exploring her background without the “the Soviet Union is bad” propaganda lens;

– Favourite friendship for this character: Isaiah Ross. I love to think he still feeds her cat and takes care of her in any way he can;

– My crossover ship: Hmmm… I’m not very much into crossover ships, so this is a question that I’ll rarely answer in the affirmative.

#Resident Evil #Natasha Romanoff #Black Widow #Q&A #Fandom Stuff #Fandom Memes #text post #asks and answers #anonymous

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musicalmukebox · 6 years

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Let’s Get (Back) Together | l.h. (11)

Ctto of the gif!

AU: Parent Trap Dad!Luke

Summary: A strong love which led to a strong marriage and twin daughters. Yet in the end, it didn’t turn out so well. You strongly refuse to encounter him ever again. But what happens when both of you coincidentally send your twin daughters to the same summer camp in Florida after 10 years?

Word Count: 6.1k

Warnings: swearing, fighting, mentions of anxiety, anxiety attacks, bad overthinking, angst

(LONG) A/N: YES LOVES, I AM BACK FROM THE DEAD AKA COLLEGE LIFE!! First, Youngblood has dropped, alongside my panties and well-being. Second, I missed writing, yet I don’t know how consistent nor the scheduling of posting will go, so stay alert and maybe turn on those notifs!! I kinda had mental block for this one, so I do hope you still enjoy this! By the way, I’ll be using the gif above for the past and remaining chapters for easier distinguishing when I come up in any of the tags you search in. I love you all, especially those who’ve stayed!!

I don’t own Parent Trap and its ideas. It’s only used as inspiration.

1 / 2A / 2B / 2C / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14

Feedback/Questions/Others? Here.

2021, Los Angeles

“Shit, I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be, she’s kind!”

Here you are again, nervous of meeting another set of Luke’s loved ones, or maybe just one person in particular. “But Sierra Deaton is up there, being in the music industry for so long and I’m still starting out ya know.” You say, intimidated by her career so far.

Where were you both exactly? At the balcony of this club in LA, where a Miss Sierra Deaton would be performing her last show of her mini USA tour. Surprisingly, you haven’t met her considering that she is a very close friend of the band, but she is a busy artist after all and you didn’t really mind because you begin to relate. Luke did say she was a kind woman, yet you mind lets your drift into a different direction, letting you get access the worst thoughts possible.

“Babe,” Luke, seated right beside you, puts his hand on top of yours, feeling the nerves shaking in your body. “She’s been there and gets it. Trust me on that, alright?” Giving him a reassuring nod, the lights begin to dimmer and fans from the mosh pit below begin to scream in excitement.

“Woo, let’s go!” Ashton from behind your seat cheers, followed a giddy Michael. “Fucking start already!” He joked, in which Crystal reacted by hiding her face with her hand and looking down as everyone around you were laughing, even you too. Some fans from the pit noticed that voice, and were going nuts to find you guys up there. But it was short-lived when the first notes of Don’t Hurt played, shifting their attention to the stage, wherein low and behold, there she was. A mic on one hand and smiling wide.

“LA, make some noise!”

Swaying her hips along to music before opening up, she harmonized well with the backup singers. You were singing along, enjoying the lively vibe in the room. When she lit the room more with a smile.

“Luke’s right, self. No need to worry.”

“Ah, boys!!” You entered Sierra’s dressing room along with the others to see her unwinding in the couch with some wine. Getting up, she patiently gives her hellos and hugs to everyone, leaving you last. Upon your turn, she gasps lightly in awe.

“Finally, we’ve met, Miss (Y/N)!” She wraps her arms around you for a hug, which was a reassuring surprise. She was a lot shorter than you, you noticed. “Luke has told me so many great things about you.”

“Oh, he has?” You glanced at the blondie by your side, blushing. “I might’ve gotten carried away too.”

“You got him so whipped, hun.” She teased, making Luke fake a pout before he laughs along.

“I guess so? Also, it’s nice to finally meet you as well, Sierra.” You say, sounding as if you were questionable as you replied. “You performed so well awhile ago!” You praised, making her chuckle.

“Thank you very much! And to celebrate,” She takes hold of the wine bottle alongside some spare glasses by the table beside her. “Want some sangria?”

It took a simple nod then a loud “Cheers!” with everyone else there to release your nerves out. At some point, you lost count of how much glasses of Sangria you’ve drank and got a bit buzzed. Eleanor was telling a story about how she and Calum had a mini vibrator war during the recent MTV awards.

“Wait, what the fuck?!” Crystal belt out, laughing. “Was that why you squirmed a lot when you were seated with me?” Eleanor only blushing, nodding.

“I’m not surprised honestly.” Ashton added on.

“So that’s why Calum had a hard-on during our acceptance speech!” Luke says in realization, shaking his head at a red Calum, suffering from embarrassment. “I’m sorry I can’t really help what happens down there!”

“Kinky shits!” You ratted out, chugging those remaining contents of your glass. This led to a flushing feeling down there, urging you to let it out.

“Excuse me, guys,” You stood from the couch, grabbing your phone with a little wobble. “I must urinate.”

“Wow, so formal.” Brianna joked.

“She acts that way when she’s drunk.” Luke exposed, making you slap his shoulder slightly. “Hey!” He fake winced, giving a little pout.

“Don’t shade me like that!” Brushing your hair to the back flamboyantly, you quickly leave the room, pacing in search of a restroom. “Ah here!” You breathe with relief as you turned to the right and pulled the door open.

Let’s not go into detail on your session in the stall. But it was relieving and you were ready to drink a few more. After all, Luke is the designated driver tonight. Sliding your stall door open, your eyes gleamed at surprise at the sight of Sierra, arms crossed as she leaned behind the marbled cement where the faucets were located. Her facial expression was hard to decipher, yet you maintained respectful.

“Oh hey, Sierra.” You greeted instantly, trying to hide your sudden redness of cheeks.

“Oh cut off the crap, yeah?” She hissed, walking towards yourself as you begin to walk back. When you stopped at your tracks by the wall, she pointed her finger at you. “How much is he paying you?”

You were dumbfounded at this girl’s harshness. “Excuse me, but nothing!” You pushed her back, controlling your anger and non-sobriety. “What’s your problem? Luke told me you’re a kind girl.”

She laughed at the comment, stepping closer to you once more, like what the fuck? “Oh love, I am. It’s just that,” She was eyeing you up and down in utter disgust. “The past girls Luke’s been with were always PR stunts. Luke never fell in love with any of them, except his ex Arzaylea and she hurt him. Badly.“

“How the hell would you compare me to her? You just met me!”

“If there’s something I’m good at, it’s reading people, and you, Miss (Y/N), are an attention-seeking slut who wants to rank up high in the acting industry!” She shouted in anger.

“Keep that fucking anger in you quiet unless you want someone to catch us!” You motioned your hands downward, signaling her to keep her voice down. Rolling her eyes, she spoke up again, but quietly.

“You don’t deserve him.” At her tone and shaking of her head, her mood is easily interpreted.

“And you do? Hun, jealousy is not a good look on you.” Your confidence rose up, being down to get closer to her. “If he wanted you, you both would have been together and I’m still hustling at a successful career, which is something I’m aiming for.” Inhaling deeply, “He chose me, not you. Why bother, yeah?” Fluttering your lashes in innocence, you swerved against her, pulling the door open. “This isn’t over, (Y/N). The tables will turn, and I didn’t want you to watch my show! I was trying to avoid you!” She threatened.

“Well sorry Sierra, but Luke brought me along. That’s already a sign of failure, but thanks for trying!” You sassed, banging the door closed. This buzzed state of yours always brings the confidence you lack, and you were hella aware of your worth, not taking shit from anyone.

Yes, you were right earlier with your initial thoughts on this girl. Your mind tells you to tell Luke, but your heart says to keep that feud between you and Sierra since they’ve been friends for so long and you don’t want to be a friend-wrecker.

“The latter it is.”

2034, Los Angeles

“Ahh, it’s today!” Stella beamed as she tied the shoelaces of her converse. “I get to watch perform live with uncle Mikey, Cal and Ash!”

It was finally Saturday, the day of the band’s show in the Forum. As much as you didn’t want to confess, you were pretty excited to watch them because it’s a reunion too. But one thing is standing your way into enjoyment: Sierra. But whatever, what matters here are your daughters and enjoying the night with them with good music, having more family time.

“Becks texted, they’re outside!” She says, running to the front door and opening it excitedly to reveal a black van. The vehicle slid open, seeing her fellow identical seated in beside Luke. Following right behind her as you grew nearer to the entrance, you gave a wave at the Aussies.

“Hi poppet and Luke.” You say upon entering the car, taking the row of seats behind the Rebecca and Luke alongside Stella. Upon settling down, the driver continued its job to head to the Forum.

“Hi (Y/N), hey bub!” He reaches behind his seat to give a short, side hug to Stella, who did the same. He also ruffled her hair much to her annoyance. “Ah dad, stop! Oh and hey loser!” As she wiggled away from Luke’s grasp, she gave a high five to Rebecca, who initiated their handshake. The same handshake of Becks and Luke with air guitar playing in the end. “Hiya brat, hey mom!” Rebecca says, giving a kiss on your check.

At the moment, you didn’t really like the way they addressed each although you did that with your friends, even with the band. But they are sisters after all, they got to be nice. “Girls, be nice.” Luke addressed, having thought of the same things as you.

“Oh come on, dad! Those were our nicknames back in camp.” Stella addresses. “Well, when we hated each other.” Becks added.

“Wait, you hated each other?” Luke gasped, making the girls look at each other dumfounded, initiating them to tell the full story of their camp shenanigans. “Shit Becks, was Stella the girl whom you dared to jump the lake commando?”

Knowing now the full story made you proud of their character developments, putting aside their personality differences and joined together in order to make this reunion possible. As for Luke, he’s very glad to see the other half of his family despite everything. If only it wasn’t this way. Much to your surprise, the story telling lasted until you arrived the venue, seeing all these different fans of different ages lined up at the entrance. Proud was an understatement. Even after more than 20 years, they’re still very popular to the younger generations.

When the car halted near the backstage doors and got out, you began to feel nervous, shaking out goosebumps. Luke caught that moment from you just as he told the twins to behave properly as they entered backstage. “Are you okay, (Y/N)? I just saw you shake out some nerves or something.”

“Y-Yeah, it’s just pretty cold.” Luke knew you were lying straight away by the way you were breathing heavily and your eyes kept looking around.

“You can be honest with me, you know?”

Darn, he’s good. “I just don’t know how the others will react, like suddenly I cut off ties with them for so long. I think they’re still mad at me.” You overthink, getting goosebumps again.

“Hey, don’t say that.” Luke comforts, putting his hand on your shoulder, squeezing it a bit. “They miss you, and would never do that. But if something happens, I’ll handle it.” Nodding him instead of speaking another word, he leads you to the backstage. Surprisingly, a lot of backstage crew remembered you from way before, giving their hellos and small talk. You were afraid that they could say something already before even seeing your old group of friends, but Luke has your back by discreetly telling the crew to keep it a secret for now.

A good 20 minutes later, you somehow encountered and hear Rebecca giving a similar kind of Luke’s pep talk to Stella in a private part of the backstage. “But what if they don’t like me, Becks? I practically lied to them by acting like you, which isn’t a good impression.”

“Stella, they will like you! I have a feeling they missed you after so long, and besides, I’ll be here when you get nervous.” Rebecca reassures, giving her twin a tight hug before they see you and Luke during their special moment.

“You guys ready?” Luke asks, specifically to you and Stella whether you’re prepared to head further to the backstage area of the boys. You still were speechless, so you just nodded and trying to regain your calmness. “Yup, dad!” Stella expressed quietly with excitement.

Walking a few more steps and getting closer got your heart racing and thoughts running all over your head, you just kept thinking of all these different bad scenarios of what could happen and just wanted to get it over with. Stella, who was beside you, noticed the way you crinkled your eyes repeatedly and gives a squeeze on your hand. “You’ll be okay, mom. No need to panic.”

You just returned a squeeze, mouthing “thank you”. Luke was also getting pretty tense upon heading to the band backstage room, unsure of everyone’s reaction, especially Sierra. Oh shit, her. Not bad or anything he thinks, though he’s always sensed some tension between you two but he couldn’t be too sure. As he sees the sign “Band” on a door, everything felt more intense. Thank the heavens that the door was closed because it gives more time for everyone to relax.

“Well, we’re here.” He begins. “Rebecca and I can go inside first, then I’ll spill everything on your behalf so you can calm down. Is that okay?”

“Sure, dad. Go on ahead so we can get this show started!” Stella answered for you, still holding your hand. Luke gives a nod before he shifts the knob of the door to the right, letting the door open frontwards. Everyone, from the boys and their wives with the kids, was just talking and goofing around, but at the sight of Luke and Rebecca, they cheered in relief.

“Finally, you two are here!”

“God Luke, where have you been? We need our frontman!”

“It’s about time you both arrived!”

Rebecca paid respect by giving hugs and cheek kisses to her aunts and uncles, then waves at the different kids while Luke shares a laugh at their banter before he gets serious. “Sorry, guys. But, I have an excuse.”

“You got occupied with a Miss Sierra Deaton?” Michael joked, which was a struggle for Rebecca to not act disgusted.

“Nice try, Mikey, but we didn’t arrive together. I was late because instead of riding with you guys, I took a detour and brought a few other guests for tonight’s show.” Everyone’s interest peaked, dense as to what this blondie was up to.

“Who did you bring then?” Calum asked, crossing his arms. Rebecca looked back at Stella who was relatively a bit near to the door but not near enough to be seen by them, gesturing to come here. “Come here, brat!” Her relatives were confused, wondering how special this person was to her. Stella was hesitant, but she didn’t want to keep them waiting. “Wait here, mom. I’ll start.”

Stella gives a nod, but before making a move, Rebecca speaks up first before she enters. “This person is someone who I grew to love in a short span of time, almost like we��re the same.” With this pun, Stella comes inside the room with a hoodie to cover her face at first from everyone and also facing down.

“There’s no need to be shy, bub.” Luke remarks, which has the adults begin to create assumptions of who this could be, especially since they are aware that Luke only gives that nickname to one person. The kids were pretty excited to know who this was because this felt so new. Stella eventually gave in, unveiling the hood and tilts her head up to show herself. Just to add, she was right beside Rebecca. Everyone was just astonished, hands in their mouths and gasps.

“Am I tripping or is that-“

“Stella?” Bryana cuts off Ashton, still frozen at the sight of her goddaughter. Stella nodded, urging Bryana to approach her vicinity. She kneeled to her height. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Stella didn’t speak but instead gave her a heartfelt hug. “I’m Bryana, by the way. I’m your godmother.” Bryana introduces herself mid-hug. Letting go, “Oh, I know who you are, actually everyone. Well, except the godmother part, aunt Bryana.”

“What do you mean?” She asks, then by instinct, the twins looked at each other with mischievous smirks.

“Well,” Rebecca starts. “It all began when we met at camp.”

“Then we figured ‘hey why not swap so we get meet the loved ones of our mom and dad?’, which brings us to today.” Stella finishes.

As everyone tried to comprehend the situation, “So wait, if Stella was whom we had these past weeks,” Ashton pondered.

“That meant Becks was wi-“

“Me.” Eleanor was cut off by your entrance to the room, which made everyone hitch their breaths. Upon hearing your daughters talk, you knew they couldn’t do this alone, so you straightened out your nerves and just went for it. This also went Luke, whom you could easily spot the hesitation he felt with the whole explanation thing going on because it was too much to handle.

“Oh my god, (Y/N).” Crystal says, covering her mouth in surprise. Eleanor is speechless then ran to your vicinty and gave a tight hug, which you returned with a flinch. She was your best friend, and it gutted you both to have cut those ties. Well actually, you had the scissors. “I fucking missed you, (Y/N).” She blurted out, sniffling a bit as she felt all these various emotions running her veins at a fast pace.

“I missed you so much too, Eleanor.” You couldn’t contain yourself either as you respond, your voice cracking as you say those words. Eleanor’s strong movement undoubtedly created a domino effect, which led the other boys and girls to give their hellos. Surely yes, Luke was pretty nervous on bringing you along, seeing this happen first-handedly marveled him, in fact much better than he thought. The vibe felt casual, no grudges withheld and fulfillment to be reunited with a loved one.

“You haven’t changed a bit!” Crystal compliments.

“You ey, found out that you have a new film out soon!” Ashton addressed, handing you a red cup with some sort of alcohol in it.

“Yeah! Take Me or Leave Me, it’s out next week.” You plugged. Catching up slowly with life updates, laughing along to Michael and Calum’s random jokes, you unexpectedly recalled a weird sensation from when Eleanor hugged you earlier.

“You got a hard core over there, Eleanor. Been working out?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “I wish! I’m actually pregnant, babe!” You dropped your jaw, gasping “Oh my God!” and giving your congratulations. As different conversations between you and your old set of friends flowed coherently, not running out of ideas, and even getting to reintroduce yourself to some of the young children,

“Hey guys!” A tanned woman calls out as she enters inside the room, making everyone freeze. Especially you, because the voice was all too familiar. Luckily, you were facing backwards.

“Oh hi babe.” Luke greets, giving her a peck on the cheek. Everyone could just feel the awkward tension in the room, emitting twisted grins and widened eyes.

“Are you guys okay? It’s like you saw a ghost or something?” No one could respond, but you did by turning your back. A bold move indeed, but it could save everyone’s misery.

Sierra gasped before she crossed her arms before giving an all too fake smile on you, in which everyone else interprets it as just a surprised smile.

“Oh my, (Y/N)!” She exclaimed, still stood on the same position.

“Hello, Sierra.” You waved and smiled back, trying your best to be as genuine as you could be. You were more genuinely fake though. Things could get worse from here, but thankfully, one of the show managers came through.

“Show starts in 5, boys!” Sighing in relief, Luke scrambles to get his guitar, while was then followed by the other boys. As for the girls, they begin to head out and bring their kids to the designated family area of the Forum where they will watch the show. Eleanor tapped your shoulder, “Ready to go?”, hand in hand with Nick.

“Yeah, sure! Rebecca and Stella!” You called the two girls, who were in deep conversation with Alex. “Later, mom! We’re still talking!” Stella replied.

“Alex is pretty surprised that Stella and I switched. So we’re pretty much explaining everything in full.” Rebecca giggles. Letting it slide, you vacated the room with Eleanor and continued to talk about anything that you could think of, yet the topic of Sierra is the dominant one. “Well, that was awkward, huh?”

“Kinda? I mean, I really don’t care about whatever they have going on.” You casually shrugged off.

“Oh really? Might’ve felt some jealousy in the air.”

“Whatever, Eleanor. As long as they’re happy, I’m fine. Besides, what matters now to me now is our daughters.” You flatly say.

“If there is something I know about you, (Y/N), your drive for success is strong. You would never let anything you love just pass. And you are mischievous as well.” She trailed off with those words before getting to the area and hearing the excited squeals of different fans.

Meanwhile for Luke, he was unlucky to get in an argument begun by Sierra, who was furious and confused with what she saw, but one thing is for sure: Luke was heavily and soberly involved.

“How did you and her meet again? Why did you even bring her tonight? Just why is she back in our lives?” She believes that she deserves to feel the way she’s feeling because she was there to comfort Luke after the divorce, serving as his rock.

“It’s a long story babe, which I will explain later. Now please,” He put his hand on her shoulder, moving her to the side. “I have a show to play.” He says, sounding rushed as ever before running to the entrance of the stage. Sierra was beyond pissed, throwing a mini tantrum at his sudden change of mood. A change which occurred when you entered back at his life.

“That fucking bitch.” Bringing out her phone and dialing a familiar mobile number, she puts the device her ear, smirking like the devil as she thinks through what she intends on doing next after this sudden confrontation.

“Hello, Miss Deaton. It’s been a long time.”

“Lovely to talk to you again, Perez. Now, I have a story for you.”

“All my life I've been waiting for moments to come, when I catch fire and watch over you like the sun..”

You and the other girls were singing along and bopping your heads to the current song being played, enjoying the good vibes being spread. As much as you can, you stayed away from the public eye which was pretty successful so far, but mostly from Sierra. Dancing along with the twins and even cheering some lyrics out like before, it honestly felt like it was the early 2020’s again. You just haven’t felt this euphoria from a concert in so long.

Ending Catch Fire, the boys took sips of water and beer before they interacted with their audience, loud and proud. “Alright, Los Angeles!” Ashton rekindled an old meme, jumping out also from his chair and holding out his drum sticks momentarily before resting his bosom down again.

“How we feeling tonight, LA?” Luke hyped, combing his locks with his hands to get a better view of the crowd. They roared in excitement, the kind of reaction the band was used to. For sure with a catchy song like Catch Fire, another catchy song will follow up. But this setlist was different compared to the past.

“Thank you for the love, everyone! Now how about we tone the mood down a bit? Release some hidden angst in us.” Calum smoothly caressed his words, making sure his usage of different words was correct. The venue lights dimmed down, a single spotlight focused on Luke as he plucked on some guitar strings.

“We have never played the song live ever, and it’s an oldie too.”

“It makes everything more exciting, Luke. People wanted us to hear those underrated songs, so it’s a start! Besides, we need to give the people what they want!” Michael exclaimed, frenzying the fans to just reveal this song. Luke chuckled, mustering up his emotions before talking. Most especially as he saw you watching, distracting his focal point which was the audience.

As for you, you were unaware of it all. It was just like a regular concert with the band cracking jokes and playing their greatest hits. Another thing you were unaware of was that Sierra saw everything happen between Luke and you, well mostly him. She really tried to shrug it off, but every time they lock eyes, it was for a split second before he looks away and continues strumming his guitar. Jealousy was spicing up her veins.

“It’s an oldie from the Sound Good, Feels Good era, and surprisingly, it took a few runs before we fully remembered how to play it. One of my favorite songs of angst.” He paused for a moment, looking down and avoiding a gaze at anyone. He knew he was used to gigs like this, but now, it felt different because you were in the audience after all this time.

Recalling every lyric of it, he knew the meaning wholeheartedly. It was a risk he was willing to take to entertain the fans.

“This is Story of Another Us.”

The audience were astounded, finally getting a piece of a big request that has been running for so long: to play the so-called songs that “they left to die”. Screaming was an understatement, more especially when Calum sang the first few lines.

“Replay the scene over again, before the credits rolling inside my head...”

Even the other wives around you didn’t expect this, the strong yet out-of-tune vocals of Eleanor singing along because you were aware that this was one of her favorite songs of theirs.

“I don't recall a single word, you hit me faster than I heard inside my head..” She was in sync with Calum, who was crinkling his eyes as he saw her sway her hips, controlling his chuckling since the song was heartbreaking. Some fans noticed, videoing that little moment of theirs which was bound to be posted everywhere. Crystal raised her arms in the air, moving along with the rhythm of the song. Bryana films the moment, quietly humming along. The other kids were watching in awe, most especially Stella because this is the first show she seen of this band. Well, one that she will remember for a long time.

So far, this concert and this song performance embodied how mature they’ve become as they are now in their late 30’s going 40’s, emotionally mostly. Bopping along to the last few lyrics, Michael having just sung his part of the bridge, Luke had his full gaze on you, lips quivering as he opened it to sing his part before one last hurrah of the chorus.

“One last ditch, a new beginning, so take this heart, put yourself in it, this surprise ending I'm depending on…..”

Confusion raced through your mind at his action, whether if he also has a hidden agenda. He thinks he could hide his emotions with those eyes of his, but after all those years of love you had for him, you knew so well of how bad of a liar he was.

“I got a long-term plan with short-term fixes, and a wasted heart that just eclipses, and I push my luck from trust to dust enough, that's the story of another us…”

He is the first to look away, avoiding any unnecessary attention and returning his focus to the main audience. You could see the heartbreak in his eyes and vibe it too from his raspy voice. For Luke, he knows that you are just as pained, even if you tried to conceal it. That was already tough, but what more when your twins have noticed that session of yours?

With every second withering and the song fading too, you could feel your chest getting pressed too tightly from all these different emotions overwhelming you, your mind playing a role too by reminding you those painful moments of the deterioration of your past romance. Your breath span shortened as your head felt woozy, making you choke. Without warning, you made a run for it, leaving the area in a flash. This led to your daughters’ enjoyment to be interrupted by the vulnerable sight of you, their instincts kicking and telling them to help you out because it seemed serious.

Longingly searching for a private area without any staff interference and running further the corridors, you eventually found a dimly-lit spot and settled there. Leaning against the white wall and bent your knees in fetal position, many bad thoughts got you overthinking the decision of the divorce.

“You’re selfish! You made your daughters stay away from each other!”

“You should’ve gain full custody of the twins, not just one of them!”

“You failure! No wonder Luke figured that you held him back!”

“You didn’t put up a fight and gave up like a wimp!”

Your urge to shed tears grew uncontrollable, along with moderate whimpering and melting some of your makeup too. But you could care less at this point because you’ve just lost it. All those held back emotions have met you once more.

Meanwhile, the show continued on and the girls have excused themselves to their aunts, saying that they have a “monthly dilemma”.

“Oh no, do you need any help or anything?” Eleanor suggested, getting shakes from the twins’ head as a response. “Alright then, hurry back! Your dad is halfway done.” Nodding, they ran as fast they could, turning right and left on the hallway and ponders deep. “Where could’ve mom went?” Rebecca worried, her breath hiked and the feeling of worry bound to reach its peak.

“I may have seen her turn left from the corner of my eye.” Stella points out as she scratched the nape of her neck, nervous of your state. “Let’s head on then.” Rebecca rushed, going steps further than Stella, making her chase after her Australian counterpart. This went on for a few more minutes, turning another left and right.

“Stella, chill! I’m dying.” Rebecca complains. “Oh come on! Quit your comp-” Stella’s nagging was interrupted when she overheard a familiar voice in one corner, stopping dead at her tracks. Rebecca took notice, following the domino effect and shifted her direction behind to where Stella stood, her head leaning to one open corridor.

“What are you do-” Now it was Stella that was interrupted as she heard your echoing whimpers at the very end of the hallway which was wasn’t too far from where the twins were. “Rebecca, go ahead! I’ll follow!” Weirded out, Stella was about to interject, but it took a loud “Go!” from her twin to do otherwise, chasing after the now fainting noise. Rebecca discreetly followed the voice, trying to decipher who it was, why that person was inside and the main topic of discussion.

Who else could it be? Stella sneaked a glance to find Sierra drinking some sort of concoction on a wine glass and talking to a mystery person. Petty, Stella brought her phone, recording whatever she was saying. For future reference, she thought.

“Ugh Perez, I thought we got rid of her forever! ….. Oh yes, what a witty caption! Got Lily to take photos from the private area? …… Nice! But wait she left? Doubt it, her bratty twins are there. But whatever, I’ll talk to you later, can’t miss out on my fiancé’s show too much.”

whom she picked up to be a writer of some sort with the words “caption” and “photos”. Got rid? Kids? She knew straight away it was you.

With those actions occurring, Rebecca has finally found you, releasing the stress. But she pitied at the sight of you with messed up hair, makeup and flowing tears. You were too vulnerable, in every aspect and it broke her heart. Kneeling down right in front of you,

“Mom, what happened? Did something or someone hurt you?” She held her hands on top of yours. With those blue saddened eyes of hers, you couldn’t stop your tears even more because she is half of him and also the half you gave up.

“I-” You choked, your breath stiffened and halted for a moment. Taking a deeper inhale, you properly articulate words, well tried too. “I’m a selfish disappointment! I gave you up so fast when I could’ve just settled for half custody instead of a closed custody that our divorce lawyer suggested. Your dad said yes to it because he was hurt and angry just like me, but I’m your mother! I should’ve never done it!” One hand of yours was released from her grasp, tracing her soft face then brushing some hair behind.

“You’re so beautiful, and I want to know more about you.” Those words made Rebecca just as emotional, reaching over you for a hug and begins to sniffle. “

“Did you even want me just a little bit before you and dad divorced?” This was a question that has haunted Rebecca ever since she got older and knew the real story between you both, instead of the excuse of “mommy’s too busy on her business trip, baby”. Honestly, Luke sucks on hiding secrets.

“I wanted you 100 percent. I love you so much, baby. You and your sister are everything to me.”

“And dad?” That took you in for a surprise and you had no words to respond. She was anticipating for an answer, and before you say what you made up, you were abruptly saved when you heard fast shuffling in the hallway, getting you startled.

“Oh there you guys are!” It was Stella, thank God. “Mom, are you okay?” She was ready to kneel down like Rebecca, but with this mini heartfelt session reaching an end, you felt much better and you could breathe easily now.

“Oh yes, bub.” You gathered your strength to stretch your legs up and stand up, shaking off any dust in your outfit. “Thank you for coming after me. I didn’t realize how much an impact I made.”

“Well, only to the both of us. We were concerned, and our familial instincts kicked in.”

“Nonetheless, thank you, loves. Now, let’s go continue that great show of your dad’s, huh?” They nodded, but first, Stella got a mini-pack of facial tissue from her slingbag and grabbed a few. She rubbed it on your face gently. “You’ve got some smudges of mascara and eyeliner by the bottom of your eyes.” As she stopped, “All better. Let’s head back now.”

Giving her a grateful smile, you followed her lead whilst you wrapped one arm around Rebecca’s shoulder.

“I forgive you, mom. I love you so much, please never leave my life again.” Rebecca whispered, just appreciating every intimate and personal moment she can get with you. Your heart fluttered at the closure, and quickly you were back to the curtained pathway of the private family area.

“Shit, there you girls are!” Your trance was ended at the sight of a sweaty Luke, who looked nervous like you were previously. “Where have you gone? You missed 2 songs!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be performing right now, dad?” Stella questioned.

“Uncle Calum is singing Invisible with uncle Michael while I’m here to get some cool air with uncle Ash. Now, please answer my question, girls.” Rebecca and Stella had nothing to reply, dumbfounded at his nervous and stressful persona.

“Hmm, I don’t know how to say this, but Rebecca thought that she was getting her “monthly” gift for the first time, so we went searching for resources to help her out.” You covered for them.

“Oh.” He chuckled, scratching the nape of his neck like Stella earlier. “Never thought it was that. I was just worried.”

“It’s okay, dad. I feel better now.” Rebecca reassured, giving a discreet wink at you.

“Well, I’m happy, poppet. I need you to be healthy always!” He hugged her up in the air.

“Ahhh, dad let go! I might make an incident if you get what I mean.”

“Oh, shit sorry!”

“Dad, swearing!” Rebecca and Stella squealed, covering their innocent ears.

“Ashton, Luke, Cal and Mikey are almost done!” A manager called out for them.

“Well, that’s my cue, girls. See you in a bit!” He waves his hand goodbye before running off alongside Ashton.

“Aren’t you girls cunning and successful at it?” You smirked at your twins, impressed.

“Well, we got that from you, mom.”

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efnewsservice · 6 years

Link

April 13, 2018

Lana Parrilla interview pre 7.17

For this Friday’s episode of Once Upon a Time (ABC, 8/7c), original cast member Lana Parrilla found herself behind as well as in front of the camera.

Making her directorial debut, Parrilla helped bring to life a revamped tale of Hansel and Gretel, the former of which we now know to be Hyperion Heights’ Candy Killer. Her first foray into directing also of course came in the nick of time, with just six episodes left in the fantasy drama’s run.

Once Upon a Time: 10 Questions for the Series FinaleLaunch Gallery

Here, in TVLine’s last of so many Q&As over the years with Parrilla, she details how directing played right into her personal wheelhouse, before reflecting — Kleenex alert! — on the end of her reign as Regina fka the Evil Queen.

TVLINE | I have every faith that you went into this so incredibly prepared, but even so, was there anything that surprised you about your directing debut experience? I mean, I guess what surprised me was I had no idea how much actually goes into making a television show, or a movie, or any sort of production in our industry. I didn’t realize how many times we were going to read the script every single day, with every department, and go through every single detail of it. And I actually really enjoyed that part of it, because I am so detail oriented, and breaking stuff down on that level was a good percentage of the homework. I really, really appreciated how thorough every department was and how detailed everything was. I’d been wearing the actor’s hat for so long, I had no idea there was so much that went into it. Now having worn the director’s hat, I love it. It’s right up my alley. Prep is one of my favorite things to do, so it was really aligned with my process.

TVLINE | What’s a specific level of detail that the director gets involved in that we regular folk might not even consider? It varies because, as they say, film is the director’s medium, TV is a producer’s medium and stage is the actor’s medium. But what really surprised me was how open my producers were to my ideas — and I came with a lot of ’em. Especially with the gingerbread house and how I wanted the children to look, ideas for Rebecca [Mader]’s look and what happens at the midpoint in the script, and the energy and vibe I was looking for. And also visually what I wanted — color schemes, etcetera, the ambiance and the feel of a place, working with the art department…. I didn’t think that I was going to have as much input, but on Once Upon a Time they trusted me with the creative process more than I thought they would, and I was really taken by that. And very grateful.

TVLINE | Were there any specific directing challenges for this episode? Any stunt work or effects-driven scenes? Chilton Crane, who plays our Blind Witch, is an older woman, and there was a stunt that she had to perform. I was a bit concerned about her athleticism, whether this was something she had ever done before…. I envisioned the Blind Witch leaping into the air and landing in front of the Wicked Witch and holding a candy cane, threatening to stab her, and I wasn’t sure if Chilton could actually do that. I designed this whole stunt in my head and worked with the coordinator, and while there were a few little things we had to shift, at the end of the day it came together really, really well. I was very pleased, and very impressed with Chilton. She did an incredible job and really hung in there. A total trouper!

TVLINE | As we saw last week, “it’s personal” between Hansel and Zelena. Is that what these flashbacks are about? Yes, yes. There is a history there which you will see, while we also flash forward to Hansel seeking his revenge.

TVLINE | Henry of course has been abducted. Who all gets involved in that rescue operation? Well, there’s a few things happening there. The audience knows who the Candy Killer is, but a lot of us still don’t. Regina/Roni and Zelena/Kelly are working together to stop the Candy Killer, and then you also have the other side of it — our detectives are also on the hunt. Rebecca and I have teamed up like Lucy and Ethel. [Laughs] Or maybe we’re a little more Cagney and Lacey!

TVLINE | When I was on set, to hear Rose Reynolds say “Candy Killah” in her English accent, you almost want to meet the guy. She makes it sound adorable. She’s such a cutie! I love the girls.

TVLINE | I saw the video (embedded above) where you gave a speech to the fans gathered in Steveston watching filming [of Storybrooke scenes], and it was so wonderful. What specifically moved you to do that? It was my last scene in Steveston [British Columbia], and I was walking over to the green room when I saw this wall of fans. I just stood there for a minute to take it all in, and I felt so thankful and blessed that over the years we’ve had them follow us and be there to love and support us. Sometimes it can be an issue when we’re filming — sometimes we have to shift them around, etcetera — but to have a following like that is really special. I don’t know when that will happen again in my career, so I really wanted to take the time to acknowledge them and thank them. There are a lot of people who come from out of town, from all over the world, they’ve been saving all year to be there and get a glimpse of one of us…. I just thought it was really important to show my gratitude.

TVLINE | Regina has been such a hallmark role for you. Has there been a moment over the past couple of weeks where it really hit you that this was coming to an end? There have been several. Several, several. In fact, there was one just a few hours ago when I called [co-showrunner] Eddy [Kitsis] at the office on the lot, and on my phone it says “Once,” so I thought, “I’m going to have to delete this number at some point!” — and it hit me again. It has come in waves, and it has been very strange, because it’s so unknown. This has been such a huge part of my life for seven years — Vancouver, the show, the character – so it feels like a big, big loss, a big shift and change. It’s going to take some time to adjust.

I’ve had moments where I was really, really, really down, super-sad and emotional about it, and really felt like, “Oh my God, what’s next? What happens after this?” And I still have moments where I feel that way, but now I’m focused on the positive, which is: How lucky are we to have a show 22 episodes, sometimes 23, run for seven years? That doesn’t happen anymore, and I’m just really grateful.

#ouat spoilers #Lana Parrilla #lana parrilla interview #7.17 chosen #Cast Interviews #matt mitovich #tvline

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thorne93 · 7 years

Text

Custody Battle (Part 6)

Prompt: You had a son with your first husband, Keanu, but he’s being raised by your new husband, Tom. The two men cannot stand each other, and every time Keanu shows up unannounced to see the kid, he and Tom always end up arguing.

Word Count: 2402

Warnings: divorce, anger, fighting, language

Notes: this took me so long to write….But thanks to my beta @like-a-bag-of-potatoes I got it done

Forever Tags: @capsmuscles @cocosierra94 @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @missinstantgratification @thejemersoninferno @rda1989 @munlis @thefridgeismybestie @bubblyanarocks3 @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @hardcollectionworldtrash @igiveupicantthinkofausername@kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr @kaeling @friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo

Tom Hiddleston: @camigt1999 @lenawiinchester

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keanu and Tom had stuck to the deal you’d created. They attended their events and you had explained to Jaxton that everyone wanted to dedicate all their time and attention they could to the events that he had going on, but not everyone could be at every event. He said he was okay with it as long as someone was there for him, and so far, they had been. You’d made every game for soccer, and you left Keanu and Jaxton to the boy scout meetings, letting the men bond.

But now, of course, another thing had occurred for Jaxton. A birthday party. Not for him, but for a child in his class. He had brought home the silly looking invitation one day after school. So now, you had to take a night and go shopping with Jaxton to try and find a gift. As if you needed any more shit to do. Work was hectic as the year was coming to a close and the summer clothes were already in demand and you only had half your line sketched out. Not to mention running to all of his games, making sure dinner was on every night, keeping the house clean, and then getting him in bed every night.

“Alright, bud, what does this Carter kid like?” you asked as you pushed the cart and he sat in the big part of it, eyeing all the toys. “Does he like Hot Wheels, GI Joe, Monster trucks…?” you asked, listing off things as you saw them.

“I don’t really know,” he answered with a shrug.

“Oh, come on now, surely you noticed or heard him say something. Maybe his backpack has someone on it? Or maybe he was watching a movie he liked and said something to you?” you urged, praying you didn’t have to just pick up something generic.

“Mmmm,” he thought, twisting his little pink mouth to the side, looking adorable. “Oh, he likes Thor!” he suddenly said as he pointed to a Thor action figure. You wanted to laugh, but you resisted.

“Oh yeah?” you murmured as you pulled the figure off the wall. It was about $40, which was steep for a child’s toy, but you and Tom could spare some money for him. Heaven forbid you didn’t get a nice gift then all the other parents berate you for being rich and not sparing a dime on their kid. You rolled your eyes at the very thought.

Eyeing it, you had an idea for the toy, dropping it in the car.

Next was the birthday boy wrapping and birthday card. So the two of you ventured there, then picked up pizza on the way home, since you wouldn’t have time to make dinner.

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

The party day had arrived and you were ready to take Jaxton and the gift to the party. Tom would be working about sixteen hours today and Keanu was on a press tour for one of his movies.

“Jaxton! Come on, baby!” you called up the stairs as you checked your phone for the time, gathering your purse, the gift, the card, and everything else you needed to get him to this party.

A minute later, you heard his little legs coming down the stairs.

“Ready, bud?” you asked sweetly and he nodded. “Okay, let’s go,” you said with a smile as you led him outside, locked the door, and then got in the SUV and drove about twenty minutes to the boy’s home.

Jaxton got out, offering to take the present, you handed it to him, and took your purse and the card, going to the door and ringing the doorbell. A blonde woman, probably the Carter’s mother, answered.

“Hey!” she greeted, smiling brightly at you two.

“Hi! I hope we aren’t too late!” you said, realizing you were about five minutes late.

“No not at all. I’m Rebecca,” she said, leaning forward and shaking your hand.

“Y/N,” you responded. “And this here is Jaxton,” you said, putting your hand on his head as he smiled up at her.

“So nice to meet you. Well come on in! Jaxton, you can put that present over here with the others,” she instructed.

He followed her to the table and you handed him the card to stick with the gift. Meanwhile, you looked around at all of the balloons, decorations, the cake over on the counter. It was any kid’s dream birthday party.

“Everyone is out back in the bouncy house if you’d like to join them,” she said, leaning down to be closer to eye level with your son. He nodded and ran off.

You laughed and smiled as his dark curls bounced around his cherub, pale face, and you saw him join about ten other kids in a bouncy house.

“So, Y/N, what do you do?” Rebecca asked as a mom came from the backyard, leaving another woman out there.

“Oh, I design clothes,” you said simply.

The other woman slid up beside Rebecca, eyeing your knee length red dress, shiny pump heels, handbag, and accessories. You looked like you’d just stepped off a fashion magazine photoshoot.

“And...is this your design?” the new woman, a dark brunette with olive skin asked, a slight distaste in her tone and expression.

“Actually, yes, it is. I try to wear my designs as often as possible. To be a bit of a billboard,” you said, laughing but they didn’t return the gesture.

“I’m Lori, by the way,” the brunette suddenly said.

“Y/N,” you introduced, shaking her hand.

“So, Y/N, are you one of those designers that overprices her clothing so high normal, middle class people can’t wear them?” Lori inquired with a challenging eyebrow quirk.

You shook your head slightly, pursing your lips. “I don’t believe so.”

“How much is that dress?”

“About $95, but some of my dresses go as low as $35 and up to $1000... I try to market business savvy, professional women who want a fresh look. I don’t want women to feel like as soon as they hit thirty they have to suddenly settle for drab colors and patterns, but I don’t want them to feel like they’re dressing out of their age. I try to make it so that a realtor, an accountant, a marketing advisor...any professional woman can feel youthful and vibrant.”

“Do you always remember your mission statement?” Rebecca asked, incredulous.

“Well...it is my mission statement,” you reminded, getting a very jealous and hateful vibe from these women.

“Right,” Rebecca noted as she eyed you up and down. “Well, you’re welcome to stay or if you have things to attend to…” she said, sneering at you.

Typically, you would’ve left Jaxton to have fun, but these women were being vicious to you, what would they do to your child if you left him alone? Would they single him out too? Would they cast judgement?

“No, I think I’ll stay…” you said.

They nodded, looking at you as if you were a walking parasite.

“So, Lori, what do you do?” you asked.

“I’m a domestic engineer.”

“So...a stay at home mom?” you clarified.

She nodded, as if she were a CEO. “Mhm.”

The three of you continued to talk as you learned their occupations and their kids’ ‘names. Then you set out to help the kids, play with them, get drinks for them. The pizza was delivered and all the kids horded around the food as if they’d never seen food before. You helped get pizza’s on plates and get the kids the slices they wanted. After that, it was cake and ice cream time. They got Carter a Thor cake and you smiled, knowing he would absolutely flip over the gift you and Jaxton had picked out. Rebecca cut the cake, and Lori scooped the ice cream.

“Can I help?” you asked as you walked over to Lori.

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t want you to dirty up that pretty dress of yours,” she remarked.

You frowned slightly. “I’m sorry. Did I do something to offend you or did we get off on the wrong foot or…?”

She put her hands on the counter as she looked at you. “We don’t like rich women in the area pretending they’re better than us. Just because you’re some hot shot designer and married two actors doesn’t make you some superstar, okay?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think I was making anyone feel bad,” you offered.

“My kid wants to know why he doesn't have brand new shoes like Jaxton, or why his coat isn’t as nice as Jaxton or why he doesn’t have all the newest and greatest comic book stuff. So you and your son know you’re shoving your money in everyone’s faces,” she retorted.

“I would never do that,” you evenly said. “I’m sorry you feel that way but my son nor I would ever make anyone feel bad about money.”

“Save it, okay?” she said, exhaustion in her voice as she carried over the ice cream plates.

You frowned, not understanding why they held a resentment towards you or your son. You sighed and just let it go and rejoined the festivities, texting Tom.

“Do you think I flaunt our money?” you texted.

“What? No? Why?”

“This mom here....well, she said I pretend I’m better than everyone,” you said, chewing your lip.

“You don’t, darling. You’re classy and you like finer things. But I’ve never seen you rub it in anyone’s face…”

“Thanks,” you said.

“Sounds like a fun party, hehe.”

You smiled at his response, loving the fact that he could always make you smile, even when you were feeling mad or upset.

“Oh, it is, lol. Jaxton seems to be having a good time.”

“Well, that’s all that matters, right? : )”

“Right,” you agreed.

You put your phone away in your handbag and the eating finished and Rebecca announced that it was time to open gifts and all of the kids cheered and squealed. The presents were getting opened and you realized a lot of the gifts were way under the budget you’d spent. The most expensive gift you’d seen so far was about $20 and it was for a monster truck you’d remembered seeing at the store.

They got to yours and Jaxton’s gift and Carter tore off the paper excitedly, seeing a Thor action figure.

“Oh my gosh! Wow!” he exclaimed, clearly excited as he gripped it. “Thank you!” he said.

“Thor signed it!” Jaxton said suddenly, pointing at it.

Rebecca, Lori, and Charlene, the other mom, snapped their eyes to you then back to the gift.

“Mhm, Thor signed it,” you confirmed. “Flip it over,” you instructed and Carter did. On the back, in big black Sharpie, you had Chris sign it. He signed it as Thor and as himself. It said “To Carter, from the Mighty Thor.”

“You had Chris Hemsworth sign a Thor action figure?” Lori asked, clearly put out with you.

You shrugged. “Well, yeah, he’s a good friend of ours, especially Tom’s. We just called him and--”

“And how much did this set you back?” Rebecca demanded. “This is the collector’s edition. It’s about fifty bucks,” she remarked, looking t the other women, shock and disdain on her face. “But adding that signature makes it over $100.”

“I’m sorry, I don't understand the problem. I got your son a wonderful gift,” you said, confused, gesturing to the box still in his hands.

“There was a $20 cap,” Charlene informed, her voice condescending.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” you said, apologetic. You weren’t trying to show anyone up, but you were new to the whole birthday thing. You didn’t want to show up with a cheap gift and everyone accusing you of being a tightass.

“Well maybe if you spent more time being a mother, and spent time with your son, you would know,” Lori snapped.

Your eyes went wide at her attack. Was she really attacking you for being a working mother? For supporting your child? For supporting your family?

“Excuse me for wanting to get your child a thoughtful, priceless gift. I won’t make that mistake again with any of you.” You started yanking your things onto your arms. “Jaxton, baby, come on, we’re leaving. Clearly we aren’t welcome here.”

“No, you’re not,” Rebecca noted as Jaxton was out of his chair and walking over to you, his face fallen.

“I told you she’s a stuck up you-know-what,” Lori said quietly to the other two.

You gritted your teeth. “You know what? I’m not going to feel bad that I didn’t know about this stupid spending cap. Not all of us can lay round on our asses all day while our kids are at school. Some of us work to support our families, to make sure they have the very best. If you don’t like your kids feeling inadequate, don’t blame me or my son, get up off your ass and do something about it,” you snapped.

You took Jaxton’s hand and nearly ran out of the home, getting him in the car and belted in before driving home, muttering the entire time. A few times, you chanced a glance to Jaxton, who seemed sad. You assumed it was because you’d taken him from the party early.

“Bud, I’m real sorry about all of that,” you said, reaching over and patting his leg. “Those other mom’s were being real mean to me though and...Mommy lost her cool,” you said, sighing and running a hand through your hair.

“Now they’ll be even meaner to me,” he said so quietly, so under his breath you almost didn’t catch it.

You narrowed your eyes and stopped at a red light. “What did you say?” you inquired, your voice gentle but firm.

“The other kids...they...they’re gonna be mean to me now. More than ever,” he informed.

“The other kids are mean to you?” you asked before someone honked behind you, letting you know the light had turned green, but you’d been facing Jaxton and not paying attention. You jumped, waved a friendly wave in the mirror, and drove forward. “Honey, I want you to hold that thought, okay? We’ll talk when we get home.”

Your hands were kneading the steering wheel as your gut dropped. Your chest filled with dread. The idea of your son being bullied was...nauseating, enraging, and heartbreaking.

#custody battle #tom hiddleston fic #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston #keanu reeves fic #keanu reeves

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