#not even touching the plots of the movies

[mapiforpresident]

Looks Can be Deceiving

mapi x reader

Since the very first time you saw Mapi’s neck tattoo up close after you joined the team, you were utterly transfixed. You’d always admired it from afar—the letters stretching across her throat, “Looks Can Be Deceiving.” It suited her perfectly and it looked incredibly sexy.

~~~

One evening, the two of you were curled up on the couch watching a movie. Mapi was half-draped over you, her arm slung across your stomach and her head resting on your shoulder. As the plot dragged on, you couldn’t help but let your hand wander.

You started at her shoulder, your fingers idly tracing patterns across her skin. Slowly, you made your way to her neck, brushing over the inked words with featherlight touches.

Mapi hummed, tilting her head to give you better access. “You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Doing what?” you asked innocently, though your grin gave you away.

She lifted her head to look at you, her eyes dark with affection and mischief. “You’re obsessed.”

“Can you blame me?” you countered, leaning in to press a slow, deliberate kiss to the middle of the tattoo. “It’s sexy.”

Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t shy away. Instead, she leaned closer, her lips brushing against your ear. “You’re trouble.”

“And you love it,” you whispered back, your lips ghosting over her neck once more.

~~~

During training, it became a running joke among your teammates.

“Your staring at your girlfriend's tattoo again,” Patri teased one day as you passed by, her grin wicked.

“Don’t act like you haven’t noticed,” Pina chimed in, laughing. “They’re always all over each other.”

You rolled her eyes but didn’t deny it. Instead, you pulled Mapi closer, draping her arm over her shoulder and smirking. “Jealous, Pina?”

“Not even a little,” Pina shot back, though her grin betrayed her amusement.

You laughed, giving Mapi’s side a playful nudge. “Maybe we should tone it down.”

Mapi shrugged, unbothered. “Why? Let them talk.”

~~~

One particularly warm day after practice, you were sitting on the sidelines, chatting with Mapi while everyone else cooled down. She’d pulled her jersey off, leaving her in a sports bra that showed off her tattoos.

You couldn’t help yourself.

Reaching out, you traced the words on her neck with your fingertip, slowly and deliberately. Mapi’s lips quirked into a knowing smile, but her eyes fluttered shut at your touch.

“Careful,” she murmured.

“Why?” you asked, leaning closer until your lips brushed the edge of the tattoo. “Am I distracting you?”

Mapi chuckled low in her throat. “You always do.”

Your reply was cut off by a loud wolf whistle. Turning, you saw Mapi’s teammates watching from the field, their expressions a mix of amusement and exasperation.

“Get a room!” Alexia called out, grinning.

You laughed, leaning back and raising your hands in mock surrender. Mapi, however, wasn’t fazed.

“Maybe I will,” she shot back, earning a round of laughter from the team.

~~~

That evening, back at home, you were sprawled on the bed, scrolling through your phone when Mapi walked in. She was freshly showered, her damp hair curling around her face, and her skin still glowing from the heat.

She stopped at the foot of the bed, one hand on her hip. “You know, you’ve got me self-conscious about my neck now.”

You raised an eyebrow, sitting up. “Self-conscious? Why?”

“Because you can’t seem to keep your hands—or your mouth—off it,” she said, though her smirk betrayed her amusement.

You set your phone aside, crawling toward her until you were on your knees at the edge of the bed. Reaching out, you cupped her face and pulled her closer.

“Let me make it worse, then,” you murmured before pressing your lips to the tattoo, soft and lingering.

Mapi sighed, her hands resting on your waist as she melted into the kiss. When you pulled back, she looked at you with that mix of affection and intense hunger that always made your heart race.

“Looks can be deceiving,” you said, tracing the words with your fingertip. “But you? You’re exactly what I see—strong, beautiful, and irresistible.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and she shook her head with a laugh. “You’re too smooth for your own good.”

“Maybe,” you admitted, dragging your finger over the tattoo before pulling her onto the bed with you. “But it works, doesn’t it?”

Mapi’s only response was to kiss you, rough and needy, her fingers threading through your hair as you fell into each other.

Mapi deepened the kiss, her hands sliding from your hair to your waist, pulling you flush against her. The heat between you was tangible, and her lips carried an urgency that sent shivers down your spine. When she finally pulled back, her forehead rested against yours, her breathing uneven.

“You’re dangerous, you know that?” she murmured, her voice low and husky.

You grinned, brushing your fingers over her tattoo again. “Says the woman with a warning label on her neck.”

Mapi let out a soft laugh, tilting her head to kiss the corner of your mouth. “It’s not a warning. It’s a challenge. And you, amor, are the only one who’s ever accepted it so perfectly.”

Your heart swelled at her words, and you kissed her again, this time slower, savoring the moment. You let your hands wander over her shoulders, down her arms, and back up to cradle her face.

“You make it easy to love every part of you,” you said softly, your voice almost a whisper. “Especially this.” Your fingers traced the ink once more, reverently, before you leaned in and pressed another kiss to the words.

Mapi’s cheeks flushed deeper, but she didn’t look away. Her blue eyes locked with yours, and there was a tenderness in her gaze that made your chest ache in the best way.

You definitely left a mark (or two) on her neck that night.

[419jhat]

Russian Steve AU

Another plot bunny I've been unable to get out of my head...

What if Steve's parents were Russian spies and connected to the mall? What if Steve had powers? What if these were combined into two and turned into a Steddie thing?

I love the idea of Steve being like El but the Russian version, where his parents are spies and he's an experiment they willingly handed over to the government but still got to raise. They all go to the US to build the mall and Steve's trying desperately to be a normal American boy but Eddie Munson, King of Abnormality (which drives Steve absolutely crazy because who would want to stand out??) gets in the way and completely wrecks his whole situation.

TW: Dead Bodies

Steven Anthony Harrington died in 1979, sometime around midnight on the third of January. He had two parents, also lying dead in the master bedroom, a dog collapsed on the kitchen floor, and that was it. They were a reclusive bunch with an unlucky family tree filled with people that tended to die early anyway. So maybe it was fate. As the New Steve looked down at the still face of the boy he was going to replace, he thought that it's probably just the circle of life. People die, people live, and the world keeps spinning. It doesn’t have to mean much beyond that.

Old Steve felt cold. It wasn't the first time New Steve had touched or felt a dead person, but for some reason this one is different. This time, it’s his fault. He felt the body go cold and numb as it happened. He watched the emotions seep out of the body as the boy's dream ended without him waking up. His father made him watch, so he understood the sacrifice taken so he could do his job.

The weight of it makes it hard to breathe.

It was a bloodless death, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Painless and simple. While the house airs out, Old Steve, his dog, and his parents are quickly disposed of. There is no evidence left behind. On January fourth, sometime in the evening, the new Harrington family sat on a couch they didn’t buy, in a living room they didn’t choose, and drank a cup of hot tea, considering the moment of peace before the start of their journey.

They move without a word to the neighbors, who the Old Harringtons were never friends with anyway. Nobody knows, or cares where they are. There’s a money trail if someone bothers to look, but it doesn’t expose anything more than a house hunting vacation. Then, just before the start of the school year, they use Richard’s savings to buy a home in a sleepy little town called Hawkins, Indiana. And their new lives begin.

New Steve thought that the new home was too big. Every little noise echoed and bounced across the walls, making him jump and look around as if he’d find people hiding in them, watching their every move. When they’d arrived, he and his parents laid down on the soft, carpeted floor and stared at the pure white ceiling in silence, taking in the new world around them. They hadn’t said anything, but they didn’t need to. He knew things would be different from then on.

He spent that first week with his parents. Every morning like clockwork, they sat before the TV and repeated everything said out loud, practicing their accents and furthering their understanding of the strange phrases Americans liked to use, like, “take a rain check,” and “lipstick on a pig.” New Steve found he hated movies, where he couldn’t see people’s feelings like he could in person. They reminded him of Old Steve’s frozen body, huddled up in blankets as if he was just sleeping. Like soulless meat puppets waiting to be buried and never found again.

In the evenings, he and his mother worked through a cookbook she’d been gifted, perfecting American dishes like casseroles and meatloaf. On the second day, he helped her deliver a pie to their neighbor, and she introduced him as her shy little boy who never had much to say. It wasn’t true. He still had a hard time with the ‘th’ sound that so many English words used, so they’d decided that until he got it right, that’s who he’d be.

With his dad, during the day when nobody would question it, they cut open the wall in his office and installed a gun safe. Apparently, it was legal for normal people in America to own guns. Steve was too young to have an opinion on that, but his dad muttered in English about how it was the kind of irresponsible nonsense that made his job easier. So, maybe it was a good thing. Either way, they covered the safe with a wall once again, so they were truly out of sight.

When his parents weren’t home, New Steve quietly snuck out to dip his toes in the pool. He’d never seen a pool before. He didn’t even know how to swim. In the spot close to the deep end, where neighbors wouldn’t see him unless they stuck their heads over the fence to pry, New Steve would find the perfect stick- thin and light with no leaves, and drag it across the surface of the water, watching the ripples as they rolled across the heated surface. And that was how he found peace with his new house.

It took him a while to settle into the role of Steve, and even longer for him to climb the mantle of King Steve. But that was his job, so it’s what he did. King Steve was good at sports. Captain of the swim team, co-captain of the basketball team. Handsome, fond of parties, rich with mysterious parents who traveled often. Charming, just enough for people to wonder how he stayed out of trouble despite everything he got up to.

But secretly, Steve, just Steve, also known in his heart as Stepan, was terrified. He never let it show on his face, even more terrified that his parents would lose faith in his skills and dump him somewhere while they returned to Russia as heroes without him. He spent most of his time fueled with fear, balancing the careful images he’d built for himself as the perfect All-American Boy that his parents were relying on. Unfortunately for Steve, he hadn’t anticipated what would happen to his precious double image when he fell in love.

[callisto42]

this movie was really interesting to me as another former sister missionary! I was confused about why the vibe was sometimes right and sometimes off, especially because both actresses were raised Mormon, interestingly enough. Some of the lines had me cringing (no sister missionary would ramble in public about watching porn), and they flubbed the first lesson, which is wildly unrealistic because any missionary can teach that lesson in their sleep, polygamy curveball questions or no. Tbf, the movie does require them to be a little slow on the uptake and a little too trusting for the plot to work. I don't know about your personal experience, but I served in an inner-city region and we absolutely did not go into a house or apartment unless we could literally see the other woman

there were other little touches that were spot-on, like Sister Paxton joking that their future husbands would get 5x hotter for all the stairs they took. I also had plenty of companions from Utah who were so so sweet and kind and also so so clueless and sheltered lol so Sis. Paxton nailed the vibe, even if the dialogue was wonky

the bit about him mispronouncing moroni made me laugh, someone Mormon was involved with that joke lol

Just saw Heretic, the one with Hugh Grant and Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, about the Mormon Missionaries.

It's definitely a scary movie. It tried to be mind bending and twisty, and it was, but not in the way it was trying to be. I'm just jazzed that there's a horror movie with Mormons.

It's definitely not a Mormon Horror Movie, just only slightly closer to a Horror Movie about Mormons. I did really enjoy this movie, but it was clear that it wasn't made by Mormons. Like there's a certain flavor of behavior that mormons have that the missionaries just didn't have.

Like I'm Mormon. I was a sister missionary. I was a dang good sister missionary. These missionary characters only vaguely resembled the sister missionaries I served with. Like, they've got the cardigan down. But otherwise?

I literally leaned over to my brother in the theater and went "these are really bad missionaries." Like they didn't actually even open the Book of Mormon. They didn't read a scripture. They didn't even start with a prayer. These gals had horrible conversation skills and absolutely did not teach anything. They came in totally unprepared.

Hugh Grant is perfect and phenomenal in this, and I have met so many people saying the exact same things he has. Countless people with his talking points. (At least until we get to the legit scary parts of him. That was actually scary.)(no spoilers because holy crap)

The last part of the movie felt rushed, and like something was missing, like they cut out scenes or something, but the ending was nice and a relief. Good ending.

It was a good movie. The thing was that the details that it missed were in the cultural aspect of how Mormon missionaries(and mormons in general) actually act. Like you wouldn't know unless it was your culture or religion, you know? Like, they didn't even have a Book of Mormon in hand to give him. Sister Paxton just had her one she had all marked up and sticky noted in her bag(she didn't even have her quad with her?). And the one elder that came looking for them? Where was his companion? There are few things that a missionary gets sent home for and leaving your companion is a big one.

I do appreciate the direction they took with Sister Barnes, of her being smart and logical and sincere and tragic backstory. Very perfect set up and good foil for Sister Paxton who was born and raised mormon in Ogden Utah with 8 siblings. And honestly, I am glad that she got to be smart, too.

But it was very clear that the actress didn't know how mormon behaved or acted. She didn't pray like a mormon. Any born and raised utah mormon is going to fold her arms over her chest and bow her head and start her prayer with Dear Heavenly Father. But Chloe East instead clasped her hands. I rarely ever see Mormons clasp their hands if they're not on their knees at the side of their bed.

Like, it's not like it's a sin to pray that way, it's just that there's a way people who were born and raised a utah Mormon move and act and speak. And this wasn't it. And I could tell and it was distracting.

Like Hugh Grant spoke more like a Mormon than the sister missionaries did. He got the wording and the phrasing and cadence right for certain things. Especially the little Morony vs Moroni mispronunciation thing.

It's just interesting how clear it is to tell when someone isn't actually a part of the culture just from mannerisms.

Sorry for the long post but dang, this movie was good, and could have been so much better, but how do you convey that there's a certain way that utah mormons hold themselves.

[arttsuka]

TBH as much as I prefer Toothless' first movie design, the one thing ill give credit for is the fact that I think the movie producers stated some where that the reason Toothless doesn't have his markings anymore is because he's growing up. Toothless is around Hiccups age which is even something Valka points out in the second movie, so you COULD make the hypothesis that he's loosing his sub-adult/"baby" features. Hence why he's more solid black, has a wider flatter head, and doesn't really have much of his markings anymore.

As for his personality; Toothless has always had the silly side to him regardless of the snark attached. You claim his personality got reduced to this stupid, slobbering 'dog', by the third movie when need I remind you he FULLY acted like a dog even in the first movie. Remember him with his butt wiggles when hiccup woke up? Him bounding about jumping from the rafters. Him making dumb goofy faces and doggy grumbles. He's always been a dork and boxing up his personality to him being "out of character" because he's not as snarky is such an odd take since toothless can and HAS had the ability to be both, not to mention the whole fact that Toothless much like Hiccup is suppose to be maturing into an Adult, but even if that's so, they still have time to have fun and play around, so really you have both sides of the coin there.

As for the Lightfury, ill give you that, they could've done better with her. But to be honest I always look at LF's as being a subspecies to a NF, and even nature has often shown that not all subspecies look entirely similar to the dominant species, which in this case would definitely be Night Furies. I look at her design as a design built more for a life in the light then the dark. Toothless' darker bluish/black coat helps him blend in the night, while the Lightfuries almost pearlescence helps her blend in with the light of the sun. It's probably why she stands out so much at night with her sparkles, because she's not really BUILT for the night like toothless is, same reason as why toothless sticks out like a sore-thumb in the morning. Their both built for varying conditions! So in some instances i can forgive some of the Lightfuries design choices. What I dont like is how bland she looks in terms of lack of spikes or such, but thats neither here nor there

Well sure, they could be his 'baby' features but I do think they made his design way more visually interesting than the solid black he became by movie 3. His model already stands out from every other dragon in universe (his more realistic proportions and the lack of sharp teeth to go with his slender frame)* so these marks really helped him blend more with the designs of the httyd universe.

* there are, arguably, other dragons with round features as well but most of them are the 'fat and slow' archetype (even then there are a lot of 'fat' dragons with excessively sharp teeth)

I feel like the whole 'they're the same age actually' was kind of unnecessary but still, doesn't excuse the chance in face structure to that extent. He looks like he's from another species (what does excuse the changes is the fact that they reworked the model).

And yes he always had that dog side to him even in the first movie BUT his core inspiration and 'values' were cat themed. He retains his cat personality in the second movie too, for the most part (for example, at around 10 minutes mark, we see him 'groom' himself to clean his face). But in the third movie they completely removed all that from his personality. They deliberately made him more dog-like. Even the sounds he makes are made to resemble barking. As for the 'slobbering' dog part it's literally part of the movie (with the poor excuse that 'he's in love').

Idk in the third movie I can't recall even a single moment where he actually acted intelligent on his own volition (I can't remember him acting intelligent at all but let's just say I'm wrong).

In the second movie it was made clear that he's more domesticated but still capable on his own. He didn't need help to socialize with the other dragons so I don't understand why he was so incapable of acting remotely 'normal' to make the light fury like him. Yes, she was unapproachable and cold (*cough playing hard to get because they didn't know what to do with her personality and her as a character cough*) but it still felt ooc.

As you said, Toothless has to ability to be both, at least in the second movie. 2 sides of the same coin, up to the second movie. In the 3rd movie, throughout the runtime, we never see him showing 'his other side'.

I wouldn't say that he matured into an adult but still has time to play, I'd say they reduced him to a less intelligent animal than what he was in previous adaptations (he feels like a Disney animal companion). Again, his characterization in the second movie is how I'd expect him to be in the third. He's arguably way more mature there while also having time to play and have fun while also keeping part of his personality.

As for the light fury, she seems so, out of place in this universe too. At least the design of the night fury has scales and looks rough. She looks like they forgot that she's supposed to be a dragon. But it was obviously done to make her look more 'feminine' (a lot of her design can be explained if you keep in mind they only wanted her to be the 'female' dragon, the romantic interest). She's as stereotypical as it goes, the next level would be to make her pink (that would kinda work actually if they kept Toothless bluish undertones but by the 3rd movie they completely removed them to favor a pure black, a bit on the warmer side)

Her white color makes her blend into the sun, sure, but what does that mean? Does she fly all the time? Or is her natural habitat somewhere with snow? A pure white design is pretty sure, but not practical at all. She appears to be a dragon for warmer climates (and if she's indeed a subspecies to the night fury that would confirm it), so no snow. She just doesn't blend in. Her habitat is so colorful she stands out like sore thumb, both during the day and night time.

Her white skin also makes the choice to make her so smooth really weird. She's basically unable to blend in with her surroundings so one would expect that she'd at least have sharp features, claws or horns, to help her survive potential attacks. If they didn't want to make her look rough they should have made her have a defense mechanism to protect herself. maybe she should be able to turn invisible, maybe she lives in the water, something, anything.

Personally I can't forgive any of the decisions made to create the light fury. I can understand, sure, but I'm still left with so many 'why?'s.

[rebornofstars]

nobody fucking touch me rn i went to see tf one in the cinema and im shaking. they actually made a good transformers movie. what the fuck

[harrowscore]

a few days ago i (re)watched the 25th anniversary concert of les misérables and. oh god. i forgot how much this musical did éponine dirty

[martyrbat]

so many of you talk about the cruel adults in your childhood that negatively effected you and caused lifelong insecurity yet you're still perfectly fine with being that mean stranger to any kid that has the misfortune of existing around you and thats just really gross !!!

[thebeautifulfantastic]

heard some people saying that hayley atwell's character grace is being set up to be the next ethan hunt and carry on the mission impossible series, and my first thought was "well, she definitely looks just as good in a suit."

[all-hail-trash-prince]

Does anyone else remember the velveteen rabbit?? I went through a phase years ago right around when I was first going on YouTube on my own where I watched every version of it that I could get my grubby little hands on and cried like a baby every time only to go out and find another one

[sebbyisland]

I don’t think some of these Maxley fans have actually seen An Extremely Goofy Movie

[cinnabeat]

i have beef with the concept of data in kh but anytime i see someone talk shit about it i get so mad

[bredforloyalty]

that was super interesting because i didn't like that but also i feel conflicted

[bravevolunteer]

the audacity of the movie to release when i am both starting finals very soon and have been. weirdly anxious about my shit

[pa-pa-plasma]

I just watched the Sea Beast again (2nd viewing, 1st was when it came out) & it just kicked up all of my grievances again. Don't get me wrong, I love this movieーgood visuals, good voice actorsーbut from a writing standpoint it sucks so fucking bad & I couldn't remember the soundtrack if you put a gun to my head. might write an rant essay on it idfk

[navree]

“no way home is a good movie if you say it’s bad you’re biased” anything good about no way home is predicated on the success of other franchises. not other mcu movies, literally other franchises made by another studio. no way home could not exist, and certainly not exist as any kind of coherent narrative or even middlingly competent film, if it wasn’t literally stacking itself on five other movies, from two different series. take away every element from the raimi spiderman movies or the tasm series, you’re taking away 90% of the plot as well as everything that audiences and fans enjoyed about that movie at all

i’m no film student, but that doesn’t really sound like a good movie to me

[cattailtales]

fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, netflix top 10, shame on me. only watching things i see people being mentally unwell about on here from now on istg