#i stalk the cast members just to see if they post anything about the movie but they DON'T

[bat-the-misfit]

half of the world talking about the barbie movie, the other half talking about nimona and then there's me, Uncle Bat, still waiting for the goofiest teen mystery movie brazil will ever make

[psychic-refugee]

My original theory for S2 and the Stalker has completely been obliterated, and honestly from all the new big names attached to it, and the smaller names, it’s a lot to fit in only 8 episodes.

The cast is very crowded for an 8-episode season. With limited time and “space” in the story, I feel like with Wednesday the only common thread and obviously will be in every episode, and Ortega herself saying each episode will feel like its own movie, I feel like most of the actors will actually only get one episode.

There’s also some indication that some of the students have already wrapped up their filming (specifically Joy Sunday via IG posts who is a top billed star), which is very short to me if true and insinuates to me that only one or two episode will be at the school. Which also supports the other rumours that the Addams estate will be heavily featured.

I would like it if some of the students got a significant B plot to explore their characters more throughout the season, but I don’t have confidence in the writers to explore anyone but Wednesday. So far, every other character is just a prop for her.

My new theory is that the season will start at the Addams estate. Maybe a funeral to intro many new Addamses. Then each subsequent episode will have her deal with different Addamses and the family lore.

She’s also supposed to be on a break, so starting at the Addams estate makes sense to me.

In no particular order, but what I think will be included in episodes:

1: We see Wednesday’s home life and more interaction and possible backstory to her friction with Morticia. This will include Morticia, Gomez, Pugsly, and Grandmama. I don’t think Pubert exists in this universe.

2: Uncle Fester centered episode which will also serve as a backdoor pilot to his spinoff.

3-6: She visits with various Addamses, really expanding the Wednesday universe, each with their own issues she has to figure out. So, each episode is more or less a procedural, horror mystery/ “Outcast of the week” This will include Noah Taylor, Billie Piper, Christopher Lloyd, Francis O’Connor, Haley Joel Osmet, Heather Matarazzo, Joonas Suotamo.

Besides just having something to do over break, perhaps Wednesday visits family to test the stalker’s reach, who is still sending her proof of being stalked. When back at Nevermore, she finally figures out who the stalker is because she has eliminated who it couldn’t be based on how they’re able to stalk her from family member to family member and then back to Nevermore.

7-8: Break is over and they’re back at Nevermore. Enid will heavily be featured to talk about her status as a transformed wolf within her pack. Maybe talk about some issues with Ajax because he’s not a werewolf and now she has more options within the Werewolf community. We’ll also see what happened to Tyler and Sheriff Galpin. And it’ll introduce the new faculty at Nevermore.

Maybe Tyler confronts his dad about what he knew about his wife being a Hyde, if anything, and what it means to have a half-outcast child. Galpin will talk his son into accepting his responsibility in what happened, and Tyler voluntarily turns himself in and Thandiwe Newton is his new therapist, perhaps at the same insane asylum his mother.

Wednesday visits him before he’s on a long absence to get his powers and mental health in order. They make peace.

New students Evie Templeton and Owen Painter will feature. I wonder if Owen will be Enid’s triangle love interest, as he has dark, pale features like Ajax. Perhaps she has a type. lol

Xavier, Divina, Kent, and Yoko’s absence will be explained that their families feel that Nevermore has gone downhill and they are pulled from the school to attend an alternative Outcast school.

Steve Buscemi as the new Headmaster will do something to spring into the 3rd season and we’re left with a question about something. lol

[raraeavesmoriendi]

dast-pilled tinfoil hat speculation about last voyage of the demeter below:

(written when my adhd meds have worn off a fair amount so like reader beware)

alright, I’m cobbling together few different adaptations/timelines of dracula here so bear with me

obviously we’re not doing this movie strictly by the book (pun v much intended). we’re taking the log entries from the novel and running with it (which is. just how Adaptation Theory works, I know. but hang on.)

the introduction of new characters/fleshing out of people who were just barely named in the novel got me thinking about how in the lugosi/villarías simultaneous films in 1931, which were in turn based off the 1924 hamilton deane stage play (revised by balderson in ‘27 but w/e), renfield is present on the demeter. he is part of the journey as drac is picking off the crew one by one, instead of just waiting and growing more agitated at whitby, and it’s highly implied in the 30s films that it’s this trip that sent him fully over the edge into the manic state we see him in for the rest of the film.

this big reveal at the end of the journey, his discovery as the lone survivor of the ship by a horrified crowd, is a moment that was heavily referenced (beautifully, I would argue) in the recent nicholas hoult film, in which I think he knocked his dwight frye impression out of the fucking park.

(top: frye in 1931, bottom: hoult in 2023. again I say: goddamn!!!)

(not pictured: pablo álvarez rubio, who played renfield in the spanish language drácula filmed on the same sets during the same period but only at night IIRC bc Studio Racism to put it v bluntly, and who I honestly think was almost more horrifying in his manic laugh moment than frye.)

but so the thing I’m getting at, here, is there is room for a little… creative wiggle room, in just who turns out to be onboard this boat in this upcoming movie.

so I watched the trailer today while I was sitting around waiting for the new insidious (which imho was good if you like the franchise but that’s another post), and as someone who was already stoked for this movie and then got More Stoked when dast was cast, I found something kind of… interesting.

he’s really not featured in it a lot.

I mean I didn’t have a stopwatch out or anything, but in the most recent trailer, we maybe get a couple quick closeups of his face looking Alarmed/Concerned. but comparatively, we do get more footage of other crew members getting menaced/hunted/stalked/mauled.

so I was like “okay, maybe this is like the boogeyman, where he did a lot of press for it and then [spoiler].” so I went and checked imdb just to see what was up:

…he’s fourth billed.

so clemens is obvi the protagonist, anna seems to have a lot of lore to talk about in the trailer so she might be around as a key member, and then obviously the captain bc he’s our main point of view in the novel through his logs, IIRC. and there isn’t anyone else in the cast blatantly named “renfield.”

this does raise the question of “why is renfield using an alias and disguising himself as a deckhand to travel with drac” but then again, if I came onboard a ship and was openly associated with mysterious giant boxes of earth as cargo, and then something began fucking picking people off one by one when it got peckish, people would probably figure out there’s something fairly fishy about me and my giant fucking Dirty Boxes p quick. and in the ‘30s versions, the chapter was really presented as more a montage with some voiceover IIRC, only revealing renfield in the hold at the very end.

so what is dast doing in that particular spot if he’s just playing Some Guy? and why is he billed higher than dracula himself, javier botet? (whom I must add I adore from many things, and is one of my favorite Creature Guys next to the man himself, doug!)

(he’s like - eighth or ninth I think? and I get that he’s not billed v high bc we want to keep his onscreen presence fairly minimal to be properly scary, but in a film that’s ostensibly about dracula, it does make me wonder about the significance of the other characters listed before him.)

now look, I could be totally wrong on this - dast is also fourth billed in the boogeyman on imdb, and if you’ve seen it - well, You Know. but still! I don’t think this is totally impossible here!

bc he’s also been plugging an interview he did with botet in this month’s upcoming issue of Fangoria, which has LVoD as its cover

(I haven’t got my copy yet so I can’t confirm what all’s in there)

and one with horrorhound to boot:

so like! Idk! I could just really really want this to be the case, and the movie marketing team knows dast has a reasonably sized fanbase they can use to plug the movie to (me being a perfect case in point).

but I’m just saying… it’s not impossible we might get a second or third act plot twist that ends with dast having his own hysterical laughter closeup at the bottom of the deck stairs, yknow??

(god, that would be so rad. as a fellow horror nerd I would legit be so excited for him to get to have his own version of one of Thee Big Moments in film history.)

anyway, if anyone’s read anything somewhere that shoots this down, please feel free to lmk so I can adjust my expectations accordingly. I think I’m going to go back through the original chapter and see if there’s a Wojchek I happened to totally forgor (and not the historic bear I already associate with the name).

do with this what you will, maybe I’m totally delulu but I did at least want to bring up the possibility bc if I’m right that would just be the coolest shit in the world, imho.

also watch the old 30s movies if you can find them — they usually have cheap dvds of them at walmart during spooky season, in my experience, or try your local library. the lugosi version is iconic, but the villarías never got the recognition it deserved imho.

[watchingblsnowandforever]

Ep. 2

I remember seeing a post about how one of the cast members said that each episode takes off right where the last one ended, and i was surprised to see it actually did start right where it left off. But I like this; it's like an extended movie.

A lot of things happened in this episode, and in my life after i watched this episode, so here we are *checks calendar* four days later.

Anyways.

I like how confident Mew is about himself and his body, and how he doesn't waver in his stance. I appreciate it, because it's quite sad when boys 'give in' in BLs simply because the person chasing them is insistent, handsome, rich, and all that stuff.

Acknowledging that a public proposal is not very nice - twice, oh my gods, i love it. I have watched this trope so many times and mourned what it could have been. If someone did that to me, beside being embarrassed, i would leave them immediately, because if they do this to me, they don't know me at all.

This is a thing i have constantly talked against, because things like these are so personal. I fully support you showing your love to the world; i encourage it, in fact. I will personally beat up anyone (in my fanfics of course) who says anything not nice about my baby boys having a little PDA.

But, things like proposals and asking someone to be your partner if done so publicly… it's not a very nice experience for the person on the other side. If you do want to do something like this, discuss it beforehand, do not spring it as a surprise.

I digress.

Moving on.

The whole laser tag scene was very cool. It showed us, a little more clearly, that Mew is not someone you want to be messing with. He might seem like a friendly, harmless romantic bookworm (also, "i got specs because i read too much." Sseriously? You get specs when you can't read.) but he's an observant little devil that will not hesitate to hit you where it hurts if you do something he doesn't like.

Top being vulnerable was nice. It's a sign that maybe, just maybe, he does want more than sex.

I have nothing to say about Boston and Nick. Not yet. There's a lot of undertones in that relationship that i want to put under a microscope and some things (namely Boston) that i am very frustrated with, but nothing that i truly don't like. It's too early though.

Dun dun dun. Ray and Sand entering a weird very normal 'friends who have sex' dynamic.

"Can I throw money at you now?"

I'm not lying when I say my eyes glinted at this scene. I was this close to an evil laugh.

And the trailer lies again. Anyone surprised? No? Thought so.

Ray just acted like he was looking at the girls so Sand didn't realize he was stalking him following him to find out if he was a drug dealer.

The bar has a big YOLO neon sign, Sand's bag has "You only live once". I'm thinking it'll come up a lot in this show.

The very thing we have been waiting for since The Eclipse ep. 1.

That scene. . .whoo boy. I almost bit my tongue off, no kidding.

"You'll keep wanting me, but I'll just be your friend."

If one day, I don't update my OF Weekly, you know the cause of my death ^

Am I a little obsessed with RaySand (FirstKhaotung)?

. . .

Maybe.

Let's move on.

Oh no, angst starts next episode. Gotta get my tissues and chocolate ready.

I most probably have missed a lot of things, and if i remember I'll come back and edit.

I'm not personally making any clips, but if you want one, don't hesitate to put in a request :D

See ya next week ✌🏽

Only Friends Weekly

In these reviews, I will scream, sob, throw things etc. etc.

Ep. 1

Welp. They didn't hold back on the heat. Like there's at least one sex scene in every single part of the very first episode.

Lots of subtexts, as usual.

And my favourite thing: very, very, VERY gay.

The chemistry is off the charts, seriously. And their acting is just wow. They went over and beyond with this, really.

NeoMark first interaction? Gods, don't even get me started on that. And FirstKhao? Slaying as usual.

First is kinda like Akk with a bit of Yok, but more gay and slay. Khaotung is Ayan ×10 but a pathetic little meow meow and also a slut.

Oh, and there's Drake. Yeah, Drake Drake. With Neo.

We got the TopMew kitchen scene in THE VERY FIRST EPISODE.

This series is going to Do Things to me, and I'm all in for the ride. Hopes and prayers.

P'Jojo is giving us everything we ever wanted and everything we didn't know we need. I am we.

(A couple of) Fav scenes (there are more but I'm too tired to screenshot 'em all):

I love how Boston is so gray in so many ways. And Neo nailed everything about the character.

[perfectlywrongformend3s]

Starstruck- Louis Partridge x Reader

Hey! I had a request. that's actually an idea that you can use if you like it :) ok so it can be a louispxreader and the reader is a singer. they meet in a Ceremony and they become friends and maybe after a while they fall for each other and confess? you can change it however you want it. thanks <3

Requested: Yes

Word Count: 2943

Warning: Just lots of fluff

Taglist: @girlincrimson

A/n: Sorry for not getting to you sooner. I am going to try to get out imagines and request as best I can this week. I am booked with work all week this week. Also requests are open.

I changed a little bit of it, but most of it is still the same as you requested.

P.s The songs that I will be using are not mine, they belong with the talented writers and their respectful owners.

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

Your POV

I was in my dressing room waiting to be called to go on stage when I got a notification from instagram. I saw that the actor Louis Partridge followed me. I decided to do some stalking and found some really interesting photos and pictures of him. While I was looking at this one photo of him getting his makeup done I accidentally liked the photo. I then immediately started panicking, because I didn't mean to like it. Before I could do anything about it, I was called to go on stage.

I grabbed my guitar and slowly made my way up to the front of the stage. I could feel the excited energy rising off the fans that came to the show tonight. I felt a smirk form on my face when the lights came on. I heard all the fans start screaming, which made me let out a little giggle into the microphone.

“ How is everyone doing tonight!” I shouted into the mic

I laughed at how everyone was screaming again. I decided to start off with my most popular song right now. I started playing the chords to my song ‘ Good 4 you’

“ Ah. Well, good for you, I guess you moved on really easily. You found a new girl and it only took a couple weeks. Remember when you said that you wanted to give me the world? (Ah-ah-ah-ah)”

I then made the crowd sing along with me.

“ Well, good for you. You look happy and healthy. Not me. If you ever cared to ask.”

I let the crowd scream the lyrics while I continued to play the guitar. I then grabbed the microphone and screamed..

“ Well, good for you, I guess you’re gettin’ everything you want. (Ah) You brought a new car and your career’s really takin’ off (Ah) It’s like we never even happened.”

While singing, I walked up the front and held the microphone close to them and let them scream the lyrics.

I then jumped in with them.

“ Person who ever got you? Well, screw that and screw you. You will never have to hurt the way you know that I do.”

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

Louis POV

I was on the set of Enola Holmes when my phone buzzed indicating that I got a notification. I pulled it out to find the most famous singer I was in love with and liked one of my photos. I was just staring at my screen when my phone got snached out of my hand.

“ Ooh, what’s got you blushing like that? It looks like you turned into a very red tomato.” I heard Millie speak

I watched her face change from teasing to super shocked. I still felt shocked.

“ What! How?” She spits out

I shrugged my shoulders in response. Millie then gave me a playful glare. “ What do you mean you don’t know?”

I gave Millie a look of confusion. “ Millie, I just don’t know how she found my account. I mean I follow her but I don’t think she would ever follow me.”

She just nodded her head and handed my phone back. I then slid it into my pocket before we had to go back to our scene together.

Your POV

I was getting closer to the end of my new song so I went back to my microphone stand and put the mic back in its place before lowering my voice.

“ Maybe I’m too emotional, But your apathy’s like a wound in salt. Maybe I’m too emotional, or maybe you never cared at all. Maybe I’m too emotional, Your apathy is like a wound in salt.” I started leaning into my microphone and started getting my voice ready to shout soon. “ Maybe I’m too emotional, or maybe you never cared at all.” I then let the crowd sing the chorus until I shouted into the mic “ LIKE A DAMN SOCIOPATH!” I heard the crowd scream loud when I did that so I let out a giggle before continuing my song.

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

I was now sitting down on my stool that one of my band mates brought over for me. I was strumming my acoustic guitar on my lap to my next song while talking to my fans.

“ How is everyone doing tonight?”

I got back a bunch of screams and I even heard some responses back which made me smile. “ Alright guys the show is wrapping up soon-” Before I could continue I heard the crowd “ Aww” in response. “ You guys are funny, but I have had such an amazing time hanging out and singing for you guys. I just want to let you know I have about two more songs for you guys. So the first song I want to play for you guys is ‘ Happier’ and then the last and final song of the night is going to be' ‘Good Boy’’.”

I gave the crowd a smile before going back to playing the chords to my song ‘ Happier’

I got closer to the mic and sang the first words…

“ We broke up a month ago.Your friends are mine, you know I know. You’ve moved on, found someone new. One more girl who brings out the better in you. And I thought my heart was detached. From all the sunlight of our past. But she’s so sweet, she’s so pretty, Does she mean you forgot about me?”

I then stop singing for a little while with a small frown on my face before looking up to find the crowd with their phone lights out. I gave a small smile before going back to a frown. I then sang..

“ Oh, I hope you’re happy, But not like how you were with me. I’m selfish, I know, I can’t let you go. So find someone great, but don’t be happier.”

I then pointed for the crowd to take over the singing for a little bit while I played the chords.

Louis POV Millie and I just finished our last scene of the movie so we had to change out of our outfits and head to the place where we were meeting the rest of the cast and crew members for a one last dinner event.

I was the last to arrive as per usual, so we all laughed it off before having a great time with each other before heading off in different directions.

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

Once I was back to my house I fell into my bed and layed there for quite some time. I got interrupted with a text message, so I grabbed my phone and said Millie sent me a link to something. Without thinking I clicked on it and saw that it was a video of Y/n singing one of her popular songs. I smiled while watching it due to my huge crush on her, if I ever met her in real life I probably would pass out in front of her.

Your POV

After I sang my last line of my last song I yelled into the mic…

“ I LOVE YOU LONDON! SEE YOU REAL SOON AGAIN!”

I then ran off stage and headed to my dressing room to pack my things to then get on my toru bus that will take me to my hotel that I was staying at. While I was sitting on the bus I decided to post a couple of my pictures I took and put them on my instagram page. After I did that I then decided to stalk that actor I saw on my feed.

‘Time Jump’

It was one of the most important days of my life because I was nominated for an award at the Grammys. So I was with my make up team and someone was helping me with my outfit also. It was a simple but fashionable dress with some simple black high heel shoes.

Third Person POV

Louis was heading to the Grammy’s because of his new movie getting picked for one of the categories, but Y/n also got a nomination for Top artist, and album of the year. The both of them were so close to seeing each other in real life and they didn’t expect each other to be so starstruck.

Louis’s POV

I was walking around the red carpet with Millie when she got asked to do an interview so I stood back and waited for her to be done. While I was waiting I heard a familiar laugh being heard only a couple of feet ahead of me. I then snapped my head into the direction to find the one and only Y/n Y/l/n laughing with the person interviewing her. It took me a little while to process everything that was going around me because I could only see her in the room. I felt my heart start beating faster and felt my hands start shaking a little bit.

Millie’s POV

I was finally done with my interview when I saw Louis staring at something so I followed his eyes and saw him staring at Y/n. I felt a smirk form on my lips and pulled him over to her with all the strength I had in me.  I heard him telling me to stop but I didn’t listen since I waited to meet her too.

Your POV

I was talking to someone when I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder which made me turn my head. I saw a teenage girl and a teenage boy behind me, so I smiled before giving them my attention.

“ Hi, I’m Millie Bobby Brown and this is my friend Louis Partridge.”  she said

“ Hi, Are you guys fans? Also, are you guys by any chance actors in this movie called Enola Holmes?” I questioned

Millie looked at me shocked and nodded her head. I gave her a smile before holding my arms out to give her a hug. I felt her wrap her arms around me. “ I am such a big fan of your music and I could say the same for him back there too.”

I let out a giggle before releasing her and looked behind her to find Louis just staring. I walked over to him and gently put my hand on his shoulder which made him jump. I raised an eyebrow “ Are you good?” He then just gave me a nod. I turned my head due to hearing Millie speak.

“ He was just in shock. He's in love with you.”

Louis’s POV

I felt my face getting hotter by the minute and glared at Millie. She gave me an innocent look and smirked before walking off and leaving me with Y/n. I saw her turn around and smile at me.

“ So in love with me.” She teased

I gave out a chuckle before scratching the back of my neck and looking back at her. I was about to answer her but someone told us to head to the seats to hear the winners. I watched her walk away and smiled before heading to my seat next to Millie.

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

Once the awards were over I decided to search for Y/n before leaving to head back to my hotel room. I saw her getting hugs from people so I stood back.

Your POV

I smiled at everyone and turned due to feeling eyes on me. I saw Louis and smiled at him. I walked over to him and gave him a hug and whispered. “ Congrats on your award.” I felt his breath on the side of my neck and heard him doing the same to me. I then pulled back due to hearing my name and slipped a piece of paper to him before kissing the side of his cheek.

Third Person POV

Louis stood there with a shocked expression again. He then looked down at the piece of paper to find her number and a message that said ‘ call me’. He then felt himself smile before heading back to his hotel to rest up.

‘Time Jump’

Y/n was chilling in her apartment writing a song when she heard her phone ring. She picked it up to find an unknown number, but just answered it hoping it would be Louis.

“ Hello?” she said with caution

“ Hi” she heard him say

Which made her let out a little giggle. “ I thought you would never call me.” she responded with. Louis chuckled on the other end. “ Yea, sorry about that. I was a little scared to call you.” Before he could say anything else he heard giggles coming from the other end of the line.

“ Why Louis?” Louis thought hard about what his next response was going to be because he didn’t want to straight up say because we were meant to be together or I was just scared of rejection. Louis finally decided to just ask..

“ Y/n.” he took a pause “ I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me?”

Your POV

I let out a gasp when I heard those words and started nodding but forgetting he couldn't see me so I said..

“ Ofcourse, I will go out with you, Louis.”

Then we just chatted about our days for the rest of the day.

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

The day my date with Louis came so quickly then I could have blinked and I was not prepared. I ran all over my house looking for things to finish off my outfit before it was time to go.

I heard a knock on my door indicating that he was here so I slipped on my heels and carefully made my way to the door. Once I opened it I was met with those hazel eyes that I fell in love with.

“ Wow, you look stunning.” he said

I felt myself start blushing. I then took in his look and stated that… “ Well you look really handsome.”

He then held his hand out for me to take. “ My lady,” he said in his accent, which made me let out a small giggle.

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

We were coming up to the end of the date already. He took me to this beautiful restaurant where we are now sharing a piece of cake. I saw him staring at me so I questioned him.

“ What?”

He let out a soft chuckle. “ Nothing, you're just really beautiful looking under this light.”

I felt myself start to blush which made me look down. Before I knew it I felt two fingers lift it back up. “ Don’t look down, you're gorgeous when you get all flustered.” That only made me blush harder. “ Stop.” I said giggling which made him chuckle.

Before I knew it we were back in his car driving back to my place. I was looking out the window when I felt him put his hand on my leg, which sent chills all over my body. I then put my hand on top of his and intertwined our fingers together. I smiled at the thought of us going on more dates.

Louis’s POV

I pulled into her driveway and parked my car. I turned to face her when I saw her already looking at me. I then released her hand and got out of the car to go to her side and open it for her. I walked her to her door where we both stood there for a little while. I then took a risk and leaned forward. I could feel her breath on me, I then closed the gap between us. I could feel her smile into the kiss before I felt her wrap her arms around the back of my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist to pull her in to me more. She pulled away but kept her forehead against mine.

“ I really like you Louis.” She whispered against my lips

I smiled and said, “ I really like you too Y/n.”

I then leaned in again to give her another goodnight kiss before heading off. I walked over to my car and got in, I then waved at her with a smile on my face and pulled out of the driveway.

Third Person POV

Y/n watched Louis drive off into the distance. She felt a smile creep on her face before heading inside to dream about her date with him. Louis felt the same as her. He felt all giddy inside and he could help but smile at the thought of her. He was already planning the next date for them to go on together.

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

Man this is long, but it was worth it because I got major butterflies from writing this for you. I hope you enjoy and if you would like more Louis then comment and I definitely write more of him.

-Samantha

[superwinkies]

Super Junior:  Dating a Popular Broadway/Musical Actress

//weee back at it again with another headcanon! Hope the anon who requested it liked it! Tell me what you think! Also, i’m including Sungmin in all my writings now! But, it will be him and his wife! Sorry if you’re an OT9 or what! //

Boyfriend Leeteuk would never fail to monitor your performances.

but, it’s not like would comment on your skills or abilities.

it’s the small things like, how you gaze at the cast in some scenes, or like your hand motions when you do some actions.

he won’t criticise but would give you his feedbacks, which you appreciate most of the time.

also, it’s his thing to attend only the last performance. 

“end it with a bang!” he says

and when he does, it’s grand. Him dressing to the nines, biggest flower wreath for you, packed dinner box for all the cast and crew.

however, will always send you an encouraging text each night of your performance.

your relationship with him was not low key at all. it was kinda hard to keep it on the DL at first but you were relieved when you two went official.

You two now go anywhere and everywhere without caring a bit of the cameras and papparazis.

ooh biggest supporter Kim Heechul!!

he would always say, “not bad,”, but then you see him going on his youtube live and showering you with endless compliments.

“I thought you said it was not bad?”

you would then see him smiling shyly scratching the back of his head shyly.

Heechul is a busy man, so it is expected that he would miss your performance often.

but, he always makes it up! Either by sending gifts to the whole cast, or a simple dinner when you come back home.

dates with Heechul are mostly Netflix and Chilling at home. 

both of you being popular sometimes made it hard to go do normal couple things.

you mentioned once that you want to go picnic

lo and behold, Heechul prepared a picnic in his house. Set up fake grass, with a mat and picnic food.

constant harmless bicker but Heechul accommodates to you a lot. He probably would do everything for you

OKAY HE”S SWEET PLEASE!

Boyfriend Yesung would always go to your performances. You told him going once is enough but he insisted that you are too good to only watch once. 

Every performance he goes, he is always bringing different people. He says he wants everyone to see you perform.

Yesterday was his brother, the other day was two of the members and tomorrow will be with his school friends.’

Always a single stalk of rose for you which he will give once he meets you backstage at the end.

as much as your relationship was publicised, Yesung rarely ever posts about you on his social media. 

at first you thought it was because he was ashamed of you, but later you find out he didn’t want you to just be known as “Yesung Girlfriend” or get hate comments. 

also, you two would travel a lot together. If it’s not to a new country, it would be a short drive to the neighbouring city.

you liked that because people don’t swarm the both of you. you have your privacy and it’s usually one or two people who recognise you. 

also, both of you love going to record stores to find some hidden gems. 

a lot of cafe dates! and also museum dates!

for some reason Shindong do not want to publicise the relationship.

he went through it once and he don’t want you to go through the hate or scrutiny especially not when you are the country’s best musical actress.

Shindong is very careful. At first it kind of frustrates you but you slowly got to understand where he is coming from and to be quite honest, you like keeping it low key.

Dates with him are usually evening drives, watching movies in a less crowded theatre or walks at his nearby parks.

But, mostly chilling in his each other house.

No fancy public gestures, no surprise or anything on your performance day.

But, he will attend at least once, at least with his group of friends to not make it obvious. 

Come the end of the performance, you went to his home to relax and wind down.

You entered to his house decorated, with balloons and music and stuff, with CONGRATULATIONS hanging off the wall. 

He took your hands and made you sit.

Shindong would play the video he secretly took of you performing, you practicing in his house. 

You know he feels apologetic.

“I love it,” you would say as you softly caress his cheeks.

shut up our favourite dumpling is married to an actual musical actress!!

so cute okay!! please!!

Sungmin would be the most supportive person ever okay! Making time to see his wife before she starts performing!

Always sending her words of encouragement!

If he can attend, he would in a heartbeat. But when he can’t he would send you a text to ease her nerves!

He would definitely post on his social media about her performances night. 

Going on YT live together, doing fun tiktoks together, featuring on each other channel!

Just cute married couple things okay?

A lot of dates at home because our resident married couple gets tired easily!

Eunhyuk appreciates musical but even more so after dating you.

He admires the effort and hours of practice you do every single day. 

You would say, “babe, it’s the same for you?”

“Nah, I just dance. You belt out all your high notes like you’re talking!”

You would often shake your head and he would always like gently pull your closer using his arms and kiss the top of your head.

Man would attend your first performance, sitting first row. Doesn’t matter if he’s alone or with his members. 

When you would make eye contact with him, he would put out a small wave so as to not distract you. 

Somehow, this always makes you more confident. Like a boost of adrenaline. 

your relationship with him was mostly “accepted” by the general public and his fans. 

in fact, his fans would sometimes do an ad for your performance or even like send your cast and crew gifts.

likewise, your fans would sometimes send a coffee truck to his concert.

Dates with him were more free. Shopping dates, food dates. Basically normal couple dates. 

But, every date must have a slot for the both of you to eat ice cream because both you loves ice cream too much. 

sometimes, you two would go to the park, get a tub of ice cream from a convenience store and people watch as you dig in to your tub. 

Hae is the biggest fool for you to be honest

like everything you do is beautiful to him. Your smile, the way you smile, when you sing, when you focus on your script. 

He just loves everything about you OKAY

your biggest supporter! He would always post your performance on his social medias, telling his fans and followers to go support you!

He just loves tagging you, in the most random meme, edits of the both of you made by yours or his fans.

Donghae would never miss your performance. He goes to any night available if he’s free.

The one time he couldn’t was when the group toured South America.

Facetiming you to send you his words of encouragement and support! He would also ask his brother to send you a flower wreath on his behalf.

Donghae enjoys going out with you. Whether it’s to run errands or exploring new food, or even going to museums. 

His camera roll would be filled with his secret recordings of your perfomances or your candid photos he couldn’t bare to delete.

siwon is your #1 fan without a doubt!

siwon wouldn’t show his support publicly but he motivates you to be the best musical actress you can be.

“what is one challenge yo want to embark as a musical actress?”, he would ask one day randomly.

It took you a while to give him an answer. 

you eventually did

“I want to be at the top of my game. I want to perform at Broadway and have the public acknowledge my hard work”

He looks at you, only amazed and respect.

and that has become your goal since then. you were thankful for siwon for helping you realise your directions.

Siwon would usually attend at least one of your performances because #1 fanboy.

When he couldn’t he would make sure he calls you and cheers you on.

Siwon loves going on dates with you.

Sometimes, it’s exciting dates like a theme park or disco roller skating. Other times, it’s cultural appreciation dates. Occasionally, quiet chill dates at each other’s houses with books of your choice and coffee.

definitely each other support system! 

somehow, loves taking selfies with you!

“for memories,” he would always say. 

being an established musical actor himself, Ryeowook would always ask you to monitor him. 

More so than he monitors you.

Ryeowook would want like one feedback from you after each performance you attended.

It’s always things like “maybe you can vibrate your notes at the end?”, “keep your hand motion smooth?”

He takes your feedback seriously and he respects you. 

Wook also likes the fact that he don’t have to keep his relationship private.

Would also attend your performances and like standing ovation each time, even if he is doing it alone.

But, he does keep it low key. Only ever mentioning you vaguely in his vlogs.

with him, it never felt like you are dating a celebrity. likewise for wook. And he absolutely loved that feeling.

It makes going out with you easier. 

He absolutely loves going on walks with you. You were sure you went to more parks than you ever did your entire life. 

Dates with him are mostly at Incheon because he likes to show you the places he grew up in. 

You absolutely love going on coffee runs with him. You enjoy just grabbing coffee and sitting with him as you talk about your lives. 

in private, both of you love drinking. It’s like a thing for the both of you if both of you do not have schedule. 

also, a private duet when you are your house. Him playing the piano and harmonising as you sing.

power couple OKAY?!?!

Top musical actress and idol turned musical actor was sure to get people talking. 

it did!

but it was a lot of positive reactions and endless support.

so much so that the public and fans wants the both of you to star in one musical together. 

when it happened, tickets were immediately sold out. They had to extend more slots. 

Ads and news of the two of you were everywhere!!

Both your fans were always sending gifts to the cast and crew, and there were always endless flower wreaths on your performing nights. 

Despite the blow up in support, Kyuhyun and you were still wary. You realised that one wrong move could backfire the two of you and the support you two have been receiving. 

wary or not, the two of you still go on dates, sometimes public sometimes private. Mostly private. 

You like going on escape room dates or the movies or finding the best tteokbokki with him, but you also like cooking said tteokbokki and eating with him at the comfort of your own homes. 

[tardisbadwolfrose]

The Hargreeves and... In the Heights!

Vanya walked past the 37 Arts Theater as they were putting up the poster for “In the Heights” and got curious. Tickets weren’t so expensive and she had gotten a good gig a couple of weeks before, doing music for a Jewish wedding out in Flatbush, so she had a little bit of extra money and she went in and bought a ticket.

She fell in love with the arrangements almost immediately. She wasn’t a particular rap fan either, but this was… it was good.

She started stalking the show and bought the cast album as soon as it became available.

She started warming up with “Everything I Know” a few months after the show came out on Broadway and a few days later, she found two tickets to the show in her violin case, with a note that said “I heard you warming up and thought you might appreciate these. Come to the stage door afterwards. Your name will be on the list.”

She found Klaus walking down a random street downtown and dragged him with her to see it. It was even better the second time around.

It turned out that one of the percussionists in the pit for the show was friends with a tuba player in her orchestra, and she arranged for her to get the tickets.

(Or so she was told by said percussionist when they went backstage. Her name was Maria. She had brown eyes and black hair and reminded Vanya of Mimi Marquez from RENT. They hung out together twice after that night, getting dinner and catching a movie, and then Maria claimed she wanted to explore other options and Vanya was taken aback because she hadn’t thought they were dating.)

Klaus ended up making “friends” with one of the ensemble members. Or, at least, he insisted to Ben that they were just friends, but Klaus ended up sleeping with her for two weeks.

(Her name was Carmen and she tended to wake him up in the morning when she started doing scales at 9:00 AM. They broke up when Klaus got nervous about getting too attached and left and never came back.)

After he saw the show, Klaus would start singing “96,000” every time he passed by any place that sold lottery tickets.

Vanya, meanwhile, obsessed over “Breathe.”

Post-apocalypse, they were playing the album one day and were shocked when Allison started singing along with “It Won’t Be Long Now” and knew every lyric because this wasn’t the first time they’d referenced or played Heights in front of her and she’d never said anything about being a fan.

They were even more surprised when Diego perfectly rapped Usnavi’s part in “The Club.”

Turns out, Eudora had taken him to see it back when they were still dating.

It turned into the only show he really enjoyed, until Hamilton came out.

[mst3kproject]

Curse of Bigfoot

This is a very bad mummy movie from the 60’s which was re-edited and re-released as an unbelievably bad bigfoot movie in the 70’s.  It would belong on the Satellite of Love even if it didn’t have a small part for Jackie Neyman Jones.  Remember her? Debbie from Manos: the Hands of Fate?  Yeah, as far as I know she’s the only member of the cast ever to do any non-Manos-related film work for the entire rest of her life and it was this.

Once upon a time, somewhere in the American Southwest, Primitive Man was terrorized by Even More Primitive Man.  In modern times, a Bigfootology professor is giving a guest lecture to a class of students.  First he shows them a clip of a movie just as bad as the one we’re watching, then we get an inaccurate history of bigfoot, including the tale of two idiots in a pickup truck who get a big, hairy ass-whooping.  Then, half an hour into the movie, we finally get to what’s supposed to be the main plot.  A professor of archaeology takes some of his students into the wilderness to help excavate an ‘ancient Indian campsite’, but along with the expected potsherds and prayer sticks, they find a tomb containing a mummy from a lost prehistoric civilization.  It comes to life and shambles off into the forest to kill people, because it’s a movie and mummies do that.

This movie does not waste time.  It starts sucking right out of the gate.  Almost everything that’s going to be wrong with it is introduced in the first ten minutes, as if the movie wants to prepare us for the ordeal ahead.

The opening sequence is an incredibly drawn-out scene of a woman getting up in the middle of the night to calm her barking dog, only to be killed by a zombie that wanders out of the woods.  This scene is around six times longer than it needed to be. We almost have to watch every moment of the dog drinking a bowl of milk she pours for it.  The woman’s voice was dubbed in post, and neither the voice nor the physical acting is any good.  The sequence is supposed to take place in the middle of the night, but was clearly filmed at high noon, reaching Attack of the The Eye Creatures levels of not giving a shit in having the sun appear in several shots, standing in for the moon!  The actual attack happens off screen, because the film-makers could not afford effects.

Then this part ends, and we realize that what we just saw was supposed to be a clip from a horror film that the professor was showing his students.  This provides a fleeting moment of hope, as we think perhaps its overwhelming badness was intended as parody. No such luck.  We then move into the two loggers getting stalked and killed by bigfoot.  The monster costume is different, but this piece is identical in anti-quality to the zombie scene.  The film-makers were just morons, and these mistakes continue throughout the entire ninety-minute run time.

It’s actually astonishing that the movie is so consistent in its incompetence, because we are in fact watching two different films here. Curse of Bigfoot has a backstory similar to that of They Saved Hitler’s Brain, in that somebody in the fifties made a short movie and somebody else, years later, added useless filler to expand it into something they could show in a late-night TV slot. They Saved Hitler’s Brain feels very bifurcated, the new material being both narratively and stylistically different from Madmen of Mandoras.  But if you didn’t know that Curse of Bigfoot was twenty minutes of extra film sewn onto a 1963 movie called Teenagers Battle the Thing, you might not immediately notice.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll probably remember that I thought Madmen of Mandoras was a significantly better movie than They Saved Hitler’s Brain (even if it still was definitely not a good movie) – the added footage was distracting and pointless.  These two films, however, I would say are about equally awful.  The footage added to Curse of Bigfoot is still pointless, but it looks exactly like what was originally shot for Teenagers Battle the Thing, the only noticeable difference being a slight change in the film stock! Both are depressingly earth-toned movies in which it takes for-fucking-ever for anything to happen, with night scenes shot in the blazing daylight, and lines dubbed in by bad voice actors over bad physical performances. Both feature shitty monster suits and every possible cost-cutting measure.

This leads me to wonder whether Curse of Bigfoot might be terrible on purpose.  The people tasked with turning Teenagers Battle the Thing into a full-length movie got a couple of the actors back to play their older selves in the added footage.  Making stuff match was clearly on their minds.  Could they have actually thought things like, “we’d better use the wrong filter for this, or it won’t be as bad as the day-for-night in the original footage!” or “we need to pad this attack a bit, to match the pace!”?  If so… I don’t know whether to be impressed, or just to crawl under the bed and cry.

On the other hand, Curse of Bigfoot does at least try to do one thing better than Teenagers Battle the Thing – it wants to have something to say.  It spells this thesis out for us in the opening narration and in the professor’s speech about horror movies: our society has forgotten about monsters.

We in the twenty-first century don’t spent much time thinking about monsters unless we happen to be film-makers, political commentators, or maybe paleontologists trying to figure out what the fuck this bugger is.  It wasn’t so long ago, however, that they were very real to many people.  Archaeological evidence suggests that people in New England believed in vampires as recently as the 1820s.  Nowadays, monsters have been taking out of the ‘scary’ category and placed in the ‘fun’ one, and so when people report things like bigfoot or a sea serpent, we don’t take them very seriously.

Bigfoot, sea monsters, and vampires don’t really exist, obviously, but in losing our fear of monsters we may have lost a proper respect for nature.  Every so often the newspapers in my city carry a story of some tourist who tried to get a better selfie with a grizzly bear and got mauled.  We are so used to thinking that we have tamed nature, that there are no monsters left, that we don’t recognize danger when we’re confronted with it.  This certainly seems to be a theme of the stories we’re presented with in Curse of Bigfoot: it never occurs to the woman in the opening that her barking dog may be trying to warn her of danger, or to the two loggers that the mysterious figure in the woods might mean them harm.

The party of archaeology students certainly don’t think they’re heading into any danger, despite the fact that they repeatedly do dangerous things.  A group of them climb to the top of a cliff to see where a fallen stone came from, and never worry about falling.  When they pry open the tomb entrance, the strange smoke that wafts out might be considered a warning sign, but they ignore it.  They head right into this dark hole without any worries about rodents, rattlesnakes, or cave collapses.  When one character warns the others that the mummy has just moved, they laugh it off. A couple go for a walk through the dark woods at night to get to a vending machine, without a second thought.

Lest you think I’m in any way praising this movie, I’m not – I just like my reviews to be at least a certain length, so sometimes I really dig for material.  This was a dig on the level of saying The Incredible Melting Man is about how we treat the elderly.  My high school English teacher might buy it, but I doubt anyone else would.

One thing I do wonder is why they chose to reframe this as a bigfoot movie.  The footage from Teenagers Battle the Thing makes it very clear that this is a mummy movie, although they couldn’t afford any of the genre’s traditional accessories.  Instead of a museum and a treasure, we get one cabin in the woods and… that’s all. When the characters talk about the situation, they always describe the monster as a mummy, and even when they theorize that it’s the product of a lost civilization, the idea that it may not be human never crosses their minds.  It is not particularly tall.  It is not remarkably hairy.  It looks nothing like the bigfoot the two loggers saw, although it does somewhat resemble the zombie from the opening.  Why the man telling the story decided this being must be bigfoot is an absolute mystery.

The only thing I can come up with as an explanation is that bigfoot movies were popular in the 1970s.  Having seen a number of these, I can’t say I find them particularly inspiring.

Curse of Bigfoot is almost incomprehensibly boring, to the point where I’m not sure MST3K could have done much with it if they had featured it.  In the opening sequence it takes forever for the woman to be attacked and then we don’t see it.  In the logger sequence it takes forever for the guy to be attacked and then we don’t see it.  And in the main plot it takes forever for anyone to be attacked and then we don’t see it! The only attack we see is when the mummy attacks the sheriff at the climax and that really, really wasn’t worth the wait.

Congratulations, Jackie Neyman Jones – you managed to be in a movie worse than Manos.

[bookworlders]

are you ever going to finish of corporate scandals?

yes! one day! but not today lol here’s a new percabeth au instead! it’s based off the movie The Wedding Date. 

Annabeth’s old camp buddies, Piper and Jason are getting married and the whole gang is reuniting for the celebration. Luke is her ex who broke her heart, and she refuses to show up alone to their wedding so she takes her roommate’s advice. She hires a fake boyfriend. 

part 1

Annabeth checked and rechecked the tickets in her hand. The 5:15PM Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Montauk. Platform 7. She had that info submitted to memory from the moment she bought the tickets. Her phone buzzed. Her hand flew to her jacket pocket. A boarding notification. She exhaled, glad it wasn’t the “Hey, this plan is crazy and so are you, I’m out!” text she had been expecting.

“Annabeth?”

She whirled around, dragging her suitcase along with her. Oh gods, he was taller than she remembered. And much more handsome. “Hi.”

“Sorry I’m late, babe.”  grabbed her waist and kissed her.

~

“Honey, I’m home!” Rachel yelled, kicking off her red rainboots and dumping her keys on the dining table. Annabeth waved at her from the couch, motioning to her phone.

“Who is it?” Rachel asked, already stalking across their apartment to the kitchen to rummage for food.

“Piper,” Annabeth mouthed. She covered the receiver, “Rach, if you’re looking for the leftovers from yesterday, they’re long gone.”

“You bitch.” She swung open the refrigerator.

“What—No, of course I’m paying attention, Pipes—Yeah, got it, dress rehearsal is at seven, pictures on Sunday at ten.”

“Bridezilla come out yet?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. Piper was the most laid-back bride in the world. She covered the receiver again, “More like Groomzilla.” Rachel laughed, as Piper continued to rattle off the list of appointments Jason had asked her to pass along to Annabeth. “Listen, Pipes, I have to go. Facetime me during your fitting tomorrow. Love you. See you soon. Bye.”

Annabeth tossed her phone on the coffee table before walking into their tiny, Manhattan-sized kitchen to join her roommate. “How was rehearsal?” Annabeth asked, leaning against the counter as Rachel scarfed down leftovers she managed to dig out of their fridge.

“Terrible. How was your day?”

“Also terrible.”

“Why? Remote wedding planning not working out?”

“No, the wedding is going to be perfect. I’m an awesome bridesmaid even though I’m across the country from them. It’s just, you know, certain people…”

“Luke.”

“Yes, Luke. He’s going to be a groomsman now.”

“Oof.”

“So now I won’t just have to bear seeing him at the wedding. He’s going to be there all weekend for all the wedding prep.”

“I’m sure Piper and Jason will know not to put you in a situation where make you have to interact.”

“Still! I haven’t seen him since he, you know. And this is the first time I’m going to see so many of our friends again since the breakup. There’s no way he’s not bringing a date. I can’t show my face! My pathetic, single face.”

“Then you bring a date! Show up with some hot arm candy and show him.”

“The wedding is next week! Where am I going to find a date?”

“Doesn’t matter as long as he’s hot.”

“Also, if I do somehow meet someone in the next week, I can’t bring them to a wedding. Wedding’s are not first date material. Wedding’s say, meet my parents, I want commitment! And we all know how guys feel about fucking commitment,” Annabeth spat out, “No guy would go to wedding as a first date.”

“He would if you paid him,” Rachel scoffed, “Or slept with him.”

Annabeth smacked her arm, “Stop joking! You know what, I’m tired of talking about this, it’s stressing me out.” Annabeth wrenched open the freezer and grabbed her emergency pint of half-baked Ben & Jerry’s. “How was rehearsal?”

“Lousy. I still can’t believe you’re going to miss my show.”

“I’m coming to opening night!”

“Yeah, but it’s an off-off-Broadway production of Romeo & Juliet I needed you to come every night to fill the house so at least we know for sure we’ll have an audience.”

“You won’t need me. Shakespeare always draw a crowd.”

“This is going to be the worst show I’ve directed ever. Grover got poison ivy, poison oak, and poison fern believe it or not, so I had to find an understudy last minute. I specifically told him not to hook up with his girlfriend in Central Park.”

“I’m sure it will be great.”

“Let’s just hope Juliet doesn’t get poison fern.”

Annabeth was the only one in a crowd of about seventeen who gave the cast a standing ovation, but she didn’t care. In this basement theater of a rec center in Washington Heights, seventeen was basically a full house.

“Great job!” Annabeth said, hugging her roommate and thrusting a bouquet of sunflowers, Rachel’s favorite, into her arms. She and a couple of the actors’ friends and family members had been invited to the ‘cast party’ after the show — aka pizza and soda in another room of the rec center.

“Thanks, Annabeth. You really liked it?” Rachel said, beaming as various crew members patted her on the back as they went to grab pizza.

“Yes! The decision to set the play in a post-apocalyptic, Game of Thrones¬¬-y Verona was so cool. And the actors were phenomenal. Even when that magician walked right onto the stage. The way they improvised—”

“It’s because it’s happened before! People also book birthday parties here and they get the rooms confused! During our tech rehearsal, a clown walked in!”

“Well, your show was amazing. I’m so proud,” Annabeth said, sincerely. “Your cast was great.” Over Rachel’s shoulder she spotted the actor who played Romeo talking with brown-haired woman and man with glasses and salt and pepper hair. “Especially Romeo.”

Rachel beamed, glancing over her shoulder at him, “I know right! Wasn’t he amazing? He’s the understudy!”

“No way,” Annabeth said. His performance had been captivating to say the least. His monologues as Romeo were enough to make Annabeth swoon.

“His name’s Percy,” Rachel lowered her voice, “I love Grover, but I’m almost bummed his poison ivy rash is almost cleared up.”

“How did you find him?”

“Our theater major alumni Facebook group. He’s a friend of Grover’s.”

“And he willingly memorized a lead part’s lines in a Shakespearean play in less than a week?” Annabeth asked, incredulous.

“You know actors, Annabeth, they’ll do anything for a gig. Especially a paid one.” Rachel said, “I have to go talk to my stage manager, go get pizza!”

Annabeth walked over to the table spread with food. Pizza, chips, various dips, soda, utensils and blue cookies? As Annabeth filled a red solo cup with lemonade, her eye wandered back to Romeo. The couple, his parents she assumed, had left, and he was now chatting with the actress who played Juliet.

He was so handsome. Actors always were. Tall, dark-haired, green-eyed. Dreamy. He definitely would still be taller than her in the stilettos the bridesmaids were wearing. If only she could roll up to the wedding with someone like him on her arm…

Annabeth shoved him away, “What are you doing?”

Percy looked at her, confused, “Um? I’m your…boyfriend?”

“We don’t have to start now. Not until we get to the wedding.” Annabeth straightened her blazer. She thrusted his ticket into his hands, and extended the handles of her rolling suitcase, “Come on, they’ve already started boarding.”

Percy followed her, smoothly taking her suitcase from her and loading it up the steps of the train for her. She shot him a look.

Percy lowered his voice, following her through the aisle of the train car, “Any of the other wedding guests could be on this same train, we don’t want to ruin this before it even starts.” Annabeth chose two seats at the back of the train car. She slid into the window seat. Percy lifted her suitcase and his oversized duffle bag into the overhead compartment with ease.

“It’s Thursday and the wedding isn’t until Sunday. The only people heading up there now are in the wedding party, mostly out-of-towners, and they all flew in this morning,” Annabeth said, curtly. She tried to remain cool even though she was feeling so flustered by him. She could barely even look him in the eye. She felt so embarrassed even though this was her damn idea.

“You look very nice.”

Annabeth flushed. “Thank you,” she muttered. Her hair was frizzy after commuting in the midsummer humidity straight from her office building to Penn Station, but she knew she looked good today. She smoothed imaginary wrinkles from her cream pencil skirt.

His hair was messier and curlier than it was the night of the play, contrary to his Romeo’s gelled down locks. He looked so relaxed and cool in a button down with the sleeves rolled up and navy shorts.

“Okay,” Percy said, shifting towards her as the other passengers began to fill up the remaining seats. “Debrief me. What’s my job? Where am I from? How did we meet?”

Annabeth stared at him. “You’re Percy, an actor from New York. We met at my roommate’s show.” Duh?

“Come on, no cool backstory for me to try method acting?”

“No, the most convincing lies are closest to the truth,” Annabeth replied, “And I need this to be convincing.”

“I want a challenge.”

“Isn’t pretending to be my boyfriend enough of a challenge?”

Percy grinned, “Shouldn’t be that hard.”

Annabeth flushed again, “Then why exactly am I paying you $2,000?”

“Like you said, I’m convincing,”

“Please have your tickets out. Next stop is Babylon.”

Annabeth looked out her window as the platform fell away into the darkness of the tunnels. The train gained speed and made its way out of Manhattan.

When Annabeth awoke, the LIRR train was no longer underground, but racing through the tracks of Long Island. The train ride to Montauk was three hours long so the last rays of sun had just disappeared.

Annabeth glanced over at Percy, also was dozing away, head tilted back and mouth fully open. He really was so attractive. Tan, chiseled face with a jaw some women would murder for, but he still had a boyish softness to his expression, especially when he slept.

“Next stop, Montauk.”

Annabeth nudged him. Percy blinked groggily and cracked a goofy grin when he saw her looking at him.

“You drool in your sleep.”

[storiesnobodyreads]

Hard To Be Loved 5

PART FIVE

Characters: Tom Holland x Reader

Story: You are Tom Holland’s girlfriend, afraid of being in the spotlight. Your concerns are proven right when a crazy fan starts stalking and threatening you. Will your relationship with Tom stand, and are you in real danger?

A/N: this is part 5, as promised, on sunday! let me know what you think!! lots of lovee

Warning: curses

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4

“Can I say it?” Chris asked, voice higher pitched than usual.

The ones who understood, so mainly the founding Avengers, all sighed in desperation. Clearly, Chris had attempted to do this before. The rest looked around a little confused. Jeremy Renner answered for the sake of the group, “God, Evans, Just get it over with!”

“Alright,” Chris cleared his throat. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he was Captain America. “Avengers…” he spoke, voice low and deep and serious. “Assemble!”

*****

The meeting with the Avengers passed by awfully quickly. Even though you had in fact met all the wonderful actors plenty of times before and even considered them as more than just acquaintances, it took your breath away to see them all in the same room. Tom was looking around wide-eyed and in awe, seeing his childhood heroes every way he turned. Unfortunately, the atmosphere had been serious and tense.

Because yours and Tom’s reputation was on the line here.

Every one of them had agreed to post something on social media, a picture with either Tom or you or both, making a statement about privacy and respect to this couple.

It triggered you that you didn’t know anything about Rebecca except her first name. You wished that the actors could have tagged her in their posts, unleashing the storm of rage from the fans upon her. Or perhaps it would be the other way around, and you would be burned to the ground for exposing an innocent person to the world of paparazzi. No matter what, it pissed you off that Rebecca was ruining your life and you didn’t even know her last name. She knew everything about you and Tom.

Hours passed and eventually it was actually quite fun. After a while, however, it became time to go back home and have dinner. Lots of hugs and manly embraces were exchanged.

Sebastian Stan held you a little longer as he was hugging you. “Stay strong, kid,” he murmured.

“Man, I’m like the fucking Hulk,” you grumbled in his chest.

Seb’s low laughter made you shake. “Good.” He held you at a distance, rubbing your arms. Suddenly, the smile vanished from his face and his blue eyes sparkled sadly. “I really hope you don’t get your heart broken.”

His words stung.

“Well, I’ll let you know if I do,” you commented, trying to laugh light-heartedly, but truthfully you felt as if you chest was as heavy as the entire fucking world. “I do expect you to bring my chocolate if something goes wrong.”

“Of course,” Seb nodded firmly. “For now, though, let’s believe that everything will be okay. You do have the Avengers on your side, you know.”

You made a face. “I guess that’s kind of cool.”

After that, more encouraging phrases were thrown at you and all your heroes told you to stay strong. It should make you feel more prepared, less frightened, however, the fact they all so seriously cared so much made you only the more concerned that this was massively messed up.

Tom found you when most of the cast was leaving. “Love,” he smiled, smoothly taking your hand. “Everything’s going to be okay. Right?”

“Right.” You couldn’t quite tell whether he was comforting you or you were comforting him.

Robert Downey Junior joined you by your side, wrapping a supportive arm around you. “Well, kids, I’d say this was a success. Now I suggest you two go out for dinner. Or order pizza and watch movie. Have a nice night together. Sound like a plan? Then I can start debating which picture I’m going to post.”

Tom stared at his mentor. “Please don’t post an embarrassing picture of me.”

Robert’s eyes shone mischievously. “I’d never do that, Tom.”

“You’re going to do it, I can tell,” Tom sighed.

“I would never!” Robert exclaimed, hitting his hand against his chest as if he was truly insulted that Tom would dare think such a thing. His face broke into a smile, clapping Tom on the back. “Now get out of here. I’ve seen enough of you two. We’ll all see each other at the Superhero Party in tomorrow, right? Not everyone is going, but I am confident that the youngest members of our team will be there.” He expectantly lifted one eyebrow eyeing you and Tom.  

Tom grinned, “Absolutely.”

*****

That evening, everything finally felt kind of fine. Tom had ordered New York pizzas and and had opened up a bottle of red wine. You and Tom were lying on the couch, eating pizza, drinking wine, watching the new Sandra Bullock movie Bird Box. It was a good, cozy night. Tired as you both were, you curled up in each other and enjoyed each other’s warmth. Tom had his arm around you, drawing patterns on your back.

You period had begun the second you had returned from Robert Downey Junior’s house, and although you knew timing couldn’t be worse, you were also infinitely relieved you hadn’t leaked through your pants in front of all the Avengers. Having your period, emotions were at your all-time high and cramps soon became your enemy. Therefore, having Tom softly massage your lower-back and every now and then pressing a loving kiss into your hair, was the best thing you could wish for.

The two of you went to bed early. Tom had filled a special pillow with hot water to keep your uterus heated and lessen the pain. It wasn’t a night of many words. His actions spoke louder than his words anyway. Even though Tom regularly told you he loved you and how beautiful you looked, the main way he showed you how much he truly loved you was by his actions. He knew your period pain was intense the first day and did everything he could to make it easier.

In bed, you curled up into his side. He was cold, perhaps because you were practically a living furnace right now. Softly, you whispered, “Thank you for taking care of me. I know that’s probably not where your mind is at right now. Sorry.”

Tom kissed your temple. “Are you kidding? You’re the most important person in my life. And it’s not your fault that periods exist.”

“That’s true, I guess,” you murmured, appreciating the gentle way Tom was stroking your hair, fingers tracing over your sensitive skin. “I love you, Thomas. Very much so.”

You cradled your head on his chest, listening to his breathing. His steady rhythm slowly carried you to sleep, forgetting the pain in your back and belly.

Very much so: that was your thing. The first time Tom had told you he loved you, he’d said it rather fast and hesitantly, too scared of your reaction. Um-I-um-love-you-Y/N, he’d brought out. You’d apologised: sorry, didn’t catch that, babe. He’d taken a deep breath, fixing his sleeves nervously. I. Love. You. You’d kind of heard him the first time around, but didn’t mean to be the idiot who misunderstood such an important sentence. Your cheeks were redder than tomatoes, heart racing in your chest. Really? Tom had nodded. Very much so.

Tom’s chuckle rumbled underneath you. “I love you too,” he yawned. “Very much so.”

*****

The next morning, you didn’t feel much better. Cramps and nightmares about Rebecca had kept you awake. You remembered how Rebecca had texted you to break up with Tom and it would all be over--especially after how sweet he had been to you, this simply wasn’t an option. You should have broken up with him, of course. For the sake of his career. For the sake of Spider-Man and the millions of people who loved the character.

Tom was no longer in bed, which surprised you for a second, before you spotted the time and saw it was literally one o’clock in the afternoon. You’d woken up multiple times, but since your day had no agenda, you had decided to continue sleeping.

You grabbed your phone from the nightstand and scanned Rebeca’s last text message from yesterday: I saw the police in your home. Don’t think it’ll be easy to catch me. You know nothing about me except my first name, and I’ll destroy this phone immediately. You keep underestimating me, you whore. Stop thinking you’re so much better than me, or this will end very badly for you. Break up with Tom now, and I might leave you alone.

Letting out a deep sigh, you rolled over to take up the entire bed. It hardly felt real to you anymore. You’d experienced too many emotions the past couple of days; you were exhausted. You considered going back to sleep despite knowing it was 1 P.M., when the delicious smell of bacon and eggs hit you. Tom must be cooking breakfast, or lunch, for the two of you.

Cute.

Tom was fucking cute.

The bubble that exploded in your chest drove you to get out of bed, pull on a sweater from Tom and your sweatpants and Tom’s happy socks. Sauntering into the kitchen, you found Tom was wearing a similar outfit. He was busy with the bacon and didn’t hear you come in. You stood leaning against the wall for a bit, admiring him for who he was.

Finally, he did turn around. Seeing you, his face lit up. “Hey lo--”

You attacked his with a hug, firmly wrapping your arms around his neck. “Good morning, you wonderful human being. I’m super hungry.”

Tom was laughing. “Yeah, you probably should be after sleeping fourteen hours.”

You shrugged, letting go of him. “I expected to be going into hibernation, so really this is not so bad.”

Tom studied you. “You look like you could use more sleep, actually.”

“Gee, thanks, babe.”

“I’m sure you’re still just as beautiful on the inside,” Tom smirked teasingly, pulling you closer.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you hummed, “I’m looking so flawless right now. Like damn, even I would date me.”

“Can’t think of a single reason why anyone wouldn’t want to date you,” Tom agreed with a smile.

The two of you had lunch together. The bacon was perfect and the scrambled eggs were just how you liked them. After eating, despite it being perfect, you were struck with an after dinner dip. You found yourself reluctantly yawning.

Tom eyed you suspiciously. “How can you still be tired? I swear if you’re going back to bed, I’m going to punch myself in the face.”

“Don’t do that,” you smirked, “Not in that face. I like that face.” You changed the subject, aware that you most definitely were going back to bed within a couple of minutes. “What are your plans for this afternoon?”

“I’m meeting Haz to go to the gym,” Tom told you excitedly. “And then I’ll go to the supermarket ‘cause we don’t have any food for tonight. So I’ll be back at like five.”

You nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Your plans?”

You shrugged and flashed a mischievous smile. “I’m going to sleep,” you answered truthfully. “I’m tired as hell. But then I’ll have enough energy for the Superhero Party tonight.”

Tom tilted his head. “Okay, fair enough. I do need you to be awake tonight.” The unsaid meaning of that sentence lingered in the air: because what if Rebecca might do something?

“I’ll be so awake, you won’t even know what’s happening to you,” you promised. “But for now, I’m going to bed.” You wiggled your brows. “Join me?”

Tom was on his feet faster than you could say please.

*****

Tom was gone when you woke up. You guessed he’d gone to the gym after you had fallen asleep in his arms. A fluffy blanket was wrapped around you burrito-style, and by your head you found your favourite book and hot chocolate with marshmallows that had unfortunately cooled, but the idea was sweet. You wanted to see if he’d sent you a message, but your phone was out of your reach and you didn’t want to ruin his carefully crafted burrito. Therefore, you stayed in your position for quite some time, warm and comfy, thinking about how adorable Tom really was.

Tom came back home a little later than he had promised, around 5:30 P.M., carrying three bags filled with food. Face white. Eyes empty.

You tried to kiss him hello but he sort of dodged your gesture with a swirl and ended up patting you on the shoulder politely.

Huh?

Something was wrong. You felt it immediately. What had happened? Had you done something wrong? This morning he’d been warm and fluffy, and now it was the complete polar opposite.

You cooked together, and you attempted to quip back and forth, joking around like the two of you usually did, but Tom was unusually quiet. His responses were dialled back to: “Uh-huh.” and “Yeah.” Which made it hard to have a conversation.

“How is Haz?” you asked.

“Fine.”

“How was the gym?” you asked.

“Fine.”

“Yeah, what’d you train?” you asked.

“Just the regular.”

“Is everything okay?” you asked.

“Ya.”

“Sure?” you asked.

“Ya.”

Dinner was made and smelt pretty good. You set the table and was thinking so hard your brain was whirring, spinning, until anxiety was crippling you. Anxiety was always quick to come to you when you were on your period, and also when you were being threatened by a psychopath named Rebecca. You and Tom sat down at the kitchen table, and you got nervous simply by the fact Tom refused to look you in the eye.

You watched Tom take a deep breath. “Y/N,” Tom said.

Oh, god. Just from the way he said your name, the light quiver in his undertone, you could tell this was going to be a serious conversation. You looked at him, cocking up one brow.

He swallowed thickly. “I was thinking...”

“That’s never a good sign,” you murmured sarcastically.

Tom blurted out his thoughts before he could change his mind. “Maybe you shouldn’t come to the Superhero Party. I mean, it’s going to be lots of people, from Marvel and DC and really anyone who has anything to do with superheroes. There’s going to be so much media attention and interviewers and paparazzi. I just... with everything that’s been going on, I don’t want you to be a victim to that. It might trigger you, you know?”

You frowned. You didn’t know whether to feel heartbroken that Tom didn’t want you by his side, or to deem it sort of sweet that he intended to protect you. “Tom, that’s very... thoughtful of you,” you brought out, blinking heavily, still unsure of how to respond. “But I... I want to support you. We can’t really let Rebecca have that kind of impact on our lives. She’s just one girl. She can’t keep us away from the things we’d usually do.”

You didn’t understand the look on tom’s face: the glimpses of panic in his brown eyes, combined with misplaced determination. “Well, love, that’s true for our personal lives,” he argued with a growl. “But this is just too public. Too much media. I don’t think it’d be a good idea.”

Something in his eyes made you straighten your back, an uncomfortably chill running down your spine. “Is this a discussion, Tom, or have you already made your decision?”

A hard glare passed over Tom’s expression. “I think it’s the best decision for you not to come, yeah.”

You could feel yourself shrink under Tom’s gaze. It was highly unlike him to portray this dominant character and act as if you were his subordinate, his obedient wife. He was never like this. He was always kind and happy and bubbly and ready to communicate and converse to find the best solution for both of you. It was so badly out of character that a piece of your soul crumbled. Just for a bit, you couldn’t recognise the man sitting opposite you.

You tried to swallow your tears away, feeling them burn dangerously close to the surface. Goddamn, you hadn’t been able to stop crying since Rebecca entered your lives. “Oh. Okay. Whatever you want, I guess.”

Tom’s jaw tensed. “Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Tom didn’t say anything else. He reached out as if he intended to hold you, comfort you, but halfway through the gesture he seemed to change his mind and pulled back.

What a lack of love.

You felt painfully empty, gaping hole in your chest, making every heartbeat ache through your whole body. This was the end then. This was the end of your healthy, loving relationship, wasn’t it?

The two of you finished your plates in silence. Despite having lost your appetite, you shoved the food down your throat to leave the table as soon as possible. As soon as your plate was empty, you rose to your feet. “You should get dressed, then. I’ll clean this.”

Tom offered, “I can help--”

“You should get dressed, Tom,” you repeated.

Tom moved up, now matching your height. You refused to cry. You weren’t going to show him that you were stupidly girly enough to start crying over the fact he didn’t want you to come to the Superhero Party. Any other day, you wouldn’t have cared and wished him all the fun in the world. But now, it felt like a statement. “Y/N,” he tried to say.

“No, I think you’ve made your point,” you interrupted. “Look, Tom, I totally get it. I understand you. But I was looking forward to going to this party together. It just hurts a little, is all.”

Tom stared at you, shoulders hanging, eyes glistening. His cold determination vanished like snow in the sun. “I’m sorry,” he brought out.

“It’s fine,” you dismissed your own pain like it was nothing. “You should get dressed for real. I need a little time to myself right now.” You knew very well that if this conversation was going to last any longer, you wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears.

“I’m sorry,” said Tom again.

But actions speak louder than words.

*****

Tom got dressed. Suit and tie, just like the Infinity War premiere though slightly less formal. Whelms of perfume coming of him, he smelt fresh and ready to conquer the universe.

From the couch, you gave him a small smile. “You look handsome,” you commented flatly.

“Thanks,” he murmured unenthusiastically. “Have a good night, love.” He didn’t look you in the eye. Didn’t kiss you good night.

What the fuck was wrong?

“You too,” you whispered quietly, watching as he swirled around and marched out the door of your apartment that now suddenly felt chilly and abandoned. The front door slammed shut loudly. You flinched. And then Tom was gone. Just like that.

*****

You had ordered pizza and was drinking red wine, lying on the couch, watching Brooklyn 99 on Netflix. Any other day, it would have been a perfect night. Last night it had been a perfect night--but that had been with Tom. Everything was better with Tom.

It didn’t help that you were on your period and in pain and tired and stressed and emotions were cruel.

Your phone was buzzing continuously but you weren’t very interested, convinced that it was Tom texting you. Or perhaps you were only hoping it was Tom, and you didn’t want to be disappointed again.

After a solid hour, and three Brooklyn 99 episodes later, you finally decided to check your phone.

Well, it wasn’t Tom.

Hundreds of messages from friends and family and, strangely enough, Tom’s colleagues. The amount of attention you got was weird. You were used to seeing Tom’s phone blow up like this but not yours. “If this is because of Rebecca, I swear to god...” you whispered to yourself, panic clouding your judgement.

What if something was wrong with Tom? What if she’d hurt him as punishment for you not responding to her text message?

Harrison, Zendaya, Laura, Jacob, your good friends from high school, even Sam, Harry and Paddy, Robert Downey Junior, Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans and so many more had called you and texted you. You were confused, because at least half of those people should be at the Superhero Party and shouldn’t be focused on you.

First, you opened Harrison’s messages.

Harrison: Y/N, where r u?

Harrison: Tom didn’t say where you wereeee so text back plz

Harrison: Lol don’t think you’re here, why not??

Harrison: Ummmm I don’t mean to mess up your relationship and all, but I’m your friend too, and Tom is here with another girl?

Harrison: PleASe don’t say you broke up

Harrison: REPLY TO ME Y/N PLEASE

Harrison: Who is this girl????? Tom is ignoring me what the fuck

Harrison had sent a photograph, secretly taken from the back of the room and dramatically zoomed in to show Tom in his suit, side by side with a red-headed girl. Rebecca. It was actual fucking Rebecca. You couldn’t quite see Tom’s face, but Rebecca’s face was clearly visible: widely laughing, having the time of her life.

“What the fuck, Tom?” you brought out. Your heart skipped a beat, the earth tilting as you looked at the picture, its meaning boring through your chest like a sword. The end of the world would have hurt less than this.

So this was how Tom Holland betrayed you.

*****

don’t forget to comment and let me know what you think!!

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[fangzeronos]

SDCC 2018 wrap up

Ok now that SDCC is over, I feel like I should do a little wrap up for the weekend. I got to sit and wait for all the trailers and news to come out since I couldn’t afford to go, so this is gonna be strictly from the “Nerd on the Couch” perspective. I’m putting a read more in case anyone wanna skip this.

 Titans: The trailer was alright. Robin’s in a bad place because of Batman so his “Fuck Batman” line is justified. Starfire and Beast Boy could still use some work, but it was only the first trailer, so we’ll have to reserve judgement until the show comes out. I’m looking forward to it anyway.

 Young Justice Outsiders: It’s actually real. I thought for the last two years we’ve all been thinking it’s not coming and that we’ve all been living in a dream about wanting it back. I was in the middle of the store when I saw the trailer and my heart stopped. Two minutes of Season 2 recap, including Wally’s ‘death’ (HE ISN’T DEAD ALRIGHT!? HE’S JUST IN THE SPEED FORCE AND NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE DAMMIT!!!) before we get the new footage. The new characters look amazing, Geoforce looks like he’s going to be a good character, hopefully we’ll get Terra since she’s “been missing for two years”. Still waiting to see M’gann, Kaldur, Beast Boy, and the rest of the season 2 cast, but I’m excited for this one more then Titans.

 And since both shows above are going to be on the DC Universe Online service, I can see paying $75 a year for it if we’re going to get more Young Justice. With all the shows coming out on DCUO, like Harley Quinn, Stargirl, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, and all of the older shows like Batman The Animated Series, Wonder Woman, the older DC movies and the comics, I can justify paying that much for a yearlong subscription.

 Supergirl: Season 4 looks like it’s going to be interesting. Agent Liberty seems like a decent antagonist, but with the way this show has done in the past, hyping a villain for the first half and then swapping it with a generic bad guy for the second, I don’t have much hope. It looks like they’re toning down the relationship drama from season 2 and 3, which is good. I’m honestly thinking they’re going to screw Lena’s character development and have her go evil Luthor judging by how season 3 ended with her “We can begin phase two” line and having the Harun-El made up that she gave to Alura. A few quick shots of Alex as Director of the DEO sporting a new haircut, nothing too revealing except for the Supergirl spacesuit at the end. I saw it and my mind went to the first Injustice 2 game trailer from 2016 with the armored look. I’m looking forward to the new season, not keen on it being on Sundays before the Charmed reboot but have to get the viewers for a remake somehow.

 Arrow: Oliver Queen in prison. That’s a hell of a concept for the season. We know something’s going to change and he’s going to be out by the fourth or fifth episode, possibly earlier. Decent shots of the other characters, Dinah wearing SCPD riot gear was a nice touch, Laurel-2 denouncing vigilantism makes for an interesting idea considering what the hell she’s done in the last seasons. Diaz is fine, not enjoying having him around again but since he didn’t get killed at the end of the last season, it’s fine. Longbow Hunters might make for interesting fodder, but we can’t be sure until the show starts. I’m sick of Felicity, but that arguments been done to death. We all know it was Roy in the Green Arrow suit in the end of the trailer. If it had been Diggle, we’d have seen his face and since we know Roy’s back, it doesn’t really give us many options to choose from. I’m glad it’s on Mondays now so I can watch it and keep up instead of being behind.

 Legends of Tomorrow: It looks great. This one has become one of my favorites on the network and I’m glad to see they’re getting more episodes. Hopefully this season doesn’t get shafted and end up getting thrown to a different night or time or cut in the middle for a different show. Bringing Constantine back for a regular spot is a good move considering what they’re going to be dealing with thanks to the fallout from killing Mallus. Dragons, demons, all sorts of magical and mythical creatures. “Couldn’t we be heroes just a little longer?” made me laugh and it’s that sort of thing that makes Legends stand out to me. It can be dark and gritty but still lighthearted and fun. It’s what Flash started to be and it’s what Arrow needs to be. I’m glad it’s going to be on Mondays along with Arrow.

 Flash: Coming off of the reveal that Mystery Girl is actually Barry and Iris’ daughter (which I’d had a feeling about anyway since she was so giddy at the wedding in the Crisis crossover), Nora seems to be a fun addition to the cast this year. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing what she messed up, why she came back, and why didn’t she learn from Barry’s mistakes about screwing with the Timeline. Cicada looks to be interesting, and I hope he’s going to be the main villain for the year. I want to know more about how Caitlin was Frost before the Accelerator and Flashpoint happened, or is it a side effect of Flashpoint two years later? Guess we’ll find out in October.

 Aquaman: The trailer looked amazing. This might just be part of what the DCEU needs to get its shit together and stop being so grimdark. Wonder Woman proved DC movies can do fun and lighthearted and still hit some dark themes and notes, and this looks like it’s going to do the same thing. Jason Mamoa looks as badass as he did in Justice League, Amber Heard is beautiful as Mera. Atlantis looked amazing. I’m thoroughly excited and December can’t come quick enough to see this.

 Shazam!: One of my favorite DC heroes, man. Zachary Levi just killed it in this trailer and I was laughing the whole way through. If the movie keeps that same energy up, I’ll be damn happy. March release for this one and I’m ready to go!

 Godzilla: King of the Monsters: It’s frigging Godzilla, fighting his own list of bad guys. Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, all classics that should have been in the first one instead of the MUTO. I’ve always been a Godzilla nerd, so when I saw this trailer I was geeking the fuck out. I’m definitely excited for this one.

 Now, you’re probably wondering, “Hey, where’s Voltron in all of this?” and you’d be right that I haven’t talked about it yet. I have spent three days milling over the reveals from the Voltron panel and been trying the right ways to word things, so I don’t seem like I’m being an asshole and damning myself with what I’m going to say. Now, with that out of the way.

 The season 7 trailer looked good. We’re going back to Earth, so who knows how much time really has passed since the only indication we’ve had was the week that Kuron was in the Galra fighter before Keith and Black found him back in season 3. I’m sad to see that season 8 is going to be the last of VLD, but I can understand why, since they were only approved for so many episodes. Going back to a 13-episode season is the best thing they could have done. Keith piloting Black still kind of irks me, but with Shiro only having one arm, I guess it makes sense. I would much rather have Allura in Black, put Lance back in Blue, and give Red back to Keith, but that’s a whole other post.

 The big thing people took away from the panel was “You’ll meet Shiro’s significant other, Adam.” When I saw that on Twitter, I was…. I’m not gonna lie, I was disappointed. You’ve had six seasons of moments between Shiro and Allura, the Hand Touch, the way she looked at him when he said “You found me” at the end of the season, how adamant they are about saving each other every time they’re in danger, Shiro’s resolve to get her back in Season 1 after she threw him into the shuttle and got taken by the Galra. And now it’s all thrown out of the airlock?

 No offense to the writers, Josh Keaton who gets mad credit for keeping this close to the chest and not revealing anything, the fans that are a fan of this plot point for the next season, but I’m not a fan. Don’t get me wrong, LGBT representation in animation/kids’ media has come a long way in a few short years. Look at Steven Universe. One of the main characters is a literal fusion of two she-pronoun using space rocks. I just feel like this is shoehorned in like a checkmark on an RPG character creation. “PTSD? Check. Missing limb? Check. Male POC? Check. What else can we check to make people happy? OH! Gay! DOUBLE CHECK!!” is what it feels like to me. To me, this feels like the writers have been shadow stalking Tumblr, AO3, FF.net, everywhere else Voltron is big and made their choice but what the popular ships were in the search results.

 Make Shiro gay, fine. Make him bi, that’d be a better option because then we can ship him with whoever we want and not get comments that say that shipping Shiro with Allura or any other female member of this show is gay erasure. By saying “Shiro’s gay”, you’re shooting all of the other Shiro ships in the face. Shieth shippers are over the moon, Shallura shippers are sitting in a corner, Klance shippers are looking between the two going “WTF”, and the rest of the internet’s like “Why is it a big deal?”

 I feel like I should stop there about this. This is already more then a page in my word doc.

 SDCC 2018 was fun to watch from a distance. CW brought some good trailers, DC killed it with 8 trailers, and Voltron is what it is. Now begins the countdown for SDCC 2019.

[aion-rsa]

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 4 Review: Rendition

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This The Walking Dead review contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 4

Has anyone on The Walking Dead been through as much as Daryl Dixon? He’s been tortured several times at this point, including the most insidious torture method ever devised by Negan. He’s been injured in pretty much every possible way someone can be injured. His motorcycles have long since stopped running. His friends won’t let him retreat into the woods like the smelly hermit he longs to be. The only love affair he’s had on the show has ended in ambivalent tragedy. To be fair, he’s got the coolest weapon and the coolest (only?) Dog, but aside from that, he’s watched pretty much every one of his friends and his last remaining family member suffer and die around him, and yet “Rendition” finds a new and different way to torture him courtesy of the best training the CIA has to offer.

One of the better things about the previous episode, “Hunted,” was the abrupt and explosive battle sequence in which the Reapers and Maggie’s survivors fall into battle, seemingly for no good reason other than it’s two alpha groups competing over territory. But there’s no real need for there to be a reason; this is the world of The Walking Dead and it’s kill or be killed when two armed, aggressive, keyed-up groups meet on a dark suburban street. It was messy in the original comic, and every time an episode focuses on a specific combatant, it only gets messier and more frenetic and more impressively dangerous.

That sense of danger director Frederick E.O. Toye cultivates with that reminder of the chaos of battle sets the tone for the first half of the episode, in which Daryl does his best impression of Solid Snake by skulking through shadows, ducking through ruined buildings, and using the environment as a way to distract the Reapers who chased him and Dog from the battlefield. The battle continues in fits and starts, with Dog getting tossed aside like a bag of garbage (probably the scariest moment of the night) and Daryl forced to flee for his life for the second time in as many segments, with one dogged female pursuer hot on his heels.

Daryl doesn’t know who she is until she unmasks, but I recognized Lynn Collins’ eyes through the mask, and no one other than Leah would have such reason to stalk Daryl to this degree, as most of the other women who have come and gone in the show haven’t had much of a relationship with him. While Leah’s return is not a big shock, it’s still a little surprising to see something from one of the bottle episodes show back up later in the series, because those last six episodes of season 10 felt more like filler and backstory than things that would have a narrative impact going forward.

As shocking as it would be to have an ex-girlfriend point a shotgun at you after stealing your dog, the episode only gets weirder and more dangerous for Daryl Dixon once he meets Leah’s family.

Read more

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The Walking Dead: Who is Leah?

By Alec Bojalad

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Both Reedus and Collins do a solid job in their scenes together. Daryl, steadfast, unwavering in his bull-headed determination to stick to his obviously fictional story. Leah, trying her best to get Daryl to give her something, anything in order to keep him from falling into the hands of the Reaper leader Pope (Ritchie Coster), who does things like talk about God while sharpening knives to establish that he’s bad news.

There’s an element of cold detachment to Leah as she goes through the motions of everyday Reaper life that isn’t replicated in her moments alone with Daryl. Sure, she’s ordering goons to drag him around and she’s watching and interrogating him while he’s being water-boarded—a very brutal scene that had to be very uncomfortable to shoot for Reedus—but there isn’t malice underneath her actions. She’s doing what she’s doing to Daryl to try and save him from worse at the hands of Pope and her fellow Reapers. It just takes Daryl a little bit longer to pick up on it than one might hope. Fortunately, his fellow captured traveler is a little bit swifter when Daryl starts ripping into him and his group in an effort to distance himself from Maggie.

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Writer Nicole Mirante-Matthews walks a fine line in these moments, with Daryl and Leah pushing at one another without losing that core connection. Leah is clearly one of the true believers, at least enough that she’s not going to abandon the group again just because Daryl stumbles across her group, but she’s not so totally taken in that she’s ready to let Daryl get kicked into the fire for his transgressions, either. Their history is expanded upon, but not belabored over, with just enough backstory explained via Leah and Pope to establish the method behind the group’s madness but not so much that it feels like a Bond villain explanation.

Daryl learns just enough from Leah to be wary. He learns enough from Pope to know that sticking around with the Reapers would be a bad idea for him long term, because Pope is clearly on the wrong side of sanity, and that’s before he throws a guy into a fire and holds him down for having the misfortune of getting stabbed in the back during the fog of battle. Pope might let Daryl hang around for Leah’s sake, but the patience of someone like Pope only lasts so long. Once upon a time, Daryl walked away from Leah. He’ll be running away from Pope.

The post The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 4 Review: Rendition appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3A8beZh

[reginadrago13]

Pandemically Laid Off: Cast Member Edition

“It is with tremendous regret that we must inform you that your employment will be separated...”

It cuts like a hot knife. Words that would never have crossed my mind two years ago. A situation that would never have crossed my little mind when I was younger. I wanted to be a princess, and if not a princess, I want to work at such a fun place. 

I remember visiting my first time when I was around 8 years old. One particular memory that back then, I was upset about. I remember it was my cousin and I’s turn to meet the Mad Hatter. I was so excited to get him to sign my autograph book!

 “Brace yourselves”, my younger self would tell you, “it’s about to get ugly.” I would have told you that that butthead picked up the bottom of my braid and pulled my braid straight up for the photo! I was MORTIFIED! Yet as I grew up and kept looking at that picture, and remembering that moment I appreciate it. As an adult now, I can laugh and think that’s the kind of fun workplace I want to be at. 

I made it a goal after high school to apply for Disney’s College Program. I was turned down, so I thought I could apply for a job there instead. I was once again turned down but that was okay! Saddened but not discouraged, I decided to get a job so I could have that work experience under my belt...  Two years later, I became an Annual Passholder. Then life just, happened. I fell in love, got married and got jobs because I needed to pay bills. For six years, I was stuck in a repetitive world, but I knew I was able to escape while at the parks.

Then my husband and I had to give up our annual passes due to not being able to afford it. My husband knew it was going to break my heart, so he suggested I apply at Disneyland again. That little spark was relit again and I jumped on it, just to be disappointed again. I put that dream on hold, not wanting to get hurt again. In the end, I got a job that I was content with. Two years droned on and then my phone chimes...

“Hey, my job is currently hiring and I really think you should apply.” It was my ex’s little sister. She went on to tell me that pay may not be the greatest, but that I would love it. I agreed and she sent me the link to their job board website and some of her company information. Not thinking anything about it or studying the link, I click and as I waited for it to load I continued watching my movie. After five minutes, I looked at my phone...

My husband had to make sure he caught my jaw before it hit the floor. He asked me what was going on and I turned my phone screen towards him, as I explained what happened. I should have been happy, but I was terrified. I was afraid they would tell me no again and to be honest, if third time was not going to be the charm, I would not want to do it anymore. But both my friend and husband persuaded me. In May of 2018, my dreams had finally come true. I became a Disneyland Cast Member. 

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want you to take a look at how much I worked for this. How I took that HUGE pay and hour cut to fulfill a life long dream. From there, it got better. After a month of being there, they gave us a well deserved minimum wage. After my probational period, I applied for their Aspire program and started attending university. That’s right, I was working on getting my Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management because I wanted to be a recruiter for company. I had big plans for my future, but 9 months into working at Disneyland, I became a lead. I started picking up hours and I was finally happy and living a comfortable life with my husband. We were even able to save and purchase a car! 

Then March 16th 2020 came and it was announced we would be closing due to the pandemic. But I was okay with that. We were financially stable enough and had saved enough for two months. We would be okay. It was going to be over soon, we’d be back in 2 weeks maybe a month its cool! The company is still going to be paying us anyways...

My husband and I decided to take in his father and started looking for an apartment. We found a beautiful two bedroom apartment and my father in law was ecstatic! We planned to bring him to see his new home and new bedroom on the 29th. 

March 29th, around 3 am, my emotional and mental health started dwindling. My father in law had passed away. So now I had to be strong and present for my husband. That same day, I was told one of my cousins got abducted by a gang and to this day, we still do not know anything about him.

Then late April we heard we were getting furloughed. No more pay, and I had to apply for unemployment. But I reassured myself we were going to be okay. Hopefully by summer they will open up again. They have to... Right?

Layoffs began happening as early as August and that set off red flags. Even if they decided to open I knew my department would be obsolete. Contactless payments? No one will be going to any ticket booths. This realization came with a huge sense of resentment and depression. But until I read those words that I mentioned in the beginning, those feelings were stalking me, always 6 feet apart... Once I began seeing the posts, those feelings were breathing right at my neck. Once I read the title, those feelings embraced me and once I read the email they submerged me.

Do not get me wrong, these feelings are not strictly towards the company. They’ve been there since this pandemic started, they just began creeping up on me as our country began to divide and that division.

I feel like everything I worked for and everything I’ve been working towards has been pulled from right under my feet. I look at my friends and acquaintances and it hurts me to see them hurt and struggling to make ends meet during this pandemic. I’ve tried my best to be present for them because being a lead has taught me to support my fellow cast members... But I’m hurting too, and I am exhausted. I do not see any reason to continue with my current classes. I do not see a reason to return to a company who could have managed this situation with their employees in mind, not for the money. I feel disposable and I resent them for that. I resent a dream, that my younger self had, and that depresses me.

Right now, I do not know what the future holds for me. I do not know if I will return with magic a plenty, or if it will fizzle out and I find happiness elsewhere. What I do know, is the following:

-I wish and hope nothing but the best to all my fellow cast members right now. I feel for you. 

-I hope that this lights a fire inside of us to fight. I hope that we will rise above the ashes like a phoenix and be able to return the magic back to its rightful place. 

-But if you decide to not return, I hope that the next chapter in your life boosts you to success.

To any little 8 year old out there (or any adult) who also dreams of one day becoming a princess or working at Disneyland, hold that dream close. I remain hopeful that they will put new orders and rules in place to make sure something like this does not happen again. 

I hope to heal from all of this in time for recalls. Because if or when I return, I hope to meet you and make your dream of working at Disneyland come true.

<3

[festivehanlon-blog]

500+ Follow Forever Binch

I just hit 500?? How?

Honestly I’m so grateful y’all like my low quality shitposts so in celebration I’m linking all my mutuals blogs and telling you why you should definitely follow them because they are the funniest and most talented people on this planet!! At the bottom there will also be a face reveal so you can see the grinch who only posts about ‘To Psycos In Love’

(members of the Bennywise gc will be bolded)

@meezui  Holy heck this blog is a M E M E ! Fantastic! Showstopping!! Spectacular!!

@you-suck-bowers Definitely one of the best blogs of all time, Bowers gang content, can always rely on their content to be 10/10

@birdbabestan Lyssa!! Funny and lovely and one of my favourite people in the universe!! My? Actual? Child? Do yourself a huuge favour and follow her n o w 

@beepbeeprichie Such a pretty blog!! Loads of moodboards, memes and amazing headcanons!!

@richiedenbroughs  Can you believe that amazing, incredible and beautiful are synonymous with Sarah?? Neither could I until I met this amazing person with one of the best gotdamned blogs! If you want go000od fanfic this is where to go

@staanuris Lmao if you’re in the ‘IT’ fandom you’re following this blog. Actual royalty, I am a humbled peasant and I feel like crying tears of joy whenever they reblog or like one of my posts. (Also responsible for 99% of the memes in this fandom)

@hauntedkaspbrak Y’all want hockey???? Y’all want fuckin quality memes???? This is where you get them kids

@polaroidreddie Headcanon R O Y A  L T Y  I tell you. I don’t know how it’s done?? Probably witchcraft tbh, but this blog is one which with no hesitation is one of the first and best blogs to follow on this site

@k-aspbrak So many Losers Club memes!!! A blessing!!! S T A N U R I S  CONTENT!!!!!

@richiietozierr AMBER!!!! FUNNY!! AMAZING!!! TALENTED AT LITERALLY EVERYTHING?!?!? DON’T NOW HOW SHE DOES IT!??!? TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!??!

@toshitophchan Toshi !!! When I see your content on my dash it always brightens my day!!!! Can always count on for a m a z i n g stuff!!!! Also so nice and supportive!!!!! One of my favourite people on Earth?? More likely than you think

@httpsalien Livi!!!!! Oml, one of the funniest and coolest people I know!!! I always feel so blessed that I can call you my friend!!! One of the best freaking blogs to exist and so nice and talented!?!?! Ily so much!!!!

@kingdenbrough If you wanna follow a blog you can count on to post regularly this is the one!!!! 10/10 content!!! Your Mike Hanlon posts give me a reason tfor living t b h 

@exceededexpectations my tuMBLR CRUSH!! When you like or reblog anything of mine I actually s c r e a m!!! So nice and amazing!!! I   A D O R E all your content!!!!! On my handwritten list of mutuals, this blog is underlined 5 times

@edsrich Can you fucking believe they’re following a peasant like me?? Has written one of the m o s t   i c o n i c fanfictions on this site and is a blessing to all. Idc what you summoned to give you all that talent but like’ if there’s a ritual or anything hmu

@brightlykaspbrak Gorgeous inside and out!!! SO beautiful with words!!! One of the blogs I’d definitely recommend straight off the bat. INCREDIBLE content ‘nuff said!!!!!

@irl-richie-tozier Such a rad blog!!!! If you want your daily dose of Stranger Things content as well as IT then this is the blog to follow!!!!

@eddiessecondfannypack So nice!!! When I had literally no followers they would still talk to me even though they had the beEeEeEeEest hecking content. Whenever any of your posts come up on my feed or you like/ reblog any of my posts i’m so happy!!!!!

@etherealstanley How can one have such a beautiful blog with amazing movie and cast GIFS as well as memes on another fricking level??? Idk how it’s done but you achieve all of these things !?!?

@kaspbraket Their fics are some of the best things to exist!! So much talent!!! And so nice as well!??!? Whenever you pop up on my feed my day gets so much better!!!!

@golden-orchid iF YOU WANNA SEE G0O0O0O D CONTENT ABOUT THE IT CAST THIS IS THE PLACE TO GO!!! ALSO SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BLOG?? IDK HOW YOU DO IT?!??

@bettyripsomsshoe oml M E M E S and amazing fanart rb’s  are the first things I think of about this blog, I feel like I’ve been following you forever and tbh you deserve all the followers in the world!!!

@oceanssurface You got GIFS! You got memes! You got 10/10 cast content! There was a cat GIF at one point which made me wanna cry bc it was so amazing! This blog has it all!!!

@trashboii-tozier All your content brightens my day!!! Such a large variety of memes it’s ridiculous!!! Definitely one of my favourite blogs!!!

@richietozzzier MEMES!!! FANART!!!! DOGS!!! I LOVE THIS BLOG SO MUCH!!!

@gazebos-are-bullshit Makes the prettiest gotdamn moodboards! Am blessed with your way of words as well!?!!? All around one of the prettiest and most original blogs!!

@wonderfully-wondering-alone SO NICE AND LOVELY!!! YOUR BLOG IS SO PRETTY AS WELL!!! 10/10 GIFS!! SO AESTHETICALLY PLEASING I CAN’T BELIEVE!!!

@spookerlymarsh Fucking  i c o n i c, your Beverie content is so good it’s not even in this plane of existence!?!? One of the funniest people on this godforsaken site and so nice as well??? Lmao you’re literally that person I want to be best friends with but am so intimidated by how cool you are!?!?! One of the first blogs I started following and I’ve loved a l l of your content!! 

@eddieweezyweezerkaspbrak I!M!P!O!R!T!A!N!T I only follow IT blogs really but I love to stay up-to-date on social justice issues so THANKYOU for having amazing fandom related content as well as really important global stuff too!!!!!

@reddie-for-death Tbh one of my favourite blogs ever!! I feel like we’re stuck in a cycle of mutual support and reblogs and whenever you come up on my feed or activity log aI always start smiling!!!! 

@takeurgazebos FOLLOW!THIS!LOCAL!ASTHMATIC!WHITE!BINCH! SUCH A PRETTY BLOG!!! AND MEMES!?!?!? ACTUAL G O D

@richietczicr 10/10 content!! Fantastic! Amazing! Showstopping! Spectacular!! WhenI see your icon on my feed I know it’d gonna be some go00o0o0d stuff

@eggboyben LITERALLY HAS IT ALL?? GIFS? YOU BETCHA, MOODBOARDS? DEFINITELY! MEMES? YOU GOT IT, HOE! Amazing variety!!!!!

@richietoziersglasses YOUR REPOSTS GIVE ME LIFE,, YOU HAVE SUCH AN AMAZING COLLECTION OF CONTENT ON YOUR BLOG I CAN’T BELIEVE!?!??!

@richiee-bitchyy R A D!!!! Amazing content!!!!!! One of my friends!!!! I wanna be you when I grow up tbh!!!

@incorrect-losers-club MEME GOD KIDS, IDK WHAT ELSE TO SAY EXCEPT AMAZING FRICJHGNG CONTENT OML

@wyattghouleff oml my current mood is constantly? crushing? on? you? and? your? blog? One of the first people I followed and I am honestly so humbled that you follow me!??!? Thankyou so much ily!!

@wolfhardly YOU WANT SOCIAL JUSTICE + IT CAST ?? THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE TO GET IT Y’ALL 

@kingkaspbrak So freaking nice?????? A lovely person with a lovely blog and honestly deserves the world!!

@alexxlea3 Lmao my one IRL friend off this website, super rad pennywise content!! Just in general really awesome!!!!!

@ri-chietozier CHELSEA!! Probably the coolest person in the chat tbh, majorly crushing on your blog, it’s? so? good? Ily!!!

@january-emb3rs Gilli!!!!! The Q U E E N of Benverly and Ben Hanscoms no.1 stan! One of the nicest people I know and I’m so blessed to be able to call you a friend!!!!

@denbruhh MY MOTHER !??!?!? ONE OF THE COOLEST PEOPLE EVER!! THE REASON BENNYWISE EXISTS!!!!! WHAT AN ICON CAN YOU BELIEVE 

@askyaboyrichie The cutest and funniest drawings!!!! I love your blog so much and when you followed me I actually screamed!!!! Whenever I’m bored I just stalk your blog tbh

@eddieconfettii You had a ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ meme, meaning you automatically qualify as one of m favourite blogs of all time, your amazing content boosts that even higher, sorry i don’t make the rules

@wyttolff If I’m feeling down and I wanna cheer up all I have to do is look at your blog!!! Definitely on of the best blogs involving the it cast!!!!! You brighten my day!!!

@patrick-hockstutter  Y O U R  P E N N Y W I S E  M E M E S   A R E  I C O N I C

@punkwolfhard Reddie content!!!! Memes!!!! Wyatt!!!!! Anti-Fack!!!!! These are some of my favourite things and your blog has them all!!!!

So those are all my mutuals!!!! You all make me so happy and noah fence but I consider all of you as my friends 

So here is my face (sorry in advance lmao)

[mlleedom]

White Frights - The Villains and the Fall Guys

White Frights - The Villains and the Fall Guys

February 2002

I don't know what it is, but every time I see a white guy walking towards me, I tense up. My heart starts racing, and I immediately begin to look for an escape route and a means to defend myself. I kick myself for even being in this part of town after dark. Didn't I notice the suspicious gangs of white people lurking on every street corner, drinking Starbucks and wearing their gang colors of Gap turquoise or J Crew mauve? What an idiot! Now the white person is coming closer, closer - and then - whew! He walks by without harming me, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

White people scare the crap out of me. This may be hard for you to understand - considering that I am white - but then again, my colour gives me a certain insight. For instance, I find myself pretty scary a lot of the time, so I know what I'm talking about. You can take my word for it: if you find yourself suddenly surrounded by white people, you better watch out. Anything can happen. As white people, we've been lulled into thinking it's safe to be around other white people. We've been taught since birth that it's the people of that other colour we need to fear. They're the ones who'll slit your throat!

Yet as I look back on my life, a strange but unmistakable pattern seems to emerge. Every person who has ever harmed me in my lifetime - the boss who fired me, the teacher who flunked me, the principal who punished me, the kid who hit me in the eye with a rock, the executive who didn't renew TV Nation, the guy who was stalking me for three years, the accountant who double-paid my taxes, the drunk who smashed into me, the burglar who stole my stereo, the contractor who overcharged me, the girlfriend who left me, the next girlfriend who left even sooner, the person in the office who stole cheques from my chequebook and wrote them out to himself for a total of $16,000 - every one of these individuals has been a white person. Coincidence? I think not.

I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord, never had a meeting at a Hollywood studio with a black executive in charge, never had a black person deny my child the college of her choice, never been puked on by a black teenager at a Mötley Crüe concert, never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, and I've never heard a black person say, "We're going to eliminate 10,000 jobs here - have a nice day!"

I don't think that I'm the only white guy who can make these claims. Every mean word, every cruel act, every bit of pain and suffering in my life has had a Caucasian face attached to it.

So, um, why is it exactly that I should be afraid of black people?

I look around at the world I live in - and, I hate to tell tales out of school, but it's not the African-Americans who have made this planet such a pitiful, scary place. Recently, a headline on the front of the Science section of the New York Times asked Who Built The H-Bomb? The article went on to discuss a dispute between the men who claim credit for making the first bomb. Frankly, I could have cared less - because I already know the only pertinent answer: "It was a white guy!" No black guy ever built or used a bomb designed to wipe out hordes of innocent people, whether in Oklahoma City, Columbine or Hiroshima. No, friends, it's always the white guy. Let's go to the tote board:

· Who gave us the black plague? A white guy.

· Who invented PBC, PVC, PBB, and a host of chemicals that are killing us? White guys.

· Who has started every war America has been in? White men.

· Who invented the punchcard ballot? A white man.

· Whose idea was it to pollute the world with the internal combustion engine? Whitey, that's who.

· The Holocaust? That guy really gave white people a bad name.

· The genocide of Native Americans? White man.

· Slavery? Whitey!

· US companies laid off more than 700,000 people in 2001. Who ordered the lay-offs? White CEOs.

You name the problem, the disease, the human suffering, or the abject misery visited upon millions, and I'll bet you 10 bucks I can put a white face on it faster than you can name the members of 'NSync.

And yet, when I turn on the news each night, what do I see again and again? Black men alleged to be killing, raping, mugging, stabbing, gang banging, looting, rioting, selling drugs, pimping, ho-ing, having too many babies, fatherless, motherless, Godless, penniless. "The suspect is described as a black male... the suspect is described as a black male... THE SUSPECT IS DESCRIBED AS A BLACK MALE..." No matter what city I'm in, the news is always the same, the suspect always the same unidentified black male. I'm in Atlanta tonight, and I swear the police sketch of the black male suspect on TV looks just like the black male suspect I saw on the news last night in Denver and the night before in LA. In every sketch he's frowning, he's menacing - and he's wearing the same knit cap! Is it possible that it's the same black guy committing every crime in America?

I believe we've become so used to this image of the black man as predator that we are forever ruined by this brainwashing. In my first film, Roger & Me, a white woman on social security clubs a rabbit to death so that she can sell him as "meat" instead of as a pet. I wish I had a nickel for every time in the past 10 years that someone has come up to me and told me how "horrified" they were when they saw that "poor little cute bunny" bonked on the head. The scene, they say, made them physically sick. The Motion Picture Association of America gave Roger & Me an R [18] rating in response to that rabbit killing. Teachers write to me and say they have to edit that part out of the film, if they want to show it to their students.

But less than two minutes after the bunny lady does her deed, I included footage of a scene in which police in Flint, Michigan, shot a black man who was wearing a Superman cape and holding a plastic toy gun. Not once - not ever - has anyone said to me, "I can't believe you showed a black man being shot in your movie! How horrible! How disgusting! I couldn't sleep for weeks." After all, he was just a black man, not a cute, cuddly bunny. The ratings board saw absolutely nothing wrong with that scene. Why? Because it's normal, natural. We've become so accustomed to seeing black men killed - in the movies and on the evening news - that we now accept it as standard operating procedure. No big deal! That's what blacks do - kill and die. Ho-hum. Pass the butter.

It's odd that, despite the fact that most crimes are committed by whites, black faces are usually attached to what we think of as "crime". Ask any white person who they fear might break into their home or harm them on the street and, if they're honest, they'll admit that the person they have in mind doesn't look much like them. The imaginary criminal in their heads looks like Mookie or Hakim or Kareem, not little freckle-faced Jimmy.

No matter how many times their fellow whites make it clear that the white man is the one to fear, it simply fails to register. Every time you turn on the TV to news of another school shooting, it's always a white kid who's conducting the massacre. Every time they catch a serial killer, it's a crazy white guy. Every time a terrorist blows up a federal building, or a madman gets 400 people to drink Kool-Aid, or a Beach Boys songwriter casts a spell causing half a dozen nymphets to murder "all the piggies" in the Hollywood Hills, you know it's a member of the white race up to his old tricks.

So why don't we run like hell when we see whitey coming toward us? Why don't we ever greet the Caucasian job applicant with, "Gee, uh, I'm sorry, there aren't any positions available right now"? Why aren't we worried sick about our daughters marrying white guys? And why isn't Congress trying to ban the scary and offensive lyrics of Johnny Cash ("I shot a man in Reno/just to watch him die"), the Dixie Chicks ("Earl had to die"), or Bruce Springsteen ("I killed everything in my path/I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that we done").

Why the focus on rap lyrics? Why doesn't the media print lyrics such as the following, and tell the truth? "I sold bottles of sorrow, then chose poems and novels" (Wu-Tang Clan); "People use yo' brain to gain" (Ice Cube); "A poor single mother on welfare... tell me how ya did it" (Tupac Shakur); "I'm trying to change my life, see I don't wanna die a sinner" (Master P).

African-Americans have been on the lowest rung of the economic ladder since the day they were dragged here in chains. Every other immigrant group has been able to advance from the bottom to the higher levels of our society. Even Native Americans, who are among the poorest of the poor, have fewer children living in poverty than African-Americans.

You probably thought things had got better for blacks in this country. After all, considering the advances we've made eliminating racism in our society, one would think our black citizens might have seen their standard of living rise. A survey published in the Washington Post in July 2001 showed that 40%-60% of white people thought the average black person had it as good or better than the average white person.

Think again. According to a study conducted by the economists Richard Vedder, Lowell Gallaway and David C Clingaman, the average income for a black American is 61% less per year than the average white income. That is the same percentage difference as it was in 1880. Not a damned thing has changed in more than 120 years.

Want more proof? Consider the following:

· Black heart attack patients are far less likely than whites to undergo cardiac catheterisation, regardless of the race of their doctors.

· Whites are five times more likely than blacks to receive emergency clot-busting treatment after suffering a stroke.

· Black women are four times more likely than white women to die while giving birth.

· Black levels of unemployment have been roughly twice those of whites since 1954.

So how have we white people been able to get away with this? Caucasian ingenuity! You see, we used to be real dumb. Like idiots, we wore our racism on our sleeve. We did really obvious things, like putting up signs on rest-room doors that said WHITES ONLY. We made black people sit at the back of the bus. We prevented them from attending our schools or living in our neighbourhoods. They got the crappiest jobs (those advertised for NEGROES ONLY), and we made it clear that, if you weren't white, you were going to be paid a lower wage.

Well, this overt, over-the-top segregation got us into a heap of trouble. A bunch of uppity lawyers went to court. They pointed out that the 14th Amendment doesn't allow for anyone to be treated differently because of their race. Eventually, after a long procession of court losses, demonstrations and riots, we got the message: if you're going to be a successful racist, better find a way to do it with a smile on your face.

We even got magnanimous enough to say, "Sure, you can live here in our neighborhood; your kids can go to our kids' school. Why the hell not? We were just leaving, anyway." We smiled, gave black America a pat on the back - and then ran like the devil to the suburbs.

At work, we whites still get the plum jobs, double the pay, and a seat in the front of the bus to happiness and success. We've rigged the system from birth, guaranteeing that black people will go to the worst schools, thus preventing them from admission to the best colleges, and paving their way to a fulfilling life making our caffe lattes, servicing our BMWs, and picking up our trash. Oh, sure, a few slip by - but they pay an extra tariff for the privilege: the black doctor driving his BMW gets pulled over continually by the cops; the black Broadway actress can't get a cab after the standing ovation; the black broker is the first to be laid off because of "seniority".

We whites really deserve some kind of genius award for this. We talk the talk of inclusion, we celebrate the birthday of Dr King, we frown upon racist jokes. We never fail to drop a mention of "my friend - he's black..." We make sure we put our lone black employee up at the front reception desk so we can say, "See - we don't discriminate. We hire black people."

Yes, we are a very crafty, cagey race - and damn if we haven't got away with it!

I wonder how long we will have to live with the legacy of slavery. That's right. I brought it up. SLAVERY. You can almost hear the groans of white America whenever you bring up the fact that we still suffer from the impact of the slave system. Well, I'm sorry, but the roots of most of our social ills can be traced straight back to this sick chapter of our history. African-Americans never got a chance to have the same fair start that the rest of us got. Their families were willfully destroyed, their language and culture and religion stripped from them. Their poverty was institutionalized so that our cotton could get picked, our wars could be fought, our convenience stores could remain open all night. The America we've come to know would never have come to pass if not for the millions of slaves who built it and created its booming economy - and for the millions of their descendants who do the same dirty work for whites today.

It's not as if we're talking ancient Rome here. My grandfather was born just three years after the Civil War. That's right, my grandfather. My great-uncle was born before the Civil War. And I'm only in my 40s. Sure, people in my family seem to marry late, but the truth remains: I'm just two generations from slave times. That, my friends, is not a "long time ago". In the vast breadth of human history, it was only yesterday. Until we realize that, and accept that we do have a responsibility to correct an immoral act that still has repercussions today, we will never remove the single greatest stain on the soul of our country

© Michael Moore, 2002.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/mar/30/features.weekend

I read this excerpt from Moore’s book at an open mic night at a coffee shop shortly after the book release in 2002. Moore has been labeled contentious and divisive. He was at the cutting edge in helping those impacted by the water crisis in Flint, MI. I can relate to this piece as I have never been harmed by a black person and what I have seen in the media throughout my 4+ decades has been a complete disconnect. 

[ruffsficstuffplace]

And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 37)

Note: I forgot to link this the last two chapters, but I finally have references for Nick and Freya’s appearances in this verse:

http://theneonflower.tumblr.com/post/169139579072/commission-for-rufflesstuff-featuring-their

Elsewhere, Nick reclined in the Operating Room’s chair, looking bored as could be as the Auto-Doc gently moved his remaining original internal organs and bones about, various arms and devices examining the mechanical and metal replacements.

“Well…?” he asked, turning his eyes away from the readout before his eyes, to Freya standing on the control panel nearby.

“I will say we’re done when we’re done, Nick!” Freya said as she switched between monitoring the readouts, and watching the camera feeds of the arms doing their work.

“The operation should be ending in—52 seconds—provided Dr. Freya does not order another examination.” Al hummed.

“Thanks, Al.” Nick said, turning his head up and smiling at the receiver/camera on the ceiling.

“You are welcome. Mr. Schnee.”

“So how many goes at my guts has she taken, exactly?”

“Four. Excluding the extensive special examination of your aura resonators.”

Nick turned back to Freya, with an expression that said, “Really?”

Freya sighed as she ordered the Auto-Doc to finish up. “Please forgive me my paranoia and excessive worrying, it’s been rather hard to avoid them, what with everything Weiss has been going through recently,”  she said as the machine closed up the “zipper” on Nick’s chest

Nick pulled his vest back over his gut. “She’ll be fine, Frosty, you know that,” he said as he buttoned it up, and stepped off the chair.

“Yes, but as a counterpoint, I also know I’ll be fine at the end of a horror movie I’ve watched many times before, yet I still piss myself when whatever fucking thing has been stalking the victims finally pounces!” Freya snapped as she angrily keyed in the shut-down sequence.

She sighed as all the Auto-Doc’s arms fully receded into the apparatus. “You know, Nick, back when they first moved in with us, I was worried about what sort of irreparable damage that Jackass had done to our grandchildren, both in how he didn’t and did try to raise them, and especially after all the shit he pulled during the divorce,” she said as she stepped down from the panel.

“Now, I realize the true ticking time bomb was her turning out exactly like you—the drive, the determination, even her luck, good fortune and great misery waiting to come at her, one after the other!” she said as she stepped up to Nick, already tearing up. “Her semblance and appearance may be Volkov, but everything else about her is undeniably Schnee, with the glaring exemption of her obliviousness to love, just like Silsa!”

Nick calmly scooped her up with his mechanical arm, Freya sobbed and buried her face in his shoulder. “I don’t know if I can do this again, Nick...” she whimpered. “I’m old… too old for this shit the first time around, and definitely too old for this shit the second time around…!”

Nick reached up with his organic hand, gently brushed one of Freya’s pigtails, before he reached up and started petting the space between her animal ears. “Look on the bright side, Freya: you’ll have plenty of people willing to help, just like always.”

Freya pulled her face from Nick’s shoulder, tears and snot pouring down her face. “How long do you think before she realizes she’s definitely gay for one at least one of her teammates, and we have go through that messy business all over again?”

“I have no idea, Freya, sorry,” Nick replied. “Aqua was a pretty safe bet as she was her first, but after their break-up and everything that followed, the odds are pretty screwed because of all the unexpected modifying factors.”

“If I may add my own input Mr. Schnee. Isn’t exceptional circumstances and probability-defying results the—default—setting for you. Your family. And your associates?” Al asked. “What is even the point of calculating the odds when they are—extremely—unlikely to come close to the reality?”

“Same reason everyone still puts faith in the BeN, Al: we don’t like feeling like we don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on.”

“What do you mean you ‘don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on?!” shouted Rasul, a member of Mistral’s Council.

“Exactly what you think it means,” Qrow replied, unaffected by the dramatic change in moods by all the faces on the projections before him and Winter.

Winter cast a quick glare at Qrow, before she returned to the council members.  “I believe what Qrow was trying to say is: we were instructed to collect as much information as possible on these incidents, and unfortunately, there really wasn’t any to be found at the moment.”

“Surely, you must have found something, anything!” asked Sniegowski, a member of the Atlesian Council. “Even the pieces of a broken machine can be pieced back together with enough of a sample, and the sheer number of these ‘lures’ dropped out to have provided that, yes?”

Qrow scoffed. “Yeah, maybe if they were jigsaw pieces and we had the board, it’d work...”

“Speak clearly, Branwen,” Sniegowski snapped.

Qrow rolled his eyes. “Since you can’t seem to be bothered to figure out the subtle implication on your own: we’ve never seen tech like this before. Everything—from whatever the hell the power source is, what sort of materials it’s made of, even the slightest hint of how it could have lured so many Grimm over such a long distance—we haven’t got a fucking clue.”

“Though you can trust that we are going to go through the proper channels to do so, and respect your ultimate decision, esteemed Council Members of Atlas, we huntsmen and huntresses of Haven STRONGLY suggest you let us begin an investigation into your confidential, experimental research facilities,” Winter continued.

“There’s a very strong suspicion here that whatever these are originated from one of them, or from a former employee.”

Sniegowski scowled. “And consider such a request informally denied.”

“THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!” Rasul cried, her projection rocking from how hard she slammed her desk. “Do you realize how much in Lien and productivity will be completely and utterly lost, the damage and disruption to our infrastructure and business when word breaks out that there’s someone hiring smugglers to drop Grimm lures all over our continents?!”

“And do you realize how much more we as a species will lose if we violate the sanctity of Atlas full-confidentiality policy for one security threat, one our hunters have been more than capable of handling?!” Sniegowksi shouted back. “More so than anything else we can offer these scientists, they value their secrecy, and unlike your profits and your bottom-line, there is no recouping lost trust given enough time!”

As the Mistral and Atlas Council members began to loudly and violently argue with each other as they were wont to do, Qrow calmly pulled out his flask and drank from it, Winter put on her “professional” face as she mentally went through the rest of her plans for the rest of that day.

She was going to be visiting AWRD in the Haven Hospital, along with Whitley and Snowie, which was going to be nice.

She would have to leave immediately after, and would have to be sleeping in an airship bunk as it flew off to where else she was needed, which wasn’t, but alas, such was the life of a huntress, especially one who was privy to such dark secrets and dire missions as she was.

The words and the arguments continued to heat up, until finally, one member of the Mistralian Council had enough.

“ENOUGH!” cried Ferreira, her voice cutting through the noise, quieting even the members of the Atlesian Council. “All of you, you have valid points and concerns, and this development certainly is alarming and bound to affect us all deeply, but bickering and shouting isn’t going to solve anything!”

To Rasul, she said, “We will not reinstate our kingdom’s unsavoury practice of breaching our people’s rights to privacy and secrecy, all in the name of security! I suggest you re-read our history some time, see how well that worked out for our ancestors and our Solitan allies a century back!”

As Sniegowski was looking smug, Ferreira turned to him, and said, “Neither will we of Mistral completely tolerate your kingdom and your scientists’ rights to your privacy, as this could quickly blow up to an issue that even our best huntsmen and huntresses cannot handle! I suggest you re-read your kingdom’s history some time, and see what happens when a government lets their brightest loose in the name of unfettered, ‘pure’ innovation…

“Coincidentally, ‘Schicksalsoldat’ is a great place to start for you both.”

Ferreira turned back to Winter and Qrow. “And as for you, Branwen, Schnee…”

Qrow’s eyes widened as he turned back to the screen, flask still in his mouth; Winter seamlessly brought her attention back without letting anyone but the most observant know she had tuned out.

Ferreira smiled “I know bounties, resources, and benefits have already long been sent out by our subordinates and the appropriate organizations, as are the official letters of gratitude, but let me personally thank you both and all the other hunters for your efforts in keeping our world and our people safe.”

She cast subtle, playful looks at all the faces hovering before her. “… And also allowing us politicians the freedom, the time, and the luxury of bickering and debating which is the best option, rather than which is the lesser of the evils.”

“So I suppose this means you can let us go now before we get dragged into another round of bickering?” Winter asked, smiling back.

“Unfortunately, that’ll have to be with the will of the majority as always, Schnee,” Ferreira replied. “I can, however, start a vote. Move to release the representatives of Haven from our meeting…?”

Qrow and Winter tensed up as the “Ayes” and “Nays” were neck-and-neck for a while, until Sniegowski and Rasul both voted “Aye.” The necessary formalities were said, plans for follow-up meetings were made, until finally, the bevy of screens before the two of them shut-off, and they were alone in the secure conference room once more.

“Don’t you just love it when you get to interact reasonable, sensible, level-headed politicians with a sense of humour like that?” Winter asked as she got up from her seat.

“Yep,” Qrow replied as he stood up. “Don’t you just hate it when the political situation is so fucked up you’re happy that your representative is actually a fucking adult?” he asked, taking yet another swig out of his flask as they walked to the exit, to the hall connecting the confidential rooms.

“No, actually,” Winter replied. “I haven’t quite reached that level of jadedness quite yet; give it another decade and two more election cycles, I suppose.”

Qrow pulled his flask from mouth, and said, “Oh, trust me: the total disillusionment comes MUCH earlier than that,” before he stuck it back in.

The guards stopped them as they reached the doors leading back to the main area of Mistral’s CCT tower.

“Come on, guys!” Qrow said, his flask still out. “We just got off a conference call with the Councils of Atlas AND Mistral, can’t you cut a guy some slack?”

“Rules, Branwen,” one of the guards snapped. “You may be exempt from a lot of them, but not all of them.”

“Fine.” Qrow said, making a show of capping his flask and putting it into his shirt pocket.

None of the guards moved.

Qrow made a show of handing it to Winter, who put it into one of the pockets of her pants.

The guards opened the double doors leading back out to the main area.

As with everything in Haven, the architects were not simply content to follow Atlas’ example of functional, modern, and sleek design; the floor and walls were of made of high quality hardwood, the wooden furniture had meticulously and finely carved out designs, and luxurious silk tapestries depicting the era of prosperity immediately after the Great War hung over the elevators.

What those architects would have thought of majority of the students currently there using the fastest possible speeds on campus to stream anime, play MMORPGs, and weekly tournaments of Assault On The Precursors was always something that Winter thought about, back when she was still studying in the school, and whenever she found herself back there after graduating.

She found herself with a new mystery as Qrow called for the elevators, though. “You’re going up?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Qrow replied. “Sunday’s a busy day for the docks, having me around there is just begging for trouble.”

“Can I at least see you off, then?” Winter asked, smiling.

“Huh. Big difference from when you were glad to leave the room soon as our contracts were done,” Qrow said, looking at her with mock wariness. “Sometimes didn’t even bother to show up in person, just sent a note or a proxy.”

“What can I say?” Winter said flatly. “Your drunken, perverted, mischievous charm grew on me. That, or I’m even more of a masochist than I thought I was.”

Qrow chuckled, and smiled. “Probably the second.”

“Yes, probably the second,” Winter replied, smiling back.

An elevator going up arrived, the two of them stepped in, flashing their scrolls in front of the sensor and overriding the original programming. As the students still waiting at the bottom floor voiced their frustration that one of the lifts were suddenly unavailable, they went all the way up to the very top of the tower.

There was barely any security this high up, the only people that ever went to the roof deck being maintenance workers, staff looking for a discrete, quiet area to take a break, or the odd student that managed to get access for whatever project or report they were doing. There was only a single camera there, and the lack of maintenance and care over the months finally came to a head just before the doors  opened.

“Better hurry, before someone starts wondering why you never came back the same way,” Winter said as they stepped out, and headed to an access shaft to the roof.

“Sure you haven’t changed your mind and want me gone ASAP again?” Qrow asked as he picked the physical lock.

“Don’t think so cruelly of me, Qrow” Winter said as she stood by. “I just don’t particularly like you enough to drag this goodbye more than it needs to.”

The padlock fell into Qrow’s hand, he handed it to Winter as he opened the access hatch. The two of them braced themselves as the air suddenly turned chilly and thin; they took a few, deep breaths, squinted their eyes, and climbed out.

Qrow sighed as he planted his feet on the roof, gazed out at Haven’s campus and Mistral before him. “Top of the mountain peaks, so close you could almost touch the heavens...” he muttered.

“No view quite like it anywhere else...” Winter hummed as she climbed up next to him. “So... I guess this is goodbye again—at least until something terrible enough to give the Councils reason to put the both of us together again rears its ugly head.”

“So about three or six weeks, give or take,” Qrow replied.

“Basically, yes.” Winter said as she pulled Qrow’s flask out of her pocket, pressed it into his hand. “Try not to cause too much misery wherever you’re going next, Qrow,” she said, smiling.

Qrow wrapped his fingers around it, and smiled back. “I’ll try, but no promises,” he said as he slipped it back into his pocket.

Winter took her hand back, there was a brief moment of silence. “Well...? Aren’t you going to transform into a bird and fly off?”

“Well, aren’t you going to give me a farewell kiss—you know, for good luck?” Qrow asked, a playful look in his eyes.

Winter groaned and shook her head, before she kissed him on the cheek. She pulled away still smiling, before her expression rapidly changed to horror, then sheer disgust. “OH MY FFFFF—!” she wiped her mouth on her sleeve as she started backing off from Qrow. “GET A SKIN CARE REGIME THAT WORKS AND STICK TO IT, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” she screamed, before she started spitting.

“To be fair, you had the choice not to do it!” Qrow said, laughing as he transformed into a crow, and flew away.

Winter spat one more time, before she raised a middle finger at the gradually shrinking dot in the sky. She turned around to head back into the access hatch, tripped on a broken part of the roof from a storm earlier back, and proceeded to fall right off the CCT tower.

“OH, MOTHERFUCKERRRRRR…!”

Thump.

Croix put down her half-eaten cup of noodles, her chopsticks spinning around the rim for a moment as she put both hands to her keyboard, typing furiously and swiping her hand across the screen every so often.

Her Noir Rods had no fault, they had worked perfectly, were perfect. It couldn’t exactly replicate the records she had, when she was trying to silence or just dampen the siren song that had attracted so much trouble to her and Chariot in their Haven days, but all her new research made it just as effective, if not more.

Save for the backstabbing, conniving, or simply unreliable and incompetent smugglers she’d hired, every single one had deployed where they were supposed to, lured the intensities of Grimm response well within her predictions, and left no trace but whatever the creatures had decimated on their way to it.

But as she was rapidly finding out, they just couldn’t match the original.

Without the knowledge of where all of the Noir Rods were placed, the surveillance equipment Croix had packed with them, and any care to study the movement of the Grimm if they weren’t turning towards a nearby settlement or a major trade route, they couldn’t have realized that at some point earlier that Saturday morning, a massive signal exploded out from a little mountain town called Hoshiko, and nearly every single horde of Grimm in Mistral and some at the southernmost tip of Solitas tried to answer it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’d intentionally did this on the same day as my field tests...” Croix muttered, before she shut off her terminal, put her elbows on her desk and her hands to her forehead, and took some time to just think.

What was it...?

What was it that was different from Chariot and Croix then, to team AWRD now? Was it simply the number of new wielders the Shiny Rod had chosen? Had she and Chariot simply unearthed it too early, and those four just happened to luck out when it was finally at its most powerful, as if they had simply chanced on a blue moon when they looked up to the sky one night?

Was it the Schnee girl, her family’s infamously fickle luck, and that rarity of rarities, the perfectly inherited semblance? Was it something to do with the Cavendish girl, and her family’s storied history with Remnant and its secrets? Was it with the Rose girl and her silver eyes, her record for exceptionalism, the rumours surrounding her all too suspiciously plain and innocent life outside of surpassing all of her peers at Braun-Krebs, with disability or no, in combat and weapon design?

Or was it even with that deluded, naive girl who never let go of her silly obsession with Chariot, unlocked the Shiny Rod’s incredible power twice already in her first week of wielding it…?

Croix sighed as she turned around in her chair, looked at all her creations:

Wondrous technologies and machines that would have floored even the most arrogant, prideful, and close-minded of her “colleagues,” back when she still thought she could consider her equals, her peers, people who shared her passion and her ideals; had all the Councils of the world bidding for just the rights and the schematics so their scientists could scramble to try and understand her brilliance, the applications of what she had wrought into this world from her mind; would have brought her endless fame and fortune from the whole of Remnant, not that she cared for such frivolous things anymore…

She swept an arm across the screen and cleared it, before she pulled up an inventory of all the machines and resources she had now, she set an AI to work making up attractive blurbs for when she’d start selling her work on BlackBay.  

“How ironic that you will likely end up getting bought and sold in the very continent I’m moving to...” Croix said as she picked up her noodles again, ate the rest of them without pleasure.

Unfortunately, this was one conundrum that could not be studied, solved, or even properly observed from a distance...

Note: Any Germans or German speakers in the audience feel free to rail on me for the abuse of your language and history to make an element of fanon RWBY history, and how I can do it better, or just not at all.