#it doesn’t market him to a new audience

[emo-batboy]

Battinson Guest Starring on TV Shows

SO

For someone who holds the title of Richest Man in the World, Bruce doesn’t do a lot of traveling.

Which is to say he does a LOT of traveling, but he always tries to find a way out of it.

(Are there bat-related reasons for this? Are there people-related reasons for this? Are there anxiety-related reasons for this? Who knows?)

But partners and sponsors aren’t always going to tolerate his hermit-like tendencies. So once every month or so, Alfred wrangles Bruce into a private jet and sends him off to who knows where so he can represent the company.

Usually, it’s somewhere close on the East Coast, maybe it’s across the pond, even Asia isn’t off the table, but the rarest place to spot Bruce Wayne is actually the West Coast of the US.

One day, it is announced that Bruce Wayne will be spending two (count ‘em, 2) consecutive weeks in California with his kids for some grand business convention.

The West Coast media goes feral with the news, ESPECIALLY interviewers. And because Bruce kicks up such a fuss this time, Alfred has the gall to sign him up for FOUR TV appearances.

Here are these appearances :)

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Drag Queens, especially Drag Race all-stars, contribute to a wide variety of charities

So on a new episode, the queens are challenged to design and shoot a promotional ad for their own charity

And who better to act as a guest judge for this episode than the show’s largest benefactor, CEO of the Wayne Foundation, Bruce Wayne?!

Physically? He’s older than half of the contestants. But spiritually? He screams Baby Gay.

Fifteen minutes into the episode, Bruce is welcomed into the werkroom where he gives them pointers on their campaign. He’s in his cute little three-piece suit (Alfred’s idea) with the intention of looking put-together and knowledgeable. But that’s not the only outcome.

They all flirt with him. Everyone, single or taken. The confessionals are so thirsty.

“He’s lucky the cameras are on. Otherwise, I’d eat him up faster than a bachelorette party in a buffet line.”

“My celebrity crush is talking to me, and all I can focus on are his gorgeous eyes. How am I supposed to know what he's saying?”

Of course, they shoot their shot, but most of it is joking since they don't know he's bi yet.

“Are you single, honey?” Bruce blushes. “It’s complicated.” “Well, I’ll make it simple for you.”

We all know this man can't handle being flirted with. We saw how he froze when Selina did it. It’s like he mentally bluescreens when someone calls him a pet name.

Only THEN do they learn he's bi

One of the queens jokingly asks him, “Ever been with a man before?” thinking it would be a firm no, but Bruce says, “Actually, yes.” “Oh shit, really?” And to Bruce’s embarrassment, the whole room hears him.

The flirting is thus taken up a notch.

On the main stage, Bruce has a lot of great constructive criticism. He talks about how to find the right audience, the importance of a good slogan, and even goes on a little rant about logo design.

(You cannot convince me that Bruce hasn’t hyperfixated on the business of charity work before. Or the science of marketing. They’re his favorite business topics.)

After about three minutes of him complimenting one contestant for their Drag Library pitch, he stops himself mid-sentence and says, “Oh sorry, am I talking too much?” “No, please! Keep talking, sweetheart.” Bruce covers his face to hide his blush. “Why is everyone flirting with me?” “Baby, have you seen yourself?”

While the judges deliberate, RuPaul mentions Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent. Bruce nods along for a while then suddenly just blurts out, “Wait, does it spell ****?”

The judges pause then burst out laughing. “Oh no, we’ve traumatized him!" Bruce is blushing up a storm. “I just never thought about it like that!” “Sweet, innocent Bruce. We’re so sorry.”

It’s later revealed that Bruce offered to help some of the queens launch their charity projects through the Wayne Foundation.

It’s v cute 🥰

Nailed It!

I love Nicole Byer.

She is Mother.

In all seriousness, she’s so fucking funny and she’s personable enough to pull Bruce out of his shell a bit.

The theme for this episode is Found Family. Three pairs of family members compete together—a gay father and his adopted son, an aunt who adopted her niece, and a stepfather and stepdaughter.

Because Bruce Wayne famously adopted two children, he is invited to guest judge.

So Nicole opens the episode with a zinger, the contestants are introduced, and Bruce is welcomed onto the judge’s panel beside Nicole and Jacques.

(Yes, Bruce does speak French. Yes, Nicole makes a joke about it being hot.)

Nicole: “We were surprised you accepted our invitation, Mr. Wayne. You’re notorious for staying on the East Coast. What brought you to the Nailed It! Studio?” Bruce: “My children love this show. They always tell me I should be on it since I’m so bad at baking.” Nicole: “Really? Maybe we should do a celebrity season of Nailed It! and have you compete.” Bruce: “No, you should not.”

Nicole: “So, Bruce, I know you have a butler at home who bakes for you. But what’s the grossest thing you’ve eaten? Escargot? Bad caviar?” Bruce: “I drank olive oil straight from the bottle once.” Nicole: “…What?”

The problem for Bruce is he can’t say anything bad. It just feels mean :(

(And he would rather jump into oncoming traffic than gamble with a social interaction)

For the first challenge, the contestants make cake pops. But when Bruce tries the first one, there is a sickening crunch. Bruce’s eyes widen for a second and he slowly chews.

Nicole: “What was that? Bruce, are you okay?” Bruce, clearly struggling: “It’s…good.”

“Bruce, you can spit it out. It’s okay.” “I already swallowed it.” “Oh, you poor thing.” Bruce chokes for a second, and Nicole pats his back. “Please don’t die. We can’t afford it.”

For the big challenge, production has a surprise in store for Bruce.

Dick (9) and Jason (7) run onto the set and smother Bruce with a hug.

It’s adorable. Bruce no longer cares about paying attention, okay? His kids are here :D

The two boys read from cue cards to announce the second challenge: a three-tiered Gotcha Day cake. And as per tradition, the winner of the first challenge gets a leg-up.

This time, it’s a Helping Hands Button. When they hit the button, Dick and Jason will run over and help them for three minutes. (While being supervised, of course.)

As the contestants bake, Nicole says hello to Dick and Jason, who are clambering all over Bruce like a jungle gym. They both shake her hand and talk about how they love the show.

Nicole looks pointedly at the two empty chairs beside Bruce. “You know, we brought these chairs for you two to sit in.” Dick, on Bruce’s shoulders: “We’re fine, Ms. Byer!” Nicole: “Ms. Byer? Oh, you’re a cutie, aren’t you?”

Just ten minutes before the challenge is over, the Helping Hands button is pressed, and Dick and Jason are given stools so they can help the aunt and niece stack their cake tiers.

Two minutes in, the aunt instructs them to let go of the cake. But the moment Jason pulls his hands away, the cake topples over and covers him in frosting. Jason, whispering: “Oh f*ck.” Bruce: “Jason!” Jason: “I didn’t say that! Dick did!” Nicole: *cackling as Bruce buried his face in his hands*

Jason gets cleaned up, and Dick helps them stack what can still be salvaged.

When Wes brings out the trophy, he’s dressed as Batman. Dick and Jason gets a kick out of that.

Celebrity Family Feud

Bruce was invited to the show after his SNL skit went viral a few months ago

This episode, the teams are split up by cities they grew up in. Gotham v. Star City. Naturally, his team is playing for the Wayne Foundation.

It’s a pretty odd cast of people, most of them having moved to LA or Hollywood. Bruce is the only one to still live in Gotham.

They have fun, though, despite their limited common ground. The audience has a few good laughs.

(Some at Bruce's expense)

Harvey: You're a very wealthy man, Mr. Wayne. What do you really do in that tower all day? Bruce: I, uh…business? Harvey: …You business. Bruce: ……Wait-

All in good fun. Bruce just vibes in his little corner until he needs to answer a question. It's pretty chill.

For exactly half of the episode.

Then it happens.

Steve Harvey takes two people from each team up to the buzzer and says, “We asked 100 people: Name something your parents always told you as a kid.”

What the production failed to consider is how this particular question might be a sensitive topic for some contestants.

Bruce’s team gets the question, and Steve saunters up to Bruce, completely oblivious.

“Alright, Bruce Wayne!” Bruce nods awkwardly. “Hi, Steve.” “Bruce, what’s wrong? You’re looking a bit uncomfortable.” “…I don’t like this question, Steve.” “Why not?” Bruce just gives him a desperate look, and it clicks. “Oh! Oh my gosh!”

Let’s be real. Bruce is awkward enough, but Steve Harvey cannot save an awkward moment for his life either.

But he tries his best anyway and asks, “Are you okay with answering this question, or would you like to pass?” Bruce nods frantically. “I can answer. ‘I love you.’” “I love you too, Mr. Wayne.” “No, uh, my answer is ‘I love you.’” “Oh! That’s a good one.”

Thankfully, the audience erupts in laughter. That little interaction cuts the tension, and Bruce’s answer ends up on the board.

And by god, the memes

“I love you too, Mr. Wayne” is the new “Enjoy your meal.” “You too.”

The audio clip of “I don’t like this question, Steve” goes viral on TikTok

Someone gets a pic of Bruce and Steve looking at each other with palpable fear in their eyes, and it makes its rounds all over Twitter

10/10 never again

Running Wild with Bear Grylls

Now this is the most challenging. Not because it’s difficult, of course. But because Bruce has to look stupid enough to maintain his Brucie Wayne persona but smart enough to keep himself safe.

For this episode, Bear takes Bruce to the California desert.

“How much do you know about survival, Bruce?” Bear asks. Bruce nods carefully. “I did some survival training once with a friend from boarding school.” “Oh really, how did you do?” “Fine, I think.”

This is, of course, his way of saying I trained with a league of assassins for years, but Bear can’t know that! And that’s how most of the episode goes.

Thank god Bruce's fear of being caught is mistaken for being scared of the physical challenge because every time Bear points out how well he’s doing, he breaks into a sweat.

Bear: For a businessman, you’re surprisingly fit. Bruce, sweating bullets: Oh, this is all just for show.

Bear: Wow, you’re a natural. Are you sure you’ve never set up a zip-line before? Bruce, gripping his equipment so tight he gets rope burn: I think it’s just the survival instincts.

Of course, he pretends to be out of breath a few times. The Drama.

Bruce, pretending to slip and fall: Ouch! Who knew the outdoors were so dangerous? Bear, you are crazy. Bruce, internally: How much longer are we doing this?

Bruce being a vegetarian is actually a point of contention. You see, Bear always makes their celebrity guests do something crazy for food like skin a snake or eat a mouse. Scavenging for berries just doesn’t grab the audience’s attention.

But do you know what is vegetarian?

Bear: Now, in extreme cases of survival, it’s not rare for humans to resort to drinking their own pee. That’s what we’ll be doing in a moment. Are you up for it? Bruce, visibly repulsed: I’ve had Gotham tap water. I’ll be fine.

How on God’s Green Earth did Alfred convince him to do this?

To get to the extraction point, Bear takes Bruce down a cliffside.

Bear shows Bruce the meticulous process of properly belaying from the top of a cliff, and Bruce, who has done this over 100 times is like, “Wow that’s so dangerous :( Will we be okay?”

He really tries to ramp up his acting skills this time.

(Little does he know that’s not necessary.)

Bruce goes down first as Bear belays with a cameraman filming from the top. Halfway down, Bruce hears a scuffle, and the cameraman yells, “F*ck!”

Bruce looks up, arms already out for protection, and he sees a small disk falling towards him. It’s the lens cap. He catches it on instinct.

For a second, he thinks, “Shit, was that too skilled? That’s not enough to make people think I’m Batman, right? I just caught it in midair while dangling from a cliff. That’s totally not weird and suspicious. Normal people do that—“

Then Bear yells, “Bruce, drop it!” Bruce looks up at Bear, confused. “Why?” “There's a scorpion!” That’s when Bruce looks at the lens cap and sees a black scorpion perched on top with its tail ready to strike.

They don’t have those in Gotham.

Bruce jumps in his harness and flings the cap at the rocky cliffside. He hears a crunch, and the scorpion and cap tumble to the ground. Bruce frowns. Can a scorpion survive that drop?

“You just killed a scorpion, mate!” Bear cries. Bruce looks up in horror. “I killed it?!” “Hell yeah!” Bruce’s face falls. “No!”

Because oh. shit.

Bruce just killed something. The sad, orphaned vegetarian just killed a scorpion.

Bruce has a meltdown.

He didn’t mean to kill it!!!! Oh no, he just killed an innocent little creature. Yeah, he punches people for fun sometimes, and he definitely put a few violent criminals in the hospital, but he’s never committed MURDER!!

This poor little scorpion died due to his own negligence, and he feels so so so bad about it.

Bruce is a mess as he climbs the rest of the way down.

Bruce, cradling the scorpion’s body: I don’t know how to perform CPR on a scorpion! Bear: Bruce, you took its head clean off. Bruce: *sad noises*

Legit inconsolable. To him, it’s like he just murdered a puppy

Once they're out, Bear is trying to cheer him up. Bless him.

Bear: We’ve conquered the wild! Haven’t we, Bruce? Bruce, head between his legs, still mourning the scorpion: I’m never going outside again.

Yeah, no one’s going to think he’s Batman after that.

And that's all four of Bruce's TV appearances from the West Coast :) Dick and Jason never let him live any of it down. Alfred is almost sorry. (He is not sorry.)

Let me know your thoughts! What other TV shows do you think Battinson would appear on as a guest?

Okie dokie :D Love y'all! Have a good day <3

[dreamwatch]

Know When To Hold 'em

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest

Day #17 - Prompt: This One's For You | Word Count: 999 | Rating: T | CW: death of a parent, depression, grief, referenced drug abuse, alcoholism | POV: Steve | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Wayne Munson, Eddie needs a hug, protective Steve, hurt/comfort

I'm sorry. :(

The first time it happened totally out of the blue.

It was their first big show in Indy, their home show, and of course Wayne wanted to be there, as much out of curiosity as anything. He didn’t hear a thing; Steve gave him a set of ear plugs and it was like he’d been handed a pot of gold. “I could have done with these years ago.” But he saw everything and he talked about that show to anyone that would listen, and a few that wouldn’t.

Eddie was over the goddamn moon about it so he told the audience, “My Uncle Wayne’s here tonight, everyone say 'hi Uncle Wayne!'” and five thousand people just— did it. Because Eddie asked them to. Even through the ear plugs Wayne heard it. Steve’s not sure he’s ever seen the old man blush before.

So it became a thing completely by accident. If Wayne was there they played The Gambler as the last song of the encore; like the flag at Buckingham Palace telling everyone the Queen was home: Uncle Wayne was in the house. The fans latched onto it straight away, and it was one of only a couple of songs that Eddie would sing. Wayne didn’t see the band play often but it didn’t matter where they were, the moment that song started up the crowd went wild; the roar of “Hi Uncle Wayne!” rolling through the audience before everyone sang along. And Wayne there at the edge of the stage shaking his head, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Eddie was in Germany when Wayne died. 

‘The best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep’, sang The Gambler, and that’s exactly what he did. Wayne would have got a kick out of that.

Breaking the news to Eddie was the most painful thing Steve’s ever had to do.

Tonight is their first night back after a two month hiatus. It feels too soon, but there are contracts, missed shows, obligations, and there’s only so much their manager can do to keep the label, promoters and lawyers away. 

Eddie’s dead eyed and lethargic; he’s started drinking again, Steve discreetly hid his pain medication when he noticed the bottle emptying faster than it should have. He sleeps with a belly full of Ambien and spends his day wrapped in Zoloft. Neither help.

But the show must go on, right? 

Despite everything, the grief, the fog of depression, when he walks out onto the stage he’s a supernova, the brightest of lights in the deepest of darks. He’s fucking dazzling. 

The crowd at the Market Square Arena are on fire, they explode when the band run on stage but Steve doesn’t miss the extra noise when Eddie gets out there. Eddie loosens up as the gig goes on, and by the end, when they take a bow together, he looks like a different man to the shell thats been haunting their home. 

There will be a crash later. Steve is already prepared for it.

The band come off drenched with sweat. Steve can see the pinched expression on Eddie’s face, the exertion after all this time lying around like a ghost has taken its toll on a body that has seen better days. But he still smiles at Steve as he hands off the guitar to his tech, his Sweetheart, only brought out for the encores now. 

“Was it okay?” Eddie asks him, towelling the sweat from his face.

“You were amazing,” is all Steve can manage right there, but he’s buzzing inside and there’s more he wants to say. But that’s for later, when it’s just them.

The band are handing off instruments, roadies scurrying around, breakdown already underway. There’s a lot happening, and you know, Steve’s hearing isn’t that great these days but there’s nothing wrong with his eyesight. He sees the little commotion over Eddie’s shoulder, the way people halt, ears pricking up like labradors. Jeff turns to Steve with wide eyes and Matt has stopped in his tracks. And then he sees the exact moment Eddie picks up on it, the furrowed brow, the soft tilt of the head.

The crowd are singing Wayne’s song.

Everyone stops. Roadies stand there like marionettes with their strings cut.

And Eddie…

He looks devastated, his hand flying up to his mouth like he’s trying to bury a sob, stopping the grief from breaking containment.

Steve can see the band over Eddie’s shoulder, heads nodding before they’re grabbing guitars back from their techs. He knows what they’re going to do, but there’s no way Eddie is up to it, they have to know that. Jeff slings an arm over Eddie’s shoulder, pulls him in, knocking his forehead against Eddie’s. And then Matty does it, Matty who doesn’t have a sentimental bone in his body, but Gareth is long gone, already running back onto the stage, crowd cheering at the sight of him, before Matty and Jeff follow him out. And they pick up where the crowd are and they play. Eddie usually sings it, but Jeff takes it tonight. 

Steve grabs Eddie’s hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. “C’mon,” he says, pulling Eddie toward the side of the stage.

Steve loved Wayne, so fucking much. And maybe with all the help and care Eddie needed afterward, still needs, maybe Steve didn’t get a chance to grieve properly. He feels the ache in his chest, before he notices the calloused fingers wiping his tears away.

“He loved you, Steve.” He can’t reply, just nods, and Eddie holds him like he should be holding Eddie. And then he’s gone, out on to the stage, back with his band. No guitar, just sharing a mic with Jeff and joining as much as the tears will allow. And then the music cuts, Matty and Gareth joining them at the mic, and it’s just voices, nineteen thousand and four. Corroded Coffin, arms slung across shoulders, singing Wayne’s song. 

Singing to Wayne.

Yeah... I went there.

So, I had this idea months ago and parked it because I didn't know what to do with it. And then this prompt came along and BOOM!

[leiazsolo]

Regarding Tommy (AKA Stop hating him for the “Begins” episodes)

So I’ve been seeing a TON of hate for Tommy specifically because of his behaviour in the ‘Begins’ episodes and how he “shouldn’t be forgiven” so I’m getting fed up and decided to to a TIMELINE of Tommy & why we don’t need to be spoon fed his ‘redemption’ because we saw it across 10-ish years of flashbacks in the Begins episodes and can learn to understand that some stuff can just be implied with storytelling rather than treating the audience like babies and spelling it out for them. I will be starting with his first chronological appearance NOT his first on-screen appearance.

Starting Approx. 2005-2006 2x12 “Chimney Begins” now I’m not sure exactly what dates the episode here but google tells me it’s set around here, If I’m wrong let me know.

This was the big episode of Tommy being an asshole, I will not deny he was an asshole. He was one of the primary assholes of this episode along with the old captain. Let’s look at this episode with what we know about Tommy now, not what we knew then.

Tommy was a closeted gay man in a male-led, white-led field (presumably gay, we haven’t had his label yet) working under a captain we know is Homophobic, Sexist, and Racist. He also was a white man in a white male field back in 2005, prejudice was still a huge thing in 2005 (and still is but we’re not here to talk about that) and this episode shows this well, because it had to fit with the ‘times’. Tommy was an aggressor to begin with Im not going to deny this, but do you know who was also there, standing by and watching the rest of the 118 treat Chimney like shit for MONTHS? Eli! Yes lovey Eli who eventually helped get Chim into the field and let him stay with him in Boston. Yes he ended up being a good guy, but that doesn’t excuse the months he spent staying quiet watching the 118 mistreat Chim. You’ll see this theme pop up again later, funnily enough. Eventually we see Tommy and Chim become civil, after Chimney saves his life. He goes on to befriend Chimney, telling him his favourite movie is Love Actually (that’s fruity) amongst other things.

Fast forward to somewhere between 2009-2010 2x09 “Hen Begins” aka the next time we see Tommy chronologically and the first time we meet him in the show. We know a rough timeline as Sal says his girlfriend took him to see the new Twilight movie, and they reference the Edward vs Jacob, which means it’s most likely New Moon or Eclipse as that was more heavily a marketing thing for those two than the first one. This is also the first time Tommy is implied to be gay (He doesn’t deny the accusation and instead jokes about kissing Sal/Chimney) Now at this point in time I know this probably was not planned, but is something to look back at.

Tommy is this episode steps back from being an aggressor, he is still working under Gerrard and still closeted. He is still a part of the problem, but other than being present in the episode and in the scenes where Sal and Gerrard acted as aggressors, he didn’t actually contribute verbally to the mistreatment of Hen. The primary aggressor for Hen was Gerrard and remained to be Gerrard throughout the episode even when her co-workers saw her doing good things. And going back to Eli in Chimneys episode, guess who was also a bystander to Hens mistreatment, filling a similar role to Hen that Eli filled? CHIMNEY. He stood back for also presumably months, didn’t defend Hen against their co-workers, and just let what happened to him happen to her. Then, at the end of the episode it’s revealed multiple members of her team submitted complaints against their captain for the mistreatment of Hen, I’m willing to bet that he was one of those people, him, Chim, and even potentially Sal as he was less of an ass by the end. By the end of her episode we know they are now friendly at work and he thinks she’s a good firefighter.

Skip forward to 2014-ish, 2x16 “Bobby Begins Again.” We immediately see the team meshing, Chim, Hen, Tommy, and even Sal. 9 Years have passed since he met Chimney, and 4-ish since Hen and it’s implied they’re a friendly unit, Tommy is still closeted, and has been working under a rotating number of captains (six to be exact), but has clearly become a better, and more accepting person, the world is changing and he isn’t being held back with the times. He goes out for drinks with Hen & Chimney, laughs with them, has an overall good time being their friend and seeming enjoying working under Bobby for another 4 years, we even see them smash his face into a cake at a surprise leaving party they’ve thrown him. We know Buck took his place at the 118 which was not long before S1 began, so we’re assuming he left the 118 2017/2018.

This is the last time we see Tommy until 7x03, presumably set in 2023/2024 “Capsized”, a whole canonical 16-18 years after we first meet him, and 6 years since he left the 118. In those 6 years we know he:

A) is still friendly with Chimney, we know from 2x14 when he phones him to drop the fire retardant on the house. He is also mentioned to still be in contact in 3x16

B) Has come out/discovered his sexuality.

C) Is obviously not bigoted, or at least as much as he was back in 2005-ish.

In terms of Hen we can assume they haven’t really stayed “friends” since Tommy left, as she states in Capsized that she forgot he worked there. She worked with him for 8-ish years, I’ve worked with people for that length of time and don’t talk to them now, doesn’t mean I hate them, we just don’t really have reason to talk anymore. I just think their friendship was more a “we’re work friends” kind of relationship rather than a “we’re in each other’s lives” one, which is a completely normal and valid relationship. Whereas with Chim we know they’ve remained at least acquaintances to chat, and friends enough that Tommy would risk both his life and job to save Bobby.

At this point in the timeline it’s been approximately CANONICALLY 16-18 years since we met Tommy, and the fandom is still asking for his character to be held accountable for things he said all those years ago, when clearly in the canon of the show has been forgiven. At this point in the show I really don’t think we need to be spoonfed this narrative, it would feel clunky and weird to see an apology on screen for something that’s clearly been addressed off screen. It would frankly be a waste of the limited airtime we have this season.

I also think it’s super important to remember that Tommy wasn’t planned that far in advance, we know he was bought back by Minear because he wanted the person who was part of Bucks coming out to be someone the audience had already met before & Lou was both available and willing to do it. If they had been planning this exact storyline since season 2, maybe Tommy would have been portrayed differently, who knows.

I get we love Buddie and we want Buddie so much, I am not and never will jump ship from Buddie, I love that Tommy is Bucks first boyfriend, I just hope Eddie gets to be his last.

I’m also super glad we’re getting Bucks coming out separately from Eddies potential future coming out, I am on the (seemingly) small majority that thinks that would have been way too much to happen all at once, and also the characters deserve to have their own coming out stories not to be lumped together.

so yeah. TLDR; Tommy has evolved over 16-18 years, 10 years of which we saw across the Begins episodes, and if we want to be spoonfed his accountability for his behaviour in the begins episode, we should also be asking the same from Eli and Chim.

[blugerine]

I’m just now realizing the geniusness of the dance scene in season 2 and how taking a “comedy” show seriously reveals so many new things about it.

NOTE: I have no idea if Neil Gaiman wrote this scene with the intention of it being interpreted in this way, but I really think it sheds so much light on why Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship seems like it went nowhere but downhill ever since season 1.

I feel like because New Omens is marketed as a “comedy show”, viewers usually go in with the intention not to take things too seriously (except for the more emotional beats that are signaled by somber music and intense acting *cough cough*), but as a result of that, we (or at least, I did) missed out on seeing some scenes differently because we originally wrote it off as “just a silly bit”. I definitely did that during the scene where Crowley performs the “apology dance” in front of Aziraphale because he left him alone to take care of Gabriel. I kept thinking about that scene over and over again in my head because it always seemed much more intentionally childish to me than any other goofy scene we see the husbands get up to in season 2 and even in season 1, and I just realized now a reason why that might be the case.

When Crowley comes back to the shop and has to apologize to Aziraphale, the first words that come out of his mouth are “I’m back”, and both him and Aziraphale know those words aren’t enough for Aziraphale to take him back, so what’s the next best thing? The apology dance! When Crowley initially resists the idea of performing the apology dance, Aziraphale reminds him that he’s done the apology dance numerous times in the past, listing all the specific years over the centuries to really get his point across until Crowley relents. After Crowley begrudgingly finishes the silly dance, the audience share a good laugh, Aziraphale is content enough to accept him back, and the fight they just had all seems so “stupid” now in comparison to the bigger fish they have to fry.

Now, what’s the problem in this scene? Or rather, why is this scene such a big deal in regards to why they broke up at the end of season 2? That’s because it’s, again, another example of how they always DANCE (quite literally) around the actual problems in their relationship that result in them constantly breaking up. And this has been happening for CENTURIES, time and time again, they always default to pushing their problems under the rug, letting bygones be bygones. They believe they’re forgiving and forgetting, but as Aziraphale keeps recounting all the years he’s done the apology dance, it’s very clear that they’ve actually never forgotten any of those previous instances of frustration and words of venom they’ve hurled at each other. Instead, they’ve opted to pretend they’re over it, onto “bigger and better” things to do as a distraction. The only time they start conveniently bringing up past wounds is when they have YET ANOTHER breakup scene.

The dance is performed so childishly because of the childish way they deal with the problems that arise in their relationship. Despite knowing very intricately about the infinite vastness of the universe, of mankind’s greatest strengths and weaknesses, they were not made to view themselves as having human emotions, and they were not trained to make compromises that did not threaten their very existence. Crowley and Aziraphale both started as angels, and Crowley wanted God to compromise with him about keeping the universe around for more years than She had planned. But God doesn’t take suggestions, so Crowley’s angelic status was quite literally burned from him as he was sent down to Hell, which traumatized him greatly, and made Aziraphale exist in fear of the divine punishment that came to those who disobeyed God.

As such, Aziraphale and Crowley have so little understanding of how to compromise in a healthy manner, because the first time one of them tried to do it, it ended terribly for both of them, and they subconsciously vowed never to do it again. That’s why, when one of them wants to apologize, it’s almost like a child’s idea of what one is. There’s no addressing of why Crowley’s so desperate to abandon everything and run away, or why Aziraphale is so adamant on staying, even when it clearly hurts him to do so. There’s NO reasoning or compromise. There’s NO talk other than “I was wrong, you were right”. It’s either your side or my side, or we never see each other again.

Aziracrow represents a very realistic on-and-off relationship, where two broken and codependent individuals cannot compromise for fear of divine punishment or even just fear of losing the one that means the most to them. And their little dance? It’s just one of the many times they’ve tried to ignore their very real and important relationship (and character) issues, and it just continues to rot away their relationship time and time again. It’s like putting a bandaid over an infection, but they’re both immortal and everything’s working against them to actually work on healing that infection from the inside out.

So yeah, the dance scene is fucking brilliant because no one saw that coming until you actually finish season 2 and think back on it. Again, maybe I’m just being delusional reading into a scene that wasn’t a big deal, but if Neil did write it with this intention, then I think the way he disguises meaningful insights into broken relationships, tortured characters, and religious trauma through the use of comedy to be really. fucking genius.

And really sad.

I think I might cry a bit after this actually.

(Also, hello, I still have no idea how to use tumblr 💀)

Edit: Just made a couple clarifications here and there! Also, thank you so much for all the positive reception 😭!!! Reading all your reblogged tags gives me so much serotonin agsjdgs it feels so nice being in this fandom so far ❤️

[cloudcountry]

like real people do: diavolo

they've seen the world shift and change throughout their long, long lives, but if they could they would have given it all up just to be with you.

~~~~~

I could not ask you where you came from I could not ask and neither could you. Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips We could just kiss like real people do.

~~~~~

The stack of paperwork on Diavolo’s desk never seems to decrease in size. He sighs, tearing his gaze away from the pile and towards the packet currently in front of him. He can briefly make out something about the economy in the outskirts of the Devildom and how their markets don’t have as many laborers, and he feels a headache coming on. Everyone looks to him. He’s still an incredibly young demon, and yet the weight of an entire realm is on his shoulders. It isn’t hard to see why he’s slowly deteriorating, nor can he be blamed for it.

Right?

He wishes he could have fun like those rowdy demon brothers do, going off on adventures with MC and visiting sweets shops and being able to talk to each other about things. (Even though Lucifer always said siblings weren’t as fun as Diavolo thought they were, he had to disagree. What he wouldn’t do for a cute little sister or brother to spoil and spend time with. Unfortunately, that was not his reality. His reality was stacks of paper and stuffy suits and formal events and speeches that were meant to rally demonkind together.)

A soft knock at the door snaps Diavolo out of his thoughts, and he sighs.

“You may enter.” he calls out, eyes bleary and unfocused as they turn back to the packet. 

“My Lord.” Barbatos bows as he enters, looking as energetic as always, “MC has requested an audience with you.”

Diavolo almost twists his ankle when he jumps up, eyes brightening immediately. A few papers go flying and his pen clutters to the floor. Barbatos does not look amused as the important paperwork is scattered across the office, but Diavolo cannot bring himself to care.

“My Lord, have you finished any of your work?” he asks, stooping down to pick up as many misplaced documents as he can.

“Yes, yes of course! So much work is done! Does my hair look alright?” he frantically looks for a reflective surface, patting down what he thinks may be unruly strands.

“Your hair looks fine as always, My Lord.” Barbatos stands, placing the stack of papers carefully on his desk, “I have served them tea before I came to get you. They talked very fondly about your trip together to Bayside Bonanza Worlds of Wonder. It seems they want to take you out again, though I myself am unsure if I should grant them the pleasure after what happened.”

The last part of what Barbatos says goes flying straight over Diavolo’s head.

Diavolo has to hold back a booming laugh at that. It’s like his heart is soaring with glee at their proposition. He has to remind himself daily that just because he doesn’t have the brothers doesn’t mean he doesn’t have anyone. He has Barbatos, Lucifer, and them. (Most of all, them. But he could never admit that to himself. It seems…selfish.)

”What wonderful news!” he beams, crossing his arms over his chest in a vain attempt to contain the affection threatening to bubble up and explode within him, “Please, escort me to them at once!”

“As you wish, Young Master.” Barbatos bows, turning to lead him out of his office, “Though I must warn you, I will still hold your accountable for the work you need to do.”-

That comment would normally sink his mood immensely, but the promise of them keeps his heart light. It’s a mystery as to what he would do without them, but hopefully he’ll never have to find out.

(Hopefully they’ll be around forever. Another ideal, added to his lofty tower.)

The hallways all blur together as he rushes through the palace, Barbatos following a safe distance behind him as his heart pounds so hard in his chest that he hears it in his head. He knows where they are, he knows they’re getting closer with every step, and yet he’s so, so greedy for a sight of them.

Perhaps he throws open the door with a little too much force, because the first thing he sees of them is their jump of surprise. Their face looks unbelievably shocked, but before he can utter a single apology they’re laughing and jumping out of their seat for an entirely different reason. Their arms are around his neck before he realizes it, and they’re hanging off him with a huge smile and lots of chatter that he can’t even decipher because they’re finally touching him in the way he’s wanted them to for far too long.

(He likes to tell himself that anyone would do. That any physical contact would be enough to sanitate his desire for a casual relationship like this. But no, it couldn’t be just anyone, not after he’s had a taste of them.)

“Well, hello there!” he beams, crushing them against his chest with the biggest smile he’s ever worn, “I’m so glad you could make it! I hope I’m not taking up too much of your time-”

“Oh, no! You aren’t, I promise!” They laugh, looking absolutely ecstatic to be wholly encompassed by him, “I managed to sneak away from Mammon and the others, just for now.”

Mammon. The others. Oh, he gets so jealous when he hears those brothers mentioned. Diavolo doesn’t want to ruin that precious smiling face though, so he covers his flaming envy with his own smile. It doesn’t stop him from holding them even tighter, though, but before he can really indulge in them, Barbatos enters the room with a scowl. He’s clearly upset at Diavolo for not doing his work and running through the palace like a dog, and the second he sees them hanging off of the Demon Prince he gestures for them to get off. They pout and stick their tongue out at Barbatos, which makes Diavolo laugh so loudly he thinks the castle walls might have rattled. They are by far the only human who would ever dare to make such a mocking gesture at a demon, and that’s so endearing.

Before Barbatos can peel them off himself, though, they start loosening their grip. He gives the human one last squeeze before setting them down, resisting the urge to pout just as they had at the loss of contact.

“I’m delighted to have you, MC!” he smiles, offering them his elbow to make up for the interrupted hug, “Allow me.”

They swoon dramatically and take his arm, allowing him the pleasure of walking them over to the small tea table set in the center of the room. He fixes the positioning of their chair for them (and internally giggles about how they were so excited they almost knocked the ancient piece of furniture over when they threw themselves at him) and gestures for them to sit.

“Thank you.” they say, looking right at home in the Demon Lord’s Castle.

Diavolo ignores the giddy feeling that wells up in his chest at how domestic this feels as he sits down across from them.

“What brings you here, MC?” he asks, setting his intertwined hands on the table.

“Well…” they do the same, clearly teasing him for his formalities, “I wanted to discuss some business with you.”

“Ah, Barbatos has made me aware of your plans to...how did you word it?” he hums, amused at their choice of words that he absolutely remembers.

“Take you out. Like a date.” they grin, radiating smugness that's very becoming of Solomon’s student.

Diavolo wishes they could have this conversation away from Barbatos, who pours their tea as though he isn’t listening. He envies Barbatos’s ability to be present but act as though he couldn’t be more removed—Diavolo thinks his life would be a bit easier if he could do the same. Except he can’t, because he has stacks of paperwork in his office that scream his name every night and make him toss and turn until he gives up and stares at his dark purple canopy and waits for morning. It would be easier to sleep if they were there, he thinks, and he has half a mind to ask Barbatos to make a portal to their room in the House of Lamentation, where they are no doubt sleeping peacefully, so he can drag them into his arms and finally, finally have a good night’s rest.

A rest where he can be Diavolo, with no responsibilities and no crushing weight of an entire realm. Where he can be the demon that takes them out on dates without the entire Devildom scrutinizing them. Where he can be the demon that tries to win the brothers over for their permission to date them (instead of them being too intimidated to tell him no.) Where he can be the demon that walks them to RAD without stares and whispers following them on campus. Where he can just be the demon they love, without consequence or obstacle or any deep rooted hatred.

The world doesn’t work like that.

 “Lord Diavolo...?” they wave their hand in front of his face, a concerned expression on theirs, “Are you alright? You just zoned out-”

“Fine, I’m fine MC.” he coughs into his hand, hoping his embarrassment doesn’t show, “Ah...yes, I would be happy to accompany you to Bayside Bonanza Worlds of Wonder.”

“Without the...bump in the road?” they laugh awkwardly, wincing as they catch Barbatos’s eye.

Right, that. Even though that man had been of no danger to Diavolo, if anything had happened to him Barbatos would have had both their head and Belphegor’s. He always thought human beings were beautiful, just like them, but that had been his first exposure to how wicked human beings could truly be. They do coexist with demons already, but it’s a parasitic relationship where the demons take and take and the humans only get worse and worse. Demons suck the life out of humans, they consume them whole, desires and all. It’s a terrible thing, and even though Diavolo knows he’s a demon himself and that he’s not exempt from these things, he wants to do whatever he can to change it.

They only inspire him, spur him on, make his lofty ideals seem possible.

“Without the bump in the road.” he whispers, reaching across the table to offer them his hand.

They take it without a second thought, and their lack of hesitation is as amusing as it is reassuring. They really aren’t scared of it, are they? It’s not just about Diavolo being a demon anymore, or about him being demon royalty. It’s about the responsibilities being close to him will bring. It’s about the fate of two entire realms, resting in their hands, and he wants to ask if it’s as exhausting for them as it is for him but he doesn’t.

He doesn’t feel like he has to, because with them, he is stronger.

Diavolo has always been concerned about what his spoiled upbringing did to his character, whether he forced Barbatos to stay with him or whether he imposed his will a little too hard onto Lucifer during meetings. Now he has to worry about what it will do to them, and their bright smile that he wants to keep all to himself. It’s why he holds himself back, refusing to ask them to accompany him anywhere, but their steady acceptance and even them seeking him out voluntarily has his restraint dangling by a thread.

It won’t be long until he leans in, souls flaring with desire, and captures them. It doesn’t matter what part of him he takes first, as long as he can drag his mouth along the soft patches of skin and make the flesh scream Lord Diavolo was here.

Guilt crashes over him the second the desire subsides, and he feels the need to apologize to them almost immediately. What is he thinking? He’s so jealous of the brothers that get to crowd them every day that he’s losing his mind. He wants to be that close to them, he wants to be able to waltz into their room and sit on their bed and play Mononoke Land but he can’t, and he’s so very sorry.

Being a demon and having desires is who he is, and yet he finds himself apologizing for it every chance he gets.

He doesn’t want to scare them.

“You’ve never scared me.” they whispered, brow furrowed as they trailed a hand down his face, “Diavolo, I promise you’ve never ever scared me.”

It was the first time they told him they weren’t scared.

The first time they’d said his name.

It was the first time someone held him that gently, and the first time someone had treated him like a friend.

Diavolo finds himself staring at them again, and when they squeeze his hand he squeezes it back.

He has only one desire now.

And damn it, that desire is to be able to love them.

[tevanbuckley]

Hi! Heading into season 8 with buck and tommy, do you think it’s about time they cement a relationship for buck as a long term or endgame potential? My impression is that Tim doesn’t like to have certain things set and stone to leave potential for whatever it is he wants to explore but going into the 8thseason, with no idea on how much longer the show will go on for before being cancelled or before a main(s) decide to leave, I would say it’s time to commit to a relationship for buck and they’ve built a good foundation with him and tommy.

also because I can’t imagine another season of the same, relationship -> breakup -> single -> relationship and so on. Buck’s love life being secure in the sense that he’s no longer searching for love also gives potential for newer, fresher storylines to be explored. I just don’t know if a part of Tim is holding out hope that buddie will get greenlit at some point so he’ll continue this single/relationship/breakup trajectory with buck and eddie until that can happen or if he’s ready to move on and let them both find happiness. But if it is the former, to me that would really hurt the characters development and growth and would make even canon buddie feel just bland in a way because they just did it because “they could” now.

my desire is that Tim commits to this relationship and continues to develop it in a way that by 8b affirms them as endgame, I think it would be a mistake not to and let the development fizzle out.

the paradox of tv is that “this couple is for all intents and purposes endgame” and “anything could happen so there is no real endgame” have to awkwardly co-exist. bc nobody would balk at the idea of calling madney or bathena ‘endgame’ yet irl considerations could interfere. or what if tracie gets offered a series regular gig somewhere down the line?

But, this isn’t grey’s, once they have something that works they seem to want stick with it. Even when they had to write JLH out for her maternity leave they did it in a way that made it pretty easy for madney to reconcile.

I think when tim says he “doesn’t have a plan” what he really means is he doesn’t want to write himself into a corner (imo this is what happened in s6 with the couch metaphor but that’s a whole other post). despite being chaotic, writing as they go, does reduce the risk of random loose ends they can’t tie up because a sl got killed half way through cooking.

Having buck in a LTR gives them space to explore new things with buck (bisexuality or not) so now that they’ve found something that does work, that’s had positive audience and critical reception, I think they’d be insane to throw that away.

Also, idk how much I buy into the idea that tim’s secretly a buddie shipper and the only reason he’s not doing it is bc tptb said no. I think he agrees it’s a plausible interpretation of buck and eddie’s relationship, that doesn’t mean it was intentional, that he has any interest in doing it, or that he thinks it would work well as a story within the confines of a network procedural.

I’ve seen others question the longevity the show has at this point but idk, the only character I see stagnating a bit is unfortunately eddie (but I’ll hold off until s8 for a final judgement). And on a practical level, abc has just poured a shit ton of money and marketing into the show, so assuming the ratings don’t tank in s8 I’m optimistic we’ll get a s9. Yes it’s expensive to make, but more than it needs to be tbh. Like there were cheaper ways to have that cruise ship sink, they did not need to write a prohibitively expensive hijacking into it.

really the tldr; is that we don’t know what the future holds but I think there’s every reason to be optimistic the shows heading in a positive direction.

[icestarphoenix]

Aran Ryan Headcanons

Aran Ryan doesn’t think he’s any good with magic and sees himself as just particularly lucky. However, he is actually unconsciously using magic to subtly alter reality around him to his favor. He just believes he has the “Luck of the Irish” on his side. As such, Aran is extremely superstitious since he views the effects of his magic as just luck. 

If he says to you “good luck”, he actually wants you to fail and is trying to jinx you. “Break a leg” is how he actually wishes luck.

Even if he can get up earlier, Aran will always try to get up at the count of seven.

When he punches with loaded gloves, he does his best to not turn the horseshoes upside down when possible.

Every little thing can be an omen to him. Glass Joe was KO’d during round two rather than round one? Today’s his lucky day! A cloud in the sky is shaped weirdly? Aran needs to be careful of his surroundings. To other people, what signals good and bad luck seem completely arbitrary.

Aran was born and raised by the sea, with his father being a fisherman and his mother a fishwife. He even worked on the docks ever since he was a lil’ lad. 

He knows his way around knots and even snuck a monkey’s fist into his flail among other things.

While Aran's built quite some strength from working at the docks, his little sister built quite the silver tongue from helping her mother at the fish market. She could cheat the devil himself using just her words. Ever the swindler, that clever lil' lass.

He tends to give nicknames to people he likes. For example, Soda is “Pops”. Macho Man is “Machie”. Sandman is “Sandy”, but that’s prevalent among other boxers too. Though, Aran also uses nicknames just to annoy people. Von Kaiser is especially incensed by “Ol’ Geezer”.

He may be woefully below weight class compared to the other World Circuit boxers, but Aran makes up for it with his excellent fight IQ. Despite his external wild and spastic behavior, he is internally quite analytical when it comes to combat. Aran’s just beaten out in the raw power department.

Aran’s hands are constantly wrapped in bandages due to his penchant for punching with metal horseshoes. He’s gotten better at avoiding bruised and broken knuckles, but it still happens with how erratically he fights. The other boxers don’t remember what Aran’s palms look like.

When boxing, he wraps his hands with tape in addition to bandages to cushion his hands. Now gotta add improper hand wrapping to the infractions list.

The reason why Aran is still in the WVBA despite being a blatant and frequent cheater is because viewership skyrockets when his matches are broadcasted. Most people want to see him get his comeuppance, so they tune in. A small portion of the audience watches to see what kind of new tricks he will pull. Aran Ryan is the heel and he knows it, and he doesn’t care. He’s good at entertaining the crowd and giving them a villain they love to hate.

Wii Aran and SPO Aran are the same person to me. He was a rule-abiding boxer back in the SPO days, but quickly got bored of fighting fairly when all his competitors were cheating with their unique gimmicks. So, Aran gave cheating a try one day and never went back. He was already good at boxing, as such it became wayyyyy more fun to think of new ways to cheat and see how much the WVBA will tolerate.

This has also made him much more popular (or infamous) in the eyes of the audience. No one really noticed him before.

He doesn’t even see his fair-fighting past self and cheating current self as the same person anymore. He gets visibly annoyed when people bring up “that bloke from Branch B”. That Aran was dead the moment he threw his first punch with loaded gloves.

He made his progress up the ranks and into the World Circuit when he still fought fairly. Ever since he started cheating, Aran hasn’t really tried to keep moving up in rank and just defends his place. Part of it is that he has way too much fun continuously stomping on Don Flamenco’s pathetic attempts to take his spot.

[whomstwedointheshadows]

I am howling at the sky for the look tonight that Harvey Guillén staked to death, spat on, and made it beg on the red carpet. Instead of just ranting to my queer fashion/fandom retail friends again, I took our collective slobber and tears to outline my plea to the fashion gods.

Why doesn’t this man have a ‘mens’wear line in every American mall? There is a gap in the market for adventurous, queer friendly suiting available through a retailer like Macys/J C Penney. Yes, retail is dying and wedding industry more so, but that’s particular to what’s available for consumers as well. Suiting is turned from off the rack into iconic by proper tailoring, but let me tell you from working all sides of the bridal salon, even up-scale clothing lines are getting rude as hell about quality and assembly to prevent tailoring and longevity.

This kid’s Disney charm would be perfect for introducing a plus size, inclusive line of fashion-forward pieces which include, say a QR code video about taking your own measurements, how adjustments work, with pieces designed to be sleek, with enough allowance for tailoring, and minding the lines in the garment to make the adjustments for plus size bodies easier. It’s no more adjustments than are made on straight size bodies, it’s just straight size bodies have more options to find a line which works with their natural shape.

But in my experience, it’s gender non-conforming folks and plus sized folks who get pushed out of finding pieces they can actually use for celebrations or work, much less pieces with actual personality that spark joy. This man has been killing it for years, really getting some clutch looks for events and invites in the fashion world. He’s showing proof of concept every time he steps in front of a camera.

Watching Harvey’s fashion evolution, I trust his fashion team and judgement to create a mid/high line for workwear to events suiting embracing a gender nonconforming audience. I can’t think of anyone better situated to become the ambassador of a brand with *the* formal wear for queer events and special occasions. I was tickled to see he sells his own merch and hope this experience convinces him of the joy working with artists and connecting their visions to a wanting public, dipping toes into the new ethical, sustainable trends in fashion. His looks alone shows he’s done his homework over the years about timelessness and early adopting trends.

For the years I worked selling/tailoring wedding dresses, there was the prophetic ‘someday… along will come the man who revives men’s fashion for events again’ to save the David’s bridal/men’s wear house lines who keep dropping plus sizes like mine and dying off. As the pet butch in the bridal salon I pleaded to the sky for better suiting options. Add that to my butch lezzy ways and trans masc circle of friends I legit spent this past Friday night drunk in a bar with a seam ripper adjusting jackets and darting pants in an unplanned sewing circle for a bachelorette until it was my round of karaoke. This isn’t the first time I’ve spontaneously started tailoring for the queers, I can’t keep up with the demand! Y’all we are in our twenties to mid thirties there should be better options than this that don’t require a vacation to LA/NY!!

I have ethical, sustainable fashion preferences about slipping in a retailer versus an online brand. But for the vision of accessible clothing to the masses pushing the envelope of the kind of quality only vintage pieces are affording the general public, this is the only celebrity really posed with the image, high energy, and bona fides to be the face of it. His connections in the fashion game are only growing as WWDITS wraps up.

If this man opened a pop-up suiting/fashion shop I’d take my limited time and resources to really dig in to the designers he promoted. I’d be howling in the streets for my celebrants to go get a Gullién. There’s no shortage online pattern makers, but there is a shortage of queer friendly shops to really get pieces that pop and it feels safe to enjoy in a retail environment. For average people wanting to engage with fashion that affirms their identity on their special day, there’s too much fucking compromise. Honestly it’s nice that I have a side hustle sewing to pattern, but I’d give it up in a fucking heartbeat for there to be actually sustainable and approachable options. I wish there was an in between of being ‘affordable’ gnc suiting in an American mall but add plus size availability and it gets sad for your most thrifty, creative friends. Someone needs the step in the gap, and why not someone at the top of the game?

Even if it was just a pop up line every few years, I’d fucking salivate over every image in that catalogue two thousand miles away for what it can teach home sewists just by virtue of curating those artisans with the express goal of queer, fat friendly designs playing together. Just the existence of vintage shops like Proud Mary creates a boom across the inter-webs of new sewists per post. Could anyone really imagine if there were actually accessible stores in key cities/supported by an online catalog with a personable, rising star as the brand face?

Please feed us more fashion, Harvey. Keep those stylists and designer friends close. Please. I cannot stress how many mascs/nb-bebes keep dropping your name every fitting consultation across this nation and it’s for good reason.

[zahri-melitor]

Do you think "Ric Grayson" was possibly an editorial stab at seeing how fans would react to a new name for Dick? As in he could've possibly retained a name change after the fact if fans reacted better? It did cross my mind that DC probably wish they could modernise or get rid of the name - not only hopelessly outdated but also a mildly rude word.

It’s certainly a theory I’ve heard about it (in that Ric is a lot easier name to market to people who aren’t already huge fans, and the name situation is probably part of the reason some adaptions simply call him Robin).

Though Ric(k) is also pretty dated at the moment as well, though it’s not a fossilised name like Dick is.

My main thought however is: if that was the hoped intention, then they really needed a better plan of attack to sell it to audiences, because their lack of direction and the general miserable vibes of the story immediately ruined any chance of it catching on.

The entire situation feels like a collection of editorial dictates (and presumably including the new name) given how repetitive the book was about Dick going ‘I’m Ric Grayson!’ every single issue until Jurgens took over to try and reinforce the new situation.

It’s just I’m still not convinced that they went into the situation with an actual plan or goal for how the story was supposed to run. The whole Court of Owls brainwashing plot feels a retcon to extract them from the bog they’d ended up caught in.

And that confuses me, because we know there was at least one more coherent pitch made (Tom King’s Tim!Nightwing story), but DC decided to go with whatever Scott Lobdell’s original intention was. Which did not come off as anything more thought out than a basic ‘shove Dick in this scenario’ concept.

It’s just a situation where I LONG for the tell all interview in 10 years or so once everyone involved doesn’t care anymore, because clearly some stuff went down.

[journeyintofiction]

Request from anon: Overprotective Shuri where the reader gets kidnapped by Namor

Happy reading :)

I wake up with my head throbbing, my vision blurry, and confused. I try to sit up but feel a searing pain on my right side and crane my head down to see my shirt soaked in blood, and my arms were scratched. In trying to move back to my original position I groaned in pain, which alerted my captor to my sudden awareness.

“Well, well it is about time you woke from your little… nap”, I didn’t need to look over to know who was speaking. Yet upon looking at him I see him playing a game similar to chess by himself.

“Namor”, I say in a bored tone.

He looks at me carefully as if deciding how to approach me without having me lash out in response. “I am not intending on harming you, but your princess-”

I cut him off, “my queen.”

He smirks and continues, “... your queen has not granted me an audience after several attempts to set up a time. Our alliance is new and I am not pleased at the lack of responsiveness on Wakandas part.”

I scoff and turn my head away from him to look off into the distance before saying, “ Do you expect her to be chomping at the bit to see you? After all that has been done, after all YOU have done to her?” I chuckle and turn back to stare at him, “you have no shame.”

At my last comment he looked irritated and replied “An alliance is an alliance, both sides must uphold their end of the bargain regardless of the past discretion.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he was completely unbothered by all the death he caused. “What is it you surface dwellers say? “An eye for an eye.” You killed mine and I returned the favor.”

I look at him hard, “An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.”

He looks away from me at that and realizes the chess piece most akin to a king has been backed into a corner. I take the opportunity to rub in his loss, “It seems you have backed yourself into a corner in your game, just as you have with the queen.”

He doesn’t respond verbally but just grunts.

I turn away once more and giggle to myself at the irony. Checkmate bitch.

In Wakanda

“Where IS she Griot?” came the frustrated voice of the queen. After having her entire personal circle search the palace, the market, and the city for Y/N, she was beginning to get agitated.

“She appears to be in Talokan and seems stable with minor injuries”, Griot replies.

Shuri remains unresponsive for a moment, “So Namor took her to Talokan as a pawn for me to come and speak with him?”

Nakia is the first to respond, “it would seem so, but I advise we act fast because Y/N has minor injuries now. However, those minor injuries will turn into serious injuries the longer it isn’t treated.” Everyone collectively hums in agreement and begins a plan of action meanwhile, Shuri is quiet and unmoving.

“I will go and get her immediately.” Shuri says as she turns around to suit up.

“My queen I don't think-” Okoye begins but is abruptly cut off by Shuri.

“Okoye, he has been denied my audience and resorted to drastic measures which will cause tensions to run higher than they already are. I think it is best that I go there alone.”

After mulling it over Nakia and Okoye agree and stress that Shuri must be careful. After agreeing with them, Shuri takes her leave and makes her way to the ocean shore line. As she walked there she kept repeating the mantra in her head that y/n is fine and will be in her arms tonight.

In Talokan

Apparently after sitting for hours the blood loss finally took a toll and I passed out, only to be violently woken by yelling. I quickly open my eyes and try to orient myself which is hard given the blood loss and general fatigue. Before I have the chance to properly see anything I hear Shuri call out “Y/N!”

My vision clears and I see Namor and Shuri glaring at each other and it was obvious they had exchanged words prior to me waking up. As I tried to get up I collapsed and nearly face planted, if it hadn’t been for Shuri being a few feet away to catch me.

“What did you do to her?” Shuri yells in anger at seeing me so drained and weak.

“We did what was necessary to get your attention, we took her but she was quite the fighter and refused to come quietly” Namor replied with a shrug.

Shuri looks at him with disdain, “So you beat my partner into submission?Are you asking for another war?”

At that Namor looks startled and looks at the two of us sharply and replies while pointing at me, “you would start a war for her”.

“She is my partner, who I intend on making my spouse, you would be an idiot to think I wouldn't raise hell for her.”

Before he can reply, I feel Shuri start moving and I see we are moving to the exit of the cave before I pass out once more.

In Wakanda

I wake to the sound of steady beeping and the faint smell incense burning. I turn my head and I am immediately hit with pain at the movement and moan.

I hear someone rush over to me and gently move my head back to a more neutral position. I squint my eyes open and see Okoye standing over me and Nakia sitting up in the chair beside my bed. Okoye and Nakia look worried, tired, and stressed.

“How do you feel? Are you in pain anywhere?” Okoye quickly asked before I could say anything.

I nod, “my head hurts and my side is throbbing.”

“You had a concussion and multiple lacerations on your right side” Okoye responded sounding upset.

All the events of the last 24 hours came flooding back and I remember my injuries, where I was taken, who took me, and getting rescued. But, anything after leaving that cave is a blank hole in my memory.

“What happened after Shuri came and got me?”

Nakia is the first to respond, “due to blood loss from your untreated injuries you passed out on the way here. Shuri took you to the lab and the three of us helped patch you up”.

“Where is she now?” I ask confused at her not being here.

“She stepped out a few minutes before you woke up to get food for you because Griot said you should wake up within the hour” Okoye stated with a small smile.

They still looked quite upset at the state I was in so I tried to cheer them up. “Don’t look so down guys, I’m a little beat up but I’m not dead…yet.”

They look at each other then look at me with an eyebrow raised and the three of us quietly chuckle.

“Has she woken yet-“ Shuri asks as she makes her way down the stairs. Her sentence dies off when she sees the three of us staring at her.

Okoye and Nakia mention they are required elsewhere and leave us alone to speak. After the door softly clicks shut she walks over to me takes my hand and looks like she is gonna cry.

“My love I’m fine, just a little worse for wear” I say and try to smile.

She shakes her head and quietly says “He took you from me as a way to get what he wanted. I promised to protect and be there for you and you were stolen right from our borders.”

“Well I’m fine now and I know he won’t try this again given that you both seemed to come to an agreement, albeit a tense one.”

She nods apprehensively and intertwines our fingers with her thumb rubbing circles on my hand. “I am NEVER letting you go any without me ever again.”

I roll my eyes at the proclamation and give an exasperated sigh, “what ever makes you feel better…wait, does that mean we shower together too?”

Shuri face palms, “good grief woman, why is your head always in the gutter.”

Note: to the Anon who requested this, I’m so sorry it took me a few days to complete it. I have finals coming up so I have been busy, but please send in more requests and I will get them done as soon as I can :)

[millersdjarin]

in these trying times

Pairing: Din Djarin x F!Reader

Rating: G (all audiences, but my blog is always 18+)

Word Count: 2.7k

Tags/Warnings: diabetes, hypoglycaemia, almost-fainting, protective!din, secrets, food

Masterlist & Request Info

Based on this request! ❤️

It’s reckless, and you know it. Din would be furious if he knew what you were keeping from him; you’d be furious with him if he kept something so important about his health from you. Something that, as his partner, you should definitely know.

But it’s for the best. It was hard enough for Din to open himself up to the possibility of having a partner, both romantically and in the field, and he doesn’t need a reason to worry about you, not after he’s finally gotten over his anxieties. You’ve had this for years, and it’s under control; it has been for a long time. There’s no need to worry him unnecessarily. It doesn’t get in the way or change how you work, how well you fight. 

Life has been busy. There are always people after Din; people who haven’t got the memo yet that the kid is no longer wanted by the Empire. And, on top of that, you’re working for the New Republic, and there are always jobs that need done. 

Meals get skipped. Snacks are the last thing on Din’s mind. Not on yours; you sneak ration bars to missions and munch them down whenever you get chance. 

Din catches you eating one when you’re rushing down an alleyway back towards the ship, Imperials on your heels. 

He looks at you and almost stops in his tracks, confusion evident in his body language even though you can’t see his face. “Where did you get that?” He asks. “Why are you eating it now?” 

You shove the last mouthful in your mouth and grimace at the feeling of your partially-full stomach jostling around as you run. It’s better than the feeling of a low blood sugar, but still, not exactly pleasant. A needs must, you suppose. “I’m hungry,” you say to him, like that should be enough of an excuse. 

It’s not. “We don’t have time to have a picnic right now,” Din protests gruffly. The two of you reach the end of the alleyway, and as you stop at the opening to the street, Din turns back, shoots the two Imps on your tail in two quick blasts, sending them to the floor. “We can eat later.” 

You’re five klicks from the ship. You won’t make it ’til later. He doesn’t need to know that. 

Shoving the wrapper into your pants pocket, you shoot him a confident grin. “It’s not like these Imps are making it difficult,” you say with a shrug of a shoulder, “they’re making it a picnic for us.” 

More footsteps approach from behind you. Three stormtroopers are rushing forwards, lifting their blasters. 

So, not so much of a picnic. 

But it’s fine. Din drops it; maybe because he’s too busy fighting off the enemies dropping down from the surrounding roofs to question why you felt the need for a little snack mid-fight. 

-

It happens again when you’re trying to lay low in a market town as you hunt for your target. Din is on a nearby roof, watching you through his rifle scope. You’re trying to sift through the crowd unnoticed, a piece of beige fabric covering your head, helping you blend in with the residents, when you notice your hands start to shake. 

It’s been a few hours since you last ate. There wasn’t time on the way here to stop and grab something. 

You don’t have to test your blood to know you’re getting low; you need some sugar right kriffing now or this is going to go South pretty fast. 

There are some credits in your pocket and a fruit stand across the street. Casually, you head over, reaching for the credits and handing them over as you approach the vendor. 

“What are you doing?” Din’s voice in your ear asks, doubly modulated through the comms. 

You don’t answer him; you can’t without blowing your cover. Instead you just select some produce—a handful of berries that you know are good for sudden lows, and a bottle of pure juice—and offer the vendor a friendly smile. You open the bottle straight away, take several gulps before starting on the berries, holding them out in the palm of your hand.

“Is this part of your cover?” Din asks. He knows you can’t answer him. “You’re supposed to be blending in.” 

Stop asking me fucking questions and maybe I will, you think to yourself as you drink up half the bottle of juice in ten seconds. 

“The target’s here for limited time,” Din reminds you, sounding impatient and confused as to your sudden interest in snacking in the midst of a hunt. “We have to move.” 

It’s fine, you want to tell him. I’m still headed in the right direction. 

You get the target just fine despite your close brush with a low. Din doesn’t ask you about it later. 

So, it’s never really got in the way.

Except, now it is.

Dank fucking farrik, now it is. 

Despite the fact that you’ve gotten pretty good at sneaking in extra shots or ration bars in the midst of battles, today, you haven’t had chance to stop for even a second. 

And now your vision is blurring, your head is spinning, and your legs are starting to give out beneath you. 

Right when a bunch of syndicate soldiers are closing in on both of you in the middle of a forest clearing. Right when Din needs you to be on your shit, to be there for him; right when he puts the most trust in you. 

The last thing you remember thinking before falling to your knees is that you’ve let him down. 

He calls your name from across the clearing, concern and confusion evident in his voice. There’s a mercenary headed straight for you; you can only just see through the black, blurry tunnel around your vision, can barely focus on anything other than the racing of your heart and the cold sweat beading on your forehead. Din is fighting off his own group of enemies and you can’t lift your arms, can’t reach for your blaster. You can barely hear anything, but you vaguely register the shot of a blaster headed your way, the bright shine of a Beskar-covered man diving in front of you, a blaster bolt hitting the metal with a loud clang. 

Din’s saying your name once all the bodies have dropped. There’s no more threat from enemies, but he sounds more worried than ever, breathing fast through his modulator as he pulls you into his lap. He’s asking what’s wrong, if you can hear him, if you’re hurt. 

You try to pull yourself up, but the weakness is too much. 

“Sugar,” you say breathily, feeling like your throat is shaking with your hands. “I need—food. It’s—blood sugar.” 

“What?” Din questions, sounding more confused. He presses something on his vambrace, then holds it up to scan your body. Something shines red on your vitals. “I don’t—we don’t have any rations. The ship is a few klicks away, can you walk—?” 

You shake your head. “I—I need it faster, if we walk back…”

Din’s concern is only growing as he nods with understanding. He puts his arm under your leg, the other around your back, and lifts you up. “Can you hold on?” 

“I’m—” Lifting your arms around his neck, you manage to grasp your hands together over his back, just barely hanging on with trembling fingers. “So weak, Din…” 

“It’s alright. I’ve got you. I’m gonna fly us back, just hold on as much as you can.” 

You’re too tired and breathless to respond. All you can do is hold on and close your weak eyes as Din’s jetpack activates and the two of you are lifting off the ground and into the sky. 

He gets you back to the ship in a minute. The weakness is going to your very core, down to your bones, and it’s been a long fucking time since you’ve had a low this bad. But, then again, it’s been a long time since you’ve gone without food for this long, too.

“Fast sugar,” Din says as he hands you a bar of chocolate and pours a packet of juice into a glass. You reach out for them, but your hands are shaking so much that it’s hard to hold the glass without the juice just spilling everywhere. “Here,” Din offers, lifting the glass up to your mouth and helping you take a sip. Once you’ve had a little, he puts it down and gets to work breaking the chocolate into little bite-sized pieces. 

“Under my bunk, I’ve got a blood sugar monitor,” you tell him after your fifth piece. “In my medpack.” The symptoms aren’t fading yet, but it’s not usually long until you start to feel the sugar kick in. 

Din hesitates, probably confused as to why you have that, but then he nods and heads off into your bunk, leaving you with the chocolate and juice. 

You manage to finish the rest of it alone. The shaking is subsiding slowly but surely, the sensation of chocolate in your mouth distracting you for a little while. 

He’s back in a few minutes carrying your medpack. It’s got your meds and your monitor; you fish them both out and prick your finger immediately. Sure enough, it’s dangerously low. There’s a timer on the side of it, so you set it for ten minutes, making sure you don’t forget to test it again. 

Din just stands there, watching. You tip your head back against the sofa but you can feel his eyes on you, even though his visor; can picture it in your mind, him just standing there with his hands hanging at his sides, studying you as if just staring will help him to understand what’s happening. 

He’s entirely silent for ten minutes. He checks your vitals with his vambrace a few more times, but doesn’t say a word. 

The timer goes off. When you test your blood again, it’s back to safe levels, and you breathe a sigh of relief. As always after a low, you feel fucking exhausted and washed-out, and definitely need a proper meal as soon as possible. But you don’t feel like you’re about to pass out any second anymore, so there’s that. 

The next sigh that you let out is one of nerves. You breathe in deep, bracing yourself to look back at Din and face the inevitable questions. 

When your eyes meet his visor, your stomach twists a little in guilt. “I can explain,” you say, not needing to see his face to know that he’s probably raising an expectant eyebrow at you. 

“How do you feel?” He asks instead of What the fuck?

You swallow heavily. “Better,” you say. “I’m sorry.” 

“For what?”

“For…making you finish the mission alone. For being a useless partner.” 

“That’s what you’re sorry about?” 

You stare at him, wide-eyed, swallowing yet again in the hopes it will dampen some of the guilt rising up your throat. (It doesn’t). You put the mission in severe jeopardy; you put the both of you in danger. Din trusted you to be his partner, to get the mission done effectively, to not almost die in the middle of it. And you let him down. “Well…yeah,” you answer, like it should be obvious. “I let you down. I was a bad partner.” 

“Yes, you were.” 

“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time, I’ll be more helpful—”

“You weren’t a bad partner because you almost passed out,” Din interrupts you. He doesn’t sound angry, which you make note of and let calm your nerves. “You were a bad partner because you didn’t tell me about…this,” he gestures to your med kit, your machines and your medicines. 

Oh. Right. 

Of course he’s upset you kept this from him. 

He sighs. Stepping closer, he sits beside you on the couch, leaving just inches between you. “Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice is softer than you’d expected; not a trace of accusation or anger. Just…concern. Disappointment.

You can’t look at him. “I didn’t want you to worry. Or…to think that I couldn’t do my job.” 

“I am always going to worry about you, Riduur,” he says. 

“Exactly. I didn’t want to give you another reason to worry.” 

“Is this why you’ve been stopping mid-mission to eat so often?” 

“Yeah,” you laugh nervously. “I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner.” 

“I just thought…” he fades off, then shrugs. “I don’t know what I thought. Maybe I should have asked.” He sounds thoughtful. You shake your head in response. Then, he turns to look at you, and asks, “How long have you…been sick?” 

“I got diagnosed with diabetes when I was nineteen. I’ve had it a long time now. And I’m usually much better at controlling it than this, but I…we’ve been so busy.” 

Din sighs softly and hangs his head. His hands clench into fists on his lap. “I’m sorry.” 

Your eyes snap up to look at him. “Why are you sorry?” 

“I should have noticed. I shouldn’t have let you neglect your health.” 

“You had no idea,” you assure him, putting a hand on the armour over his thigh. “I’m the one who kept this from you. How were you supposed to know?” 

“With or without diabetes, I should be taking better care of you.” 

“No, that’s not the lesson we’re taking away from this.” 

He looks at you again. The black T of his visor is emotionless, but you can imagine the quirk of his eyebrow. “It’s not?” 

“No,” you almost laugh, because how is he suddenly making this his fault? 

“Then what is?”

“That I should’ve told you. That I put us in danger by not letting you know something that could’ve affected the mission. Something that could’ve…hurt us.” 

He stares at you. Unmoving, unreadable. 

“Did you make me say the lesson out loud on purpose by pretending you feel guilty?” You ask him.

“No,” he replies, deadpan, “I’d never.” 

“You would.” 

“I didn’t,” he says, this time with a slight smile in his voice. He reaches out, takes your hand. “I meant it when I said I should have noticed.” 

“I was actively hiding it,” you say. “I don’t blame you. It’s my fault.” 

“You should have told me,” he agrees, albeit reluctantly. “But now that I know, we can make sure this never happens again.” 

“I’ll just be more careful, and always bring a snack, even if I think we’re not going to be out for long.” 

He squeezes your hand, still looking at you through the visor. “Will you tell me about it?” He asks earnestly. 

“What do you want to know?” 

“What you need, what to look out for,” he answers. “How you manage it. I want to make sure you’re safe. That at least one of us can be taking proper care of you.” 

Your heart swells with a sudden bloom of warmth. This isn’t how you expected this to go down: you thought he’d be angry with you for not telling him, and even more angry for almost ruining the mission. 

But, in hindsight, you should’ve known better. Better than to keep this from him, and better than to expect that kind of reaction. 

This is Din. All he’s ever wanted is for you to be safe. Any secret that you’ve told him has always been met with kindness, understanding. Even when you’ve kept it from him for a while. 

“What?” Din asks into the silence that you hadn’t even realised you’d created. You’re just staring at him, warmth in your chest and adoration in your eyes. 

You shake your head. “Nothing,” you say, finding your voice a little choked with tears in your throat, “just. I love you.” 

He softens. Leans in, presses the beskar over his forehead to yours. “I love you too, Cyar’ika.” 

You close your eyes. “I’m sorry I kept it from you.” 

“I know. It’s alright. But please tell me how we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.” 

“I will,” you promise, pushing your nose into his helmet for a second before pulling away, giving him a sheepish smile. “But first, I need a proper meal.” 

notes: finally getting to one of yall's requests! i've been so busy but thank you for your patience, and thank you to this anon for this request. as a fellow diabetic, i can relate, and i would want din there for a low if i had to have one, lmao.

hope you enjoyed! reblogs & comments so so appreciated if you can ❤️

din taglist: @brokenghostgirl1 @astronymity

[flawlessassholes]

i need to hear some of your social media strategy thoughts about the drivers!!!

THANK YEW so this was a discussion with @xoxogossipzoe that essentially breaks down to the fact that without a doubt, hands down, lando has the best social media and pr strategy on the grid.

he clearly has the right people in place to reach the absolute right markets and instead of deriding a base of teenage girls he leans into it, wears friendship bracelets and talks about horoscopes and makes cute merchandise. but he also, somehow, manages to keep a solid base of male fans, which zoë rightly pointed out. he manages to engage with memes and trends that appeal to a range of ages and genders, engages with memes and trends popular in all of them, successfully crosses between them. and his strategy doesn’t feel obvious like it is with other drivers, it just feels natural. example: this reel which plays on the current “x on film” trend. i guarantee you lando took maybe one or two of those pictures at most, the rest were taken by a team and the reel was created by him. but because he has the existing lando.jpg account, it feels natural and not like he’s trend chasing for maximum engagement.

this got long so more under the cut

his sponcon even feels natural - he advertises a lot of video games which makes sense! quadrant! twitch streamer! his appearances are smart — it was a VERY smart choice to go on chicken shop date, and he likely gained far more new fans and engagement than he would have from, say, hot ones — he’s not lewis hamilton with 34 million followers, he’s got 8.8 but he’s online and hip and cool up and comer, like chicken shop date. he wants to feel like the most approachable driver, and he does when he blushes his way through a video that took months of negotiations and contracts behind the scenes.

all of his social media feels natural and boy-next-door in a way that it just doesn’t. the only driver who comes remotely close to achieving this is alex, and even he needs work fine tuning his overall strategy, and he certainly doesn’t have the reach or audience grasp that lando has.

which is fascinating because lando is, ostensibly, one of the drivers with the most established slash unique side hustle in quadrant. clearly lando is a business, but it’s so damn effortless that it doesn’t feel like it.

take the Hungary helmet. that is a masterclass in branding, partner activation, publicity, etc. it’s simple, effective, and the kind of seamless, elegant, intelligent, wholesome pr move that many brands would pay tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars for. it plays on every aspect of the lando norris brand.

his entire strategy and the team behind it are geniuses, which is especially frustrating because he’s so goddamn annoying.

tl;dr:

heartbreaking! the worst person you know has excellent marketing strategy

[quickcharlie]

Denis Villeneuve discussing Dune Part 2 in an interview with the New York Times today, including whether he will be reading any FeydPaul fan fiction lol

He explains why Lady Jessica’s face is so heavily tattooed, whether Paul considers himself the Messiah and what he thinks of those Javier Bardem memes.

This weekend, “Dune: Part Two” muscles back into IMAX theaters with the verve of Timothée Chalamet rodeo- riding a giant sandworm. After nearly two months in theaters, the film is the current champion of this year’s box office race, with a total take of more than $680 million. (It’s also available to rent or buy on some streaming platforms.) The film’s success is thanks in part to audiences that have returned over and over to get lost in the rocky warrens and spiritual reckonings of the planet Arrakis. One admirer reports he’s seen the movie 25 times to date.

That there’s so much to explore in “Dune: Part Two” is a credit to its writer and director, Denis Villeneuve, who boldly reshaped Frank Herbert’s complex and cerebral 1965 novel “Dune.” Villeneuve split the book and its themes into two films: “Dune: Part One,” released in 2021, focused on the political struggles between two families, the Atreides and the Harkonnens. “Part Two” delves into religious fervor as the two surviving Atreides, young Paul (Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), ingratiate themselves with Arrakis’s Indigenous desert tribe, the Fremen, by allowing the locals to believe that Paul is their Messiah — a prophecy that, if it comes to pass, will mean the slaughter of billions of victims across the galaxy.

Villeneuve has yearned to tell this story since he was a in . His devotion is palpable; every frame feels steeped in monkish contemplation. Yet, he’s also a visual dramatist who doesn’t want audiences to get tripped up by too much exposition. His scripts give only passing mention to core concepts like spice, a psychedelic dust that powers everything from space travel to Paul’s clairvoyant hallucinations.

Though Villeneuve doesn’t want to overexplain, he was willing to provide some answers in an interview via video where every question about the film — even silly questions! — was on the table.

Does Chalamet’s Paul Atreides actually believe he’s the Messiah? What’s the meaning of Jessica’s face tattoos? Villeneuve also got into the erotic lives of his desert dwellers and the extra narrative weight he threw behind Paul’s Fremen love interest, Chani, played by Zendaya. As Villeneuve said with a grin, “Chani is my secret weapon.”

Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

The last time we spoke, you weren’t sure what to make of the sandworm-shaped “Dune” popcorn bucket. It went on to be so popular that it sold out in cities before opening day and is being resold online for around $175. What do you think of it now?

I thought that the bucket was an insane marketing idea. I laughed so much. It is so out there. I don’t know who designed it, but they’re a bit of a genius. I’m at peace with the bucket.

In this film, Javier Bardem’s character Stilgar is reduced to a guileless follower of Paul Atreides, who Stilgar believes is the new Messiah. His conversion is tragic. But also, Bardem’s awe-face has become a funny meme, and the second time I saw the movie, people laughed at almost every line he spoke. Did that reaction surprise you?

No. I am very happy when you say that he is a tragic figure. For me, he is the most tragic figure of all. The idea to bring humor to Stilgar was to make him lovable, to feel the humanity in that character. He’s not an austere figure, he has a big heart. But his beliefs, his faith, his reactions bring humor — and that is something I love about making a sci-fi film, because I can talk about that without offending people because it’s a fake religion. I designed all the prayers myself, so I know it’s fake. I find Stilgar very funny. And when people laugh, I’m happy because that was the intention.

Someone makes a dig that Stilgar has found a savior again. This is not even his first time? All his life he has been raised with that dream. So I suggest that every time a guy comes from outside with a lot of charisma, he hopes he’s found him. Like in the Bible, we have tons of prophets before Jesus came.

The arc of “Dune: Part Two” is Paul accepting that he must become the Messiah — and get billions of people killed. Does he truly believe that he is the Messiah? Or does he just decide to let the Fremen believe that he is? I don’t think he believes that he is the Messiah. I think he feels the burden of the heritage that the Bene Gesserit [the mystical sisterhood that Jessica belongs to] have laid among the Fremen, and he sees the potential to use that religious power to survive. Paul is warned that no man can survive drinking the spiritual water of life. But as that’s part of the lore of a planet seeded with manipulative propaganda by his own mother, I have to ask: Have other men actually been drinking the water and dying? Have they been scared off from trying? Is the warning just a setup for a magic trick?

There are people that have tried it in the past and died. In Frank Herbert’s world, femininity is a power. I think Herbert was fascinated by motherhood, by the power of creation. I love this idea that the power is held by women. It’s something that was ahead of his time when he wrote it and I tried to put the focus on it. You say so much with Jessica’s costuming. In the first film, her look is immaculate and baroque. This film begins with her in rags, but she finds another path to being dressed and treated like royalty. And she gets a lot of tattoos on her face. Why did she get so many more face tattoos than the outgoing reverend mother?

She’s trying to play on the symbolism that was put in the prophecy. She’s supposed to be the mother of the Messiah, so I wanted to bring the idea that she was like the pope of the reverend mothers on Arrakis. There’s some kind of madness in writing elements of the prophecies on her face. Frankly, I think when you drink the worm poison, it affects your sanity — and the same with Paul. I like the idea that we feel she’s going too far. Jessica is already pregnant when the first movie ends, and she’s still pregnant at the end of this film. Which means you had to condense this massive story into less than nine months because her body is a time clock. The idea was to compress the book so that Paul will feel the pressure to get the Fremens’ trust, to start gearing up — but not to succeed, not to have the time to create a real war. Time is against him.

Because in the book, this takes years. Long enough for Jessica to give birth to a very unnerving daughter, Alia. We glimpse Alia as an adult — she’s played by Anya Taylor-Joy — but you skipped over seeing her murder people as a toddler. Was it hard to decide no “murder toddler”?

I think pregnant women look tremendously powerful. To use that power was very exciting. And usually when you see a pregnant woman onscreen, she’s always giving birth. To avoid that moment, to stay in the state of being pregnant, I thought was very Frank Herbert-like. I was going away from the killer toddler, but I thought that was more fresh and original. Honestly, it’s one of the things that I’m proudest of in the adaptation. Speaking of female power, let’s talk about Chani.

Chani is my secret weapon. Frank Herbert was sad to realize that people saw the book as a celebration of Paul Atreides. He wanted to do a cautionary tale against messianic figures, a warning against blending religion and politics. I wrote the second movie trying to be more faithful to Frank Herbert’s intentions than to the book. In the book, Chani is just a follower. I came up with the idea of her being reluctant. She gives us the critical distance and perspective on Paul’s journey. I wanted to make sure the audience will understand that Paul becomes a dark figure, that his choices are exactly what Chani was afraid of. He becomes the colonizers the Fremen were fighting against. And then the movie becomes the cautionary tale Frank Herbert was wishing for.

Paul makes a choice at the end that will go on to kill billions of people. That’s so large and theoretical that it’s hard to grasp. But you structure your climax so that in that moment of betrayal, he’s also betraying the love of his life — a betrayal we understand.

He betrayed her in many ways. But the big thing for Chani is that it’s not about love. It’s about the fact that he becomes the figure that will keep the Fremen in their mental jail. A leader that is not there to free the Fremen, but to control them. That’s the tragedy of all tragedies. Like the Michael Corleone of sci-fi, he becomes what he wanted to avoid. And he will try to find a way to save his soul in the third part.

But “Dune Messiah,” the book your third film is based on, picks up 12 years later with a reunited Paul and Chani. How far did you feel you could push her anger? Because at some point, she’s going to have to forgive him. That anger is tremendous. I don’t want to reveal what I’m going to do with the third movie. I know exactly what to do. I’m writing it right now. But there’s a lot of firepower there and I’m very excited about that decision. In the spirit of no dumb questions, Chani says that Paul sand-walks like a drunk lizard. Which means Arrakis has booze?

Actually, there is spice beer. In the book, there are Fremen parties, even some orgies involving spice. I didn’t bring that into the movies because it’s PG-13.

Body fluids have significance to the Fremen. Spitting is the giving of water, a sign of respect. But tears and vomit are a waste. So what is kissing?

As long as you don’t lose your humidity, you can kiss. It’s an exchange of fluids — an act of love, when you think about it. Fremens love to kiss.

What about the, um, other romantic fluids? You cannot have sex outside, for sure. But they are very sexual. I suspect that all sexual intercourse happens in environments that are protected from losing moisture. When they are in their sietches [or caves] underground, those are sealed. You don’t need to wear stillsuits inside them. We can deduce from that there is no problem to have sex in a sietch.

By the way, who decided that Fremen was pronounced Freh-men and not Free-men? All the pronunciations, I took them from recordings of Frank Herbert’s voice. Frank Herbert used “Freh-men,” which I love. It makes it less on-the-nose.

You kept two major characters out of the first movie and only introduced them now: the princess Irulan, played by Florence Pugh, and the Baron Harkonnen’s nephew Feyd-Rautha, played by Austin Butler. The princess is the first voice in the books, the first face onscreen in David Lynch’s “Dune” [1984]. What made you sure holding them back was the right move, despite three years of fans asking, “Hey, where are they?” When people ask me what was the biggest challenge in making those movies, it’s writing them. In order to make this adaptation, we have to make big, bold decisions. One was that the first movie should be seen from Paul’s perspective. I wasn’t able to do that entirely because I had to go to the Harkonnens’ side to introduce them so that the story will be clear, but I tried to find an elegant simplicity in the story structure. And I wanted, frankly, to keep some firepower for the second movie.

Why is Feyd-Rautha’s gladiator scene in black and white? And what are the splats in the sky above the dome?

Frank Herbert explores the impact of ecosystems on cultures, on humans. How it influences the way we evolve — our biology, culture, technology, mythology, religion. The psychology of a tribe is linked with their environment. If you want to know things about the Fremen, you observe the desert. I wanted to have the same approach to the Harkonnens. They killed nature. It’s a plastic planet. One thing left was sunlight, but instead of a sun that reveals color, it kills colors. When you are outside, it’s all black and white. It gives us ideas about how these people perceive reality, politics, violence in a binary world — it brings the idea of fascism. It also gave me the opportunity to bring images that remind us in our memories of World War II and the Nazi regime. So it’s an idea that I had as I was writing. Then I had the idea to have strange fireworks in the sky that will look like Rorschach drawings. It’s a nightmarish celebration. The perception of a dome is not accurate. It’s just that the fireworks reach a certain altitude and then they explode. But it’s true that it looks like a liquid that falls from the sky.

Forgive me if I am not being fair to sadistic, psychopathic Feyd-Rautha. But all of the gladiators were supposed to be drugged for his happy birthday massacre. The one who secretly isn’t puts up a worthy battle. So I assumed that Feyd-Rautha isn’t that great of a fighter. But at the end, he’s the only warrior who is Paul’s equal?

It’s a show. You see that the Harkonnens are very cruel and their society is very paranoiac. His opponent is known in the books as one of the great fighters, Lieutenant Lanville. I tried to show that Feyd is excited to have a real opponent. He has a code of honor, he respects the effort, and he has fun with it. That’s the idea I tried to convey — he’s not a coward.

Audiences might remember that the Bene Gesserit wanted Jessica’s child to be a girl, that Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides was supposed to be female. And they specifically bred Feyd-Rautha to be a male. Were they hoping these youngsters would mate?

Yeah. They are trying to increase the potential of humanity by breeding the best specimen of each tribe or family. A baby between Feyd-Rautha and an Atreides daughter would have brought peace between Harkonnens and the Atreides, and created an über being.

Will you read any of the internet fan fiction spawned by the idea of Timothée and Austin hooking up?

[Laughs] But you know, we approached their fight at the end like some kind of symbolic union. The way their bodies get close to one another, there’s something animalistic, an intimacy, I was looking for.

I rewatched the first film again recently. It opens with a quote in another language: “Dreams are messages from deep.” I love that quote. It feels like how a film resonates, too. But it wasn’t until I had subtitles on at home that I realized who said it. Of all the important characters and cultures to establish, you gave that major moment — the very beginning of your franchise — to an anonymous Sardaukar from the murderous imperial army that we’re cheering to see get killed. Why?

I love your question. The Sardaukar are the dark side of the Fremen. I thought it would be interesting to have a tiny bit of insight that they are not just tremendous warriors, but they have spirituality, philosophical thought. They have substance. Also, their sound was designed by Hans Zimmer. I absolutely loved how it feels like it’s coming from the deep, from the ancient world. Frank Herbert said beginnings are very delicate times. By starting with a Sardaukar priest, I was indicating to the fans that I was taking absolute freedom with this adaptation, that I was hijacking the book. But you also deeply love the book. So when you make these bold changes, do you feel like asking Frank Herbert for forgiveness?

Yes. There’s so many darlings that you kill. An adaptation is an act of violence.

“There’s so many darlings that you kill,” Denis Villeneuve said of filming “Dune,” a book he loved. “An adaptation is an act of violence.”

[jessamine-rose]

♫ ♪ ⊱ .⋅ Aoede ⋅. ⊰ ♪ ♫

Once upon a time, @diodellet and I joked about Singer! Reader x Stan! Pierro as the modern AU of my Yandere! Pierro fics. Fast forward to the present, I have applied my clown makeup ꒰(•́⍜•̀)꒱

Tw:: YANDERE, unhealthy relationships, toxic stan culture, stalking, kidnapping, drugging

♡ 1.7k words under the cut ♡

♡ So how did someone like Pierro become your no#1 stan? Even in his youth, he considers himself above such reprobate theatrics. But that all changes during a rough period in his life when he hears you calling out to his soul in the middle of a busy street.

♡ In actuality, you are an ordinary busker. Hypnotized by your music, Pierro stays for the remainder of your performance. You are like a beacon of hope that sprung out of nowhere, with your angelic voice and uplifting lyrics. And you’ve clearly noticed him because you cheerfully thank him after your last song.

How could he describe the solace evoked by your music? He feels calm, invigorated.

“Your performance was utterly enchanting,” is all he tells you.

He takes a few bills out of his wallet, but you quickly pack away your tip box.

“Thank you,” you reply, a bright smile on your face. “Your smile was the best payment I could’ve asked for!”

♡ Since then, whenever he visits that area, Pierro looks for you to no avail. You’ve completely vanished, leaving him to question whether you were truly some guardian angel. Then one day, out of nowhere, he hears your voice again on the radio. The familiar song is followed by your official introduction as an up-and-coming artist.

♡ As it turns out, you were scouted by an agency!! Pierro had miraculously attended your last street performance, and now he can listen to your music anytime. Your debut album is worth the purchase; it has the same divine melody…minus your presence. And so, against his better judgment, he attends your first official concert.

♡ Your second performance is just as life-changing. Onstage, illuminated by the heavenly lights, you successfully mesmerize the entire audience including Pierro. From afar, you look ethereal, dreamy, charismatic…and he also finds you pretty. Very pretty, like a god who descended from the skies to share their gift of song with the world.

♡ Pierro is not blind to the parasocial nature of your relationship. Regardless, he listens to your new albums religiously, sends you elegantly-penned fanmail, and attends a few more concerts and fan meetings. Unlike your “hopelessly degenerate” fans, he greets you in a calm, serious manner and doesn’t prolong his turn with you. His gaze is rather intense in photos, however.

♡ There is also the dark side of his adoration. Constant thoughts about you, endless loops of your songs, the urge to hunt down your undeserving stans, a suppressed desire to bridge the distance between the two of you. It is no wonder that as your career comes crashing down, so does his entire world.

♡ It isn’t your fault, of course. The paparazzi, the media’s criticisms, your exploitative agency and toxic fanbase…he sees how it takes a toll on you over the years. You can fool the entire world with a false smile, but he sees the growing dimness in your eyes. After another leaked hospital visit, your agency announces the termination of your contract.

♡ Your remaining fans are devastated, but not so much as Pierro. Yet despite his despair, a cruel part of him revels in it. He buys your discounted merch at clearance sales and writes more heartfelt letters until your agency stops forwarding your fanmail. He no longer has to share you with the world.

♡ That being said, he has no time to grieve your downfall. Stagnation would be an insult to your legacy, and now he can fully devote himself to his work. So he accepts a job offer from the Tsaritsa, moves to Snezhnaya, and establishes the Fatui.

♡ Fast forward a few decades, he has built a new life for himself. The Fatui is now a powerful organization, prestigious on paper and feared in the black market. Meanwhile, you have been reduced to an old name in music history, forgotten in favor of new talent. And while his obsession survives in personal playlists and merch collections, Pierro refuses to waste time searching for you. Rather, you return to his life on your own.

♡ He is simply browsing the drugstore when a stranger bumps into him. Just as he is about to brush off the accident, Pierro hears their apology and whirls around. It’s you, standing in front of him, this time without stanchions or bodyguards.

♡ His first thought is that you’ve changed. Older appearance, plain clothes, a quiet voice. No one else would believe that you were once a lively singer with the power to charm hundreds of people. If anything, you are the one staring at him with awe and respect.

♡ Your nervous “Do I know you?” is what snaps him out of his thoughts. Pierro quickly denies it, and your relieved expression only confirms your identity. He accepts your apology, walks past you, and observes you from a distance. Sure enough, it’s all there from your telltale mannerisms to the snack preferences memorized from magazine interviews.

♡ …Your tired disposition and purchased medications also aren’t lost on him. After following you to your apartment, he drives back to his office and enlists the Fatui in gaining intel. Within days, he catches up on your post-musician life. You laid low, moved to Snezhnaya, joined a company which lets you work from home. What a pitiful fate.

♡ Another crucial fact is that you no longer recognize him. While that stings, Pierro understands—he, too, has changed over the years, with his fine suits and dignified attitude. Actually, he could use this to his advantage. With his elevated status and the dissolution of your professional boundaries, he can entertain what was once a foolish dream.

♡ You begin to run into him everywhere—in the drugstore, the grocery, your favorite cafe. Your encounters soon evolve into brief conversations then casual dates. With each reunion, Pierro falls deeper into his obsession. Who knew that the real, imperfect you was this enchanting?

♡ Courtship aside, it’s also natural that he seeks justice for you. The companies which exploited you? Exposed for their crimes against other celebrities. Your old song favored by the YouTube algorithm? Instantly hit with copyright strike, along with your remaining legacy. Even your official channel gets hacked and deleted. In other words, Pierro gatekept his idol

♡ From your end, you don’t suspect anything. Sure, you do question your frequent run-ins until Pierro claims that the Fatui opened a new office in your area. And despite your disbelief when he formally asks you out—him, the director of the Fatui?!—you accept out of mutual attraction. You haven’t had a close companion in years, and he makes you happy.

♡ Sure, he is vague about his life before the Fatui but that’s fine, right? You’ve only started dating and he respects your own secrecy. You’re still hesitant to reveal your previous identity, given your slandered reputation. Your saving grace is that Pierro seemingly doesn’t know your stage persona at all, a rare trait for those from your generation.

♡ A few weeks into your relationship, you are invited to his home. His estate is palatial, heavily guarded, distanced from the city. And Pierro is nothing short of a perfect host as he shows you around, allowing you to admire his private art collections from Snezhnaya and Khaenri’ah. In your current state, you’ve never felt more out of place.

♡ After a few glasses of wine, you head to the bathroom. While Pierro gave you directions, he didn’t specify which door it was. Which is how you discover what seems to be a storage room for more paintings and art pieces. Oops, time to close—is that your face?

♡ Shakily, you turn on the lights. All four walls are covered in framed posters—your posters from the height of your career. The display cases hold your old merch such as vintage albums, T-shirts, accessories, fragrances, photos and magazine articles, every relic of your past. What is all of this?

♡ The answer is a familiar letter set on the table. The handwriting, the name on the envelope, the wax seal with a four-pointed star…doesn’t this belong to one of your devoted fans? You only look away when a shadow engulfs you; it’s Pierro standing in the doorway.

“Careful now, this is my most prized collection. What a shame, my surprise has been ruined.”

♡ Despite his serious expression, his gaze is absolutely terrifying. You can’t even panic before you are suddenly overtaken by drowsiness. Your vision blurs; you lose your balance; you nearly collapse if not for Pierro catching you. You can only weakly flail in his arms as he carries you to his room. The last thing you hear is his gentle humming, a familiar melody which lulls you to sleep.

♡ It was wise of him to serve the drugged wine early. With you unconscious, Pierro can proceed to the next phase of his plan. This time, he enters your apartment where Fatui employees are already packing your things. He personally sifts through the items in your bedroom and finds your old singer memorabilia stashed in your closet.

♡ Dusty instruments, crumpled sheet music, awards…and your fanmail. He feels a twinge of warmth upon finding his letters compiled in their own box; the others are burned with his lighter. See, he was truly superior to your other stans. You clearly cherished his every word over their insincere ramblings, and now he can directly profess his undying love for you.

♡ When he returns to his estate, you’re still unconscious. That is when Pierro finally allows himself to smile, caress your face, envision your new life together. He has it all planned out—a shared bed, a new wardrobe fit for a house-spouse, a wedding for when you’re more docile. You belong to him and no one else.

♡ …He does know that to hear you sing again is a wistful delusion. Your passion for music is gone; your voice has been altered by age and unuse; and you’d probably reject such a request from him. But that’s perfectly fine. You already saved him once, so allow him to repay the favor.

♡

If you liked this post, pls consider reading Disjecta Membra and Chess Piece linked above!! And don't ask me wtf I was on to make Pierro, of all characters, a celebrity stan bc idk either. I hope y’all enjoyed this :'>

Tag a Pierro enjoyer!! @frogchiro @kocherry @nicebonescomrades @mnemosyneechan @thescribeoflostmemories @victoria1676 @artiifex @pierroswife @fluffy-koalala @leftdestiny-posts @ansy-tea @oofasleep @elysiasfiance @frostedclementine

[accio-victuuri]

All the Things I loved about “One and Only” : My review of Yibo’s new movie 🎞️

Alas, I was able to watch 1 out of the 3 films Yibo released this year. It’s also the one I’ve been looking forward to, because he will be dancing and as a fan of SDC, I wanted to see familiar faces too.

The movie is STUNNING. The visual is something else. I enjoyed how colorful it is. How real. The empty train Shuo Shuo rides, the market, his home and the restaurant below etc. Even if this was a movie, it felt to me like I know these places. I really have to hand it to Dapeng on this one! He did really well! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I remember one of the first reviews I’ve read about it is how it can compete with international films because of it’s quality — and they’re right!

Props to the cinematography ( Zhong Rui & Qian Tiantian ) and the Editing (Tu Yiran & Zhang Yibo) THE EDITING!!!!! It may be headache inducing for some because of the close ups and movement, but i loved it! I mentioned “colors” and I think the clothes contributed to that too and since I’ve read Zhao Yige’s process on it, I appreciated it even more.

Moving on the things I loved, let me list 8. 🤍 ( this is in no particular order )

1. It is funny without trying too hard. When you think of comedy, it’s almost always characters are deliberately given no choice but to be in a comedic situation. This is not one of those. It’s effortless. It also helps that some characters, like Dong Erlang, are naturally funny. He doesn’t have to do anything. Lol. I also find myself laughing with them, and not at them, which is the kind of comedy i like.

2. Every character is interesting. It’s hard to make main characters feel like someone the audience can relate to or be one they wanna get to know more. All the more, the minor characters and this movie nails it. I found myself wanting to know more about Shuo Shuo’s uncle and if he was able to overcome his crippling anxiety of meeting new people and going out. What happened to Kevin’s assistant/translator lol I was laughing so much watching his struggle to act as translators to the foreign dancers 😂😂😂. Shuo Shuo’s performing troupe. The story of his parents. The film is not only about Chen Shuo or Ding Lei. It’s their lives and the people in it.

3. It portrayed the struggles we experience in life without being too melodramatic. Critics have said that Dapeng’s movies focus more on showing the lives of the “little people” and what it’s like. He thrives on telling their stories and I have to agree on that. Ding Lei said that Shuo Shuo’s life could be a melodrama and maybe it is for some, but to those who have experienced life as it is, you could say that this is the reality. There is no magic solution. Shuo Shuo had to leave E-mark, Ding Lei and the team had to give up their “studio” and it’s comfort to be free, Patrick had to leave the team and Luffy is retiring etc. It was more than a movie about Dancing.

4. The Music is amazing! From key moments to the actual battles. The song choices were perfect. 🤍 Even when there was no conventional music playing, like that final battle and Shuo Shuo had to dance while the audience gave him a beat. Peng Fei did a great job with this!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

5. SDC personalities making an appearance. Oh! One of the reasons I loved this is the familiar faces. Knowing that the film was done alongside SDC 5 and they had to move to Hangzhou to make it work. It definitely paid off cause the film is Gorgeous. You can tell that everyone pulled their weight to make this happen. I appreciated seeing Yangkai as a judge in the national competition. I’m not familiar with MonkeyZ prior to him being in this film, but seeing him, well, congratulations on making the National Team in real life. JrTaco & David who have been Yibo’s friends even before they did SDC with him. AAAANNNDDD ROCHKA! My personal favorite. The apple of my eye. Seeing him shine in the final battle rounds 😍😍😍😍

6. The quirky moments. The characters and their own quirks added flavor to them and the story. Especially Ding Lei and his love for the TV drama Empress in the Palace or how he wears diapers 😂

7. WANG YIBO WAS SO FREAKIN HANDSOME IN THIS FILM AND IT NEEDS IT’S OWN ENTRY.

For someone who watched a lot of videos of him as Chen Shuo from actual scenes + behind the scenes. saw the photos. Edited a couple of those videos and photos — I knew Shuo Shuo is exceptional. But that didn’t prepare me at all for the full effect of seeing him in the big screen. I have to admit for the first few minutes of his scenes I wanted to hit pause so I can take a moment — I can’t tho cause I’m in a Cinema. 😂😂😂 HE IS BEAUTIFUL. This is the Yibo that they had to make an effort to look “scruffy” and give him ordinary clothes. The result? Still the most gorgeous human being. Tho in the movie, he is still supposed to look “handsome” but it’s his mom who is the only one who says it. So it gives you the impression that it’s just like how moms think their kids are the most handsome. BUT NO. NO. It’s dangerous how handsome he is in this film 😭

That scene when he falls down spinning when the train stops — and he looks at the girl apologetically? Dude! How??????? How???? Tell me!!!! SO BEAUTIFUL 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

8. WANG YIBO as Chen Shuo. The reason why I watched this movie in the first place. He played the role so well. He is such a lovable character and as a viewer, I can’t help but root for him. I loved the scenes where he was just living his life — trying to balance his responsibilities and reaching his dreams. The dance sequences. How he cried after that Star Dance (?) performance! It was so raw! It felt like he was just too overwhelmed with everything that he became emotional. Best Actor Wang Yibo!!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 That’s what I always loved about him as an actor. He doesn’t have to exaggerate. He is a natural. You watch him and see a real person and not a caricature. What else? His little smiles. How he interacts with other characters are good too, especially his Mom. I want a son like Shuo Shuo please. such a good boy! 😌😌😌

I’m so thankful to meet Yibo as Chen Shuo. This character and the movie is truly a gift to everyone who watches it. 🤍

I hope Shuo Shuo continues to live well, in the unreleased easter egg, it was revealed that he was accepted to the National Team. I wish him all the best!

-END.

[flightlessangelwings]

Trust and Intuition Chapter 1- The Vigilante

Din Djarin x fem!reader (no use of y/n)

Word count- 3.2k

Warnings- set between seasons 1 and 2, canon typical violence, action, suspense, protective!Din, badass!reader

Notes- While this chapter doesn’t have smut, my blog is still 18+ only so minors please do not interact! This is a rewrite of the very first Mando fic I ever wrote! And boy did I realize how choppy my writing used to be as I was editing and reworking this lol! But this will be 4 parts to this series and then some sequel fics as well so we've got a big story here! The planet here, Dria, is one I made up. Updates on Mondays. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Feel free to follow s my update blog and turn on post notifications to stay up to date on when I post! @flightlessangelwings-updates​​

~

The Mandalorian sat in the cockpit of the Razor Crest and sighed. His new mission was simple in theory, but daunting in reality: find where this child is from and return him home. He stared back at the baby as he found himself wondering where in the galaxy he should start. The child just stared back at him and smiled widely. The pair stared at each other for a few moments in a comfortable silence before the Mandolorian spoke.

“We’ll figure this out, buddy,” he assured the baby, who giggled in response. As he stared at the little creature with affection, Mando remembered a planet that was renowned for its vast library and research. “That’s as good a place as any to start,” he sighed to himself as he set a course, “Dria.” 

The trip there was quiet and uneventful; everyone in this part of the galaxy seemed to keep to themselves, which was completely fine with the Mandalorian. The Maker truly looked out for him this time as no one bothered him as he landed his ship in a dock on the outskirts of the capital city. From above, Mando could see several different climates on the planet, but the capital was a bustling spot of green and life in the middle of a desert region. Buildings lit up the landscape and the nearby sea reflected the bright sun that beamed down on the people there. Further into the desert and the outskirts, old ruins covered the landscape. 

It felt peaceful.

The child babbled and watched as Mando gathered his weapons and prepared for the trek out, “Ready kid?” he asked as he settled him into his pram. Mando gently stroked the baby’s cheek once and tilted his helmet with affection as his foundling looked up at him in awe, “Come on.”

Dria’s capital city was bustling with life. Traders worked in the large market in the center of town, and there were libraries on every corner. Education was obviously highly important in this society as a school was almost always in sight. The Mandalorian spent most of the morning browsing around the libraries for any information on the child’s species, but with no luck. 

“I’m looking for any information on a rare species,” Mando asked one of the scholars at the third library he visited as he laid his hands on the counter. The child stayed at his side in his pram, quietly looking around at the sights that Dria had to offer.

She glanced down at the child and studied him for a few moments, but obviously was unfamiliar with what he spoke of, “I think what you’re looking for is in the archives at the royal palace,” she suggested, “That’s where the most lucrative information is kept.” 

“Well, I guess it’s the palace then,” he told the child with a heavy sigh. Having no other options, the Mandalorian went to the large palace on the top of the hill and asked for an audience with the king. The palace guards and advisors scrambled: what does a Mandalorian want with the king? 

“Mandalorian, the king will see you now,” a guard called Mando’s attention just as he was about to give up and leave. He nodded without a word and followed the guard into the main audience chamber.

It was a lavish room filled with old weapons as decor on the walls and the best woven rugs on the floors. The only decor that stood out was the large tapestry with the crescent moon and three stars symbol: obviously the symbol of Dria. For how much it was decorated, the room itself was mostly bare. A few tables lined the walls, a few bookshelves littered the walls, and the large throne sat elevated in the center of the room. On that throne, sat the king, dressed in all black topped with a dark silk cape.

“I am King Vero Alcyron of Dria,” he spoke in an authoritative yet smooth voice, “But you already knew that.” The king had an imposing presence that commanded the attention of a room. He could be considered classically handsome and he was tall; one would find him charming upon first meeting. Yet, there was something about him that Mando instantly didn’t trust, he just couldn’t quite figure out why. Perhaps it was because he held a vague resemblance to someone… 

Mando gave a small nod, but said nothing yet. He stood tall with his arms crossed in front of him. 

“What brings a Mandalorian all the way out here to my humble little planet?” Vero stood and stepped down to level with the Mandalorian, “What could my archives possibly have that would be of interest to you?” his eyes dropped down to the child for a moment before meeting Mando’s visor once more. 

“I’m looking for answers,” he stated simply.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific than that,” the king scoffed. 

Mando chose his words carefully, “This creature,” he gestured to the baby reluctantly, hating having to draw attention to him, “I’ve never seen one like him before and I need to know more.”

The king sneered, “I thought your duty was only to capture targets, not ask questions, Mandalorian.”

“I have been tasked with something more with this one,” the words rolled off his tongue easily. When it came to the safety of the child, Mando had no hesitation. There were only a few he trusted, and this king was not one of them. Omitting information came easy when the child was on the line. 

“I’m intrigued,” Vero paused for a moment as a huff left his lips, “I’ll grant you access to the palace library, but I need you to do something for me first. Nothing comes for free after all.”

The Mandalorian sighed quietly; of course it wouldn’t be this easy, “What do you need?”

“There’s a vigilante running around causing havoc in my city,” King Vero started.

“And you need this vigilante taken care of,” Mando guessed the end of his sentence.

“Yes and no,” the king paced, “I need him brought to me alive. You see, not only has he stolen from me and started riots in my streets,” he took a few steps towards the bounty hunter as he tapped his fingers together, “But he’s also kidnapped my queen. I need to know what he’s done with her,” his voice lowered to no more than a growl.

“Understood,” Mando said simply before he turned to leave, not having any interest at all in the king’s affairs. The baby’s pram followed close behind, never leaving his caretaker’s side. 

“Alive, Mando!” Vero called to his back. His eyes narrowed as he watched the armored figure walk away and a dark smirk lit up his face. 

*

You navigated your way through the busy plaza with your small embroidered duffle bag strapped tightly against your body. A hood covered your head, you wore goggles to cover your eyes and a mask with a voice changer covered the lower half of your face. Your identity was completely concealed. No one paid you any mind as you kept your head down and ducked around anyone you passed by. The only time you let your presence known was to help a woman that was being heckled by an unruly customer, and then went right back to your anonymity. 

You came up to a stand and made a purchase quickly before you moved on, your purchase safely tucked in your bag. You took a few steps before you had a strange feeling, like you were being watched. As you looked over your shoulder, you noticed who was watching you: a Mandalorian. A short gasp escaped your lips as you turned to run, knowing instantly that he was here for you.

“Shit,” you cursed under your breath as you weasled your way out of the crowded part of the plaza. In the back of your mind, you knew it was only a matter of time before the king would send someone after you. He didn’t exactly approve of your presence in his city, especially since it made his citizens question his authority. You didn’t look behind you, but you knew he was still on your tail. 

When you turned around a corner to a quiet alley, you almost ran directly into the Mandalorian. Without a word, he reached out to grab your arm, but you slipped back before his hand closed on you. In one swift movement, you flung your bag into the shadows and pulled out two small staffs. You were determined not to go down without a fight, even if you knew what the outcome would be. As you readied your stance, you noticed the pram at the Mandalorian’s side and the little green creature with wide eyes and a soft gasp escaped your lips. 

The Mandalorian stood his ground and waited for you to make the first move, and it didn’t go unnoticed by him that you paused upon noticing the child. You exhaled before you lashed out at him with your batons. He ducked and countered with a knife. The alley was quiet, save for the clangs of your weapons as you parried with the bounty hunter. You groaned under your mask as you quickly realized you exerted more energy than he did, and you knew your disadvantage quickly.

After studying your movements, Mando got the advantage and knocked you off your feet. He was actually impressed how well you fought and held your ground until this point. You even managed to get a few hits in too: something not everyone could say. With a grunt you hit the ground hard, and the bounty hunter kicked your weapons away from you. 

As you collided with the ground, your head hit the hard floor and your goggles shattered. You strained to push yourself up to a sitting position, and with a sigh you pulled your goggles off of your face. Your head throbbed, but you got lucky that your mask hit the ground and not your head directly. 

Mando watched as you took a few deep breaths before you raised your hands up in surrender. He took a pair of cuffs out and locked your arms behind your back before he dragged you to your feet. The child watched with a soft coo as the fight ended, although he didn’t seem worried about you as a threat for some reason. 

“Wait,” your voice sounded normal, the voice modulator in your mask must have broken when you hit the ground. You cursed to yourself; that would make things harder when he got you back to the palace. 

“I’m taking you in,” he said simply.

“Just wait,” you said breathlessly, tired from your spar. This made him stop in his tracks. “Just do me one favor. Please,” you begged, left with no options than to plead with your captor.

The Mandalorian just stared at you, unsure of what to say. It was definitely bold of his target to ask anything of him. It wouldn’t be the first time, but Mando had no interest in what you had to say; you were just like any other bounty he captured before.

“Please,” you started, “This is important. Just take my bag to the temple Lux ruins on the outside of the city,” desperation lined your voice, “I promise it’s not a trap.” 

He looked into your eyes and saw the genuine concern in them. He also heard the pain in your voice, which wasn’t the voice he was expecting to hear. Suddenly, you seemed different than the other faceless targets before. Suddenly, Mando was more interested in your story. His grip on your arm loosened slightly as something in his head told him to trust you.

“I can pay you,” you added in a last effort to get the bounty hunter to comply with your request, “You have a kid there right? Then you understand…”  

That snapped him out of his thoughts as he glanced over at the child.

“In my pocket here,” you nodded your head to your right. Mando stared at you for a moment, and as if you read his thoughts you added, “I know when I’ve been defeated. I’m not going to try anything. These cuffs are pretty tight anyway,” you added with a dry laugh. 

The bounty hunter tightened his grip on your arm as he reached for your pocket. Right at the top, he felt the credits you mentioned. He looked into your eyes again as he pulled them out before he led you back to the palace with the child’s pram following loyally behind. 

Neither of you spoke again after that. 

*

The large doors of the grand hall opened to let in the Mandalorian and his catch. Your arms were still bound behind you and a strong hand held you tightly. You held yourself tall and wore a fierce look in your eyes, the only part of your face visible.

King Vero sat on his throne and watched the two of you walk in alone; the pram that held the child was noticeably absent. A dark smile graced his face when he saw what the bounty hunter had brought him, “Excellent work, Mandalorian,” he spoke as he walked towards the center of the room to meet you.

Mando simply bowed his head slightly as he released his grip on you. Uninterested in what the king had to say, he turned to a steward behind him for his payment. Ignoring the Mandalorian behind you, you stared at the king with a fierce look, as if you tried to stab him with your gaze alone. 

“Did the vigilante say anything, Mandalorian?” Vero’s voice called his attention.

He turned slightly back towards the voice, “Didn’t say a word.”

Under your mask, a smile flashed across your face, but you were careful not to let it know in your eyes. Though left with no other options, you were grateful that your gamble to trust the Mandalorian paid off… at least for now. In your eyes, all you let show was hate and rage directed at the king that now stood directly in front of you.

“Where have you taken her, scum?” King Vero’s voice was but a growl as he grabbed you by your collar. 

With your voice modulator broken, you knew your voice would give your identity away. Instead, you chose to answer with action and headbutted the king, hitting him directly on the nose. His body flew back as he lost his footing and his guards shouted and aimed their blasters at you. Mando didn’t move, however, and under his helmet he smirked to himself. There was definitely something about the king he did not trust, even if he couldn’t figure out exactly why. He took the distraction as an opportunity to slip out of the room with his payment unnoticed.

King Vero raised his arms up, “Lower your weapons,” he ordered as he touched his hand to his face, now coated in blood that dripped from his nose. The guards obediently did as they were told. He sauntered up to you and took your masked chin in his hands. He studied your eyes for a moment before he spoke, “No one looks at me with that much open rage,” his voice was low so that only you could hear him, “Maybe some time in the dungeon will make you more amenable to conversation.”  

You understood the threat in his voice, and knew exactly what his words meant. You sighed as the guards hauled you out of the grand room. The only hope you had was that the Mandalorian was a man of his word and would go where you asked him to. What lay there was more important to you than your life anyway. As long as that was safe, then you were at peace with your situation. 

*

When the Mandalorian got back to his ship, the child was there waiting for him. He greeted his caregiver at the door with a wide smile. Mando put his bags down and scooped the child up into his arms.

“Sorry I was longer than I thought,” he told the child in a soft tone, “But I brought you something to eat.” Mando had a bad feeling about King Vero, and opted to leave the child on the Razor Crest before he took you back. There was something about the way he leered at the child that set him on edge, and he decided the kid would be safer here until he got back. 

The child cooed as he grabbed a hold of the Mandalorian’s arm, happy to see him again. Mando carried the baby across the ship and set him down at a little table. He sat a small bowl in front of his foundling before he sat down opposite him.

As he watched the baby gleefully eat, his eyes drifted to the pile behind him. On top of that pile lay the embroidered bag he took from you after your fight. Mando was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the child stopped eating and just looked up at him. He felt the gaze of those big, wide eyes and it shook him out of his trance. The two stared at each other for a few minutes, and seemed to have a conversation without any words.

After several moments, the Mandalorian sighed, “Come on,” he said as he reached for the child and headed for the door. He also picked up the duffel bag on the way out.

Under the cover of night, the bounty hunter went on foot to the edge of the vast city with your bag slung over his shoulder, and the child nestled secretly in his pram. The further away he got from the center of the city, the quieter the area became. The warm air of the desert faded into a crisp evening in the sand. He kept his stance tense, ready for anything that may jump out of the shadows. 

As he stood on a small cliff on the city’s border, Mando focused a scanner to look for life in the ruins that you spoke of. It appeared to be an old temple, maybe jedi. Lux, he remembered, was what you called it. He still wasn’t sure why he was out here in the first place; maybe it was the look in your eyes, a look that whatever was here was more important than your life. 

And he knew that feeling all too well.

He gave a quick glance down at the child before he went back to scanning the terrain. To the naked eye, there was nothing there. However, Mando could see about a dozen heat signatures hidden within the ruins. They were all small, and none appeared to carry any weapons.

“Strange,” he thought out loud before he moved to enter the ruins. The child followed close behind, in his pram, and Mando had his blaster ready in case of danger. However he was confident that whatever was here did not pose any threat. Something in the back of his mind made him very sure of that. 

Out of the peripherals of his vision, Mando noticed movement; someone was watching him. Careful not to startle, he kept still, and watched as the figure slowly crept out of the shadows. It caught the bounty hunter off guard when he realized it was a child, no older than 11 he guessed.

“A kid…?” he breathed. 

What had the Mandalorian stumbled upon this time?