#she’s kind of a big bummer. but I mean at this point it’d be kind of crazy if you weren’t

[femwizard]

It’s so rare I meet someone I feel a spark with, but I think it just happened. Wish me luck, cuz I have a feeling I’ll need it.

[scarlet--wiccan]

I’d like to see Luminous come back but I think she falls into a certain trap since she is “Wanda and pietro combined but better”. Her being redeemed (and surviving) would lead people to ask “why not get luminous” in places where magic users and/or speedsters would be useful. Nobody is that likely to write her but if they did it’d probably be a net loss for the twins (both sets) since there’s another character who can fill their role(s), and they’re not like the countless wolverines who will definitely be featured heroes regardless of new intro. I feel like a redemption story for her would probably be a swan song and that sounds like a bummer.

Regarding her chaos magic: did she grow up around mount wundagore? Maybe ambient chthon vibes gave her the power. Could she have learned it, since Agatha seems to be into it these days

I can see how it would feel like a disservice to give Luminous this resolution, only to put her on a metaphorical bus and send her packing, but it's not like she's getting a whole lot of page-time in the first place. I'd rather get the resolution than not, and, you know, the Marvel universe is a big place. You can find somewhere for her to go where she won't step on Wanda and Pietro's toes.

Just because a character has powers doesn't mean they have to stay on-call-- or even on Earth. She's technically a space character, so I kind of figure she'd stay in that cosmic world. And, hey, just because I want her to be liberated doesn't mean I think she should necessarily become a hero.

There's no concrete information on when Luminous was born, but she's characterized as being a fair deal younger than the twins. Given the condensed timeline, I assume she was created after Wyndham left Mount Wundagore. Giving her the same, or similar, connection to Chthon could get really messy, anyways, and I don't think that genetic engineering could explain how she, allegedly, mastered chaos magic ahead of Wanda.

Part of the problem here is that Remender treats Wanda's powers the same way Bendis did in Disassembled, which just doesn't work with the larger canon. I think the best approach would be to gently retcon Luminous's abilities to make better sense and, also, make her a little less overpowered.

I would say that Luminous simply possesses a refined, enhanced version of Wanda's hex ability, which is the only part of her power that comes from her genetic mutation. That could account for Luminous's adept manipulation of physics, matter, and energy. You could even argue that it would allow her to subvert or disrupt Wanda's magic, and with Pietro's speed, it's easy for her to get the upper hand. Wanda was kind of at a low point when she met Luminous, but now, she's at her most powerful and has greater mastery over her chaos powers than ever before. Next time they cross paths, I think Wanda should just say "I can see more what's going on with you more clearly now, (here's what it is, so the reader knows), and you're not gonna get the drop on me again." It's a pretty simple solution, and it'd be easy to execute smoothly.

[opheliasbrokenmind]

I’ve always had this idea of tommy and younger reader breaking up ( over something stupid ) and before they were together reader liked partying and causing more trouble then needed with her friends. So when they break up she starts hanging around with the wrong people again ( tommy banned her from seeing as they just caused trouble ) and he hears about her going around drunk/high so he finds her and takes her home where she’s safe and behaves. Just tommy madly in love and a wild younger girl 💛x

oh god i had sooo much fun writing this and i hope you enjoy reading love 💋 i love respectful tommy (i love him in any condition lmao) and i just want to thank all of my anons because you’re always too kind to me?? 😭 and you always have wonderful ideas, they inspire me to write. feel free to send a request anytime xx

‘You can’t work all the time and expect me to sit here all day and wait for your ass to come home, Thomas! Jesus, I’m way too young for that.’ You shouted and he angrily walked to you, taking a long drag from his cigarette. He knew he couldn’t scare you and sighed as you stood still, glaring at him. ‘I work my ass off because I want you to keep living like you do now, in luxury!’

‘Yet you never ask me how I want to live! You don’t make me feel like a partner anymore, all you do is dolling me up to show me off at those fucking big parties! By the way, they suck! I’m done with your shit this time.’

You turned your back and walked to the bedroom you shared but he was quick to follow you, stopping you on the hallway. ‘What the fuck you’re saying?’

‘I’m leaving.’ This time you sounded cold, yet you were calm and Tommy knew nothing he’d say could change your mind. ‘To where exactly, y/n? Your parents aren’t even in England now.’

‘You know, I do have friends, Tom. Even though you pushed them away, they are still my friends and they don’t get mad at me if I go out for supper by myself and have a drink or two.’ Then you didn’t say anything and continued to pack up your stuff, leaving the ones he bought you. The man you loved sat on your bed, the one you spent countless days hours making love to each other, crossed his arms and watched you with a furious expression on his face.

You didn’t expect him to say anything, Thomas Shelby was never the one to talk for his wants. He was used to getting what he wanted by force or violence and maybe that’s what made you so irritated.

When you were done, he stood up and looked at you, ‘You can’t leave, y/n. You are my girl.’ A soft laugh escaped your lips, if it was another time the sentence would melt your heart but in your situation, it caused nothing but rage. ‘I’m not your property, Tom. Didn’t anyone tell you? People don’t belong to people.’ With that, you left the house as he watched you going away from him.

After a long time, he felt desperate again. He was alone, the shovels threatening to come down one by one and you were nowhere to be seen. Tommy noticed how quickly he missed you and he couldn’t believe himself. When did he get so vulnerable? He also felt angry, angry at you for standing up to him and angry at himself for not preventing what just happened.

He wasn’t stupid, he knew he couldn’t keep a girl like you under his control like he was used to doing. Yet he chose to lock you in his unnecessarily big house and hoped you’d obey. Tommy knew a wild girl like you would never remain easy and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t keep a bird who tasted the freedom in a golden cage and expect it to be happy.

It wasn’t like that in the beginning, everything was different. He’d take you to a fancy place and you two would have fun together, finishing a drink after another and you’d giggle all the time as he did the same. Tommy felt young and reckless by your side, you always knew what to do to cheer him up and he’d forget his worries.

As your relationship started to grow serious, things started to change. You continued to have fun with your friends, which he thought were a group of bummers, when he got back to his job. It wasn’t like you forgot him, you just got bored and it was in your nature to hang around, acting wild. You and your friends were often found in a party or a pub, or both, getting drunk and causing trouble. Yes, you were unrestrained but that’s how you met in the end and that’s why he fell for you in the first place.

Tommy saw the gleam in your eyes, it mesmerized him and after getting one taste of what’s forbidden, he became addicted to it. You brought the young, careless side of him after years and he was glad for it. He didn’t even know how much he needed you until he got you inside his arms, enjoying your presence.

Nobody denied you were young for him or he was older for you, as a matter of fact, Polly and Ada made sure to remind him the truth every time. But they also saw how much you changed their Tommy, making him smile just with your existence and they felt grateful for that.

Unluckily, it wasn’t a fairy tale and you didn’t live happily ever after. It took you one year to end it, going back to witches’ castle without looking back. Still, he wasn’t mad at you and he didn’t blame you, he knew it was a possibility. Tommy knew he couldn’t keep you under his control forever and this was going to happen eventually but he didn’t know it’d hurt that much.

Nevertheless, he spent two weeks without hearing from you, he forced himself to stay calm and let you go, even though how much missed you, especially during nights. You weren’t there to comfort him when he went to bed, telling silly jokes at breakfast and waiting for him to laugh. You weren’t running in the house, causing trouble and even the maids seemed to miss you.

Then one evening, a group of Blinders brought the news. He was in London to meet with Alfie for a deal and apparently, you were in London, too. The boys said you were at a party with your friends and he thought about Alfie’s words on his ride to the party.

‘Rumour has it your young and sweet missus had left the nest, Tommy.’ The man said with a look and if he didn’t know Alfie, he’d say he looked almost sad. ‘Well, you can’t keep the wildness locked up, mate. But I ask myself, what would I do if I had a pretty little thing like that all to myself and lose it?’ Then Tommy remembered your words and this time, he knew what you meant. ‘I didn’t own her, Alfie. She’s capable of making decisions by herself.’ Now that he was at the door, he thought you weren’t making the wisest choices.

‘George, my champagne’s finished!’ You screamed to make yourself heard in the noise and your friend laughed, ‘Then go get another!’ He grinned widely and you mirrored the motion, dancing to the loud music. ‘Here you go, gorgeous.’ Jane handed you a full champagne flute and you sent a smile on her way, you started to sway together. She leaned into your ear a few minutes later, ‘I need a line of snow, want one?’ You shook your head but went to the ladies’ room with her, leaving the boys alone.

‘My my, William. Isn’t that man over there our y/n’s big bad wolf?’ Robert pointed to the man who was glaring at them, his icy eyes showing his intentions. ‘He’s too late, don’t you think?’ George replied and raised his glass to the man he hated, making a toast with a wide grin on his face.

‘I wouldn’t say that, y/n still loves him.’ George frowned with his friend’s words, ‘What’s that supposed to mean, Billy? She left him.’ The other guy shrugged, ‘Yeah but she loves him too much to let him go.’ Then they turned back to look at the man but the Shelby was nowhere to be seen.

‘You sure you don’t want? That’s some good stuff.’ Jane asked again but you smiled softly, ‘I’m done with drugs, Jane sweetheart.’ The girl rolled her eyes playfully, ‘That man changed you, huh?’ You stared at your reflection on the mirror, your smile didn’t reach your eyes. ‘Let’s say he helped me realise some things.’

The door opened and you didn’t bother to look who was it, you didn’t know most of the people at the parties. ‘George says he turned you into a good girl.’ You frowned with that but someone was faster than you, ‘I can assure you she’s still a bad girl, Jane. A very bad one.’ Tommy’s voice came behind you and your jaw dropped for a moment, your eyes meeting on the mirror. Jane froze but she left for her own good.

You sighed and grabbed the counter, ‘What are you doing here?’ You asked, studying the marble as you waited for him to answer. ‘I heard you’re here.’

‘You heard or you told everyone to inform you if they see me?’ A light chuckle rang in your ears and you found yourself smiling as well. Then he took a step closer and your back pressed to his chest, his strong arms wrapping around you. ‘It’s not hard to find you when there’s a party.’

‘Is that so?’ You spoke and he nodded, his lips getting closer to your ear. ‘I’ve missed you. Everyone misses you, come home.’ Tommy whispered and you closed your eyes, his voice was something you ached to hear. ‘I was selfish, I’m sorry, Tom. It’s just... I wanted to have fun with you and you were busy all the time.’

‘I know, it was foolish of me to think I can keep you all to myself.’ He admitted as he pressed a kiss to your bare shoulder, his head moving further to rest on the crook of your neck. ‘I know you want to be free and I know I’m in no place to give you orders, y/n. You think you can forgive me?’

‘You think I can say no to you?’ You joked and he smiled to your skin, his warmth spreading to your body. ‘Now take me home, please.’ You whispered and he didn’t spend a second. He grabbed your hand and you smiled to yourself, it felt good to be held by him again.

The journey to the house was quick, you didn’t bother to grab your stuff and neither did he. ‘The maids missed you, too.’ He blurted out and you arched an eyebrow, ‘Did they? After all those things I’ve done?’

‘Looks like it’s hard to be mad at you but so easy to miss you.’ Tommy said without looking at you and you watched him, his beautiful hands resting on the wheel. ‘I’ll bring the paperwork home so you can be my side while I do it and I won’t tell you what to do or where to go.’

‘I won’t go if it will make you nervous, I know these parties can go insane. Plus you’ll have a day off, would that work for you?’ He smirked, ‘Fair enough.’

‘You think you can focus on paperwork by the way?’ You asked innocently and he nodded with a grin, ‘You will behave.’ You laughed and bit down your lip, ‘Will I, Mr Shelby?’

‘For sure, princess.’ His hand rested on your thigh and oh, he exactly knew how much you wanted to obey to him sometimes.

[penguinwithitsarseonfire]

Gave Me the Blues and then Purple-Pink Skies

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (welcome!) | Part 4

Pairing: 13th Doctor x Reader

Word Count: 1,959

Warnings: None

Summary: When reaching a dead end in the cave, you and the Doctor have no choice but to go through a tunnel in the wall. You end up in front of her, however, which means you’ve now got to take the risks, which the Doctor isn’t all too happy about.

A/N: I’m so super sorry this is so late! Tumblr ate my original post whilst I was out, so I’ve posted it as soon as I could. Thank you all for all your commetns and support, it’s been really encouraging!!

The plan was easier said than done.

The tunnel had narrowed significantly as you made your way through it, until it stopped abruptly. On the wall that made the dead end was a hole just big enough that you could both easily crawl through it, but was too high for either of you to reach.

You jumped a couple of times, reaching your arms to the hole and falling short by inches, just to prove the point.

“So,” The Doctor said. “We’re trapped.”

“Excellent observation skills,” you said dryly, but the smile you gave The Doctor was nothing but kind.

“It’s just a slight setback, not a big deal,” she wandered up to where you stood by the wall, under the hole, and shot up on the tips of her toes. “If I gave you a boost,” she said, eyeing the hole with a curious gaze. “Do you think you could pull yourself into the hole and help me up?”

You gaped at her. “Give me a boost, Doctor look at me,” you gestured to yourself. “Can you hold me?”

The Doctor gawped. “Can I hold you?” she recovered quickly. “Timelord strength, it’s disproportional to humans, a bit like ants actually, except Timelords are bigger than ants,” she then tapped the crystal wall. “It’ll be easier to get you up first, and then I can follow, because I can use these to support myself too, and I don’t want to risk you lifting me and getting hurt.”

You softened at her concern, then squared yourself against the wall. You pat the pocket of your pants, making sure your phone was secure. You were grateful that it hadn’t been damaged earlier, and you didn’t want to risk it again. “Alright then, boost me up.”

The first step was quite seamless, considering what happened after. The Doctor crouched into what you could only call a ‘sumo’ squat, and held your hands above her as you stepped onto her legs. You winced as your heavy boots dug into her thighs, hoping that you weren’t hurting her.

“Swing your other leg onto my shoulder,” she told you, and you did so, squeezing her hands to balance. She was surprisingly firm, not wavering at all was you fumbled into position.

You moved your other leg onto her shoulder, and The Doctor accommodated you by moving her arm under your leg so it supported you faster.

From above her, you watched in unabashed awe as she stood up, barely taking a breath. “There we go, that was simple. Easy as.”

You nodded dumbly, trying to ignore the fact that you were literally sitting on The Doctors shoulders, and that you could feel the way her muscles flexed under you as she gripped your hands. This was not the time, this was not the place. You were trapped in a cave for crying out loud!

“Yeah,” you said, a little bit breathless. “Easy.”

The pair of you had gained considerable height with you on The Doctor’s shoulders, and you could easily reach the opening in the wall. You hooked your arms into it, finding some grooves in the bottom of the hole to grip to, and pulled yourself up.

The Doctor knocked your foot with her free hand. “Here,” she said. “If you crouch on my shoulders it should be easier.”

“Right,” you grunted slightly, the exertion hitting you like a brick. With a burn in your arms, you let yourself hang so you could awkwardly coordinate yourself so you were crouching on The Doctor’s shoulders, and she used her hands as a base for your feet as you did so.

With a final pull, you dragged yourself into the opening in the wall. You lay yourself flat on the floor, huffing out a heaving breath as the muscles in your arms and legs burned, just giving yourself a moment where you could temporarily die.

Not that you’d ever voice that particular thought out loud, The Doctor would have a fit.

Below you The Doctor called out your name. “Whenever you’re ready, I could use a hand.”

“Yeah, just a minute,” you replied, and frowned as you pushed yourself back up.

The tunnel was thin, and you had to roll so you could face the other way. You wiggled your way through, until you were facing the entrance, and paused for a moment. The crystals really were quite bright, especially from this angle.

You poked your head out, your eyes locking on onto The Doctor’s. “Hi there,” you grinned.

“Hello,” The Doctor said, and jumped up. You clasped your hands around hers, and were surprised by how light she was.

After a bit of scuffling that involved her using the force of the crystals to get herself up further, and you pulling her into the tunnel, you both managed to tumble inside.

You huffed, letting out a heavy, winded breath. “Well, that was something.”

“Yeah,” The Doctor said next to you, plastered on the floor. “Worked though.”

You snorted. “I might put this on my resumé and become a full time cheerleader.”

“It’d be something,” she said, sitting up as best as she could inside the small tunnel. “Throwing yourself into a vent for your audition,” she paused, staring past you with a frown. “Ah, right. Didn’t think this through.”

You turned to look behind you, seeing nothing but the tunnel, and turned back to face her. “What do you mean?”

“You’re in front of me,” The Doctor gestured to you and the tunnel behind you. “And there’s not enough space for me to move in front of you.”

“Why is that an issue?” Because, really, you didn’t understand. “Is it bad that I’m in front, will that be problematic or something later?”

“Um, it’s not, or – well,” The Doctor groaned. “Okay,” she said, her voice dropping down to the level she used when she was about to say something very serious. “Just, be very careful, crawl slowly, and I’ll be right behind you.”

“Alright,” you said drawing out the word. You wondered briefly if The Doctor could sense something you couldn’t, which, perhaps she could, she was apparently telepathic and all that. “Is something wrong?”

“Ah no, no,” she didn’t sound convincing at all. “Nothing’s the matter.”

“Doctor…”

“I-” she groaned again. “I just can’t protect you as well, if I’m behind you, and I should have thought about that earlier and I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

Oh.

Your heart fluttered a little and you forced yourself not to pay attention. She was The Doctor, of course she wanted you to be safe, she wanted everyone she ever met to be safe.

But still though.

It was nice that she was worried about you.

Not that it was nice that The Doctor was worried, not at all. It was just that it was nice that The Doctor cared enough about you to be worried.

You shut off that particular thought tangent in your mind, it was been a bit of a mess.

“I get where you’re coming from,” you said, because you didn’t want to undermine any of her feeling. Especially because she shared them, and you knew The Doctor found it particularly difficult sometimes to share anything personal. “I am capable though, and it’s like you said, you’re right behind me.”

The Doctor nodded. “Yeah, yep,” and it was almost like she was trying to reassure herself. “Of course.”

You squeezed her forearm lightly to reassure her. “Right, let’s make like a baby and crawl.”

The Doctor snorted, and it brought a lightness to your chest. “Yeah, let’s.”

Small crystals lined the tunnels floor, and it dug into your hand and knees. It hurt, it felt like they were trying to pierce your skin but didn’t actually have the courage to go through with it, and before long your arms and legs were numb.

Your elbows wobbled as you crawled, and most of your energy was focused on just trying to remain level. The Doctor was right behind you, her soft breaths and the way her coat dragged against the crystals the only thing from her that you could hear.

You focused on the music, calling you and drawing you forward. You hoped it wasn’t something nefarious or evil on the other end, like a man eating siren or something (which would be a bummer), because the music just felt so innately part of you, like it clung to your bones and was replicating your soul.

Then the crystals gave way underneath you. With a yelp you tumbled forward, your numb hands flying forward to catch yourself on a crystal that was jutting out in front of where the rest of the floor had collapsed.

The Doctor called out your name, and clamped her hand around your calf.

You huffed out a heavy breath, blowing away some of the dust that the debris had created away from your eyes. “I’m fine,” you reassured her, peering into the cavern below.

“Alright,” The Doctor said, her voice level and serious. “Give me a moment, I’ll think of a way to get you out safely.”

The music played around you, and you cocked your head to the side, considering the cavern below. If you curled up, you could probably roll down safely.

The crystals that had been part of the dirt had fallen away, leaving a smooth, red surface. It’d be like rolling down a grassy hill – almost. But it could work. “It’s alright, I think we’re supposed to go down.”

“No, I can’t let you do that,” The Doctor said, the she groaned. “You shouldn’t have even been the one in front in the first place,” you heard a rustling, like she was shaking herself out of whatever self-admonishment spiral she’d fallen into. “We’ll get you out of this.”

“No wait,” below you, something began to sparkle, a soft, warm, yellow that reminded you of shining a torch through yellow cellophane. It reflected on some of the few blue crystals you could see, making them appear to glow green. “Doctor there’s a light,” you said. “I can see a light.”

The Doctor gripped you tighter and spoke fiercely. “Don’t go towards the light.”

It took you an embarrassing moment to realise that The Doctor thought you meant a different sort of light. You rolled your eyes. “It’s not that sort of light.”

“I don’t want you going towards any sort of light,” she said, matter-of-factly.

The music danced around you and you sighed. “Doc, please. I need you to trust me on this.”

You heard her shuffle behind you, and her grip on your calf tightened ever so slightly. “Of course I trust you – I just really don’t like this plan.”

You couldn’t help it, you snorted. “When have we ever had a plan that was good?”

The Doctor squawked. “Oi, I’ve had loads of good plans, good plans are practically my middle name, my M.O, my defining character trait – well, that and my lego architecture skills, which no one ever seems to talk about. I don’t have a clue what you’re going on about.”

You tried not to grin at her little outburst. “Bucharest, Doc.”

The Doctor huffed. “I’ve apologised about the carnivorous butterflies. Loads of times.”

“Yeah,” you drew out the word. “It proves my point though.”

“I’m sure if we crawl backwards, we can find-“

“Doc,” you interrupted. “The path caved in and there’s no other path for us to use. There’s no other way.”

You could feel the disappointed energy radiating from The Doctor. “Well there’s no need to bring the vibe down like that.”

“Doctor.”

The Doctor let out a long groan, and gently took her hand off your calf. “Alright, fine. But be very careful, and I’ll be right behind you.”

[immortalled]

Live reactions to S3E5 of Misfits below because... I dunno, slapping it all under a cut is probably less annoying lol. :’>

- Is it bad that the opening scene made me think of Jamie? Jamie and Seth look like that could’ve been buds. Like a biker gang or something.

- I find it really interesting that Kelly, even with a guy like Seth, is still putting up walls and giving him the aloof act. I appreciate the consistency (rare in Misfits lol) but aw man, it is kinda sad, isn’t it? I get it, though. Poor thing. I think Seth/Kelly is a little left field but I do hope she has a happy ending with this one. Kelly deserves happiness and so does Seth.

- I keep telling myself not to compare Rudy and Nathan but omg... the little awkward lean against the support beam... Nathan does that when Simon catches him and Alisha spying on him. And then the two condom thing... I know I’m being ridiculous here and they aren’t the same character at all, but I’m gonna have to make a parallels gif set. I just know it. I can feel it. It has to happen. It was awkward at first because I missed Nathan, but the more I see of Rudy, the more I like him. He’s grown on me.

- I feel like production value went way up during this season. 

- EXCUSE ME??? WHO??? TELLS THEIR GIRLFRIEND, WHO IS IN A COMA, THAT YOU’RE LEAVING THEM? YO, DUDE, I KNOW IT’S HARD TO SEE HER LIKE THAT BUT C’MON. You!! Don’t know!!!!!!! That she can’t hear you!!!!!! Maybe she can!! YOU CAN’T! oml

- I like how Kelly’s first response to seeing a patient in trouble is to calmly and slowly walk into the room to ask them if they’re okay (when they clearly can’t speak because even if they weren’t in a coma, they do have a tube down their throat) instead of immediately finding a nurse or pressing the alert button. 

- Wait this hurts.

- LOL I... really love how Simon just deals with Rudy’s weird stories. That’s cute. 

- O h? Is that grafitti some Bad Wolf-esque foreshadowing?  👀

- Wow. Lauren Socha is such a good actress??? What the heck. I’m gonna have to watch her in something else. I need to know if she has range.

- ...This isn’t mean, I love Kelly’s shape, but there’s no way Kelly can fit in Jen’s clothes.

- Not a fan of this weird tension that happens occasionally between Curtis and Simon. I think it’s IC for Simon to be a little jealous, I like that he still has his insecurities, but it’s a little annoying when it’s directed toward Curtis. I dunno. I guess it’s fair given that he’s the ex, but I don’t like it.

- Kelly looks great in a leather jacket.

- OOOH gosh. Sometimes, man... sometimes Simon gives this look and does this thing with his body language that’s just SO scary. 

- ...As much as I dislike Curtis’ power, I think Alisha’s has to be my least favorite of the new powers. I wish Simon would use his foresight more, too.

- Something about Simon watching Freaky Friday is really funny to me.

- How many times are these idiots gonna have to sneak out bodies. They’re professionals at this point. 

- Bahahaha Shaun is so nonchalant. Random coma patient in the communtiy centre? Just another day.  I love him.

- WAIT NO SHAUN NO WAIT NO!!!

- NO?????????????????????????????????? NO?? NO!

- I’m not gonna think about the legal issues with what’s-his-face pulling the plug instead of a nurse. Or like... how they’re gonna explain that Jen’s body is there at the community centre. Or how the gang is gonna get away with security footage of them stealing a body from the hospital (which there would have to be, there’s no way they didn’t get caught on camera). I can’t go full clown. This is Misfits. 🤡

- Also I totally thought they were going to grab an animal or something off the street and then give it to the boyfriend or parents or something to take care of so Jen could live on at least for a while longer as something else than die. I don’t know why I thought that. It just felt like it’d be on brand. Don’t @ me LOL. (I’m glad I was wrong; I think it’s a much nobler end for Jen to own up to what she did and have her goodbye.)

- That is totally some Bad Wolf-esque forshadowing. And clearly slapped on in post!

Final thoughts:

Not a bad episode. I liked it well enough. It was entertaining and this one got a few laughs (for some reason Seth saying “Hi” and Rudy going feral at him got me). I don’t have too much to say about it, really, it’s a pretty standard episode. So far I think Peter’s episode is still my favorite just for the more superhero-y hijinks, but this ep had some really nice protective Simon moments and I really enjoyed Seth. The music was pretty good, but the Misfits soundtrack is always killer.

I hate that my only big note is a complaint, but... I’m finding it really hard to connect with the characters this season, even the OGs. I get bursts of it, primarily with Simon and Rudy, but overall something just feels wrong. No one except maybe Curtis feels OOC and yet? Something about the characters is off. It feels like I’m looking at an alternate universe where everything is the same except for some itty bitty detail and I can’t place what it is. And before anyone says it, no it’s not because Nathan isn’t there lol. He was the heart of the series for me, but I don’t think his absence is what feels wrong. It’s definitely something about the writing or within the remaining characters themselves.

I? Almost want to say that it’s an issue of the gang not feeling like a family anymore? They don’t feel as close. I know Misfits has always primarily been about hijinks and outrageous plots, but I almost wanna say that S1 and S2 had more focus on character relationships than S3 so far? We get a little more into the nitty gritty of Alisha’s relationships with Simon, Rudy, and Curtis (even though her “problem” with Curtis in E2 made no sense) but besides that... it just doesn’t feel like we’re getting the meat that we did in S1 and 2. Granted, that is two seasons versus one.

Oh yeah. And RIP Shaun. I knew he was gonna die but I didn’t expect it so soon. That sucks. I think that his death would have been sadder if the show hadn’t exposed his grosser aspects, like how he creeps on girls and... he’s just kind of a skeevy perv. Which, I know most of the male characters in this show are perverts to some degree, but it works better for everyone else because they have some redeeming qualities that make them more endearing and their faults more palatable. Shaun doesn’t quite have the endearment factor to pad out how uncomfortable he was in E2 and E4 (making him into a villain for E4 was a bad move too). I think if he had shown just a hint of really caring about the gang, even privately, then maybe I’d be sadder. Oh well. He’s still the best probation worker. I’ll miss him.

Anyway, anyway. Enough complaining. One last good thing: Rudy continues to grow on me. I am so intrigued by how he handles his split (how his splits handle each other?). I feel like I need to come up with a better term. But that’ll do for now. I really, really hope that Overman doesn’t just sweep all those issues under the rug. It seems like he did that with Rudy and Alisha’s relationship (which is a bummer!) and I think it’d be so cool for Rudy to either find peace with that inner conflict or at least be able to better cope with Rudy One and Rudy Too so they’re not always squabbling. Love Rudy, though. Him and Nathan would’ve butted heads to be the funny one, I think, but good friends after a while. Oh, the terror those two could have caused... 

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

Ghost Kid Chapter Eighteen: Freedom

This is where things start to get interesting. And by 'interesting' I mean, it starts to have the potential to go downhill or completely off the rails. I've always struggled with the endings of long fics because I never plan them, often at best I'll only have a shadow of an idea on how I want it to end. So here's to hoping it at least remains decent and mildly interesting if nothing else. (And also hopefully I can finish it, I’ll be so disappointed in myself if I can’t and it’ll haunt me for years.)

Being allowed to leave the house after so long cooped up inside, unable to even get out of bed, was amazing. Mu never would’ve thought that just being able to stand and walk around could feel so good. And even lacking the familiar scent of the ocean, the breeze on her face as she stepped out through the front door was one of the greatest things she’d ever experienced.

With the Doctor hovering just behind her, she looked all around, more than ready to finally try to figure out just where in the world she was. It was a village or town with people and houses, most of them rather small, no signs of the Mafia anywhere. Several meters to her left was the edge of town, cutting off where a forest began. A dead forest shrouded in magical darkness. It could only be Subcon, right? Especially with the fence surrounding it and what looked to be ‘KEEP OUT’ signs nailed to it.

Was being near Subcon relevant though? Or had Hat Kid just dropped her off here because she’d been on her way to visit with Snatcher, her supposed BFF, in the forest? If the ship had landed in Subcon Forest, getting to it might be a bit more difficult than she’d thought so hopefully not. She didn’t want to deal with both Snatcher and Hat Kid if she didn’t have to.

Next, she looked up towards the clear blue sky. It had been far too long since she’d truly beheld it and��� Hat Kid’s ship was no where to be seen up there. It might not have ever been visible from here but… she wasn’t sure.

“What happened to the spaceship that was in the sky?” she asked, turning her head to look at the Doctor. Such a question shouldn’t be suspicious, right? It’d be natural to be curious about that kind of thing.

The Doctor shrugged. “I don’t know. It vanished overnight a while ago. … Come to think of it, that was around the same time I found you on my doorstep. There are rumors that it crashed to earth but I doubt it. I think it probably just left.” That meant it had been visible from here though at least.

“Hmm… bummer, I wanted to meet the aliens on it.” Mu would have to ask around more later, see if she couldn’t find anyone who could point her in the approximate direction of where it landed. This town didn’t look too terribly big but surely someone was around who’d witnessed it. She just had to find them. “But can I walk around town for a bit?”

“Uh… sure. I’ll stay with you to make sure you don’t push yourself though.”

That was mildly annoying but not a huge deal. Mu needed to ask around for information but she also wanted to just walk around and enjoy being outdoors again too. She could be patient on her information gathering for a bit. It might be a good idea to get a lay of the land around town first anyway.

 -

She wasn’t allowed to wonder off on her own for another whole week. Though ‘allowed’ maybe wasn’t the right word; she snuck off while the Doctor was tending to other patients. But another full week left her recovered enough that she should be fine on her own. Heck, soon she should be able to leave entirely and go find the Time Pieces.

All the village people were rather friendly – far too friendly, if the Mafia ever came here they’d all be just as screwed as the island people had been; even more incentive to eradicate the Mafia – making them easy to chat with. No one she asked knew anything though and she couldn’t press too hard lest she make people suspicious.

She eventually wondered upon a children’s playground. She’d used to love playing in such places and part of her was tempted to swing for a bit but… she was on an important mission. Kids were the perfect people to ask about rumors and spaceships though, they tended to pay attention to everything that happened in and around town, more than most adults anyway. She chose a boy playing with little trucks and action figures underneath the slide who looked to be a few years younger than her… about the same age she’d been when the Mafia came to the island.

Shaking her head to banish that thought, she approached and crouched beside him. “Heyo,” she said, putting on a smile.

“Heyo,” he mimicked with a happy smile as he looked up at her. “Oh! You got a mustache! I thought only adults got those.”

Everyone on the island had mustaches; young or old. She didn’t have time to explain that though, nor did she care to so… “Yep, but I’m special. And because I’m special, I got an important question for you. You remember that space ship that used to be in the sky? What happened to it? I’ve been uh… a bit sick for a while now so I don’t know.”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, I remember it! It fell from the sky like… forever ago, I think. But I saw it! I didn’t see it hit the ground but I saw it fall. It was awesome!”

Yes! Finally some good luck! “Really? That’s super cool. Can you tell me about where it landed?”

“It fell in the forest. Which is dumb because I wanted to go see it but I don’t want my soul snatched so I can’t go looking for it.”

Welp, she wasn’t so lucky after all, huh? Of course it would fall into Subcon Forest though, why wouldn’t it? Anywhere else would be too easy for Mu to get to and the world just loved screwing her over. She’d find a way though, no matter what it took. And she’d do it soon too, she probably didn’t have much time left before Hat Kid got her ship fixed and left forever.

Previous / Next

[wizardessheart-sideb]

Image ID: A chapter image done in the style of Wizardess Heart. A large, off-white imagine with a guy on it. He’s wearing a dark gray uniform. There’s a lavender bar over him that reads “Tsukasa Kuze.” The rest of the text reads “Main Story” and “Chapter 8: Complications” /End ID]

Chapter summary: Tsukasa does his best to attend classes, but he ends up cutting the night short.

“Good morning, everyone.” I walked into our kitchen, ready for a big breakfast. I was so giddy yesterday that I may have forgotten to have dinner. Aika looked up from her place at the table and smiled. Dorian was at his usual station, the stove. I looked around, but there was no familiar mop of lavender curls. “Where’s Isabelle?” I asked.

“She wasn’t feeling really good, so she’s staying home today,” Aika explained.

“Oh no. I hope nothing going around the dorms.” I shuddered. I didn’t want Isabelle to have the same thing Tsukasa did. Although, wait. How would Isabelle have it before me? I’ve spent the most time with Tsukasa. If anyone was getting sick, it would be me. Maybe it’s something unrelated.

“I mean, if we want to be technical, dorms are a breeding ground for se-”

“Dorian, knock it off, they didn’t mean those kinds of infections. Jeez,” Aika cut him off. Dorian just snickered and handed me a plate.

“Thank you. But yeah, I’m worried something’s going around. Tsukasa’s not been feeling well the past few days,” I informed them.

“That’s a bummer. But I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s just a little cold, probably,” Aika said.

“That’s what I hope too. I know he takes medicine to improve his immune system, but he’s been feeling ill the past few days,” I sighed.

“He’s taking what?” Dorian asked.

“Uh, I don’t know what it is exactly and neither does he, but it’s something to improve his immune system.” Maybe it wasn’t even a cold. Maybe his body was just out of sorts.

“You’re telling me he doesn’t know his own medication?” Dorian put his spatula down and turned to face me, looking incredulous.

“I mean, it probably has a name, but we were talking about it and he said he didn’t know what was in it, exactly. But he never said the name so I don’t know what it is,” I defended us. Aika frowned.

“I think I know what you’re talking about, though. We’ve ran into Azusa a few times when he brings Tsukasa his medication and it’s quite the set-up,” she commented, sipping on her cocoa.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The bottles it comes in don’t look like they were meant for medicine. It honestly looks like he had some bottle lying around and put the stuff in there and topped it with that special syringe lid thing,” she explained.

“So you guys have seen it but you don’t know what it is?”

“I’m not a pharmacist and besides, when we run into Azusa, our first thought is to flirt with him, not ask him what his brother’s medication is. And I’m not the one taking it, so why should I know what it is?” Dorian retorted.

“Okay, I guess that’s fair, although I’m reluctant to say that,” I relented.

“You should check with Tsukasa and see if he’s had his dose lately,” Aika said. She glanced over to her boyfriend. “He usually gets it around this time, doesn’t he, Dorian?”

“Now that you mention it, I think you’re right. It’s about this time Azusa comes around with it. At least, he was hauling it around here this time last month and the month before that,” Dorian said.

“I’ll check in with Tsukasa on that. Thanks for the heads up, you guys,” I told them. Dorian smiled at me.

“Of course. We both want your boyfriend to be happy,” he said.

“B-Boyfriend?! How did you know?!” I demanded. Dorian just smirked and got his own plate of food, sitting at the head of the table.

“That’s my special power.. I’m in tune with attraction, love, lust, all of that. And there’s a lot of that between you two,” he said teasingly. I expected Aika to cut in, telling him to stop joking around, but she did. I glanced at her and she didn’t look irritated with him or grinning like she was in on the joke. So he’s serious...

“I, um, well yeah, we got together last night,” I informed them.

“On the Love Holiday? That’s so cute!” Aika squealed.

“Thanks. When did you two get together?” I asked hurriedly. Please let them change the subject. My face feels like it’s going to melt at any moment! Aika and Dorian’s faces fell, eyes cast down to the table.

“Oh, uh, it’s a little complicated,” Aika said. “I don’t really remember when.”

“It was around the Winter Holiday, I think? We just celebrate it in November, but I don’t remember either. We were young when we got together,” Dorian told me.

“I had just turned twelve when we got engaged,” Aika added.

“You got engaged at twelve?!”

“I don’t know if you know this, but we’re both very dramatic people,” Dorian said. “We decided go big or go home. So we were engaged from that point on.”

“Not to mention… Well, I come from a pretty abusive home. Dorian was an excuse to get out of my home and get to safety. If I hadn’t run off with him, chances are I’d be dead right now. I don’t think my abusers would have killed me on purpose, but head injuries can go wrong so easily…” Aika’s voice was trembling before she trailed off. Dorian walked over to the table and gently rubbed her back.

“But you’re here now, and you’re safe. We did the right thing, running away,” he told her quietly. My heart ached for her. I got up and gave Aika a hug. Part of me wanted to ask Dorian if his backstory was the same, but I felt that maybe it’d be a bit too much. After all, this is the most I’ve ever heard about their lives outside of school.

“Um, did I come at a bad time?”

I looked over to the door to see Tsukasa standing in the doorway, a frown on his face. Aika quickly straightened up, pushing me and Dorian off to the sides.

“No, everything’s fine,” Aika told him. The fake smile on her face was unnerving, but I tried to ignore it, going over to Tsukasa and giving him a hug.

“Morning, Tsukasa.” Dorian was back in dad mode, smiling and getting up to go to the stove. Tsukasa’s concerned face quickly turned to a genial one.

“Good morning, everyone,” he said.

“Do you want some breakfast? We’ve always got enough,” Aika asked.

“No, thank you. I just came here to get my partner.” Tsukasa’s eyes wandered over me and he smiled. I couldn’t help but beam. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dorian and Aika smirking.

“Go on ahead. I’ll take care of your dishes,” Dorian told me. I quickly thanked him and after grabbing my stuff, Tsukasa and I were off to class. His fingers laced themselves through mine, his hand soft and warm. I squeezed it. When I glanced over at him, his face looked paler than usual.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him.

"... Not my best. But since I missed yesterday, I wanted to try and make it through today," he replied.

"Could I convince you to just go back to your dorm to rest?" As much as I appreciated him trying to make it through classes, he really should’ve been in bed resting. But he just shook his head.

"No. I already missed classes yesterday. I don't feel like I can afford to miss any more this week," he explained. I mean, he wasn’t completely wrong, but that didn’t stop me from worrying.

"Okay, but promise me you'll go home if you start feeling worse," I did my best to sound fine. But really, I just wanted to march him right back to his dorm.

"I promise." He gave me a small smile and his hand squeezed mine reassuringly. I tried to push that worry from my mind and focus on other things. Viggo bickering with Fandamilia in class, working on my magic in class (and not failing the assignments!), sneaking notes to Tsukasa when professors had their backs turned. But every so often, the worry would bubble up and I’d steal a glance at Tsukasa. His face wasn’t getting any paler, but from his shoulders slouching and from the dead look in his eyes, it was obvious he wasn’t feeling any better.

Isabelle and Clive sat across from us during lunch, chatting heatedly and chomping down on fries. Even though Aika said she was ill, she seemed just fine. Maybe she just needed a mental health day. Tsukasa and I sat together, cuddling up as we ate. We were both quiet. I wasn’t in the mood to engage with them that much and surely Tsukasa felt the same.

“Clive STOP, you can’t keep spouting these ‘hot takes’ that make no damn sense,” Isabelle said angrily. Clive just rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was enjoying getting a rise out of her.

“I didn’t say I believed it, it’s just something I heard and it made me want to die,” he said.

“You’re still playing devil’s advocate,” she retorted. “Jeez. Saying you like catboys over foxboys isn’t classist... Tsukasa, are you okay? The topic’s not upsetting you, right? Because we can stop.” Glancing up at Tsukasa, he looked like a ghost.

“No, I’m fine,” he insisted. “I’m just feeling a little sick.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe you should go back to your dorm and rest,” Isabelle suggested.

“I don’t know…”

“Tsukasa, you really should,” I insisted. Maybe he’d listen to us. He sighed, looking down at his bowl of soup

“You’re right. I should go rest up,” he admitted.

“Here, I’ll walk you back to your dorm,” I offered. I went to get up, but Tsukasa stopped me.

“No, it’s fine. There’s not a lot of time left before classes start back up again. I don’t want you to be late because of me,” Tsukasa said. Oof…I didn’t want to say it, but he was right. If it was Nox’s class I could get away with it, but not when my next class was taught by Professor Schuyler. Tsukasa gave me quick hug before heading out. I really hope he feels better soon. I’m not strong enough yet to help in any significant way.

---

As soon as classes were over, I sprinted to the dorms, straight to Tsukasa’s room. Throngs of students heading back made it a little hard to run, but I managed to weave in and out until I got to Tsukasa’s suite. I knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Even his voice sounded exhausted. As soon as the lock clicked open, I shoved the door open and hurried over to Tsukasa’s bed. He was lying down on a bunch of pillows. He had blankets piled on him.

“Is there anything I can get you?” I asked him.

“No, it’s fine.” He reached out for me and I took his hand. I sat on the edge of his bed. “What did I miss in class?”

“We don’t have to worry about that right now. You need to rest.”

“I can do two things at once.” He cracked a small grin as I sighed and pouted.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” I told him quietly. I gently pushed some hair of his eyes. He smiled back at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Bad.” At least he was being honest with me. “I took some medicine to get my fever down, but it’s not gone yet.”

“Have you taken your normal medication yet? Should I get Azusa?” I asked.

“No!” I flinched; he’d never raised his voice at me ever. “Er, you don’t need to get him involved, I already sent him a message.”

“… Okay.” If that was how he was going to be, then fine. Tsukasa sighed, eyes wandering over to the wall.

“… I don’t want you to worry about me,” he told me.

“I’m going to worry about you no matter what. I’m your partner.”

“I know. But…” He looked up at the ceiling. “I already told Azusa. It’s fine.” But there was something off in his voice. Something in my gut was screaming at me that he wasn’t being truthful. And as much as I wanted to believe him, I couldn’t find it in me to do that. “I’ll be right back.”

I moved out of his way as he got out of bed and left the room. He really wasn’t getting better. But maybe his medicine would help.

I know he told me not to tell Azusa, but he needs help. I pulled out my Magic Notes and a pencil and quickly wrote a note to Azusa, telling him that Tsukasa really needed his immune system medication but also not to tell Tsukasa I sent him a message. I know we promised to be more open, but Tsukasa was sick. He had to worry about that and I didn’t want him to be angry about this on top of that. At least, that’s what I was telling myself. I sent the message off and shoved my things into my bag. A moment later, Tsukasa returned, looking even paler than he had left.

My heart ached as Tsukasa climbed back into bed. I carefully climbed over him and laid on the other side on the bed. We scooted closer together. One of my arms rested behind his neck and the other over him. Even through the blankets, I could feel his heat.

“I really hope you feel better soon,” I told him.

“I know. I do, too.”

“When you get better, why don’t we go on our first date?” Maybe I could lighten the mood a little bit. All this negativity probably wasn’t good for him, anyway.

“I’d like that. What do you want to do?”

“We could go into town and have dinner,” I suggested.

“There’s a really good cafe in Hidamari Market. We could go there.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun!”  There was a pause. Tsukasa reached over and cupped my face, smiling warmly at me.

“I promise I’ll get better soon.” His voice was so serious it threw me off a bit. But I knew he just wanted to reassure me. He was probably frustrated with the situation.

“I know. I know you’ll get better.”

“I don’t want you to worry about me. I just want to make you happy,” he said, hand cupping my face. “I hope you know that.”

“I know. But I don’t want you to hide anything from me. You don’t have to put up a strong front with me, even if it comes from a good place,” I said.  He nodded slightly.

“I really care about you.”

He leaned forward and in a moment, his lips were on mine. My body followed his lead, melting into him. His lips were soft and warm against mine. When he pulled away, I dived back in for another kiss. It was brief, but it wouldn’t be fair for him to be the only one initiating, would it? We pulled away again and I couldn’t stop smiling. My whole body felt jittery. There was a sweet silence between us, but I wanted to say something. I just wasn’t sure what.

“.. Um, I’m not contagious, by the way,” he mumbled.

“I wasn’t worried about that?!”

A pause. We burst out laughing, holding each other tighter. There was something exciting about this. We’d have so much more laughter and silly kisses and fun in our future. As the giggles quieted down and we snuggled, the butterflies in my stomach calmed down.

Slowly, Tsukasa fell asleep nestled against me. I was just about to nod off when a Magic Note came flying into the room. It got in my face and I grabbed it. Did Azusa already respond? But it’s so early in the morning?

But it was Azusa. And the note was addressed to me.

I’ll come over after my classes and give Tsukasa his medicine. It’s the very last dose of this batch and I’ll need help making a new one. Can I count on you to help?

Help. I could finally actually help Tsukasa out instead of just bring him homework and snuggle him. Not that I minded doing these things, but this was so much more substantial. Carefully, I removed myself from Tsukasa’s arms and wrote Azusa a quick response.

Yes. I’ll help you out.

[propheye]

[   STATEMENT OF ANAIS VALENTINE,   REGARDING A 1996 FAMILY VACATION TO THE GRAND CANYON AND AN ATTEMPTED RITUAL SITE FOUND THERE.   STATEMENT GIVEN IN A DREAM,   JANUARY 2017.   ]

anais is not my real name.   i probably don’t need to tell you that;   you’re a tape recorder in a dream,   i’m sure you know my name.   dream-logic dictates you should know everything i know.   something else i know is that dream-logic isn’t always consistent,   doesn’t always make sense.   not in the usual dream way,   but in the this is more than a dream way,   in the way that i’m sure if i went hunting in the usher archives on monday i’d find the very recorder i’m talking into right now with these very words on it.

so hi,   future me.   i know i’ll be too curious to resist.   that’s the issue,   isn’t it?   my own fucking curiosity.

you want a story.   i know the deal.   here’s one.

my family was never the type to do much;   we went to the farmer’s market together every sunday but only because all our hands were needed to carry the groceries,   and that was probably the only time all five of us were in the same place.   mom worked nights,   dad worked pretty much all the time,   and i was the youngest of three.   but mom won the lotto when i was eight   —   not the kind of prize that makes you rich,   but a couple hundred meant we could have a family vacation for the first time,   and we road tripped from san francisco to the grand canyon.

it was a ten hour drive and by the end of it we were all sick to death of each other.   my sisters were teenagers by then   —   emil’s ten years older,   frank nine years,   so it’s not like we had anything in common.   mom and dad’d get divorced two years later,   and things were already tense there,   too.   we spent a very quiet night in a roadside motel   —   the kind of quiet that’s heavy,   that even an eight year old can tell would be a sin to be broken,   or would unleash something that no kid really wants to let loose.

the canyon’s big.   obviously,   right?   but it’s the kind of big that’s   —   that’s vast,   and i fucking know what that means,   now.   the elements at play.   that kind of scale isn’t something you can look away from,   even when you’re an eighteen year old supposed to be looking after your kid sister while your parents scope the gift shop for snacks.

i don’t blame emil for losing track of me.   but she did.   i was a tiny kid,   and it was easy to slip past barriers,   and i’d just had a climbing unit in my gym class,   where they hauled a rock wall into our gym and let us loose on it,   so i thought,   obviously,   that scaling the side of the canyon wouldn’t be any huge deal.

i fell.   of course i fucking fell.   it’s a goddamn miracle i didn’t fall further and break every single bone in my body.   as it was,   i only broke my leg;   it never healed quite right and i still have to use a cane on bad days.

it’d make sense if i’d screamed,   but i don’t think i did.   i remember being very sure that if i made any noise at all,   i’d get something’s attention.   i must’ve had a concussion too,   but i didn’t know what that meant,   and it wasn’t   ...   i’ve gotten concussions since then,   y’know?   it didn’t feel the same.   things weren’t fuzzy.   they were really clear.   like when i looked around i could see everything.

i saw:   an old man at the edge of the opposite side of the rocks,   with people falling around him.   i don’t know where they came from.   from the top,   would make sense,   but they seemed to just keep going,   like a repeat pattern.   i saw:   skeletons,   half-decomposed,   piling up from the very bottom where the water flowed until they’d almost reached the height i laid at.   i saw:   the air around me,   like it was a physical thing,   pressing in closer and closer until i could barely breathe.

more things,   too,   but they’re harder to describe.   more feelings than sights.

i turned myself around as quietly as i could and found myself in a cave,   and i sure as fuck hadn’t been there a moment ago,   but i wasn’t really in a place to question it,   was i?   on the wall there were carvings.   i saw them clearly,   even though it was dark and i’m pretty sure i still haven’t developed nightvision,   but it took me a second to understand them.   they were all eyes,   carved in relief so they were three-dimensional and jutting out at me.

i reached out to touch one.   that was fucking idiotic of me,   but i was eight,   so i’ve stopped judging myself for that one.

things stopped being all high-definition then,   so it’s kind of a blur,   but i must’ve finally started yelling because someone came and found me and returned me to my family.   vacation got cut short,   but that wasn’t really such a bummer   —   i got to miss the first two weeks of third grade to rest my leg,   and my family never had to be all in the same car for ten hours again,   thank fucking god.

the dreams started up afterwards.   i got really good at pop quizzes in my classes,   to the point that i wasn’t allowed to take the same ones as the rest of the class,   because the teachers thought i must’ve been cheating.   i mean,   i did cheat,   sometimes.   just not on those.   i dreamt that a boy in my grade was going to be in a car crash,   and he missed school for a week afterwards.   things like that.

it’s not always bad things,   but it usually is.   they’re easier to make out.   i don’t think this dream is one of those   —   they’ve got a certain tint to them,   and they’re like i’m looking through more eyes than just my own,   like a security camera setup is in my brain and i’ve got a three-sixty degree view.   this one’s weird,   but in the usher way,   not the cassandra way.

it wasn’t just the dreams that started after the canyon incident.   i’m always being watched.   i’m not paranoid,   no matter what my dad might’ve said if you asked him.   he thinks i’m dead now.   it’s   ...   it isn’t easy to fake your death,   exactly,   but after the first time it’s not hard.   after you figure it out once,   erasing yourself is a whole lot easier than keeping yourself the same.

i think that brings us to the now.   i could go into my two years in college before i dropped out,   or the half-dozen fake names i’ve had between eight and now,   but i’ve seen your ilk around the foundation.   don’t really get the recorders thing,   but it goes with everything else there,   right?   the watched feeling’s worse there,   but not oppressive in the way it is everywhere else.   more like a blanket than something smothering.   like i’m part of it,   somehow.

i started working at the usher foundation six months ago.   needed a tech person for their research team,   they said.   i’m going to destroy this damn tape if it actually shows up there,   so i guess i’m good to admit that that’s not why i started working there.   didn’t drop all my shit and move five states to dc because i saw a linkedin listing for something i hadn’t yet forged the qualifications for.   that’d be crazy.

there’s a reputation when you go snooping about weird shit of a certain kind.   not ghosts or whatever,   not bigfoot,   not even the paranoia thing,   but the grand canyon suddenly being filled with bones kinda weird.   y’know,   i’ve never actually told anyone about that part.   i knew,   even as a kid,   that it’d get written off as a hallucination.   all the roads lead to usher.   any answers i could get,    i could get there.

and i sure as fuck wasn’t going to give a statement of my own.   i guess that’s what i’m doing now,   but dreams don’t count unless they come true later.   i’ll deal with that when it happens.

so i’m working there,   researching and occasionally hacking when whatever info they need isn’t available.   you pick up skills like that.   an ex of mine was much better at computers than i was,   but i learned a lot from her in the year i stayed there.

i’m there to look into what happened to me,   sure,   but there’s a bigger reason.

i keep dreaming about the end of the world.   i don’t need to tell you which kind of dream those are.

[thatsparrow]

(missing scene: duck tells mama about going from chosen to mundane • read on ao3)

“So I, uh—I’ve got some news.”

Mama glances up at Duck and waves him into her office, tilting her head towards the chair in front of the desk with her duster slung across the back of it. He's got his Ranger hat pinched between his fingers and sweat beading along the creases of his palms, somewhere near the same level of nerves he'd had before asking Lucy Farrow to their Junior Prom. Which—fuck, he'd rather go through that a dozen times over than do this, would rather be stripped down to his boxers and asking her out in front of the whole damn school than having this particular chat with Mama. Unfortunately, that option doesn't seem to be on the table.

"You alright, Duck?" Mama asks, looking up at him from behind Thacker's laptop, eyebrows pulling together somewhat. "You're lookin' a little funny—like, just finished your tenth go on the Kepler Twister sort-of funny. Are you about to be sick? Please don't be sick on my carpet."

He shakes his head as he lowers himself into the chair. Though actually, his stomach is feeling a little queasy, so maybe Mama's not far off. It'd certainly be one way out of the conversation.

"Nah, that ain't it." She nods, but that crease between her brow doesn't ease up, muscles all tensed like any moment she's gonna need to get a trash can in front of him. "Actually, I might be better off than I've been in some time? Or, maybe much worse—is another way to think of it. I—shit, I'm not makin' any sense, am I?"

"If you are, it's the sort of sense that I ain't drunk enough to follow. Hell's going on with you, Duck?"

He takes a deep breath, works on loosening the rigor mortis grip he's got on the brim of the hat. "Something's changed, Mama. I've changed. I'm not—special, anymore."

Mama frowns. "What's that mean, exactly?"

"There was somethin' going on in my brain, before—a tiny wormhole, was how I had it described. And when it was around, I'd get those visions of the future, and I could take a hell of a beating without gettin' anything to show for it, and I could manage to put up a half-decent fight when push came to shove, even though no one'd ever shown me how to throw a punch. But it's gone, now. Closed, I guess. And all those perks that came with it are gone, too. What I mean is that I'm just a guy, now, Mama. Not, 'Duck the Chosen One', or anythin'. Just—Duck."

She pushes back from the desk, shaking her head as she stands up. "Nah, that's not how this shit works. I've been around the fuckin' block, Duck Newton, and you don't just lose something like that. Look, maybe you're just comin' down with something? Havin' an off day don't mean you've suddenly turned into Average Joe."

Duck laughs, no humor in it. "It ain't like I woke up with the fuckin' flu and now I can't play in the big game or whatever. My mojo is gone—like, gone gone. You might as well think of me as Average Joe's less impressive cousin—Steve, or Bill, or some shit."

Mama looks frustrated, but not at him, at least; more like she's frustrated with the world, which he understands. "And you can't—I don't know, get it back or something?"

"What, the wormhole in my brain? No, Mama, I can't get it back."

She sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose like she's trying to keep the unease bottled up behind it. "No. Sorry, Duck, I just—" she sits back down, heavy. "We're in the thick of it now, you know? Worse'n it's ever been in all the years I've helmed the Pine Guard. End-of-the-world type shit. Finding you and Ned and Aubrey was somethin' of a blessing, and I guess I took it for granted, a little. Like, here you show up with a magic fuckin' sword, and I don't have it in me to believe that luck could turn sour. But now you're tellin' me it has, and that's—well, that's a real fucking bummer, and I just need a moment to process it."

"I do still have the sword, in point of fact."

Mama smiles a little. "That's something, then." She opens up one of the bottom desk drawers and pulls out a half-empty bottle of grocery store scotch and a stack of wax-coated, water cooler cups. She pours two of them full and passes one across the desk, putting Duck right back in high school when they'd used to do the same with plastic handles of cheap, eye-watering vodka. The cup wrinkles a little in his hand as he downs the shot. Mama follows suit.

"How are you feelin' about all of it?"

He lets out another laugh, or maybe it's more of an exhale. "Not great. Real shitty actually, if we're bein' honest."

"You know, this don't have to change anything. You're still a member of the Pine Guard whether you've got magic fuckin' visions or a wormhole in your brain or whatever else. It ain't like all of us are magic. I'm not, and Ned's not, and Thacker wasn't. Doesn't mean we couldn't kick some abomination ass when the situation called for it."

"Yeah, but—" he breaks off, reaching for the bottle again.

"Yeah?"

But it's different—knowing exactly what you've lost, and there's no way to explain it without looking like ten kinds of an asshole. That he used to wake up feeling good, feeling strong even if the closest he'd ever come to a workout was shifting forestry supplies in and out of the Ranger vans. That, for as much as he'd run from it or shoved it to the back of the proverbial closet, he'd still held onto his Chosen nature as a point of pride—more so, after meeting Ned and Aubrey and doing something worthwhile with it. Like, no, maybe he hadn't wanted the bullshit talking sword or the glowing, six-foot-tall fairy godmother, but he had liked knowing that the universe had picked him, that he was something special underneath it all. And now he's just supposed to—what? Forget? Move on? Stretch the aches out of his forty-year-old bones and try to be half the man he was before? He doesn't know who he is without Minerva's strength in his hands; he's not sure he wants to find out.

But he has to, doesn't he? Like he said to Mama, he can't get it back.

She's still waiting on an answer, but he doesn't have one to give her. Eventually she sighs and pulls herself to her feet again.

"Look, I appreciate you tellin' me, Duck. Truly. And if you need a place to breathe, or a place to chat, or a place to drink while you're sortin' this shit out, my door is always open." She looks at him then, a different sort of weight to it. "But understand this—whatever it takes to pull yourself together, you've gotta figure it out and you've gotta figure it out fuckin' fast. Because it is sure as sunrise that we're gonna have another abomination comin' through the gate soon, and when it does, I need you ready for it—magic wormhole in your brain or no. Get me? We can't afford to have you on the bench for this one, Duck. Maybe you're just a man, now—Average Steve, or whatever the fuck it is you want to call yourself—but you're a man with a sword, and a good head on his shoulders, and no small amount of courage, and none of that is insignificant. You say you're not special anymore, but as far as I'm concerned, you're still special where it counts."

"Thank you, Mama." Not that he's exactly good, yet, but maybe her blunt-edged approach to sympathy is what can get him there; after all, it's not like the world will slow down for the sake of his self pity. He follows her lead then, rising from his chair and pushing it back towards the desk. "I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me."

"Wasn't kiddin' when I said that finding you and Ned and Aubrey was a blessing, Duck." She walks him back to the office door, one hand on his shoulder, more steady and reassuring than he expected. "With or without your powers, that's still true."

[amaliabalash]

It Chapter Two

Okay y’all I said I wanted to write a post of thoughts I’ve had on the movies (most the second, but here and there from the first), adaptation choices, etc., so here it is after five ten viewings of Chapter Two and a ton of viewings of the first movie as well. I stand by my initial sum up: I love it as a follow up if you’re watching it for the coming of age story of the group of friends that fight an evil being, but it’s mehhhh as a horror movie about a clown that kills children....which means I love it because I don’t give a fuck about the clown. 

I love the Losers love for each other. I hate any moment that separates them or causes conflict between them, because in the book they are magically, instantly united as they join together that summer, and nothing stops that, and that’s one of my favorite things about the book. So the movie taking that complete level of solidarity hurts. But even so, when it comes down to it, again and again we see how much they all love and care for each other and I am all about that. Now below the cut, have 4300 words of rambling thoughts in bullet point form!

Mike: I love and hate what he was given for this movie. Not getting incapacitated by Bowers and hospitalized (as in the book), and instead actually getting to be in the final confrontation? THANK YOU, YES. Lying to the Losers? No, not a fan. At first I was mostly focused on being grateful he was in the final battle because I think it’s awesome they’ve all together, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more upset I am that he still got kinda screwed. He had more to do than he did in the first movie, but then like...he doesn’t get a scene of going and finding the rock and having his own flashbacks, and then he doesn’t get a separate confrontation with Pennywise either once they’re in the sewers (like Ben and Bev, Eddie and Richie, and Bill do). Being the crazy librarian’s assistant is bunk. And the whole Native American ritual shit...

The Ritual of Chüd: I fully understand not doing the ritual exactly like in the book, because hello, a metaphysical battle of wills, biting each other’s tongues in your psyche and getting thrown around is just a wee bit complicated to film. But making it so that Mike got the ritual from Native Americans (the ~mystical face distortion especially bugged me), and then it also didn’t even work...ugh. And again, the lying, ughhhh. A battle of wills was still basically how they defeated It, at least? Also, like, maybe it’s iffy to use some ancient tribal ritual that Bill got from a book, too, but I think it works (in a story sense, I mean) because they’re kids when they first try it. They go “hey, there’s this thing, we believe it’s the answer” and so it works. And it works so much better as a thing the kids found in a book and believed in, than as a ritual adult Mike got from Native Americans that never even worked. However, James McAvoy’s delivery of the line, “You stole it...from Native Americans?” is incredible and hilarious. And on the note of the smoke scene...

The Clubhouse: I don’t fucking care how relatively little sense it made to include the clubhouse, and how Ben’s “the hole was already dug out and oh hey btw I like architecture we forgot to mention that in the last movie” was paper thin, because I AM SO HAPPY THAT THEY MADE THE CLUBHOUSE. I’m glad they didn’t retroactively have them do the smoke scene, because it REALLY wouldn’t have made sense with the first film to them suddenly have done that in the midst of everything and not used it, but I’m sad it wasn’t in the first film to start with. I understand that the budget, like, doubled for chapter two. Happy they included the clubhouse at all, but super eh on including the smoke scene in the way they did. Again, the kids going “hey let’s try this thing” and it working through belief makes so much more sense to me. BUT CLUBHOUSE! :D

Stan: fuuuuuuuuck. They gave Stan so much more in chapter two than in one, somehow? I hate that in the book, the only thing we get of adult Stan is from his wife’s perspective, and then he’s dead. By giving Stan the letter at the end, as well as his added kid scenes, I feel like Stan was given some justice. And on the small book nod end, I loved him doing the bird puzzle, because book Stan is a big ol’ bird nerd. Also when Stan asks what he looks like when he’s older in that first scene and Bev has that look and says like now but taller? OW. ALSO the head-spider thing, “so you don’t get spiders in your hair,” nice horrible touch there. And this isn’t a Stan characterization thing, but one of the legs going through Stan’s eye and Richie being the one to say “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” also feels appropriate because eye horror is a book Richie thing. And on the note of the letter (which I love), I want to know what Stan wrote to Patty. Because like, wow, after her husband seemingly out of nowhere kills himself, she still sends these letters to his old friends. Patty Uris, you’re a good woman.  

Ben: I am generally in favor of Ben/Bev, and thought they had some nice moments in the new movie, but I haaaaate that Ben kept the yearbook page. It made no sense, and it was kind of weird for him to like...obsess over that for the next 27 years of his life when he hadn’t seen her? I think it would have been sweeter, honestly, if upon returning to Derry he was just HIT with how much he loved her, through that funky magic that bonded the Losers and broke them apart. Back in Derry, the feelings return freshly, even if they’re 27 years old (like happened for Richie, according to Bill Hader and my heart). If that had happened, and then they just...ended up sticking together afterwards, I’d prefer it. Lose the kiss, lose the yearbook thing, but keep the end scene with them on the boat, that’s fine. Also why the fuck was Ben in summer school, that flashback didn’t make sense, should’ve been in the library, please. If only we could have had a middle ground (aka the book) between the 1990 series where Ben was kind of presented as a manwhore and the movie where he’s still in love with the same girl from when he was 13 and that’s why he was alone. In the book he just...didn’t have much of an interest in the romance I think? Idk. Ben keeping the yearbook page is dumb and it was overdone but otherwise Ben and Bev are cute. But as for the first movie and flashback moments, I love little baby Ben Hanscom with all my heart, what a sweetheart. Sorry they made you creepily obsess on the same girl for the rest of your life, Ben. 

MEMORIES: THEY WERE ALLOWED TO KEEP THEIR MEMORIES! I AM SO GRATEFUL! Some people are like “but now Richie has to remember this” and I’m like, the book fucks me up when I read it knowing that none of them will remember each other, and that none of them will remember Eddie and his sacrifice, how bravely he fought, fuuuuuck. So I’d rather sad remembering and honoring than completely forgetting.  This is the happier ending, it really is. 

Bill: He wasn’t really sick??? ow??? Like it makes his determination to search for Georgie make more sense, but oof. I have mixed feelings on this because in the book Bill is genuinely too sick to go with Georgie, but like...the “just because you did x doesn’t mean this horrible thing is your fault” is a really poignant emotional point to make. On the acting side, both Jaeden Martell and James McAvoy did really well with the stuttering, not making it over the top or just...forgetting about it. It felt realistic to those I’ve known with stutters. I think I’m gonna make a separate bullet point for how the marriages were handled, but, it makes me sad that Bill and Audra weren’t shown to be loving like in the book. Bill actually had a good relationship with his wife and that’s a bummer to take away. The choice to have Bill’s fervor in going after It right then be about seeing another kid get taken instead of because he finds Audra’s purse, though, seemed like a solid choice, it worked really well. It keeps the story tighter in a sense, because Bill’s guilt about Georgie is shown to be one of his driving forces across both movies. And...okay that ties right into the marriages thing so...

Marriages: I am grateful that they didn’t have Audra and Tom go to Derry like in the book. There is SO MUCH book content that didn’t make it in, stuff that is really plot relevant, but like...fitting all of that in would have been crammed and we’d lack the emotional depth. Chapter Two is about the Losers, and the sacrifices that were made were there so that we could really focus on the Losers and their relationships with teach other and their experiences. It makes me sad that Bill doesn’t get his positive relationship with Audra, that they’re not shown to actually love each other, that he’s no longer wearing a wedding ring in that last scene with the phone call with Mike, but god. If they had had Audra and Tom come to Derry, it would have muddled the story more than it’d flesh it out. So not worth it to waste a single moment on that, as much as I wish Tom still got killed by It because it’s what he deserves. I almost wish that Bev’s relationship with Tom had been changed, but idk what I’d change it to. Including the abuse was rough, but at least it wasn’t as severe as in the book? It couldn’t be, anyway, because again, he doesn’t follow her to Derry, so he can’t be quite as evil as he is in the book or it’d be incomplete to expect her to just...leave him. Aaaaand Eddie and Myra. I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY CAST THE SAME ACTRESS AS MYRA AND HIS MOM. It’s completely book accurate, there’s that bit of narrative where he acknowledges that looking at a younger pic of his mom next to one of Myra and they could be twins, but damn, that casting choice. I feel bad for Myra, in all incarnations. A character meant only to be the embodiment of an oedipal complex...or, the projection of one? However you’d say that.

Bill & Bev: a whole bullet point just to say, thank god they didn’t sleep together, that one little memory based kiss and move on? THANK YOU. And that kiss worked, not like the wtf so awkward kiss between Bill and Bev at the restaurant in the mini-series. Also not driving home the “Audra looks like Bev.......” thing. I’m cool with that. Though I still think it’d have been hilarious if they’d cast Bryce Dallas Howard as Audra.

Beverly: I was talking to a friend about the first movie a few months ago and she said she hated how Bev was made into a damsel in the first movie, needing to be rescued...and I can get that, but compared to the book and the 1990 series, Bev gets SO MUCH MORE and I love her so much. I love that she’s pushing them to keep fighting against It in the first one, and that in the second she’s supporting the others still and encouraging, and in the final battle moments, she’s never a damsel. It’s just when she was in the deadlights. The scene with Mrs. Kersh was fucking insane though. Like, hugely increased budget from the first movie, and....they choose to spend it on a naked granny monster????? TWICE???? I feel like that scene could have been legitimately creepy but then NAKED. GRANNY. MONSTER. I have nothing deep to say on that scene but I’m so baffled. 

CGI and the Monsters: On the note of the atrocity of the naked granny monster...it must say a lot about what Andy Muschietti is afraid of that he includes these weird, gross CGI monsters. Also I feel like he’s afraid of old age, between the Mrs. Kersh monster and the focus on Mr. Keene’s old-ness. But like...the leper and the naked granny monster are both just really weird and gross, but not like scary? I mean, the leper being a physical representation of infection is specific to Eddie, and it sticking it’s tongue down Mrs. Kaspbrak’s throat is truly utterly disgusting, but...again, the horror of it is grossness, not scariness? And god the fucking naked granny monster just kills me because that scene would legit be scary if not for that. Instead, multiple times I’ve heard people in the theater whisper “what the fuck” during that scene. 

The Losers Fighting: Possibly my biggest complaint about the two movies is the choice to have the Losers have big fights.  For Dramatic Movie Purposes I get it, I guess, but in the book as each Loser joins, that’s it, there’s no question, fate is clicking into place, they are meant to be together. So the fight after the House on Neibolt in the first movie has always bugged me. Mike lying to them bugs me. Them being like, “fuck this I’m out” bugs me. However, the ONE concession I’ll make on this point is that at least the fight in the first movie was used in the second as an excuse to show new flashbacks. But the lack of unity is always gonna make me sad about these adaptations. 

Pennywise: I am NOT saying I want more Pennywise in the movie, but I think that there is a slight plot hole in the way that his motivations and his effect aren’t directly addressed in the films. Like, including the Adrian Mellon murder without including the whole thing where it’s relevant to It because It’s evil seeps into Derry and is an integral part of Derry makes the scene make less sense. Though, again, I’m cool with them not including Derry just completely falling apart when It dies because of that connection, bc that’d be too much time not about the Losers. But, yeah, motivation wise, it doesn’t feel clear why It wants the Losers to come home. Knowing in the book that It experienced fear and then true anger for the first time, that It wants revenge, makes the ultimately Dumbass Move of luring them back at least make some sense. 

Richie: I’m gonna try to focus on Richie things that don’t necessarily relate to Reddie first. I was super unsure about Bill Hader when I heard about his casting at first, because I’d never seen him do the drama I knew the role would need, but damn. He was a perfect Richie, from the comedy to the holy shit drama pain. And it’s a bummer that the whole cgi thing was needed (though, like, it was, because Finn Wolfhard does not look the same anymore) because I’d like to see the more nuanced version of his performance of the arcade scene and stuff. I’m so grateful for the depth given to Richie with the closeted storyline, as much as it hurts. This movie let (some) characters have some actual depth and it’s wonderful. Let’s see... I kind of hate that there was still the fatphobic focuses in the story as a whole, but like...those lines only coming from the trashmouth was at least appropriate. And his delivery throughout his whole bit with Bill outside the Neibolt house in Chapter Two about Richie said it best last time, is delivered so perfectly and I love it, particularly, “You’re lucky we’re not measuring dicks?” Excellent job, Bill Hader. And even though, as I said above, I am no fan of the Losers fighting and Richie trying to run off, the part where Ben says “at least I got Richie to stay” and then Richie bursts out of the back of the hotel to sneak off is way too funny to me. Him not writing his own material is kind of hilarious. And it goes in with a theme in the movie where the Loser’s adult success is a little bit tainted, which isn’t necessarily the case in the book - other things are off, no children, marrying their parents, etc., but their success doesn’t really have anything off about it. Book Richie finally does perfect his voices and that’s how he makes his money. But I’ll accept him not actually being great at comedy (not that the bit we saw at the start of the movie was great comedy) for the set up of the joke of Eddie saying “I FUCKING KNEW IT!” also oops mentioned Eddie. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  So why not go there now! 

Eddie and Richie: I didn’t think they’d actually fucking do it. I saw a still of young Richie next to the R+ on the kissing bridge, and Reddies freaking out about WHAT IF, and I was like “that’d be cool but lol no they won’t actually do it.” But then they ACTUALLY DID IT. I’m grateful I saw the movie at the first possible showing because I DIDN’T see the still with young Richie where you can see the full R+E until after, so it was a surprise. This is again where I applaud Bill Hader’s performance, and the directing and script writing and all, because all of those little moments where Richie is just attuned to Eddie are so great. He’s always been the one Richie focused on most for jokes (defense mechansim!), but then calling out for Eddie every time there’s potential danger and they’re separated - when the bat wing fortune cookie is attacking Eddie, in Neibolt when the spider-head monster is temporarily gone, when the balloon starts inflating after the ritual and they’re moving apart. And then of course we have the whole end, his desperation over wanting to save Eddie, his inability to accept that it’s over. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck! And god, like, he seems to just forget to even care about the whole Pennywise thing once Eddie’s hurt, he’s like “we gotta get him out of here” ignoring the “we still have to deal with this fucking clown” part of it entirely. On the lighter note though...the bickering! I LOVE THE BICKERING SO MUCH. In both movies, even during serious conversations, there’s so often Eddie and Richie bickering in the background (as well as main scene bickering, of course, like the hammock, or Richie teasing Eddie about getting married, his mom, his job, etc). In Chapter Two you can hear them bickering about Eddie saying he’s got these various ailments and Richie saying it’s in his head and he just reads shit on the internet while Bill and Bev talk about life, and down in the sewers Eddie has to pick on Richie bringing an actual token and they bicker about how that’s not gonna burn well neither will the inhaler. I LOVE IT. Also, in a story so focused on mirroring the past, Eddie should have kissed Richie out of the deadlights like Ben kissed Bev, that is all. I love every single thing about the scene with the three doors, but I especially love how those dumbasses, once Pennywise is no longer reaching for them, suddenly stop finding the dog behind a door deep in the sewers/cave/whatever suspicious??? They’re like, oh look this is fine, what a cute puppy that randomly made it down here??? What even, and I love it. The hammock scene is ridiculously adorable and Richie’s little sigh when Eddie’s sticking his foot in his face, so great. I have a lot to say about Eddie’s paralysis in the face of Richie being attacked, but honestly I feel that’s more Eddie than it is Reddie related so I’ll get there later, but Richie being the one to encourage him in this totally sincere way and then make the fat joke about Myra...in character af and a really charming scene despite the fact that, again, I am not a fan of fat jokes? That is just the language these two idiots speak. A moment of sincerity cannot possibly be left alone.  And on that note...

Eddie’s Death: okay that “paragraph” was very long so I’m making a separate bullet point for this, at least as it relates to Reddie. I could just quote line by line and be like “oh, shit, my heart” but that isn’t really relevant. Overall, that’s my sentiment as Richie is trying to save Eddie and so focused on him. But this is more about the “I fucked your mother” bit. I saw a lot of people upset about that, and others seemed to understand that it’s not a throwaway joke (like the post I JUST reblogged, but I was thinking about this before). Dumb jokes and bickering is their love language, duh. And I think in those moments, it legit made the most sense for Eddie to say “I fucked your mother” to Richie, the king of inappropriate your mom jokes (at least in reference to Eddie - I fucked your mom, Eddie’s mom’s vagina on Halloween, smells worse than Eddie’s mom’s slippers, etc.). I’m working on a theory that not only is that a communication of love/the importance of their relationship (like, he makes the effort to make that joke when he’s fucking DYING, something specifically for Richie), but about comfort. Dunno if it’s about comforting himself in the face of knowing he’s dying, or comforting Richie, or both, but...honestly, falling into a familiar pattern after all of this sincerity and fear just came pouring out of Richie makes perfect fucking sense to me. And, there’s also nearly a solid 2.5 minutes between cutting away from that scene and Richie running to join them in the final takedown (and tearing It’s fucking arm off, which is amazing, and I love Bev’s little shocked face right after that happens). There’s room for conversation, for sincere comments, if you want to imagine them there. But I’m not disappointed they didn’t do any real “I love you” moments or something, because I think we got a very in character and appropriate response. And I’ll say again, Richie’s anguish and denial, holy shit, my heart hurts. 

Eddie: Eddie Kaspbrak, my love. I was saving Eddie for last because I have so much to say but idek how to say it. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting adult Eddie to have the same hyper, angry energy of kid Eddie, let alone an amped up version, but I LOVE THIS SMALL, ANGRY MAN. James Ransone was brilliant casting. When he was first cast (not that I knew who he was), I was like, eh he looks alright, we’ll see. But watching him in action and watching Jack Dylan Grazer in action, damn, they are well matched. And their eyes are very alike. But more than the physicality, just in general, damn he was a great Eddie. I’m not super solid on how well he matches up to book Eddie’s characterization overall, but if I see a major overlap in book and movie Eddie in any book scene, it’s when Eddie sprays his inhaler at the giant eyeball and just flips out: ““Fight It!” Eddie raved at the others. “It’s just a fucking Eye! Fight It! You hear me? Fight It, Bill! Kick the shit out of the sucker! Jesus Christ you fucking pussies I’m doing the Mashed Potatoes all over It AND I GOT A BROKEN ARM!”" But anyway. Movie Eddie. I love his angry bravado, because you KNOW so much is bravado. That one post that says Eddie has small dog syndrome is fucking legit. Eddie is hilarious throughout (again, kudos to James fucking Ransone), but then the emotional scenes? Oh my GOD the emotional scenes!!!  Eddie has moments of fear but still mostly maintains that bravado until the spider head thing attacks (even before it attacks Richie specifically, you can tell he’s pinned to the wall in fear). And after Richie is saved, and Bill comes to yell at him, BOOM the emotion kills me. That shield is gone and he’s just back to a scared little kid, and there’s such an emotional realness to the rest of his scenes (except when he’s bickering with Richie, of course). He’s scared and he’s hurt. And the way the Losers support him through that - Richie talking Eddie up to encourage him, reminding him all of the ways he’s been badass so far, and the entire interaction with Bev “This kills monsters” “Does it?” “If you believe it does.” His face, the gentleness of that scene, it kills me and I love them so much. It’s just a beautiful moment. Also beautiful on the other end of the spectrum is Eddie psyching himself up to save Richie this time, dammit, “IF YOU BELIEVE IT DOES! BEEP BEEP MOTHERFUCKER!” And then his face! Actually, his face when he first sees Richie in the deadlights is worth mentioning, and his “holy shit!” and then happiness after (you know, until THAT happens). IT GIVES ME FEELINGS. Ummmm let’s see, oh, I fucking LOVE that they referenced the gazebo line holy shit! Imagine being Jack Dylan Grazer and having your improv from when you were 11/12 become not only one of the most iconic lines in the first movie, but get referenced in the second!!! For mirroring kind of purposes, when they go down the well, Eddie is the one to mention grey water first in both movies, love that. Also love that in the first movie he has the line about how 89% or whatever of home accidents happen in the bathroom, then he gets stabbed in the bathroom. Which, like, that scene? Again, he is so fucking FUNNY. The initial shock of “HOLY SHIT HE JUST GOT STABBED IN THE FACE” fights with “HIS RESPONSE IS SO DAMN FUNNY.” His faces all the way through to “you should cut that fucking mullet, it’s been like thirty years man” is GOOD. SHIT. I love Eddie Kaspbrak so much. Also the delivery of “what the fuck!” after the leper run in as an adult. Oh, and speaking of the leper, Eddie Kaspbrak saves the fucking day by helping them understand how to actually fucking kill It, the way he almost actually killed it earlier. He’s fucking dying and he has this realization, this way to help them, and I’m just gonna be a broken record of I LOVE EDDIE. And I love James Ransone’s portrayal (and Jack Dylan Grazer, for that matter, since I am talking about both movies kinda though mostly Chapter Two). 

...and that’s more than sufficient for now. 

[unproduciblesmackdown]

some random numbers: 1, 3, 6, 15, 23, 31, 35, 40. give me ur ungodly long answers.

lmaooo YES brevity whom......i cannot be concise

1) favorite videos?

i sure spent 2010 - 2014 enjoying youtube horror interpersonal-drama series marble hornets, those are a good time. and here in the future you and i both know there is just a wellspring of wrol-related Video Content out there, god damn, i really love so many of them.....in between that there’s sure been a lot of fun and funney videos and like, some Artistique ones i like to revisit [or have disappeared :( ] but i always like to promote this Wuthering Heights one. i love it. oh lol!!!! and the uh, Skate 3 Glitch compilations!!! so so funny

3) favorite memes?

i think Deep Fried Memes are fun all the time lol. the Youtube Meme of “___ but ____” is a lot of fun OH YEAH steamed hams was awesome too. the 24601 Releases A Sammich On Parole ytp is priceless......this is just turning into favorite videos again lmao. vine as a meme and a whole

6)favorite mixes?

you know i never really made or used playlists lol!!!! i will just be like, in the mood for certain songs or else like “i want to listen to music but....which ones”.....i say i can never be concise and all of these answers turning out short lol. it’s not b/c i’m Concise but b/c like, i don’t know what Favorites i have and i don’t have a memory that works without Direct Reminders of Specific Things so i’m just failing to like, come up with the info in the first place smh

15) favorite fictional characters?

here we go lol i can answer this one cuz when i have a fave rave it’s rare and like, easier to remember cuz i do not Go Hard about it that often.....weirdly for the first few years of The Decade i did’t really have such certain faves.....i was def enjoying some characters, as i always do, but nothing like super standout. then in ‘11 or ‘12 or whatever i was like oh hey, ed from cowboybeboy.......and then just had like, the solo experience of me humoring myself w/ that. bit of an usual one b/c a lot of the characters i Really latch on to will tend to be kinda roughly similar in ways that maybe seem pretty at-first-glance levels of obvious, buuut idk she’s not That far off from my usual selections i guess lol. anyways then in 2014 i was like, time to go ham for lars. what a valuable time it was....what Fun we had.....truly tho! and then another interval later it’s 2016 and for similarly (relatable characters of roughly the same cut) i was like, well here i am having a great time re: kip, all while getting to generously use of my fave shade of blue and fangs central and all that fun stuff. and then another interval later the Eventual Unfolding of what started innn 2017 i guess occurs, and it’s late 2018, and i’m like, time to look into Jared Kleinman b/c just from reading the wikipedia summary that didn’t mention him all that much i could tell this was probably a character i’d go ham for for predictable reasons, and the vague interest in that has stuck with me for the past little-over-a-year......and then i was Completely right lol. deh? well that’s just Bonus Jared Lore, to me (though of course alana in her own right is a great and similarly underappreciated character. rights)....and then of course i’ve had a lot of fun with pretty much each and every Wrol Role lmao.......Very fond of jeremy, and also christine, and bmc just has really enjoyable and interesting characters all over the place. and of course, here i am, Extremely #about winston quantbillions as another certified fave rave, really. call it classic!!!

[[answered both 23 and 31 prior, actually.....words were typed....]]

35)a random memory you remember with strange clarity?

tough one because lol a fair amount of “you recorded this memory in a fair amount of detail” is due to increased levels of unpleasantness / stress / discomfort, and if it’s also “i remember this b/c it was Nice” then i wouldn’t call that Strange clarity lol, and Random Memory like “just pull one up from the ol memory bank” is like, god, i wish it were that simple........but give me a min.

oh yeah i had a High Time of it when pokemon go came out (only pokemonn game i have ever played lol) coz there was like, this stretch of Landmarks stops that started at this garden and went along this waterfront / connected park forrr maybe like a half mile stretch? ideal territory and people would actually like, come from out of town to partake in it lol. and i’d Download podcast eps on my phone from my work’s wifi and just like, in the evening listen to that or music and just like, walk and do this shit. i had like five or six gyaradoses at one point cuz i guess the riverside nature of it meant they wanted to throw all these magikarp at you (there Were carp, also! one of the parks had a koi pond.) and like, there were just all these people around doing it along with you, even that late at night and in the early AM hours, so it was fairly social even if u weren’t there with a group or talking with anyone (though there was Camaraderie like, oh hey just so you guys know, there is a ____ over by the boat.) and it was just an interesting Walk with several things to look at and routes to take. and one time in a weird Dead Of Night time like 1am there was this like, smallish cruise ship docked that actually Set Off. and like, a bunch of us randos were just standing there and watching this unfold. this isn’t a very good Clear Random Memory but if i tried to think of a good one, god only knows how long it’d take me lol

40)an important personal revelation?

oh jeez this has really been a decade with lots of the unfortunate combo of “stuff that is a bummer but also boring” lol.......a benefit of getting to spend more time than not Away From The Parents’ House was like, oh sweet, having this perspective for long enough finally leads me to the conclusion of why i hate this......B/c It Is Bad. oh yeah and then there was also conclusively figuring out early in the decade like oh right, i’m trans, that makes sense.......other layers of Gayassedness like oh, more specifically i’m nonbinary, oh yeah and like, i’m not straight, call that queer and/or bi and/or also Gay......bein grey ace like a champ, and aromantic like, oh yeah i’m not like, fucking up at being a person somehow and Letting People Down by not wanting to date them (i mean besides rando cishet men. they can be let down regardless).....and just like, this ongoing process of getting the space to b figuring out myself and what i like For myself in alll kinds of ways....even up till now with the “oh yeah ive been a theatre gay all my life lmaooo” bit that’s like, totally obvious but just like, i didn’t much have the reason to even look at the would-be obvious stuff from the right perspex till now. and it’s pretty fun to realize a Lifelong Area Of Big Interest like that, cuz those sorts of things can feel elusive. and then also unfortunately a lot of the decade has involved like, “oh my self-esteem is so fucked that it’s circling back around and i’m appreciating and valuing myself and that i deserve decent treatment and Not bad shit,” which was a crappy process obviously lol but it was nice when i did start to get there, and making further progress on that front. im not dead certain when i was like “hmm...am autistic” b/c that was definitely a really ongoing process of figuring that out lol, but when / as i did it’s definitely a series of “oh hahaha this is why i’m like This or why i do This or feel like This about This!!” and it’s really easy to learn a totally Brand New Thing all the time abt bein autistic where it’s like Oh #Me!! coz yknow. the info By and For autistic ppl is not always widely available and known of. love that for us

[letters-from-the-three-houses]

So, opinions on the release of Dorothea info?

hello hello! i should really answer the opinion asks first because i write drabbles ridiculously slow haha (imma get to that one opinion ask real quick after this. but no worries, everyone, i haven’t forgotten all of the other requests!)

for the uninitiated, you can look at dorothea’s profile here (courtesy of the awesome @prof-babeleth​). other stuff to note is that the official jp site made an update with her surname, which is ‘arnold’

so! opinions! some of them stem back to manuela’s bio, so here’s that for reference c:

under the cut because long

“mittelfrank opera company”

this is so interesting??? i’m happy that fódlan is getting so much world building, because it’s little nuances like these that make the history and lore engaging! my greatest lament in fates is the lack of information about cyrkensia (the city with the opera house) because to me, it was the most fascinating location in the entire game. in terms of fanon, it was a real bummer not having anything to work with because i would’ve written so many theatre fics otherwise

having a performing arts school does bring up the question of how refresher units work in the game. some people have speculated that we can shape students into refreshers or we get to choose who our refresher will be. it’d be pretty cool if it was the former, but since there’s no explicit song/dance lesson, i’m not sure that’ll be the case. there are two other possibilities though: the mechanic just isn’t shown yet, or the unit is already a refresher when we get them. that can lead to a) some students (potentially) being refreshers or b) manuela being the refresher. assuming there’s only one refresher per army, either manuela’s a multi-path or at least one student from each house has arts experience. so that’d be like saying dorothea is from adrestia’s opera house, but mercedes and marianne are from companies in faerghus and leicester

the implications? arts is a major past time in fódlan amongst nobles and commoners alike. bam. case closed. everyone should take arts (i kid, i kid)

fun fact: according to my history/geography buff brother, mittelfranken is an administrative district in bavaria, germany. it’s not quite the region/state that contains the capital (unlike mittelfrank actually being in the imperial capital), but it’s a prominent german region nonetheless. there’s no real reason to know this—we’re only going for inspired, not accurate—but i like looking at etymology and there’s no harm in pointing it out

“apprenticed under a popular diva”

oooh, who could that diva be? it makes me wonder what type of music fódlan, or specifically adrestia, listens to. it’s also the perfect excuse for having ost variations and more soundtracks in general. maybe there’s a reason why the main theme has an electro/dubstep version?

SatsumaFSoySoy on serenesforest says that dorothea herself was also a songstress (not just an apprentice), which makes me wonder just how much fame she held during her career. being the apprentice of a pop idol is already a big deal, but having had a singing career herself means dorothea’s pretty well-known. it’d be like if a famous singer ran for office! it’s an odd and massive career jump, so i wonder what the reason could be. she does ask how long a diva’s popularity lasts in her screencap, but it doesn’t clarify if she was a star that burned bright and fast, or she was overwhelmed with the pressure and therefore changed careers. either way, that’s a lot of depth so i’m excited for her characterization

“admitted to the officer’s academy”

i’m curious about the requirements of admission. since it’s open to nobles and commoners, there has to be some other kind of screening to get into the academy. is it power? money? talent? if so, which one does dorothea fall under?

it’d be talent if she was a good songstress, though it could be anything if being part of the opera company is expensive/needs connections. i remember one post that speculated dorothea’s parents being rich merchants (i can’t find it though ;;), which could very well be the case if she isn’t a type of ‘scholarship student’. if that’s the case, then i’d guess that she has issues about her performance abilities (i.e. she’s not good enough as a songstress to make it super big) and that’s the underlying reason why she joined the academy, but we’re just pulling at straws at the moment

“looks to manuela as a well-respected senior”

she definitely seems to be emulating her. dorothea says “ara~”, shows cleavage, and winks in one of her expressions. very much like manuela! it’ll be fun to compare and contrast the two when we get more information on them, because dorothea looks like a huge fan

also interesting to note is that the both of them are wearing collars/chokers. it may be a mittelfrank thing (the different symbols on each could represent rank?), but it could also be because of the above ‘manuela is a role model’ reason. either/or, there aren’t any obvious/recognizable symbols or crests on her outfit, unlike manuela’s lyre-looking pin on her cape. dorothea’s earrings are a common design on the student uniforms (the design is more evident on the right-hand men of each lord), but the flower is a nice personal touch. it’s reddish, much like her house colours, so that could be her bit of national pride!

“lone commoner” + “treats everyone like an equal”

how fun! the dynamic with the rest of her housemates is bound to be interesting. does anyone shun her? is she treated differently because of her status? are there any fernand-esque characters that hate commoners and therefore don’t like dorothea? (ferdinand, don’t disappoint me just because you both have similar names)

i mentioned in the last section that she doesn’t have any recognizable symbols on her outfit. the other non-lord students are the same (except dedue, who has nice earrings that represent one of blaiddyd’s crests), so it’s unclear if she’s totally devoted to edelgard or not (like hubert). i’m leaning towards no, since her motivations seem to stem from a practical perspective about her future, rather than the ‘i must protect my lord’ kind

on the other hand, it also confirms that everyone else in the black eagles are nobles, so any thoughts about petra coming from a cool tribal region (à la rinkah/hayato) might be dashed

(i say might because the idea of tribal nobility is too cool to pass over)

i’m also still clinging onto my bernadetta + edelgard are childhood friends headcanon that you can pry from my cold, dead hands once bernadetta’s profile says otherwise

all in all, i like her already. she was a big fandom favourite since the 2.13 direct bc jojothea, but she’s shaping up to be a potentially well-written character. i have a lot of high hopes for her, and i can see her being a solid source of game lore

i’m personally hoping for her to be a ‘songstress/actress that never made a huge breakthrough’, if only because i want a not-so influential black eagle, but arguments could be said for other camps. in any case, she’s bubbly, sociable, and optimistic, which makes her very lovable in my eyes!

it also means i’ve gotten 5.5/8 personalities right so far (notwithstanding the byleths, sothis, jeralt, and rhea), but i’ll be doing a big roundup post to talk about that more in depth at the end of all the profiles

can i also hope for theatre aus anytime soon

i’m willing to sponsor anyone interested in writing them

thank you for the ask! it was fun to answer~

[asks are open!]

[thesportssoundoff]

“Eh. Just a bunch of Eh. Good main though!” UFC Fight Night: Mexico

Joey

September 17th, 2019

The UFC decided to take its model for fight cards in Europe and import it over to Mexico for a bit! I think it speaks to the UFC's level of focus for this card that the third fight on this card is in a division they were going to close with two guys they just signed. This is basically a 3-4 fight card; a tremendous featherweight main event, two really interesting fights on paper featuring two top Mexican fighters AND the return of Brandon Moreno vs top flyweight Askar Askarov. Beyond that? Some action fighters, more WMMA, the return of Bethe Correia and some other stuff. It's not a good card but what's at the top is pretty solid. It's also worth offering them a bit of a mulligan since the headliner was supposed to be Brian Ortega vs the Korean Zombie before something fell apart. Either Ortega balked at the fight at first offering or someone in the UFC realized they need a South Korean headliner for their December Korea card. Either way we got what we got here. It's not great but as my sister says "You get what you get and you don't get upset." I also think it's worth pointing out that this card is basically a glorified gift show as the UFC breaks ground on their new PI in Mexico.

Fights: 12

Debuts: Ariane Carnelossi, Vanessa Melo, Brandon Moreno, Askar Askarov

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 4 (Brian Ortega vs the Korean Zombie CANCELLED/Isatela Nunes OUT, Ariane Carnelossi IN vs Angela Hill/Alex Perez OUT, Tyson Nam IN vs Sergio Pettis/Marion Reneau OUT, Vanessa Melo IN vs Irene Aldana)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 7 (Yair Rodriguez, Sergio Pettis, Alexa Grasso, Carla Esparza, Brandon Moreno, Bethe Correia, MArcos Mariano)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 7 (Bethe Correia, Vinicius Moreira, Sergio Pettis, Kyle Nelson, Polo Reyes, Stephen Peterson, Jeremy Stephens)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC):  15-18 (The first card of the year with an under .500 record for the main card)

Yair Rodriguez- 2-1 Jeremy Stephens- 3-3 Carla Esparza- 3-3 Alexa Grasso- 2-2 Brandon Moreno- 1-2 Askar Askarov- 0-0 Irene Aldana- 3-2 Vanessa Melo- 0-0 Martin Bravo- 0-2 Stephen Peterson- 1-3

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Featherweight-  3 (47) Women’s Bantamweight-  2 (17) Women’s Strawweight- 2 (24) Flyweight-  2 (14) Light Heavyweight- 1 (35) Bantamweight- 1 (49) Lightweight- 1 (60)

Middleweight-   (32) Heavyweight- (27) Welterweight-  (52) Women’s Flyweight- (29) Women’s Featherweight- (7)

2019 Number Tracker

Debuting Fighters (27-49-1)- Vanessa Melo, Ariane Carnelossi, Tyson Nam, Askar Askarov, Brandon Moreno

Short Notice Fighters (25-32)- Vanessa Melo, Tyson Nam, Ariane Carnelossi

Second Fight (49-27)- Marcos Mariano, Carlos Huachin

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (19-32-1)- Claudio Puelles, Martin Bravo

Undefeated Fighters (31-34-1)- Askar Askarov

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (11-8)-

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (25-18)-  Martin Bravo, Sergio Pettis

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Yair Rodriguez's career since 2017 has taken quite a turn. He started the year dicing up BJ Penn in a showcase fight, got put against Frankie Edgar in what on paper seemed like a mega fight and then had one of the weirdest UFC spats ever. Yair was offered Zabit a few times, Ricardo Lamas once and then referred to a Dana White fight announcement as fake news. Dana cut him and Yair was on the free market for approximately a week or so before Sean Shelby patched things up and cleaned up the mess. Yair repaid the UFC by showing up on two weeks notice to fight the Korean Zombie at high altitude in one of the craziest fights of 2018. Likely down on the cards, Yair hit an upwards elbow that KO'd the Korean Zombie with pretty much the world's greatest buzzer beater KO ever. Yair apparently broke his nose and damaged his lead foot early in that fight which makes it even more amazing that he did what he did. Since then Yair has been pretty much out in nowhere land. He took time off to heal up, was rumored to be fighting in the Summer but instead returns here towards the Fall. He was originally supposed to be the co-main event but when Ortega/Zombie fell through, Yair got the bump up vs Jeremy Stephens. It's worth remembering that Yair Rodriguez is crazy young (JUST 26 years old) and fights in a division where every major prospect gets checked eventually. We've watched a lot of 145 lbers get the business from somebody with more experience or the right kind of style. Even Zabit had a bit of a rough go of it vs Jereemy Stephens.  This feels like a high pressure situation for Yair; a dangerous opponent on a losing streak in a market where chaos has tended to abound (I believe Mexican fighters are 0-3 in main event fights in Mexico). A win here says a lot not just about Yair's talent level but about his poise and maturity given where he was in his career at THIS point last year.

2- Does the fact that Yair and Zabit both have enough similarities offensively allow Jeremy Stephens to go into this fight feeling like he's seen the same guy twice in a row? I'd argue Yair's hands are much better than Zabit's but at the same time, Zabit is a far better wrestler than Yair who is more of a squirrely scrambler type. Either way if you're Stephens, the similarities have to make you feel like you've got something of a leg up going into this fight.

3- Would Yair Rodriguez vs Jose Aldo be an appealing fight for both parties if Yair wins vs Jeremy Stephens?

4- In 2015, Dana White took a photo with both Irene Aldana and Alexa Grasso where he deemed both the future of WMMA. It's been a rather tumultuous run for both ladies since that point and while it'd be fair to offer both mulligans; I think calling them busts relative to the expectations would be somewhat fair. For Irene Aldana, she probably just isn't good enough to ever be a challenger or even a contender for Amanda Nunes. After starting her UFC run with two losses (one in a controversial fashion), Aldana rallied with three straight wins including what felt like the final corner turner vs Bethe Correia. She returned to face Rocky Pennington in a big enough fight and while she started strong, she allowed Pennington to pressure her repeatedly en route to a split decision win. The last round was punctuated by Aldana chasing a go nowhere no hope heel hook as Pennington punched away from on top. Even when she had the opportunity to try and get to her feet, she stuck by her guns and eventually it cost her. Aldana's fight IQ and I guess her willingness to fight to her opponent's strengths continues to burn her. She'll get a soft enough touch vs the debuting Vanessa Melo after a bigger fight with Marion Reneau fell through. For Alexa Grasso; her not progressing feels like a serious bummer. Grasso's ultra talented and athletic in a division where talent + athlete usually means progress. Instead a lack of strength and so-so fight IQ (plus some UFC rush jobs) has hurt her. Grasso looked AMAZING vs Karolina K but Karolina may just be broken beyond belief. It's a long way from 2015 where she was the future of WMMA but Grasso has a chance to still make good (somewhat) on that hype.  It's a tough call though with Carla Esparza.

5- If you remove the fight vs Randa Markos which felt like Markos just coming out with a proverbial death wish, Carla Esparza's losses are to former champ Joanna Jedrzyjeczyk, future #1 contender Tatiana Suarez and former title contender Claudia Gadelha. A win for Grasso would be massive and would probably set her up nicely for another "prove it" fight, likely against Nina Ansaroff.

6- Without looking them up and just on a run sheet alone, could you tell me anything about any fighter after, say, the fourth fight on this card?

7- TUF LAM has given the UFC some pretty damn good fighters. Names like Teco Quinones, Enrique Barzola, Marlon Vera, Moggly Benitez and the aforementioned Yair Rodriguez. That makes it so disappointing that Martin Bravo has not been successful as of yet because he has the natural tools to be on par with those guys. Bravo came into the UFC off of TUF as a crazy body punching all action fighter. He got KO'd in his non-TUF debut vs Humberto Bandenay (who has since gone 0-3 in the UFC) and then followed that up with a loss in a violent war vs Alex Caceres. Bravo's chin seems to be a serious problem and his lack of anything besides a really good body work game and heart/cardio seems to be holding him back. He'll get the perfect guy if he wants an action fight in Steven "Ocho" Peterson in what has to be a loser leaves town fight for both guys.

8- I don't expect Polo Reyes to find much of a home at 145 lbs but I expect to get a few wild brawls and finishes before he eventually gets cut.

9- Brandon Moreno vs Askar Askarov figures to be an absolute hell of a fight but I wonder how much people are going to care as this 125 lb title dangles dangerously in limbo.

10- I cannot believe Vinicius Moreira is still on the UFC roster. Totally flummoxed and perplexed.

11- Speaking of fighters from 2015 that people had high hopes for, Sergio Pettis has gone from being a potential feature piece at 125 lbs or 135 lbs to scrapping this out on the prelims. Remember when the UFC went to Mexico in 2017, Sergio Pettis was the headliner. Now he's looking to find himself in the UFC after jumping weight classes recently with no success.

12- Sajara Eubanks vs Bethe Correia figures to be a stupendous fight, folks. Well worth your time if you want a wild action fight.

[myheroacademia-headcanons]

Hey it's the most obscure ship ever again. Can i ask for a scenario with Tokage Setsuna x Kamakiri Togaru? You can literally write anything since there's almost no content about these guys.

“A new science museum opened up near the dorms,” Kendo says one night while she’s painting Setsuna’s nails. Setsuna lets out a quiet hum, blowing on the dark blue nails of her other hand.

“That sounds cool. Do you think they’d have any dinosaur facts? I’m mean I’m sure they would since it’s a museum, but the last one we went to didn’t have anything on dinosaurs! That was such a bummer, right?”

Kendo nods. “Yeah. You were quite upset the rest of the day. I think you scared Pony with how quiet you were.”

Setsuna shrugs. “I told her I was fine and she got over it. Could’ve been avoided if the museum had stuff about dinosaurs, like most science museums,” she mutters.

Kendo laughs, wiping away a stray mark of nail polish. “Yeah, I get you. Hey, maybe you could take Kamakiri with you. He’s been saying he’s going to go and he hasn’t this whole time. It’d be a cute date for the both of you.”

Setsuna mulls it over for a minute before nodding. “I think that’d be great! Thanks class prez!”

“You’re quite welcome. Now, a layer of glitter or dots?” Kendo grins.

“Dots of course!”

“Kamakiri-kun!”

Setsuna rushes over to her boyfriend, who’s currently engaged in an arm wrestling match with Tetsutetsu. He grunts at her, using all his might to beat Tetsutetsu.

“Class prez told me about this awesome new science museum and I think we should definitely go like right now! C'mon!”

He looks up at her, about to voice a question, when Tetsutetsu slams his arm down. He groans, nodding at the silver boy with a sigh. “You win. Again. I’ll beat you one day.”

“Will you go with me?” she asks with a smile. He nods.

“Of course. I see you’re already ready. Give me a minute, I’ll meet you outside.”

She nods, walking outside of the dorms and waiting by the gate.

Kamakiri meets her soon enough. He’s just wearing a simple button down with ripped jeans, but she still thinks he looks great.

She herself is wearing a simple sapphire colored dress with matching black flats, so she isn’t in much position to judge.

The walk to the museum was mainly filled with her chattering on about dinosaurs, but Kamakiri didn’t seem to mind. He even rambles about insects for a little while, before letting her dominate the conversation again.

He gets the door for her as they walk in, even paying for her ticket.

“What a gentleman,” she laughs, Kamakiri’s cheeks turning a light pink.

“Oi. Can’t a guy just do something nice for his girlfriend?” He crosses his arms and looks down on her.

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah yeah. C'mon, I think your bugs are somewhere over here.”

He allows himself to be pulled along, despite the fact that it’d be easier for him to lead the way since he’s a head taller than her. He argues this point to her a few times, to which she just blows raspberries at him. He finally relents, and they make it to the bug section with no issue.

There’s all sorts of facts about bugs, some he knows and some he doesn’t. There’s also many preserved bugs to go along with the facts. It looks like a bigger version of his collection. He loves it, though he’d never admit it.

Setsuna smiles at him, knowing exactly what he’s thinking.

“It’s really cool, right?”

He looks over and nods. “Yeah. Lots of bugs to look at.”

She hums, pulling him towards a section of butterflies. She stops in front of a black one with red on its wings.

“The red postman butterfly develops its poison by eating toxic plants,” she reads. She looks back over at him, head tilted. “Did you know that one?”

He nods. She frowns for a moment, then drags them over to the ants.

“Bulldog ants can leap seven times the length of their bodies! Woah. That’s probably super far for an ant.”

“Mhm. That’s cool, I didn’t know that one,” he says. She gives him a wide grin and leads him all over the bug section, reading out the facts that she finds coolest.

They eventually leave the bug section, and head over to the dinosaur area. As much as he doesn’t want to leave the cool bugs, the smile on Setsuna’s face is worth it.

There’s skeletons all over, standing on podiums, hanging from the ceiling, you name it. Setsuna rushes over to one that looks fifteen feet long. Its got spikes sticking up from its back and teeth sharper than Tetsutetsu’s. There are some drawing next to it, to show what it looked like it when it was alive.

He walks over, resting an arm on her head. “So, what’s this one?”

She shrugs his arm off, leaning over to read the plaque. “A Dimetrodon. It says that they were lizard-like, and found all over the world. It’s also a meat eater. Cool, huh?”

“Yeah. What’s that one?” he asks, pointing at another fossil. It’s big, with a long neck. Kind of like All Might’s real form.

“Yeah. He does have a pretty long neck,” Setsuna says with a giggle. He blushes, not realizing he said that aloud.

Setsuna grabs his hand and they walk over. She doesn’t let go of his hand.

“It’s a Brontosaurus. It was a herbivore. They think it used its tail to fight.”

“Awesome! I’m sure it was tough, even though it only ate leaves.”

She nods in agreement.

They walk along, reading facts about dinosaurs, switching back to bugs, rinse and repeat. It’s fun, and Kamakiri even buys her a dinosaur plush from the gift shop at the end. She buys him a praying mantis plush in return.

They hold hands on the walk back to the dorms. Some of their friends holler at Kamakiri, and Kendo gives Setsuna a knowing smile.

Tetsutetsu calls Kamakiri over. He gives her a smile.

“Guess I gotta go see what that loser wants. Thanks, for the date today. That was fun. We should go back soon.”

She smiles with a nod. “Yeah! Go see what Tetsutetsu wants, you’ll know where to find me if you need me.” She leans up onto her toes, placing a peck on his cheek. Both of their cheeks are red and Setsuna hurries off.

She sits on her bed in her dorm room later that night, relaying the day to her friends. It’s another nail painting session, since Pony and Ibara weren’t there last night. It’s fun and she feels happy for the rest of the night. She knows that she’ll definitely have to go with Kamakiri again, and soon.

[razberryyum]

Gintama live action 2 movie review Part 3 of 3...SPOILERS!

Again, you should probably read Parts 1 & 2 first cuz now it’s like you’re starting a movie when it’s already 2/3rds over...which you literally are....

That image looks good whether it’s in black and white, animated color or live action.

I ship GinHiji no matter what form they are in, so this moment, where they’re like THISCLOSETOGETHER, of course made me happy.

Ok, I don’t think I’m crazy but this ass pounding scene went on longer than it did in the anime. It was unbelievable, especially how into it Tosshi was. They didn’t include a few of the other abusive moments between Gintoki and Hijikata, but this prolonged scene made up for it.

This happened. I don’t know why cuz I didn’t understand what they were saying, but bless Director Fukuda for finding creative ways to include Zura into the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc. I hope he continues to do that in future movies. 

This happened too. Actually in addition to the Evangelion parody, there was another reference to another famous anime when they were in Gengai’s warehouse, but I just didn’t include it. I’ll leave at least one surprise for those of you still planning to watch the movie (you should. Seriously watch it. Totally worth your time and honestly, why are you even spoiling yourself by reading all this? Of course I appreciate that you’re doing that, but please don’t think this is enough so that you don’t have to watch the movie anymore. WATCH IT DAMMIT)

Kagura the Queen saving everyone’s ass. She is really so awesome in the movie, Hashimoto Kanna did her proud. 

 Baby Itou was adorbs in the manga, anime AND in the movie.

The movie proving Shinsengumi drinking parties are the bacchanalian feasts that we all assumed them to be. 

I wanted to take a moment to just say how freaking amazing Nakamura Kankurou was as Kondou. He really was a perfect Kondou. Man went all out in the dramatic moments, totally brought tears to my eyes. I pretty much cried every time Kondou cried. My only lament is that he didn’t have any scenes with Otae. There was a point during the Snack Smile Host portion where he was on a tank screaming about Otae, which I’m sure was him confessing his love all over again, but I would’ve really liked it if they actually interacted cuz the short scenes they had in the first movie were so adorable.

Obviously I loved the movie, but if I really had to point out a flaw, I would say the Bansai fight scenes could have been better scored and his fight with Gintoki could have been better. First, the music in his fight scenes...it was pretty bad. Like, weird, generic 80′s electrical guitar shit. I think they were trying to go for rock and roll, but it ended up putting a damper on what were otherwise really well-choreographed fight sequences. I wish they would’ve just used Otsuu’s music. They didn’t need to explain why, we fans would’ve known immediately. And then his showdown with Gintoki was kind of weird because they inserted a lot of bad CG because of his strings...which were ridiculously thick, as you can see. There were some Matrix slo mo too which...I’m just not a fan of after the first Matrix. I also thought they should have kept the fight near the train instead of bringing it back to Edo since it lacked the heightened sense of urgency in the original scenes where Gintoki was trying to save everyone on the train. But on the bright side, Edo looked freaking amazing....reminded me Xandar in Guardians of the Galaxy.

I cried. I cry every time we get to this moment, but this time, I felt especially sad because I kinda wanted this Itou to stick around for the next movie.

I am so damn glad live action Yamazaki got his opportunity to shine on the big screen because Tozuka Junki was so delightful in Mitsuba-hen. Btw, one big bummer of the bluray set is even though it had a second special features disc, it DIDN’T include the special episodes that were shown on dTV. I was hoping they would be nice enough to include them since the had a whole extra disc, but nope. It was like cast appearance and character profile stuff. Nice of course, but still wasn’t what I was really wishing for. I wish someone would sub those and put them online like they did with the Mitsuba-hen eps.

They were sitting back to back in the manga/anime...I can’t decide if this is better, the same, or worse. It’d be nice if they were at least sitting closer cuz they were closer when they were sitting back to back. I know, I’m insane. Whatever, I loved this movie. I want a third one. And a fourth and a fifth. With this cast and Director/Screenwriter Fukuda. 

So, please, Gintama gods, give it to us. And let it cover either the Yagyuu Arc, Vacation Arc or the Baragaki Arc. Or basically any arc that can build upon these last two movies and yet be self-contained AND most importantly, include the Shinsengumi boys and Zura. I would love the Popularity Poll arc to be brought to life, since then Tsukuyo can be involved, lest anyone think I’m purposely excluding her, I’m not, it’s just the Yoshiwara arcs don’t include the Shinsengumi or Zura at all, and I don’t know how they can reasonably add all of them in, even though I would LOVE to see live action Kamui and Abuto too. And the Courtesan of a Nation arc is too involved. Maybe we can do that for the fourth movie. Gods I wish the live action can be an entire series. I could watch this cast act out every chapter of the manga. It’ll be costly, no doubt, but it’d be nice. Omg, except for one dude, wow I almost completely forgot about him because I kind of want to. Live action Takasugi is NO GOOD. I know Domoto Tsuyoshi was (is?) popular, I know he has lots of fans, Sorachi-sama is probably one of them, but holy crap is he miscast as Takasugi. It was actually physically HURTING me to see his scenes with live action Bansai (Kubota Masataka) because Bansai was so perfect in comparison. I mean, everything was just wrong with LA Takasugi...down to the fact that when he first appears in this movie, we see his ugly bare feet and legs first. It was such an off-putting entrance and yet, somehow fitting. I wish they would just recast him since, from what I heard, he didn’t even want to be Takasugi to begin with. But otherwise, everyone’s wonderful. I really hope we’ll get an American release, if not theatrically (though I wish it would be) then at least VOD or BD/DVD so that I can finally understand what everyone is saying through subs.

Anyway, that’s my long-ass review of the second live action movie, Gintama 2: Rules are made to be broken. Thank you for reading, please see it legally when you are able to so that Fukuda-san and his team can make enough money to make another one. 

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

Ghost Kid Chapter Twenty-Three: Time Pieces

A soft ping came from Hat Kid and instead of paying attention she was suddenly pulling her phone out of the pocket in her ghost cape to look at it. A quick glance and she looked up at Snatcher with a worried expression, cutting off his quip about her looking at her phone before he could even began voicing it.

“Someone just opened the Time Piece vault on my ship,” she said. “But… it doesn’t make sense. I didn’t get an intruder alert. And none of the Subconites would do that, would they? I don’t even know how they opened it; I have the only key on me.”

Some of the Subconites might do something like that and some of those, with the right tools could probably pick the lock. So, it could be one of them, especially since Snatcher didn’t sense anything unusual over in that direction. If that was the case, it would be fine, none of the Subconites would actually use the Time Pieces, they were probably just trying to pull a prank on Hat Kid. But with Moonjumper on the loose and the Time Pieces being as powerful as they were, it wouldn’t be smart to take chances. So instead of replying, Snatcher teleported them straight to Hat Kid’s ship; in the middle of the central room.

Yep, Moonjumper was there, hovering in front of the wide-open vault, his grin implying he’d expected them. Mu was inside, gathering up the Time Pieces into ball.

“Hey!” Hat Kid reacted first, rushing forward as she drew her umbrella.

With a wink, Moonjumper snapped, creating a magic fog wall, extending across the length of the ship, that Hat Kid promptly smacked right into. With an angry huff, she smacked it with her umbrella but nothing happened.

“Back up kid.” Snatcher didn’t wait for her to comply or question him, he just summoned her back to his side to get her out of the way. He then summoned a blast of magic under the wall and then another and… it broke on the third, shattering into a puff of thick fog.

It dissipated just in time for them to see Mu raising a giant ball of Time Pieces above her head. Before Snatcher could blast her or levitate the ball away, she smashed them into the ground at her feet. They shattered into a million twinkling pieces with a loud crash of breaking glass and a blinding flash of light.

The whole ship rattled and jerked before falling, presumably the vines holding it up were gone, sending everyone floating smashing into the ceiling. It hit the ground a second or two later, shaking the whole place in an entirely different way.

Shaking it off, Snatcher looked over at Mu again, keeping track of Moonjumper in his periphery. The Time Pieces had fixed themselves and hovered above her head. “What did you just do?” He wasn’t certain what the Time Pieces were capable of but they’d just done something and it almost certainly wasn’t good.

She’d fallen over onto her rear and now righted herself. “I’m fixing everything,” she replied. “I’m going to fix the accident that got Hat Kid killed and the Mafia coming to the island. So don’t you dare…”

“Peck you,” Hat Kid interrupted as she recovered as well. “You honestly pecking think I wouldn’t have used the Time Pieces to bring myself back to life if I could, really? And now you’ve gone and brought us to who even knows what pecking time! If I don’t fix this, the entire pecking world could end and it’ll be your fault.”

Mu flinched and scowled. Before she could respond though, Moonjumper chimed in. “Oh, the end of the world, huh? I didn’t know that was a possibility.”

Snatcher scowled at him. “You’re an idiot.” Messing with something as powerful as the Time Pieces without extensive study first had to be one of the most idiotic things a person could do.

“No need to be so mean Lukas dear. Messing with stuff one doesn’t know much about is more recklessness than…”

“Shut up and give me back my Time Pieces so I’ can fix this shit,” Hat Kid interrupted, already on the move over there.

“I don’t think I will.”  Red strings shot out of both of Moonjumper’s hands, one set wrapping around the ball of Time Pieces, the other Mu. “I will be seeing you two later, we have some things we need to do.”

Snatcher summoned a blast of magic under him but it was too late, he was already shifting into the horizon, bringing the Time Pieces and Mu with him. In anger and frustration, Snatcher summoned another blast anyway, accomplishing absolutely nothing except for make a slight burn mark on the floor underneath where Moonjumper had been.

“What the peck!?” Hat Kid said, throwing her arms out in her own display of useless frustration about where Mu had just been seconds ago. “He can’t just do that, can he?”

Unfortunately, he could and even more unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do about it. The horizon was inaccessible to Snatcher and he had no way to sense when or where the two of them exited it. He should’ve attacked Moonjumper instead of trying to figure out what had happened. Which he still wasn’t sure of so… “What even happened though? When the Time Pieces broke, what did they do or cause or whatever?”

Hat Kid turned to face him, crossing her arms with a small huff. “Time travel, to the past because the Time Pieces when broken, can only go back or forward to your starting point if you already used them to go back. To make them bring you forward in time from your starting point or to an alternate timeline, you need a special machine. I don’t know how far back though; it depends on what Mu’s intention was when she broke them if she even had one and wasn’t just throwing them down in a panic. Which I think she was because otherwise she wouldn’t have brought us and the whole damn ship back too. Which also means we’re probably pretty far back because she used all the Time Pieces.”

Snatcher was liking this whole thing less and less with every passing moment. Especially now that he was paying attention, he was sensing a lot of life in the forest, enough that there was no way he could parse all of it. That did not bode well. “And you said this could result in the world ending?” Was that an exaggeration or had she meant it literally?

“Yep. I’ve never personally witnessed it but they taught us about it in school and really hammered it in. Messing with the timeline too much with the Time Pieces could result in all life on the planet ending with lava erupting out everywhere, everything freezing over, or the oceans rising to destroy everything. Or in very rare cases, a mix of two or even all three.”

The ice apocalypse was certainly the worst possibility. As ghosts, lava or the ocean wouldn’t be a huge issue for the two of them, but the same wasn’t true for the Subconites’ bodies and forest. And with everyone else dead, there’d be no new souls wondering in every so often to keep him and Hat Kid going. Not to mention, it’d just be kind of a bummer.

“I’d explain how and why,” Hat Kid continued. “But it’s complicated and would take a long time to. And it doesn’t matter as much as fixing it does. Which I can’t do without the pecking Time Pieces. This is no fair, things were finally good again until Mu showed up. And now she did this with pecking Moonjumper? Why can’t they both just jump off a cliff somewhere.” With a huff, she crossed her arms.

Snatcher sighed, crossing his arms in frustration. He was not a fan of this situation; it wasn’t the worst in the world though so there was that. Moonjumper shouldn’t be interested in letting the world end. It was his home too and with everyone dead, he wouldn’t be able to get a new body when it came time for him to need one. Also, it would make causing problems much harder and less fun. He wanted them to squirm though and might be willing to risk the end of the world to make it happen. On the bright side, assuming they all got out of this, he should be satisfied with this little ‘prank’ enough to leave Snatcher alone for a while… hopefully anyway.

“What do we do now?” Hat Kid looked up at him with sad eyes. She didn’t look like she was about to cry though so she’d be okay. She was asking him what to do though and he had no idea. But he was her ‘mentor’ so he had to at least try to be reassuring, right? Because that’s what mentors did and if he was going to be forced to be one, he was going to do it right so…

“We should try to find out how far back in time we are.” Though he was pretty sure it was before Vanessa froze the entire kingdom. How far before though? Hopefully a lot because Snatcher was not interested in possibly seeing his past self or god forbid, witnessing the Big Freeze even if it would be from out here this time. “And then start working on how to get the Time Pieces back from Moonjumper.” Either through force or convincing him to give them back because on rare occasions Moonjumper could actually be reasoned with. Regardless, getting their bearings came first.

[A/N]Just letting all y'all know now, don't expect too much from the time travel stuff. It's one of the aspects of the ending I couldn't make as interesting as I'd have liked due to logical constraints I just couldn't ignore. Time travel is just really hard to write, it gets convoluted and messy super fast, especially when there's a really good solid reason not to do it like we have here with the whole 'messing with the timeline too much equals apocalypse' thing that's based off the canon finale of the game.

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