#shout out to scott for being murderously gay
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I was so stuck in the euphoria of a witchcraft modded smp, that I forgot to process that fact that- Scott, is infact, very messed up
Canonically, he keeps people in his basement to use for his blood sacrifices AND HAS KILLED A GOD (Also not to mention the whole curse and hexes thing)
#witchcraft smp#wcsmp#smajor1995#scott smajor#shout out to scott for being murderously gay#diversity win?
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'It was the interview that made viewers wince around the world but now almost a week on the BBC has finally apologised to Andrew Scott for what it calls its 'misjudged' question.
Oh how we cringed watching entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson badger the Irish actor who was out to celebrate the success of his film All Of Us Strangers at the BAFTAs, about Barry Keoghan's penis and the now infamous dancing scene in Saltburn.
The cringe red carpet interview started pleasant enough with the BBC reporter asking if he knew Barry well to which Andrew replied: 'I know Barry yeah' with a big smile on his face.
What was your reaction when you first saw the naked dance scene at the end of Saltburn?' Colin then asked.
When someone around him shouted out 'no spoilers please!' Andrew being a good sport mustered ' Ah Jesus' and looked embarrassed before adding 'Listen I won't spoil it for anybody but it 's great, it's great.'
He raised his hands awkwardly and looked flustered which should have been Paterson's cue to move on but instead, he tried again insisting 'You can spoil away.'
'Yeah no I won't spoil it for anybody,' the at this stage embarrassed Andrew insisted which again should have been a heads-up to the reporter but still he doggedly ploughed on and became utterly inappropriate.
'There was a lot of talk about prosthetics, how well do you know him?'
It was a this point that Andrew somehow managed to keep his cool and walked away from the reporter.
The problematic question appeared to infer that Barry and Andrew who is openly gay might know each other intimately, and caused uproar around the world.
Now after days of silence, the BBC has conceded that the question was ' misjudged' and apologised if offence was caused but still stood by its reporter.
Its statement reads: 'Our reporter began by asking Andrew Scott about the film he'd appeared in -All Of Us Strangers - which was nominated for six BAFTAs.
He then moved on to ask about the popularity of Irish actors where Barry Keoghan, star of Saltburn was mentioned. Saltburn is a film which has had cultural impact, with Barry Keoghan's scene at the end gaining a lot of attention in particular - something the actor has addressed himself.
'Our question to Andrew Scott was meant to be a light hearted reflection of the discussion around the scene and was not intended to cause offence. Saltburn writer and director, Emerald Fennell, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, whose song Murder on the Dancefloor was used in the sequence, were also asked about the scene.
We do however, accept that the specific question asked to Andrew Scott was misjudged. After speaking with Andrew on the carpet, our reporter acknowledged on air that his questioning may have gone too far and that he was sorry if this was the case.'...'
#BAFTAs#Andrew Scott#All of Us Strangers#Murder on the Dancefloor#Sophie Ellis-Bextor#Saltburn#Barry Keoghan
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Hi, I really want to read something about Scott and Stiles being like super cute and all adorable, but not like in a romantic way. I'll be nice if the fic is sterek too.
I wondered if you now any fic like that.
I think so!
CAPTIVE by writeonclara
(4/4 I 23,525 I Explicit)
It’s porn. Well, it’s sort of porn. Gay sort of porn. Definitely Not Safe For Work. Isaac pushes Stiles out of the way to frantically exit out of the browser before their manager catches them looking at porn.
Or:
Stiles thinks he has college all figured out (despite his sourwolf of a roommate), until he gets scouted to be a model for the popular werewolf skinmag, CAPTIVE.
hope is the thing with feathers by ShanaStoryteller
(1/1 I 28,959 I Teen)
Stiles is ten when he saves the Hales from their burning home and Derek from a wolfsbane bullet, and this establishes a pattern that seem to continue indefinitely.
"Then he's facing a burning home, and he wraps the hood of his sweatshirt around his mouth before he pushes the door open and steps inside. There's Mr. Hale asleep - he hopes asleep - on the couch, next to - Stiles thinks that's his brother but there are so many Hales, who can keep track. He rushes over and starts shaking him, can see the rise and fall of the man's chest so he knows he's alive, but he's not waking up. He shoves away his hood so he can shout, "Mr. Hale! You have to get up, there's a fire! Mr. Hale, get up!" Nothing, he's not even twitching, both of them taking in deep even breaths like they're having the most peaceful of rests, and Stiles is going to cry. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" There's a moment, where all Stiles can hear is the blood rushing in his ears and not the roar of the flames or the creak of wood, then with a violent, silent pop it's all back and both of the men are gasping awake, eyes open and jumping to their feet. "
Knot Your Typical College Romance by stilesanderek (minxxx)
(5/5 I 51,546 I Explicit)
In which Stiles loves studying at Beacon Hills Supernatural University and even though he loves his group of friends, he just wishes that Derek wasn't included in it. Stiles hates the guy fiercely, and he knows it's completely mutual, and what he also knows it's completely mutual is the hate boner they both have going on for each other. What happens after they finally hookup after years of tension, though, isn't something Stiles ever signed up for.
“Shut the fuck up, Stilinski,” Derek hisses, their foreheads less than half a dozen of inches apart.
“Oh yeah, big guy?” Stiles says, stuffing his chest in defiance, licking his mouth once and then finally saying, “Make me.”
(There's) Sulphur in Our Blood by WonderWolf
(20/? I 210,931 I Explicit)
"Harris put you on a recon mission with Derek. You. Alone with Derek. On a mission. Together,” Scott says, slowly. “Does Harris want you dead?”
“I believe so," Stiles says gravely.
(Secret Agent AU where Derek blames Stiles for his sister’s death and Stiles is pretty sure that Derek’s going to murder him. As if that weren’t enough to deal with, Stiles’ familiar keeps having public breakdowns.
Oh, and there’s a mole in the agency, so there’s that too).
Life's (Kate's) a bitch and then you (she) dies by Littleredridinghunter
(20/20 I 320,463 I Not Rated)
While everyone is busy saving Jackson, Stiles is taking a beating in the Argent's basement. When his dad gets hurt, he leaves a note for Scott that he is getting away from everything and to never contact him again. Too bad Scott and the pack take him at his word.... One year later and they finally see Stiles again but it isn't a happy reunion. Can they repair all the damage that has been caused in their time apart?
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S2 06 | Frenemy
BIG MASTERLIST | TW REWRITE
Stiles Stilinski x Reader! Half-sibling!Mccall
Word count: 2260
Warnings: Mentions of injuries, murder, swearing (always).
A/N: This is more likely a filler chapter. I swear as chapters go on they get better! I’m so excited for those ones to come out!
↪ PLEASE RESPECT MY WORK. DON’T COPY, TRANSLATE OR CLAIM THEM AS YOURS. NOT ON THIS WEBSITE OR ANOTHER. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
"Couldn't get anything out of Danny." Scott got inside the Jeep after talking to the said boy, who was in the back of an ambulance. After I told them that Jackson was the kanima, they both ended up following him into a gay bar. Of course, not being a boy meant that I had to stay in the Jeep.
I was trying not to sit on Jackson as he was laying down on the back seats while I sat down on a little space in the middle, clutching into the front seats. Not safe.
"Okay, can we just get the hell outta here now, before one of my dad's deputies sees me?" Jackson had done some shit, and almost everyone inside ended up paralyzed or not being able to breathe properly. That's why now the outside of the club was full of ambulances and cops. Before Stiles could start his car, the Sheriff pulled over in front of us. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Could this get any worse?" As soon as he said that, Jackson started groaning, moving his head. Stiles turned around, yelling. "That was rhetorical!"
We started getting nervous. "Get rid of him." Scott bit his lower lip.
"Get rid of him? We're at a crime scene, and he's the sheriff."
"Do something." Stiles got frustrated by his friend's words, moving his arms aggressively on the air, and going out of the Jeep.
"What are they saying?" I asked the other McCall. Sometimes I was able to listen to conversations that were off my hearing range, but I couldn't control it, and I didn't know how to 'activate' it.
Jackson started groaning again, asking where he was. Scott asked him to be quiet, but he continued moaning, trying to sit up. "Not sorry about this." I punched him on the face. He fell unconscious. "That's for trying to drown me two times!" I grinned. To be honest, that felt great.
He sighed. "He told his father that he is gay."
I chuckled. "Not dressed like that." I could feel my half-brother's eyes on me, grinning. "What?"
"That's exactly what Mr. Stilisnki said."
After telling his father that they were there to accompany their friend Danny, we were free to go. Mr. Stilisnki saw me in the back of the car, sending me a smile while Stiles adjusted his body on his seat. I greeted him back, waving my hand.
"Uh, what about your house?"
"Not with my mom there. We need to take him somewhere where we can hold him long enough to figure out what to do with him. Or long enough to convince him he's dangerous."
"I still say we just kill him." Stiles looked through the rearview mirror, glancing at me, avoiding his best friend's gaze.
"Honestly," I interfered. "He tried to kill Stiles, and he tried to kill me two times so, payback is a bitch." The Hazel-eyed boy snickered at me, and I winked which made him blush a little, which in return made me blush.
"We're not killing him!"
"God, f - Okay, okay. I got an idea."
"Does it involve breaking the law?"
"By now, don't you think that's a given?" I sighed.
"I was just trying to be optimistic."
"Don't bother."
Stiles's idea was probably the worst. But at the same time, quite a good idea, and the only one we had. He stole the vehicle that was used to transport criminals to prison.
The three of us were in the woods, Jackson still unconscious while we tried to talk about what we had to do next.
"I'm going to go buy something for him to eat." He claimed that he would be fast due to his werewolf's abilities. "Keep an eye on him." We both nodded.
"So, you were trying to tell us that Jackson was the Kanima?" Stiles asked while resting his back against the trunk of a tree. I nodded, laughing a little. "I'm sorry. We were so busy freaking out that we didn't listen to you."
"It's okay, Stiles." I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to keep my body warm. "I wasn't sure if he was the Kanima." He glanced at me confused. "I mean," I swallowed. "I was almost entirely sure that it was him, but I had another person in mind."
"Who?"
"Me." I gulped again, a lump forming on my throat. It could still be me.
"You aren't the Ka-"
"We don't know that." I interrupted him. "Okay, last night, it was Jackson. We all saw him, but what about the other things that happened?" My hands went to my head, grasping my hair between my fingers. I stared at the ground, trying to ignore Stiles's gaze on me. "The times I drowned or that I was there with you guys, it's obvious that it was Jackson. But what about other times? At night nobody would see me. Jackson wasn't conscious of what he was doing. It could be the same with me." I finally looked him in the eyes. "There could be two Kanimas, Stiles. We were scratched by the same beast. We both are abnormalities and-"
"I'm stopping you right there." His hands grabbed mine, trying to take them off my hair so I wouldn't hurt myself. "You aren't THAT thing. Derek told you, he told you that you didn't smell like him. He would have told us the other night that you were one. You aren't a Kanima. I'm so sure. I'm sure you aren't." His eyes studied mine. "You aren't like that, okay? You have fought with us, not against us." I nodded my head. His thumbs were caressing my wrists. His voice was now a mere whisper. "We will find which amazing creature you are." He sweetly smiled at me, and I couldn't help but beam back.
"Thank you," I murmured.
His right hand stopped holding my left wrist, going to my cheek, caressing it. I had a tiny scar from fighting with the kanima. His eyes went from my eyes to my mouth. My heart started beating like crazy, and I was sure I could hear his own heartbeat. Both of them seemed to go at the same quick pace.
Whatever was going to happen was interrupted by Scott coming back with sandwiches, and Jackson shouting. I bit my lower lip, and Stiles groaned in frustration. "Let's go." Scott went back to school, trying to discover why Jackson would try to kill Danny.
"Scales? Like a fish." Jackson stared at us.
"No, more like a reptile. Um, and, uh, your claws have this liquid that paralyzes people, and you have a tail."
"I have a tail?" He calmly asked.
"Yeah, you have a tail."
"Mm. Does it do anything?"
"No, not that I know of."
Jackson moved forward, thankfully he was strained by cuffs, but I still got defensive thinking that he could hurt the boy sitting next to me. "Can I use it to strangle you?"
"Yeeeeeah, you still don't believe me. All right. The night of the semi-final game, what did you do right after?"
"I went home."
"Are you sure about that?" I asked while crossing my arms over my chest, resting even closer to Stiles. Our thighs touching.
"Yes, you idiot." He snapped at me, spitting. I glanced disgustingly at him, wiping my cheek. "What the hell else would I do?"
"You tried to drown her in the ice rink." Stiles pointed at me. "You attacked me and Derek at the school, and you trapped us in the pool," He again pointed at me. "Tried again to drown her. You also killed a mechanic, right in front of me, by the way. That was lovely. And one of Argent's hunters. Oh, and last night, you tried to kill Danny."
"Why would I want to kill my best friend?
I answered before Stiles could. "Well, that's what Scott's out trying to figure out right now."
"Mm. Well, maybe, he should be trying to figure out is how he's going to pay for a lawyer when I prosecute your asses all the way to jail!"
"All right, well, tell me this. On the night of the first full moon, what happened?"
"Nothing." He gazed at the floor. Bad move, Jackson. I know you are lying. "Nothing happened."
Allison had come to the forest, searching for us. They knew. Jackson's parents knew that he was missing. It seemed like Stiles texting him with Whittemore's phone hadn't worked out. This meant that we were completely fucked up.
"If Jackson doesn't remember being the kanima, he's definitely not gonna remember stealing Danny's tablet."
"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?"
"What if someone else took it?"
"Then somebody else knows what he is."
"Uh, which could mean someone's protecting him."
"Like the bestiary says, 'the kanima seeks a friend', right?" I wanted Allison to shut up. My mind was going crazy. Someone was trying to protect Jackson's identity.
It felt like my mind went back to the store; the first time I stepped in Beacon Hills. We both got attacked by the same creature, but what we were was modified by our minds. As Jackson had said before; everything had to with our mental health. I could tell you mine was fucked up. So could I be the one doing whatever it took to protect Jackson's Whittemore identity?
If he didn't have any memory of being the Kanima, why would I have any memory of helping him out? It could be me.
"Okay, hold on. So, somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the kanima, and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know? I mean, who would do that?"
"Somebody who wanted to protect him?" My hands started trembling, my legs shaking. Stiles seemed to know what was going on as he clutched my hand discreetly, using his strength to keep me standing.
"There's something else. You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima it's that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?"
"No, it can't be. Tried to kill all of us, remember? I don't know about you two, but I haven't murdered anybody lately." I chuckled. He squeezed my hand, fingers now interlocked.
"But I - I don't think that it was actually trying to kill us. Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time, it just went right by us, didn't it?"
"You're right, it just ran off."
"And it didn't kill you in the mechanic's garage."
"Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me and Derek in the pool." He made a gesture with his head. "And it tried to kill her."
"Did it?"
"It would've. It was waiting for us to come out."
"What if it was trying to keep you in?"
"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles' body shuddered.
"Wait," They all gazed at me. "Maybe it didn't try to kill you, but it tried to kill me. Two times if I'm correct."
"Three if we count when it threw you off the roof and you landed on me," Stiles added. I playfully glared at him, he apologized while stuttering.
"Did it tho?" Scott asked. His eyes went to our interlocked hands, a little grin forming on his head, but quickly disappearing. "Let's forget about the roof, okay. The water, both times in the water." He continued when he saw that the three of us were completely confused. "You said when it forced you inside the water, it demanded you to breathe, and you were able to do so."
"Gosh," Allison nodded. "It was trying to help you." I was dumbfounded. "I mean, okay. Maybe not the best way to help you out, but he was trying to show you what you are or what you can do."
I peered at Stiles who was now looking at me. "Now, I'm the one feeling violated." He nodded, grinning, moving a strand of hair out of my face. The simple touch made my heart speed.
Stiles suggested that we should kill Jackson, again. But Scott said something that made us think. He had risked his life to save us from Peter Hale, and we had to try and help him. The McCall boy mentioned Lydia, my fingers started trying to get away from Stiles's hand, but he grasped it firmly. Uh?
Scott and Allison went back to the car, wanting to have some time for themselves. I felt bad for them. Knowing they were meant to be together, but also being ripped apart by the Argents. I had heard Scott sob some nights in his room, while softly whispering how he wanted to be able to live harmoniously.
"Maybe we should tell our parents." Stiles snapped me back to reality. "Before anyone else gets hurt. I don't know." His dad was the only person he had, I meant blood-related.
I sighed. I couldn't completely understand. But know, I had Stiles, Scott, Allison, and even Lydia. I would do anything that I could to protect them. My heart ached thinking about something terrible happening to them.
I stepped closer to Stiles, my arms going around his waist, embracing him. My head resting on his chest, closing my eyes while I felt the vibrations of his chest as he hummed, pleased, hugging me back.
But our moment was interrupted. Jackson had escaped. A thought came into my mind. What if the Kanima was not being protected but controlled?
.
.
TAGLIST: @og-baby-ob14 - @savemypostcards - @cas-loves-pizza - @used-avocado - @mvrylee - @bilesxbilinskixlahey - @honeydoll-stark - @arieltheworldisamess - @softpeteparker - @kit-kat-katie99 - @thatsuperherosidekick - @bexbetterxthanxwords - @big-galaxy-chaos - @littlemiss-forgotten - @enchantedcruelsummer - @coldfreakeggsexpert - @merla123 - @sammypotato67 - @weirdowithnobeardo - @maggiesblogsblog - @itskindyl - @bobo-bush - @moongoddesskiana - @multifandxm353 - @irwxnhugsx - @xoprincessmel - @iclosetgeek - @andreagf956 - @niawoods - @anerroroccurrrrred - @perrytheplatypus11 - @trustfundparker - @nmriia - @steve-harringtonnn - @trustfundparker -
People in bold means it doesn’t let me tag them.
#stiles stilinski#stiles x reader#stiles x reader!mccall#stiles x you#stiles x y/n#stiles x oc#stiles imagines#Stiles#teen wolf stiles#stiles stilisnki#stiles fic#stiles stilisnki fanfiction#stiles stilisnki fluff#stiles stilinski imagines#stiles stilinski fic#stiles stilisnki x you#stiles stilisnki x reader#stiles stilisnki x y/n#stiles stilisnki x oc#void stiles#papa stilisnki#McCall#Scott McCall#Melissa McCall#mccall!reader#reader!mccall#Jackson Whittemore#lydia martin#allison ar#tw rewrite
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Tagged by @sarcasmisalifechoice (lord knows how long ago i know it’s been a minute but i am here so let’s party) thank you <3
Music
MUSIC
fav genre? Electronic
fav artist? Florence and the Machine? or the 1975
fav song? This changes every few weeks let’s be real BUT it’s probably something by Cher
most listened song recently? Paint the Town by LOONA
song currently stuck in your head? edamame by bbno$
5 fav lyrics? Look i’m going to be honest i don’t remember. i used to have meticulously planned playlists with my favourite lyrics but rn I honestly don’t listen to music with deep lyrics because I don’t like to much anymore. So the stuff i’m putting up is like, off the top of my head
I couldn't utter my love when it counted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now And I couldn't whisper when you needed it shouted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now - Hozier, Shrike
If you're looking for a place to decay, Then there will always be a place in my town called revelry. - Neck Deep, Can’t Kick Up The Roots
It's so cold out here in your wilderness, I want you to be my keeper But not if you are so reckless - Adele, Water under the bridge
The sweetest submission, Drinking it in, The wine, the women, the bedroom hymns - FlFATM, Bedroom Hymns
You're so conceited, I said "I love you", What does it matter if I lie to you? - the 1975, The Sound
Radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume I slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on (who willingly drives in silence??)
BOOKS
fav book genre? I guess contemporary i’ve been going to town at the library with the libarian recs (also gay)
fav writer? F. Scott Fitzgerald
fav book? Tied between any book I read in high school bc i had some damn good english teachers, so let’s say The Great Gatsby, and The Seven HUsbands of Evelyn Hugo (bc that book really did eviscerate me)
fav book series? Series? Strangers in Paradise collection
comfort book? my greek myth onmibus
perfect book to read on a rainy day? When the Moon was Ours
fav characters? Lizzy Bennet, Evelyn Hugo, Jordan Baker
5 quotes from your fav book that you know by heart?
i genuinely don’t remember and it’s not worth it to try because i’d just be pulling some quotes from my favs from google. I’m more a music lyrics person
hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in the nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once
TV AND MOVIES
fav tv/movie genre? tv is the sitcom (But nothing post 2000 i would say), movies is comedy but again, like old hollywood comedy
fav movie? The Women (out of loyalty) also City Lights
comfort movie? Mamma Mia or Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
movie you watch every year? Holiday Movies lol, but also Carol (2015)
fav tv show? Frasier unironically
comfort tv show? Frasier, Mary Tyler Moore, Golden Girls, The Nanny etc.
most rewatched tv show? Drag Race bc it’s on netflix and netflix is my background noise
ultimate otp? idk Mary and Rhoda? I go through phases
5 fav characters?
Sophia Petrillo (The Golden Girls)
Sugar Kane (Some Like It Hot)
Howl Pendragon (Howl’s Moving Castle)
Hildy Johnson (His Girl Friday)
Niles Crane (Frasier)
tv shows or movies | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging |one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online
Party! wish they split movies and tv they’re v different also wow i’m just remembering i watched like, so many fx shows. OH WELL. tagging @marilyn-monroes-jeans @grusinskayas @lets-go-to-lauderdale (hi mel) @yeeuurhnghghh @only-one-road @lesbianjonimitchell and anyone else who would like to do it also no pressure to do it! thank you for reading, thank you @sarcasmisalifechoice for tagging me, thank you all for being here
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Comic Review – Mister Miracle
Darkseid has often been presented as THE big bad for large DC Comics events. Much like how the Marvel Movies used Thanos (Thanos is basically a mashup of Darkseid and Metron). He is the existential threat, the final boss and because it's comic books he is an evil rock monster in space that Superman can punch. Darkseid can fill that role fine, but in comics I would say he suffers from overplay. It's hard to remain scary when you lose so many times.
More modern comics (Specifically Grant Morrison's work) have explored the Darkseid as a more internal threat.
"Darkseid is."
Really playing on the pun of his name, he is the dark side of everyone. As with a lot of Jack Kirby’s work, Darkseid is both metaphor and supremely literal and frankly I think the magic of superhero comics lies in that duality. The part that’s metaphor allows them to be relatable and inspiring, but looking at them as pure metaphor and they break down. The X-Men don’t work as a representational metaphor because being gay doesn’t make you a living weapon who can murder people by looking at them, but it also can work because it can feel like that’s how the world treats you. Ideally there’s a balance.
Also there’s part where Darkseid is a joke.
My first experience with Darkseid was in Superman the Animated Series where he was a legitimately intimidating villain both because of the great voicework by Michael Ironside, and because the actions he took and their real impact.
But as a recurring existential threat he falls flat. Because he's pure evil, he's immutable. He's inflexible.
"Darkseid is."
Maybe that’s not fair. I think he can be a good recurring threat, but often isn’t because resolving a conflict with him takes a certain tact. As scary as he is, as powerful as he is, he’s a villain in Superhero comics. If it comes down to a fight he is going to lose. Superman will win that 1 on 1.
Darkseid as an in your face threat can fall flat because that pure good vs pure evil beat down is straightforward. Where Darkseid shines as a villain is in the shadows. The puppet master pulling the string. Because then Darkseid isn’t just a giant evil rock man in space for Superman to punch, he is also Granny Goodness, Desad, Kalibak, Lex Luthor, and every two bit crook along the way. He is every pain along the way, every compromise, every dark thought, every mistake, every failure.
“Darkseid is.”
But Darkseid is also a literal evil rock man in a skirt. And a joke. So the other way Darkseid really works is when he shows up on your couch.
“Darkseid is.”
Sometimes it’s just a comfy chair or handing you your McDonalds order but the point is he’s just there in the mundane part of the character’s life. His evil permeates everything and because he’s a literal evil rock monster from space sometimes that means an evil eight foot rock monster in a skirt is sitting in your house waiting for you when you get home. “Couchseid” he is sometimes called.
The reason I went through all that is that’s the thoughts and feelings I had about Darkseid going into this comic. The baggage of expectation and desire I had going in. And before I get into the details I just want to say that this comic completely nails this idea. In fact the entire comic embodies it, extending it out to the entire Fourth World. Contrasting the high fantasy war of good and evil Gods with the mundanity of normal life at every level.
Ok, now let’s dig into Mister Miracle.
Mister Miracle written by Tom King with art by Mitch Gerads and lettering by Clayton Cowles opens with Mister Miracle bleeding out in his bathroom having slit his wrists in a suicide attempt. That’s where we start.
“Darkseid is.”
Jack Kirby’s New Gods #1 opens with an epilogue. “There came a time when the old Gods Died!” That’s where we start.
Mister Miracle is a book about dealing with trauma and the trauma at the heart of The New Gods is the exchange; where Darkseid and Highfather exchanged sons to end a vicious war and bring peace to their worlds. This is the first comic I’ve seen question if that exchange was worth it. What does it say about Highfather that he was willing to sacrifice his infant son and condemn him to hell, even though that meant saving countless lives?
This comic can do that because this version of Mister Miracle, Scott Free, is so clearly suffering from abuse and trauma and PTSD and this version of Orion is such a jerk and unheroic.
For Scott and Big Barda the Earth is their home, they have an apartment there, they have normal domestic concerts. Being New Gods and fighting in that war is their day job. But for Orion that war is his life. He is single minded in his desire to destroy Darkseid and his own moral authority. He sees only in absolutes. He’s a cartoon, and in the real world that makes him a monster.
“Darkseid is.”
So there’s another aspect of Mister Miracle that I haven’t talked about that I love and that all starts with Funky Flashman.
Funky Flashman is Jack Kirby’s parody of Stan Lee. Well, of the public persona of Stan Lee. He’s out here shouting “ Excelsior!” and whatnot. Tom King and Mitch Gerads make the most of getting to have Stan Lee in their comic. The whole other layer to Mister Miracle beyond its plot is that it’s also a tremendous tribute to Kirby himself, including his work at Marvel. It’s extra crazy that that made it into this DC comic.
There’s Scott Free’s trial, which takes place in his apartment, that can be read as Kirby up against Steve Ditko’s objectivist beliefs. But the most blatant and amazing is a retelling of The Coming of Galactus and its place within this story. This is legitimately one of my favorite things in any comic I’ve ever read.
It just makes me so happy.
Mister Miracle is a comic I can’t get out of my head. It has so many perfect moments, whether they’re heartbreaking and tragic or uplifting and life affirming; emotional or frivolous, serious or hilarious. It knocks it out of the park on every front. It’s an unbelievable piece of craft.
Back to Darkseid.
In Kirby’s Fourth World Good is always stronger than Evil. That’s foundational. Superman is going to win. Darkseid eventually loses no matter how scary or intimidating he is. But...
“Darkseid is.”
He’s also pernicious and enduring. Ultimately, punches alone aren’t going to solve him. There is some catharsis in that. That’s how Superman: The Animated Series ended; with Superman pummeling Darkseid into submission. But it’s not quite what you want, or at least it’s not quite enough. What’s the answer to “Darkseid is?” What’s the counterpoint? “Darkseid is” is the setup, but you need a punchline.
At the end of Mister Miracle we get exactly that. It’s simple and perfect.
Mister Miracle written by Tom King with art by Mitch Gerads and lettering by Clayton Cowles is a masterpiece and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
So it goes.
Thank You For Your Time.
#mister miracle#the new gods#comics#dc comics#tom king#mitch gerads#review#comic review#comic books#clayton cowles#jack kirby#stan lee#Big Barda#Funky Flashman
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( naomi scott, 20, she/her ) class is in session for DREW MONROE. the student file says they’re a VAMPIRE belonging to house FLARION and currently a TENTH year. we see here they are UNDISCIPLINED and DESTRUCTIVE, but they’re also PERCEPTIVE and STRAIGHTFORWARD. we wish them good luck in the new school year, where they’ll learn POTIONS/ALCHEMY AND TRANSFIGURATION.
background ( tw for death, murder, kidnapping, cults, dissociative identity disorder. )
joseph and rebekah monroe met in arcanas and even were some of the school’s sweethearts. they graduated, got married, achieved a bunch of prestige and money both in the magical world as well as the human and had a beautiful daughter which they named: DREW.
except-- all of this is true, up to the part where they had her.
for what is worth. drew thinks she was born into this family, but she doesn’t know the reality that when she was a child-- the people who claimed to be her parents actually murdered her biological one and kidnapped her to raise and shape her as their own.
[ this was literally done out of spite in some bigger plot the monroes had against drew’s bio fam, don’t fucking @ me ]
being raised by the monroes wasn’t the best-- while they gave her what she needed. they were really strict and cold. it didn’t help that growing up drew was prone to outbursts ( that sometimes would end up in setting things on fire ) and was rather rebellious and mischiveous from a young age. there was no way for drew to know what was real and what was not, she was raised as a vampire and a monroe. arcanas was never in the picture as they decided to homeschool her, she didn’t even know about the school’s existence until she was around 13 when her parents put their bigger plan in motion.
they left her alone for days and when they came back... they were worse than before. in their little time away they had turned off their humanity and done fuck knows what with a bunch of other alumni/followers. the first thirteen years of drew’s life-- from the moment she was kidnapped to the way she was raised and kept in the dark about everything else-- was the first step. now the second step would commence; she’d get introduced to the life they wanted for her. to the cult ( because lbr, they were a cult ) they had built over the years. and when she was old enough, the third step would be done: kill her to stop the aging and force her to shut down her humanity.
so how does the school come in?
WELL, someone had already tipped in that the monroes were fucking crazy. so one night, they came in to try and retrieve the child to bring her in to a safe haven. of course, dear ol’ joseph and rebekah didn’t go down without a fight. ( second set of parents killed in front of her salad, let’s go ) haha.. jk... unless.
shout big fucking out for jude montague who protected her through this rough night and pulled the 13 year old kid from getting caught in the crossfire that was the monroes vs arcanas. it was him who brought her in and walked her through her first arcanas breaths. mind you, drew was hella shook, especially as once she arrived in the middle of the third year-- news have spread like wildfire. the girl with the parents that went cucko. that made choices on their own. they were evil-- and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, did it? it didn’t help that because of the sudden change, drew kept mostly to herself... surely, this didn’t last for too long.
personality:
an opportunist. really, she noticed how much shit was smeared all over her name she said ‘gotta use this for something.’ the chaotic bitch that somehow doesn’t always get suspended.. or arrested. down with anything. will randomly burst in your room at 3am. party hard. probably tells first graders to grab another bus for the lols. ( it only actually happened once, okay? the rest are rumors. ) a bit of a fuckgirl, listen-- idk what happened here. i said you’re gay, and she said okay, but i’m also this. speaking of: she’s rather friendly even if there are people who still think she’s a blood thirsty ( haha irony ) psycho who will snap at any moment. she has friends, for the most part, either because they noticed she wasn’t as bad, were too naive to notice, or wanted to see her snap. by the way, surprisingly, she’s not really into throwing hands and tries to ignore or walk away instead. BUT.
that brings us to....
headcanons:
i did say people started noticing she wasn’t some psycho... haha, well, the opinions are still mixed. and certain incident didn’t help her care, at all. three years ago, she was at a party when some bitch from lumina that liked to shade her was too much and drew killed her...... sike. okay, she didn’t, but she did plummet her down in a totally not sexy way, and wouldn’t have stopped if some of her friends hadn’t pulled her away. to the surprise and dismay to some, she didn’t get expelled. but the stigma came back again. like i’ve mentioned, it happened three years ago-- we don’t like to talk about that. especially because... drew doesn’t remember. she would’ve thought this was the alcohol, but this hasn’t been the only time it’s happened. while it’s not always-- she seems to forget pieces of time, and it’s been freaking her out. it also doesn’t help that she’s slowly starting to become paranoid because of this. but in this house we don’t acknowledge stuff so haha guess she’s ignoring that shit :)))
in a few words to that one: i’m going for some dr. jekyll/mr. hyde kind of thing here.
while her name is drew, and i have been refering to her as that so far-- she’s mostly known as MONROE and gets called by that. ( to the point that if she gets drew she might go ??’?¿¿¿?¿’¿ who -- unless you’re special. ) do people even know her name is drew??? we just don’t know..
someone: who the fuck is drew? drew: some bitch, idk.
because, lo and behold, she has a nickname, surprise, surprise. some other incident ( yeah, this bitch has many ) and that’s no other than PIG SHITTER. it started because of some story about pigs and her making a typo. so yeah, pig shitter somehow stuck and hey, guess what? she got on the fucking train. opportunist.
TLDR: chaotic neutral vamp/fire hoe with a side of mr. hyde. goes by monroe or pig shitter to 99% of the school population. some people think she’s bad kind of crazy, some others good kind. really good at potions and transfiguration tbh. has probably never had good romantic relationship yeet.
how did your muse become their species? were they born or made?
- she was born.
at what age did your muse join arcanas?
- recruited at 13.
was your muse recruited or did they enroll on their own accord?
- recruited. what would your muse do if they found out that the zanzara orb was stolen from the armory?
- become the “.....anyway” meme.
I PROMISE THIS INTRO WILL FINISH.
like this post if you want to plot with this bitch. we can go from 0 to 10 real quick.
-the lumina bitch she plummeted down in a totally non sexy way. -flings pls. ( i do want the homoerotic sexual tension. fight me. ) -S Q U A D. - enemies. -frienemies. -someone she got lost with in a pig farm. idk. -this is my crack character anything goes.
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Defending Gay Rights: A Hard and Lasting Fight
Milk is a biographical film, telling the story of gay politician Harvey Milk, released in 2008. This film received eight nominations for the 81st Academy Awards, and Sean Penn (act as Harvey Milk) won the Best Actor.
This film tells the story of the 1970s, Harvey Milk met Scott Smith on the subway and they fell in love at first sight. They decided to move to San Francisco and started a photography equipment store together. Gradually, their store became a gathering place for gay couples. With more and more gay people came, Milk and Scott found that people in the U.S. are still conservative and discriminatory toward homosexuality, and the government and police were really rude to gay people, so Milk decided to run for city supervisor to change the unequal situation. Because he spent all his time on politics, Scott finally left him. Milk was defeated many times, but with the help of a lesbian assistant, he was elected as a city supervisor and became the first openly gay politician in the U.S. history. Milk used media and public speeches to express his political views and got the support of the mayor. Since Milk took office, he constantly fought for gay rights and promoted the act of legalize homosexuality. Soon after, Milk was murdered by conservative member Dan White. His death awakened local gay people and made them start to fight for their own rights.
In the 1970s, the U.S. was in a turbulent time, under cultural, commercial and political reforms. Many traditional ideas were questioned, and people started to rethink about homosexuality. The lesbian and gay movement that seemed to appear “spontaneously” across the country shortly after the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City (Gross, 2001. p.21). Several years later, in 1977, San Francisco politics was taken by storm when gay rights activist Harvey Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors. Milk was the pioneer of gay politics, he woke up the street, the city, even the nation, and gave gay people powerful voices. His election was a triumph over anti-gay stereotypes and inspired a new generation of civic activists across the U.S. However, the process was extremely tough and he even lost his life. Until nowadays, there are still lots of prejudices and abuses on gay people, and only 28 countries in the world recognize same-sex marriage. The fight for gay rights has never stopped. The issues Milk fought for forty years ago are still being fought over today, it’s a hard and lasting struggle.
There were countless people who devote their lives to gay rights movements, and also sacrificed for it. They held beliefs, fought against political machines and tried hard to change society. Milk was never discouraged after campaign setbacks. He didn’t only focus on win and rights, instead practicing his belief "equality before the Constitution". He believed that homosexuals should not just rely on liberals, but should bravely "step out of the closet" and insist bottom-up struggle. They have to support each other, strengthen their momentum and fight against all discrimination and inequality. When several States passed the proposition that dismiss homosexual teachers in schools, Milk blocked this proposition in California through his own efforts. He spoke to the public, “All men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights”. The film ends in tragedy, but the scene that countless people walking on the street, lighting the candle to memorize Milk really moved me. The bullet shouted on him also destroyed every closet door. It was not an end. “The movement would continue, because it’s not about personal gain, not about ego or power, it’s about the ‘us’ s’ out there.” Milk's death symbolized the irrational retaliation of the conservatives for the change of ideas and society. The director combined Milk's murder and Jack’s suicide, setting off the tragic atmosphere of the ending, while metaphorizing the inevitable outcome of resistance to power or mainstream society.
Harvey Milk’s Speech
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In the film, the director Gus Van Sant used a lot of real interview materials and news clips of the 1970s, and the color of the whole movie was blue and gray, many scenes were made with retro effects. Harvey Milk uses his life to fight for Proposition 6, which was about equal employment of gay people. Milk was released in 2008, and in the same year, California passed Proposition 8, which prohibits gay marriage. Over 30 years, society seems to have improved a lot, but gay right is still an unsolved problem. There is no compromise between religion and politics, and homosexuality is the biggest victim between them. It's a tragedy that the most basic civil rights of gay people still need to strive for. Although Proposition 8 was quickly overturned shortly after its entry into force, this incident still hurt many gay people. The U.S. always claims to be free and equal, but sometimes, it’s just a name, because they’re only for those who have enjoyed the “freedom and equality”.
Castro Street in San Francisco is the most famous gay community, all people can live openly and enjoy their life. When I was in New York, I saw lots of stores hang on rainbow flag, gay couples can hug and kiss on street. After almost fifty years fight, the U.S. indeed make lots of changes, and become more inclusive about queer people. Of course, such open-mindedness does not apply to the whole country. For many gays and lesbians, coming out of the closet still risks familial banishment, the loss of friendships, or even violence. In many places it’s still dangerous to be gay. Homosexuals continue to face higher rates of depression than heterosexuals, and gay teenagers attempt suicide more frequently than their straight peers (Kirchick, 2019).
The situation is much worse in worldwide. For non-western countries, “queer” lacks social recognition and understanding, and for religious countries, same-sex love is still considered as taboo, and some even have death penalty about homosexuals. In Kenyan, homosexuals mean abnormal, confused, and depressed, and same-sex desire is tied to perversion, inverted natural desire, and unnatural compulsion. From a religious perspective, resistance to identity is further complicated by the sedimented narrative that homosexuality is seen as a mental disorder in need of treatment (Goltz et al, 2016. P.112). In China, only 3% of gay and bisexual men and 5% of lesbians and bisexual women identified themselves as ‘completely out’. I have several Chinese friends who are gay. I know how hard for them to struggle against the mainstream culture and family pressures.
Go back to the U.S, despite the rapid progress of the gay rights movement, members of the LGBTQ community continue to be targets of violence and hate crimes. The Trump administration has rolled back a number of transgender protections at the federal level and emboldened a conservative base pushing for religious liberty. Haider Markel said, “Even for the gay and lesbian community, rapid progress in a short period of time doesn’t mean victory, and attitudes about same-sex marriage have remained mostly frozen since 2017” (Schmidt, 2019).
Lots of people devoted their lives to fight for gay rights over the past fifty years. Challenging traditions and mainstream culture are really hard and I appreciate that things are go toward to better direction, but there’s still discriminations and prejudices about queer exits in different fields. Many great activists like Milk have made a good start, we cannot just stop here. In addition, I feel that the film Milk is not just about gay civil rights movement. Milk’s experience has brought inspiration to all minority and disadvantaged groups. It’s not an end, but a start. Milk passed down his hope, brave and idealism, more and more people will join in this hard and lasting fight.
References:
Goltz, Dustin Bradley et al. (2016). “Discursive Negotiations of Kenyan LGBTI Identities: Cautions in Cultural Humility.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 9, 104-121.
Gross, Larry (2001). “Ch 2: Coming Out and Coming Together.” Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America, 21-39.
Kirchick, James. (2019). “The Struggle for Gay Rights Is Over.” The Atlantic. Retrieved October 31, 2019, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/battle-gay-rights-over/592645/
Schmidt, Samantha (2019). “Americans’ views flipped on gay rights. How did minds change so quickly?” The Washington Post. Retrieved October 31, 2019, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/americans-views-flipped-on-gay-rights-how-did-minds-change-so-quickly/2019/06/07/ae256016-8720-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html
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Realizations: Writing Prompt
“Brotherly love between Derek and Scott!! Always upset me we never got to see more of them... 😫” - @veseyz
Here you go my dear, Derek and Scott brotherly love as requested! This story took a bit of a turn from where I had originally started with it, but hopefully you enjoy all 2.4K of it all the same. Let me know what you think!
Much love, Jessa
Realizations
Scott was sure in this moment, that if it came down to it, he may actually murder Stiles in cold blood if he didn't stop talking.
"Can werewolves menstruate?" Stiles was asking as he angled his body back towards the screen, typing in almost the exact phrase. "I mean, obviously there's not going to be an exact hit or anything like that, duh, but maybe we can learn something from a history book or like...a fanfiction or something that gives us an idea, you know? Scott? Buddy?"
"I swear to God," Scott muttered under his breath as he walked down the street, ignoring Stiles' shouts from the window behind him when he clued in that his best friend had slipped out, gliding down the street quietly as he cracked his neck in irritation.
Scott was...itchy. Not physically, not as in something he could scratch, but his insides felt itchy, like his body couldn't decide if it was supposed to be human or werewolf and kept slipping back and forth between the two causing an incessant 'feeling,' like a source of friction that was driving Scott absolutely mad. Originally Scott had gone to Stiles to see if he had ever read anything about this sort of issue in werewolves, but when his best friend diverted into theories about werewolf mating rituals, Scott had decided he should probably find his answers elsewhere.
Without realizing or really intending for it, Scott found himself in front of a familiar beaten-up door, raising his hand with a sigh before letting his knuckles rap across the wooden surface, hearing no motion inside indicating someone was home, though he could also tell that Derek was standing directly on the other side of the door and was pretending to not be doing so.
"I feel like you are forgetting something," Scott said with a huff into the cold air, watching the condensed air that slipped from his lips drift away into little wisps, still sensing no movement from within. "As in the 'I am also a werewolf and know you are on the other side of the door' kind of something, Derek. It's weird, stop lurking."
"I wasn't lurking," Derek said with a grimace as he pulled the door open to reveal himself standing in dark jeans and a well worn henley. "I was waiting."
"Behind the door? While you held your breath?" Scott asked incredulously, raising a brow in judgement as he stepped into Derek's home. "You have a functioning door now. That's new."
"Mmm," Derek grunted in acknowledgement, walking back into the house and through the long hallway with the multiple offshoots, entering into the kitchen with Scott close behind him, the latter having followed the smells emanating from the large pot on the stove.
"You can cook?" Scott spoke in surprise, phrasing his words as both a statement and a question simultaneously. "I assumed you lived on rabbits."
"Why on Earth would I eat rabbits, Scott?" Derek asked in annoyance, visibly scowling and drawing attention to his own bunny teeth which Scott could just 'hear' Stiles making fun of in his head. "Oh shut up, not you too."
"You have to admit," Scott said with a laugh as he made himself at home at Derek's dinner table (also new) and eyed the delicious smelling pot on the stove, "that for a werewolf, your teeth are decidedly bunny like."
Casting him a sharp look that Scott was accustomed to and ignoring the younger man's comment, Derek reached up into his cupboard (new shelves I see, thought Scott) and pulled out two bowls, keeping the most recent one in his hand as he pulled off the top of the pot and ladled a few scoops of the stew into a bowl, before repeating the motions with the other one as Scott watched on intently.
"Dude, that smells fucking delicious," Scott said excitedly as he salivated, missing the look from Derek as he shook his head at the younger man.
"Dude," Derek retorted, grabbing his own bowl and sinking down before tilting his head with a frown when he realized he had forgotten the bread on the counter for dunking.
"Bread," Derek motioned, tilting his head back towards the offending item across the kitchen and staring Scott down until he relented, standing from his seat to bring it over, though he stopped to grab the butter on the way.
"Is there a reason you are in my house eating my food?" Derek asked after some time had passed and both men were well on their way to finishing their second bowl of stew.
"How do you know I didn't just come for a visit?" Scott rebutted, though he at least had the foresight to look down into his bowl instead of making eye contact, knowing full well what Derek was about to say.
"Hm, not sure," Derek hummed, tone dripping in sarcasm. "Maybe all the times you told me you hated me, preferred if I didn't exist or asked me to leave. And to think, somehow you managed to get that all into one sentence last time you said it."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Scott replied, clenching his eyes shut as his mouth formed into a straight line. "I was in a weird place last time."
"And the times before that?"
"I'm pretty sure that was just me being an asshole."
Derek didn't respond to Scott's latest statement, Scott more than aware that meant that the older man was agreeing without having to directly vocalize his thoughts, though frankly he had to admit that he had been pretty harsh on Derek last time, especially since he had actually been the one to save the day in place of Scott.
"You are decidedly less hostile lately," Derek tacked on after a few more moments of silence had passed, though the quiet wasn't uncomfortable. A moment later, as Scott finished his own bowl, he realized that Derek had left the question hanging in the air for him to grab onto.
"I may or may not have had some sense knocked into me recently?" Scott stated slowly, choosing his words carefully, brows furrowing as he recalled the conversation in question. "There was some other stuff mentioned too, but it got weird at that point so I tuned it out."
"What kind of weird? Stiles I am presuming?"
"Of course," Scott replied with a roll of his eyes, much to the amusement of Derek who barely kept a grin from spreading across his features. The general annoyance that was Stiles Stilinski was something everyone could agree on, regardless of their differences.
"What did he say?" Derek pushed, his gaze focusing and for the first time in as long as Scott had known him, he could see right through the older man.
"Oh ew," Scott said with genuine disgust, as Derek looked around trying to gauge what Scott's words had been in reaction to, coming up blank, eyebrow raised in a silent question. "You like him."
"Like who?" Derek questioned, though Scott could see his cheeks colouring and could smell the change in the older werewolf's hormones which only caused his disgust to deepen.
"Ew, you like Stiles," Scott said with a grimace, nose scrunched up as he suddenly got a very detailed mental image of Stiles and Derek kissing. "Jesus, please don't tell me you plan on waxing poetic about him too, I already get it enough from him."
"I, no, erm, I mean, I wouldn't, because you see, I mean, with you and him, and you know, it's just, the timing and, it's um, wait what?" Derek finally settled on asking, eyes scrunching together in confusion. "Say that again."
"You like him," Scott repeated, smiling to himself at the look of contempt Derek shot his way.
"Not what I meant," Derek grumbled, though he apparently decided not to push Scott further.
"Look," Scott said with another grimace, still trying to scrub out the mental image of Stiles and Derek making out from inside his brain, but knowing he had a real opportunity to do his best friend a solid after all the years of the roles being reversed. "I'm just saying, you should probably talk to Stiles sometime soon, like...just the two of you. If you know what I mean."
"Oh," Derek said simply, eyes blown wide leaving his face looking incredibly vulnerable as he digested Scott's words, clearing his throat awkwardly after a moment and trying to rearrange his facial features. "Good to know."
"Also, please don't make out in front of me," Scott added on after a moment, getting another flash of the pair locked in a heated embrace and willing himself to think of Kira's breasts or the way she had kissed him when he had left the night before or anything that wasn't his best friend and older brother making out.
"Oh, huh," Scott said aloud, tone coloured with surprise. "That's interesting."
"I'm really not following," Derek said with only a hint of exasperation in his tone, feeling like he was pulling teeth as he 'patiently' waited for Scott to tell him what the hell was going on in his head.
"Sorry," Scott started, still mulling something over in his head. "Stiles was just saying to me the other day that I needed to be nicer to you because you were all I had of my kind and I thought that was dumb since I knew he just wanted to make out with you and have me be okay with it."
Looking up, Scott rolled his eyes once more when he noted the pleased expression that had crossed Derek's face before he continued.
"And I was just thinking how fucking weird it is to think of you and Stiles kissing. Not like, cause you're gay or anything."
"Bisexual," Derek interrupted, waving Scott's protests away and motioning for him to continue, cheeks having gone a darker colour when he realized his words.
"But like, that's my best friend. And you're my like, Derek."
"I'm your like Derek?" the older man replied sarcastically, hands spread as he waited for Scott to explain. "Meaning?"
"I d-don't know," Scott stammered, still trying to make sense of his thoughts. "It's just like, you're not so bad anymore you know? And you help a lot with the pack and answering questions and things. And you don't try and boss me around as much anymore and you're good in fights which is handy, especially the other night."
Both men stopped briefly as they considered the wounded werewolf they had encountered on the outskirts of their territory a few nights previous, the feral nature of the wound having taken over not long after they had found the young woman.
"And like," Scott continued, shaking off the images from that night and plowing forward. "You put up with Stiles. And that's not easy. And you're friends with the Sheriff and he's like my dad so I love him, but that's also not easy. And you get all weird around Stiles and say embarrassing stuff and I've literally just realized you like him and oh my god, would you stop making out with him in my head?!"
"I-" Derek started to speak, mouth closing with an audible click as he stared on at Scott as if he had two heads growing from his neck. "Are you okay?"
"Dude, you're like a big brother figure in my life," Scott said in shock, finally coming to a conclusion in his head as Derek looked on with wide eyes and a thoughtful expression. "Dude, when the fuck did that happen?"
"I-"
"I need to go tell Stiles!" Scott cut off, standing abruptly and turning towards the door, stopping after a few steps to look back at Derek and humming aloud to himself. "You're okay with that, right?"
"Erm, sure?" Derek replied, his voice suggesting otherwise, though it was apparently enough for Scott who nodded happily to himself and continued down the hall, Derek leaning back in his chair so he could watch as the younger man got further and further away.
"Thanks Derek!" Scott shouted as he opened the door, pushing his feet into his shoes and twisting until they slipped in. "This helped a lot!"
"I-" Derek started yet again, looking back at the two empty bowls and crumbs strewn across the table as the door closed behind the younger man. "What the fuck just happened?"
"Stiles!" Scott shouted as he climbed through his best friends window some 25 minutes later. "I figured out what was wrong!"
"Hello to you too, Scott. Thank you for knocking and not just sliding through my window and scaring the living shit out of me," Stiles responded with a hand clutched over his heart from the floor as he flailed dramatically out of his bed. "Nice of you to return."
"Yeah, yeah," Scott waved off absentmindedly, going to sit at the head of Stiles' bed. "So I went to talk to Derek."
"Willingly?" Stiles asked, face frowning as he looked on at Scott questioningly. "Literally like ten minutes before you left you were going on about how annoying he was."
"Yes, but I realized that wasn't the problem!" Scott replied happily, missing the 'what the fuck' expression that Stiles was continuously shooting his way. "I was feeling all weird BECAUSE of Derek, but not BY Derek, you see?"
"Nope," Stiles said with a little head shake and with pursed lips. "I really don't see Scott, since that wasn't even English and you usually hate Derek."
"But that's the thing!" Scott exclaimed, turning to look at Stiles directly. "I don't hate him, I just realized that I'm not actually competing with him anymore because he's like an older brother right? Like, we are going to fight and stuff and he's annoying, but like, he's still family, you know?"
"That's awfully big of you," Stiles said cautiously after a long moment, eyes widening in a calculated manner as he stared curiously at his best friend. "Any particular reason why all of a sudden you don't hate the big mean bad wolf you always complain about?"
"I told him you liked him and he started blushing and then I realized that he'll probably be around a lot more if you two start dating and then I realized that he's actually not so bad when I was trying to avoid thinking of the two of you kissing and now that I realized that I thought I should come and tell you that he's not so bad," Scott replied simply, totally oblivious to the flailing and increasingly concerning colour of purple that Stiles was turning beside him on the bed. "Cool, huh?"
"YOU TOLD HIM WHAT?!"
#Scott McCall#Stiles Stilinski#Derek Hale#Sterek#Brother Relationship#Realizations#Teen Wolf#Scott McCall being...Scott McCall#Writing Prompt#Teen Wolf Prompt#Teen Wolf Imagine#Send me more prompts#See original post#Multi-Fandom Writing#Enjoying Writing Again
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AU where in the first season of each of their respective shows, Scott McCall and Tyler Lockwood run into each other after they both skip town and go off on their own because literally every other werewolf they know is an asshole. And like, granted, Tyler’s an asshole too at that point, but in a ‘he’ll grow out of it’ kinda way, and I mean...enter Scott McCall. Hashtag Growth happens immediately for both. Tyler’s like “No dude, you gotta be more selfish. Look out for number one, you know?”
Scott squints. “I’m number one?” He says slowly, in classic ‘I’m the hot girl?’ tone and cadence, as though the idea has never occurred to him before.
“You’re totally number one, champ,” Tyler says affirmatively, because like...he has eyes, and also has known Scott for longer than five minutes now and thus its pretty obvious that this is in fact true. Also, Tyler is at this point still the kind of asshole who says things like “champ”, and like....not even in an ironic way.
Then the next day Tyler’s an asshole to someone who doesn’t deserve it and Scott looks at him sadly.
“I don’t know how to tell you this dude, but like, you gotta care about other people,” he says. Tyler frowns. Contemplates this.
“Okay,” he says and shrugs, and its pretty much that simple because I mean, he legit literally just needed someone to tell him that. Have you met his parents? They’re AWFUL. I mean they were. Haha, they died. I mean oh no. Much sadness.
They form their own pack and its awesome and eventually that gay werewolf dude from The Originals, Aiden, joins up with them - but only because he brings his vampire boyfriend Josh along with him. I don’t really care about Aiden, but Josh was cool, ergo, I guess Aiden can stay. What is it with white werewolf dudes named Aiden anyway? There are other names, guys. Branch out. Live a little.
They then go to Canada for awhile and run into the werewolves from Bitten.
“Yeah, this seems like a whole mess,” Tyler says, gesturing vaguely in a way meant to encompass every fucked up thing that is wrong with the werewolves in the world of Bitten.
“I just remembered I left the stove on. Sorry, we gotta go,” Scott says, backing away slowly. Their pack turns and leaves *vague hand gestures* All That behind.
They then go to New York and meet the Shadowhunters and Downworlders. Shenanigans ensue, and in the process, they wind up in like, Valentine’s dungeons where they stumble across and rescue Luke Garroway.
“Wait, aren’t you that werewolf cop?” Josh asks, confused. Luke frowns.
“What? Why the hell would I be a cop? Oh, you must mean that doppelganger Valentine hired to be me to keep any of my old Shadowhunters allies or Clary’s mom to look for me. Wait, he’s a cop? Man, FUCK that guy.”
“Fuck doppelgangers, dude,” Tyler agrees, nodding sagely. Scott cocks an eyebrow at him in query.
“They just really suck,” Tyler says, with feeling. Scott nods. Well okay then. Fuck doppelgangers.
Luke joins their pack and the novelty of knowing an adult werewolf who doesn’t completely suck isn’t wearing off any time soon. Who knew that was a thing? They begin to have hope that being a werewolf isn’t synonymous with turning into a douchebag on your twenty-first birthday. Especially Tyler. He like literally JUST un-douchefied himself.
They then go wherever the fuck that show The Gates was set. There’s a whole pack there, and they don’t seem completely awful, but then there’s this one werewolf kid named Brett. Scott goes still.
“Do you have a twin brother?” He asks Brett. Brett scowls.
“What the fuck kind of a question is that? No.”
“Oh, sorry,” Scott says. “It’s just you look a lot like this guy I knew back home, Jackson.”
“Well I’m not him and I don’t have a twin brother,” Brett says with unnecessary aggression that is doing nothing to assuage comparisons to Jackson. Like, chill. It was just a question.
“Oh no! He must be a doppelganger! Sorry, we have to go, we left the water running in the sink,” Tyler yells, standing up and sweeping Scott off his feet and over one shoulder while hollering over the other as he runs off into the night. The rest of their pack look at each other in confusion, shrug, and run after them. Because like, that probably means something, they figure. The Gates pack stares after them with varying expressions of wtf.
“Fucking weirdos,” Brett scoffs then. He goes back to being just The Worst Ever.
Then they wind up in Seattle, where they meet the roommates from Being Human. The American version obviously, I mean, not to be US centric but they’re not going to fucking London just to run into more werewolves, An American Werewolf in London honestly just wasn’t good enough to justify the endless jokes about American werewolves going to London, like, get over it already, let it go.
Werewolf Josh is decent enough. They consider inviting him to join their pack. Then his vampire roommate Aidan gets home, and he’s like, a whole serial killer and a half. So.
“Oh no, I left an unwrapped burrito from 7-11 in the microwave, its gonna go bad!” Vampire Josh shouts in horror, throwing Scott over one shoulder, Tyler over the other, sweeping his boyfriend up in his arms bridal style and then backing into Luke until the older man sighs, hates everything, makes plans to buy a gas-economical SUV because being a werewolf suburban soccer mom is still less undignified than being given piggy back rides by their token vampire when he runs out of arms and shoulders. Then Josh sprints all the way outside the Seattle city limits before stopping and dropping his passengers off as the rest of their pack gathers around them.
“What was wrong with this one?” Asks Tommy Dawkins, the werewolf from Big Wolf on Campus. He and Scott make up the pack’s “Wholesome Jocks In Recovery Post Asshole BFF-endectomy” club. Luke told all the teens that home-schooling was fine, but they still needed extracurriculars. This was not what he had in mind, but well. Baby steps.
“Terrible judge of character,” Scott explains. “Has philosophical debates with his vampire roommate about said vampire roommate’s triple digit body count.”
“Ahh.”
“Am I the only vampire who isn’t just ‘oh look at me, I can go homicidal at the drop of a hat and kill scores of people and then click my heels together and go whoops, all better now, man, THAT was a bad decade for me, huh?’ Am I? AM I?” Josh wails, hiccuping between sobs. Like all vampires, he is very pretty 90% of the time, but he’s a super ugly crier. It’s wonderfully humanizing. Gross, and like, dude gets snot everywhere, but there is an Official Pack Rule. Nobody tell Josh about the ugly crying. Plus, its just a cheap shot, you know? Its not his fault 99% of other vampires use their Pretty for evil.
“Josh,” Tyler says solemnly, putting his arms on both the vampire’s shoulders and looking him gravely in the eye. “I hate to have to tell you this, but I think that like. Yeah. You might just be...The One.”
“Wait no, I heard about this one vampire who’s supposed to not be awful? Down in LA I think,” says Mark, from Lost Girl. He’s not actually a werewolf, he’s a shapeshifter who turns into a black panther. They ran into his dad first, a werewolf named Dyson, but they all sensed he was Horrible within the first five seconds. Except before Luke could say he forgot to feed his goldfish, they gotta go, they bumped into Dyson’s non-awful bisexual panther teenage son and well like. They had to save him from the Horrible then. Like, technically they kidnapped him? Whatever, all their role models were terrible people.
Josh looks up, hopeful. He rubs at his face with his forearm but doesn’t really clean up the snot so much as get it everywhere. Several werewolves wince and look away politely. Mark is scrolling through something on his phone, seemingly oblivious.
“Did you seriously just leave that on a cliffhanger?” Luke scolds. Mark looks up belatedly.
“What? Oh, no. Its just supposedly he only has a soul sometimes, and when he has a soul he’s supposed to be like, a pretty decent guy, but when he doesn’t have a soul, he’s like....a maniacal ax murderer on murder-steroids. Its this whole thing apparently. I follow this demon on twitter who owns a bar down there. He posts weekly updates on whether or not the guy has his soul this week....calls it Soulwatch. I guess the last couple times the dude didn’t have his soul he almost ended the world or something? So anyway, lotta people like updates on that, since I guess he and that vampire are good buds or whatever.”
“He doesn’t have a soul sometimes?” Tyler scowls skeptically. “That sounds fake.”
“Do you have a soul?” A nameless werewolf extra from True Blood asks Josh.
Josh hiccups and gropes around at his chest, frowning.
“I think so? Nobody ever told me I might not, I don’t know. Like I mean, I feel like I have a soul, I’m pretty sure?”
“He clutches his stomach and goes ‘ow my heart’ when that Sarah McLachlan commercial with the sad puppies comes on TV,” his boyfriend says helpfully.
“That’s not where the heart is....” someone starts to say, but they’re quickly shushed. Scott, Tommy and Luke are all clutching their stomachs and nodding in understanding. Tyler rubs his temples.
“Josh, you have a soul. You literally burst into song every time you see a baby smile, and last month you guilt-tripped us all into volunteering with you at that pediatric hospital which means we heard nothing but you singing showtunes and Christmas carols for an entire week straight. In July. Mark, does your demon twitter follower say this vampire has his soul this week or not? Are we going to LA next? And someone please hit me for having to utter that sentence in the first place, it’ll make me feel better, please just do it.”
Sophia Donner, the only decent werewolf from the almost entirely werewolf-populated town of Wolf Lake, helpfully kicks him in the shin.
“What?” Mark looks up again, baffled. “Dude, he doesn’t follow ME on twitter, are you kidding? He has like, six hundred thousand twitter followers.”
“Really? Why so many?” Tommy asks.
“He has this thing where he can like, see your future or your aura or some shit like that when you sing. So karaoke night at his bar is always packed with lots of A-List celebs obsessed with the occult. Its like, impossible to get into cuz of that unless you know someone, but it means everyone who’s anyone in Hollywood follows him on twitter and is always trying to hit him up and get on the list, and so like, of course all their followers follow him too even if they don’t know why everyone follows him, they just figure obviously he must be someone important?”
“Ahh.”
“People,” Tyler barks. “Focus.”
He looks around for Scott, wondering why the hell he’s the only one trying to get a handle on this. He eventually finds Scott at the edge of their little gathering. Fucker’s holding up his cell phone and recording everything. He shoots Tyler a thumbs up and mouths “You’re doing amazing, sweetie” at him. Tyler would be pissed, but like, he was the one who made it his mission to get Scott to occasionally be more of a selfish asshole specifically so....nah. Fuck it. He was gonna be pissed anyway.
“Ummm,” Mark hedges some more, still scrolling through his phone. He frowns then, and shoots Josh an apologetic glance. “Sorry. Looks like he’s soulless again this week.”
Scott decides to intervene then, looking suddenly concerned. “Uh...does that mean he might maybe almost destroy the world again? Should we go to LA anyway and like...I dunno. Try and help?”
“Help who?” Tyler demands, throwing up his arms in exasperation at the whole day. This is what he gets for getting out of bed, like. Ever. Nothing good comes from getting out of bed. When will he learn?
“I don’t know. Don’t get testy with me,” Scott bites out testily. “The people. Who try and...stop him from destroying the world? Obviously world’s not destroyed so somebody must have stopped him the last couple times which means someone’s probably trying to stop him this time too.”
“Or he could just be really bad at it,” Tommy suggests.
“Nope, we’re good,” Mark interrupts, still on his phone. “It says they’ve got him magically locked up in some hotel so he can’t go anywhere while they wait for their witch friend to bring his soul back and put it in him. I guess after the last time they put like, a low-jack spell on it so if it went missing again it’d just go straight to her, since she’s the only one good at putting it back anyway.”
“Well then,” Tyler says after a moment or two to digest the concept of a low-jacked soul. “That was a super efficient tangent. Are we all good here now at least? Can we move on and like....go somewhere not within range of a serial killer vampire who’s probably miffed at us for being rude and committing some hospitality faux pas?”
Josh sniffs and rubs at his face again, this time with more success. “Yeah, sorry. I’m all good now.”
“Well I’m not,” Aiden yells out then, apparently taking the all-clear on his boyfriend’s issue as a go ahead to vent his own drama. “Am I the only Aiden who isn’t just a complete asshole??”
“I mean, you’re kinda an asshole sometimes too,” Sophia says, idly chewing a nail.
“Not helpful, Soph,” Scott scolds gently. She shrugs.
“Wasn’t trying to be.”
“Let’s start a pack, you said,” Tyler growls, glaring daggers at his co-alpha. Scott smirks back without remorse. “It’ll be good for us, you said. There’s probably lots of other teen wolves in the same boat as us, you said. Shouldn’t we help them, you said.”
“I did say all that,” Scott agrees. He saunters off, you know, like an asshole.
Two weeks later they’re not far from LA. The vampire has his soul this week and everyone wants to go celeb-watching at the demon dude’s karaoke night. Luke knows a guy who can get them in, apparently. They stop to help a hitchhiking teenage werewolf in trouble because like, Scott has a sixth sense for that shit.
“So what’s your name?” Tyler asks the kid.
“Derek Hale,” he says, and Tyler squints. Why does that name sound familiar. Next to him, Scott hisses like an angry cat. Oh. Right. That.
“You’re not Derek Hale,” Scott accuses, and the kid bristles right back at him. Tyler watches, bemused. Was this a Beacon Hills thing? Or did all of them look like that when having like....what was this, a territorial pissing match? Angsty backstory showdown? What was even happening here, exactly?
“I think I would know, dickface.”
“Look, I’ve met Derek Hale, and he’s like, twenty five, and an asshole,” Scott says. “You can’t be Derek Hale, because you’re like, fifteen, and adorable.”
“Fuck you, I’m seventeen, and fuck you more, I’m not adorable, I will fucking rip your throat out with my teeth, dickface.”
“See? I’m supposed to be quaking in my shoes right now but all I wanna do is pat you on the head and hug you and feed you, because that was adorable,” Scott says, pointing at him. “Ergo, you can’t be Derek Hale, because all I ever wanted to do to that dude was kick him in the nuts for being an asshole who’s all like breaking into my house to tell me we’re brothers now or whatever the fuck that was all about, and then breaking my arm and trashing my phone two seconds later.”
The kid goes quiet. Squints at him. “Wait. Is your name Scott McCall?”
Scott frowns deeper and folds his arms across his chest, shifting awkwardly. He has trouble maintaining his like, Righteous Ire even when he’s definitely in the right, and adorable kid being adorable and no longer even aggressive was making his temper go bye-bye. Ugh, rude. Scotty Rage was hot, and all too rare. Tyler officially hated this kid. Why does he never get to have nice things?
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
The kid fidgets, sullen. “Heard about you. I told you, I am Derek Hale. I just got like, magically de-aged by my pedo ex-girlfriend who’s now even more pedo and creepier and like...whatever, I don’t even know what the fuck that was all about but like yeah. Apparently older me was a huge douchebag and your name came up as proof of his douchebaggery and I booked it awhile ago because like, nobody could figure out how to turn me back and I figured if I gotta be seventeen again at least I’m gonna be seventeen somewhere where people don’t all think I’m a douchebag because of what older not!me Derek the Dickhead did. You know?”
“Not even a little bit,” Tyler says.
“Kinda,” Scott says. He gnaws his lip. “That sucks. Well. You hungry? We were about to go get some dinner. Wanna come with?”
Derek the Littler Dick stares at him before shooting Tyler an incredulous glance. “Is he for real?”
“Unfortunately,” Tyler deadpans. Scott frowns defensively.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Dude, you just hated me like ten whole seconds ago.”
“I didn’t know who you were ten seconds ago,” Scott shrugs, as though that explains everything. Problem is, in his head it probably did. Freak, Tyler thinks affectionately.
“Yeah but now you do know who I am and now you know I’m someone you hate? So....?”
“No, you used to be someone I hate,” Scott explains slowly, as if to a small child. “You said it yourself, you’re not really him. Besides, I decided I’m over it anyway.”
“You decided you’re....over it. Anyway.” LDD repeats, breaking it down slowly. As if to a small child. Oh, this is going to be amazing, isn’t it. The other half of Tyler’s future home entertainment gifts him with another incredulous look, like, are you sure this guy is for real? Tyler nods in confirmation.
“He’s just...like that. It’s so weird.”
“Fine,” Derek huffs at last, over aggressively because why stray from a theme, yeah? “But this better not be some fucked up elaborate revenge plan for older me being a dick or like...”
“You’ll rip my throat out with your teeth,” Scott says dryly. The kid sulks.
“Well of course it sounds lame when you say it like that.”
“You still have baby fat,” Scott tells him. Derek shifts into an enraged were-porcupine.
“I so the fuck do not!”
“You have like, chubby little baby werewolf chipmunk cheeks.”
“Asshole!”
“I know you are but what am I?”
“That’s so stupid! You’re so stupid! What are you, twelve?”
“No, that’s you. Look in a mirror, short stuff.”
“Oh god,” Tyler despairs, staring after the two of them walking off towards the rest of the pack. “They’re brothers now.”
#kalen writes crack fic sometimes#look i dont know what this is#i just know it was in my brain#so now its here
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Review of li'l Hammy plz
ok , so it’s been two weeks, i think i can take it now.
(although my first reaction to that question is still AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *loud broken sobbing*)
First off, it’s probably important to know that all I have to compare it with in terms of performances is the Kenneth Branaugh version and the David Tennant version, and that this was the first time I’ve seen a live stage version.
So. All in all, there were three things about it that I didn’t really like/felt a bit meh about. First was the underuse of Horatio - I like my implied gay, or at least the very close friendship, but because they were really going for the emotionally wrecking version, Horatio got kinda downplayed. Which was a bit of a shame, really. The other thing was the decision to put music over the final bits of the ending duel scene - loud enough that you couldn’t hear the lines anymore. It’s a director’s choice, and honestly I do think it worked, but I’d liked to hear the lines. It also made that whole scene feel a bit rushed, unreal - although it also played into the whole inevitability of the thing. And, to be fair, even without the words, the expressions alone were doing a lot of acting. And third was the way the played a kind of afterlife bit. The back of the stage was separated by a diaphanous curtain, and as the people started dying in the last scene, after they did the traditional falling-on-the-floor-convulsing thing, the actors got up and walked to the space behind the curtain, were Ophelia was already dancing peacefully with Polonius. It... kinda felt too on the nose, to me? Especially compared to the bleakness of the rest of the play.
That’s what I didn’t really like. I really loved the rest. I loved the scene choices - Hamlet senior on CCTV screens really worked for me (even though it did really remind me of Tennant!Hamlet); the minimal setting with just the sofa and a little table with a computer screen on it was amazingly versatile; I kinda loved the decision to put the cast with their backs to the audience during the play-within-a-play thing (even though it made Freddie cringe, theatre-kid they are); and what I probably loved most about it was how they used the see-through curtain during the first few scenes with Hamlet to really drive home the isolation of his character - people partying behind the screen, visible and audible but muted, and he stark and dark in front of it. I also liked the wardrobe, Hamlet’s constant black and Gertrude’s amazing dresses and Ophelia in a vulnerable white long t-shirt and not much else after Hamlet scares the shit out of her.
I loved the interpretations, loved how sympathetic they made everyone. Even Claudius got his moments - the scene in the confessional when Hamlet considers murdering him was played very interestingly, with Hamlet standing directly in front of Claudius, nothing inbetween (to the point where I went oh, are they actually playing it as a head-to-head confrontation?) and it made Claudius feel strangely human, wracked with indecision and guilt almost as much as Hamlet is. They really played up the relationship between Claudius and Gertrude. You could really believe why Gertrude married that quickly. There was a lovely moment where Gertrude is trying to give a serious speech and Claudius snags the back of her dress and playfully tries to pull her away; and there was a cute scene were a guard walks in on Gertrude and Claudius napping on top of each other on the sofa (Gertrude waking up and embarrassedly/gracefully/sheepishly smiling at the guard was adorable). They also got creative with Polonius’ character, playing him as suffering from early Alzheimer’s. It worked, impressively well, it made sense in the context of his lines and added a layer of tragedy on top of the usual clownesque vibe of Polonius. Suddenly the character became real, flesh and blood, rather than just something written for entertainment. But it also took away a bit of the comedy - see below for more on that.
Ophelia, likewise. She’s such a difficult character to do well but Jessica Brown Findlay played her so naturally and full of joy and energy and warmth that I didn’t not like her for a second. And of course, that made the mad scene all the more painful. Another difficult one to do right, imo, but she nailed it; less insane whimsy and more bitter dark anger. Also: every interaction between her and Hamlet in the first act was amazing. They emphasised the relationship between them, made it basically already established. The first time they interact it’s first with a happy lovers’ kiss, and then with a heartfelt long, clumsy, painfully comforting hug. It’s... sort of hard to explain how real that all felt, but it was heartwrenching to watch.
Even Laertes, in his brief scenes, did really really well. His interactions with Ophelia were quintessential teasing-affectionate siblinghood (all three of us have siblings; all three of us went yes that’s how it is afterwards) and his anger and confusion and anguish in the third act really hit you. And Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were interesting too. In case you didn’t know yet, Guildenstern was played by a black woman, Rosencrantz by a white man, and they were pretty heavily implied to be a couple. Rosencrantz kinda faded to the background, imo, but Guildenstern really shone, both in her interactions with Hamlet - again, like with Ophelia, the love between them felt deep, real - as in her interactions with Gertrude. Plus, the bit where Claudius walks up to Rosencrantz and goes dear Guildenstern and Gertrude gently switches them around, correcting him, was a moment of adorably funny brightness.
You may notice I’m kinda stalling. I haven’t mentioned the number one here, the one it’s all about. It’s because it’s kind of hard to put it in words, really. I mean - look, I’ve seen Branaugh’s Hamlet, which was very classic, thoughtful and deliberate and oratory; and I’ve seen Tennant’s Hamlet, which emphasised the wittiness and teasing funny bits and played the pain either as quiet, subdued, or with Tenth-Doctor-Manic-Energy. Meanwhile, Scott’s Hamlet was... if there’s one word I’d associate with this one it’s raw.
(I think the most telling is how completely exhausted and devastated Scott looked after the performance. While everyone else was smiling happily at the applause and the immediate standing ovation, it took until the third bow before he managed to crack a very very tired smile. And that was the matinee performance, meaning he would have to do it all again about three hours later.)
He’s without competition the most painful Hamlet I’ve seen, and probably will ever see. It’s all there on the surface, every battling emotion, every raw pain. The constant vacillating between the hatred and contempt for others and the hatred and contempt for himself; the quiet resigned exhaustion of the third act; the blind fury when he kills Polonius and the sick horrified laughter when he comes back to his senses afterwards; the way he clings to Ophelia and his mother and even the ghost of his father; the soliloquy, which I feared I wouldn’t be able to take seriously after hearing it so many times but which got me right from the first syllable, as if it was the first time I heard it, full of tired sadness and pain...
It was an immensely physical performance too. Scott often gestures big when he’s playing a certain kind of character, which may get distracting when you start paying attention to it, but for me it really worked here, giving the impression of a man struggling to grasp and shape his ideas. A lot of physical attacking happened too, with Ophelia (which sadly I couldn’t see well because of the seating), with Gertrude, in something that very much crossed the line into sexual assault, and even with Polonius, who got a kiss full on the mouth followed by Hamlet spitting on the floor. It just felt so visceral, like it’s all coming from somewhere deep within. Also, it amazes me that most reviews talk about Scott’s Hamlet as being soft-spoken and gentle. Sure, the moments were he was soft and gentle were exceptionally so (most notably in the big soliloquy, and at the start with Ophelia), but those were by far outnumbered by the violent ones. Above all this is a very angry Hamlet; he does more shouting than whispering.
(as I said to Freddie: Hamlet does not have a lot of coping mechanisms. By which I mean: you really got that impression of Hamlet as a man struggling with emotions he has no way of containing, of being constantly overruled and tormented by them, beyond his control. Which is a take I haven’t really seen before - or at any rate, not that well performed)
He also wasn’t a very funny Hamlet. Take the scene in the third act, where the messenger summons him to the duel. Tennant played that with relish, milking every comedic moment; with Scott, I barely smiled at all. By then, the overarching feel was so devastatingly painful that jest would’ve felt immensely out of place. Conversely, moments that wouldn’t be funny in other version suddenly got a kind of dark humour to it; most notably the first soliloquy, which was delivered straight face-on to the audience and got a laugh out of the audience (at the married mine uncle line, I think?) and a fourth-wall-breaking returning grin from Scott - and it worked. (This was also the moment where I went from interested to nailed to my seat because gosh, live theatre is something else). And there was the slapstick-moment after Laertes interrupts Hamlet and Ophelia mid-kiss, and Hamlet dives away behind the couch and followed the rest of the conversation from behind said couch - the sight of the top of his head suddenly peeping up when Laertes has the if he says he loves you got a theatre-wide giggle. But it all starts devolving so rapidly and completely that there’s very little time to enjoy the lightness and funny bits.
That’s the reason why I really deeply enjoyed watching the first act, and why the second and third were a whole lot more difficult to watch for me. Not that they were any less good, they were brilliant, but it’s bleak, depressing. While in the first act, you got that sense of warmth and everything being more or less good, just before everything goes to shit.
Which is the central bit of why it’s so, so good. We all know the story. We all know what happens, who dies, how it ends. But the strength of a tragedy lies in its sense of lost potential, that sort of instinctual no don’t do it! reaction you have as an audience when you can see things starting to go badly and you just do not want this. That’s what this Hamlet did to me, and I can’t exactly say how it did or what was pivotal there or not. It’s greater than the sum of the parts, really. All I know is that I watched that first act and even though I know every single step of the way, I still half expected it to go differently. I wanted it to go differently. Of course it didn’t, but because of that sense of could-have-been that was omnipresent in the first part, every step downwards just hurt that much more.
It’s a Hamlet like a sledgehammer, this one. Without exaggeration, it took me days to recover, and even now, writing about it and thinking back on it, I still get that cold shiver of emotional devastation. In a matter of a few scenes it creates something warm and beautiful, and it then proceeds to slowly tear it apart in front of your eyes. It will fuck you up.
So go watch it. They’re taking it from the teeny-tiny Almeida to the bigger West End theatres soon, so there will be places free. Teeny-tiny Almeida was a lovely setting for it, and the intimacy of the theatre really helped creating the atmosphere of the play, but I don’t doubt it’s going to be great in a bigger one as well. So do as I did, put on a google alert for “andrew scott hamlet”, buy yourself a ticket as soon as they’re available, go have your heart ripped out live and then cry for two days straight because you just wanted them all to be happy, dammit.
#Hamlet#andrew scott#terriblebeastie#i... got a bit carried away#and i still think i've missed out things#like HOW THEY FENCED IN ACTUAL FENCING COSTUMES#although they damn well need to learn to point their points at the opponent not the ceiling#that's an epee not a sabre darling#ANYWAY#PAIN PAIN SO MUCH PAIN#come suffer with meeeee
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High School Trends That I Remember Fondly
Okay so let me share with you all some quality high school trends from my days in high school because boy were we a bunch of sass masters These all took place from 2007 -2012 because I went to a weird fusion school that lumped every grade from 7th to 12th together ( that means we had thirteen year olds up to 18-19 year olds in the same school ) Anyway let's go 7th Grade( I was a smol 13 year old) First off there were like 30 kids in each class okay? So.... - Pencils as hair decor ???? Why???? - Swiping needles from Home Ec and sticking them in your finger JUST under the surface of the skin to freak out the teach - Referring to lunch as ' the troph special' -Girls sending guys Valentine's that just said ' U R No Good ' and ' Allen Ur Not In My League ' - Guys sending girls tiny stuffed animals for V Day with cards that said ' I'm Soft For U' and ' Be My Plush One?' - Claiming various things had ' killed our ancestors ' : ' I can't do long division , my thirty seventh great grandfather died doing that' ' No I can't answer that question sir, every male in my family so far has died answering English questions ' ' I'm not allowed to be disciplined , discipline killed my grandma' - Wearing rubber bands as bracelets or rings and the tighter you could get it the cooler you were ???? This kid almost lost a finger by third period I mean ..... -Asking our biology teacher what would happen if insects could speak every class period ' What if wasps could speak but they only spoke Mid-6th Century English ' ' What if spiders all speak Russian' ' Do you think bees know English ' - Pestering our history teacher for the history of the Leaf Village ( I'm sorry Mr. Hoagland ) - Replying ' Deleted' when your name was called ..... I accidentally started this one 8th grade ( I was 14 ) - Rap battles to settle arguments ???? - Yoyo fights. It got intense. -Every white boy in school dressed like a bad Western movie character , cowboy hats and spurs and SO.MUCH.PLAID. - ' The Dew Crew', a gang of boys who drank nothing but Mountain Dew as refreshment , was born and monopolized the school's soda supply of Mountain Dew . All of them made it to adulthood but it is suspected they no longer require sleep and eat only the disdainful glares of women for survival ( at their peak there were 15 of them ) - Intense shouting of someone else's name every time something went wrong ( usually the name Sasuke ) - Pentagrams everywhere ; drawn on any surface we could find unsupervised for a second , started by me doodling in art class and picked up by my squad . The school board thought someone was possessed by the devil it was GREAT.... I NEVER GOT CAUGHT - In Chemistry we watched Finding Nemo about 3 times a week because the teacher was really forgetful and he let us watch it when he forgot his lesson plan , so by the end of the first month that year every kid he taught would call various roundish objects ' the butt' and I was nicknamed' Dory ' by everyone I knew Also the principal was nicknamed' Bruce" -Hardcore Zombie prep planning , there was a gang and everything . The Apoca-Punks are still strong - Disney discourse in English class because our teacher was a huge nerd for Disney and loved nothing more than to watch us argue over which princess would beat Gaston in a fight faster ( Kida won by a landslide but we all agreed Mulan would murder him in five seconds flat ) Also he nicknamed all of us after Disney characters and I was Lilo ( my best friend was Stitch ) - Okay so I brought a bag of chocolate as a treat for the class one week and I was really tired and out of it so when the teacher ( our English teacher Mr . Bagley, who was also the principal) asked me to ' explain the historical properties of chocolate' I got sarcastic and went ' For many years chocolate has been used in medicinal treatments for ailments of all kinds. Perhaps it will even cure the lack of hair on Mr . B's head' ...... For a second it was dead silent and then he laughed and said "Well put , you continue to live up to your nickname, Lilo!" - Shakespeare quotes at inopportune times " Exit, pursued by a bear" " We are in the middle of a test , Austin. " " A rose , by any other name , would smell-" " DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM INDI" - The drama kids dramatically snapping during arguments - Okay so there was this weird loft zone in the second gym( because our school had two , a sucktastic old one from the fifties and a newish one from the eighties ) nobody was supposed to go up there unless they had permission and it was for filming a basketball game ??? But everyone went up there anyway and at least ten couples lost their virginity up there ( what a weird place to do it tho , we kept the wrestling mats up there) I sluffed class a few times and took a nap there And it became a Thing to draw a little baby face on the wall if you lost your V card there -Supergluing coins to stuff???? There's still a dime on someone's locker and it's been like ten years -' Ambrosia' , AKA this super delicious combo of cherry slurpee , Sprite, and orange Fanta that our English teacher made us during parties . He literally made it in these huge plastic bins and just ladeled it out to everyone 9th Grade( I was 15) - The Goth Invasion Everyone who was punk enough wore black ripped jeans and eyeliner and streaked their hair with red and black One kid never left the Goth phase , we love u Scott ( it's cool he was our school's Warren Peace anyway ) - AFTER A SCHOOL ASSEMBLY VIEWING OF SKY HIGH FOR HALLOWEEN MY CLASSMATE SCOTT WAS NICKNAMED WARREN BY THE ENTIRE SCHOOL He was really salty about it too , he said " Warren isn't goth he's Punk there's a difference you capitalist Bible thumpers' Scott got 54 Valentine's that year but just shrugged and gave his candy to me and my squad because we were , as he put it ' the only punk crew in class, plus you're all really cute ' He never kept a girlfriend very long but he was the nicest guy you've ever seen ( everyone thought he was gay but just too shy to say it ) Over the years he is consistly hotter , and more unashamedly Goth - My sister arrived in school and was immediately the most popular kid in school and was nicknamed ' Princess ' - My squad got nicknamed ' Squad 7 " due to our obsession with Naruto and other anime , and we each were nicknamed after characters from the show by my friend Indi ( who was named after Indiana Jones, no lie) Melanie was ' Kiba' ( which delighted her because she would marry him in a heartbeat ) Mackenzie was ' Neji' because according to Indi she was the most monologue-y Chandra was ' Hinata' because she was shy but fierce And I, Aubrey , was ' Gaara' because according to Indi :' Your dad is kinda sucky and you've got two siblings . You're sort of the social outcast of school and when you get annoyed enough it's like you've got this terrifying supernatural thing in your eyes , I love it ' I LOVE THAT NICKNAME 10th Grade( I'm 16) - ' Because I'm Batman ' being an answer to every question - Goonies puns - Three girls got pregnant and were called the ' Baby On Board Squad" - Due to this teen pregnancy scandal , my heavily Christian community had our school hold assemblies about how ' Sex will kill you' and how ' every time a teen has Sex Thoughts, an angel cries' ..... There were ' God Is Abstintent ' posters everywhere So naturally we revolted and the drama class put up these fliers reading ' Without Sex, You Wouldn't Be Around . ' ' Satan Loves You and Wants You To Explore Your Perfectly Normal Urges ' ' Sex Won't Kill You- But STD's Could! Use Protection! ' ' Wrap It Before He Taps It And The Angels Won't Be Crying " " Boys Like Girls.Boys Think Of Girls In Sexual Ways. Boys Best Treat Her Right First . Boys Best Be Stepping Up As Baby Daddys If They Tap Dat " And many more golden rebellious posters - Shouting " Go Go Power Rangers " when dealing with a problem and just out of nowhere any kid wearing the appropriate Power Ranger colored shirt would appear So you'd get a guy in red , a guy in blue , a guy in black , a guy in white , a guy in green , a guy in gold , a guy in silver, a girl in pink and a girl in yellow and they'd all pose dramatically and do the Power Rangers moves - Rubber band slingshot warfare using hairpins as ammo - The school dividing into Benders and Non Benders , and the school's most loved outcast was deemed Avatar( I got the honor so my squad was nicknamed accordingly ) - High School Musical was the biggest thing ever because our music teacher WROTE THE SCORES FOR THEM I MEAN....... We all knew every song by heart that year Everyone shipped Chad and Ryan 11th Grade( I was 17 ) -Percy Jackson was huge and everyone wanted a godly parent - Every girl used a dramatic break up song to end things with her man it was GLORIOUS - Taylor Swift was playing on the radio every day - My class finally realized that my friend Courtney and I had the same exact birthday and birth year , and thus introduced us to substitute teachers as ' The Fraternal Twins' Courtney and I are both gonna be 23 on March 20 at 6:40 am - Our history teacher thought my friends and I were in an assassin cult because we were always drawing kunai knives and swords and guns , so he banned kunai drawing????? And it thus became the Cool Thing to graffiti everywhere??? All because I drew one on my ASVAB???? -The sheriff pulled me out of homeroom because I'd been overheard singing P!nk's " Funhouse" and the Secretary thought I was an arsonist because of the line " I'm gonna burn this sucker down " and thus rumors spread like wildfire that I'd: ~ Murdered someone ~ Witnessed a crime ~ Started a gang war ~ Shot a cop ~ Robbed the one gas station in town ~ Insulted the sheriff's daughter by not inviting her to my birthday party so he was here to bribe me to do so ~ Stolen the sheriff's prized collection of horse paintings 12th Grade ( I was 18 ) - Posters everywhere about the world ending ( it was 2012) - Harry Potter mania - John Lennon Memes???? No really on the anniversary of his death the school was flooded with posters of him everywhere saying " In Loving Memory Of A Dreamer " and the radio only played his music and the drama class went around stating facts about his death it was surreal and I was part of it
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